April 5, 2020
9.00AM
Sungun Police Agency
Level Two -Violent Crimes Unit Office
It is another morning in the headquarters and the Chief of Violent Crimes Unit exits the elevator with a hot takeaway coffee. He has just ended a call with the prosecutor who updated him on matters relating to the serial killer which was captured last night. Daeyeol was a little worried knowing that the Gojeong-dong suspect did not confess to all murders which were tagged to his name.
According to Youngtaek, Jangjun spent five hours of interrogation without break and yet they both could not determine him as the killer of the remaining victims. It bothers Daeyeol to the core. He cannot even eat his mother's heartfelt dish for breakfast.
As the tall young man marches down the corridor, he notices a huge crowd of female officers gathering around the other end of the hallway. Their large presence piques his interest, although he never really cares about other people besides his duty and his team.
"Mwoya?" Daeyeol blurts to himself, sipping a small gulp.
His eyes travel up and he immediately frowns. The women are hogging the Gents. What ridicule is this?
"Morning, Chief!"
Daeyeol turns behind and acknowledges Donghyun who greets him. "Do you know what's going on there?"
"Ahh," Donghyun hums, wondering the same thing. "Beats me. It could only be a celebrity or Kpop Idol that is hiding in there. Jankanman... Chief, guests should only stay on the first level, right? Why would he be on this level? Ah, some of them think they are big shots, walking around the HQ as though this is their place."
"Are you done nagging?" Daeyeol states emotionlessly.
Donghyun coughs a little and bows. "Joesonghabmida. Pardon me."
"Get rid of them now," Daeyeol commands as he pockets his free hand and walks into the office with a loud shut of the door.
Donghyun squints his eyes, checking if his Chief is planning to stand at the door to watch him do what he was told. Donghyun turns his face towards the crowd and grumbles.
The Vehicle Specialist Sergeant Kim Donghyun is always seen wearing a black leather jacket or windbreaker, along with skinny jeans or khakis. Today, he is wearing the jacket and khaki pants, inevitable carrying a teen gangster look. He could go undercover as a high school student and no one will have any idea he is indeed a fully groomed officer in the Violent Crimes Unit.
"Yah!" Donghyun exploits his loud voice, causing the women to jolt on their footing and turn towards him.
"Officer Donghyun-ssi! You scared us!" says one female officer. "D-Don't get the wrong idea! We are not doing anything wrong! We are just waiting for him to come out-"
"Who is it? Nugu-sijyo?"
"Mollayo! We don't know his face and name! That is why we want to see him and ask him! But he doesn't want to come out!"
"Aish, move away! It's not like you can go inside," Donghyun sounds frustrated, getting fired up by the women's obsession with the unknown man.
The women in uniform and some in office clothes make way for Donghyun. Even though his shorter height could have made him look timid, he walks with grace and confidence. He opens the door and finds no one inside.
Donghyun fixes his eyes on one of the cubicles that is occupied. Instead of calling the man out, he kicks it loud enough to break it.
"Get out of here! You are making a scene at the police quarters. Yah, are you not ashamed of yourself? I can handcuff you right now for trespassing, ara?" Donghyun goes on rambling at the unknown visitor that has gathered unwanted attention.
The door opens with a click of the hinge. It reveals a tall man with a cap covering dark midnight black hair, matching well with his Rayban sunglasses. He is wearing a black windbreaker with a police logo on its left.
"You... Where did you get that jacket?" Donghyun squints his eyes and notices the police logo of a golden falcon resting on two silver branches.
The young man removes his sunglasses and his cap. "Your question serves no purpose. Why would I wear something that does not belong to me?"
The revelation of the young man's face catches Donghyun's breath away. He is incredibly handsome for an officer. His thick black hair crowns his beautifully sculptured face and fair white skin. His height is also a bonus, towering Donghyun.
Not planning to feel intimidated, Donghyun grunts again. "Fine. Explain to me why an officer from the Airport Police Team comes here hiding-"
"I'm not hiding," the young officer interjects and wears back his cap. "I was really using it until you interrupted me."
"Are you done now?"
"Yeah, kinda."
"Leave now," Donghyun orders with a pissed off look. "I am warning you because if my chief is in my place right now, you are going to embarrass yourself even more."
"Ara ara," the young man groans and heads to the sink.
Donghyun continues to observe him, as he washes his hands, checking his side-burns and face before rolling his eyes towards Donghyun in the mirror. The Vehicle Specialist looks away and coughs awkwardly.
"Kim Donghyun-ssi."
Donghyun jolts on his spot. "Yah, how do you know my name?"
"Your ID card hanging from your neck?" the young man cocks a brow, stating the obvious.
"Ah, what is it?" Donghyun huffs and pins his hands on his hip.
"Aren't you too young to be in the Violent Crimes Unit?"
"Yah! Are you picking a fight with me?!"
"I am just asking out of pure concern. Or are you not Kim Donghyun-ssi and wearing someone else's stuff?"
"Aigoo, you are barking at the wrong tree! What makes you think I would wear someone else's stuff?!"
"So you are really in Violent Crimes Unit."
"Yes, jinjja!"
"That makes you my senior."
"Kureyo!"
"You are very familiar with this place."
"Kurechi!"
"Then, can you show me how I can get to the Call Center?"
"Get your ass out of here and follow me! Ahh, why beat around the bush if you want my help? Aigoo, kids these days!" Donghyun yells on the top of his voice and exits the toilet with outburst of anger.
The young man giggles and tails behind the shorter officer. With Donghyun's fierce face, the women outside back away, unknowingly allowing the young man escape with Donghyun. As soon as they are far enough from the toilet, the young Airport Police officer grins and walks alongside Donghyun.
"Thank you, Kim Donghyun-Sunbae. I'm Corporal Choi Bomin from the Incheon Air-traffic Control Operation."
"Nice to meet you, I guess," Donghyun slurs as he walks. "What brings you here anyway?"
"Just like you and your team."
Donghyun stops walking and looks up at Bomin in the eyes, which are gorgeously smiling back at him.
"Aren't you part of the Golden Time Team? I am the newest addition."
"What?!"
9.15am
Fantasia Apartment
Unit 03-03
In the bedroom of a slumberous officer, the monitor of his desktop lights up and the speaker plays a melodious tune, easily recognised for an incoming online call.
"Ahh, who the hell..." groans the man under the sheets.
An arm reaches out and his fingers slap on the speaker, which drops to the side, its wires disconnected. The room is brought back to silence.
His phone becomes the next interruption but this time, the man picks it up, still hiding under the voluminous duvet.
"Hmm?"
"Did you get wasted last night, Mr. Y?"
"Yeah," he drawls and it takes him about a few seconds before his brain registers that the caller uses his online game's username.
"Weak."
"Who are you calling weak, Julian?" groans the man who finally gives in, sitting up and ruffling his hair. "I am not in the mood to play now."
"Aigaa! You were burning with excitement the last time we talked. It was as though you were going to kill someone!"
A hiss escapes Sungyoon as he grabs his headphones on the table, connecting the headphones to his phone and adjusting the microphone towards his mouth so that he can lean back against the headboard and toss away the phone.
He recalls the last time he talked to his closest pal in an online game platform. It was probably the time Sungyoon was told hints of Ko Dongcheol's whereabouts that made him encounter Park Jiho, the alleged businessman who conducted illegal prostitution.
Certainly, Sungyoon shared with him about how he was about to take revenge and kill the man who murdered his fiancee. Knowing that the suspect was still not found, the anger rekindles in his chest, making him throw a punch against his pillow.
"Easy there," Julian responds, hearing the sound of Sungyoon's tantrum. "Was it bad? Did you not find him?"
"I won't be talking to you if I did, stupid," Sungyoon grunts, continuing throwing punches on the same pillow.
"How did you lose him?"
"I didn't even get a glimpse of him! False alarm, can't you read that?!"
"It was a lead after 2 years missing in action. You couldn't have jumped in and scared him enough to run away from you."
"I was not that reckless!"
"Yes, of course. And I am the Prince of Busan."
"Shut up! If you are here to crack jokes, I will end the call now!"
"Relax," Julian sighs. "So why are you angry?"
"I just told you I lost him! And I am going to wait for another two freaking years for his name to pop out of nowhere and stab him from the back!"
"Not him."
"What?!"
"It's not the rat. You are not angry at him right now."
Sungyoon refers Ko Dongcheol as the rat, intending to keep the case confidential and unknown to Julian.
"What makes you say that?" Sungyoon softens his yell, feeling confused suddenly.
Julian lets out a forced chuckle. "Is there someone else that pisses you off last night? It sounds like someone new."
Sungyoon brings his duvet over his whole body and shouts in spasms of frustration. He can hear Julian's giggling, amused at Sungyoon's childish tantrums.
"Tell me now," Julian orders firmly but teasingly.
Sungyoon flips down the duvet and blows one sharp breath. He hates the fact that the man in the speaker understands him very well.
After losing Jihye, Sungyoon wallowed in his bedroom for a month. When he was suspended for his reckless behaviour, he invested himself in online gaming. That was when he met Julian, an online gamer just like him. They both began to be partners in any game and they became close enough to share problems of their own lives.
Sungyoon only knows that Julian is located at Busan. He is also a police officer who works in the patrol department just like him. They have a lot in common. They both have lost a loved one during their time of service and they both can relate to one another.
Nonetheless, Julian refuses to reveal his real name and face. It was already a coincidence that both are police officers and they feared their higher-ups find out about their secret connection, especially when they are officials from different states in Korea. They both agreed to keep their identities confidential. It did not stop them from being best friends. Instead of meeting up and chat over drinks, they keep in touch through online calls and chats.
"Are you going to tell me or not?" Julian sounds impatient. "Don't make me use my awesome deduction skills to figure out."
Sungyoon snorts and hugs his pillow. "I'm too tired to explain. Go ahead and guess."
"Is he new?"
"Ani. I talked about him before."
"Was he involved in Case Number 161117?"
Sungyoon stares blankly at his grey duvet. "Hmm."
"The Fox."
The mention of the metaphor strikes Sungyoon in surprise. When it was two years ago, and Sungyoon explained how Hong Joochan played his part in the case, they both decided to call him a fox because Joochan displayed a two-faced personality. Behind his innocent and pitiful face is a pretentious officer who gains through deceit and lies.
The thought of Joochan burns in Sungyoon's ears as he shuts his eyes painfully and grinds his teeth.
Julian continues to recall the fox. "The call operator who did not dispatch the team on time and save your girl. The same jerk who took bribe from suspect and made a false testimony. The coward who disappeared from the Sungun grid."
"And he came back," Sungyoon adds with a heavy heart, pressing his face against the pillow he is hugging. "As the Chief of 112 Emergency Call Centre in Sungun Police Agency."
"Mwo?!"
Julian's abrupt yell jerks Sungyoon in surprise, as Sungyoon yells back for shouting at his ears.
"Yah, did you just make that up? Was that a joke?" Julian asks quickly. "Yah, are you crazy?! Why would he come back there?!"
"You're asking me?! How the hell do I know?!" Sungyoon hisses and groans. "I am already pissed. So don't make me angrier by yelling into my ears."
"Aigaa... He got balls."
"That I am about to crush and get rid of him."
"Worth the bottles of soju you had, I guess. Did you ask him about his partner-in-crime?"
"Not yet," Sungyoon sighs and looks out of the window. "I could not bring it up. The last thing I said to him was to quit and I don't want to see him ever again."
"Are you an idiot? He is your stepping stone to get to the Rat. Did you not want both of those bastards get arrested?!"
"He was pissing me off!"
"What is new, Mr. Y?"
Hearing the sarcastic tone, Sungyoon punches the duvet again. "He heard a barber pole!"
A beat of silence enters between them, Sungyoon ruffling his hair messily that he cannot believe what he has just said. He swears Julian is going to laugh his ass off at him.
"Heard a what?" Julian begs to clarify. "Barber pole?"
"I know how silly that sounds," Sungyoon groans, feeling as foolish as what he just said. "I was responding to an emergency. It was a kidnapping case but the victim was lucky to call the Call Centre. We were about to lose the girl because we couldn't locate her. But this brat... He told me that he heard a barber pole over the line. I trusted him. I searched for a barber shop and found her."
Julian remained silent, always attentive as he listens to Sungyoon.
"It only crossed my mind after I rescued her. How could he hear a barber pole that was outside the building while the victim was locked in the bathroom?" Sungyoon speaks with absolute defeat. "I suddenly became offensive, thinking he was tricking me again, like how he tried to fool everyone during the trial, that he heard something in the recording that we couldn't hear."
Sungyoon hugs the pillow tightly. "Seriously, what is his deal?"
"Maybe he was speaking the truth."
Sungyoon furrows his brows. "Yah, what are you trying to say?"
"Barber pole does make a sound," Julian explains. "The rotations of the two-coloured cylinder creates a revolving sound like this. Try using your fingernail and make circles on the table. Can you hear this?"
Julian makes the sound, and Sungyoon listens enough. "So what? If you do it outside my house, I would not hear it."
"I think you are missing the point here," Julian says and Sungyoon can imagine the Cheshire Cat smile on his face. "Aigaa, you need some reskilling course or something."
"Say that again, moron!"
"Sometimes you need to think with your brain, not with eyes, ears and mouth."
"I'm hanging up!"
"He is trained with psychoanalytic abilities."
Sungyoon bats his eyes, not familiar with that term. "Explain."
"The Fox is probably trained to identify and analyse sounds through any medium, be it through air or radiowaves. In this case, the Fox has the knowledge and skills to trace, visualise and recognise what sounds he hears. However, he may not be able to do that by simply hearing. He might have a tool installed in his headphones to amplify the minimal sound from the other end of the line."
"No way," Sungyoon resists to believe Julian's theory. "I was told that it was the other officer who located her by tracking her phone."
"Are you telling me, they had the address all along but Mr. Fox wanted to play hero by saying he heard a Barber pole?"
"Y-yeah!" Sungyoon shouts, suddenly feeling unconvinced.
Julian pretends to gasp. "Jinjja? How long did you take to find the victim?"
"About 15-20 minutes."
"Daebak. If you had the address, you would have reached there in five minutes, moron! "
Sungyoon cusses and throws a punch on the bed. "Are you blaming me?! Yah, the girl was using a burner phone-"
"Which could take an hour to retrieve her location because your call operators has to guess which cell service she was using. Or maybe, your operator is psychic and he predicts the correct cell service to locate her exactly on his first try."
"Shut up!
Julian sighs. "Mr. Y, all I am saying is that we both respond to emergency cases and we work on time bombs literally every single day. When your call operator speaks, his words aren't spent without a message."
"Say it in a way I can understand, you arse."
"There is something Mr. Fox wanted you to know but he is holding back."
Listening to Julian, Sungyoon begins to think deeper and recall what have been said by Joochan. He hates the fact that Julian is right about this. His deduction skills are on the same par of a criminal mind specialist but it is quite unfortunate that he is only a patrol officer. Like Sungyoon, Julian was suspended and demoted due to a disciplinary action. Being on the same boat, they both understand each other the most.
"One more thing," Julian adds, disrupting Sungyoon's thoughts. "Be careful. I can't tell if you should trust him or not. For me, he is as suspicious as any serial killer out there. Don't get too close but don't stay away from him. Be on your guard at all times. Mr. Y, please do take care of yourself."
Sungyoon breaks into a chuckle and smiles. "Yah, are you worried for me?"
"Shouldn't I be? Who else is going to help me defeat the Dark Emperor in Legions of Dragons?"
"Such an idiot," Sungyoon nods behind a satisfied smile. "I can join you tonight."
"Fine by me but I don't want to be stood up," Julian pouts.
"Aigoo, I told you I can make it-"
Sungyoon is interrupted by another call on the other line. He looks at the ID and notices Donghyun's name flashing on his screen. Sungyoon grunts, feeling irritated that Donghyun has to call at that moment.
"What's the matter?" Julian wonders.
"I have to answer another call. I'll talk to you later."
"Which means tomorrow or never," Julian jokes.
Sungyoon hisses. "Yah, don't be a pussy."
"Stay alive until next time. Promise me!"
"Yeah yeah! Stupid asshole!" Sungyoon yells, followed by loud chortles.
Sungyoon ends the call with Julian and answers Donghyun. "What is it?"
"Aigoo, hyung! You have to come to HQ and see it for yourself!" Donghyun exclaims with full of anxiety.
With a loud irked sigh, Sungyoon wonders what could have put Donghyun in such unnecessary anguish.
10.30 AM
Sungun Police Agency
Violent Crimes Unit Office
Sungyoon is gobsmacked at the sight before him.
He stands at the entrance of the office which belongs to the Violent Crimes Unit. This room was not unfamiliar to him until today. The office is wide enough to host ten officers, each with their own desk. Initially, there are two cubicles with four desks each. The nearest cubicle to the door belongs to a Senior Detective Park, Detective Son Youngtaek, Detective Lee Jangjun, and Detective Donghyun. The other cubicle belongs to only two officers, Assistant Chief Detective Oh who was on hospital leave and the Chief Lee Daeyeol who is not around at the moment.
Apparently, there is a newly installed cubicle with a hanging sign from the ceiling. It says Golden Time Team. Beyond irritated, Sungyoon marches in and snatches the sign off the ceiling.
"Is that asshole bloody crazy? Didn't I make myself clear yesterday?!" Sungyoon barks and throws away the sign to the corner of the room.
Jangjun and Youngtaek are at their desks, sitting idly on their chairs. Youngtaek hides his smirk behind his hand while Jangjun is recording Sungyoon's burst of anger on his phone.
Donghyun arrives about time to witness Sungyoon's rage and approaches him. "Sungyoon-Hyung! Relax!"
"Yah!" Sungyoon faces Donghyun only to have his eyes fallen on a desk. "What the hell?"
Jangjun comes nearer. "Aigoo, why are you so angry, Sungyoon-hyung?"
"Yah, keep quiet," Donghyun warns Jangjun but the older detective pays no heed and slings an arm over Sungyoon's shoulders.
"Or should I say," Jangjun swallows a chuckle, reading the desk plaque. "Co-Leader of Golden Time Team, Detective Choi Sungyoon!"
Another toss strikes the floor, the desk plaque spinning next to the Golden Time Team's label on the floor.
"That little insolent prick," Sungyoon cusses, pushing Jangjun away and pasting his own phone against his ear. "Yah, Hong Joochan! You stay where you are because I am going to come up there and whoop your ass for this stupid shit you are pulling!"
The Chief of Call Centre Manager smiles and he stands above his central desk, sipping his mug of coffee and looking at the view of his operators working restlessly.
"Araso. Don't keep me waiting, partner."
"Partner, your ass!"
+++
A/N: Thank you for reading this!
Lol Joochan and Sungyoon are the best pair! They are so fun to write. If you notice, most of the recent chapters are pretty much fillers because I want to slowly introduce all the members of Golden Child. I hope you can tell who Julian is. His name starts with Z, lol. I just love their bromance when it comes to playing games on smartphones. Of course, there is a reason for this online relationship hehe.
And oofff, I am missing them so much! Please comeback as soon as you can, Golcha! And Goldenness, please continue to support them by watching their MVs and lives too! Let the world know what they are missing out!!!!