File #11: Race (1/2)

<strong style="font-family:'helvetica neue';font-size:24px;line-height:1.6;">STOP. BEFORE YOU READ ANY FURTHER...I think I died a little on the inside :')<u>Gwangju</u>"Jaejoong, there you are!" Junhyung ran up to him.

"I fucking let her get away, damn it-"

"Now's not the time to feel bad, we can worry about your stupidity later." Junhyung shook his head. "Our priority is to find the three girls-"

"Wait, even the other two were kidnapped?!" Jaejoong's eyes widened.

"Unfortunately. We don't know where Jihyun's location is but Sohyun had called Eunjae when she was abducted, so we know that she was last at Namdong-gu." Junhyung nodded at Eunjae, who was talking on the phone with someone. "That's where her brother and his friends stay."

"JJ, Doojoon just called me. He asked around and told me that Jihyun was last seen entering a drugstore with a male with blonde hair. They had gone out through the back door and disappeared into the alley." Jina looked at them gravely. "The witnesses didn't see any signs of Jihyun being forced to accompany him, so it could either be that Jihyun was blackmailed into following him or she knew the person."

"Yeah... what about Sohyun's story?" Jaejoong looked at her.

"Well, she was at Namdong-gu, turns out she managed to give her police officer the slip and went down a deserted pathway for a smoke, and then when the officer walked down that road, he found her cellphone. I think Eunjae had called her number then so that's how we knew the location."

"Guys, I called my friend in the area, she's asking everyone she knows for whether they've seen the three of the girls." Eunjae joined the discussion. "But I really think that it would be easier if we put up images on the internet-"

"It's not a bad idea, but we can't cause a panic amongst citizens, especially when the murders have media coverage." Jina shook her head. "Nope, I think it's best if we asked around in person."

"Right, and because they're not well known, it's easier to keep quiet about this for a short while." Junhyung looked around. "Ay, Eunjae, isn't that your brother?"

Eunjae turned around, and saw a tall figure waving at her.

"Jongup, what are you doing here?" She arched her eyebrows.

"Oh, just walking about, trying to heal myself after being kicked in the stomach trying to save someone-" He sighed.

"Oh, okay- wait, WHAT?" She shouted. "Saving a girl-"

"Yeah, brown hair tied up in a bun, fringe and all-"

Eunjae whipped out a picture of Sohyun and showed it to him. He slowly nodded, his eyes widening.

"The very same person." He nodded. "Some lady was trying to mess with her so I stepped in, which was when I got kicked into the stomach. I think I was on the ground for about five minutes, so I couldn't chase them-"

"Do you know what way they went?" Junhyung asked.

"They were running towards the city centre, I think-"

"Okay, we got a lead-" Junhyung went back to talking on his phone, while Eunjae sighed.

"How many times have I told you not to get involved in such shit?" She shook her head.

"Ay, you can't blame me, I was such a great help!" He shrugged. "Okay, I'm going to leave now, so be careful, noona, because she kicks like a bitch. Bye!" He smiled a little and ran off in the other direction.

"So we're starting our search in the city centre..." Junhyung nodded. "It's a very crowded place so they might have been spotted... unless our murderers stick to the shadows..."

"Shit, I fucked up big time, huh?" Jaejoong sighed heavily.

"Look, Jaejoong, what's happened has happened." Eunjae sighed. "Let's just focus on getting them back as soon as we can."

"Eunjae's right. No point in sulking about it now." Jina nodded.

"I have a hunch as to why Hyuna might have gotten away from Jaejoong..." Junhyung spoke up. "It could be that she saw Jiyoon's lover, who we now know is-"

"One of the murderers." Eunjae looked at Jaejoong. "How did she get away, Jaejoong?"

"Well, we were standing on one side of the road, when she suddenly stopped, like she'd seen someone." He screwed up his face in an attempt to remember. "But before I could say anything, she sprinted across the road, just before the lights turned red. Then we had to wait-"

"Well, the timing was on their side for sure-" Junhyung grumbled.

"Well, I mean, judging by the way you described her, Junhyung's theory would make sense, seeing as she disappeared..." Eunjae nodded.

"Yeah- Doojoon." Jina spoke through her phone again. "Block all the exits leading out from Incheon- Or we could do a thorough inspection of every vehicle leaving the city- okay, okay-"

"This just went from bad to worse..." Eunjae groaned. "Shit...""What have we got, Yoseob?" Doojoon walked into the alley from the drugstore's back door.

"I found Jihyun's phone. Well, parts of it anyways." Yoseob held up a broken phone. "The SIM card is still intact, so we can hopefully track the location of the other phone. Can we assume that the last call made to this phone was by one of the murderer's, if the number's unknown?"

"Let's not jump to that conclusion now, eh?" Doojoon shook his head. "Let's check it in a bit."

Yoseob nodded and looked at the frame of the broken phone.

"'Nice try' again... same thing was written on Hyuna's phone as well." Doojoon said quietly. "Plus, it's written in lipstick."

"Well, Kikwang's got some work to do." Yoseob nodded as he put the frame inside a plastic bag. "Well, I think that's all I could find from here. Checked everywhere thoroughly."

"Well, yeah..." Doojoon looked at the door again. "Hey, Yoseob. Didn't the store owners say they were locked inside when the murderer and Jihyun were out here, in this alley? Something like that?"

"Well, not really" Yoseob slowly nodded. "No one went out around fifteen minutes after those two went out the door, but when they wanted to dispose of some trash, they saw that the door was locked, so they used a master key to open the door."

"So they didn't find it suspicious at all when they used the back door?" Doojoon arched his eyebrows.

"Well, I guess not. I mean, medical drugs aren't the only things being sold here." Yoseob shrugged. "So are we done, or should we luminol the area?"<u>Science Time!</u>

I used the term 'luminol' in the previous chapter as well, so you must be wondering wtf is that?

For those of you that don't know, luminol is a chemical that works by chemilluminescence - basically, glowing. It's used a lot in criminal investigations. You know how in CSI you might not spot the blood because it's been cleaned away, but the truth is that tiny particles of blood will cling to the spot it was splattered at and people can't spot it unless they get like magnifying lenses or microscopes, get my drift? :D

So how does luminol work?

When you spray luminol on an area of blood, it will reach with the haemoglobin in the blood and this produces a neon-bluegreen light because the reaction will produce light."Yeah, why not?" Doojoon shrugged. "I mean, Kikwang can always get another shipping."

Doojoon and Yoseob grabbed the luminol sprayers and began to spray them on the ground and the walls.

"Alright, let's hit the lights." Doojoon nodded and turned off the lights.

"Holy shit..." Yoseob clicked his tongue. There were a lot of blue-green, illuminous patches on the floor.

"That is a hell lot of blood." Doojoon shook his head. "Fuck..."

"Look at this, on the wall..." Yoseob pointed at a horizontal blue-green pattern on the wall. "Looks like a cut to the artery, the blood's splashed against the wall in a line..." Yoseob put his hand against the bloodstain and found it glowing on his fingers. "Blood stil relatively fresh... I think Jihyun was killed here."