One Call Away | soongyu

Chapter 2

 The young detective dragged himself across the busy walkway, he had been away from his workplace, his house, basically anywhere the force could find him by now. His survival routine consisted of consuming pop up food stalls and street food meals, and using the public comfort room and his bathroom. He couldn't lie, it was hard living like this. His brain screamed at him to go back and just turn himself in, even if he wasn't the culprit. But his sense of justice pulled him back, keeping him on the streets, roaming non-stop. 

Soon visited the station, despite keeping himself away from any other places associated with him. Hiding himself to watch Min in secret proved easier than he thought, his sighting of Min consisted of him working hard, although Soon felt upset that his friend had to be dragged into simply because he was aware Soon ran away. The young male shook his thoughts off and left before he caught the attention of anyone.

Min on the other hand, noticed his presence, needless to say, he was a detective too and he could tell that there was someone watching him. He could only plastered a subtle smile on his face, knowing that Soon was still alive, but he could only continue working as if he never knew where he was.

***

Min P.O.V
It's a week but I almost can't stand this anymore. I started coming in to work with earphones, I normally hate it, but it's better than having to listen to getting called 'Murderer's best friend' on repeat. Normally, I would just ignore any kind of insults that I got from anyone, but hearing Soon hyung being labelled as a killer just ticks me off. Seungcheol hyung gave me a new partner, Shua hyung, or rather Joshua hyung, but this just doesn't work. I want to do my job alone, having someone that isn't Soon hyung is worse. It's not that I didn't like Shua hyung, but I just want to clear Soon hyun'g name, I don't want any more cases. I just want hyung back with me, as my partner. Not anyone else.

"Hey, murderer's best friend? You probably knew he was going to do it weren't you? And you let him?" Just. My. Luck. Note to self, change from earphones to earplugs once you reach the station. I gritted my teeth, I was seething mad by now. It was once sentence. But that was enough. I slammed my fists on the table in anger loudly, gaining the attention of everyone within the department. "How about you just keep quiet?!" I growled, taking a step near the officer slowly. "Why? What are you going to do? Set my house on fire like your friend? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree huh? Best friends with the same attitude." He provoked. I could hear Shua hyung behind me calling my name, trying to get me to stop. I've held it in for a week straight. This is my limit. I yelled as a threw a punch aimed straight at his face. Or so I thought. Seungcheol hyung caught my wrist. My fist and the officer's face were inches away from each other. "Min. I know it's a tough time right now. Starting fights with the others here isn't going to make the situation better." He whispered in my ear.

Right. I need to clear hyung's innocence. Punching some dirtbag of an officer can't do good. I need to be within the force to be of some sort of help. I let out of fierce groan before I shook Seungcheol hyung's hand away, stomping angrily back to my table. "Don't do that anymore Min." Shua hyung whispered in my ear. I simply nodded subtly, digging my face into my hands. Great. I caused a huge commotion in the station. Soon hyung would've killed me if he saw this.

***
Flashback

"Are you serious? Such an easy job, you can't even do it right?" A deep voice growled as he threw another punch at his underling. The 'said' boss threw his underling against the wall, signalling for the next one to come up and be his next human punching bag. The man had been venting his anger since just now, his companions simply stood there watching it happen, while the underlings shuffled around like innocent prey waiting for the predator to attack. The male his anger was directed to simply stood there, Seungkwan hiding behind him. "You could have almost exposed Mad Hatter." The boss gritted his teeth, throwing another punch at the underling while he glared at the male.

"Lucky for you. Someone else is getting blamed for your pitiful mistake. This Kwon Soon, he is a useful cover up for us. The better since he ran away, if he can't be found then we'd be able to continue to fool everyone else." The deep voice finally threw his last punch and waved his hands, signalling for the underlings to get out.

"You better pray hard he doesn't get caught, or else it's the end of the line for your young friend. My Cerberus." The man smirked, wiping his sweat as he used his other free hand to point at the cowering Seungkwan hiding behind the male, who put an arm in front of Seungkwan protectively, glowering at the boss, "Leave Seungkwan out of this, it was my fault."

The boss smiled cynically, taking loud steps toward his table as he interlocked his hands and rested his elbow on the table, laying his chin on his hands. "Well, you'll have to pay for it then." The boss darkened his eyes as stared down at the male.

"I won't be found, and neither will that guy that looks like me" The male said, his body oozing with determination. 

"Oh you better make sure of that. Mad Hatter makes no room for leniency, you know that." The boss spoke, his smile turning into a scowl.

The male only responded with a sharp glare before he grabbed his cowering friend by the wrist and turned around to leave. "Let's go Kwan." He dragged Seungkwan as they marched out of the base.

***

"My fault. You got blamed for my fault." Seungkwan scolded himself as the male calms him down. He was quite stressed himself, and Seungkwan could catch on to his emotions, adding on to the guilt he already felt. "It's not your fault Kwan, don't worry, I'll fix this mess." The older comforted Seungkwan before he threw a tantrum. "Really hyung?" Seungkwan gave a longing look at the older, who simply nodded. "Yes Kwan, you don't need to worry, it's not your fault. Hyung here will fix this mess" The older assured.

***

Back at his house, the male read the news article from top to bottom, and bottom to top all over again. None of the comments even mentioned his own name at the slightest. Every single one criticised the male detective, comments calling him deranged for killing and setting fires, some attacking his family for raising a psychopathic child. Yet nothing hinted at the male himself being the culprit. He shook his thoughts away before searching up on the detective. All he knew was that this detective looked exactly like him. And it was the only thing that was keeping him off the police force's radar.

"Who exactly are you Kwon Soon? And why do you look so much like me?" The male questioned, staring at his computer screen.

***

"Hello? Where are you?" A voice spoke through the phone. "Don't worry about me Gyu, I'm doing fine." The male replied, brushing off the question. "Are you-" The voice cut himself off before he repeated it again. "Are you mixing with the gang stuff again?" The voice finished his sentence, this time sounding a little more heated. The male voice sighed through the phone, "I'm not Gyu, just, it's nothing. We can do this later." The male voice huffed, ending the call before the voice could squeezed anymore words in. "But-"

"I can't trust his words this time." The so-called male, Gyu muttered to himself as he checked online. "Wait a minute, isn't that-" He stared at the photo of Kwon Soon, as the headlines read 'Detective turned murderer'

Gyu shook his head, the person he knew wasn't a detective, but this detective looked like his friend? From his eyes to his mouth. Gyu walked down the road, tilted his head in confusion as his eyes were glued to his phone. That is, until he saw a sleeping male by the roadside that resembled the photo. He wasn't his friend for sure. But definitely the detective that was labelled as the detective who became a murderer. Gyu stared at the suffering male, who was shrinking his body, his knees held up to his chest as his face frowned.

"It'll be wiser to bring him to my house, maybe he can help me with the problems I have on hand.." The male muttered to himself before grabbing the unconscious male up and carried him bridal style into his nearby car at the parking lot.

***

Soon P.O.V
A pounding headache woke me up, the last thing I could remember was getting hungry and tired before I rested by the roadside. Soon enough, I was knocked out by fatigue and hunger. I stood up and dusted myself, before I took a good look at my surroundings and realised that I was in an actual house.

"Ah, I see you're awake!" a male marched into the living room, his looks left me speechless. Why does he look like Min? I stood there frozen, silence filled the room after he spoke, which got interrupted by my grumbling stomach. "I'm sorry, who?"