#Case 002: Family Affairs

[thedetectivessay]

"Case 002: Family Affairs"

A Busted fanfic

012.

It’s Kkachi Café

Gwangmyeong-dong, South Korea

“How long am I to wait? I was expecting that you would have found him by now. What’s taking so long?”

Kwang-soo shifts in his seat. It’s not the first time he’s been yelled at by his employer. However, Tae-hoon’s anger is disconcerting to him.

It’s probably because the last time they talked, their client, though mysterious and slightly cocky, was cool through and through. He spoke like the waves in the morning: calm and assured, maybe even excited.

But right now...Right now, he’s the exact opposite. His anger lashes like the angry waves during a typhoon. He’s unsettled. His dissatisfaction booms through the phone and creates chaos in a person’s mind.

Kwang-soo finds him terrifying. “I – I’m sorry, Tae-hoon-ssi.”

“You’re sorry? How do you think I feel spending all of my resources on you and not getting what I want in return?” Tae-hoon scoffs. “Kwang-soo, I’m risking a lot and expecting a lot from you and your team. How can you do this to me? How can you mess up?”

Kwang-soo feels a hundred times smaller now. It’s bad enough that Jae-wook doesn’t even bother to trust him anymore. It’s worse that even their client seem to lose hope in him, too. “I—”

“Don’t even dare.” Tae-hoon is quiet for a moment, a welcome but cautious reprieve from all the violence. He sighs. “I’d send you back to the Philippines, but you’re more useless to me there than you are here. Listen: stop messing around. Do you understand? You’re creating a complicated situation for me by moving around the way you do. You wanna apologize? Stop being a disappointment. Do your job, and have him in front of me in three days time.”

It would have been better if Tae-hoon had met him in person and punched him in the face. “I understand,” Kwang-soo says, dispirited.

Their client doesn’t say goodbye. He only hangs up and allows the dial tone to deal with the destruction he left behind.

The screen blinks back to the messages he and Sehun exchanged. For the first time since he got back to South Korea, it crosses his mind how lonely he is here. It’s home, but it doesn’t feel like home anymore. Everything’s familiar, exactly as they were when he was longing and hoping for them, but it’s all empty.

He takes a deep breath. He realizes that he needs to get out of his own feelings about this. He got yelled at; it wasn’t the first time. It certainly wouldn’t be the last time. Jae-wook evidently despises him for some reason. He wasn’t the only one. Even Jae-suk, when he was still around, disliked him plenty of times.

But he guesses that’s the problem. It feels as if he’s entered a house that looks and smells exactly like home, but the people in it are people he didn’t recognize. So far, the only normal thing he regained is his relationship with Sehun and Min-young.

But the rest of the team, the rhythm of the job...they all feel off.

And it’s very evident now that everything is stacked against him.

Kwang-soo puts down his phone on the table, sighs. He buries his face in his palms and wishes he had never left his bed today.

He’s startled when someone places something in front of him. Looking, he sees a large, steaming mug of coffee, the scent of romantic and potent caffeine stirring his senses to life. Lifting his eyes up, he sees someone has taken a seat across from him with her own cup of tea.

It’s the woman from the night before last. “I’ve ordered a breakfast sandwich for you, too,” she says with a smile. “They’ll bring it to us when it’s ready.”

Kwang-soo stares, quite unsure how to respond.

She pulls up her cup to take another sip. “Don’t let your coffee get too cold. I paid for that.”

“It’s you.”

Her brows hitch – but unlike that night at Club Neon, her expression is playful, relaxed. “That’s not how you greet a noona, is it?”

Kwang-soo blinks.

She looks at him. Then, seeing the confused look on his face, she laughs. “Ya, Kwang-soo-yah. Why do you have to be like this? It’s a beautiful day. Are you still upset about the other night?”

“How did you know where to find me?”

She shrugs. “I always know where to find you.”

“Who are you? And how do you know all these things about me—”

“Kwang-soo, stop.” She warmly holds onto his wrist. Once again, Kwang-soo feels a rush of familiarity. Familiarity that feels like...home.

Shocked with this, Kwang-soo politely withdraws his hand.

She stares into his eyes; the sadness in hers are back. “Why are you so afraid of me? You know I will never hurt you.”

For some reason, the sadness his action brought about in her shames him. “How – how do I know that? I don’t—” He hesitates, but he knows it’s the truth: “I don’t know you.”

She sighs. A decision plays around in her mind for a moment. Then, she looks up with a smile. “When we were younger, you used to tell me that I was your best friend. I used to tell you that you were my favorite person on earth. You still are,” she says. “I know you don’t remember me, but I’ve never lied to you. Can’t you trust me?”

When they were younger. Kwang-soo tries to think of his past. He doesn’t remember any friends, but he does remember seeing that he grew up in an orphanage on the personal record he kept at his apartment. Was she someone that he met there and forgot about? He really doesn’t remember anything. “What’s your name?” he asks cautiously.

Sensing his increased trust, she smiles genuinely. “Just call me Noona for now.”

“How can I trust noona if I don’t know noona’s name?”

“How can noona trust that you won’t tell your friends about noona’s name?”

“Because I won’t.”

She grins. She lifts her cup again and says, “Baeshinja.”

An employee comes to their table then with the plated sandwich. Mystery Lady smiles up at her then nods at Kwang-soo.

Kwang-soo looks at the sandwich and, once the employee leaves, looks at the woman.

“Eat,” she tells him, smiling brightly. “Nothing puts you in a better mood than food. You love breakfast more than anything in the world. At least, you used to.” When Kwang-soo only stares at her, she sighs. “You still don’t know who I am?”

“No.” Doubt crosses his mind. “Did we know each other at the orphanage?”

“Orphanage?”

Kwang-soo nods. “That’s where I grew up.”

“Who told you that?”

“My personal file, the one that I got—” Kwang-soo rethinks about what he is to say. He can’t mention K to her again or his personal files that he found in his Project D folder. Plus, if she doesn’t know by now, then maybe she has no right to know.

Before he can amend his answer, she beats him to it with a soft scoff. Though she doesn’t mention, he knows it’s once again directed at K. “Do not believe whoever told you that lie. You did not grow up in an orphanage,” she insists. She takes a calming breath after a moment. Then, she smiles at him again. “Naneun Ji-hyun noona.”

“Ji-hyun noona?”

She nods.

“And, you said we’re friends?”

“The best of friends,” she says. “Or at least we used to be. Everything that happened between us is my fault. I shouldn’t have left you.”

He sees remorse in her eyes, but he doesn’t connect to it. It’s an apology he doesn’t understand. The context of everything is lost to him again, and he wishes it wasn’t. He wants to understand, but he can’t.

For the third time since they met, he wonders why she feels like home more than anyone else in the world.

“I know things are different now, and maybe it’s for the best,” she says, “but in my heart I’m still hoping for how things used to be – even just for this morning. I was hoping we could just sit down, pretend we’re still close. You used to tell me what’s bothering you over coffee and breakfast sandwich.”

Kwang-soo looks down on his coffee and breakfast sandwich. When he was in the Philippines, he would make a bacon, egg, and strawberry jam sandwich when he had a terrible day at work. He never did know why, but it gave him comfort.

With bated breath, he checks his food to see.

Goosebumps slinks through the skin of his arms as he realizes that it’s another thing she got right.

“Out of curiosity,” she says, tearing open a pack of sugar, “there’s a girl in your team that’s around the same age as you. Is she your girlfriend?”

“Who? Girlfriend?”

“I don’t know her name, yet. But it’s not the little girl.” She looks at him, stifling a smirk. “The one you’re frequently with.”

“Min-young? She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Ah, Min-young. That’s her name.” She nods thoughtfully. “Pretty, but I didn’t think it was right. I didn’t think she’d be your girlfriend.”

“And why not?” he asks defensively. “I’m not ugly.”

“I’m not saying you’re ugly!” she says, grinning. “You’re cute. What I mean is that she’s not your type. If you were to have a girlfriend, I imagine her to be small and cute. You had a thing for chubby cheeks. From what I’m told, your friend Min-young is beautiful. You’d be fine with beautiful, but I think you’re more suited for a girl as cute as you.”

Kwang-soo takes a bite of his sandwich, miffed at Ji-hyun’s comments. She’s not wrong, but just the implication that he can’t be Min-young’s boyfriend because he’s just ‘cute’ sits with him wrong. “You said you care about me, noona, but you’re as mean as everyone else,” he mutters, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Mean?”

“Yes. My colleague’s been yelling at me ever since the day we saw each other, and our client’s just yelled at me for taking too long. The only nice things in Korea so far are my two real friends and the hotel I’m sleeping at.”

“If your client’s yelling at you for being late, shouldn’t you get going?”

“It’s not that kind of taking long,” he responds, quite defensively if he’s to be honest. “I can’t tell you. It’s my job.”

“Work is getting too difficult?”

“Yes.”

She ponders over his confession for a moment. Then, “Do you have to do this job?”

His chewing slows a little. Does he? He then remembers Jae-suk and wonders if he even has anything to eat that morning. “Yes. I have to,” he tells her. “My friend is counting on me.”

“Okay. Do you like your job?”

He nods eventually. “I like being a detective.” He smiles. “I’m not as smart as Min-young or Sehun, but my instincts are pretty good. I usually figure out who the bad guys are some time during our investigation.”

Her smile increases in brightness. “I’ve known you for a long time, Kwang-soo, and I know that you’re not a quitter. You’re having a hard time. That’s okay. Hard times come upon everybody, everywhere, even when it’s in a job that you like and a place that you love.” She takes hold of his hand and squeezes it encouragingly. “But you need your friends. You always survived hard times before because of friends. You have friends in your team, right?”

Kwang-soo nods.

“You can trust them?”

“Yes.”

“Then rely on them,” she advises. She withdraws to her mind for a moment, and then her hold on his hand loosens a bit. “What about me? Does your instinct tell you you can trust me?”

It comes to him then that talking to her about the things he feels had been surprisingly easy. Not that he’s a man who never shows what he feels, but the deeper things, he’s always kept to himself. That is, until her.

Her hand on his doesn’t feel threatening. Even two nights ago, it didn’t. It feels comforting, wound by yearning, and familiar. He never felt like he’s her captive.

Does your instinct tell you you can trust me? She’s not a bad person. That, he’s sure of. “Maybe,” he says. “You haven’t told me why you know all these things about me, noona. I can’t fully trust you because you don’t trust me.”

She sighs contentedly. She withdraws her hand and wraps it around her mug of tea. “It’s not time yet,” she tells him. “My reason is the same as your reason for not telling me who told you you were an orphan: it’s to keep you safe. But I’m happy that you trust me, even a little. I missed that.”

Kwang-soo says nothing. Instead, he continues to eat.

“By the way, word has it that you followed Poet last night. Is that true?”

Kwang-soo pauses. “How did you know that?”

“Someone told me.”

“Who exactly?”

“Who told you you grew up in an orphanage?”

Kwang-soo sighs. “I read it in a file that I found in my apartment. Noona, who is it that tells you these things?”

“Definitely not the same person who gave you those files,” she says. “Kwang-soo, I have people I can trust, too, and I use my connections with them to make sure you’re okay. This person who told me about last night was someone that Chan-seok knows.”

“Chan-seok-ssi? The gang leader?”

Ji-hyun chuckles. “He’s not the leader, but I’m sure he would be happy to hear you thought that.”

“Noona, you know him too?”

“Of course.”

“Does he know you?”

“Yes. Although, I prefer that no one is to know that I’m here,” she says. With grave seriousness she says, “If the wrong people find out that I’m here and that we’re together, we won’t be able to get out of South Korea. We’d be trapped here, unsafe. You don’t want us to die here, do you, Kwang-soo-yah?”

“Aniyo, noona.”

She nods. “I don’t either.” She gazes at him for a moment, and like her hold, her stare carries yearning and apology. “Why are you really here getting involved with bad people? Last time we talked, you told me you left that all behind. Why did you bring us both here?”

Does your instinct tell you you can trust me? her question rings again in his ears. “I’m looking for someone: Lee Soon-jae. Do you know who he is?”

Suddenly, all semblance of warmth drains from her face. “Yeah, I know who he is. Why are you looking for him?”

He doesn’t miss the undercurrent of hostility in her voice. “My friend. If I find him, then I can find my friend,” he says.

“Your friend?”

“Yes. Uri Jae-suk hyung. He was one of my colleagues. I thought he died last year, but he didn’t.” Pleadingly, he says, “If I find Lee Soon-jae, I will find Jae-suk hyung. Do you know where I can find him?”

Ji-hyun mulls it over. Her jaw locks and unlocks as thoughts turn in her head. Kwang-soo soon begins to think that she will refuse to tell him what she knows (which seems to be vast).

As if on cue, she gets up from her seat and walks away.

“Noona?” Kwang-soo calls after her.

However, it surprises him to see her only go up to the utensils counter. She grabs a cup sleeve then a pen from the holder at the cash register, and then comes back to their table. She scribbles down a few letters and a number.

She begins to slide it over to him but then stops. She debates something inwardly before asking, “Are you sure you’re only doing this to help your missing friend?”

No. He’s also doing it for their client. He’s doing it for the money and the thrill and the opportunity to start a new life somewhere else after this. However, his main reason for staying and putting up with all the bad is Jae-suk. “Yes,” he tells her.

“Remember, when you meet Lee Soon-jae and he asks you who gave you this information, it didn’t come from me. Understand?”

“B-but—”

“Kwang-soo-yah, it did not come from me. Understand?”

He blinks, taken back by her sternness. He nods. “Yes.”

She slides the sleeve over to him. “She will ask you who sent you her way. Tell her, ‘Noona sent me.’ She will ask which noona. Tell her it’s her friend from Paju. Okay?”

Choi Yeo-jin, the name on the sleeve says. Underneath it is a phone number. “Who is she?” he asks.

“A friend,” she responds. “Tonight, she will probably be at The Diamond Lounge. It’s a rooftop lounge bar. You can find the address online. She’s more than likely going to be there.”

“What does she look like?”

“She’s tall, slender. She has a black rose tattoo on her neck, towards the left,” she says, pointing to the spot. “She’s dangerous, and so are the others – but she won’t be dangerous to you. Still, be careful. Don’t go with any of your detective friends, especially Min-young.”

“Why? Why not Min-young?”

A small smile pulls at her lips. “She gets jealous easily. It’s been years, but I think she still likes you.”

Choi Yeo-jin – another person to add in the growing list of people who knows him so well but whom he doesn’t know or remember. He stares at her phone number and realizes that he’s intrigued by the danger. Good things by chance rarely happen to him. To survive two potentially deadly situations at this point in the investigation only strengthen his conviction that maybe he can come out of this case unscathed as long as he follows directions.

“So, what do you tell her when she asks who sent you?” Ji-hyun asks.

“Noona sent me.”

“Good. And which noona sent you?”

“Yeo-jin-ssi’s good friend, the noona from Paju.”

She smiles. “You’re ready,” she tells him. She gazes at him a moment, and again the yearning he can’t understand is back. “Be very careful, okay? You find him, and then you find your friend. After that, leave as soon as you can. Understand?”

Kwang-soo sits up when she moves to leave. “Noona, eodikaseyo?” he asks, stopping her.

She stares at him as if he’s said something that she regrets. “I gave you the help that you needed. You don’t need me anymore.”

He breaks eye contact with her as he realizes how weird his thoughts sound. They’re still complete strangers if he really thinks about it. Yet, he’s learned quickly to be drawn to her and to trust her implicitly that he doesn’t want her to leave.

He wants her to stay and talk to him about anything but the case.

As if reading his mind, Ji-hyun sits back down. She sighs contentedly, as if a huge load was also lifted off her shoulders. Then, sliding her hand back around her cup, she looks out the window, as if their world of cloaks and daggers has been a passing dream all along. “Korea looks different now, don’t you think?” she asks.

And for the first time in a long time, Kwang-soo feels as if he can breathe again.

[cardest]

Seattle playlist

Seattle and Twin Peaks, all in one playlist. This is the one! Think of it as an vacation in Seattle, you spend time in the city, you dine at the Salmon House, you get around town with this playlist. Then, you head out to Snoqualmie and see the Twin Peaks filming locations, grab a bite at Twede;s Cafe and go up Crystal Mountain, coffee at a Drive thru Big Foot Java and head down to Mt St Helens, boat ride out on Puget Sound and see members of Wolves in the Throne Room doing a forest dance in the Olympic Nat Forest! This is that Seattle playlist! Enjoy! For the songs to listen to, click here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC193HJs9M2yvjz03VeeChqxt

SEATTLE PLAYLIST

001 Foo Fighters - Come Alive 002 Alice in Chains - Them Bones 003 Soundgarden - Loud Love 004 Heart - Crazy On You 005 Pearl Jam -  Spin The Black Circle 006 Seattle - Perry Como 007 Nevermore -  My Acid Words 008 Nirvana -  In Bloom 009 Melvins -  Honey Bucket 010 Trap Them - Hellionaires 011 Mother Love Bone -  Stardog Champion 012 Mudhoney - Touch Me I'm Sick 013 Paul Westerberg - Waiting For Somebody 014 Jimi Hendrix - May This Be Love 015 The Green Hornet   Main Theme   016 Screaming Trees -  More Or Less 017 Metal Church - Ton Of Bricks 018 Tad - Grease Box 019 Butt Trumpett - I Left My Flannel In Seattle 020 KMFDM - Moron 021 Soundgarden -  Sub Pop Rock City 022 Dinosaur Jr. - Pierce the Morning Rain 023 The Simpsons TV Show - Monorail song 024 Year of the Cobra - Persephone 025 Blondie - Under The Gun 026 Foo Fighters - Breakout 027 Autograph - Turn up the Radio 028 Neko Case - South Tacoma Way 029 Queensryche- jet city woman 030 Pearl Jam - Breath 031 Audrey Horne - Cards With The Devil 032  Blake Shelton - Sunny in Seattle 033 Swallow The Sun -  Ghost Of Laura Palmer 034 Fantomas -  Twin Peaks-Fire Walk With Me 035 VUM - Laura Palmer 036 Jimi Hendrix -  Little Miss Strange 037 Anthrax - Black Lodge 038 Willow - Seattle 039  Kenny Rogers - My Washington Woman 040 TWEAN PEAKS TV show - Falling 041 Church of Misery - I Motherfucker (Ted Bundy) 042 Alice in Chains - We Die Young 043 Temple Of The Dog - Pushin' Forward Back 044 Nine Inch Nails -  She's Gone Away 045 David Lynch -  The Line It Curves 046 Patty Loveless - Chains 047 Sir Mix A Lot - Baby Got Back 048 Screaming Trees -  Shadow Of The Season 049 ANGELO BADALAMENTI - Twin Peaks Theme 050 Nevermore - Bittersweet Feast 051 Duff McKagan - Seattle head 052 Helms Alee  - Spider Jar 053 Talking Seattle grunge band Todd Snider 054 Robyn Hitchcock - Viva! Sea Tac 055 Indian Handcrafts - Bruce Lee 056 Anti-Flag Seattle Was A Riot 057 Marcy Playground - The Shadow of Seattle 058 Presidents of the United States of America - Lump 059 Mudhoney - This Gift 060 Bell Witch - Judgement, In Fire: I - Garden (Of Blooming Ash) 061 Black Breath -  Forced Into Possession 062 The Material - Moving To Seattle 063 Lou Reed - Last Great American Whale 064 King Dude -  Satan's Ghost 065 Jane's Addiction - Ted, Just Admit It 066 Mommy Long Legs - Bitch Island 067 21 Jump Street - Theme song 068 Mentors - Rock 'Em Sock 'Em 069 Queensryche - Empire 070 Mad Season -  X-Ray Mind 071 Bloodbath - Anne 072 Heart - Heartless 073 Pearl Jam -  Go 074 Mother Love Bone -  Holy Roller 075 Old Man Gloom - Eden's gate 076 Tom Petty and the Fart Breakers - American Girl 077 Melvins - The Bit 078 Sunn O))) - The Gates of Ballard 079 My Sisters Machine - Enemy 080 Earth - Harvey 081 Alice in Chains -  Dam That River 082 Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl 083 Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio ? - Close But No Cigar 084 Bing Crosby - Black Ball Ferry Line 085 Hammerbox - Hed 086 the Accused - martha splatterhead 087 Temple Of The Dog - Hunger Strike 088 Native American Indian Artist Harold Alfred Kwakwaka'wakw Pacific Northwest Coast Art 089 Naomi Punk - Thru The Trees 090 Soundgarden -  Rusty Cage 091 Jerry Cantrell - Between 092 Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth - I Am 093 Casual Hex - Zorcho 094 Millennium - Millennium TV theme song 095 The Jimi Hendrix Experience -  Red House 096 Heart - Rock Deep 097 The Fabulous Wailers - Wailers House Party 098 La Luz - Brainwash 099 Sanctuary -  Arise And Purify 100 Soundgarden - Spoonman 101 Tad - Wood Goblins 102 Alice In Chains -  Rainier Fog 103 Attilio Mineo - Boeing Spacearium 104 Vouna  - Drowning City 105 The Monkeywrench - Flashy New Dance Steps 106 U-Men  - Gila 107 Gillan: - Puget Sound 108 Nirvana - Drain You 109 Wolves in the Throne Room - Angrboda 110 Drug Store - The Dwarves 111 CHRISTIAN MISTRESS - Open Road 112 Weird Al Yankovic - My Babys In Love With Eddie Vedder 113 Heir Apparent - Another Candle 114 Candlebox You 115 FAUNA   - The Golden Circle 116 JOHN BARRY - Game of Death _ 'Main Theme' 117 ZEKE - On The Road 118 Jimi Hendrix - Spanish Castle Magic 119 Quayde LaHüe Man In The Purple Robe 120 Hole - Rock Star 121 Beta Boys - The Zoo 122 Tomahawk - Totem 123 Earth -  Rise To Glory 124 Book of Black Earth - Cross Contamination 125 Wolves In The Throne Room - Woodland Cathedral 126 Audrey Horne -  Volcano Girl 127 Old St. Helen Song by Billy Jonas 128 Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth - Lava 129 The Bangles - I Got Nothing 130 Neil Diamond ~ Glory Road 131 POTUSA - Volcano 132 Weird Al Yankovic - Smells Like Nirvana 133 Eye of Nix - Keres 134 Mad Season - Locomotive 135 Vio-lence -  Serial Killer 136 CEREBRAL ROT - Repulsive Infestation Of Cadaver 137 Jackyl - The Lumberjack 138 Old Man Gloom -  The Volcano 139 Rbbie hill's family Affair - I just want to be 140 Nirvana - Stay Away 141 Foo Fighters - Subterranean 142 Public Image Ltd - Seattle 143 The Accüsed - Barracuda 144 Drawn and Quartered - Nefarious Rites 145 Sleater Kinney - Light Rail Coyote 146 DEATH - Crystal Mountain 147 FETID - Consumed Periphery From Steeping Corporeal Mess 148 Primus - Last Salmon Man 149 Pixies - Trompe Le Monde 150 Alice In Chains - So Far Under 151 Mos Generator - Shadowlands 152 The Lovemongers - Battle of Evermore 153 Big Business - Grounds for Divorce 154 Summoned by Giants - Ouch 155 MORTIFERUM - Funereal Hallucinations 156 Master Musicians Of Bukkake - A Mist Of Illnesses 157 Botch - To Our Friends in the Great White North 158 Tenacious D - The Metal 159 NUDITY -  Lectric Motions 160 Anhedonist - Estrangement 161 Blackouts - Probabilities 162 Wolvhammer - Clawing into Black Sun 163 Mamiffer - All That Is Beautiful 164 King Buzzo (with Trevor Dunn) - Science In Modern America 165 The Makers - I Just Might Crack 166 Forced Entry - Bludgeon 167 Sandrider - Rain 168 Soundgarden -  Let Me Drown 169 Isenordal - The Sorrow of a Shadowed World 170 Giants in the Trees + Kim Thayil - Drone 171 Theme From Get Carter OST 172 Heart - Dear Old America 173 Hole - teenage whore 174 Sunn O))) - it took the night to believe 175 Alice in Chains - secrets unknown 333 Queensryche - Anarchy-X 666 Screaming Trees - Nearly Lost You

Have I left out a band or song? Let me know! Cya at Dick’s Drive-in!!

[lucadansembourg]

                                                                                           HSHQTASK023. 

                                                   luca & henri. 

(  LISTEN ALONG  )

                                                                                                        feat. @henridorleans

“please hurry leave me, i can't breathe, please don't say you love me.”  - track 001. first love/late spring by mitski. 

the actual  first time they meet is irrelevant, an event neither remembers. surely, over the years they’ve had conversations, somewhere, sometime. but none of them truly matter, not when faced with what they become. there’s nothing of note between them, at least nothing before the cold november night in luxembourg that they actually meet for the first time. 

the setting is a slightly seedy bar in a back alley in the heart of luxembourg, where luca d’ansembourg is chasing the bottom of a bottle yet again. he’s become something of a regular, a ruling monarch always sitting in the same booth in the back. none of the other regulars dare to bother him, they haven’t since nathalie died and luca became a shell of himself. but the color has started to return to his cheeks, word on the street is he’s begun to heal. 

maybe that’s why he seems approachable. 

henri d’orleans is traveling. he’s been north of paris, into belgium and finally he’s wound up with a few nights in luxembourg city. what draws him to the bar is unknown even to him, perhaps fate leads him through the doors. it’s nice enough, isn’t it? it takes almost an hour for him to notice the man in the booth in the back, pouring out his sorrows into a glass of whiskey yet again. 

they meet and they don’t use any bullshit titles or last names that could give them away. 

late that night, when they return to the little apartment luca keeps “just in case” they’re just people. and if luca is a little bit broken and henri is still searching for something he can’t quite grasp, they don’t mention it. 

“ oh, but i was just a placeholder a lesson to be learned oh, i was just a placeholder a place you will return.” - track 002. placeholder by hand habits.

luca wakes the next morning to his phone ringing over and over again. it’s wilhelmina, frantic with worry after luca had disappeared into the night. she’s worried, because of course she is. they’re d’ansembourgs, all they seem to do is worry these days. he tries to stay quiet, to not wake henri. 

“i’ll be back at the palace in a few hours, don’t worry, wilhelmina.” 

maybe it’s the mention of the palace, maybe it’s the way luca says wilhelmina like an exasperated older brother.

but henri has heard the entire conversation and is beginning to fit the puzzle pieces together. 

the way luca never asked for another drink, he was simply handed one by the bartender. the stares he’d gotten from the other regulars for daring to speak to the king. the expensive apartment that no one seemed to live in. it all added up to an image of the king of luxembourg henri hadn’t expected. 

he makes his excuses and goes, practically sprinting out the door with a new perspective on french relations with luxembourg. he leaves the tiny country that afternoon, the bruises still fresh on his skin, a reminder that the night before had really happened. 

luca takes a moment to put himself back together and then meets his twins and siblings for lunch, and tries to push the night out of his mind. he doesn’t frequent the bar like he used to, and when he does he even manages to give them a smile, a real one this time. maybe a night out was just what he needed. maybe he just needed to be normal for a moment. 

they swear they don’t think about it, but they do. 

“we try and connect the dots and the facts how do we have to be here? 'cause these hotels, i just can't relax the more i bend, the worse that i snap i feel like a goddamn maniac .” - track 003. ruins by jade bird.

it’s new year’s eve, and there’s far too much going on. it seems the whole world is here, every royal from every country in one ballroom in paris. for henri d’orleans, this is his element. he’s charming and easy to speak to, always able to talk his way into and out of conversations on a whim. 

on the other hand, luca d’ansembourg is simply terrible at events like these. when it’s small groups, he can almost manage to seem normal, but with the movement of the crowd and the volume of the room, he’s barely said twenty words to those around him. he prefers to be a wallflower, usually, but his sisters have been pestering him about making new friends. it’s not going well. 

luca spots him across the room and trails off mid-sentence. no one around him notices. 

he looks almost the same, if not a just a little bit more dressed up. 

that’s henri, from the bar. that’s henri, the prince of france. luca can feel the panic set in as their eyes meet across the ballroom, and he only holds henri’s gaze for a second before dashing towards an alcove he’d noticed earlier. 

he doesn’t expect henri to make his excuses and follow him. 

he’s plotting his escape and how easy it will be to become a recluse and never leave the grand palace again when henri appears in his line of vision. and even if they’re alone in the alcove, they might as well be alone at the world. 

when they’re together, it’s like everything else seems to fall away. the responsibilities, the titles, the riches, none of it matters. 

they’re counting down to the year 2019 in the ballroom, but the pair don’t seem to notice, too caught up in each other once again. it seems like the world stops as they gravitate towards each other. 

the kiss may not happen exactly at midnight, but there’s no one around to police it. 

“and it’s no one’s fault but yours at the foot of the house of cards. you thought you’d never get obsessed,  you thought the wolves would be impressed. and you’re a sinking stone, but you know what it’s like.” - track 004. the jeweler’s hands by arctic monkeys.

henri leaves before the sun comes up, almost like a force of habit. 

it’s easier that way, he always tells himself. it’s better if they just... don’t talk about it. especially because he’s not going to stick around, even if luca asked him to. it’s not personal, just... henri doesn’t need anything more, he never has. the life of royalty made things like falling in love out of question. 

when luca wakes on the first morning of the year, he’s alone. 

and he’s only able to feel bad about himself for a minute, before he decides that he’s kind of grateful that henri is gone. he wouldn’t know what to say, other than the obvious. and then he’s definitely glad he’s gone, when wilhelmina barges into his hotel room without warning. he’s dodged a bullet that morning, but he can’t help but feel like this is the start of something. 

and it is. 

“honey you are nothing to me but alcohol and dopamine. i’m dying on the sofa and i barely know the time like an old man, say i reckon, i love you for a millisecond, but i don’t wear a watch or rolex.” - track 005. presumably dead arm by sidney gish.

they meet again in mid-february at a coronation, and it’s the same song and dance. 

even if argentina is an entirely different type of place than paris, it’s still just a bit too lively for luca’s preferences. the events hosted in buenos aires are filled with dancing and parties that are just too much, but luca still attends, even if he hangs out in the corner for the entire night, watching the crowd move around him. it’s not out of some sense of duty he’s terrible at having, but because his siblings are yet again badgering him into “making new friends” and “coming out of his shell” like he’s some sort of shy schoolgirl. 

henri is having a marginally better time, if only because he’s got the ability to thrive in a social setting. light on his feet and giving with words he doesn’t actually mean make him a favorite for the people who want to dance, and he catches luca’s eye sometimes across the room and his chest will twist in a weird way that he can’t quite place. when he runs out of partners and people to talk to, he’ll check that same corner and find it empty, luca leaving the parties just before henri can go looking for him. 

on the last night of their trip, luca shows up on henri’s doorstep with a half smile and they fall into bed together yet again, this time with the ease of practiced lovers. and maybe it’s just a little bit too close to something he can’t take back, but when henri wakes the next morning luca is gone, his side of the bed cold. 

“but the light in the hallway and the silence in my room... said i don’t think i’ll get used to losing you.” - track 006. losing you by flyte.

luca goes back to luxembourg to an empty palace and he’s glad that his entire family is gone, his siblings taking his girls on a trip for that weekend. he lets himself wallow in pity for a day, asking all the questions that must be common for widowers who are trying to figure everything out alone. 

he sleeps in his twins’ empty room, unable to stand his own, the room still standing untouched. it’s a monument to his late wife, he can’t bring himself to even more things off her bedside table yet. it’s too fresh, even if it’s been an entire year. for a place that once was a sanctuary built by a woman who luca would have burned down the world for, it’s become something of a tomb. 

and then on sunday, he wakes and he finds that things are lighter, that he’s able to handle the grief. he can breathe in. he spends the afternoon in wilhelmina’s garden, away from the bustle of his siblings’ return. wren finds him there, hours later. 

“do you think she’d want me to... move on?” he asks, as if his youngest sibling will have any idea. he gets a shrug in reply, but wren still sits with him until it gets dark. and somehow that’s the push luca needed, that he can let go a little bit. that he can live without the shadow of his late wife watching over his every move. 

he thinks nathalie would be proud that he picked himself back up and did what he was meant to do. he knows that his sisters are. when his first valentine’s weekend alone is over, luca feels lighter than he has since the diagnosis, and it shows in his work, in the way he carries himself. 

he doesn’t lock himself away in the palace, instead he returns to engagement parties and balls held in honor of the dumbest things, and he does it with a bit more confidence, a little bit of a spring in his step. 

“and that’s the thing about illicit affairs and clandestine meetings and longing stares. they show their truth one single time, but they lie and they lie and they lie, a million little times.” - track 007. illicit affairs by taylor swift.

the first event back, they avoid each other for the first half of the weekend. but then henri can’t keep his eyes away, as luca carries a conversation instead of fading into the background. something’s different, something that henri can’t put his finger on but once he notices it’s terribly distracting. he can’t tear his eyes away. and when luca catches his stare across the room, and blushes just a little bit, it’s over. they’re right back to the start. 

in the spring of 2019, it becomes a habit. it seems like every royal event, they both end up as their country’s representative. whether it’s coincidence, fate or some sort of subconscious desire to see the other, there’s no way to tell, but they’re meeting eyes across ballrooms in japan and having conversations over cigars in botswana. 

in public, they simply read as two old friends. 

in private, they’re something more altogether.

they meet in hotel rooms and rented apartments, in europe and asia and one memorable time in new york city. 

after argentina, it’s always henri following luca to where he’s staying, and leaving before the morning comes. each time, though, luca starts to find that he wants more. he wants him to stay, but henri never does. 

and that should be enough of a sign, that this isn’t the same sort of thing for henri that it is for luca. 

but luca’s never been too good at reading the signs. 

“one last kiss i love you like an alcoholic. one last kiss, i love you like a stauette. one last kiss, i need you like a need a gaping head wound.” - track 008. i love you like an alcoholic by the taxpayers.

it’s may and they’ve been dancing around each other like this for months. they make their excuses and leave before the party’s end more often than not, check over their shoulders thousands of times to make sure no one will catch a glimpse of them. 

they keep it quiet because it’s the only option. luca isn’t looking for a scandal in a country still reeling from the death of it’s beloved queen, and henri isn’t looking to seem attached at all. 

they both say they’re getting what they want out of their meetings, but they’re not, really. they’re both too busy lying to themselves to realize that there’s a way that they can just reach out and have what they want. 

it all culminates in a few too many words said in the same apartment where it began, when luca’s drunken words become just a little bit too real. henri leaves and it feels different this time, like a nail in the coffin. 

luca wakes alone, but he’d been expecting it. 

he isn’t expecting his sisters to send guards to the apartment, to drag him back to the palace. 

he doesn’t expect the invasion. 

“hard feelings these are what they call hard feelings of love when the sweet words and fevers all leave us right here in the cold, oh oh.” - track 009. hard feelings/loveless by lorde.

it’s like a knife in his back, and he can’t even scream at him. henri disappears from his life into the night, just as easily as he’d entered it. luca rages when he’s alone, only allows himself to feel the loss of a lover, or even just a friend, when no one can see. he projects a strength he doesn’t have anymore, a mask that reminds him just a little bit too much of his father. he’s what his people need, for once. 

henri didn’t know, but who would believe him? he’s the one who left under the cover of the night while his own brother’s soldiers marched into the place he was running from. if he acts a little bit out of line when discussing it, it can be dismissed as being upset he’s been left out of the loop. if he hides away in his rooms for a few days, no one seems to read into it. 

when luca follows wilhelmina into the protection program, he only does so after figuring out that henri isn’t there. he’s not interested in seeing him ever again, to be honest. it’s easier that way, when he doesn’t have to worry about running into him randomly. he can prepare himself. 

the first event they both attend, luca manages to not look towards henri the entire night. it’s a win, a victory that he cannot believe he managed. he radiates calm only after hours of convincing himself everything will be alright, and only stays as long as he has to, trying to charm people who can help them out of their situation. 

henri can’t believe he misses catching luca’s gaze across a ballroom, but that little ache in his chest is something he refuses to feel again. he lets it go, tries his hardest to push everything out of his mind. it’s easier that way, he reminds himself. he couldn’t get attached, and even though he’s a little sad that the fun is over, it’s not the end of the world. 

both of them are liars, but they’ve managed to believe it.

when henri arrives in phuket, it’s to no fanfare. when a shouting match that he doesn’t want ensues, they both feel like they’re playing the part: henri as the villain and luca as the jilted lover. but yet again, the magnetism that pulls them together continues on. there’s no way they can avoid this. 

neither of them is going to make this easy. 

“cause if i had loved you the way you loved me before, or if you hadn't left me with this doubt creeping up my spine, maybe we could help this ” - track 011. getting on in spite of you by remember sports. 

[lianors]

THIRD CHALLENGE  — character study for lianor montagu.

word count: 4006 (minus questions) / points earned: 30

tw: abusive parental relationship, self image discussion, death, miscarriage.

001. describe  your  characters’ relationship  with  their mother  or  father, or  both.  minimum word  count:  150. 

wc: 424.

like most young noble women in the early centuries, her parents made sure lianor grew aware of the duties she would one day have to fulfill--only that in the eldest beauchamp's case, she was not to be groomed for a grand marriage right away, but to continue her mother's line in the royal household. beatriz meant to use her child as an extension of herself; while the queen was to remain at greenwhich with her lady in waiting, their daughters were to remain side by side in wales, with the baroness' daughter obliged to keep her mother informed and the princess content.

this amount of responsibility made her mature faster and strained her childhood considerably, resigning her to a smaller role in the egocentric play that is youth, when you are supposed to be at its center--such views still heavily impact her current mousey personality on her eagerness to please and her mild inability to malice.

incapacity to comply to her mother's requests and demands led to insults and punishments severely kept even through distance, but accomplishments meant receiving small gestures of kindness and praise. however, the emotional abuse endured has always been misguided as motherly care and affection, and beatriz remains as a sort of goal to her eldest daughter in many instances. still, lia consciously understands her mother's flaws and the impact it has had on herself, and, whilst engaging on the occasional self-pity for that, she actively works on shifting her own children's upbringing to the opposite of her own.

perhaps because her mother has always been so strict, richard acted as a smoothening hand, keeping constant affectionate correspondence to include her as a beauchamp alongside her younger siblings. for their physical distance, they both attempted to form a bond -- it was strengthened by similar (albeit, at the beginning, feigned, solely for the goal of receiving his affection) interests such as the running of the kidderminster state and a keenness for architectural and exterior design.

the relationship has somewhat strained in the wake of her position as a mistress--her father could no longer idolize her as a wide eyed four year old when she was a woman grown, committing adultery within the marriage he had arranged for her, with a man who will never have her in a honorable manner.

though often accused to conspire to elevate his family through whoring his daughter, the baron is in fact uncomfortably against the relationship, often advising her to stick to her marital bed despite how badly that would play to their family's betterment.

002. what  are  your characters’  most  prominent physical  features?  what is  a  feature that  they  are most  insecure  about? what  are  they proudest  of?

if you are to be quite obvious, then that would be the red hair plus grey-green eyes combo--her hair is thick, in a vibrant shade of auburn that shines even bellow modest headwear, and her eyes are very big, with protruding eyelids and long carmine lashes. they beg for contact, locking on her interlocutor with an unnerving curiosity, even over the smallest, pettiest subjects.

modest, lia often chooses to be proud about the things that people compliment, so her response would match mine, only accompanied by random facts about the source of her rose water, a self-depreciative tone and a bat of eyelashes to convey a coyness that is bred on insecurity.

due to her low self esteem, there are actually plenty of topics she diminishes about herself: her body type, too lean to be considered attractive to time standards, used to plague her mind whenever she strip off her heavy garments for the night. after childbirth, her curves have been accentuated and she has gained enough weight for her to swat away this particular worry, but another physical detail continues to haunt her: her bone structure is well pronounced, with high cheekbones and full cheeks, a sharp jaw and a slightly protruding chin; her mouth is large, and her gums frequently peek out whenever she laughs or talks too excitedly -- her mother caught that once, and reprimanded her by calling her horse faced, a petty nickname that haunts her to refrain herself from expressing glee in public to this day.

003. how  vain  is your  character?  do they  find  themselves attractive?  what  is their  worst  flaw, and  are  they aware  of  it?

although lianor can not say she is unattractive, she has a remarkably low self esteem that drives her to compare herself to others, picking unimportant details that makes her stand out and deeming herself plain. one would propel themselves to rise their “boring” beauty with earthly possessions, but lia’s flares of vanity are scattered and inconstant, due to this very self-image problem she carries. her worst characteristic, if this is to be taken to the psychological realm as i believe, would be her hypocrisy, which pairs very well with her ability to delude herself -- due to the deep rooted delusion of moral superiority, she often makes herself blind to it.

004. what  is  your character’s  ranking  on the  kinsey  scale?

conditioned to both servitude under one mistress, and to fulfill her marriage duties in order to better her family's standing, lianor was thrust in a world she was to keep company of women but to learn how to please men. that lead her to seek out to comply by her curiosity with the same gender at first, but she was bound to believe any dalliance and further interest she kept on her fellow women was to be taken as platonic friendships, and any physical event to happen between her and a woman to be a test, a practice run, a way to please the prince that one time she shares a welsh girl with him, ignoring how good it felt when her lips met the wench’s. thus, i would classify her as a hesitant two, leaning towards one on the scale--interesting enough, she goes on the far opposite for her modern verse, ranking a prideful four in a clear preference towards women (harry, unfortunately, remains her hetero exception).

005. describe  your  character’s happiest  memory.  minimum word  count:  150. 

wc: 519

childhood is an age of egotism. it is the time of your life things are excused by the notion of one’s innocence, granted by the holy sacrament of the washing of sins. such notions rings truer the higher in hierarchy one is born into; while the prince of wales’ name day festivities were grand affairs, with foreign emissaries and gifts richer than our savior’s on his birth day, lianor stays by her mother’s skirts, fingers twiddling in intimidation and anxiety. she has tears in her eyes as little clem holds the prince’s hand, parading him to their portuguese relations; lianor wants nothing but to run out of the gardens, but she hesitates, scared she would be punished harsher if she ran to hide her tears than if she stayed put, red faced in the effort not to burst in a crying fit.

it was not fair her friends received a feast for the ages while she was not able to get her father to visit her in a whole year. that cloak of ignorance prevents her from understanding the demands of a war campaign, or how a landowner’s duties cannot withstand distance for a mere sentimentality.

two months and six days later, there is still war to be won and foreign men to kill, but he comes as an unmistakable figure: tall and dark, still sporting some of his battle gear. when he picks her up -- hello, my princess, whispered against her hair -- she smells the sweat, the soot from the road, the overwhelming sweat of horse and man and something that should taste metallic, but she is too young to be familiar with it. they have not seen each other in a year, but she swears father smells of home, of worcester. he must, mustn't he?

richard spends the day, hand in hand with his daughter, a curious silence as he listens to her go on about the whole year spent apart -- he cuts her only when they reach the royal gardeners who worked on rooting the plants brought as a gift with the braganza; he sends him them off and tells his daughter they will do it themselves. by the end of it they are both sweaty, her dress stained with mud and dirt and grass; he promises to get her a new one as he washes the filth out of her hands, paying close attention as he cleans her nails, as gentle as a soldier yet as attentively as an experienced ladies' maid.

the domesticity of a single day with her father should hardly pay up for years of absence and mild abandonment, but the memory remains very dear to lianor, for it had put her, a whiny child who was not even his heir, as important enough for her father to forgo his duties to appease her, even if for pity. as someone who had to learn to resign herself to a smaller position and to have her wishes disregarded in favor of another's, she sees the idyllic day of her ninth name day as a proof love matters, that she matters.

006. is  there  one event  in  your characters’  life  that they  would  like to  erase  from their  past?  why? minimum  word  count: 200. 

wc: 590.

she is granted a small leave for her mother’s lying in -- the announcement of a pregnancy this late in the baroness’ life had driven her eldest daughter to tears of laughter, a brief moment of mocking that had become a remorseful memory when she understood how dangerous it was -- which gleefully coincided with john’s fifteenth name day. to say lia had been more excited for the later would be an understatement, for she had spent the past six months looking for the perfect present. she had exchanged letters with a bride-to-be, fashioning the marriage to be a good gift for his coming of age; she had requested fine silks to work on making a suitable, rich clothing from scratch; she had even looked over every stable between ludlow to london in the search of a good stallion for the boy.

driven by her brother’s recently deepened passion for animals, she decides by the horse, a majestic mixed breed from the king’s own personal stable. a young, fierce thing, it had not yet been broken -- lianor imagined lizzie and her would have quite a laugh while watching the boy flee from the grand beast; a much needed distraction from mother’s cantankerous nature, worsened by each passing month of the recommended bed rest.

to relieve her sister from another tormentous morning, lianor assumes the position of vigil by their mother’s bedside. she recalls vividly that particular morning, when she woke with the scent of a full chamber pot and the shrieking patter of “how damned i must be at this age, with a wee one kicking at my and my daughter hell bent on making us living in a pigsty”. it was pure annoyance that lead lianor outside in order to clean the dark confinement room, and to fetch herself something to eat; her ribs ached from the poor sleeping position from the night before, papa was nowhere to be seen, and her copper haired brother pestered her to let him go outside and play with his present.

“just go already!” were her last words for john, who ran out of her eyesight before she could return to her senses.

though her patience plagues at her senses early, appeasing mother keeps her occupied enough to stop her from acting on her remorse; she imagines something sweet would do to remedy any resentment between the siblings over her curt words earlier, a cake sweetened with honey and covered in fresh fruit. the batter is not yet whipped when the boy’s body comes; the shattered bowl nearly cutting skin as it falls on the kitchen floor, where richard rushes to put the boy down by the hearth. john moaned in pain, begging for something to appease the cold and feverishly asking of the horse.

“what was that?” beatriz asks as soon as her eldest daughter enters the room, stupor coloring the girl’s cheeks and making her livid -- the only thing she felt was the lingering taste of fruit in her tongue. her mother is worry personified, eyes widen, belly swollen; it would take her one push to get up from her long confinement, one fall to end it for her. lia is by the bedside in one moment, guiding her mother back into the bed, tightening the blankets around the pregnant woman; she swallows the taste of cake and gal and the heaviness of tears, and utters a smile. “margaret dropped the bowl for john’s cake, cut her hand. silly girl. rest, mama. i will bring you a slice soon.”

007. let’s  talk  favourites! what  is  their favourite  colour,  food, and  season?   what, in  a  modern setting,  would  be your  character’s  favourite song?

the vibrancy of her hair made her find what suits her best early on, so she began to favor yellow (from pale to gold) and green (she often adorns herself with emeralds); she also enjoys earthy tones, and pale, “pure” colors such as blues and soft pink. not commonly boastful, she exempts her modesty in her culinary taste, enjoying fruits and having a very well-known sweet tooth she often indulges on. for season, it would have to be spring, when the blossoms pucker out and the air is filled with that utopic scent of life. tbh i don’t really know music, so i’ll just spitball it and say lia listens to a lot of musical tracks and movie soundtracks.

008. can  you  define a  turning  point in  your  character’s life?

she suffered a miscarriage at kidderminster in 1448, which alarmed her mother to her misbehaving and propelled her to a marriage that would happen within the next eight months.

009. is  your  character an  early  morning bird  or  a night  owl?  at what  time  do they  get  most of  their  work done?

over a decade priming herself to be the first to wake so she would ready clementine has entrenched a routine in the eldest beauchamp which causes her inability to stay and sleep in, regardless of exhaustion or a vacant schedule. so she rises early, and has only recently learned how to indulge herself a couple of hours longer in bed with her children, her lover or amidst letters that have piled up over the week.  

010 a.  what  other character,  a  npc or  someone  apart of  the  rp, is  your  character completely  real  with? who  knows  them best,  has  seen them  at  their most  vulnerable,  knows their  innermost  and basest  fears?  b. if  your  character does  not  have this  person,  why? do  they  long for  one?

over the years she has learned the value of keeping things only for herself, so this may be a bit tricky. she confides and is confided on often by harry and clementine, but she usually refrains, and watches her words carefully when it comes to her own private matters. perhaps the one she would speak the most candidly to would be her sister, whom she trusts wholeheartedly -- particularly because her secrets have already been spilled in the beauchamp household, and to attempt a facade next to her sister is not only unnecessary, but also exhaustive.

011. is  your  character a  neat  or messy  person?

incredibly neat. lianor is a bit of a freak on that subject even--out of habit, she is known for fixing portraits out of place, quickly picking up at clothes discarded and subtly nagging at those who do not meet her standards.

012. does  your  character have  any  irrational fears  or  phobias?

many, though most would fall on the psychological realm such as being left or her secrets being found out leading to herself and her family’s fall from grace. after her last pregnancy, she has been extremely careful not to fall with child, afraid that if her fertility flares up once more it will be the last she will be able to carry whilst remaining on her position.

013. does  your  character have  an  underlying passion  or  trait that  influences  all aspects  of  their life?

a trait could be her ability to compromise. when they look at her, as they think her submissive -- which, to be quite fair, she is -- but lia also enjoys seeing things going her way, lately in a manipulative manner; she does not mind being diminished and, being adaptive, she doesn't mind playing by someone else's games, as long as the results end up pleasing her somehow (i.e: letting her husband humiliate her a time or two in exchange for her sexual and emotional "freedom".)

 014. what  might  your character’s  ideal  romantic person  be?

this is probably one of the most difficult questions on this because lia is so very particular, and she has already made her mind about not trailing off in fantasies -- as a woman wed for five years, and engaged in a dalliance nearly twice as long, she feels it is wrong, kind of a betrayal for her to wish her partner(s) to be different. as she grew, like many other girls, she wanted someone gallant -- tall and athletic, of high birth to please her mother; she needed him to be understanding for she did not want to leave her position by the princess, but he should also be devoted, because she needs someone to make it known she matters for him. she would rather him not to be too old, because she wanted many children, and to raise them as a harmonious, loving couple. nowadays, she is more realistic, and would settle for the understanding bit in a man; however, she is well aware that if her husband were to pass, she would remain a widow for the rest of her days (something she wouldn't complain much about, considering how miserable she has been in a disagreeable marriage).

015. describe  your  character’s hands.  are  they small,  long,  calloused, smooth,  stubby,  dexterous or  clumsy?  do they  wear  any jewelry  and  would they  wear  polish in  a  modern setting?

remarkably petite, her hands break the consensus: large for her standard size, with long thin fingers and a translucent -- slightly reddened at the knuckles and fingertips -- skin that makes the purple lines all the more vibrant, they are a matter of insecurity for the countess. yet she can not drop the habit to pull at them, twisting her fingers nervously and picking at jewelry. her insecurities are, for most part, ill found: her hands are nimble and dexterous, well matched with quick reflexes that allow her a talented hand at most repetitive activity that would put them in the spotlight, such as calligraphy or needlepoint; when involved by another’s, they remain just as small as she is, and their softness to the touch grants her further adoration, as she is keen to give affection by physical touch.

as she displays wealth sparingly, other than on short occasions such as feasts, she only wears rings that hold some sort of meaning: a signet of the beauchamp her father had crafted upon her birth, and a locket ring harry plantagenet gifted her about five years ago.

modern lianor has trouble growing her nails for many years -- her fingers are bleeding stomps through most of her childhood to teenage hood, and she only gains the habit of properly manicuring by the age of fourteen, and that is mostly because of her jealousy over the sound of her friend’s nails tapping against hard surfaces. for most, she keeps her nails at a modest length, painting it with nude colors and pepper-infused bases (to refrain her from biting the polish and her nails off) on weekdays and sporadically indulging in her sister’s collection of dark metallic colors.

016. how  does  your character  smell?  what is  their  favourite scent?

another monster question only because i can't tell scents apart -- what is sweet? you're not eating perfume, karen. but, well, knowing lianor, i believe she leans towards more citrusy smells, luxuriously infusing cut up lemons and oranges in her rose water when she bathes; it proves to be an expensive habit seeing as she bathes with some regularly, often more than a couple times per week. anachronically hygienic, she blames it on her mother's portuguese habits, but the truth is she just enjoys feeling cool and smelling nice.

017. how  would  your muse  describe  their religious  beliefs?

the portuguese are well known for their strong faith, and beatriz is no different. she made sure her children were practicing catholics, and lia grew up fearing both god and her mother's wrath. by staying as true as she can to her book of praying, she understands that god is also love, and that she should attempt to make religion a less dull duty when she passes that around, either that be to her younger companions or, currently, to her children. despite that optimism, she is terrified of the curses she may unleash upon her own by her godless misbehavior, and promptly donates in abundance to the clergy.

018. what  rules  does your  muse  live by,  if  any?

loyalty above all. there are things to gain from remaining constant in your favor, especially when your fortunes are dependent on how higher born people feel about you. thankfully, lianor was graced with patience and willingness, but to accept her submission and to bite her tongue is at times still an arduous task she must prevail, not only for her own good now but her children's.

019. does  your  muse overshare,  or  are they  more  private?

now, that’s very dependent. lia is, by rule, very private -- incredibly quiet, she is comfortable with silence, and prefers to remain tight lipped around court. But, curious as she is, it does not take long for her to bloom into a conversation if it interests her enough; her tongue loosens by her passion on the subject, either that be in a negative or a positive light. still, her words are well measured, her speech purposefully tattered with meaningless, lovely, at times pathological anecdotes to endear the people she wants on her side. true confessions only escapes her in the presence of those she cherishes the most and are her longest standing confidants.

020. is  your  muse a  gossiper?  are they  more  likely to  argue  with their  fists  or tongue?  what  does their  voice  sound like?

due to the misfortunate rumors that seem to follow her in court, lianor abstain from gossip--however, that hardly means she is not observant and keen of the talk, especially when it involves something about her loved ones and that could be of help for them.

as she is virtually unable to protect herself physically, her few lessons in sword fighting long forgotten as childhood play, she must hone her tongue from time to time to protect herself -- truly, she is not proficient at that, and oftentimes she ends up abiding by the humiliation.

lianor is very soft spoken, with a honeyed, deep yet feminine voice. (i’m not certain how to describe a voice lmao hers is charlotte’s real voice, outside of that ridiculous accent from the spanish princess).

021. is  your  muse  a …  pessimist  or optimist …  lover  or fighter … believer  in  happy endings …  believer  in love  at  first sight?

she walks a line between both, though she is originally very optimistic and often attempts to keep herself upbeat. unmistakably a lover, though reality has dulled her romanticism and makes her cynical towards these notions of an easy love--instead, love must be kept and groomed for it to grow and remain.

022. what  sense  of humour  does  your character  have?

a poor one. lianor doesn’t consider herself particularly funny, so she often falls to depreciating, insulting jokes she is the subject to; jests about herself from other people, though, drive her to annoyance. though she is sensitive and rather particular about what amuses her, she can be efficient in continuing a playful round of tease between those she favors.

023. what  bad  habits does  your  character have?

the most pertinent misbehavior i have pointed out a few times is her growing habit to turn to deception. as a young woman whose future depends on how she keeps her honor, either that be physical or psychological, she was, in a practical, vocal sense of it, discouraged to lie, but lia caught people doing it so anyways, if only to disburden themselves by a white lie. a white lie, that is what she claims to use in her favor; it is necessary not to hurt herself and her loved ones, so she tells herself, even as she spews unnecessary fantasious tales.

024. how  does  your character  feel  about growing  old?

i believe she remains ambiguous about it, as most women do? though her power and wealth comes from a position maintained assumingly by her body, she does not fret about this so much, for if her beauty faded, she would still have her mind and, she hopes, harry’s heart. however, when she first saw a pale thread among her fiery tresses, she probably thought of her mother’s own graying hair, and how in old age she will deteriorate to the point of non-recognition and complete oblivion, souring her moods and driving her to isolation.

025. does  your  character prefer  adventure  to safety  and  security?

adventure had never been much of an opportunity, for she is of lesser noble birth, and her family’s odds depended on her ability to better herself by marriage or service to the crown. so she faithfully abided for most of her youth, but bouts of recklessness were not absent in her idyllic days at the welsh border, and whenever she felt her cheeks aching just from laughing, she imagined this was the kind of life one is supposed to lead. she always, soon enough, promptly convinced herself it was not the right life, and she strives for stability, a calm, quiet life alongside the people she loves -- it is a naive thought, though, and she brushes it off to return to her duties.

[joannaofportugal]

JOANNA BRAGANZA // CHALLENGE 002

a series of songs that i think suit joanna’s character and lifestyle.. songs i may be found listening to when writing her voice, her mood, her actions.. some are based around relationships whereas others are simply self-monologues. 

oh sweet nuthin’ — the velvet underground // say a word for polly may, she can’t tell the night from the day, they threw her out in the street, but just like a cat she landed on her feet. 

the tune itself has a joanna-vibe to it, and the song oozes her troublesome nature but she has luck, and luck is one of the most important things to behold in the florentine courts. 

i know (feat. fiona apple) — king princess // and you can use my skin, to bury secrets in and i will settle you down. 

a sketch of an affair with a man who is in a committed relationship, joanna and her ambition to step on another person’s head just to get a title, recognition and at the least of it, stardom. 

like a girl — lizzo // woke up feelin’ like i just might run for president, even if there ain’t no precedent, switchin’ up the messaging. 

joanna is a rebellious girl in the year of 1455, a streak lost on history and covered by marriages and children. joanna isn’t about to let anyone stand on her. 

want you in my room — carly rae jepsen // on the bed, on the floor ( i want you in my room ) i don’t care anymore, i wanna do bad things to you. 

any empowering song can suit joanna, in a modern-day setting she would be the girl who’s all up in pop princesses, too. 

if you could know — shannon and the clams // where am i goin’? are we here? my brain’s overflowing, is filling with fear, i am not ready. 

a declaration of joanna’s immaturity and inexperience which may cause her to fail at the tasks she so badly wants to finish. 

harry — kelsy karter // i’ll treat you better than the girls you’re hangin’ out with, take you to heaven, and i’ll show you all around it, i’ll never ever let you down. 

immature as she is, joanna would also be the girl who begs for chances. to put her heart on the line, though everyone should know that her heart is beaten black and blue to protect it from heartbreak. 

motivation — normani // i’ma break you off, let me be your motivation, to stay and give it tonight, and, baby, turn around, let me give you innovation.

the same as above and the must is certainly something modern-day joanna would listen to. 

mother’s daughter — miley cyrus // must be something in the water or that i’m my mother’s daughter, don’t fuck with my freedom. 

one, she would be a cyrus fan. two, her mother is extremely important and will be famous throughout the coming years for her role in bearing many children for portugal, and supporting the country throughout it’s trials. joanna is proud to be her mother’s daughter. 

boyfriend — ariana grande // i know we be so complicated, but we be so smitten it’s crazy, i can’t have what i want, but neither can you. 

when joanna set her sights on the second prince of england she didn’t think about her family nor the relationship between england and portugal. the only thing she cares about, in all cases, is herself and so she only thought of how good they’d be together... rather than the case that’d bring both countries unsatisfied looks from the pope himself. 

don’t start now — dua lipa // if you don’t wanna see me dancing with somebody if you wanna believe that anything could stop me. 

no one can stop joanna’s path of destruction or ambition. that’s the message. 

now i’m in it — haim // i, i ‘can’t get a hold of myself. i can’t get outta this situation. 

everyone has times of doubt and joanna is no different despite her outward persona. for she sometimes finds herself wondering how to get out of bad mistakes. 

patricia — florence + the machine // you only take as much as you can grab with two hands, with your big heart, you praise go above. but how’s it working out for you, honey? do you feel loved? 

a letter to a lover who acts in moderation and practises chastity and charity. the differences between joanna and others. 

good looking — suki waterhouse // the skyline falls as i try to make sense of it all, i thought i’d uncovered your secrets but turns out there’s more. 

joanna finds love interests easy, for there is no secret to loving someone or becoming adored. though sometimes she finds it hard to unmask boys who pretend to be something they are not, and this is a song mixed in with confusion and a curious need. 

[svnnysidevp]

c can i hab the s ship meme ??? 🥺 for all of them hehehehe

𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗲  /  * ACCEPTING  !

i love gi n thats on periodt

𝒏𝒐𝒆𝒍 & 𝒓𝒚𝒖𝒋𝒊𝒏  !

𝐰𝐡𝐨   .  .  .  .

001. .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 ?  noel . no questions asked . he used to be very picky about touching gross things but he’d do it for ryujin , as she is , as in most cases of his life , the exception ! if not noel he’d get one of the other guys to do it LOL

002. .   .   .   𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 ?  noel and YES of course the ring is massive and brag-worthy . who do you think he is ?

003.  .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  noel . it was when he was still an idol and ryujin was their makeup artist . he’d done it backstage while waiting for their performance at a music show and was being a menace , as usual ( not that ryujin turned away ! ) .

004.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 ?  noel , at first ! it’s mostly noel , but over time ryujin starts to plan things for them even if he insists that she just sit back and relax as he spends most of the time planning and deciding what would make her feel happiest .

005.  .   .   .   𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 ?  ryujin , because technically she did and it was the worst few months of noel’s life .

006.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 ?  both ! only they show it in different ways : noel unleashes a total verbal smackdown on his target and ryujin just gets extra affectionate with him ! it’s worth noting that ryujin got very jealous even before they’d start officially dating so . :) 

007.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐞𝐫 ?  noel , surprisingly enough . for someone with such an active social life and penchant for butting into other people’s circles he’s discovered he really likes staying in bed with ryujin and watching dumb videos and letting her put makeup on him .

008.  .   .   .   𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝟑𝐀𝐌 ?  noel ! hc that the first few days after their first breakup and also pre-auggie he would still be sending her daily updates about what he did that day and all the piece of shit things he did and he’d end it , always , saying that he missed her . nowadays they don’t really text each other at that time because they rarely spend nights apart !

009.   .   .   .  𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 ?  noel . no contest . he’s also the same person who gets ryujin to discover this side of herself that no one else has managed to crack so . :~)

010.   .   .   .  𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  noel !!! it took a while before ryujin said it back but when she did , it was overdue , but still glorious .

𝒋𝒊𝒂𝒆 & 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒉𝒚𝒖𝒏  !

𝐰𝐡𝐨   .  .  .  .

001. .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 ?  younghyun doesn’t kill it , only takes it outside .

002. .   .   .   𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 ?  younghyun !!! it’s with a ring he worked really hard to buy because he wants jiae to have the best things : (

003.  .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  younghyun . it was after this whole ’ you’re a camgirl and i know ! ‘ confrontation but it was very soft and sweet , especially compared to the kisses that happened …. after that ….

004.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 ?  younghyun ! like noel , he likes planning things for jiae , although with him it’s more of a collaborative effort .

005.  .   .   .   𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 ?  neither are u kidding me … he’s been in love with , AND having wet dreams abt her since forever why wld he stop his dreams from coming tru now .

006.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 ?  both ! jiae is jealous of all the attention he gets as the campus track star and younghyun is acutely aware of the way ppl look at her . luckily they like to remind each other exactly who they belong to :-)

007.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐞𝐫 ?  jiae ! i wouldn’t say either of them are particularly lazy , but since younghyun’s an athlete and works at his family’s store he can’t really afford ? to be lazy ? but he does like the days he can just sit back and unwind w his gf .

008.  .   .   .   𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝟑𝐀𝐌 ?  jiae sends him tasteful nudes . younghyun doesn’t reply except two seconds later he’s already knocking at her door .

009.   .   .   .  𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 ?  jiae due to profession ? but younghyun is aware of how nasty he can be so they’re both experienced in their own ways :~)

010.   .   .   .  𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  younghyun , the sap he is .

𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔 & 𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒆  !

𝐰𝐡𝐨   .  .  .  .

001. .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 ?  miles .

002. .   .   .   𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 ?  miles ! god ok im getting emotional thinking abt just how hard he worked for his ring too : (

003.  .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  auggie . tbh miles was still on the fence abt dating one of his best friends’ exes and was nervous and sweaty palmed all night . but the date turned out really well and ended with her kissing him as sweet as he thought it’d be and suddenly all thoughts of betrayal ? OUT THE WINDOW BABY !!!

004.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 ?  auggie ! miles , too , but tbh it’s nice to feel like he doesn’t have to be super … on top or in charge of things with her ? when he pushes he feels the push back and it’s new and takes getting used to but also very nice .

005.  .   .   .   𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 ?  auggie did , technically , during their first big fight ! since they got back together though it’s never crossed either of their minds :~) .

006.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 ?  miles ! auggie being a youtuber means lots and lots of fans coming up to her and trying to get too close but miles tries to keep it in line because it makes her happy ! beside he’s the one who gets to eat her out every night anyway !

007.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐞𝐫 ?  auggie ! miles is notorious for working to the point of fatigue . auggie is his rest .

008.  .   .   .   𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝟑𝐀𝐌 ?  miles ; see above . auggie’s reply always comes kind of chiding or chastising , telling him to stop working and just come home .

009.   .   .   .  𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 ?  auggie ? not by much , but auggie . miles has always proven too busy for romantic affairs !

010.   .   .   .  𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  miles , through tears as auggie patched him up after his fist fight with noel !

𝒋𝒊𝒏𝒂 & 𝒘𝒚𝒂𝒕𝒕  !

𝐰𝐡𝐨   .  .  .  .

001. .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 ?  jina . NSJKDFNSJ

002. .   .   .   𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 ?  wyatt ! he puts together a little short film for her before getting down on one knee . it’s beautiful and jina hasn’t said yes to anything faster .

003.  .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  jina . highkey it was when wyatt had had a fight with his girlfriend and jina had to pick him up from a bar kinda tipsy too and after a drunken confession spills out it just … happens ! it was only inevitable !

004.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 ?  wyatt ! jina is very new to this whole romance thing , so wyatt is kind of ? leading the way for them , trying to figure out at what pace she’d be most comfortable since she doesn’t want to overwhelm !

005.  .   .   .   𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 ?  jina , being as flighty as she is , would occasionally feel like she’s too much for wyatt ?? or feel like she doesn’t deserve him n baso just gets anxious and uncertain abt their future . but it’s always wyatt coaxing her back to bed , reassuring her that for her he’ll always be around : ( .

006.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 ?  wyatt ! at first , at least . then when he gets a girlfriend the turns …. they table ….

007.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐞𝐫 ?  wyatt ! he and jina take naps until noon some days it’s peak romance .

008.  .   .   .   𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝟑𝐀𝐌 ?  probably jina ?

009.   .   .   .  𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 ?  jina !!! wyatt’s been hung up on the same girl for a while now so he hasn’t that much time to get … out there .

010.   .   .   .  𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  wyatt , thanks to alcohol and how pretty jina looked and how nice it felt when she kissed him for the first time , finally !

𝒑𝒂𝒙𝒕𝒐𝒏 & 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆  !

𝐰𝐡𝐨   .  .  .  .

001. .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 ?  neither . they’re both afraid . SNFKJDSNF

002. .   .   .   𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 ?  paxton ! it’s at disneyland on an anniversary date and valentine cries .

003.  .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  valentine . it was for the fake dating exp obv ! we don’t talk abt how much pax actually liked it !!!

004.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 ?  valentine ! paxton gets v overwhelmed and anxious and uncertain planning things so for the most part it’s her holding the ropes . when he does plan things for her though he tries his best !!!

005.  .   .   .   𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 ?  paxton feels like he isn’t enough for her sometimes and probably deserves someone better , especially when they’re months into fake dating and haven’t broken up yet . he thinks she wants to break up but is too scared of hurting his feelings so he brings it up only for them to have a fight . NJSDFNSJDF

006.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 ?  valentine ! she’s v aware of how many people flock to paxton after his band performs . not like he notices or anything . he’s very one track minded ( aka valentine-centric ! ) . 

007.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐞𝐫 ?  paxton !

008.  .   .   .   𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝟑𝐀𝐌 ?  probably valentine ? with a new idea for a youtube video , or their plans for the next day . pax replies and tells her to get some sleep !

009.   .   .   .  𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 ?  paxton !!! valentine’s had boyfriends but none of them have made her nut so . NFJKSDNFJS

010.   .   .   .  𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  paxton , thanks to the aforementioned fight in number 5 !

𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒏 & 𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒆  !

𝐰𝐡𝐨   .  .  .  .

001. .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 ?  colin . it’s a very easy task for him to do .

002. .   .   .   𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 ?  colin ! it’s set like a mystery scavenger hunt akin jake and amy’s proposal in b99 and it’s v cute .

003.  .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  penny . colin missed too many hints !

004.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 ?  colin , because he likes to plan things for her ! 

005.  .   .   .   𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 ?  penelope because uhh hes a murderer . NSDKJFNS and yet …. the way they find their way back to each other regardless ….. 

006.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 ?  colin ! it manifests after after . every hickey on penny’s neck has a different name .

007.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐞𝐫 ?  penny ! colin usually doesn’t take days off but at pen’s insistence he does like spending more time at home , now that he doesn’t feel lonely in it .

008.  .   .   .   𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝟑𝐀𝐌 ?  probably colin ? because he’s on business trips all the time !!

009.   .   .   .  𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 ?  penny ! colin just also happens to . know what he likes :innocent: NJFKSNF

010.   .   .   .  𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  colin , and penny says it immediately back !

𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔 & 𝒏𝒂𝒐𝒎𝒊  !

𝐰𝐡𝐨   .  .  .  .

001. .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 ?  naomi . she’s a lot tougher than he is .

002. .   .   .   𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 ?  moses , within the comforts of their apartment and probably the morning they first got together , so high on love , was like ‘ i’m so happy with her i could lit rally spend the rest of my life with her …. so I SHOULD !!! ‘ naomi said no , of course , but moses asks again a few years later . properly this time .

003.  .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  moses . on the one night nao decided she was going to put herself first and actually go on a date with someone else ! the clown she is !

004.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 ?  moses !

005.  .   .   .   𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 ?  naomi after she’d get fed up with pining after moses for so long and all the hot and cold and push and pull and his total lack of consequences … honestly even berlin thinks she deserves better dont quote her. NJSDFN

006.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 ?  naomi at first ; she’s been jealous for years ! moses only realises he’s jealous a few years too late .

007.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐞𝐫 ?  both of them ! they work well as roommates , have this unspoken agreement to just stay in and cuddle on some days .

008.  .   .   .   𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝟑𝐀𝐌 ?  probably moses ? when nao isn’t on tour with him and the band he sends her quick snaps of his day , no matter how blurry .

009.   .   .   .  𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 ?  moses ! he falls in love in every city so duh . NSJKDFNS

010.   .   .   .  𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  moses , and of course he says it with the worst timing ever , thank u v much !

𝒔𝒆𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒚𝒆𝒐𝒏 & 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒊  !

𝐰𝐡𝐨   .  .  .  .

001. .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 ?  neither ? somi serenades it and seungyeon lets it rest on one of her flowers on their porch , so long as it isn’t bothering anyone !

002. .   .   .   𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 ?  somi , with a slow song she prepared for her and a dance to accompany it . she picks out seungyeon’s fave flowers and scatters it on the floor ! true romantic .

003.  .   .   .   𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  seungyeon during their fake dating shenanigans , but it’s somi who initiates the first real kiss when she realises she can’t keep pretending this is just pretend !

004.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 ?  somi !

005.  .   .   .   𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 ?  somi after her ex came crawling back to her but honestly it only took her a few dates to realize that … oh … she doesn’t … like her anymore ???

006.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 ?  seungyeon ! because she’s obliv to the LITERAL HEART EYES somi has when she’s around .

007.  .   .   .   𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐞𝐫 ?  somi operates on a more flexible schedule so she’d be more relaxed with a day indoors with her , dancing ‘round the room in their underwear and doing couple things even if they are … surprise …. NOT a couple !!!

008.  .   .   .   𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝟑𝐀𝐌 ?  somi sends her snippets of songs she’s working on because they’re all dedicated to her .

009.   .   .   .  𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 ?  somi !

010.   .   .   .  𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ?  seungyeon ; somi has always said it in other ways that didn’t require words , but that doesn’t mean her heart doesn’t stop when seungyeon tells her that for the first time !

[cluefound-blog]

concerning  my  portrayal    ----    update   :   5   .   01   .   17   .       i’ve  decided  to  incorporate  the  new  nancy  drew  comic  into  my  portrayal   ,   as  i  kind  of  like  the  way  it’s  going    &    adding  more  background  information    /    character  development  into  nancy   .     however   ,   somethings  will  stay  the  same    [    most  things  will  stay  the  same    ]    because  yeah  this  portrayal  is  my  baby    &    i  don’t  wanna  give  everything  up   .     so  here’s  what’s  being  added    :

001   .       nancy  found  out  that  carsen  had  an  affair    &    cheated  on  kate   .     this  would  explain  kate’s  willingness  to  simply  leave  her  family  for  a  case   ,   as  well  as  the  dwindle  in  her  saying  goodbye  to  her  father  as  seen  in  the  silent  spy   .      nancy  found  this  out  by  trying  to  hack  into  her  father’s  private  conversations    &    this  revelation  has  left  her  relationship  with  her  father  currently  on  the  rocks   ,   but  lowkey   .     he  knows  that  she  knows   ,   though  they  are  silent  about  it   .     she  has  no  plans  to  confront  him  about  it   .

002   .       nancy’s  ears  are  pierced  thrice    :    once  in  the  lobe    (    ?    )     &    twice  in  the  cartilage   .     she  usually  wears  small  hoops    &    a  single  stud   ,   but  lately  she  has  kept  the  other  two  holes  bare    &    has  opted  for  a  single  stud   .     however   ,   she  is  going  back  to  more  elaborate  earrings   .

003   .     nancy’s  codename   ,   for  anything   ,   would  always  be  little  bird   .     this  can  be  seen  as  an  ode  to  birds  tweeting  around   ,   or  them  flitting  to  one  place    &    another     -------------     nancy  is  constantly  moving  around   ,   constantly  telling  someone  something   ,   constantly  in  motion   .     this  can  also  been  seen  as  an  ode  to  mocking  birds   ,   who  mock  what  they  hear   .     similarly   ,   nancy  repeats  words  she’s  heard    &    information  she  has  learned   .     so  far   ,   the  hardy  boys  only  call  her  by  this  codename   .

here  are  some  things  that  will  be  staying   .     they’re  minor   ,   but  still  apart  of  my  portrayal    :

001   .     nancy’s  hair  is  not  blonde   ,   as  portrayed  in  the  comic   ,   but  still  a  cherry  red   .       her  eyes  are  not  blue   ,   either   .     they  are  dark  green   .       (     there’s  symbolism  behind  this   ,   lemme  tell  you   .     )       i’ve  never  been  a  huge  fan  of  blonde  haired    +    blue  eyed  nancy  drew   ,   tbh   .

002   .       her  mother  died  while  on  a  case  in  scotland   .     she  did  not  suddenly  grow  ill    &    die   ,   but  she  left  home    &    was  killed  on  a  case   .     this  is  one  detail  that  i    refuse    to  let  go  of   ,   as  it  serves  as  a  purpose  for  nancy  to  even  begin  her  detective  work  in  the  first  place   .

note   :    as  the  comics  continue   ,   this  will  be  updated   .

[thedetectivessay]

"Case 002: Family Affairs"

A Busted fanfic

011.

En Route to Jongno Police Station

Seoul, South Korea

Min-young’s not sure she can take this. The sun is rising high towards the sky at 9:00 AM this morning, and the car is dead silent. Jong-min, oddly the bravest of them all today, tried several times to initiate a self-sustaining conversation, but even he has reached his limit. Since they entered the highway twenty minutes ago, he’s stopped talking.

The situation is a little precarious. Jae-wook’s on the edge again, as he’s been since the first day, but he outdid himself today. This morning, instead of finding small things to nag Kwang-soo with, he takes it a step further: he doesn’t include the tall detective altogether and instructed the team not to contact him about their activities for the day.

When Sejeong asked, Jae-wook didn’t respond. Instead, he hauled the five of them in his van and told them that they were going to see his friend at the police station.

Jae-wook told them that last night, they still hadn’t gotten any information regarding Lee Soon-jae. Poet almost got them killed. If things hadn’t worked out the way they did, the two of them would have been items in a news report by now.

‘What about Kwang-soo hyung, Detective Ahn?’ Sejeong asks. ‘Wasn’t he with you and Jong-min hyung last night?’

Even from behind, both girls saw the former agent lock and unlock his jaw. ‘I don’t want him involved in this case,’ he tells them. ‘I don’t want any of you contacting him with any of the information we’re about to get. Do you understand?’

She and Sejeong just exchanged glances and eventually agreed.

The cloud of that mystery fills the car thickly even at that moment. What did Kwang-soo do to get him kicked out of the case? Min-young knows that it really could be anything. Jae-wook’s been particularly vigilant to find fault with her friend. Kwang-soo could’ve worn the wrong color coat last night, and Jae-wook would have lost it.

Is it because Kwang-soo didn’t show up last night? Min-young wants to ask. However, she knows better. “What are we doing at the police station, Detective Ahn?” she asks instead.

Jae-wook flips the turn signal as he merges into the exit lane. “I called one of my former mentees to ask for help. With K being uninvolved, we need to collect as much information as we can from the police.”

“Information?”

“Yeah. We need to know more about Poet and the gang we just met last night.” He turns into a familiar street soon after. “I have a feeling this isn’t a kidnapped kid we’re looking for.”

“What about the Black Roses, hyung? The one that Min-young, Sehun, and I found out about yesterday?” Jong-min asks.

“Black Roses?”

“Yes. Poet’s notebooks kept mentioning them. Sehun suggested that they could be a rival gang.”

Jae-wook thinks about it. “I can ask, but it’s probably not a good idea to drop that name just yet. We’ll see. I’ll bring it up if the right timing comes up. Right now, we need to fish for information.” A thought occurs to him, something none of them can identify with. Then, his features darken a little. “No one’s to contact Kwang-soo about this, understand? He is to know nothing.”

What did he do last night that got Detective Ahn so upset? Min-young wonders. For the mean time, though, she only nods. “Understood.”

She wonders what Kwang-soo is doing that morning, if he’s even aware that he’s being blocked out of the investigation.

↔

Sehun estimates that they have only five minutes left until they reach the station. So, as quickly and discreetly as he can, he types the text message.

we’re heading to the jongno police station, hyung..

please don’t come. detective ahn is upset. he doesn’t want us to contact you

He bites his lip as he thinks about the next message. Deciding for it, he says:

i’ll call you with our findings as soon as i can

He looks up, making sure that no one has caught on of what he’s doing. Then, he sends it.

[thedetectivessay]

"Case 002: Family Affairs"

A Busted fanfic

010.

Undisclosed Alley

Gangnam, South Korea

It’s a miracle to Kwang-soo that he and Jong-min are still alive. Both of them seem to have stopped breathing nearly an hour ago after the goons in suits appeared up the street. Jae-wook has told them that their very lives now depended on them being very quiet and very unseen, and terrified out of their wits (and the very, veryreal guns sticking out of the men’s holsters) they have withheld even a necessary thing such as air from themselves.

“Hyung,” Jong-min says so quietly as he continues to sink into the front passenger seat. “Are – are you sure they can’t see us?”

“Windows are heavily tinted, and we’re nearly fourand a half blocks away from them,” Jae-wook says coolly, eyes straight ahead to their marks. Though discreet, Kwang-soo thinks he’s still a little too loud. He won’t be the one to say that to him, though. “As long as we stay put and not draw attention, I doubt they’d know about us.”

Jong-min only swallows – a reaction Kwang-soo fully understands.

“Hyung, how long do you think it’ll take Poet to get here?” Kwang-soo asks.

That begets a cutting glare from the former police officer. “How many times will you ask me?” Jae-wook says. “I told you both earlier that this will be a stakeout. That means we could be here the whole night. Instead of asking me questions, why don’t you look at the street behind us to see if there are any cars approaching?”

Jong-min gives him a sympathetic glance once Jae-wook peers into a binocular. The two of them got stuck with this assignment because Jae-wook decided earlier that they were going to come with him. They’ve been dreading it since – and so far it looks like they were correct to feel that way towards it.

Once Jong-min turns back around, Kwang-soo does as he’s told. He looks through the streets behind them for any signs of life. Quickly, he concludes that it’s a drearier, less exciting version of their view blocks ahead. The street lights cast a melancholic glow on a forgotten piece of Gangnam. The backdrop of a dark and nearly starless sky depreciates the already dismal scenery even more.

Eventually, he tires of the chore and pulls out his phone. He’s tempted to text Min-young, to tell her how everything is driving him crazy. However, he realizes that it won’t be fair to involve her in this. She already did her share of the dangerous and the tedious that morning. No need to drag her back in.

“He’s here.”

It’s nearly half an hour later when Jae-wook says that. Sitting up, Kwang-soo sees that as their group stirs to life, Poet’s friends are also awakened. He leans forward, careful not to bump into the touchy former agent.

It’s then he notices Jong-min asleep.

As a token of appreciation for his sympathy, he taps him awake before Jae-wook can notice.

“Poet’s got a couple of his men with him, but they’re outnumbered by whoever he’s meeting with,” Jae-wook reports as he tunes in with his binoculars. He smirks. “Whoever they are, they’re not happy that it took him a long time to get here.”

“Do you know what they’re saying, hyung?” Jong-min asks.

“How could I know? It’s not like we bugged the alley.”

“Bug?”

Jae-wook says nothing.

“A listening device, hyung,” Kwang-soo tells Jong-min. “Like the one that cops use.”

“Ah,” Jong-min nods. “But, Detective Ahn, if we can’t get near them, how is this going to help our search of Lee Soon-jae?”

“Because he might appear in one of the places Poet goes,” Jae-wook answers. “If he knows where he might be, he will eventually lead us to him.”

“But he told us he doesn’t know who he is.”

That time, Jong-min gets the glare. “He’s a criminal. You believe him?” Kwang-soo looks at Jong-min sympathetically. It’s been nearly three days since the six of them reunited. Yet, even with that much time, none of them really know what had made Jae-wook so sour and bossy. The latter, they guess he has the right over since he’s the oldest, but why did he always have to be so mean?

“Some of the guys in suits had just been sent out to check cars. Poet must have told them he’s been arrested last night,” Jae-wook informs the two. “We’re far away enough that they probably won’t even get here. But in case they did, get ready to cover up.”

True to his words, they watch as two pairs are directed – one towards the left and one towards their direction. A couple of others spread out in alleys to search just in case.

Like they did in the beginning, Kwang-soo holds his breath. He had only seen guns up close twice in his life (at least to memory): one with Yeon-seok and the other with their military client. He knows what usually happens when they appear. If he has to suffocate just to avoid the same outcome that M and the music producer had, he will endure it.

“The leader of the gang’s nagging at Poet,” Jae-wook reports. “Drug dealers usually get paranoid when one of their distributors gets caught. There’s always a good chance they got flipped into an informant.”

“They’re not going to kill him, right?” Jong-min asks.

Jae-wook shakes his head. “I don’t know. Probably not. A hoobae told me that Poet’s one of the top dealers out there. They’ve been trying to catch him for nearly two years now. The tip that they received last night was the break the drug task force needed to finally arrest him.”

Kwang-soo knows Jong-min is also thinking about their theory regarding Jae-wook. “Tip?” he tests.

“Yeah. Someone told them that Poet is at Club Neon.”

Jae-wook’s apathy doesn’t improve their suspicion any. Of course he would not acknowledge the slip he made. Admitting to that impulsive move would mean telling the group he’s unfit to lead, and if there’s one thing that hasn’t changed with Jae-wook, it’s that he knows what his age and status should afford.

“Why was he released?” Jong-min asks instead. “They have all the proof they needed to prove he’s guilty.”

Jae-wook shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe he did become an informant.”

“Overnight?”

“You’d be surprised. Sometimes even some of the most loyal of these criminals cave in when you offer them a cozy prison sentence.” Then, a moment later he mutters, “Sometimes even a seemingly good guy can become an adversary, too – if they’re dumb enough.”

They jump when someone taps loudly on Jong-min’s window. Looking up, they see it’s a man wearing a suit.

He’s using a gun to tap on the window. “Hey. Open up,” the man demands.

“Hyung,” Jong-min says, barely breathing as he leans away from the shadow. “What do we do?”

“Yah, did you not hear me?” The man taps on the glass with the barrel of the weapon. “Open this!”

Jae-wook takes a deep breath. He slips the binoculars under his seat. “What else?” he says as the man threatens to shoot them. “We roll the window down.” The window hums as it lowers, revealing what must be faces drained of any color.

“You a cop?” the man asks.

“Aniyo.” Jae-wook leans over, his facial expression surprisingly serene and friendly. “We just pulled in; we live at the house right there. My wife asked me to run to the store and get something, but they’re closed. We’re just getting back home.”

The man observes the two closely for an extremely long and uncomfortable moment. Then, he chuckles. “You’re lying.” He tilts his head. “Get out of the car.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Either your lives end where you sit, or you get a fighting chance. You two – ” he gestures at them with the mouth of the gun, “get out of the car.”

Kwang-soo only realizes then how far he’s leaning back into his seat. He watches as Jae-wook and Jong-min step out in dread. His heart is beating so fast and so loudly that he thinks that it booms like festival percussions through the whole street.

He thinks about calling 112, to call for cops, but he’s frozen. If he moves, the men outside might realize that a third person is inside, and all their chances of survival would be gone.

But if he doesn’t move and his hyungs die on his watch...

He shouldn’t have left the Philippines. It was lonely and hot and friendless, but at least he’s safe. He’s safe, and Jae-wook and Jong-min are safe.

The commotion has called the attention of the party ahead. Not even a minute after, Jae-wook and Jong-min are surrounded by Poet’s men and the gang. “Hyungnim,” the man reports, “I think these two have been watching us.”

“Must be cops,” the leader of the gang says. He turns to Poet and chides, “So I was right: you did turn against us.”

“No, hyungnim! No! Please believe me,” Poet begs desperately. “I – I don’t know these men. I have never seen them!”

“You haven’t seen them.”

“No.”

The leader ponders about it a moment. Then, he turns to one of Poet’s men. “You tell me the truth, I don’t shoot you.” He nods at Jae-wook and Jong-min. “Have you guys really not seen them before?”

Poet’s people exchange glances. They know what will happen if they say anything contrary to what Poet has said: their boss dies, but they would be hunted down by the rest of their crew.

Still, despite knowing this, one of his men cautions another glance at the men in question. His eyes lock on Jong-min a while, and then he points at him. “Hyung,” he tells his boss quietly. “This man. He was there last night.”

Poet looks up at Jong-min, and this time recognition comes to his face. “The new buyer with the pretty girlfriend,” he mutters. He steps closer to Jong-min. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh...”

“Were you a cop all this time?”

“No.”

Poet scoffs. “I knew it. You were asking some weird questions last night.”

“So you have seen him before?” the leader of the gang asks.

The fear returns to Poet. “Yes,” he says, “but he was there as a buyer. I didn’t know he was a cop.”

“We’re not cops,” Jae-wook says.

The leader of the gang sighs. He nods to his men. “Look around, make sure no one else is with them,” he instructs. Once a couple leave, he looks at Poet. “You spineless weasel. I knew one day you’d do this.”

“No, hyungnim,” Poet begs. “Please – ”

“You know the boss doesn’t tolerate traitors in his business.” He clicks his tongue, as if only upset by an annoying but relatively insignificant loss. He draws out his gun from his holster. “Sadly, I still have use of you yet. You said this man has a girlfriend. If you take care of her for me by tomorrow afternoon, I’ll give you a running head start of three hours. If you don’t, you’ll be the third person they’d read in the papers tomorrow.”

“T-third?”

The leader hands him the gun. He nods at Jae-wook and Jong-min. “Make it nice and clean,” he says as he steps back.

Poet hesitates a moment. He looks at the gun a while, and for a second it seems that he will refuse.

But then, the same predatory glint Kwangsoo’s seen in killers’ eyes before flashes brightly in Poet’s eyes. He raises the gun towards Jong-min.

Kwang-soo’s head spins. Min-young tomorrow, Jae-wook and Jong-min tonight. If he gets out, he can still warn Min-young and tell her to leave Korea as soon as possible. Yeon-seok can take her to safety.

But his hyungs – there’s nothing he can do for them. He will witness their murders, and there’s absolutely nothing he can do.

When his head bows a little, closing his eyes in extreme regret, one of the leader’s goons notices him. “Jamkamanyo,” he says, halting everything. He narrows his eyes. When Kwang-soo lifts his head and eyes up, he finds the man staring straight at him. “There’s another man in the car.”

All the spinning stops, and so does every motion within him. He watches in helpless dread as Jae-wook and Jong-min, who he now just noticed was blocking everyone’s view of his window, are pulled away to give the leader a good look of the silhouette in the car.

The leader frowns at him. Then, a long moment later, he chuckles. “Fourth,” he corrects himself, amused.

“Get out of the car,” one of his men instructs Kwang-soo. Kwang-soo flinches when the man pounds his fist against the window. “Now!”

The leader holds up a hand to the man. “Maybe he’d rather be found later at the bottom of the river. We can make that happen.” He hisses as he pretends to think. “That might take decades, though. They don’t really find anyone unless they know specifically where to look.”

Kwang-soo forces himself to take a deep breath. He’s shaking terribly, and his knees don’t feel like they’re functional anymore. But he has to get out. He can’t just let his colleagues – his only family – die because of him.

If they’re to die tonight, at least they should die together.

With another breath, he pulls on the door handle and, as composedly as he can manage, he steps out.

The night is colder outside the car, but the hostility from Poet, his men, and the others burn hot against him. He looks at Jae-wook and Jong-min, and in their eyes, above all other emotions, he sees the realization that this is it for them.

Which is why he fails to notice the look of surprise in the gang leader’s face. The leader bows to him. “Hyungnim!” he greets. “I’m sorry, hyungnim. I didn’t know it was you!”

Like the rest of the others, Kwang-soo stares on, confused. He thinks for a moment that it’s just a cruel joke. The leader would rise and kill them himself.

However, all the leader does is stand back up and smile at him as if to curry favor. He then notices that the others with him aren’t moving. With a glare, he tells them, “Do you all want to die? Show our hyungnim some respect! Greet him!”

With this command, the other men bow. Even Poet, who looks suspicious and resentful, does the same.

The leader approaches Kwang-soo’s side, suddenly docile and friendly. “You don’t remember me, hyungnim? It’s Chan-seok. We’ve had drinks a couple of times before,” he says. When Kwang-soo only stares at him blankly, he chuckles awkwardly. “Of course it’s been years. What brought you by? Are you checking to see if we’re handling the business well?”

Kwang-soo blinks. He looks around. All the scorching fire from earlier has turned into a warming flame.

He looks at Jae-wook and Jong-min. All he sees now is confusion. What case did we just actually agree to work? he wonders as he thinks of the two strangers who claim to know him and this shocking immunity to death that he finds wherever he goes.

[thedetectivessay]

“Case 002: Family Affairs”

A Busted fanfic

tw: mentions of drugs, crime. 

009.

The Light House apartment building

Seoul, South Korea

Sehun isn’t sure he’s comfortable with this new plan.

When Detective Ahn called this morning, telling him to (quickly) meet Jong-min and Min-young at the address he texted him, he thought they would only be there to follow a different lead. He thought there would be a friend of the veteran from the force waiting there for them to hand over an important information. He thought they would soon be meeting the rest of the team for lunch and discussing what they found.

But to his surprise, his fellow detectives informed him that they would be breaking into the drug dealer’s apartment – and they only had approximately two hours to do it.

And oh, watch out for any of Poet’s men who may be patrolling the area around his house.

He understands that as a detective, he has the obligation to help those in need. Of course, the payment Mr. Kim’s secretary touted is an added motivation. Still, he doesn’t know that all of this is worth the trouble.

“Noona, are you sure this is safe?” he asks Min-young as she frowns at the numbers on the lock. He looks at the doors surrounding them, all closed but also all equipped with a peep hole. “The neighbors might see us and report us.”

“We should be okay. Detective Ahn says that Poet has ‘friends’ going in and out here all the time,” she says, pulling up the information the veteran has sent her. She punches in the numbers. When it chimes, she smiles up at him. “We’ll be quick. We’re just here for a short visit.”

“O...Daebak,” Jong-min marvels as he takes in the stately interior of the drug dealer’s house.

Contrary to what one would assume, Poet’s house is very fresh, free, and organized. The furniture is orderly and clean. The floor is spotless. The kitchen counter houses a couple of takeout containers, though, but even that isn’t too bad.

To an unsuspecting person, Poet will seem like any other hardworking citizen.

But of course, they know better. “Oppa, do you mind searching through his bedroom and his study?” Min-young asks. She pulls out a container of nitrile gloves from her purse and hands them each a pair. “Sehun and I will look here in the living room and the kitchen.”

“What are we looking for again?” Jong-min asks.

“Anything that connects Poet with Lee Soon-jae-ssi. Detective Ahn is convinced there’s something he’s not telling us.”

“But Poet told us already he doesn’t know him.”

“Right, but Mr. Kim also gave Sejeong the clue about Poet,” Min-young says as she and Sehun began their search. “He wouldn’t have given that to her if he thinks he’s a dead end.”

“Oh.”

“Are we looking for anything specific?” Sehun asks.

“No.” She pauses to look back at him. She smiles apologetically. “I know it would have been helpful if we know what we’re looking for. Sorry, Sehun-ah.”

“It’s okay, noona,” Sehun tells her sincerely.

He looks through the kitchen cabinets for anything remotely helpful. However, like the rest of the house, the contents of those are deceptively clean and almost boring. The drawers are a bit more disorganized, peppered with spices that, he suspects, are not one hundred percent just spices.

The fridge is clean, barely with any food in it. The storage is half-full of expired food.

Around half an hour after they arrived, he has cleared a room and found absolutely nothing.

“There’s nothing here,” Jong-min says for the fourth time that hour. He emerges from the bedroom and moves into the living room that Min-young is combing through. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything.”

“He’s a drug dealer, oppa. There has to be something,” Min-young says, scanning through Poet’s large collection of books. She stops, looks up thoughtfully, and tells them, “On the books I’ve read, sometimes suspects have secret compartments. Maybe we can look for that.”

“What will it look like?”

“I don’t know. Just look through things that appear suspicious,” Min-young says. She resumes her work, frowning at the books that she pulls off the shelf one by one. “On the TV show I watched, they said that dealers can be good at hiding their stash. It’s a little strange to me that not one bag of weed is even turning up.”

But how can a bag of drugs help us find Lee Soon-jae? Sehun wonders but doesn’t ask. He trusts Min-young; there must be a reason why she mentioned that. So, he will search.

While checking the restroom, Sehun suddenly remembers the payment they are to get after the case is over. It’s a ridiculous amount, but definitely something he will not complain about. He has been thinking of establishing his own business - a dance studio - for a while now. In fact, he’s been saving up for years, and this job is pushing his dream closer to being realized.

His dream was all that motivated him when the gigs he booked were too far and too exhausting, when the client that hired him was too demanding and harsh. When he wonders at nights if he should just give up because nothing is happening.

He thoroughly enjoys being a detective, but he also hasn’t given up on that one thing he wants. Who knows? Maybe the team can even be there for the grand opening of his studio.

His Min-young noona, Kwang-soo hyung. Jong-min hyung, Detective Ahn. Sejeong.

Jae-suk hyung.

He glances out into the hall, afraid for a moment that someone has heard his thoughts. Jae-suk. He died last year from the explosion. It was so bad that the police told them that there isn’t even any remains to bury. It had broken them all – Kwang-soo, most of all – and it broke them apart.

It’s obvious that everyone’s still figuring out how to move on, especially now that they’re all together again, but...

He bites his lip. Should he tell them? Should he tell them about the incident?

“Sehun-ah.” Jong-min pops his head in the room, startling the gentle-mannered detective. Noticing his reaction, he chuckles. “Are you okay? Did you find anything?”

“No, hyung. I’m sorry,” Sehun says, his heart racing miles a minute in his chest. “Did you – did you need to come in here?”

“Uh, maybe a bit,” Jong-min admits bashfully.

Sehun nods, getting up from his seat on the floor. Once he gets out, he heads onto the next room to his left.

He hears Min-young bringing up a concern to Jong-min when he begins looking through the room. There isn’t anything on the bookshelves (surprise, surprise), but once he laid eyes on the painting on the wall, he becomes glued to it.

There’s nothing wrong with the artwork. It’s an oil-paint in deep, twilight hues depicting an ocean just as night is setting in. Beautiful, intriguing, but not that extraordinary.

Still, there’s something about it that unsettles him.

Drawing closer, he takes in the frame. Again, nothing unusual. But... “Jong-min hyung,” he calls.

“Yeah?”

“Can you please help me with something?”

The water running through the bathroom sink stops promptly. Soon, Jong-min, drying his hands on his jeans, comes in. Min-young follows him soon after.

Sehun points to the painting. “Can you please help me take this down?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

Taking opposite sides, they try to move it – but to no avail.

“It’s bolted to the wall,” Jong-min observes.

“Now who bolts a painting into a wall?” Min-young asks, arms crossed.

Sehun touches the frame, shakes it to see if it really can’t be moved. When he applies a bit more force, the bottom panel detaches – and reveals a keyhole.

“Whoa,” Jong-min says.

“Great job, Sehun!” Min-young says, grinning in relief. “How did you know it was there?”

“Something just felt off about the painting,” Sehun says.

“Now we just need to find the key,” says Jong-min.

“Noona, do you have bobby pins?” When the two older detectives stare at him, he explains, “We got locked out of a dressing room once. One of the guys in our group taught us how to pick locks.”

Though bewildered, Min-young rummages through her small purse.

Once she produces what’s needed, Sehun gets to work.

Minutes later, they’re looking into a medium-sized vault filled with wads of cash, a few bags of illegal drugs, a gun, and a couple of small notebooks.

They exchange wary glances. “Should we look?” Jong-min asks.

“Maybe we should call Detective Ahn about this,” Sehun suggests.

Min-young considers it. “It doesn’t look like it has any alarm on, does it?”

Jong-min sticks his hand in the vault. Silence. “No.”

“Hm. Maybe just the notebooks,” Min-young says. Then, hesitantly, she divides the notebooks for each of them to read.

The names, dates, and cash amounts recorded within the pages he takes photos of scares Sehun just a little. It doesn’t take a genius to know that each of those people in there can become potential enemies. Just last night, Jong-min and Min-young were in danger of getting killed just for knowing who and what Poet was.

The people in this notebook are people with deep, dark secrets—and deep, dark secrets are things people prefer to take to the grave with them or the people who know them.

“We should probably wrap-up,” Min-young says somberly, checking her watch. “It’s getting later now. Poet’s people might suddenly want to check up on this place.”

As calmly but quickly as they can, they put everything back to where they had found them. They check once, twice, three times to make sure that everything disturbed had been placed back and look untouched.

Twenty minutes later, the three of them are back in Jong-min’s rental car, driving back to the meeting place Jae-wook has set. They’re silent for a moment, rattled by the things they saw.

However, soon enough, Min-young breaks the silence. “Did you find anything interesting?” she asks them.

“No. Just names,” Jong-min says. His eyes are on the road, but Sehun can still see a little fear in them. “We...We don’t have to report the people we see in those notebooks, right? We don’t have to tell the police?”

“I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure Detective Ahn’s cop friends already knows of Poet’s clientele,” Min-young says, but even she sounds unsure.

“There are no Lee Soon-jaes in his notes, noona,” Sehun tells Min-young as he looks through the photos of the notes.

“I didn’t see him in my notebook either,” says Jong-min.

Min-young says nothing, but the shadow of discouragement in her eyes tells them enough.

As he pores over the writings again, an observation causes Sehun’s brows to furrow. “He refers to Black Roses a couple of times in some of his records,” he says.

“Yours had it too?” Min-young asks him, surprised.

“Yes.”

“Oppa? Did yours have the note?”

“Oh, uh, I don’t know. I can’t remember,” says Jong-min as he veers into the interstate. “I’d have to look at the pictures I took when we get to the restaurant.”

“It keeps saying it: ‘Beware of the Black Roses,’” Sehun reports, consulting his phone. “‘Black Roses: avoid at all cost.’”

“Is that a codename for a new drug mix or something?” asks Min-young.

“I don’t know.”

“If it is, Detective Ahn will tells us,” says Jong-min.

Sehun thinks about it. “But, if it is a new drug, why does he keep telling himself to avoid it? Wouldn’t that mean money?”

“Yeah, but then it could be a type that’s mixed with things that can kill the users,” Min-young answers thoughtfully. “I saw a documentary once that something like that became a problem for a city in the US. Seattle, I think? Users were dying because of what’s being mixed in. It won’t be good for business if his regulars start dying off. He’d be losing money.”

True, Sehun thinks, but it feels more like a note to self about dangerous people. Though he feels strongly about it, he doesn’t speak. Min-young is smart, and she’s usually right about these things anyway.

As if sensing his misgivings, Jong-min exclaims, “Ah! Yes, I remember. I did see something about a rose in the notebook. There was a drawing!”

“A drawing?” Min-young asks.

“Yeah. Not like cartoons, though. It looked...pretty. Simple, but clear.” Jong-min ponders over the image. “It looks like a design you’d find at a tattoo artist’s book.”

“A rose tattoo?”

“Yeah.”

“So, Black Rose might be a person,” Min-young says. She frowns. “But why does he need to be careful of them?”

Jong-min shrugs. “Maybe they’re for cops.”

Min-young smirks. “Why would cops be branded like that? Wouldn’t that be too obvious?”

“I don’t know. I mean, all seven of us are branded too.” Quickly, Jong-min realizes his mistake. “Six. I meant to say all six of us have the mark,” he says more somberly.

Though the smirk has lifted from her face, Min-young still gathers a small smile to keep the older detective encouraged.

“A rival drug dealer?” Sehun suggests after a moment. “It’s not uncommon for gangs to have their own marks or colors. Black Roses can be Poet’s rival.”

Jong-min laughs. “Ya, Sehun-ah! You’re so smart!” he says as he beams at him through the rearview mirror. “How did you come up with a great idea like that?”

Sehun smiles, slightly embarrassed from the attention.

However, Min-young’s mind is on something different, something fearful. “Oppa,” she says to Jong-min. “You don’t think we’re putting ourselves in a crossfire between two rival gangs, do you?”

At that, all joy leaves the car.

“I don’t think so,” Jong-min says, but like Min-young earlier he doesn’t come across as convincing to Sehun. He tries for a grin. “Tae-hoon-ssi wouldn’t send us to do something so dangerous. He needs us to find someone. I’m sure he wants us all alive at the end with the person he’s looking for.”

Sehun catches the look on Min-young’s face through the mirror. It lasted a few seconds and wouldn’t have been caught by unsuspecting eyes. But he sees it.

Min-young knows something, something substantial about their client. It disappoints him slightly that she feels the need to keep it to herself, given that they were supposed to have given over every information about their case yesterday at the restaurant. Yet, he’s not surprised. In the end, they were employed as individuals and not necessarily as a team.

Plus – he’s keeping something from them, too, something much more important than the salary their mystery client offers. He should have told them about it. He wanted to tell them about it. But, it isn’t time yet.

Like Min-young’s secret, it’s not time for the team to know about what he knows yet.

[thedetectivessay]

“Case 002: Family Affairs”

A Busted fanfic

tw: mentions of drugs (case-related, though)

short note: we’re back to posting updates to this fanfic! we were finally able to pull out the files from the other laptop, so now the next chapters are safe and sound in another drive. 

since it’s been some time, i don’t remember everyone who’s asked to be tagged when this resumes updates again. the most recent is @liltruth, but the rest i can’t remember. i’m so sorry. hopefully this comes up on your feed again :(

008.

Jongno Police Station

Seoul, South Korea

At 4:01 AM in the morning, Kwang-soo doesn’t know where his brain exactly is. It’s gotten a bit too cold to his liking, jetlag is coming down on him hard, and his eyelids are too heavy. He wants to go back to his hotel room (he hasn’t even checked if the accommodations their client has given him would accept guests checking in hours late), but he’s worried that leaving might just anger Jae-wook more.

He sighs, checking his watch. If the former agent doesn’t come back within the next three minutes, he thinks maybe he’ll nap a little.

“Oppa.” Having appeared out of nowhere next to him, Min-young hands him a small, steaming cup of coffee. “Here.”

“Thank you,” he says, taking it gratefully. He carefully lifts it to his mouth then takes a sip. The hot water burns his tongue a bit, but he’s thankful for the strong and bitter rush of caffeine it creates within him.

He doesn’t notice the unhappy look on Min-young’s face.

“Where’s Jong-min hyung?”

“I don’t know. He’s probably off somewhere napping.”

“Ah.” He turns towards her after taking another sip. “It’s getting late, Min-young. You should probably head home.”

“No, I have to stay. Detective Ahn will have a lot of questions when he gets out from there,” Min-young says. “He might have information, too.”

“Even if he does, there’s nothing we can do about them right now,” Kwang-soo reasons. “Just go home. I’ll call you tomorrow with the details.”

“Oppa, I’m not the one you should worry about. It’s you that might have problems here.”

Kwang-soo blinks, confused.

“You left while we were in the middle of our search,” Min-young continues. “How do you think Detective Ahn will treat you after that?”

“I already told him and Sehun that the woman dragged me outside,” Kwang-soo says, exasperated that he’s once again asked to explain himself. “I wanted to go back in but I couldn’t. I got you and Jong-min hyung out of there in time, didn’t I?”

“Barely! If the cops didn’t come, Jong-min oppa and I would have been in serious trouble,” Min-young points out, equally irritated. “They were going to kill us!”

Kwang-soo sighs. He leans forward, back arched as he focuses on his coffee. He’s too tired for this. Too tired to argue, too tired to think, too tired to reason.

He just wants to go to his hotel room and pass out for two days.

Seeing his exhaustion, Min-young puts a stopper to the emotions boiling within her and releases them all through a deep sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated. I was scared,” she says, taking the empty space beside him. “Detective Ahn hasn’t been very nice to you, and I didn’t want him to find another reason to scold you again.”

A small, appreciative smile pulls at Kwang-soo’s lips. “Thanks,” he says. “I’m sorry I wasn’t where I should have been. That woman came out of nowhere, really.”

“Who is this woman?”

“I don’t know. She never said her name,” Kwang-soo says, stirring his coffee into life.

“Was she a customer?”

“It didn’t seem like it.”

“Was she a...you know – an escort?”

“No!” Kwang-soo responds so quickly and so adamantly that he surprises both of them. “Sorry. I mean no, she didn’t seem like that either. Actually, she didn’t seem to want to be there.”

“What did she want then?”

Kwang-soo looks at Min-young. “She warned me that something bad was going to happen, and I had to leave the club before it happened.”

“She warned you?”

Kwang-soo nods. “Yes,” he says, turning a little more towards her. “Min-young, she knew my name, she knew I was there for Poet. She even knew about me being in the Philippines.”

“What?”

“She told me that Poet is just trouble for both me and her and that I have to leave Korea.”

Min-young’s brows wrinkle. “How does she know all of that?”

“I don’t know. I was thinking about it on our way here.”

Min-young’s head tilts as she processes the information. Suddenly, all of the frustration she’s been sitting on is gone.

“Again, I don’t know who she is,” Kwang-soo adds, knowing the question is coming up next.

“But how does she know?” Min-young says. “Do you think she could be a detective like us too? Part of Project D?”

“I don’t think so. When I mentioned K, she got upset. I don’t think she likes him. She called him a criminal.”

“Wait. Didn’t you say Kim Tae-hoon didn’t like him either?”

Kwang-soo nods weakly. “Yeah. He didn’t.”

Min-young’s brows furrow deeper. “That’s strange. Two people who don’t like K. You said she was angry, right?”

“Correct.”

“Remember when K told us that there are adversaries? Do you think the two of them could be?”

Kwang-soo sits up, intrigued by the inference. “I don’t know. It really doesn’t seem like it,” he says. “I didn’t feel like I was in danger, especially with the woman. She seemed scared for me. She even looked sad when I told her I don’t know who she is.”

Min-young directs a charged stare at him.

“What.”

“Are you sure this woman dragged you outside and you didn’t just follow her?”

“Min-young-ah.”

“You seem a little too interested in her,” Min-young subtly accuses.

“Why wouldn’t I want to know more about her? She knows my name. She knows many things about me. I know nothing about her,” Kwang-soo points out. “If she’s going to be a problem, I need to know.”

Min-young narrows her eyes. Then, a smile creeps onto her face as she teases, “Are you sure you just don’t want her number?”

“Min-young-ah.”

Min-young laughs.

“I don’t like her like that,” Kwang-soo says. “I just feel like she could be somewhat connected to the case.”

“I know, oppa. I believe you,” Min-young says. Her grin wanes down to a smile as she thinks. “You might be right. If this woman knows so much about our case, we may need to look into her further. She might have information that we need.”

“Oh, you two are still here,” Jong-min says as he joins them. “I thought you would have gone home – Where did you get the coffee?”

“I bought them,” Min-young says. She nods towards the street. “There’s a convenience store not that far from here.”

“You didn’t buy me any?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were coming back.”

“Jong-min hyung, are you okay?” Kwang-soo asks. “You weren’t hurt, were you?”

“Oh, no. I’m fine,” Jong-min responds, grinning. He instinctively checks his clothes for any indication otherwise. Then, he laughs. “I was scared. I really thought Min-young and I were going to die.”

“You really did meet The Poet then?”

“Yes. Detective Ahn is very worried over that still,” Min-young says. “He says he has to make sure that he won’t think of us as cops or detectives. He doesn’t know our names, but people like him have ways to find their information.”

“Are you both worried?”

Min-young sighs. “I’m too tired to think about that right now, honestly,” she says, resting her elbows on her knees as she leans forward. “Also, what worries me more is that he doesn’t seem to have any information on the person we’re looking for.”

“Right. You guys told Detective Ahn that Poet really doesn’t know Lee Soon-jae-ssi.”

“Right.”

“Lee Tae-hoon-ssi said he was supposed to have a clue for us,” Jong-min says.

“Hyung, it’s Kim Tae-hoon, not Lee Tae-hoon,” Kwang-soo kindly corrects.

“Oh. Is it?” Jong-min laughs, causing the two younger detectives to grin and chuckle too. “I’m so tired that I forgot. I’m sorry.”

“By the way, who called the cops?” Min-young brings up. “It didn’t look like they were just there for a normal disturbance.”

“I overheard one of the cops saying that it was a drug bust.”

“See?” Min-young tells Kwang-soo. “For someone to call in a drug bust, they have to know first that there are drugs in the facility. None of Poet’s customers are to tell about it being there. If no one from the outside can call it and no one inside would want to call it, then who did?”

Kwang-soo says nothing for a while. He intends to sit on the information given to him, but the awkward silence pressures him to do otherwise. “Sehunie...He told me that Detective Ahn called his cop friend after the three of us got disconnected from them.”

“What?”

“He says he wanted to ask his friend if he’s patrolling nearby because he was worried about you and Jong-min hyung.”

“Well, then, is it Detective Ahn who called it in?”

“That’s not what Sehun said,” Kwang-soo says. “But then, minutes after the call, the cops showed up.”

Min-young withdraws to her own thoughts at that, her features wrought in a soft frown. Meanwhile, Jong-min states, “That’s good that he called anyway. Poet was getting very suspicious. The cops coming saved us.”

“Yes, but it also got us in trouble,” Min-young respectfully counters. “We could’ve easily been mistaken as drug addicts if Poet’s guy didn’t warn him. We could’ve ended up in jail. That would have delayed our case. If Kim Tae-hoon-ssi found out, we could have been kicked out of the search.”

“Oh,” Jong-min says thoughtfully. “Yes, that would have been bad. I haven’t been paid yet.”

Silence settles into their conversation, but it is in no way stagnant. Kwang-soo feels the charge crackling and building underneath the lull. They’re all coming to the same conclusion, but none of them are brave enough to say it.

Jae-wook’s decision to call the police has jeopardized their undercover operation—has jeopardized them—tonight. And while they are all safe, they know that it had created a disturbance in the house of cards they have just started building.

“You three go home for the night,” Jae-wook tells them, surprising the three by his sudden appearance. “The Poet’s currently in the interrogation room and will sit there for a couple of more hours. There’s nothing here for us to do.”

Jong-min freely exchanges a glance with Kwang-soo and Min-young. The younger two, on the other hand, are more careful about it.

Jae-wook consults his watch. “I’ll call you all at about 10 tomorrow. We’ve got taken off-track, but I have a plan to fix it.”

“What about you, hyung? Are you staying here?” Kwang-soo asks.

Jae-wook eyes him. His gaze is searching, somewhat accusatory, but one can’t deny of his exhaustion. Kwang-soo expects him to scold him for leaving Jong-min and Min-young. However, what he gets is an even albeit slightly annoyed answer: “No, I’m going home. My wife will be worried about me.”

“Algesseoyo, hyung.”

“Min-young, where do you stay?”

“About fifteen minutes from here, Detective Ahn.”

“I’m about as far, hyung,” Kwang-soo says.

Jae-wook nods. “Yeah, Jong-min is towards a different direction. Make sure she gets back home safely, Kwang-soo. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hyung, what are we going to do with the van?” Jong-min asks.

“It stays here,” Jae-wook succinctly answers. “Now you three, move along. I need to go home too.”

Though slightly anchored by uncertainty and suspicion, the three move to gather their belongings. They say their goodbyes to the unusually calm veteran detective, and then they walk away.

As they get farther, they exchange looks once again.

There’s definitely something strange in what happened at the club – and the unspoken consensus is that Jae-wook has a lot to do with it.

[thedetectivessay]

hey there :) i was wondering if you would post the rest of the chapters of "Case 002: Family Affairs" in the future? sorry if i'm just adding to the pile of the many people that may be asking this same question lol i was just wondering; anyways, have a good day/night :)))

Hey!

Oh, no need to apologize at all! The number of readers for the fanfic is pretty small, so it's fine 😄

Thank you so much for the interest! I am planning to update as soon as possible. The next chapters would have been up by now if not for my laptop crashing on me :( I'm trying to get someone to pull all of the saved stuff from there so we can finally keep moving 😁

Thanks again! And as soon as the next chapter is up, I will tag you! 🥰

[thedetectivessay]

“Case 002: Family Affairs”

A Busted fanfic

tw: drugs, peril. please tread carefully as this chapter is high T/low M in rating.

007. Inside the Club Neon building Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea One look, and Min-young knows that they’ve walked into trouble. If the club’s patrons outside aren’t shady enough, the characters walking around at that exclusive wing of the building are worse. Drunk and out of it, the men and women walking about heightened Min-young’s alertness. Some of the women eye her defensively as they pass by. Based on the way they whisper and coo in the ears of men they’re wheeling out from there, she thinks they’re prostitutes. She looks up in fear at Jong-min, hoping that she would see at least an ounce of assurance in his eyes. Sadly, as he looks back at her, she sees the same dread and worry mirrored. “Now, if you really can’t name the person who recommended you to him, you can just give him my name,” Hwi-jae drones on. “I’m not working on commission, but if you turn out to be new regulars, he might give me some kind of credit.” He turns slightly to check on them and finds the fearful looks on their faces. He chuckles. “Oh, come on. You two are really scared? Don’t you trust me?” “We do, Hwi-jae-ssi,” Min-young says. “It’s just that we’re nervous about it, that’s all.” “Everyone is at one point. But hey, if you’re really careful, don’t let anyone know you have anything worth looking into, mind your own business, you’ll both be fine,” Hwi-jae assures. With a grin, he nods at a pair of women passing by. It pleases him when they nod back, giggling. “What made you want to do this anyway? I’m not dissuading you. Just a bit curious. This is not exactly a cheap...habit.” Min-young looks up at Jong-min, prompting him to talk this time. “Well, about that...” he stutters. “My, uh, little sister said—” Hwi-jae laughs. “Your little sister?” he repeats. “She recommended this?” Jong-min blinks, suddenly offended. “What’s wrong with that?” “Nothing, nothing,” Hwi-jae answers, waving his right hand. He takes a swig of the drink in it then says, “Your sister must be a college student. A lot of them had come here before for a quick fix. Peak season is when they have finals. Helps with stress.” He turns another corner and cuts off Jong-min’s retort by speaking to a sharp-eyed man standing outside the door, “Ya, Jong-suk-ah! What’s up? Is he in there right now?” The sharp-eyed man only glares at him. He also casts a cutting glance at Jong-min and Min-young, and it makes Min-young wonder how the drunk can act so carelessly around a man like that. “Ey, don’t be like that,” Hwi-jae persists when the bodyguard ignores him. “I’ve got customers here for him. Fresh ones. They might bring in the money he’s been losing lately.” The man glares at him. Hwi-jae only winks at him as takes a sip of the drink on his left hand. After a moment of no interaction, the body guard rolls his eyes then slips in quickly inside the room. Hwi-jae chuckles. “Probably asking for permission from inside,” he says. He licks the drop that rolled down his glass before distractedly saying, “He’ll search you guys for any weapons before you go in. Though, I don’t think you have any. They just need to make sure he’s safe.” Min-young looks up at Jong-min when Hwi-jae turns around. “Take off your earwig, oppa,” she whispers to Jong-min quietly as she carefully removes hers. “What?” “Take it off,” she whispers, showing him the device. “What are you kids whispering to each other back there?” Hwi-jae cheekily asks. Though surprised, Min-young quickly says, “We’re just trying to figure out how much money we have between us.” “Oh.” Hwi-jae shrugs. “Okay.” The drunkard’s attention away from them, Min-young quickly whispers, “Jigeum, oppa.” Though lost, Jong-min does what he’s told. As the door opens, Min-young slips the earwig inside her heels, in the tight space under her right sole. Jong-min follows her lead and slips his into his boots. The sharp-eyed man glares at Hwi-jae, though his gaze is slightly weary this time. He sighs then nods towards the door. “Okay!” Hwi-jae shouts triumphantly. He turns towards the two then gestures towards the door. “Come on, children. Let’s talk to The Poet.” The first thing that welcomes the two as they step in is the thick cloud of cigarette smoke. Min-young tries her best to not choke on it while Jong-min braces himself by holding his breath a moment. Their eyes adjust to the darker room, packed with more people despite being arguably smaller than the hallway outside. It’s not hard to spot Poet. Despite the many men in the room, he’s the only one looking at the newcomers with such command and confidence. He also exudes opulence: he wears a white silk shirt, a gold chain-link necklace that’s surprisingly tasteful, and dons a watch that easily costs millions of won. It’s obvious that many people have been drawn by that fact, too. The room is filled with people, some smoking things from folded foils that Min-young doesn’t even want to identify. There are women like the ones she saw outside, two of them flanking Poet on either side. The sight of everything makes Min-young extremely uncomfortable that she scoots closer to Jong-min. To her relief, she sees Jong-min move in front of her in the slightest – an unusual reaction of protection. “Hyungnim!” Hwi-jae greets Poet brightly despite the man looking a few years younger than he. He points to the two and says, “I got new ones for you.” “So I was told.” Poet withdraws the arms he had draped over the two women beside him and sits forward, elbows resting on his knees. He comprehensively scans them both with a smirk before leaning back. “Not college students,” he concludes. “Hopefully not cops.” “No,” Jong-min says. “No, we’re not.” Poet smirks. He looks at two of his men standing behind them then nods at them. Min-young steels as they are both frisked. Thankfully, the man didn’t search at unnecessary places. Still, it makes her want to hide behind Jong-min afterwards. Poet smiles after they’re cleared. “Not armed. Good,” he says. “What can I do for you?” “Well – well, we were told to look for you,” Jong-min says. “Told?” “Yes. He says you have what we’re looking for.” Poet downs his amber drink with a smile. Afterwards, he nods at Hwi-jae. “And what is it exactly that you’re looking for?” Hwi-jae waves at them as he is escorted out the door. Once they’re left with only the Poet and this room full of strangers, their dread grows even more. Poet laughs. “Ah, don’t tell me that he was right,” he says of Hwi-jae. “You two are really new at this?” Min-young swallows. “We have to start somewhere.” Poet nods. He pours himself more alcohol but suddenly stops. He gazes intensely at Min-young that makes her feel uncomfortable. Jong-min steps further in between them. Poet’s brows hitch in amusement at that. He chuckles. “You can’t be cops. You’re too pretty to be one, Miss,” he tells Min-young. He clears his throat. “You know, I usually don’t offer this, but if you want it free or want some discount, you can keep me company here every night. I love pretty girls like you.” “She can’t,” Jong-min says. “You both can benefit. You’ll get perks as her older brother.” “I’m not her older brother.” “Really?” Poet laughs, leaning back into his seat. “Don’t tell me you’re her boyfriend.” “And what if I am?” Despite the brash response raising the tension in the room, to Min-young’s relief, Poet only finds amusement in it. He laughs again. “Well, okay. You can have her. It’s not gonna last, I don’t think, but you can have her for now,” he says. He sighs and sits up straight. “I’m still not fully convinced that a buyer has referred you to me, so maybe we can settle this,” he says. “You must know why I’m called the Poet.” Min-young exchanges a glance with Jong-min. “Oh, did we have to know?” Poet grins. “You’re right. You don’t. But if you were referred by someone I can trust, you’ll know the answer to the questions I’m about to ask you. I’m a businessman, you see. I need to make sure I’m safe, too.” “All right.” “If you answer my questions correctly, that means you’re telling the truth. We can conduct business then. But, if you miss three or more, that will tell me that you are lying – and I don’t like liars. Liars are garbage. And do you know what we do with garbage?” Min-young follows his line of gaze and finds it trained on a gun sitting comfortably at one of the bodyguards’ holsters. Arriving at the same fearful conclusion as she, Jong-min panics, “But what if we don’t know? I’m not good with questions!” “You don’t have to be good at questions. Your sister just has to be good at remembering the answers and remembering to tell it to you,” Poet says, grinning. “Unless, of course, you’re cops.” “We’re not cops,” Min-young insists. Poet shrugs. “Then you’re good to go. It’s all easy questions anyway. No trick questions. You just have to complete the lines from some of my favorite poems.” He smiles. “How does that sound?” The two exchange glances. Min-young knows there is no backing out now. If they leave, they will look more suspicious. At least if they try, they might just have a chance. Poet sits up. “Let’s start with something easy. Naneun i noraeldeureumyeo, majimak chumeul chul geoya... What’s next?” Min-young’s brows crease. She’s read many poems before, but she doesn’t think she’s seen that before. Still, something about it sounds familiar. I will listen to this song with you, and have a last dance. Last dance. “BIGBANG,” she mutters then looks up at Jong-min. “What?” “BIGBANG. It’s from Last Dance,” she tells him. Poet grins. “Good. So you do know,” he says. “So, now, what’s my line?” She’s never been a big fan of pop music, and at that moment she wishes she had been. It could really save their lives. But then, “I...sunganeul gieokhae, eonja – no – eonjekkajirado. Just one last dance,” Jong-min answers. Poet’s eyes light up, and Min-young feels like she could cry from relief. “That means that it is not after I have died but from today on that I must live eternity, must live a life worthy of eternity...” Poet smiles at them, gesturing for them to finish it. She’s read that one before, a couple of months ago on her way to Spain. The poem talks about something regarding today, but what does it say next? “You don’t know?” Poet teases. “Wait. I’ll remember it,” Min-young says. It’s towards the end. I must live the life of... something. Or is it ‘I can live the life’ of someone? “Let’s try English,” Poet moves on, bored of waiting. “I’m Nobody. Who are you? Are you Nobody too?” Though miffed that Poet didn’t even wait, Min-young readily responds, “There’s a pair of us – don’t tell. They’d banish us, you know.” “Very good, cop,” Poet commends teasingly. “Pretty and smart. I like that.” “We already answered two. Isn’t that enough?” Min-young asks. Poet wags his index finger. “My turf, my rules. Plus, you’re not out of the woods yet. Two out of five tells me nothing,” he says. He sighs. “Gwaenchanta, gwaenchanta, gwaenchanta, gwaenchanta...” Jong-min blinks. “So, is that a yes?” “...Suburuki naeryeooneun neonbalseokeseoneun...What’s next?” Poet says. Min-young looks up at Jong-min. She definitely does not know this. And though she knows her hope that he would know might be futile, a part of her still wants for Jong-min to answer like he did earlier. To her dread, though, he only mutters to her: “I don’t know this one.” They should have listened to Detective Ahn. They shouldn’t have gone in. They should’ve stalled. Poet clucks his tongue thrice, shaking his head. “I’m starting to think there really isn’t anyone who recommended you,” he says. He nods at his bodyguards. “I’m tired of this. Deal with them.” “Wait!” Min-young says as a bodyguard grabs her arm. “You said two mistakes are allowed.” “Yes, but I’ve given you two enough chances.” Poet shoos them away with his hand. Min-young pulls against the bodyguard. “One more chance.” “Yeah,” Jong-min adds. Poet pretends to think. “Mm...no.” He nods at the bodyguards. Min-young does her best to struggle against their hold. If she doesn’t remedy this, she’s almost sure that they will be on a fast track to being found as casualties in some river the next day. “He said you have the answers – Poet-ssi!” “Wait.” Poet frowns, intrigued. He sits up. “Answers?” Min-young nods, her heart beating a million times a minute in her chest. “We were told that if we come to you, we’ll find answers.” “About?” “A person.” “So, you’re not actually here to buy?” “We’re here because we’re looking for a friend.” “Jinjja?” Poet smiles. “I’m starting to get interested. A friend? Is he a buyer of mine?” “We don’t know,” Jong-min answers after Min-young looks at him. “And how do you know that I would know where he is?” “We...don’t know that either.” “All we know is that the person looking for him is confident that you know of his location,” Min-young says. “Lee Soon-jae. Do you know where he is?” Poet thinks about it. “Doesn’t ring a bell. I usually keep a record of my regulars and even the fresh meat.” He shakes his head. “I haven’t heard that name before.” The door swings open then. Poet sighs. “I already told you guys that I have some buyers—” “Hyungnim,” a breathless bodyguard cuts him off. “The cops. Somebody called the cops.” “What?” “Some of them are already inside. We have to go,” the bodyguard says. Poet frowns, confused. Meanwhile, the word ‘cops’ have caused a hesitant fear in the other guests in the room. “Sir, please. They’re here,” the man insists. “Let’s please go now.” Poet gets up. “Okay. Let’s go—” The sound of glass being shattered somewhere outside suffices as a catalyst for the room to descend into madness. Suddenly, there’s a strong stream of people rushing past them, only periodically stopped by Poet’s goons. Min-young is carried outside by a cluster of Poet’s guests. She thinks it a good opportunity until she remembers Jong-min. With all the action outside, she can barely look back and look for him. At first, she doesn’t see him from the last of the ones rushing out of the room. Then, she senses someone run up to her left. Once they get out of the private wing, it becomes more evident that escape will be difficult. True to the report, a few police officers have already infiltrated Club Neon and seem to have made arrests. The only shield they have now against being caught and falsely charged are the desperate patrons making their escapes. “There,” Jong-min points. They have made strides towards the clear path to the bar when someone grabs hold of their elbows. Min-young spins around, thinking Poet has found them. Instead, she finds Kwang-soo. “This way,” he says, nodding towards the back of the club. Confused and running out of chances, they follow. They swerve through the thinning crowd of patrons, hoping that they won’t suddenly get caught as they take the longer way out. Min-young thinks Kwang-soo has led them nowhere, but then soon they arrive at an exit that not many seem to know about. They run out – and from the stuffy, dangerous building, they are free. On their way around the club, they dodge a police cruiser that blocked the entrance. Some who had gone out the same exit are caught, but Kwang-soo’s quick reflexes save them from the same outcome. He pulls them into a different alley, one that snakes through a couple of closed businesses, and runs. Finally, to her relief, she sees Detective Ahn’s van, the door opened as Sehun anxiously waves for them to jump in. “Noona! Hyung! Palliyeo!” Once they are inside, Sehun shuts the door, and the van, manned by the veteran detective, rolls out of the street flooded with blue and red lights.

[thedetectivessay]

안녕, Detective Fam!

So, before I make this announcement, I see that we have a couple of people who just joined in the family. Hello, y’all, how you doin’? Glad to have you here with us 😄

Okay, now - just a brief heads up to everyone: today’s Scene Stealer Sunday is gonna be super spoilery. It will be coming from the first episode of S2. Nothing big, but if you want to see the scene first before seeing it here, feel free to skip it for now.

On the other hand, if you’re just worried about seeing the big reveal that everyone’s probably talking about already (the one from S2EP10), don’t worry - we won’t probably get to that for a couple of more weeks . . .

Second thing: I have seen a good majority of S2, and I’ll have a thorough review of it posted in a few days or so. Maybe Friday? The laptop where I had half of Case 002: Family Affairs just conked out on me 😭😭 So maybe, the review will come out then.

Thanks, everyone, and happy watching! As always, feel free to discuss what you like and/or think about the new season! I would love to hear from you 🤗

[thedetectivessay]

“Case 002: Family Affairs”

A Busted Fanfic

006. Behind the Club Neon building Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea She looks at his eyes longer, searching for any signs of a lie, but she doesn’t find it. She looks away and distances herself from him. For a split second, Kwang-soo strongly believes that tears teased in her eyes. “So everything I heard was true,” she mutters distressfully. “What is it? What did you hear?” Kwang-soo asks. “If I were you, I’d get out of here immediately. Whatever you’re here for, none of it is worth it.” “Who are you?” “If I tell you, you’ll tell someone else, too. I’m not here to be pulled back from the mess I ran away from,” she says. “Now go.” “Wait, wait,” he calls after her as she turns to leave. “I don’t understand—” “You can trust me. That’s all you have to understand,” she says. To his surprise, she reaches out and holds onto his right wrist—this time, in a firm but affectionate way. “Just listen to me for now, okay? Leave. It’s dangerous, especially for you. You can’t be here.” “But I can’t leave my friends—” “Leave Korea as soon as you can.” Her brows furrow as something in his ear catches her attention. He steels as she reaches for the earwig then pulls it out his ear. She frowns at it in displeasure then looks up at him. “Well, that’s...” he stammers but finds he has no excuse to finish it with. She drops the earwig to the ground then stomps down on it hard. He winces a little for Detective Ahn and Sehun, both of whom had probably heard the high-pitched squeal of the shattered gadget. “Your station at the Philippines is compromised,” the woman says to him forgivingly. “Go to Singapore. You’ll be safer there.” “How...How do you know about—” “Kwang-soo-yah, there’s no time—” “Do you work for K? Is that why you know everything?” The woman’s face suddenly shifts in anger. “Don’t you ever align me with that criminal,” she says bitingly. “I won’t have anything to do with him.” The hostility strikes Kwang-soo. He’s suddenly reminded of their client’s attitude towards K. Though he wasn’t as ardent in expressing his opinion as her, the disdain and distrust are still as clear as the ocean water at the beach he used to live at. The woman sighs, and in the place of the fire in her eyes comes the warmth of concern. “Something bad will happen here very soon. That’s why I want you to get out of here. I don’t want you to get hurt.” “Who are you?” he asks again. The warmth lifts a little and is briefly replaced by the coldness of sadness. “I’ll find you before you leave,” she says. The kind smile that surfaces on her face surprises him. “Goodbye, Kwang-soo-yah. I missed you so much.” “Wait,” he calls as the woman walks away into the darkness then vanishes towards the street. “Miss!” Music continues to thump within the walls of Club Neon, the music spilling a little out into the night. Still, to Kwang-soo, it is as good as silence. He hears none of it, only the last words she said. I missed you so much, she told him. But how can she miss him if she doesn’t know him? To his memory, he doesn’t know her either. She can’t be a past girlfriend. He hasn’t had a girlfriend in a while, at least to what he can remember, which is about three years ago after one of K’s super chips is implanted in him. Plus, he didn’t read anything romantic in her actions or words. There were anger and longing and sadness and a bit of happiness in their conversation—but all platonic. It’s strange. Who is she? he wonders. He catches sight of the smashed earwig on the ground and bends down to retrieve it. Suspicion rises up behind him like a thief. She was too quick to sniff out a device that he hid pretty well. How did she know to look for it? And how did she know about Poet or even K? Is she playing mind games with him? Is she even really someone she can trust? His phone suddenly vibrates, startling him. Seeing Sehun’s name on the screen, he answers, “Sehun-ah. I’m sorry about the earwig.” “Where did you go, hyung? Detective Ahn wants to know.” “I’m coming back in.” He tries to open the exit door but finds that it’s locked. He sighs. “There was a woman that—” There’s a slight scuffling sound then, “A woman? You are not here to play, Kwang-soo. We’re on a case.” “Yes, sunbaenim,” Kwang-soo answers Jae-wook. The veteran detective must have snatched the phone away from Sehun. “I don’t know who she is. She just came out of nowhere.” “You’ve put Jong-min’s and Min-young’s lives on the line,” Jae-wook continues to chide. “They went in with a guy who claims to know Poet.” Kwang-soo stops dead in his tracks. “They have to get out of there, sunbaenim,” he says, the woman’s warning ringing in his ears. “What do you think I’ve been telling them? If you were inside, you could have easily pulled them out!” Jae-wook scolds. “Yes, sir,” Kwang-soo answers, a bit discouraged that once again he’s getting yelled at for an honest mistake. He hesitates to share the warning that was given him at first. Then, “We might have to come back another night, Detective Ahn.” “Why?” “Something bad is going to happen soon.” “What?” “The woman who dragged me out of the building. She told me to leave because something bad is going to happen here,” he says. There’s a contemplative silence for a short moment. Then, “What is it?” “I don’t know. But she knows why we’re here,” he informs him. “She knows about The Poet, and she knew that I had an earwig on.” He hesitates. “She knows about K, and she knows my name.” “What? Do you know her?” “No. It’s the first time I’ve met her.” Jae-wook is silent for another moment, perhaps as he process about the information given to him (or maybe as he thinks of another issue to yell at him for). “What’s that?” Kwang-soo hears Sehun’s voice at the background of the call. Another pause – only this one breeds the feeling of dread. “Ah...” “Detective Ahn?” “Can you get back inside Club Neon?” “Uh...” He tries the door again. Still locked. He pounds on it as he answers, “No.” “Cops just showed up.” “What?” “If you can’t go back in to pull Jong-min and Min-young out, just come back here in the van,” Jae-wook urgently commands. “Sehun, call Sejeong and tell her to leave.” “But sunbaenim, we’re not doing anything bad.” “Police just showed up at the doors of a club. Everybody inside already looks bad,” Jae-wook says. Kwang-soo hears Sehun talking quietly albeit urgently in the background. There’s also a few clicks, some rough shuffling. Then, “I’m going in. Jong-min and Min-young have a better reason of not being booked if I’m there with them.” At that moment, the exit door flies open, letting out the first cluster of terrified patrons. “I have a way in, Detective Ahn. I’ll go get them,” Kwang-soo says, storming against the current of people. He looks around to see if he can find his friend and colleague in the mess of patrons, club employees, and the first few police officers who have gone in. None. Both are nowhere inside. “Kwang-soo, get out of there! I don’t need a third person to bail out!” “I can find them, sunbaenim,” he says loudly as terrified screams fill his surroundings. A few people bump against him, but he continues around, hoping to find the two where he last saw them. “Min-young-ah! Jong-min hyung!” “Stop! I told you to come back. You’re putting them in more danger.” “I might still be able to find them, hyung.” “Kwang-soo, listen to me. You can’t just call out to them like that. If Poet gets the wrong idea about them, they could both get killed.” Kwang-soo stops in his track. “What?” “The Poet. Jong-min and Min-young found out what he is,” Jae-wook explains. “Poet is a drug dealer. And if he gets the wrong idea, if he finds out they’re detectives, he won’t hesitate to kill both of them on the spot, especially if they know what he looks like.” You’re the only one who won’t die, Tae-hoon’s voice rings inside his head. It terrified him, hearing that before. Now that two of his friends’ lives are in danger, he dreads it even more.

[thedetectivessay]

“Case 002: Family Affairs”

A Busted fanfic

tw: mentions of alcohol and drugs

005. Inside Club Neon Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea It’s been an hour since they’ve gone inside the club, and they have yet to find The Poet. Min-young thought that by now, they would have gotten the information they needed. After a quick glance on her phone, she learns that it’s two minutes past one already. It worries her. Sejeong is only supposed to have Jong-min’s rental for as long as they’ve been there. Will the bouncer outside catch on that something is amiss if he sees her out there, standing by the car and waiting for them? And though Sejeong and Sehun are more than old enough to stay up this late, she worries about them. Detective Ahn has a family to go back home to also. This annoys her. So far the only significant event that has happened is that one drunk guy, as Detective Ahn has guessed earlier, had harassed her. He insisted that she leave Jong-min and come with him to wherever his dirty, inebriated mind wanted to go. To Jong-min’s credit, he did his best to stand up to the gruff, short man. Thankfully the man’s friends diffused the situation before it got any worse. They apologized profusely before dragging the man away. For a moment, she wonders what it would have been like if Manila had been with her. She can almost picture it, him rising up to become her knight in shining armor. It would have been romantic. It would have definitely made up for this excessive time they’re spending in this place that reeks of sweat, alcohol, and a whiff of vomit. “Oppa, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m starting to think we should leave soon,” she says. “Are you talking to me?” Jae-wook asks. “No.” She looks at Jong-min who’s distracted by the strobe lights for the moment. “Jong-min oppa.” “What?” Jong-min grins at her. However, she sees a hint of exhaustion tugging on his lids. “Sorry, the lights were pretty cool.” “I said I think we should leave soon,” she repeats. “He may not be here tonight. It’s Thursday. Maybe he only comes on the weekends.” “I do think this is taking a lot longer than it should,” Jae-wook concedes. Min-young sighs. It’s been a long day, and she’s tired. Just thinking about coming back here tomorrow exhausts her already. She decides, though, that that’s a battle she’ll pick up tomorrow. “Okay. Give us a few more minutes,” she says. It’s then she catches sight of the bar. They’re told twice already that there is no Poet in this Club. There’s no patron or employee or even a DJ by that name. But what if what we’re looking for isn’t a person? she wonders. Though it’s a shot in the dark, she heads back to the bar. “Where are you going?” Jong-min asks. “I just want to ask the bartender something.” “But he just told us earlier—” “Hello,” Min-young greets the bartender brightly. His expression sours as soon as he sees her. “Are you finally gonna order something this time?” “Well, I was actually wondering if...The Poet may be one of your signature drinks? Maybe from a hidden menu?” she asks hopefully. The bartender rolls his eyes. “If it was a drink and you asked me for it earlier, don’t you think I would have corrected you and tell you it was a drink instead of a person?” he replies. Min-young chuckles to mask her disappointment. Jong-min, on the other hand, says, “I...I don’t think you should talk like that to my girlfriend.” “I don’t think you should be bothering me for something that you can’t find here,” the bartender asserts. “Now are you gonna order something or not?” “They are,” someone a few stools down replies. Looking, they see he’s lean, wearing thin-rimmed glasses, and brimming with confidence despite his hunched posture being slightly lopsided. “No Vacancy, on the rocks.” He winks at the bartender. “Make it extra cold.” The bartender’s brows hitch. He then looks at the pair of detectives questioningly. “We don’t know him,” Min-young says, eyeing the man suspiciously. The man laughs. “No, we don’t know each other,” he says. Then he sing-songs, “But I know something that you don’t.” Seeing that he’s caught their attentions, he says, “Buy me the drink, and I’ll tell you what you want to know. Buy me two, and I’ll take you to him.” “Take them to who?” Despite the smile on his face, the man glares at the bartender. Then, at Jong-min and Min-young, he wiggles his eyebrows. Though he doesn’t want to, Jong-min takes out his wallet after Min-young looks at him in uncertainty. He draws out 40,000 won then slides it across the bar. The bartender unhappily takes the money. On his way to the register, he glares at the man on the stool. “Who are you?” Min-young asks. “Nobody to most people.” He winks at her. “Hwi-jae to you.” “She’s my girlfriend,” Jong-min jealously asserts. “Is she?” Hwijae says. He downs the shot in front of him, winces slightly, and then says, “I thought she was your caretaker.” Jong-min stares, mouth open. It’s obvious from the curve of his knitted brows that he’s offended. “What’s happening, Min-young?” Jae-wook’s voice barely rises over the loud music in the club. “Did you run across anyone?” “Hwi-jae-ssi,” Min-young repeats, hoping that Jae-wook and Sehun hear it loud and clear. “You said you know something we don’t?” “Hm, yeah. The Poet. I know where you can find him,” Hwi-jae says, staggering back to his feet. “He’s here, isn’t he?” Jong-min says. “Yes. But where?” Hwi-jae laughs but stops almost immediately. “Wait. You’re not cops, are you?” “No.” “No, we’re not.” Hwi-jae eyes them for a moment, his lids red and puffy. Then he nods. “Not a lot of people know about him. Somebody must have sent you. Who is he?” he asks. Ever tactful, Min-young responds, “He told us not to mention his name. He says he doesn’t want to get in trouble for it.” Hwi-jae considers this a while. Then, he nods slowly. “Okay. Makes sense.” “Hey.” Behind the bar, the bartender, his features wrought in a frown, nods down at the two shots Hwi-jae ordered. Ignoring the displeased expression on his face, Hwi-jae picks up his drinks. Grinning, he asks the detectives, “You two brought enough money, right?” Min-young exchanges glances with Jong-min. Sejeong never mentioned about The Poet being someone who sells something. “Ask him who’s the money for,” Jae-wook instructs. “No, wait—don’t. He might get suspicious.” Hwi-jae, unaware of this conversation, laughs smugly. “Don’t tell me that you want to meet with Poet and came here not—” “We only brought enough for a bit,” Min-young says loud enough to drown the voices of both men. She smiles sweetly at the drunk. “We were just gonna share. It’s our first time buying.” Hwi-jae shrugs. “I guess that’s smart.” He nods to the opposite side of the club. “It’s this way. Remember: you never speak of this to anyone after tonight, all right? That’s how a lot of people end up in trouble.” Seeing Min-young look up at him, Jong-min brashly states, “Yes, yes, of course. We know.” “Kwang-soo, I need you to follow Min-young and Jong-min closely, report where they’re heading. ...Kwang-soo? Jong-min, do you see him?” “Hwi-jae-ssi, we’re gonna get some good quality product, right?” Min-young asks, feigning fascination and excitement to cover for Jong-min as he quickly looks around. “We only have a little money. We have to make sure we don’t waste it on something not good.” “Hey, there’s a reason why you were referred to him. He has the best stuff there is!” Hwi-jae answers obliviously. He weaves around the growing crowd. “This is why Club Neon is popular: Poet has the best dope on the market right now!” “I don’t see him,” Jong-min quietly reports into his earwig. “Sehun and I will look for him. For the meantime, you two, DO NOT go in with him,” Jae-wook instructs. “Stall. If you go in, I’m not sure we’ll be able to pull you out without putting you two in danger. Wait for Kwang-soo.” Sensing that the pair has stopped, Hwi-jae turns around, puzzled. He searches their features then chuckles. “Come on, let’s go!” he urges. “You’re not chickening out, are you?” Jong-min worriedly, fearfully looks at Min-young. Let’s not go. This might put us in danger. Min-young understands. However, if they lose the lead, their case might fall apart before it even started. She chuckles awkwardly then nods shyly as a response to Hwi-jae. Hwi-jae smirks. With a good-natured chuckle, he dances his way back to them then places an arm each on them. Pulling them with him, he says, “You two are my friends! Come on. Everybody does it. What’s there to be scared of?” As he hollers out of excitement, Min-young can feel her heart thumping along with the music. However, the beat is stronger, more violent. The number of people grow scarcer as Hwi-jae takes them deeper into the hidden pathway of the club. Less people, less number of witnesses. She’s scared. But she can’t back out now. Leaving will put them in even more danger. So, she has to stick it out. She has to stick it out until they make it out. ↔ “Oppa, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m starting to think we should leave soon.” Kwang-soo concurs. The state of almost everyone in his immediate vicinity is worrisome. The decrease in soberness of Club Neon’s patrons has become his new clock. The deeper the night grows, the drunker they all become. He’s not against having fun, but this level of drunkenness is a bit too much for him. Besides the inebriated, he notices another group with stranger behavior. There aren’t a lot of them, but even the few stands out. They’re overly excitable, almost paranoid. Some are a little too relaxed. Their eyes are what bother him. Their irises are dilated. One of them has bumped into him earlier, a younger woman. The look in her eye’s...unsettling. Her orbs were bloodshot, and she looked at him as if she was seeing fear itself over his shoulders. He keeps on the look-out for Jong-min and Min-young just as the veteran detective has asked. Although he’s determined to find their person, he thinks Min-young is right by calling it on this particular assignment. It’s starting to get too wild in there. Plus, he’s getting the gut feeling that they should get out. Coward, he hears Jae-suk jokingly call him. Or, maybe they should keep going, even just for a bit longer. He still hasn’t told Min-young yet about Jae-suk. Besides the money, they have to complete this assignment for him. Though doubt still lingers regarding the real state of the small town detective, a huge part of him still want to do this job and find his hyung. He will never admit this to Jae-suk or anyone, but he misses him. He misses him a lot. Jong-min and Min-young are conversing with the same bartender from an hour ago, but he can’t see the other person they’re talking to. His brows furrowed, he moves from his position to get a better look. The number of people in the crowd has only increased, so seeing (even more so weaving) through them is difficult. “Excuse me,” he mumbles, carefully moving past a group of scantily-clothed girls. If he tiptoes a bit, he can make out a man’s haircut. Walking further, he sees a man’s shoulder, a man’s suit. He can’t see his face. “Watch it!” “I’m sorry,” he tells a burly man he bumps into and bows a couple of times. Once the man and his two curious friends continue on their trek to the bar, he turns around. He takes a few more steps forward—then bumps into someone again. This time, it’s a woman. She also doesn’t budge. “What are you doing here?” she asks, the anger and frustration in her eyes reflected in her tone. “I’m sorry,” he says, bowing a little. “I was just looking for my friends—” She grabs his arm when he tries to maneuver around her, anchoring him back in place. Despite his confusion, she asserts, “You’re not supposed to be here.” The first feeling that washes over him is dread. Have they been found out? Is this the part that their client says will be dangerous? Should he signal Jong-min and Min-young to leave? But then, the more he looks at her face, at her eyes, he feels fear, but in a different way. Something softer, something respectful. Why does he sense an inkling of sadness through her eyes? He covers his nervousness and confusion with a chuckle. “Well, Miss, to be honest, I feel like you’re—” She grabs his left wrist with an iron grip then takes him back the direction she came from. “Hey,” he says, struggling away from her grasp. She doesn’t budge. She’s shorter, leaner, and small – but she’s got the strength to keep going despite his resistance. “Please, let me go!” She walks straight ahead, the scowl on her face enough to part the crowd ahead of them. A small group of women, unknowingly standing in her path, gets bumped out on their way to the back exit he didn’t even know is there. She pushes the heavy door open, and soon the two of them are outside the chilly night. The deafening noise inside the club is nothing but a vivid memory now, and the heat of countless bodies quickly dissipates like smoke out there. He gives his wrist one final tug, and at that their link breaks. He’s frustrated at this woman with a deadly hold. How can she do that to a complete stranger? However, still intent to be respectful, he allows his frown to communicate his frustration before heading back towards the club. She grabs the back of his shirt, preventing him from going any further. “Please stop it!” Kwang-soo yells, spinning around to face her. “Why are you doing this? I already said I was sorry!” “I told you, you can’t go back in there.” “Why not?” “Are you out of your mind? You know you’ll be in trouble if he sees you. He’s not a friend, you know that!” “What are you talking about?” “Poet. You know he’s trouble, especially for the two of us.” Kwang-soo’s anger dissipates. “How...How did you know about...” Danger. Jong-min and Min-young are danger. Detective Ahn has told them the possibility of them running into dangerous people, and it seems like they had. I can’t stay out here, he thinks as he hurries towards the door. I have to warn them. “Kwang-soo-yah!” Kwang-soo stops. Slowly, he turns around. “You...” he stammers, unsure that he heard correctly. “Did you...How do you know who I am?” And why do you speak to me like you know me? The woman draws closer to him. Unlike earlier, she looks up at him with gentleness. “You don’t know who I am?” she asks quietly, sadly. He takes a good look at her. Small, oblong-shaped face, button nose. Almond-shaped eyes that can burn like the sun but can be painfully beautiful like the falling snow. She feels familiar, but he doesn’t know how. Did they go to school together? “No,” he says. Then, unsurely, “Should I?” She looks down, and he feels as if he’s disappointed her. It bothers him, the dichotomous feelings she brings about in him. She’s strange but familiar. His team is both in danger and not. He’s moved to leave and to stay. Who are you? he wonders, the cold wind blowing past them as the clock strikes closer to 2 AM.