File #13: Salut (1/2)

<u>Incheon</u>"She's not picking up her phone..." Hyunseung sighed. "She never leaves it on, it's so annoying, aish-"

His younger sister looked at his worried expression, sighing to herself. If only Hyuna was a bit more responsible in the way she acted sometimes. Given the situation, she ought to be more careful, especially as she was an upcoming idol, and the murderers were tracking idols and related persons.

"Seung-ah, calm down." Geurim ruffled his now black hair, smiling hopefully. "She's probably held up in early morning practice. You know how your company can work you to the bone sometimes."

"I sure hope so, Geurim." He mumbled, tucking his phone away in his pocket. "But she hasn't been answering my calls since yesterday, and I have to admit that I'm kinda worried. You know, given the whole situation-"

"I know, Seung-ah." She walked into her kitchen, him following close behind. "You're fine with scrambled eggs, right?"

"Yeah..." He nodded heavily. "I'm just really worried... I wonder if I should file a police complaint or something-"

"Seung-ah, it's too soon for that." Geurim shook her head. "Don't worry too much, it's gonna be alright."

"Okay... I'm gonna watch some TV, then. See what's the weather going to be like today..."

Hyunseung dragged himself to the living room, mind clouded with worry as he turned on the television. For some reason, he had a very bad feeling about this...

"Today's weather won't be very pleasant, with a forecast of thunderstorms for the entire day-"

"It's gonna rain today!" He shouted to his sister, who let out a loud groan.

"Fucking awesome. I can get everything done today!" She droned, voice dripping with such intense sarcasm that Hyunseung deigned to smile, amidst his worries. Chucking to himself, he went back to surfing through the channels. As he stopped on one that said 'BREAKING NEWS', his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, and froze.Yong Junhyung."You haven't called in a long time, Junhyung." Hyunseung said venomously, eyes forming into slits.

"No, I haven't, Hyunseung." Junhyung sighed through the phone. "But the fact that you haven't hung up means that you're expecting something."

"Where is she?" He said quietly. "Don't fucking lie to me, Junhyung, I know you're a part of the investigation."

"Look at the TV." Junhyung murmured quietly. "I'm sorry, Hyunseung."

Junhyung abruptly hung up. Hyunseung looked at his phone, an uneasy feeling creeping up his throat. He glanced at the TV uneasily.

"In the latest of murders by the perpetrators known as 'The Butchers', are three victims, who were found in the Italian hotel Agostino, in downtown Incheon. Nam Jihyun, Kwon Sohyun and Kim Hyuna, who were set to debut under CUBE Entertainment, were found last night at 10:30 PM. Chief investigator Yoon Doojoon has not been open for comment, but however, has told reporters on the scene that the murder was to 'vicious to describe and horrible to even witness'-"Hyunseung looked down at his feet, his vision becoming blurry as he bit back a sob.

His girlfriend was killed...

"Hyunseung." His sister knelt down in front of him, pulling him into a tight embrace. "I'm sorry. Just let it out."

Putting his arms around her, he let out his tears out, sobbing into her shoulder uncontrollably.Jongup woke up that morning, hearing the screams of his sister. He sat up, thinking that he was experiencing the after effects of a bad dream, when he heard Himchan shout her name from the other room.

"Noona-?!" Jongup bolted out of his bed, and dashed out of his room. He burst into her room, to find Eunjae crying uncontrollably into Himchan's chest.

"What happened?" He asked Himchan as he sat down on the other side of the bed.

"I heard her scream, and I rushed in here." Himchan said quietly, patting her head gently as he tried to calm her down. He looked slightly shaken - maybe it was because he hadn't heard Eunjae scream like this before, hadn't seen her this vunerable before.

"Noona?" Jongup asked quietly. "Was is that dream again?"

"Y-Yeah-" Eunjae looked up from Himchan's chest, nodding hesitantly. "Sorry for worrying you-"

"Hush. Did you see anything yesterday? Any bodies?" Himchan asked, and they both took her silence for a yes.

"I've a good mind not to let you go for the investigation." Jongup said sternly, before immediately letting out a sigh. "But as it is, I can't. And there's a reason why..."

Hesitantly, he drew out a card, and held it out in front of sister. Eunjae grabbed it, eyes widening.

"Where did you find this?!" She gasped.

"My locker at TS." Jongup mumbled. "It even has that symbol that the police asked us to look out for."

Jongup pointed at the star symbol, with AJ at the centre. It was no mistake. This was from the murderers.

"Jongup... cancel everything. You're coming with me to HQ today."

"Himchan hyung, can you take care of it?" Jongup asked.

"I'll tell Yongguk and tell him to talk to our manager." Himchan nodded. "Dongwoon, what's wrong?"

Yoseob looked at the younger male with a puzzled expression on his face as Dongwoon stared outside the window, lost in his own little world.

"Why is he zoning out, he rarely zones out!" Junhyung hissed as he swiftly avoided crashing into yet another car that morning.

"Oh, I'm fine. Chill, dude." Dongwoon rolled his eyes, annoyed at being snapped out of his reverie. Looking outside the window again, he smiled to himself, which didn't go unnoticed by Yoseob. Deciding against bringing up the matter right then, he shook his head as Junhyung avoided crashing into a reversing truck.

"This is why you don't drive." Yoseob muttered as he rubbed his temples, which were numb with pain after hitting his head against the window. Junhyung let out a laugh as he slurped up his cola. Yoseob looked at Junhyung in disgust.

"This is why you don't get girls either." He grumbled as Junhyung pulled into the parking lot of the police headquarters.

"Well, frankly, I don't need them. Sometimes, women are the most dangerous creatures to walk on this earth." He said quietly, gripping the steering wheel tightly. Dongwoon looked at Junhyung, and back at Yoseob, and instantly knew who he was talking about.Goo Hara.Dongwoon looked at Junhyung in surprise. This was the first time he was talking about his deceased girlfriend, ever since he broke up with her six months ago. Ever since she was murdered a few weeks ago. But before he could prod further, Junhyung let out a surprised gasp.

"It's Moonjae."

Dongwoon looked at Junhyung in confusion as he got out of the car.

"Moonjae?"

"Eunjae. She's always bringing us a problem, so I call her Moonjae. Make sense now?" He rolled his eyes at the younger male. "And see? Look at what's in her hand."

Dongwoon slowly looked at her, already knowing what he was going to see. He sighed at the sight of the postcard, but was slightly surprised when her brother was with her.

"Eunjae..." Yoseob arched his eyebrows. "Please tell me you didn't bring your brother because you have to babysit him."