Yeji
Yeji buried her head in her arms as a groan left her mouth, Yeonjun silently laughing beside her. Hadn't she been so exhausted, she'd probably have gotten mad at him, there was absolutely nothing funny about the situation. They were both stuck on stupid cases with a criminal in the wind. They had to figure this out quickly if they didn't want more people to lose their lives, but all Yeonjun was doing was laughing at the detective's frustration.
Fucking idiot.
"I don't get it," She breathed out, trying to ignore her growing headache. "How the fuck- how do we have absolutely nothing on them ?"
"I don't know," Yeonjun answered with a shrug. "I guess they know what they're doing..."
"Wait-" Yeji's eyes widened as her lips curled up into a smile, "That's it!" She exclaimed.
"What's it-"
She shook her head, getting up and walking around the room as if it could help her sort her thoughts.
"Listen, whoever killed your guys-" And robbed mine, Yeji bit her lip so the last words wouldn't slip out, it was too early for her to share her theory about them being the same person, "Was obviously experienced, right?"
"Um... I mean, I guess. They knew what they were doing, at least."
"Then it might not be their first go," The detective explained, and her colleague nodded, his eyebrows furrowed.
"So..." He trailed,
"We should look into it, try to search if there have been similar cases recently around here."
Yeonjun let out a low sigh at her words, "Yeah, I guess you're right. But I don't know if we're gonna find more, honestly."
"It's worth trying," She shrugged, "And that's all we have for now, anyway."
"Yeah, true. Thanks for helping me Yeji, by the way."
I'm not helping you, Idiot. She thought, despairingly wanting to say it out loud. The man was a nice guy, but he was seriously getting on her nerves. She wondered how such a bad detective got assigned to a case that serious. Lives were at stake, for God's sake. The situation was too urgent to be taken lightly, which he didn't seem to realize at all. The only thing he could do was to complain about how hard this case was, like it would help solve it in any way.
"Oh, I'm just as stuck as you, so..." She said, knowing that she had to remain nice to him if she wanted more details about those murders, "I was hoping this would somehow enlighten me too."
Yeonjun only nodded, giving her a sympathetic smile, "Where's Felix by the way? Isn't he supposed to help you?"
"He's with Young, asking him some questions again. He should be back soon,"
"Oh, okay. You guys are lucky your guy's still alive, I wish I could ask the victims some questions too."
"Yeah, well," Yeji chuckled, "He might as well be dead, honestly, it's not like he's helping us at all."
Yeonjun looked at her with a frown, not answering anything. Yeji sat back down on her chair, deciding that it was best not to elaborate. She needed to get some work done.
Both of the detectives dove back in the pile of paper they had gathered, she was analyzing for the nth time the pictures Yeonjun had taken at his crime scenes.
It was all so neat, if it wasn't for the dead bodies, no one would have guessed what happened there. The two places were perfectly clean, not one furniture seemed out of place, except for the one the bodies were tied to, obviously.
Although she had been quite grossed out by her colleague's remarks the evening prior about the victims looking like they were about to engage in some... weird kind of sexual games before being murdered, she couldn't deny it. Both of the men's shirts were partly opened, and the positions they had been found in left little room to the imagination.
The motive and circumstance of the murders weren't so hard to guess, the only mystery remaining was the identity of the murderer.
Yeji's gaze focused on a small item in the picture. She squinted, recognizing a red rose, discarded on the floor a few feet away from where the victim was found.
"Hey, Yeonjun?" She asked, and the guy hummed, not bothering to look up from his computer screen, "What about that rose?"
"Oh," He glanced up, meeting her gaze, "We already analyzed it in case there was some DNA on it or something, but there's nothing, so..."
"Think the killer was the one who gifted it to them?"
"I don't know," He shrugged, "Possibly."
Yeji only nodded. Another dead end, great.
Or...
Maybe not.
A red dot on another picture immediately caught her attention. It was the first crime scene, this time. A single red rose in a vase, in what she supposed was the living room. The color was still pretty bright, and although she didn't know much about flowers, she could tell it hadn't withered yet, so it had been put there not long before the picture was taken.
She handed it to Yeonjun, who looked up at Yeji, barely hiding his confusion.
"What about that one?"
"What? The rose?" He asked and Yeji hummed, "Uh... No, we didn't really pay attention to it, to be honest."
"And do you think it's a coincidence?"
He sighed, "I don't know, Yeji. Maybe not. But it doesn't really matter anyway."
"Why? Come on Yeonjun, that can be a hint?"
"It's just a rose, Yeji. Everyone gives roses to their significant other, it doesn't have to mean anything. Besides, our first victim was married, so..."
She shook her head, this had to mean something, maybe some kind of tradition the killer had before murdering their victim. Or... Maybe Yeji was completely losing her mind, clinging to anything that could help her figure it out.
She let out a deep sigh, before reaching out to the pictures of her own case. She still needed to be sure.
She shuffled through them, analyzing them one by one until her eyes landed on another red spot.
Fuck, that was it!
Someone had given Young a red rose that evening, just life for the two other victims, this couldn't be yet another coincidence, there was definitely a pattern there, Yeji was a hundred percent sure of it.
She chose to keep it for herself, though. Yeonjun didn't seem so fond of her theory, and she didn't want to argue yet. She'd gather more clues before that.
A sly smile made its way to her lips. She was getting closer to the killer.
And she had just the perfect idea to trap them.
JOANNE
"What's making you smile so hard?" A voice, which Joanne recognized as Yuna's, suddenly startled the older girl.
She turned around so that she was facing her and gave her a warm smile, "I don't know, today's a good day," she answered, putting the flowers that were in her head on the table beside them.
They had been busy all day long as many customers came and bought flowers, much to Joanne's pleasure. She loved seeing new faces, especially when the people seemed interested in whatever the girl had to say about the flowers they were purchasing.
"Yeah, you're like, almost glowing," Yuna chuckled, quickly followed by the blonde woman. "But it's nice to see you like this, you seemed pretty tired this week." She added.
"I guess so, but I'm better now." She answered, her voice soft.
"That's good to hear,"
They stayed silent for a few minutes after that, tidying the shop before they'd have to leave. It was already quite late, almost nine in the evening, yet Joanne didn't mind staying at the store a little longer than necessary. Yuna had accepted too, which didn't really surprise the older woman. She wouldn't say no to anything she asked, anyway.
"So..." The young girl trailed, biting her lip, making her giggle softly.
"What do you wanna ask, Yuna?"
"You don't have to answer that, obviously, I know it's like- your personal life and everything, but..." She paused for a few seconds, "Got someone in your life?" She asked, a shy smile, and the blonde could only shake her head, laughing.
"Yuna! Seriously?"
"What?! I mean come on, you've been like smiling stupidly all day long. No offense" She smiled, "It's fair to ask I think!"
Joanne kept on organizing her flowers, storing them inside the shop, as she listened to her apprentice's rumbling.
"I don't have anyone," She answered, a soft smile on her lips as Yuna joined her inside, "I don't need a man to be happy, y'know?"
"O-oh, of course! It's not what I meant,"
"Relax, Yuna. I know that." She chuckled, "I'm just happy because of this... game… I recently started."
"Oh," The younger one breathed out. "What's that?"
"Nothing too special, now work, come on, I don't pay you to talk." Joanne said while laughing, but her tone was sterner this time, which Yuna seemed to notice as she immediately went back to her task, not asking any more questions.
The short haired woman couldn't stop smiling though. Finally, she could have a bit of fun.
Yeji
"Yeji, I feel ridiculous,"
"Nooo, I think you look amazing like this,"
"And I think you're enjoying this a little too much,"
The brunette smiled, choosing not to answer this time, as she kept on taking pictures of her partner.
If her theory was correct, then their thief (and potential serial killer), was attracted to wealthy men. So what better way to attract them than pretending to be a rich man ?
Obviously, Yeji couldn't do that. But Felix seemed perfect for the role, as he was a fairly attractive young man. All he needed was a small makeover and photoshoot session to make it seem like he was from the upper class, which the brunette was happy to provide. She hadn't had a fun time in a while, and although they were still doing their job, it was nice to lighten up the mood a little.
Felix hadn't been so happy with the idea, but accepted nonetheless. He knew that they didn't have much more solution anyway, and even if the chances of the mysterious woman contacting them weren't so high, they were still there. They had to at least try.
Maybe this would go well. For once.
"You look perfect," Yeji giggled as she put down her camera, plugging it on her computer.
"Yeah, I think I was made to wear suits," He playfully answered, sitting beside the younger woman, "What do we do now?"
"Create you a profile on a few dating apps, and see who contacts you. You have to look like some kind of stupid asshole by the way, easy to steal from, and not too nice or whatever."
Felix nodded, "How do we know when we have the right person?"
"I guess you'll have to go on a few dates if the profile fits, we'll keep an eye on you. If someone tries to drug you, well... I guess we'll know then." She shrugged. "This is the only thing we can do for now."
"Perfect. I'm sure my boyfriend will be really happy with it," He laughed, Yeji soon following. "I hope this will work..."
"I hope so too." Yeji smiled sadly.
They both got back to work silently, wanting to get over with that day as soon as possible. Yeji had some hope, they were closer than they'd ever been to catch the thief, but she was exhausted from the long day, and from the event of the last evening too. She was still confused as to what happened to her for her to put herself in danger like that, completely unarmed. She blamed it on the alcohol, but knew deep down that even sober she would've felt the same attraction.
Maybe her life didn't matter that much to her anymore.
"God, I'm so tired," She sighed, speaking up for the first time in nearly an hour, as she slumped down on her chair, making her partner smile slightly.
"Yeah, same here." He answered before glancing up at the clock on the wall, "It's late already anyway, maybe we should just head home, I'll drive you if you want to."
"Sure, That'd be nice."
"Let's go then. We'll just keep on monitoring the dating apps from home."
Yeji nodded, that sounded like a good plan. They both gathered their files and made their way outside. The sun had set already, Yeji hadn't noticed that it was that late. She was used to staying longer at work these days anyway, it felt more welcoming than her home, if she could even still call it that.
Soon enough, they arrived at the woman's place, and her colleague bid her goodbye with a smile before driving off, leaving Yeji alone as a feeling of dread took over her senses.
God, she had promised Sana she'd stay sober that day, but she wasn't sure she'd manage to keep that promise. She felt so empty, and had absolutely nothing to do that evening. What else could she do to keep the pain away?
She sighed, making her way inside her apartment reluctantly. Maybe she should just move away, this place held too many memories for her. She wasn't sure she had the strength to do it, though.
Ignoring the voice in the back of her head, Yeji made her way to her kitchen and poured herself a glass of whisky. It was a terrible idea, her stomach was still empty, and she already felt sick. But she knew everything could barely get worse, anyway, and she needed to relax. No one would know about that drink anyway.
The hours went by incredibly slowly, and Yeji felt the ache in her chest only increase, no matter how much she tried to ignore it.
She tried to stay focused on her task as she was busy looking through some women's profiles on dating apps, hoping one of them would make the job easy enough for them. Maybe one of them would have a pic with some of the stolen items?
Yeji scoffed. Of course, and they'd have 'murderer' written as their job on their profile too, while she was at it. God, she was getting too despaired, it was ridiculous.
She started chuckling at how absurd the whole situation was, before her phone suddenly rang, startling her.
It was probably Felix, giving her some news on the situation. She hoped so, at least.
It... was not, though.
Yeji furrowed her eyebrows at the text she just received, feeling her heartbeat increase by the second.
"I'm disappointed in you, Yeji." She read out loud, trying to understand what it meant. It was from an unknown number, and she was pretty sure no one close to her changed their numbers recently. She didn't text anyone besides Sana and some of her other colleagues anyway. So who could it be?
A second ring made her breath hitch, and she shivered as she read the second text that came.
"If anything, I would've liked having you more than your partner. You're definitely more my type. I thought you were a little smarter than that, though."
...What?
God, there was no way...
This was her.
Or well, Yeji supposed it was her, she didn't know anything about that person, really, despite that they were potentially some kind of dangerous psychopath and that they had somehow found her number.
Who knew what else they had about her?
Fuck, this was so bad. Yeji had been convinced she was a step ahead a few moments ago, but she'd never been so wrong.
Taking a deep breath, she started typing her reply, her fingers slightly shaking. She couldn't let them know that she was scared.
"Oh, well, in that case... would you mind me inviting you somewhere instead?"
The reply came almost immediately, making Yeji shiver. God, that was all so fucking bad. She was playing a risky game, putting her life in danger, but...
"You're a bold woman, I like that."
"I'm sure you can guess my answer, though. But nice try, really."
Maybe Yeji was just too lonely. But she couldn't help but find that person incredibly attractive just through those few texts, which terrified her.
Hell, she was finding a criminal hot just over a text message. What the hell was wrong with her?
Shaking her head, Yeji focused back on her task. She had to get them to talk, in case they wouldn't be able to trace the phone later.
"I thought you were more of the risky type. I guess you aren't the only disappointed woman here"
The detective bit the inside of her cheek as she awaited the answer. She hoped they'd fall for it, being sure their gender would already decrease drastically the amount of potential suspects.
"And what exactly tells you that I'm a woman, Hwang?"
Fuck.
That would've been too easy.
"I just guessed it from your method. You're rather delicate, too delicate for a man. I admire it, though."
Yeji would lie if she said she wasn't enjoying it.
To be fair, she was very drunk, and still very heartbroken. Besides, she was trying to do her job, get some information on a dangerous criminal even if it meant putting her own life at risk, so was it really that bad?
She couldn't let them know how much exactly she knew about the crimes. She had to stay as vague as possible. Maybe she wasn't talking to the actual thief or serial killer. Maybe that person didn't know anything besides that Yeji was investigating Young's case, which wasn't so hard to find.
Hell, for all Yeji knew, maybe they needed her more than she needed them.
"That's a fair guess, I'll give you that."
"And since I quite like you, I'll even confirm it for you. I'm indeed a woman, a nice job detective."
"Now will it be enough to catch me?"
"And how much time do you have left...?"
"I guess it's your job to figure that out."
"The clock is ticking, Yeji. Can you find me?"
Yeji felt goosebumps erupt all over her skin as she read the texts, her heartbeat increasing more and more to the point she was worried her heart would burst out of her chest.
How much time is left? Was she threatening her?
Well, she. If she didn't lie to her, that was. That person might as well be lying to mislead the detective.
Yeji had a feeling she was telling the truth though. She couldn't explain why.
"Threatening a cop isn't a smart move. I'm pretty sure you're aware that we can trace your phone."
"And don't underestimate me. I'm already a step ahead of you."
Yeji stared at her phone's screen for a few minutes, but no replies came.
Fuck. No way she had blown it already.
The brunette considered texting her again for a second before deciding against it. It would give out the opposite she was trying to show off. She was supposed to seem uninterested, confident. Yeji knew that.
She still hoped that the woman would text her again eventually. The way she was talking to her... It almost seemed like she wanted Yeji to catch her, or like she was challenging her to, at least.
As if it was some kind of sick game.
Yeji shouldn't enjoy it so much.