Chapter Text
'Why did you become a police officer?'
That was the question that everyone in her field of work has faced at least once in their life. For some people, the answer is because they idolize the police force, for others it could be because of money problems and a police academy was all they could provide; but for Soohyun? She's not sure.
At first, she attended because she felt that she wanted to help the little people. But as she ages and changes from a newbie to the lieutenant in the Regional Investigation Unit; she's not so sure anymore.
The concept of her not knowing why she chose this path in life has never really bothered her before but after that time her junior asked, the thought has been bugging her.
But she didn't have time to ponder on all those things when she was going around breaking up illegal gambling rings.
-
"Detective, what case are we handling this time?" Her junior, Lee Hyukjae asks.
Soohyun sets down a folder of files on the keyboard in front of Hyukjae, "a sicko actor being accused of abusing his power for sexual favors."
"An actor?" Hyukjae asks, now interested as he starts flipping through the file; the excitement didn't last long. "Nam Seok Hoon? He does have so many rumors on the net, but still…"
"Finding out it's true is a bit disturbing?"
Hyukjae nods, closing the file and sliding it towards Soohyun. "He's one of the nation's top actors, can't believe he's such a bastard."
"Is he?" She asks conversationally, not entirely listening to his words.
"Detective, you should watch more films. He's Nam Seok Hoon, one of the four pillars of acting in our country!" Hyukjae says, suddenly all pumped up, passionately explaining to Soohyun about the 'four pillars'. "First, there's Nam Seok Hoon, most famous for his role in the critically acclaimed film 'Tyrant's Promise'. Next, there's Kim Gaon- though he doesn't exactly count as an actor but-"
"Hyukjae, trace Nam Seok Hoon's most recent places and track his hotel stays too," she says, cutting the other off before he could continue ranting.
"Right away, detective!"
The two of them went to work silently on their own investigation after that. Even before the sun set, Soohyun already knew that it was going to be a long work day.
"Detective, I found some leads but I don't think it's going to do us any good," Hyukjae says while moving the screen of his computer to face her. On the display was a picture from a fansite, 'Nam Seok Hoon spotted at Palace Hotel, what is he doing there?' Was the caption. "It wasn't only that one, he was also spotted multiple times at the Nebula Hotel."
"Palace and Nebula," Soohyun says while humming in thought. Those are both very expensive luxury hotels, she notes. "Hyukjae, dig a little deeper into their guest list, find out how many times he has been there while I check the legitimacy of those photo's dates."
It was a slow work day but at least it was a fruitful one.
Her eyes half asleep; her brain tired from looking at so many people going in and out of the Palace Hotel lobby. When Soohyun was half way from calling it quits for the day, a familiar looking person came walking in through the revolving doors.
"Found him."
Soohyun ignores Hyukjae who also stirs awake at her words, opting to follow their guy as Nam Seok Hoon walks towards the lifts. "Hyukjae, check the Palace Hotel website. Is it possible to make reservations online?" She instructs the other while flicking through security cameras trying to find where Nam Seok Hoon had gone.
"The hotel provides online reservations with online keys into the rooms too," Hyukjae says right as Soohyun catches Nam Seok Hoon walking out of the lift at the tenth floor. "Should I request a guest list from the hotel?"
"Do it." From the corner of her eyes, she could see Hyukjae clicking away on his computer but her focus was on the security camera feed in front of her.
Nam Seok Hoon walks into one of the rooms on the far left side of the hotel wing, near none of the other guests; intentional, she guesses. Right before he enters, a cleaning girl comes out of the room next door. Oddly, the girl doesn't seem surprised or anything at seeing Nam Seok Hoon. No, her reaction felt a bit weird.
"Hyukjae, how popular did you say Nam Seok Hoon was?" Soohyun pauses the feed and shows it to Hyukjae. "Would a girl this age recognize him?"
"Of course; but Detective." Hyukjae leans forward to look at the feed properly. "I can't say for sure since it has such low resolution but, doesn't the girl look as if she doesn't want Nam Seok Hoon to see her?"
Soohyun nods. "Also request the shifts of the cleaning girls who work on the tenth floor's left wing on the 23rd of April. Search for 23:34."
They got leads; Palace Hotel and Nebula Hotel. She came home that night (4 am the next day) with an easy heart. Already securing some interesting leads and people to interview for the next day; Soohyun slept soundly.
-
Soohyun slept fine yesterday, yet why does she feel so tired today? It was as if her gut was telling her today was going to be tiring and that it was better to call in sick; but what investigation lieutenant calls in sick when they just caught a lead? So she dragged herself out of a soft bed and attended work.
"Lieutenant Yoon, the chief wants to meet you."
This is what her gut was telling her, huh? Just walked into the office and was already getting called by the chief. What a day ahead of her. Even if she was feeling lethargic to do so, Soohyun still walked to the chief's office.
"The Nam Seok Hoon case is going to be picked up by the live court show." Chief Jo deposits an opened file on the table and points at the phone number that was inside. "Write it down, this is Chief Judge Kang's number, you'll work personally with him for this case."
"With him? And not with the attorney?" Soohyun asks but Chief Jo gives her a hard stare that means 'no questions'. So Soohyun walked out of the Chief's room with a star Judge's number saved into her phone.
When she walked back to her desk, Hyukjae was also present. The younger one waves her over, "I heard you got called by the chief, did he say anything about the case?"
"The Nam Seok Hoon case is going to be handled by the live court show." Soohyun sits down on her seat and leans back on it while saying, "Hyukjae, you know who Kang Yohan is, right?"
"Of course!" Hyukjae says while nodding vigorously. "Who in the nation doesn't know the star Judge? Wait, then does that mean we're going to be working with Kang Yohan himself?"
She didn't bother answering, merely nodding; she also ignored the whoop of joy that Hyukjae lets out. Kang Yohan? A judge who's also the star of the nation. A judge who fights for the little people of the country, known for being brutal with his punishments; sounds too good to be true.
Who exactly is Kang Yohan?
"Oh, Detective, I got an okay from Palace Hotel." Hyukjae tapped away on his keyboard before turning his screen to Soohyun. "They also sent three people that they said were in charge of the tenth floor's left wing that day. I'm not so sure which one is our girl from yesterday though."
On the display were three girls, all identical hair styles. Han Jaehee, Kim Haeun and Kim Chanmi; all similar to each other meaning there was no way they could identify them from just the photo that was provided.
"We're going to have to talk to all of them then," Soohyun concludes. She was about to stand up and tell Hyukjae they were going over now, but she was cut off by her phone ringing.
To her surprise, it was Kang Yohan.
"Lieutenant Yoon Soohyun speaking."
"This is Kang Yohan." A smooth voice comes out of the speaker of her phone, it's tone nowhere near as polite as she expected the star judge to be. "Let's schedule a meeting later tonight; when is good for you?"
Soohyun looks at the clock; 12 pm. "Fine then. How does eight pm sound?"
"That's doable; meet me at the Supreme Court building." With no other words, Kang Yohan hung up.
"W-Was that Kang Yohan?" Hyukjae asks, his voice barely above a whisper. Apparently, the speaker of her phone was so loud that it was audible even to Hyukjae. "I can't believe we're working with a celebrity now…"
"Working with a celebrity to catch another celebrity, remember that." Soohyun grabs her jacket, "come on, we're going to go talk with those three girls."
The Palace Hotel was not far from where they were. It did not take long by car to arrive at the luxury hotel; with its tall and high glass panes by the entrance greeting them coldly. Even when they walked inside, everything they could see were either marble or carpeted floors; people bubbling in and out of the lobby, some impassive, some happy and some not so.
Her and Hyukjae immediately head to the receptionists that were lined up not far from the entrance. They chose the nearest to them. "We're from the Regional Investigation Unit. Are Han Jaehee, Kim Haeun and Kim Chanmi present?" She says while flashing her badge at the receptionist.
"I'm sorry but do you have a warrant for it?" The receptionist asks. When Hyukjae shakes his head, the receptionist continues: "I will ask if you're allowed access then."
The two of them wait as the receptionist talks quietly on the phone; her head faced away from them. Before long, she turns back. "Sorry, you need a warrant for these things. You may come back when you get a hold of one."
Soohyun sighs after hearing this. She didn't really want to spend a night writing a warrant form and asking the higher ups to approve it. Just as she and Hyukjae were about to turn around and call it a day, the receptionist called for them again.
"Please don't tell anybody else about this. Jaehee and Chanmi only have night shifts here but I'm not sure about Haeun."
And so, Soohyun could confidently think she won't have to pull another all nighter filling out warrant request forms.
-
Following the receptionist's tip, they went and visited the address that was listed on the two girl's profiles. They were banking on the fact that the girl would hopefully be home; sadly, their first attempt did not go smoothly.
Han Jaehee, 23, lives alone in a small apartment complex about ten minutes away from the hotel. Visiting her place proves to be a bust as they talk to her neighbor.
"Hey, is the girl who lives here, Han Jaehee?" Soohyun asks the guy who just came out of the apartment next to Han Jaehee's. "Know where she could be?"
The guy hesitates, eyes trailing to their clothes. "...are you two debt collectors?"
"We're just some people who work with her, we wanted to give her back her things," Hyukjae lies smoothly. Just like Hyukjae tried to do, the neighbor becomes less tense but still very wary of them.
"Jaehee isn't usually home at this time, she has another shift at some minimart. Try again around seven."
With the new information, they left and headed towards their next destination. Hopefully, it was a fruitful vendor this time around.
"Kim Chanmi, 18, lives with her grandmother. I think this is the address." Hyukjae says as they reach a small house by the side of the city, almost forty five minutes away by car from the hotel. "But it's so far?"
"Let's ring the bell anyway." She steps forward, pressing on the doorbell but no sound comes out. "Is it dead?" She muses before opting to start knocking on the corroding metal gate.
Now that she gets a good look at it, the state of the house wasn't really good. A corroding metal gate which has it's paint looking as if it hasn't been renewed for ten years; a wall around the house that has been vandalized by multiple gangs and people.
She's seen worse states of houses but this was not one to scoff at. When there was no response that was coming, Soohyun knocked again; harder this time.
"One second!" A girl's voice was heard from inside.
Using this time to look around the house some more, she notices a full trash can not far from where she and Hyukjae stood. Soohyun had to squint her eyes a bit to see if what she was seeing was true.
"Sorry, but what business do you have here?" A girl (Kim Chanmi she assumes) says as she opens the metal gate large enough to peek her head out.
"We're from the Regional Investigation-"
"What are your relations to Nam Seok Hoon?" She says, completely cutting off Hyukjae. 'Jackpot,' she thinks when Kim Chanmi very visibly shifts at the mention of the actor's name. "Kim Chanmi, I'm Lieutenant Yoon Soohyun and this is my partner Lee Hyukjae. We're in charge of the case against Nam Seok Hoon," she adds while flashing her badge.
Kim Chanmi looks to be frozen on the spot for a few beats of silence before finally sighing. "Please watch your step inside, grandmother is sleeping."
Soohyun and Hyukjae nodded, following her instructions as they were led to a small room near the entrance; Kim Chanmi's bedroom if she were to guess from the rolled up futon and small dresser that was inside.
"Excuse the mess," Kim Chanmi says before rolling out a carpet for them to sit on. "I'm not entirely sure why you came to me r-regarding him."
"There were some interesting things in your trash can outside," Soohyun starts, wanting to gauge the reaction from Kim Chanmi but the girl was vervehently not looking in her direction. "You used to be a big fan, huh?"
This time, Kim Chanmi flinches. "W-Why do you think so?"
"Those markings on the wall looks as if a poster was put up there for a long time." She points to the side of the wall where there were barely visible telltale markings of a poster used to being there. "I'm curious as to what that empty wood stand is doing on your dresser, is it for the signed phone case in the trash?"
At first, Kim Chanmi kept silent; refusing to look up from her hands, head hanging low. Her body language reads as if she is caught red handed in the act.
"Ms. Kim, we're not sent by Nam Seok Hoon," Hyukjae says softly. "We're working with Kang Yohan in this case."
"Your name won't be revealed, I promise this on my badge," Soohyun says. This time Kim Chanmi sighs, deflating into herself before looking up at them with hopeful eyes.
"I was a fan of his. It started when I saw him act in 'No Stop'; but then…" Again, Kim Chanmi hesitates, lifting up a hand and rubbing herself on the shoulder; outwardly distressed. "But then, I met him at my job."
The two of them stayed silent, letting Kim Chanmi take a break before continuing. "I was so happy when I first saw him; an actor I idolized for years was right there in front of me; and I went up to him, told him that I was such a big fan of his, that I even went to one of his fansigns. But then- then he started inviting me into his room a-and he started advancing on me…"
"Was this all in one meeting?" She cuts in.
Kim Chanmi shakes her head, "at first he was nice and polite b-but then… when I saw him the third time, he was on the phone outside of his room; talking very harshly."
"You came up to him?" Hyukjae asks, edging Kim Chanmi to keep going.
"H-He started saying how he was thankful that I was there about how I should come into his room," Kim Chanmi says before hesitating again. "About how I was l-lucky as a fan to experience this…"
"That bastard." Soohyun ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "Did the asshole say anything to stop you from talking?"
"He said that it was no use; that he could get me fired from my job." Kim Chanmi looks up and grabs Sohyun's hands, clutching it tightly as if her life depended on it. "You can't tell anybody about any of this, please. I have my grandmother to take care of; she's the only family I have left."
With steady hands, Soohyun let hers rest on top of Kim Chanmi's trembling ones. "No harm shall come to both you and your grandmother, I promise." She and Hyukjae left the unassuming house with renewed desire to catch the trash that dares to abuse his power.
-
The Supreme Court building is supposed to look and feel imposing, isn't it? Soohyun gets the intention and she absolutely also gets the feeling of the absolute power of the law from the place; but something's bugging her.
Something about the Supreme Court building just felt too imposing and intimidating. As if it was made to be unapproachable. If Hyukjae was here, he would gawking and ahh-ing at all the sights.
At that time, she was almost happy that she came alone and told Hyukjae to start digging into the Nebula Hotel's sitighting; find whatever he could and tell her later after she finishes the meeting.
"Stop." A hand stops her from walking anywhere closer to the Supreme Court; it was a security guard. "State your business here."
Sighing, Soonhyun took out her badge for the third time that day. "Regional Investigation Unit Lieutenant Yoon Soohyun, I have a prior arrangement with Chief Judge Kang Yohan."
"Very well, you may enter," the guard says after examining and determining that her badge was legit. Pocketing her trusty badge, Soohyun walks nearer towards the building.
To her left were onlookers and people openly observing the building, looking interestedly as she walked into the building's lobby. If the Palace Hotel's lobby was extravagant and luxurious, this was sleek and modern in the design; filled with portraits of famous judges across the years; white as far as she can see.
Did they not have any other colours to decorate this place?
"Lieutenant Yoon Soohyun?" A voice calls out to her, snapping Soohyun's attention back to the present. In front of her was a lady, not far from age as it seems. "Nice to meet you, I'm Associate Judge Oh Jin Joo from the live court."
"Nice to meet you too, Judge Oh." Soohyun extends a hand for the associate judge to shake; Oh Jin Joo accepts it with a smile.
"Thank you for lending your help in the investigation for the trial, Detective." Oh Jin Joo lets go of her hand, gesturing towards the stairs while saying, "there are other people that are supposed to meet you; shall we go?"
She nodded and then they were walking up the stairs. Just like the lobby and first floor, there were only white walls and tiles. Was that a symbol of the pureness of the law or was it to cover up the building's misdeeds? But she tosses the thought away because Soohyun's a detective; she's not supposed to muse over these things after all.
Not too long after they walked up the stairs, Judge Oh directed them to a more narrow hallway that leads to one room. If she were to hazard a guess, that was probably Kang Yohan's office; the one that was blown up by a terrorist attack not too long ago.
Judge Oh opens the door for her, letting Soohyun walk in first. She nods her head in thanks while walking in. The interior was as extravagant as it looked from the outside; big glass panes by the left side; a big wood desk near the middle end of the room; and the big painting that was said to be where the bomb was hidden by the terrorist. In the middle were two people, one was turned away from her while sitting on a chair behind the desk (she assumes this is Kang Yohan). The other one was sporting a friendly smile on his glasses adorned face.
"Excuse me," Soohyun belatedly says as she stops not far from the glasses wearing judge (she assumes he's a judge). "I'm Lieutenant Yoon Soohyun from the Regional Investigation Unit."
"Welcome detective," Kang Yohan stands up and walks closer to her, stopping only a hand's length away from her. "To the Supreme Court building."
"Chief Judge Kang Yohan?" She asks while nodding in greeting at the man.
Kang Yohan nods before gesturing towards Oh Jin Joo and the other judge respectively. "You've already met Associate Judge Oh. This is Associate Judge Jung In Seok." Judge Jung does a shallow bow to her to which Soohyun responds back by bowing too. Then, her attention shifted back to Kang Yohan who was staring at her openly with interest in his eyes. "Let's start the briefing, hm?"
Soohyun nods as Kang Yohan takes his seat back on the desk while the rest of them stand in front of the desk. The briefing goes normal, recounting all the facts that they knew about the case; the numerous allegations and cases filed against Nam Seok Hoon, some on the net and some coming to them directly.
But there was no hard evidence; evidence that would be enough to convict Nam Seok Hoon; evidence that the other can't talk himself out of.
If only that was a thing in their grasps.
"Me and my partner have been tracking our suspects' moves and recent places; I will inform you immediately if we run into something big," she informs the other three people in the room at the end. Everybody nodded at her words while adding words of encouragement and soon they were dismissed.
Everybody was dismissed but her.
"Judge Oh and Judge Jung, you may leave," Kang Yohan says. "Detective Yoon, stay; I want to chat directly with you."
She was wrong. The inherent feeling of wrongness ever since she woke up wasn't warning about the chief calling her in; it was about this. Soohyun was dismissive about the big warning sign that nature gave her and she was now going to reap the benefits.
"Detective, I have some files you may want to look at." Kang Yohan stands up and adjusts his suit jacket while smiling at Soohyun. "But I seem to have forgotten it at home, could you spare time to come and get it with me?"
"I have to go back and help Hyukjae-"
"It won't be long," Kang Yohan cuts her off smoothly. The chief judge smiles at her once again before turning around and grabbing his briefcase. "You walked in, correct?" He says conversationally but the elder did not wait for Soohyun to respond. "We'll take my car."
-
If her years in this workfield was telling her anything, it must be 'ah, this feels like a kidnapping.'
Unfortunately, Soohyun's inherent interest to see the deeper layers of the mysterious judge gave way to her rationality. So she was seated in the passenger's side of the car with Kang Yohan.
"Detective, where did you go to high school?" The judge suddenly asks out of the blue.
"A normal school; Gongbu High School," she says even though the naggingly bad feeling was there again. "Why do you ask, sir?"
"Nothing." Kang Yohan takes a left to a more secluded part of the city (a part of the city that Soohyun knows is all forest). "Did you go to kindergarten there too?"
"Yes," she still answered but her head was up in the sky. The more Kang Yohan drove the less Soohyun saw cars and people walking by them; the less there were people living nearby.
Fuck, this is a kidnapping.
Soohyun was so caught up in her thoughts that she did not notice the cold and blank look that Kang Yohan gave her through the edges of his eyes. Nor did she notice the judge's hands tightening around the car steer. What she did notice though, was that they were heading up a small hill; by the distance, she could see an old but extravagant looking manor up on top.
'Are rich people just crazy or was this man cosplaying as batman?' Was the thought that ran through her mind as they exited the car and Kang Yohan confidently walked up towards the front door, looking at Soohyun expectedly as if she was the one acting weird about it all.
"Rich people are crazy," she accidentally whispered out loud. Whether or not Kang Yohan heard it, the other did not choose to acknowledge it; opting to open the front door instead (unlocked she notes).
If the outside looked like a castle on top of the hills, the inside sorta looked like a forest. Soohyun saw the amount of beautiful and lush plants that reside in the house's garden but the interior was something else entirely. In every side of the house were medium sized plants that Soohyun can't name for the life of her; on every surface available was small potted plants, be it cactuses or houseplants or even flower pots; in every window was hanging plants and hydroponics visible from outside of the window.
Other than that small (arguably very not small) detail of the house, the interior looked just as Soohyun imagined it to be; very old and screamed murder motel from the 2000s; especially with those green printed wallpapers that were all around the hallways.
"You're home early," a voice says sarcastically from on top of her; the second floor Soohyun discovers when she looks up to see a young man (probably the same age as her) looking down at them with a blank expression.
"Are you still mad at me?" Kang Yohan says, contrary to his words, it sounded as if he was heavily amused at the man's dry attitude.
"Am I?"
At this, Kang Yohan laughs. "Come down and entertain the guest for me while I grab some files," the chief judge says while taking off his suit's jacket and walking off to a hallway that she assumes leads to where the files are. Not far behind Kang Yohan disappearing, footsteps were heard before the sounds of something closing and opening. That was when Soohyun noticed, 'was that a fucking lift?'
It was, and inside was the man that was looking down at her from the second floor just a moment ago. After getting a clearer look at the stranger, Soohyun notices that the man is definitely around her age. He was wearing a beige coloured sweater with warm pajama pants; probably about to go to bed soon.
"I'm so sorry about his hospitality, he can't be fixed," the man says right off the bat; his expression turns fond while saying the last part of his words. The man turns back to focus on her, extending a hand. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Kim Gaon."
"Lieutenant Yoon Soohyun from the Regional Investigation Unit, it's nice to meet you too." Soohyun shook the man- Kim Gaon's hand with no suspicions but then her mind bugged her. Where had she heard the name Kim Gaon from?
"...Yoon Soohyun?" Kim Gaon asks, face perplexed and eyes complicated. As if he has just seen a ghost.
Soohyun cautiously nodded, "is there something wrong?"
"No, nothing; it was nothing." Kim Gaon turns away from her, his back to her face. From her position, Soohyun could see that the other was shaking his head; she debated to ask him again what was wrong but it wasn't really her place to do so. In the end, she lets Gaon have his space.
From the distance, Soohyun could see a clock that showed that it was already ten pm; almost eleven pm too. 'Shit, she totally forgot to tell Hyukjae that she wasn't going to come back to the station- wait.'
"You're Kim Gaon from the four pillars of acting…!" She accidentally audibly gasps and lets out a whisper. When Kim Gaon turns back to her with a questioning expression, Soohyun raises a hand to her lips. "Excuse me, ignore what I said…"
Instead of doing what she asked, Kim Gaon has the audacity to laugh at her. "S-Sorry, it was a bit funny," the actor says while looking away from her pointed glare. "Detective, would you like some tea while you wait?"
"There would be no need," Kang Yohan intervenes, suddenly appearing; already out of his suit and into casual clothes (who the fuck wears a bathrobe as casual clothes?). "She's just about to leave," the chief judge says while handing Soohyun a paper folder.
"...right," she says while accepting the folder.
If she was confused before then what happens next takes the cake. Kang Yohan releases the folder on her hands and proceeds to wrap it around Kim Gaon's middle section before leaning in and kissing the actor on the cheek. Soohyun would be lying if she didn't say she had to suppress the urge to gawk and choke at the sudden display of affection.
Hyukjae was right, she had to watch the news more often.