Task Force Sub Unit | ✓

05: 'I'M NOT SURE THAT'S A COMPLIMENT'

"Anyway... I am at a very delicate position where I am not in a luxury to receive limelight at the moment. I am handling a case that is very big and difficult, so I have to keep the methods for this one... very mum."

Minwoo hitched a cold eyebrow, finally deciding to speak out. "So what is it about?"

"My... case?"

Minwoo rolled his eyes. "No. That would be counterproductive because I would've died of boredom. I have more sense not to care about that. I meant the reason you're here. Right now. At the den of murderers."

"But you're... not a murderer."

"Like a lowly prosecutor would know that. Get to it."

Prosecutor Jang's expression pinched. "Agent Kim told me specifically that you're not... as bad as they say."

Grayson smiled. "Aw, the agent thinks we're not as bad."

Minwoo's smile is both scorched earth and silky poison. "Have you seen our records?"

"No?"

"Of course not. We're the wolves of the government's underworld on a very tight and thin leash. The place you willfully only glimpse at through eyes of another, stepping over more times that you can ever bother to look down. I warn you now, prosecutor. We're not very nice individuals. We bite more than we bark."

Minwoo uncrossed his prim legs and leaned forward.

"But if it's worth even a shred of my second, do continue your story. Why you're here that is. Because if it does sound interesting that an agent who doesn't like us would refer you to us... then it must be something. So please. Continue."

• • •

"A top prosecutor's missing wife." Grayson hummed, staring at the so far board, now clear of space to accommodate a new case.

Minwoo snorted. Grayson turned. After the prosecutor left, curt nods and handshakes, Minwoo started doing his own research. Laid down on the sofa in a bathrobe and pajamas, he scrolled easily and quickly.

Information could never be hidden from him. He would dig through several firewalls, bring down viruses and securities like it was nothing. Likewise to ripping apart people like they were nothing if it meant information was located inside the skull.

To him, the brain was just another vault to be battered until it squealed open.

"What?"

"The big case he was talking about - he's a senior prosecutor for another Lee trial." Minwoo slid a long finger, his smile curled like a bitter snake. Chairman Lee was another invincible CEO with an army of lawyers and a track record that swept away to ugliness until it was tight with perfection.

"This is the third re-appeal to open assets but the judge isn't budging because the evidence of offshore funds were - at most, very flimsy. The only way it even held up another appeal is because the chairman is having a fun time making them look like fools who's attacking an old man trying to retire. The public is very swayed by the idea."

He settled the tablet down and sat, leaning against the cushions with closed eyes. "The case is going to get dropped. There's no way the judge or public will see it anything but a joke." His eyes opened and he smirked at Grayson. "That's why he's desperate to keep his missing wife quiet, and why the agent felt bad for him that he sent him here."

"He'll look like a total loser." Grayson turned to the picture of the prosecutor. An internet image of a man who looked sharp and cool but also old and weary. "The missing case could go to trash if it's called in with a failed big case. He would get mocked that his wife left him instead of being missing."

Minwoo sighed. "Okay, facts so far - one, this isn't our priority until I say so. Two, she's been missing for two months. At first he thought she was just on one of her 'flighty moods', going on trips by herself because family life gets too much. But after one month, he got suspicious. Two, he needed help. Fact three - they have three kids, the youngest kidnapped two years ago because of a case the prosecutor took - a flimsy revenge plot, but worked nevertheless. The kid was returned in good health a week later and the bastard never saw real sunshine again."

After that," Grayson continued, staring at the photo of the prosecutor's wife. She was pretty. Heart shaped face and a kind smile. "Prosecutor Jang said she became... different. Quieter, more cautious. They didn't have a nanny anymore because she took the job herself to take care of her children and made sure she drove them to and from school. The youngest was kidnapped in the middle of the day as he was going to school. Some days, she left the house and the children to her mother in law, disappearing for a few days to weeks to give herself some breathing room. She takes some anxiety meds. And she's very pretty."

The phone crackled. Though silent for a second, absorbing all of this, Agent Kim sounded pained.

"How did you get all this information at that little time?"

"Personal research," Minwoo answered, smug. "I don't trust anything that comes out of someone's mouth unless I have something pointy on their throat."

"And Minwoo is very good at finding out people's secrets."

"Thank you."

"I'm not sure that's a compliment," grumbled the agent.

"I'm taking it as one." Minwoo stood up. "Now that you know what we know, hold up your end of the bargain, agent."

"You haven't said you'll take it yet."

Minwoo almost smiled. "I'm impressed. Well yes, we'll obviously take it if it means you'll be giving us a big case right now instead of waiting another month."

"I really don't like the compliment of you being impressed by me either." The agent sighed. "It's human trafficking."

Minwoo made a face. "That doesn't sound like a lot of points."

"Is points all you really care about?!"

"Yes. Again, obviously."

Grayson grinned. "He's human, Minwoo. Leave him alone."

The other smirked. "Right. And I'm the devil incarnate aren't I?"

"Worse. Look, y-yes human trafficking isn't big when it comes to points..." He cleared his throat. "But it isn't just people... human parts. Someone is also... carving some out and... sending them."

"Cannibals?"

Grayson made a face. "Why?"

"Interesting," Minwoo echoed, eyes looking brighter already. Grayson gagged.

"A shipment was found suspicious during a drug bust at the docks. When they opened the container, it was half alive people with half of their organs out mixed with the dead and said organs in nicely packaged boxes with ribbons and shit."

Grayson gagged again, looking green. His eyes skirted to the bathroom. "Excuse me, eeeuuugh."

"Cannibals," Minwoo repeated excitedly as his partner vomited loudly like a very entertaining background noise. "Ugh, I miss those sons of bitches."

"What?"