[Dong Bang Shin Ki] A Man Who Wasn't There [1/?]
"As I was walking up the stairs,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
dear God I wish he'd go away!"
--Author Unknown
CHOP.
"You really shouldn't have made me so angry."
CHOP.
"I warned you before to leave him alone."
CHOP. SPLAT.
"But of course you wouldn't listen."
WHACK. CHOP. SPLAT.
"This should teach you." A soft laugh.
CHOP.
~*~
"Hoo boy, did I see what I think I saw?" was the first thing out of Park Yoochun's mouth as he banged open the door to his office and sailed in with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee.
Jung Yunho raised an eyebrow from behind is desk. Yoochun politely kicked the door shut behind him, then shot a cheeky little grin at the slightly older man before placing one of the coffee cups on Yunho's desk. Directly over the documents Yunho was reviewing a moment before. Yunho eyed his partner with a slight twitch to the corner of his lip, unsure if he should thank the younger man or berate him. After a few moment of contemplation, Yunho finally let the twitch change to a small grin of thanks before picking up the coffee. "So what did you see?" he asked blandly, taking a small sip of heaven.
"Choi Dong Wook trying to flirt with a really damn pretty thing is what I saw!" Yoochun declared smartly. Three strides were all it took for him to get behind his own desk. He shrugged out of the stuffy suit jacket and immediately loosened his tie and unbuttoned the first two buttons on his dress shirt, tossing everything down on his seat without regard for wrinkles. "Man did you see her? Wow, is all I can say," he continued, grinning up a storm. "No wonder Dong Wook took a liking to her."
Yunho rolled his eyes. Three months with his new partner, and honestly speaking, Yunho really wasn't sure if he should be glad or sad. On one hand the man is extremely competent and they work well as partners, if the cases they worked on where any indication; Yoochun had an eye for detail that Yunho sometimes lacked while Yunho had far more experience, training, and general leadership skills. The first time Yoochun brought his coffee in, made exactly the way Yunho liked it, was a week after sharing the office and Yunho was pleasantly impressed by the other man's keen observation.
Unfortunately, that's where all the pros ended. Yunho, to this day, have yet to meet a man who is as much of a player as Park Yoochun. Every two weeks finds the man sailing in the door with descriptions of his newest girlfriend. Yoochun have also hit on just about every single female within the department, whereupon eighty percent of the time he leaves work with one of them hanging onto his arm. Three months after the transfer into the investigative homicide department the man have slept with almost all the women on their floor, and is currently working his way around the other floors in the department. When asked, Yoochun always just smile and say it's due to his unfailing charms, and also probably the dyed brown hair that made him look almost like a foreigner.
Yet despite this glaringly obvious, and almost disgusting fault, Yunho have to admit that Yoochun isn't a bad guy. Somehow, some way, Yunho and Yoochun have developed a certain depth of friendship over the few months they spent working together, and it finally stopped feeling odd to tag on the "my partner" whenever he introduces the younger man.
"For your information, Mr. Women-Radar, that "pretty thing" you so ogled is actually a man," Yunho deadpanned, calmly setting his coffee to the side and turning back to his papers. From the corner of his peripheral vision he saw the blur that is Park Yoochun practically running the few steps over to his desk. Yunho let out a teasing smirk and looked up. "What, still interested?"
"No way!!" was the immediate outburst in a slightly high-pitched squeak. Yoochun broke off and roughly cleared his throat before continuing in a more sedate and regular voice. "That really is a guy?"
His eyes widened with Yunho's short nod. "No freakin way," he breathed out in shock. "Wait, wait, does that mean Dong Wook's gay? Does he know? Oh man, I better warn him before the entire department finds out!" He paused. "Oh wait, it's Dong Wook, maybe I should yell out to the department that he's flirting with a guy instead. I think he needs a little help in humility."
Yunho rolled his eyes at his friend's drama. "If you bothered to look at the folder on your desk, I think that would explain a whole lot."
"And why would I do that, when I know you'd be telling me everything anyway?" Another cheeky grin.
Yunho wondered if shooting his partner is considered an offense. "Alright, fine, just go and at least open the folder and follow along. You're the one who got the eye for detail, and I want a fresh opinion on this."
Yoochun nodded and went back to his desk, realizing that time for play is over and time for work is starting. Yunho waited as Yoochun flipped the folder open and looked at the few photos.
"Ugh."
"Yeah, "ugh" is about the right word for it," Yunho replied, standing up and circling around to the left side of his desk to lean against the edge, facing Yoochun. He eyed the three little white squares at the corner of his own desk, which were the photos that he turned face down on the table. A fourth photo lie face up, angry brown eyes glaring into the air. "4:34AM this morning, the remains of the body was found in an alley, some of it was scattered among trash. The team had to dig around for all the pieces. Estimated time of death was 2 to 3AM. There was no weapon found in immediate area, but it's probably a large blade of some sort, a cleaver or an axe, considering how well the body was chopped up." Yunho grimaced, remembering the photos of the human flesh pieced back together in a mockery of the man it once was. In front of him, Yoochun took in every detail in all the photos before he, too, turned them face down on his desk. The coffee sat untouched to the side.
Yunho took another breath, selecting a page seemingly randomly from the pile behind him. "Victim was Lee Jinho, a middle class business man in sales and advertisement, married with one kid, a daughter. Last seen by his coworkers at approximately 5 to 6PM the day before as he was leaving work. That's all we have on him with our limited time; we'll have to make visits to his work and home. Sometimes today, I'd say."
Yunho dropped the paper and picked up the fourth photo he had set aside. "Now then, your "pretty little thing" is the first to stumble across that gruesome scene. Name's Kim Jaejoong, age 26, currently living alone in a one bedroom apartment not too far from the crime scene. From the statements we took, he claimed he was heading home after work and stumbled across the mess. He called the station at 4:34AM, so that means he found the body sometimes before that." Yunho scrutinized the face printed across the glossy paper. Even he has to admit the man is beyond pretty with his well-sculpted facial structure, large glaring eyes, smooth skin and red lips.
"Hyung...," came the soft call from across the room, and Yunho looked up from the photo of the glaring man. Yoochun was ignoring the picture of Kim Jaejoong, instead turning the pictures of the chopped up body toward himself again. After another moment of examination with his brows furrowed, the younger man finally looked up. "Hyung, isn't this...?"
"Yeah, this is the third in the last four months," Yunho nodded, tossing the picture aside. "One occurred before your transfer, one after. Both deaths are currently still unsolved. I guess you must've heard about it." Yunho walked across the room to his file cabinet, opening the middle drawer with a loud clank. Leafing through a few of the files, he finally pulled out two plain vanilla folders before banging the drawer close again and going back to his original position against the edge of his desk. "You weren't here for the first one, and the second one was profiled and eventually filed away by Dong Wook, since at the time we were on a different case. But all the information he collected are here." Yunho dropped the folders unceremoniously in front of Yoochun, who just frowned at them before looking up again.
Yunho let out a small grin. "But, I'm sure you'd rather listen to me talk than just read."
"Glad to see you know me so well, hyung," was the cheeky reply.
"Alright, first was Kim ShinYoung, upper middle class banker, married with three kids. The garbage man discovered body at approximately 6PM, but time of death was determined to be that morning around 4 or 5AM. The closest suspect was his wife, who knew he was cheating on her with someone, but unfortunately she was cheating on him as well and there was no love lost; it was a marriage of convenience. Her alibi was full proof." Yunho's mouth twitched. "Apparently she spent all night and morning participating in a mass orgy with some of her friends." Yoochun's eyebrow shot up, mouth opening and closing like a fish almost as if it couldn't make up its mind to crack up in disbelieve or be impressed. "It took a while but eventually they all did vouch for her; she must've been good enough that they'd out themselves like that." Yunho coughed into his hand, trying not to laugh at the younger man's expression of utter incredulity. "The weapon was never found, but profiled to be a large bladed object such as a butcher knife, cleaver, or axe. There was no witness, no clue, no nothing. Anyone who might've had a grudge on him all had iron cast alibi for the previous night and morning.
"Case two happened two months ago, similar setup, but different victim. The body was of 21 year-old Nakashima Kazuya, second generation Japanese, born in Seoul. He lived alone and his body was not found until four days later when neighbor tenants complained to the landlord of a rancid smell. No one heard anything on the approximate day of attack. His neighbors called him a nice young man, and I quote "although a little strange sometimes." His coworkers at the local coffee shop said he was quiet, shy, and had no enemies. His parents, whom had moved back to Japan a few years back, said they haven't heard from him since they moved." Yunho shook his head. "In the end Dong Wook got absolutely nothing on him or any possible suspect, and the case went to the back of the drawers. But the two cases left a bit of nasty taste in the mouths of everyone involved, so I'm not surprised you heard about it too."
Yunho straightened his tie before going back to sit behind his desk. He eyed the three white squares that still lie face down on his desk. "This makes the third murder case with similar profile. The method's the same, the weapon's same, the time of attack is approximately the same, but the victim is different again. The last two had nothing to tie them together so we couldn't even call it a serial case. But with our Lee JinHo-sshi, somehow the last two doesn't seem so coincidental anymore."
"No kidding," Yoochun finally said, leafing through the data in the two folders. After spreading everything out in a gigantic messy pile in front of him, the younger man finally looked at the small photo of Kim Jaejoong that he passed over earlier. "So what's up with him? It's almost 11 o'clock in the morning; I wasn't aware that keeping a mere witness at the station after statement taking is a protocol." He looked up at Yunho with a raised eyebrow.
Yunho just grinned, his almost boyish charm finally making itself known. "Smart man, I knew there was a reason I haven't killed you yet with all your girlfriend problems." Yunho stood up and walked to the coat hanger, slipping on his suit jacket smoothly. "Kim Jaejoong-sshi is here because there is clearly something he isn't telling us," he said, buttoning up his jacket, face a mask of confidence and force that usually made the suspects immediately reconsider fibbing their way through any questioning. He reached for the doorknob, not waiting for Yoochun to scramble after him with his own jacket. "And now we're going to go and wring whatever it is out of his pretty little mouth."
As they stepped out their office door, Jung Yunho smiled.
~*~
"Kim Jaejoong-sshi, I presume?" Yunho began, putting a non-descript vanilla folder down onto the table in front of him. The dark-haired young man across from him glared up through side-parted bangs, arms crossed in front of him half in anger, half protectively. "My name is Jung Yunho, I'm the investigator in charge of this case," Yunho continued smoothly, not at all deterred by the hostility. "This is my partner, Park Yoochun."
Yoochun smiled his trademark charming smile, but only received half a glance for his trouble. He raised an eyebrow, eyeing the pretty man across the bright glare of the overhead light. The photo did not do Kim Jaejoong justice, really; his eyes were larger and brighter, lips fuller, skin smoother than could be captured in a simple Polaroid snapshot they took when the man was first brought to the station. The lithe body, a bit on the skinny side, was hidden mostly under a long winter trench coat. The bottom of dark dress slacks and shiny black dress shoes stuck out from under the edge of the coat, feet tapping out an impatient staccato.
Yunho and Yoochun exchanged a short glance and then sat down in their chairs in concert. The man across them just continued to glare.
"Kim Jaejoong-sshi, let's start with the preliminaries, shall we?" Yunho opened the folder and pulled out a pen, acting as if he is going to write the answers down when in fact most of the answers to the questions were already printed on the page. But from the angle of where Jaejoong was sitting and due to the glare of the bright lamp above, the other man couldn't see the writings on the paper. It was a standard protocol, especially from the point of view of a psychological analysis. A simple lie about their name, background, or residence can reveal much about the person being questioned. "Please state your name."
"You just said it."
Yunho kept his pleasant smile plastered on his face. "Age?"
"Don't you already know?"
"Residence?"
"It's probably already on your paper."
"Family?"
Kim Jaejoong finally blew up, shooting to his feet and slamming his hand down on the tabletop with a loud bang. Yoochun started and stared. Looking up into the angry man's face, Yoochun felt like he was staring into the face of an angel with the burning eyes of the devil. "What the fuck are you playing at, asshole?! Don't you have your fancy laptops that'll tell you everything about me from my last dentist appointment to the last guy I had sex with, including his name, age and job?!"
"Aah, I apologize, but this is a standard protocol, I'm afraid," Yunho replied evenly. Yoochun looked over at his partner, duly impressed by the fact that the older man didn't even flinch in his seat. "Plus, we in fact do not have all your information; our database only have so much up to date information regarding a single individual."
"Look," Jaejoong began, still standing, practically growling through his teeth. "I just had a hard night of work, and just when I'm about to go home and relax, I come across pieces of human flesh plastered all over the place. And then after I call the cops, not only do I not get to go home and try to forget all that nightmare, instead I'm forced to stick around doing nothing and dealing with that pervert trying to strip me with his eyes, and then be coerced into going through this kind of indignity?! Excuse me if I don't have the least interest of cooperating!" The black-haired man leaned forward, and even Yoochun have to admit that Jaejoong is very good at using his environment to his advantage. The light sifting through the edge of the hanging lamp and the reflecting light from the table brought an unholy glow to the beautiful face in front of him. With the darkness behind him, the head looked disembodied and furious. "I just walked across something I really shouldn't have seen, and now after that terrifying experience, I just want to go home." Finally he stood back up. Then, as if all the fight and rage and energy fled him all at once, he flopped back into his chair, eyes closed in semblance of weariness. "Please."
Yunho leveled his eyes at the other man, waiting until Jaejoong opened his eyes again before speaking. "Kim Jaejoong-sshi, please calm down. I understand what you are going through, and I apologize for my co-worker's lack of tact. However this is a murder case and you are the sole witness. We would like to acquire as much information from you as possible, to prevent any future murders, as well as provide you with protection in the event that the assailant comes after you for any reason." Yoochun watched his partner's poise with amazement, noting the eye-lock the two men were engaging in. Three months working with the man, and this was the first time Yoochun saw just how professional, how experienced, how good the man was at his job. "Kim Jaejoong-sshi, please understand what we are trying to do. If you would just answer my questions, we can provide you with a car ride home immediately."
Across the table, Jaejoong was the first who broke the eye contact. He waved his hand, signaling his okay.
"Let's begin again from the top, then." This time the initial questions were answered promptly, if a little tired and indifferently. Yunho wrote some notes next to each question as if he was writing the response down when in fact he was writing the reaction of the man opposite him, noting down each flicker of the eyes, the inflection in the tone.
"Family?"
"Orphan, no foster family."
"Residence?"
"Alone." When Yunho didn't immediately fire off the next question, Jaejoong rolled his eyes and listed his address. Yoochun noted that it was, as stated from the file, only two blocks away from where the body was discovered.
"Current occupation?"
"Cashier at a 24 hour convenience store."
"Name of store?"
Jaejoong's reply was immediate, and Yoochun again noted it was a common 24-hour convenience store located near the crime scene. Remembering the small map that was included in the file, Yoochun mentally traced the path, realizing that the body was literally scattered right between the store and Jaejoong's apartment. So the other man stumbling across the bloody scene really is a coincidence, as he stated. From the corner of his eye, Yoochun saw Yunho give a small perceptive nod to himself.
"Alright, that should be all the background information we need for now," Yunho said, closing the vanilla folder without a sound, yet in the utterly silent room the shuffling of paper seemed oddly loud. "I apologize again for my coworker's actions earlier, and thank you for cooperating with us. If you will just wait a few moment, I will prepare a ride for you back home." Jaejoong just nodded in weary acceptance. "However, I'd like to ask that you be prepared to come back and give an official statement or further testimony if needed."
The black haired man across the table glared again before softly snorting to himself. "Figured you weren't done with me yet."
Yunho offered a small smile. "Again I thank you for your cooperation." Both Yunho and Yoochun stood together, turning to exit via the door behind them.
"Wait."
Yoochun turned, catching the last of the movement as the beautiful black-haired man stood up. There was a short pause before Yunho also turned.
Jaejoong looked a little uncertain, confused. "Jung Yunho-sshi...," he paused, brow crinkling together slightly. "Have we met before?"
Yoochun raised an eyebrow and turned back to his friend and partner.
Yunho smiled again, teeth gleaming even from the small amount of light seeping from the low hanging lamp's edge. "No, Kim Jaejoong-sshi," he replied, "I don't believe we have."