Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

SOMEWHERE IN LOS ANGELES

Tap. Tap. Tap. Click

The sound of fingers tapping against the keyboard and mouse clicking filled the room as the hunched figure of twenty-four year old Park Jimin is illuminated by the light coming off from the four computer screens plastered in front of him; two on the desk while the other two are on the wall. His brows furrowed, dark brown orbs narrowed in concentration at the coded texts that filled his computer screen. “Damn fucker,” he cursed out loudly, biting his bottom lip in annoyance at the security wall that he had breached before another wall of defense was set up against him. “You’re really making my work extra difficult, bastard.”

He pauses as he lets out an annoyed huff, cracking his fingers and stretching his arms before he pulls himself closer to the table and continues on his work. “Time to show you who you’re messing with, asshole,” He said chuckled as his fingers flew across the keyboard, rapidly typing out sequences of code to attack the company server. “Maybe I should leave you a little gift.”

LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT

“Jeon and Kim,” CSI Supervisor Kim Namjoon called out as soon as he stepped inside their Division, raising his hand as he gestured for the two respective CSI – Crime Scene Investigators -  to follow him as he entered his office, the glass door providing a small relief for the two other investigators as they took note of the supervisor’s face, he did not look mad.

“Which Kim was he referring to?” The tall gangly twenty-four year old CSI named Kim Taehyung asked as he scratched the back of his neck. “I’m still twenty-five percent functioning.”

Twenty-two year old CSI and youngest one of the team, Jeon Jeongguk snorted at his friend’s words as he set his cup of hot chocolate back on his desk, barely sipping on it before the supervisor called them. “Probably you,” he said. “You’re the only Kim here anyway. Besides, how much did you drink last night?” he asked as he they made their way to the office.

Taehyung shrugged, grinning at Jeongguk. “I got wasted, totally wasted enough to send Yoongi-hyung a drunken confession.”

Jeongguk’s eyes widened in surprise as he quickly turned to look at his friend just as they had stopped right in front of the supervisor’s office. “Taehyung,” he hissed. “How stupid can you get? You’ll get your ass handed to you the moment we step inside his office! If he kicks me, I’m blaming you.”

“I was drunk,” Taehyung argued. “Besides, we’re not going to his office, right?”

Jeongguk sighed, shaking his head as he pulled the office door open, the cold conditioned air seeping into his skin as he and Taehyung stood before the supervisor’s desk while Namjoon was preoccupied with rearranging the files on his desk. “Uh, Sir, do you need help?” Jeongguk asked, wincing as Namjoon almost spilled his cup of coffee as it his elbow.

“Thank you for the offer,” Namjoon smiled, waving his hand dismissively as he finally sorted out the folders and quickly leaned on his chair as the two younger investigators settled down on the couch. “First of all, I’d like to commend you on the job well done yesterday. Smith’s case is being taken to court today so we’ll be expecting good news this afternoon if the case goes well.” Namjoon chuckled. “Of course, I don’t doubt that he would even be able to get scotch free from the amount of evidences you two found against him. Good job, Kim and Jeon.”

“Thank you sir,” Jeongguk and Taehyung said smiling as they slightly bowed in unison, feeling happy at the supervisor’s words.

“Moving on,” Namjoon continued as he leaned his elbows on the desk. “Are you two aware of the Access Group?”

Taehyung tilted his head in confusion, a frown settling on his lips. “Access Group? They sound familiar, Sir. I may have heard of them in passing,” he said. “Aren’t they those famous mercenaries in East Asia?”

Namjoon nodded. “Yes, they typically work around Asian countries but as of eight hours ago, I have received an Intel that one of their members has arrived here in LA to meet up with a potential client.” He hands over the brown folder which was accepted by Jeongguk, eyes scanning the information as he flipped it open. “That man is James Li, thirty-two, Chinese-American, he works at the casino CASTE, and he is the prime suspect of three murders.”

“Why isn’t he behind bars now?” Jeongguk asked.

“Li is a slippery bastard and got perfect alibis for each murder,” Namjoon explained. “But now is our chance; if Li is really hiring mercenaries, then he must be planning something huge and it is our job to stop it. He was reported missing two days ago. We got three bodies already, I don’t want another one. Be careful, Access Group has informants everywhere and it is only a matter of time before they finally step into the American soil.”

“Yes sir,” Taehyung nodded. “We’ll do our best. Can we share this information with CSI Jung and Tech Min?”

“Only the two of them,” Namjoon said. “And no one else.”

The two investigators nodded in understanding as they stood up, bowing at the supervisor before they left the office, taking the folder with them. As soon as they were back on their desk, Taehyung lays his head on his desk, using his arms as pillows as he groaned in pain at his throbbing headache. “Worst hangover,” he muttered. “And now we have a case.”

Before Jeongguk could say anything, a twenty five year old red haired male appeared next to their table, casually dressed in a yellow polo shirt and a pair of faded jeans brightly contrasting with Jeongguk’s white shirt tucked into a pair of black fitted jeans whilst Taehyung donned on his usual floral patterned dress shirt and a pair of light brown pants. “You two okay?” CSI Jung Hoseok asked, taking note of Taehyung’s whining and Jeongguk’s tired sigh.

“We’re okay, Hoseok-hyung,” Jeongguk responded, smiling at the older male. Despite living in the US for several years already, he had still remained attached to the culture of referring his fellow Koreans with the respectful terms which made the others delighted as they barely meet any fellow countrymen. “Taehyung is just suffering as a result of a stupid decision.”

Hoseok laughed loudly which made Taehyung cover his ears while shouting “No!” while Jeongguk chuckled as he grabbed a pill from his drawer. “Here, drink this. It’ll be gone in half an hour.”

“Did you really go to that club last night?” Hoseok laughed. “Dude, you saw the bartender right? He was hot like, eleven out of ten would totally bang.”

Jeongguk groaned in disgust as he playfully shoved the older detective away. “Gross hyung, can we please not talk about some guy you want to dick down in front of me?” he said. “Since Taehyung is out of commission for awhile, I’ll need your help.”

“Sure.” Hoseok said as he pulled his chair next to Jeongguk. “What is this about?” he asked, taking a look at the folder the younger male had given him. Jeongguk quickly gave him the rundown from what Namjoon had explained to both him and Taehyung. “Basically, we need to find out when and where Li and the Access Group representative will be meeting then stop it and also find evidence that connects Li to three murders.”

Hoseok hummed thoughtfully. “I’d say this won’t be easy,” he said after a minute. “This isn’t just a simple organization; we’re talking about a huge group. They have professional cleaners for each kill.”

“Yeah, thought so but,” Jeongguk said. “If we can gain access to Lee’s accounts maybe we can trace it to an offshore account or maybe a shell company that could possibly link us to Access Group. They are killers for hire, hyung. Surely they are expensive and a huge sum of money won’t just disappear into thin air, hyung. There’s bound to be a trace and we will find it.”

Hoseok smiled. “Fine, I’m in. Why don’t we head over to Yoongi now? He’s the tech savvy, not me.”

Jeongguk nodded as he moved to stand up, following after Hoseok. The two silently bid Taehyung – who had fallen asleep after taking the medication – goodbye and headed upstairs to the office of their favorite and only Technical Analyst, Min Yoongi. He was a short man but with the longest patience – Jeongguk finds it a wonder how he deals with Taehyung everyday – and the meanest scowl if he doesn’t get his daily dose of coffee.

“Hey,” Jeongguk knocks on the open door of the office. A medium-sized room with roof-to-floor glass windows and three longs tables; two are filled with different parts of the computer and five laptops while the last one is decorated with Yoongi’s personal coffee machine and piles of folders. “Yoongi-hyung, are you in there? Hoseok-hyung and I are coming in.”

A tuft of blue hair peeks out from the bathroom door as they heard the male’s gruff voice. “Is that idiot with you?”

Jeongguk chuckled lightly. “No, Taehyung’s asleep downstairs. He’s suffering from a hangover, hyung.”

Hoseok raised a brow as he watched Yoongi slowly shuffle out of the bathroom before heading over to his chair. The male was wearing a white short under a brown jacket and a pair of sweatpants. “Am I missing something? Did something happen last night? OH MY GOD, FUCK – Yoongi, did you go to the club last night too? Did something happen between you and Taehyung?”

Yoongi scowled as he grabbed his neck pillow, chucking it at the red haired detective. “Asshole, nothing happened. I didn’t go to that stupid club.”

“He received a drunken confession from Taehyung.”

“Jeongguk, shut up,” Yoongi warned. “If you’re here just to annoy me, then leave and take that annoying jerk with you.” He said as he pointed at Hoseok, earning a sound of protest from the said male.

“Actually, Yoongi-hyung, we’re here to ask for your help,” Jeongguk explained. “Do you think you can gain access to James Li’s records?”

“Who is he?” Yoongi asked, moving towards one of his laptops. “I can try but I can’t promise you anything.” There was a few minutes of silence as Yoongi silently worked on his task before he bit his tongue. “Here, I pulled out his records. Your guy is clean, got nothing. He’s got no accounts, probably handles cash. A bit weird, but who are we to judge?”

Jeongguk clicks his tongue in annoyance. “Probably answers why he is meeting up with Access Group in person. Personal payment to ensure a clean job and no traces left.”

Hoseok nodded. “This makes things even harder,” he moved closer to the laptop, quickly reading through data before he points to the bottom screen. “It says here that he was reported missing by a woman named Anna Young. He was last seen on July 14 at the casino which makes it two days since he stopped coming to work.”

Jeongguk pursed his lips, deep in thought. “We should check it; probably head over to the casino with Taehyung after this. Yoongi-hyung, He doesn’t have any family member, right? Okay, none. Hyung, can you check the surveillance and see if any of the cameras caught him?”

“Sure,” Yoongi nodded, clicking a file on his laptop. “I’ll call you when I get a hit.”

Hoseok looked at Jeongguk. “I’ll stay here and see if I can find anything that can help us trace Access Group and Lee’s meeting.”

“Sure, thanks hyung.” Jeongguk said as he left the office. He immediately ran back to their desk, finding Taehyung in the middle of waking up as the said male began to stretch his arms and legs as he yawned. “Oh, hey, Jeongguk! Have you found anything yet?” he asked, quickly grabbing his service gun and badge from his drawer as he saw the younger male grabbed his car keys and gun.

“We’re going to CASTE and interview Anna Young,” Jeongguk explained as they stepped out of the building, making their way towards the parking lot where Jeongguk’s black Audi was waiting for them. “We’ll start from there and see if we can find any information about Li. His profile is practically empty, clean slate.”

Taehyung snorted, hopping into the car and fiddling with his seatbelt as Jeongguk started the car. “Probably a newbie,” he said. “Planned this whole scheme; get money, ask Access Group for assistance, pay the fee and then disappear.”

“Probably, hyung,” Jeongguk said, as they pulled out of the parking lot and into the highway. “But I feel there is something more.”

SOMEWHERE IN LOS ANGELES – 24/7 HEAVEN

“Iced coffee please,” Jimin said as he handed the lady behind counter the exact amount of the drink he had ordered. “Large.”

As the lady – Hailey – prepared his drink, the orange haired male took the time to survey his surroundings; eyes searching for the person who had sent him an email an hour ago, it was a work request. He sighed, running his fingers through his hair as he looked around, it was probably another client wanting him to hack on another company server or steal some codes. It was always either of the two and Jimin can’t deny how bored he is.

“Here you go,” Hailey smiled as she handed him his drink. “Thanks,” Jimin mumbled, quickly sipping on the drink as he took his seat on one of the tables at the corner of the coffee shop called 24/7 HEAVEN. The client – a potential one – had chosen this place for the meet up and Jimin rarely does meet ups but the sender had been insistent.

He scowled at the blue knitted sweater he had chosen to wear. The sender had requested that they wore colored clothing in order to identify one another. “Fucker better be worth my time,” he scowled once again before taking a sip on his drink while waiting.

A couple minutes later, a man probably around thirty settles on the chair across from his table. He was wearing a black dress shirt and a pair of brown slacks under his brown coat. “Are you Black Swan?”

Jimin raised a brow. “Depends on whose asking,” he answered airily. “I don’t really dance, mister.”

“I’m James Li,” the man introduced himself. “I sent you the email.”

Jimin took the time to analyze the man’s face, he had brown hair, bony prominent features but his eyes stood out. He smiled, casually sipping on his drink. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Li. Chinese, perhaps?”

Li looked taken a back at the casual pleasantries. “Yes,” he answered reluctantly, pulling out a white handkerchief as he dabbed on the sweat trickling down the side of his neck. “My mother’s side is Chinese.”

Jimin hummed thoughtfully, leaning back on his seat after placing the drink on the table. “What do you have for me, Mr. Li?” he asked with a smile. “I’ll have to say, I don’t really take in sudden requests such as yours especially demanding ones,” he narrowed his eyes at him. “I hate it, Mr. Li.”

“I…I apologize for that.” Li stammered. “I just need your help.”

“You need my help?” Jimin tilted his head. “That’s pretty vague, Mr. Li.” He smiled at the nervous man seated across him. “What kind of help?”

“I want you to hack into Fernandez Sango’s account. He is a member of Access Group. In three days, he is expecting me to deposit twenty-five million dollars to his account. I don’t want to, this is my money,” Li explained. “And clean my record so the police can’t trace me. Give me a new identity.”

Jimin clicked his tongue. “You’re asking me a lot of things, Mr. Li. Are you sure you can afford my services?” At the man’s nod, Jimin sighed. “You’re planning to double cross a very powerful and dangerous group, Mr. Li. I’d say, you’re either very smart or a fool. But anyway, that’s not my problem. To make this short, you want me to fuck around his account to make him think you deposited the money while you escape, right?”

Li nodded. “Yeah, that’s the plan.”

“Sure, I can do that,” Jimin said. “I’ll give you a call when the job is done. Don’t forget the down payment. I want it no later than 7 PM sharp.”

“Okay. I’ll leave it there.”

“Good,” Jimin smiles as he takes his drink and stands up. “It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Li”

CASTE CASINO

Taehyung hopped out of the car as soon as Jeongguk pulled into the parking lot of the casino, he looks around the enormous four-storey building. He checks the time on his phone. It was quarter to twelve and he could already feel his stomach growl in hunger. “After this, we better grab some food,” He said as Jeongguk stood beside him. “I did not expect this casino was at the other side of the country.”

“Don’t be dramatic,” Jeongguk rolled his eyes as they walked towards the entrance. “It was just a one hour drive.”

“It was a long one hour ride,” Taehyung retorted. “Anyways, the three victims work here?”

“Yeah,” Jeongguk nodded.

“Have we established a connection between the three women?”

“Aside from the murder dates, none so far,” Jeongguk explained, checking through his phone. “April 18 was Cecil White; twenty-seven, waitress, then on May 18 was Georgina Kang; twenty-three, dealer and our recent one was last month, June 18 was Irish Kaye; twenty-six, dancer. All dead bodies were found in their apartment, a day after they were killed.”

“The dates are creepily the same,” Taehyung muttered. “Same MO?”

“They were sexually assaulted before being killed; eight stab wounds in the chest, six in the abdomen and four in the legs; two for each leg.”

Taehyung groaned. “That’s brutal. So we’re not just looking for a serial murderer but a psychotic serial murderer? God, I love my job.” He shivered as they step inside the casino, ignoring the strange looks they got from the people. They were really not dressed for the occasion. “If Li is already doing a pretty job killing all these women, then why bring in the Access Group?”

Jeongguk shrugged, remaining silent as he scanned around the surrounding. Taehyung had a point. Li was already experienced in killing then why did he need the mercenaries but what if the three murders were just practice? He shakes his head, tucking away the possibility at the back of his mind. “Let’s go interview Miss Young first then maybe we can get some answers,” he said as they moved towards the front desk. “We’d like to talk to Miss Anna Young.”

The lady in the counter – Julia – narrowed her eyes at the two men, frowning as she looked at them from head to toe. “Who’s asking?”

Taehyung sighed. “LAPD,” he said as he held out his badge. “We just want to ask some questions.”

Julia suddenly looked nervous, Jeongguk noted. “I’ll go call her,” she said before disappearing behind closed doors. A few minutes later, a young woman with blonde hair appeared, following behind her was Julia. “Miss Young?” Jeongguk asked.

“That’s me,” Anna said. She looked young, probably around mid twenties. Taehyung smiled. “I’m CSI Kim and this is my partner, CSI Jeon. You’ve got nothing to worry; we’re just here to ask some questions.”

“Is this about James?” Anna frowned. “Did you find him?”

Jeongguk raised a brow at the sudden change in the woman’s expression, for a second she looked guarded and now tired and worried. “Yeah, about that, did you notice anything weird before he disappeared?”

“Weird?” Anna echoed, shaking her head. “No, I didn’t notice. You see, I work at the table. James handles the bar; we don’t really meet at work.” Taehyung noted the way she bit her lips, red painted nail clicking on the desk; she looked nervous and probably hiding something.

“What made you think he was missing?” Taehyung asked. “Maybe he just left on a trip?”

“NO!” The woman exclaimed, earning a surprised look from both investigators. “James wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t just leave without saying anything.”

“Miss Young,” Jeongguk said. “Are you and Li dating?”

Julia, who was standing behind Anna, snorted at the question. “Dating? Don’t make me laugh. They’ve been fucking for awhile now, half a year maybe? But the asshole’s too much of a wimp to ask her out of the bedroom.”

“Julia!” Anna exclaimed. “That is none of your business!”

“It is my fucking business when my sister is being a blind fool. Can’t you see? He’s just playing with you, Anna. He was fucking those women behind your back and look where they ended up, dead in a ditch.”

“How can you say that?” Anna sobbed. “James loves me. He promised me he’d never leave me.”

Taehyung and Jeongguk looked at each other at the sudden turn of events. They had found a clue to connect Li to the three women but it was not enough. “Hey, Julia, right?” Taehyung said, calling for the girl’s attention. “Where were you on June 18?”

Julia looked confused. “Oh, here at the casino, doing overtime. Everyone’s pretty much around here every 18^th of the month.”

“Why?” Jeongguk asked.

“CASTE Boss William likes to throw parties. It happens every 18^th of the month. Tons of people come to play.” Julia answered.

Taehyung was about to ask more when Jeongguk nudges him on the shoulder. “Yoongi-hyung just texted me,” he leaned in closer. “Street cameras found Li at a café out south.”

“What the hell is he doing there?” Taehyung growled in annoyance. He took a deep breath before turning to look at the two women. “We have to leave but we’ll come back if we have more questions so don’t leave the city.”

“Sure,” Julia said as she ushered Anna out to the door in the corner. Jeongguk and Taehyung exchanged looks before they left the casino, quickly making their way back to the younger detective’s car. “Which café are we heading to?” Taehyung asked. “We better eat there or I’m going to kill someone.”

“24/7 Heaven,” Jeongguk answered as he started the car.

24/7 HEAVEN

Upon reaching the café, Taehyung was quick to run inside the café, muttering about how he should eat something or he’ll die. Jeongguk inspected the café; it was the classic medium sized building, red tiled roof and ceiling-to-floor glass windows. He then follows Taehyung inside the café, spotting the investigator by the counter, already listing out his order.

“Hey, Jeongguk,” Taehyung grinned. “Do you want something for yourself?”

“I’ll have whatever you want,” he answered as he moved to stand next to Taehyung. He then pulls out a picture from his wallet. “Miss, have you seen this man?” he asked as he held a picture of James Li.

“Oh,” Hailey perked up. “He was here probably two hours ago, not really sure. He was meeting up with another guy, very cute.”

“Do you know the guy?” Taehyung asked.

“Sorry, no.” Hailey shakes her head. “He didn’t leave a name. He waited for his drink here in the counter,” she said. “Why are you asking me all this questions? Who’re you?”

“LA—,” Jeongguk was cut off as Taehyung subtly elbowed him in the side. “He’s my friend’s boyfriend. We’re looking for him, they had a bad fight and he’s just desperate to apologize.”

“I’m not desperate—,” Jeongguk protested, annoyed at the nonsense his friend was spouting but Taehyung continued on. “He’s just very much in love, you know?”

Hailey giggled. “Oh, I wouldn’t blame you. He’s very pretty, beautiful even. I’m sure you keep praising his hair, such a beautiful color. He looks like an autumn fairy, orange suits him,” she said with a smile as Jeongguk cleared his throat awkwardly. “You gave him a beautiful endearment.”

“Oh, really?” Taehyung perked up. “Do share; all I hear from my friend’s lips are baby and honey bear. Is it something special?” he playfully shoved Jeongguk. “You jerk, why do you keep hiding things from me?”

“You’re a nosy, asshole.”

Hailey smiled. “I’m not really sure if I should say this but the man in the picture, he called your boyfriend with that endearment. I’m sorry if he’s cheating on you,” Hailey said.

“What did the man call him?” Taehyung asked.

“Black Swan.”

Chapter Text

LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT

“What did you find?”

Jeongguk turned to look at their supervisor as he stepped inside the laboratory where Yoongi is usually holed up. Kim Namjoon was impeccably dressed – as usual – in a black fitted turtleneck shirt under his dark blazer and a pair of brown slacks. After losing trace of the orange haired male possibly known as Black Swan, Jeongguk and Taehyung had returned back to the precinct to report on their recent findings regarding James Li and this person known Black Swan.

“We found the connection between James Li and the three women that were murdered,” Jeongguk explained. “He was seeing them behind Anna Young’s back, that’s the girl he’s been sleeping with and the one who reported him missing.”

“We also found a clue regarding the dates of the murdered women,” Taehyung added, sipping on his tea. “They were all killed on the 18^th day of their respective months and it coincides on the casino’s monthly party.”

“Are you saying their deaths could be related to the party?” Namjoon asked, glancing at the hunched figure of Yoongi who looked busy with his laptop while Hoseok stood next to him, quietly pointing at the screen once in awhile.

“That’s one side we’re looking on,” Jeongguk answered. “For now, the nearest chance we have in finding Li is this person called Black Swan. According to the witness, they were talking at a café downtown. CCTV cameras caught Li getting inside and leaving the café but alone.”

“Wait—did you say Black Swan?” Yoongi suddenly interrupted as he stepped closer to Jeongguk, slightly avoiding Taehyung. “Li met up with Black Swan? This is dangerous,” he muttered. “We need to work fast.”

“Hyung, do you know who this person is?”

Yoongi shrugged. “Not on a personal level,” he said. “He’s practically famous in the deep web. He’s a notorious hacker for hire, mostly steals company data, information and sometimes sells virus to those who are willing to pay. No one really knows how he looks like, rarely does meet ups with his clients.”

“If he had met some of the clients, how can he be sure that they won’t leak his identity?” Taehyung asked.

“A year ago, a previous client of his tried to sell information regarding Black Swan,” Yoongi explained. “But the following day, he was found dead. His company’s bank accounts, slush funds and everything else was exposed to the public. In just one day, Shinwa Group lost all their investors and ended up bankrupt. Black Swan practically made an example out of them.”

“If that is true,” Namjoon said. “Then we are dealing with a dangerous man. We must find Li as soon as possible. If he is cooperating with this hacker that means he is either trying to escape and have this hacker erase all traces of him, or he has a plan.” He then looks at Yoongi. “I want you to find this hacker, ASAP before he does anything else.” He turned his attention to the two detectives. “You two, search for Li and put him on BOLO.”

“Yes, sir,” Jeongguk said. Namjoon nodded before he looked at Hoseok. “Hoseok, go and meet with Jin, see if he knows something about Li or this Black Swan.”

“Are you sure, Namjoon?” Hoseok asked, looking unsure. ”He’s…a handful.”

“Yes,” Namjoon sighed. “But nothing happens without him knowing it.”

EAST LOST ANGELES – MOON RESTAURANT

The sun had slowly began to set when Hoseok arrived at the popular restaurant, stepping out of his car, he slowly scanned the surroundings; taking in the white painted brick walls of the restaurant decorated by various graffiti of the moon, glass windows and a large oak tree right out front near the parking lot. It was a bit far from the street; even from the parking lot, one would have to walk for a minute or two to reach the building.

“Fancy seeing you here,” A handsome male with button nose and plump lips greeted with a smile from where he was standing at the restaurant’s glass door. “I didn’t expect to see you today; I could’ve dressed appropriately for the occasion.” He winked flirtatiously as the detective suppressed a groan, slowly making his way towards the restaurant.

The twenty-seven year old man was known as Kim Seokjin otherwise called Jin as he preferred, is the owner of the Moon Restaurant and aside from being the chef and the owner, he is also a cunning information broker, only known to a selected few. Hoseok warily eyed the man as he followed him inside the restaurant; it was buzzing with customers; a couple of waitress and waiters roamed around the place, trays in their hands as they served the customers orders.

Jin casually stopped once in awhile in some tables, engaging in light talks while Hoseok offered to stay by the bar located at the corner when Jin rolled his eyes at him, lightly grabbing his wrist. “Nonsense, I’ll introduce you to some of my regulars,” he smiled. “Lovely people, I tell you.”

Hoseok can only sighed and let himself be pulled along as Jin introduced him to an old couple. “I hope you’re enjoying your meal, Mr. and Mrs. Green,” he said. “You look rather dashing tonight, Mrs. Green.”

Mrs. Green chuckled while her husband answered, “We’re celebrating our wedding anniversary, Jin. Emily loves your cooking so I thought that it would be nice to spend it here.”

Jin smiled. “Oh, that’s wonderful,” his smile was saccharinely sweet, Hoseok noted. “Congratulations, as a gift, dinner is on the house tonight.”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Green reached over to hold Jin’s hand when she noticed the detective standing behind the chef. “Oh, who is this handsome young man with you? Are you two off on a date?” she teased. “No wonder you dressed so beautifully tonight, Jin.”

Hoseok held back a scoff at the old woman’s words as he glanced at Jin. The said male was dressed in a soft looking pink sweater that emphasized his wide shoulders and thin waist, matched with a pair of white jeans. His light brown hair was brushed up, revealing his forehead and bright brown eyes. “Oh, he’s a friend of mine, Mrs. Green. Jung Hoseok, he’s just visiting, right?” Jin said, leaning at him.

“Yeah,” Hoseok said, before he nudged on the man’s side. “Come on, Jin. Stop wasting him, I’m not here to play games with you.”

Jin smiled lightly at the couple as he excused himself, explaining that he had matters to attend to. When his back was turned at the couple, he rolled his eyes at Hoseok. “Aren’t you always? Pretty boring, I say. Tell you what, why don’t you come see me next time, huh? Just you and me, no work stuff between us.”

“Jin,” Hoseok warned. “Please. We can talk about this later.”

“Fine,” Jin sighed. “Follow me.” Hoseok followed him to the back of the restaurant, through a hallway and into his office. Jin immediately headed straight to the table at the side, picking up two glasses while Hoseok sat down in the sofa, already familiar with the place.

“What do you want to drink?” Jin asked, opening the mini fridge. “Too bad, I ran out of champagne. You know, I was planning to open one, to celebrate you coming here after a decade.” He said, pouring himself a glass of wine.

“Don’t be dramatic,” Hoseok smiled. “And no, thank you, I can’t drink while on duty.”

“I have water?” Jin offered, moving towards the sofa, taking his seat across from the detective. He leaned back, smiling as he crossed his knees. “I’m assuming you’re here for information?” At the affirmative nod from Hoseok, he scoffed. “Great, that’s the only reason you’re ever here.”

Hoseok frowned. “Why would I even come here?”

Jin shakes his head. “Never mind,” he puts his glass on the table. “I don’t give it for free.”

“What do you want?”

“Not really sure,” Jin pouted, tapping his lips with his index finger. “Tell you what, I’ll give you the information you need in exchange for a favor,” he smiles at Hoseok. “A favor that I expect you to repay when I need it.”

Hoseok scowled. “I told you I’m not here to play with you!”

“Who said I was playing?” Jin shot back. “Nothing is free, Hoseok. Information is very expensive,” he said, tapping the side of his head. “All this knowledge in me is worth millions, some would kill to have it that’s why I always make sure I’m one step ahead of them. Now, it’s either you accept my offer or leave.”

“…fine,” Hoseok relented. “I owe you a favor.”

“Good.”

“Now, tell me whatever you know about Li and Black Swan.” Hoseok said, eyes narrowed darkly at Jin. “Don’t hide a single thing from me, Jin.”

“I’m always fair with deals, Hoseok.” Jin said.

LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT

The following day, Taehyung and Jeongguk arrived at the station at around 8 AM and were greeted by a tired-looking Hoseok, who was nursing on his third cup of coffee for the past hour. “Good morning, hyung,” Taehyung happily greeted back as he settled on his desk while Jeongguk looked through the files that Hoseok had silently handed to him.

“Where did you get all this information, hyung?” Jeongguk asked in awe. “Is it from this Jin person? Seriously, hyung, this is more than enough. Hyung, you have to introduce him to us!”

Hoseok coughed, almost spilling his drink. “I’d rather not,” he said. “Anyway, that’s all I can get from him.”

“Just give me the run down,” Taehyung said. “I’m too tired to read.”

“According to the information,” Jeongguk started. “Black Swan appeared in the Deep Web around five years ago and slowly made himself known through selling of viruses. No one really knows how he looks like except that he’s a male, Korean, probably around twenty years old. There are rumors going around of a possible casino heist happening around the 18^th of this month and Li had hired an Access Group mercenary to kill either William Haines Jr. or his son, Brook. That’s all.”

“At least we have a clearer picture now on what’s really going on,” Taehyung said. “But how does Black Swan fit in to this?”

“Here’s a theory,” Jeongguk said. “Let’s say, Li carries out the heist, asked the mercenary to kill William or Brook for some reason, he must need this hacker to clean the trace for him so that he can use the money he stole and probably move to another country.”

“That’s plausible,” Hoseok commented. “Another thing is that, there is a chance that Li might double cross this mercenary.”

“What makes you say that, hyung?” Jeongguk asked.

“Because,” Hoseok moves to stand and walked towards the glass board. He took out a pen and wrote Li’s name and below it were the three names of the murdered girls; Cecil, Georgina and Irish. “If Li was capable of killing these three girls to get the money then he might also plan to fool the mercenary to keep the money.”

“You have a point,” Taehyung said. “But how do these women relate to this?”

Jeongguk’s eyes widened as he understood what the older CSI was implying. “That’s it, hyung!” he exclaimed suddenly, surprising his friend. “What if these three women saw his plan and he killed them. I mean, they were fucking around and they were killed on the18th of the month, which means on the night of the party, Li was out to steal money but these women found out about the plan and he had to kill them. Fuck, this means Li has been planning this whole thing for a long time; his plan is just getting postponed because of these women. He must be panicking now, which is why he made drastic measures such as contacting a cold blooded killer and a notorious hacker.”

“Okay, I understand,” Hoseok nodded. “But what about William and his son? If he had already killed these women, why can’t he kill them?”

“I can answer that for you,” Taehyung looks up from his phone. “William Haines is a retired MMA fighter while his son William practices a lot of martial arts,” he reads. “Explains why he needed the help, he knows he can’t handle these two to make a clean break.”

“Now that the pieces are coming together,” Jeongguk said. “We make it a priority to find Black Swan. He’s our only key to finding Li and plus it avoids making things difficult for us. And also keep close tabs on the word in the street regarding the mercenary, if this killer catches wind of Li double crossing him, then we might find a body much earlier than we expect.”

SANTA MONICA – EAST AVENUE, THIRD STREET

Jeongguk frowned as he looked around the alley; a couple of officers were searching and guarding the parameter. Yellow police tapes surrounded the scene as the twenty year old medical examiner Choi Soobin crouched beside the dead body of James Li, lightly prodding as he inspected the injuries. The young male was wearing the standard uniform; a dark blue jumpsuit with the words CORONER embroidered at the back.

“Soobin,” Jeongguk greeted as he stepped closer. He was wearing his usual white shirt tucked in to a pair of dark slacks and a padded jacket with FORENSIC plastered at the back. “COD?” he gestured at the body.

Soobin sighed. “He has too many injuries,” he pointed at the medium sized incisions that littered Li’s body. “It could be the possible cause of death, I can’t be too sure until I send him to the lab.”

“That’s fine,” Jeongguk said. “What about the time?”

“Rigor mortis had settled in,” Taehyun explained. “He was killed around nine hours ago.”

“That makes it, 11 PM last night” Jeongguk said, writing it on his notepad. “Thanks for your help, Soobin. I’ll come down to the lab sometime this afternoon, if that’s fine for you?”

“Sure,” The young medical examiner smiled, his dimples appearing. “Yeonjun just arrived yesterday from his training, I’m sure he’d be happy to see you.

Despite his young age, Choi Soobin had shown remarkable intellect, earning him a spot in LAPD right after graduation alongside his friend, Choi Yeonjun. Jeongguk chuckled. “Okay,” he said as he moved away, watching as Soobin instructed the officers to carefully move the body so they can take it back to the lab for further examination. He then sighed, troubled at the death of James Li. Just yesterday, they had just been talking about finding Li and today they did, just in a body bag.

“Damn it,” he fished out his phone from his pocket, quickly dialing Taehyung’s number. Two rings before his friend answered, “Jeongguk? Have you identified the body?”

“Yeah,” Jeongguk replied. “James Li is dead, Taehyung. Nothing was stolen, he still has his wallet. I’ll be staying here for awhile, get some shots and see if the killer left a trace or something.” He adjusted the grip he has on his camera bag hanging off his shoulder. “I’ll send it to you once I’m done.”

“Okay, I’ll be staying here at the lab anyway; Hoseok-hyung and I are helping Yoongi-hyung in checking the traffic cams and see if we can spot any orange haired male. So far, we’ve found five but nothing checks out, none of them are Korean and record is clean.”

“Well, double check it. The guy’s a hacker, probably fabricated his own record. Anyone suspicious?” he asked, moving back towards the spot where the dead body was found earlier, his dark eyes scanning around the blood drops in the ground. “Too many wounds and yet so little blood,” he muttered. “This is not the where the killing took place, the body was just dropped off here.”

“What are you saying?” Taehyung said. “Does this mean this psycho has a hiding spot now?”

“Probably,” Jeongguk answered. “So, did you find any?”

“What—Oh! Right, okay wait, let me just check,” he heard a few shuffling sound, clicking sounds and a pained groan that oddly sound like Yoongi. “We have two males here, both in twenties and has work related to computers. First off is Christian Jay, twenty four, a freelance web designer and the other is Timothy Gold, twenty four, works at a computer shop.”

“I’ll go see Jay after I’m done here,” Jeongguk said. “Send me the address. I’m guessing you and Hoseok-hyung will go see Gold then?”

“Yeah, see you later. Take care, Jeongguk.”

SOMEWHERE IN LOS ANGELES – JIMIN’S APARTMENT

“I shouldn’t have trusted that stupid fool,” Jimin cursed angrily as he scrolled through the website, reading all the information regarding. As it seems, the stupid fool known as James Li had not only tried to double cross Access Group but also Jimin. After their meeting two days ago, the man had tried to sell information regarding Black Swan, which had rapidly circulated in the underground circle and in the Deep Web. It was a matter of time before someone tries to find him, not if he gets Li first. Jimin was about to put matters in his hand when approximately, nine hours ago, a mail was sent to him. Inside it was small vial containing dark red liquid – he deemed it as blood – and a printed letter of words; YOU ARE NEXT.

And now Jimin is in the middle of wiping all his records and whatever that may connect him to Li when his phone rang. He paused, debating whether to accept it or not when his eyes caught sight of the number eighteen of the calendar was encircled with a red marker.

“Hello?” he said as he picked up the call. “This Christian Jay speaking, who is this?”

“Drop that stupid character, Jimin. Do you know what the fuck is going on? A lot of assholes are looking for you. They’re after every bit of clue that may lead them you like sharks on the scent of blood. You better tell me right now or I’m dropping your ass right this instant.”

“Hyung…it’s complicated.”

“Damn right it is! I’ve already covered your ass too many times. I deserve an explanation.”

“What do you mean covered my ass? You fucking sold information about me.”

“Information that everyone already knows about, don’t be a whiny bitch. Anyways, I’m calling you to give you a heads up, the police are hot on your tail so you better do something because next time I visit you, you’ll be ugly and you’re probably behind bars.”

“Fuck you, hyung!”

“I love you too, darling. I’ll need the explanation later and please cover that bright hair of yours; it’s a fucking sign of you calling the cops at your doorstep.”

“I like it,” Jimin frowned. “Besides, I’m not the only one with orange hair.”

“Sure, whatever suits you, honey. Talk to you later?”

“I’ll give you a call when everything is done.” Jimin said as he ended the call and deleted the number. He glanced at the clock on the wall, it was already eight-thirty AM and he was already stressed as fuck with all the shit show going on. “Okay, calm down,” he told himself. He then starts cleaning his computer, encrypting codes to protect all the data inside.

He was in the middle of rearranging some logbooks when he heard soft padded footsteps coming in from his bedroom. His body tensed as he slowly sneaked a glance before a sharp stabbing pain erupted in his side. He doubled over, clutching his side as he stumbled to the couch. “What the fuck?” he gasped as he watched the tall man loomed over him menacing. His lips pulled in a dark scowl as he held the dagger in his right hand, blood dripping from where it had stabbed Jimin in the side.

Jimin stumbled back, his hands shaking as he looked at it, red filling his vision as the mercenary punched him in the face, sending him sprawling on the floor. “Listen here, you fucking bitch. No one fucking dares play with me. You think I won’t find out?” the man snarled angrily. “You think I won’t fucking notice you and that stupid shit planning to make a fool out of me?”

Jimin gasped, clawing at the man’s arm as the mercenary grabbed his throat, slowly squeezing it tightly as he raised Jimin. The hacker flailed helplessly for a few moments before he summoned his last bit of strength and brought up his leg and kneeing the man on the face, and as the man’s hold on him loosened, he took his chance to free himself.

“I didn’t do anything, okay?” Jimin breathed heavily, chest heaving as vision blurred. “Li tried to play with me too.”

“I don’t leave witnesses.” With that, the man launched himself at the hacker with Jimin barely dodging but the wound on his said throbbed in pain as he fell on the floor, his cries muffled as the man’s large hand covered his mouth. He raised the dagger, eyes gleaming darkly as he moved to stab Jimin when the front door suddenly slammed open, garnering their attention at the sudden entrance of a man. He pointed his gun at the mercenary, eyes narrowed.

 “LAPD, drop your weapon. I repeat, drop your weapon.”

The mercenary growled, quickly stabbing Jimin in the chest before he howled in pain as a gunshot sounded in the air, but despite the wound, the man threw Jimin to the newcomer before he ran towards the open window. “NO!” Jimin screamed. He knew the man would not survive if he were to jump out of the window of a five-storey building.

The man grinned, his lips bloodied as he jumped out of the window and not a few moments later, screams were heard from down below. Jimin coughed out in pain, eyes blurring in tears at the scene he had just witnessed. He had been in the underworld for a long time but he had not encountered death nor killed anyone. Darkness slowly consumed him and he let it, cold seeping into his skin as the last thing he saw was the face of the man who saved him, he looked familiar and a name suddenly popped into his mind.

“Junghyun?”

PALM VIEW HOSPITAL – PRIVATE ROOM 0613 (MORNING)

“Jeongguk, are you sure you don’t want to catch some sleep? I can watch over him for you.”

Taehyung asked as he looked down worriedly at his fellow CSI; the younger male looked tired and exhausted, he had tried to convince his friend to get some rest but over the past two days Jeongguk had argued that he would wait for Christian Jay or otherwise known as Park Jimin to wake up.

“I slept awhile ago, Taehyung.” Jeongguk answered. “I’m fine.” He added, knowing the thought’s running through his friend’s mind. Ever since this guy – Park Jimin – said his brother’s name before passing out, Jeongguk’s mind had been filled with endless questions. How did this guy know his brother? Did they meet? Was his brother alive?

“He’ll wake up soon—,” Taehyung started but Jeongguk cut him off. “And I’ll be here, Taehyung.” He looked at the older male. “Don’t you understand, Taehyung? This guy, right here, knows my brother. The one I’ve been looking for the past ten years and finally, I find a person who could possibly hold an answer to his disappearance.”

“Jeongguk,” Taehyung sighed. “I know you want answers, but let’s not forget this man is a notorious hacker. Maybe he just found it?”

“Then say it right in front of me while his bleeding before fainting?” Jeongguk shakes his head. “I don’t know, Taehyung. I’m confused with everything,” he sighed. “What about the case?”

Taehyung took a seat next to his friend. “Case closed, as Namjoon said. Since the mercenary is dead, we can’t really continue on. But don’t worry, despite being dead, Li is still found guilty over killing the three women. Hoseok-hyung and Yoongi-hyung found the location of where he was staying and Yoongi-hyung managed to hacked into his laptop and found a creepy diary of his resentment towards the Haines father and son. Apparently, Li’s mother worked at the casino when it was still ran by William Sr. and undoubtedly, she’s a beautiful woman and he took advantage of her.”

Jeongguk closed his eyes, willing himself to calm down as Taehyung continued. “She tried to report him but he threatened her and so she went back to the China, pregnant with James. Li knew nothing of the whole thing but when he worked at the casino, he overheard Brook talking with his friends how his dead grandfather had raped a woman. He was blinded by rage when he found out that they talking about his mother so he planned to kill them and steal the money, which he thinks he deserve.”

“What about the three women, why were they killed?”

“According to his diary, they were accidents. They just walked into a wrong time; saw him trying to open the safe and so he killed them. And everything else matches with our theory.”

Jeongguk and Taehyung were in the middle of lunch when Namjoon entered the room, he took a quick glance at the still asleep hacker in bed before clearing his throat as he handed Jeongguk a folder. The said CSI was silent for a minute as he read the document before his eyes widened in surprise. “What is this, sir? You want him to join our team?”

“Yes,” Namjoon nodded. “His skills are quite useful to the team and so instead of throwing him in jail, I offered that he work for us to reduce his sentence and also do extra community service.”

“But he is a criminal,” Jeongguk argued. “He has hurt a lot of people. Did you see his record from Interpol? Besides, he’s not a graduate of criminal justice.”

“I am aware, Jeongguk,” Namjoon sighed. “We are giving him a chance. I understand he has committed crimes but he has not murdered anyone. And as a matter of fact, he has the proper credentials to apply as a CSI; he has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Biology and also Forensic Science.” ”

“What? How is that even possible? Are you sure he didn’t tamper with his records?” Taehyung asked in surprise.

“I sent Hoseok to confirm it and it checks out,” Namjoon answered. “It turns out that this guy has one hell of a brain, which makes his an asset to the team. Jeongguk, you’ll be watching over him, take it like a parole officer. He will be your responsibility.”

“What?”

PALM VIEW HOSPITAL – PRIVATE ROOM 0613 (AFTERNOON)

Jimin stirred under the covers, his eyes slowly opened, wincing at the bright lights that greeted him before his eyes slowly adjusted. “Where am I?” he rasped, throat dry as he reaches for the glass of water he spotted by the table next to the bed. He slowly sat up, wincing as pain shot through his side, he them remembered that he was stabbed and almost killed by a mercenary. After drinking, he placed back the glass and looked around the room, finally realizing that he was in a hospital room, probably a private room as there was no other bed.

The door suddenly opened and a man stepped in, Jimin recognized him as the man who saved his life. Based on his memory, the man had shouted or rather introduced himself as LAPD. Jimin gulped; did he already know that Jimin was a hacker known as Black Swan?

The man seemed to notice that Jimin was awake already as she slowly shuffled towards the seat, looking at Jimin with an impassive face. “Glad that you’re awake, Christian Jay—Wait, should I call you Park Jimin or Black Swan?”

Jimin’s eyes widened in shock, and for a split second he punched Jeongguk in the face, catching him off guard as he doubled in pain, clutching his nose while Jimin jumped off from his bed, ignoring the searing pain as his wound was probably reopened and made a ran for the door when a hand grabbed his foot, pulling him to the floor.

He let out a yelp as the man manhandled him, placing each of his leg at Jimin’s side, straddling the hacker while his left hand grabbed both of Jimin’s hand, holding it up above his head. “Let go of me, asshole!” Jimin shouted as he struggled.

The man scowled as he rubbed his nose before glaring at Jimin. “For such a tiny fist, you can punch. Anyway, stop moving, idiot. I’m CSI Jeon from LAPD. You can be thrown in jail for punching an officer, you know?”

“I said, let me go.”

“You’re a wanted man, Black Swan.”

“Don’t call me that!” Jimin hissed, struggling as the detective pulled him to feet and dragged him to bed. “Quit moving don’t you? I’m already pissed off enough. Try punching me again and I’m dragging your ass to jail.”

Jimin scowled. “Why am I not behind bars already? You said it, Jeon. I’m a wanted man.”

“My supervisor thinks your skills will be useful to the homicide department and so he is offering you a job as a CSI. Your sentence will be reduced and you will also have to do community service every weekend.” Jeongguk explained, observing the confused expression on the man’s face. “So I’d like you to behave because I’ll be acting as your parole officer and everything you do is my responsibility. Do we have a deal?”

“Is this a prank?”

“You don’t know how much I’d love to say it is,” Jeongguk grimaced. “But no, this is a real one-time deal.”

“You’re kidding right?”

“I’m serious, Park.”

“Okay,” Jimin relented. “But I have a question…how did you find out I was Black Swan?”

“We hacked in your computer and found all the records,” Jeongguk explained. “Tons of evidence that could have put you in jail but here you are. Do you have any other questions? None? Okay, great because I have one for you.” He suddenly leaned in closer. “How did you know my brother’s name?”

“What?”

“You said my brother’s name before fainting, Park. Now tell me, how did you know my brother’s name?”

“I don’t remember saying a name,” Jimin argued. “And this is the first time I met you, fucking dickhead, so why would I know your brother?”

Jeongguk gritted his teeth in annoyance as he stared at the hacker’s eyes looking for any signs of lying but there was none. Jimin was telling the truth.

“Fine,” he sighed. “I’ll believe you for now, but once I find out that you are lying, you’re dead, Park.”

“Whatever and get away from me, Jeon.”

Jeongguk pulled away as he stood up from his seat, making his way towards the door. “You start working next week. Be there at 8 AM. And don’t even think of running away, we will find you.” He said before leaving, slamming the door shut.

Jimin sighed as he plopped down on the bed, knowing that the CSI’s words were not empty. Now that he was captured, they already linked his profile to their database and hiding will be difficult for him.

“Fuck.”

Chapter Text

JIMIN’S APARTMENT

“You’re a—what now? A fucking CSI? What the hell happened, Jimin? First, I couldn’t contact you over the weekend and now you’re calling me to tell me that you work for the law enforcement now?”

Jimin sighed as he massaged his forehead. He knew he was going to get some ear-lashing from the older man the moment he breaks the news. “I can explain hyung.”

“Right now is the best time to start.”

“Okay, so my last client played the wrong cards on some big guys and I got roped in,” Jimin sighed. “I’m a fucking collateral but anyway, the—uh, what do you call this? Oh, right! The CSI Supervisor hired me so instead of landing my ass on prison, I’ll be working for them, you know, shave off time from my sentence and do some community shit on the weekend. And technically, I’m not a CSI yet. I’m still on probation so I kind of still have to prove my shit and stuff as their analyst or something.”

There was minute of silence that Jimin deduced as the older male tried to understand everything. “I knew sending you to Scotland Yard for that forensic training was worth it.”

Jimin nodded. “Yeah, I kind of thought so. Anyway, hyung, can you do me a favor?”

“Hm, are you asking me Jin-the-informant or Jin-the-hyung?”

“Hyung, you know what I mean?”

“There’s no harm in teasing, Jimin. What favor do you want, little brother?”

“Can you look up for information about a person named Junghyun?” Jimin asked, remembering the way the CSI had demanded answers from him. “Jeon Junghyun.”

“What are you up to now, Jimin? Can’t you look it up yourself?”

“I don’t know hyung. Maybe this will help me regain my memories.” Jimin explained. “And I can’t use my laptop, hyung and everything else. They confiscated everything and apparently, I’m only allowed to use their issued laptop within probation.”

“That sucks. Jimin, you know I can help you get out of there, right? Just say the word.”

“Yes, hyung. But…I think there is a reason why I’m here. Besides, like I said, maybe this can help me get my memories back.”

“Okay, sure. Tell me if they are treating you bad, I’ll make them pay. And come visit me this weekend, I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“Okay, hyung. Bye.” He smiled as he then ended the call. Jimin took a glance at the wall clock on his bedroom. It was 7:45 AM, he had fifteen minutes to reach the LAPD and that was enough. Packing up his bag and phone, Jimin then left his apartment and jogged down the stairs, waved in greeting at the old woman a floor below his apartment as he passed by. He slowly walked towards the blue SUV parked across the lot, fishing out the keys in his jean’s front pocket. Today, he had opted on donning a semi-formal look with a white shirt tucked into a pair of black jeans paired with brown loafers. He opened the car door, hopped in and started the ignition when he heard his phone’s notification go off.

He sighed as he pulled it out from his bag and frowned when he opened it, revealing a text message from an unknown number.

[FROM UNKNOWN:] Hey, this is CSI Kim Taehyung. I got your phone number from Jeongguk. I mean, CSI Jeon. The address changed, don’t head over to LAPD. Here’s our new location. (Address inserted) See you soon.

Jimin raised a brow at the message. The CSI must have gotten his contact number while he was still unconscious in the hospital. On his way to the new address, Jimin took a short stop at a nearby convenience store and bought a new SIM, replacing his previous one. Cutting off all his previous contacts was one of the many first steps he needed to do. He then sent a quick reply to the CSI.

[TO CSI KIM:] Hi, this is Park Jimin. Here is my new number. I’m heading over there now.

[FROM CSI KIM:] Hey, okay. I saved it.

LOS ANGELES CRIME LABORATORY

Jimin slowly backed his car in place and turned off the engine. He grabbed his bag and phone before getting out of the car. He looked around the underground parking space, eyeing the few police cars before he made his way to the elevators and pressing the floor button just as what CSI Kim had instructed him during his text messages on Jimin’s way over to the new location.

He heard a soft ping before the elevator doors opened and the sight of tiled-floors and glass windows of a well-lit hallway greeted him. Jimin took a glance around as he stepped out and made his way to the front desk, he noticed how the people around him seemed to look so busy, four out of five was carrying boxes as they passed from one end of the building to the other, others disappearing as they turn in the corner. Jimin noted their dress code, everyone was dressed differently, and he found few people casually dressed in T-shirts while most of them were on the semi-formal side.

Jimin was too busy looking around that he failed to see an incoming male carrying three boxes that covered his line of sight. As the said male peeked over the side of the box, his eyes widened as he was about to bumped into the orange-haired male. “Hey, dude—watch out!”

Thankfully, Jimin noticed at the last minute and quickly sidestepped as the other male whirled around, balancing the three boxes in his arms as he turned to look at Jimin. “Whoops, that was close. Hello, I’m CSI Joshua Hong, but just call me Joshua.” He smiled. He had a gentle look on his face matching his soft brown hair and eyes. “I’d offer you my hand, but I’m kind of holding this.”

“Oh,” Jimin moved forward, picking up one of the boxes. “Let me help you with that. I’m Park Jimin, new guy.”

“Thank you,” Joshua said as they continued on walking forward. “Seriously, thank you. Jackson and Hansol are supposed to be helping me with this stuff but I don’t know where the hell those two ran off.”

“What’s going on anyway? You all look busy.”

“Didn’t you hear?” Joshua asked looking at Jimin but at the other male’s confused look, he rolled his eyes. “Oh, right! New guy, how could I forget? Right, so just this weekend, city council finally approved the lease on this building. Supervisor Kim had been working on this for months, I mean, working at the LAPD is fine but having our own space is better right? Now we work at what we call the Los Angeles Crime Laboratory. So if a case is called in, PD calls us in and whatever we pick up there is brought here, awesome right? Files aren’t going to get mixed up anymore,” he leaned in closer. “We get to work on our stuff without those officers breathing down our necks.”

Jimin laughed as Joshua continued on rambling and explaining at each room they passed by from the canteen to the ballistics area and even introducing him to some of the investigators they met along the way. He met CSI Johnny Seo and CSI Mark Lee from the night shift who were also busy with moving their things from the police department.

“Here we are,” Joshua said as they stopped in front of the supervisor’s office. “See you later; I have to put this in the archive room.” Jimin nodded before waving goodbye at the other investigator before turning his attention back to the office. He knocked a couple of times on the wall before stepping inside since the door was left open. He spotted a tall male, dressed in a purple long sleeved shirt and a pair of black trousers. His back was turned at the door as he looked to be busy filing away a couple of thick binders while nursing a cup of coffee. “Hello, Supervisor Kim. I’m Park Jimin.”

The supervisor turned around and smiled as he offered his hand. “Oh, you’re here already. How are you, Jimin? Please take a seat.”

Jimin sat down on the chair across from the supervisor’s desk. “I’m fine…I guess?” he said as they shake hands. The supervisor chuckled as he pulled away, taking a seat on his own chair. “You don’t sound sure. I’m Kim Namjoon; it’s nice to formally meet you. How is your wound?”

“Uh, okay. The doctor told me no strenuous activities for awhile,” Jimin explained, watching as Namjoon nodded in understanding. “That’s fine. Although you’ll be out in the field, you’re still the one processing the evidence. You’ll be accompanying CSI Jeon and CSI Kim for the rest of your probation. If things go well, you’ll be officially hired.” Namjoon said. “Now one last thing before I let you go, I want you to know that you should not to waste this opportunity I have given you and also prove to me and the others that saving you was not a mistake.” His eyes narrowed. “I don’t make mistakes, Park.”

Jimin nodded. “Supervisor Kim, let me assure you that I don’t have any plans on fucking things up,” he smiled. “When I work, I always give my best shot.”

“That’s good then,” Namjoon said. “Find CSI Kim and have him tour you around. He’s not so hard to find with his choice of hair color and fashion.”

And true to his words, in one of the relatively empty rooms’ three doors down, Jimin was quick to find a blond haired male with a mullet hairstyle fashionably dressed in a green turtle neck shirt and a pair of light brown trouser with a white belt loosely looped around it. He was talking to another male with red hair dressed in blue shirt and a pair of black jeans. He slowly approached the two with the blond male noticing him first as the other male’s back was turned to him.

“Hey, you’re Jimin right?” The blond male smiled as he moved towards him, pulling him into a hug while the other male turned to face him. Jimin thought he looked rather familiar. “I’m CSI Kim Taehyung, the one who texted you earlier? Just call me Taehyung, I saw your file, if you don’t mind, we’re of the same age,” he then gestured to the other male. “This is CSI Jung Hoseok.”

“Hello, nice to meet you, Jung-ssi.” Jimin said before chuckling at Taehyung. “No, I don’t mind, Taehyung.”

“Just call me Hoseok-hyung,” Hoseok said with a smile. “Never beats hearing words from a familiar tongue.”

Jimin smiled. “Of course, Hoseok-hyung, say you look really familiar? Have we met before?” he asked, tilting his head in confusion but before the other investigator could put a word in, he felt a tap on his shoulder followed by a familiar voice. “Quit annoying them, Park.”

The hacker newly turned analyst smiled as he glanced over his shoulder, catching sight of the handsome dark haired male. He was dressed in his usual dark shirt and jeans. “CSI Jeon, fancy seeing you here. You might want to remove that hand of yours, we’re not that close.”

Jeongguk scoffed but removed his hand. “Stop playing around. Who said I want to be close with you? Anyway, follow me; I have to introduce you to someone.” He said before heading leaving room. Jimin shrugged as he smiled at Taehyung and Hoseok before following Jeongguk out of the room.

Taehyung side-eyed Hoseok once the other two were safely out of earshot. “Did you feel the tension?”

“I could slice it with a scalpel.”

“Hyung, here’s your new slave—hey, OW!” Jeongguk rubbed his arm where Jimin pinched it before stepping inside a room filled with laboratory equipments and materials from microscopes to vials. The blue haired analyst peeked out from one of the long tables. “Guk, is that you? Great, help me out for a sec. Carry these boxes and place it over there and you,” he pointed at Jimin. “Carry these.”

After a couple of minutes rearranging all the boxes and unpacking several, the analyst finally called for a break, he gestured for the two younger males to follow him to the canteen as he prepared himself some coffee while Jeongguk and Jimin helped themselves to one of the tables. “I’m Min Yoongi and technically the only lab geek here for the day shift,” the analyst said as he took a seat next to Jimin before sipping on his drink. “No need to introduce yourself.”

Jimin turned to look at Jeongguk as if asking for an explanation. “We have four analysts but two moved to federal and the other just asked for a maternity leave a week ago so it’s just you and Yoongi-hyung.”

“Sounds fine,” Jimin said. “Day shift is 8 AM to 4 PM right?”

“Yeah,” Jeongguk nodded. “Since you’re technically accompanying us in the field, you’ll have to help us bring field kits and you’re not uncomfortable with anything right?”

Jimin raised a brow. “Anything with you is uncomfortable.”

“Listen here, you ass—,” Jeongguk growled but was cut off when Yoongi snorted. “I like you, kid.”

Jimin smirked as Jeongguk glared at him. “As much as I love hearing you call my ass, ask me on a date first before you can tap this, Jeon.” Yoongi coughed on his coffee as Jimin laughed. “God, you’re so easy to rile up,” he chuckled before standing up; he leaned closed to Jeongguk, patting him in the chest. “Take it easy, Jeon.” He then left with a wave, ignoring the curse words that left the CSI’s mouth. Jimin grinned as he made his way towards the room hoping that Taehyung and Hoseok were still there and thankfully they were still occupied with unpacking.

“Hey,” Hoseok smiled as Jimin took a seat next to him in the chair as they watched Taehyung go through several glass jars. “You look like you had fun.”

“Oh,” Jimin smirked as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m having fun. A lot of it, actually.”

“Is it good fun or bad fun?” Taehyung asked as he held up a skull. “Isn’t it cute? Decorative pieces like this are hard to find.” Before Jimin and Hoseok could say anything, Namjoon stepped into the room with a phone on his hand.

“Who’s first in deck?” he asked. Taehyung raised his hand. “Good. There was a 911 dispatch call in 77^th Street. Dispatch was sent over and PD called it in. Bring Jeon with you,” he then turned to leave but stopped by at the door. “Park, you’re going with them.”

BLACKWOOD MANSION - 77TH STREET

“—I don’t know what happened…there was just blood all over the floor and w-when I saw the—Oh god, I feel sick,” the two police officers interviewing the green haired male suddenly backed off as the young teen doubled over and vomited all over the lawn.

Taehyung scrunched his nose in disgust at the sight as he and Jeongguk passed by the scene and ducked under the yellow police tapes, eyes taking in the sight of the huge mansion in front of them. Jimin eyed the parameters that the officers had set up while a crowd was starting to form, gossiping at the scene. The three of them were dressed in the standard dark blue jumpsuit with the word FORENSICS plastered on their back as a protection suit as they will be the ones to process the scene. Jeongguk carried his usual camera bag while Taehyung and Jimin each carried a field kit. As they walked inside the house, they were greeted by the bloodied floor of the living room and three dead bodies; one was a male lying on the floor face down near the fireplace while the other two were females, bound on a chair back to back. The bizarre thing that everyone noticed was that, they were all naked.

Jeongguk spotted Soobin and his partner Yeonjun already processing the male victim. A man that looked to be in his early forties approached them. “I’m Captain Justin Brass. You’re the CSI folks?” he asked.

“Yes sir,” Jeongguk said as they shook hands. Captain Brass smiled. “We’ll talk pleasantries later. We have three dead bodies here; male victim is confirmed to be Anton Blackwood while the females are Jane Does.”

“NO ID?” Taehyung asked.

Captain Brass shakes his head. “No,” he then moved towards the door. “I’ll leave it up you here.” He then left.  Jeongguk and Taehyung then fished out gloves from their pockets, putting them on before Jeongguk throws one at Jimin, the latter nimbly catching it. “Wear those unless you want to contaminate the scene.”

Jimin scowled. “I know that,” he puts on the gloves. “I’m not stupid.” He takes a look around the framed pictures on the wall. Noting how each picture lacked familial presence as only the male victim was found in the pictures.

“Who was that guy?” Jimin then asked as he moved towards the female victims. He looked around, observing the blood splatter on the walls and on the ceiling. “I could feel so much rage in here,” he said, looking at bloodied and beat up faces of the two women. “Seems like a crime of passion.”

“That’s Captain Brass,” Jeongguk explained as he crouched on the floor, picking up a small glass fragment with a pair of tweezers. “He’s been recently appointed after the Former Captain Julia Finn retired from duty.” He placed it inside a small sealable plastic.

“I’ll collect blood samples,” Jimin said as he opened his kit and began swabbing areas around the place and place each sample in individual bottles. “It might give us a chance to ID the female victims.”

“Jimin, can you also get a fingerprint from both of them?” Taehyung asked from where he was crouched near glass table, his fingerprint kit open next to him as he brushed some chalk on the table. “Sure, got anything to compare?” Jimin asked as he turned to look at Taehyung.

“Got some partial print here,” the CSI mumbled in reply. “I’m not sure if this will be enough to run.”

While Taehyung and Jimin busied themselves with their own individual tasks, Jeongguk approached the two medical examiners. “Soobin, Yeonjun,” he greeted as he kneeled next to them. “Got anything for me?”

Soobin shrugged. “Well, as you can see there are multiple stab wounds on the chest and abdomen, which caused the massive bleeding and splatter. The locations are random while the size of the wound matches the weapon of choice to be a carving knife,” he points at the body.

Jeongguk hummed thoughtfully. “Is that the COD?”

“We thought of that first,” Yeonjun answered before he moved to part the male victim’s lips. “We found sores and mees’ lines in the nail.” He glanced at Soobin. “It is consistent with heavy metal poisoning but we’d have to bring him to the lab first for further testing.”

“Okay, what about the female victims?” Jeongguk asked.

“Blunt force trauma consistent with the contusion on the side of both victims head,” Yeonjun said. “We think its internal hemorrhage. Murder weapon would be something circular based on the locations of the bruises.”

“Noted,” Jeongguk said. “Thank you.” He then took a glance at Jimin, watching him pick up something from both of the female victims head, placing it on a sealable plastic bag before Soobin moved to give the go signal to start bagging the bodies while Taehyung continued creeping around the living room observing the blood spatters on the wall.

LOS ANGELES CRIME LABORATORY

“Okay, our male victim is Anton Blackwood, 39,” Taehyung reported as he taped the picture of the male victim on the glass board. He had dark black hair and dark blue eyes. “He’s rather famous in the photography community. He’s known for his talent in nude photography.”

Jimin snorted. “He pictures naked bodies? I’m assuming these two female victims are his next project then?” he looks at the two pictures of the female victims that on the table. One had blond hair and smiling brown eyes while the other had black hair and dark eyes.

Taehyung smiles at his words. “Well, according to one of his past interviews, Mr. Blackwood explained that there is nothing more beautiful than capturing humans at their most vulnerable state,” he points at the naked picture of the male victim taped next to its close up facial picture. “…and that is nakedness.”

Jeongguk raised a brow. “Well, that explains the naked state of the girls but what about him?”

Taehyung shrugged. “That’s one question we need to answer. Anyway, moving on,” he looks at Jimin. “Did you identify the female victims?”

“Yeah,” Jimin replied. “I ran their print through the system and got a match. Blonde woman is Natasha Pierce, 22, in and out of the system both in the cases of solicitation and fraud while the other woman is Amy Jean, 23, in and out of the system with prostitution.”

“You think Mr. Blackwood hired them for a good time?” Taehyung asked.

“Sounds plausible, you know.” Jimin shrugged. “He hires them to take pictures and then after that invites them to his bed for a threesome but things went south.”

Jeongguk sighed. “Yeah but we still don’t have clue on the killer. All we have our three dead naked bodies and a bloodied room.” He then pulls out a report from his folder. “According from the result of the blood you had taken from the scene, Park. Most of the donors of the blood are Mr. Blackwood. Only a small percent matched Pierce and Jean.”

“Wait, so the girls weren’t killed there?” Jimin asked.

“This means we need to find the primary scene,” Jeongguk nodded. “And aside from that, Soobin just confirmed the Blackwood’s cause of death which was the multiple stab wounds but he was also a victim of heavy metal poisoning.”

“What about the girls?” Taehyung turned to look at Jimin. The said male pulls out his own report. “Blunt force trauma, the girls were beaten to death. Based on the abrasions on their wrist and ankles, it matches the fact that they were tied.”

“Hey, you guys busy?” Yoongi poked his head in the room where the three other investigators were having a meeting. “I just finished processing the fragment that Jeongguk found and also the one that you gave me, Jimin.”

“That’s great, hyung?” Jeongguk smiled. “What is it?”

“The raw materials of the fragments you found consist of quartz glass, fluorite and acrylic,” Yoongi explained. “What you two found were fragments of a camera lens.”

“So the girls were hit with a camera,” Jeongguk deduced. “At least we have an idea what to look for now. Yeonjun had said that the murder weapon was circular so it matches with the camera. So we have two murder weapons here, a camera and a carving knife.”

“None were found at the scene,” Jimin said as he looked through the printed photos of the scene.

“Jimin and I can go back to the scene and look for it,” Taehyung offered but Jeongguk shakes his head. “No, Park and I will be heading over there. In the meantime, use your social skills and find who the last people to see our victims alive are.”

“Sure,” Taehyung smiled as Jimin snorted in annoyance at the thought of spending more time with the investigator. “I’ll bring Hoseok-hyung with me to talk with Ethan Mundey. He was the guy we saw puking at the front lawn.”

“Who’s he?” Jimin asked.

“He’s comes to clean the backyard every Monday,” Taehyung answered. “He lives down the street.”

“Keep me updated,” Jeongguk said as he stood up from his seat. “Come on, Park.” Jimin rolls his eyes as he followed the investigator out of the room leaving Taehyung and Yoongi alone in the room which was the first time ever since the drunken confession.

“Um—so, yeah,” Taehyung shakes his hands. “Is there anything else you need?”

“Well, I was looking through some forums in Blackwood’s laptop when I found this site,” Yoongi said as he pulled the laptop open, placing it on the table. On the screen was a dark-colored website titled ‘Blood Well. “This site is for people to vent out their sexual fantasies to be drench in blood or to see blood. And I found these interesting conversation thread over here,” he said as he clicked a message box open. “Blackwood was conversing with a person called Bloodhound,” he glanced at Taehyung. “Bloodhound was talking about how beautiful and arousing it was to be drenched in blood naked while Blackwood matched the interest that he would love to take picture of her.”

“Did they meet up?” Taehyung asked.

“They planned a meet up at 12 noon in Blackwood’s place yesterday,” Yoongi answered as he read through the conversation. “I’ll try to track her IP address and see if we can bring her down the station.”

“Great, call me if you find her,” Taehyung said as he sat up from his seat. “I’ll be heading out.” He was near the door when he felt a hand grasp her wrist, turning around he found Yoongi avoiding his eyes. “Don’t be stupid and be careful.” He mumbled before letting go and Taehyung couldn’t help but smile as he left.

BLACKWOOD MANSION

“Quit glaring at me, Park. I’m not going disappear whether you like it or not.”

“I was going to give you a nasty look but I see you’ve already got one.”

Jeongguk raised a brow from where he was standing in front of a door with a nameplate on the side called GALLERY. “Yeah, right, Park. Keep saying that until one of us believes it,” he smirked before proceeding to open the door. Large pictures of nude women greeted their eyes as they stepped inside the room; the wall was filled with the pictures and on one side of the room was a glass cabinet with several cameras and on the other side was a queen-size bed. Jeongguk made his way over there, quickly putting on his gloves and opening the cabinet. He snapped pictures using his own camera before his eyes narrowed at the bottom of the cabinet, noticing an empty spot.

“This place is a haven for people with same interest like Blackwood,” Jimin commented from the other side of the room. He wore his gloves and kneeled in front of the trash can, checking through it as he noticed a wad of used tissue. He scrunched his nose. “Blackwood had some fun in here,” he said. “I’ll be taking this down to the lab and check the samples.”

He moved towards the bed, crouching near the foot of the bed. His eyes narrowed at the foot of the bed, noticing a miniscule blood stain. Jimin grabbed his kit and swabbed a sample, he tested it for blood. “Jeon, found a blood splatter here. Get out, I’ll luminol the place.”

Jeongguk sighed before he stepped out of the room. Jimin smirked as he turned off the lights, wore his goggles and pulled out his equipment. He then sprayed the luminol all over the floor; light blue luminescence began to appear – testing positive for blood. A few minutes later, Jeongguk walked back in, cursing at the sight of the blue light color that almost filled the whole floor.

“Another blood bath,” Jeongguk said as he snapped pictures of the floor.

“When I said Blackwood had some fun here,” Jimin commented. “I didn’t think it was this kind of fun.”

“Try to get a sample and see if we can match to the girls—,” Jeongguk paused from his instructions when they both heard Jimin’s stomach grown in hunger. He looked at him, who had turned red in embarrassment.

“Are you serious?”

“Fuck off, asshole,” Jimin scowled, pushing Jeongguk away as he stomped out of the room.

“Hey, Park. Come on, it’s noon anyway. What about we go grab some bite? I know a place nearby.” Jeongguk offered, laughing as he followed Jimin out of the room while the said male headed out of the house, cursing.

“Stop laughing, you jerk,” Jimin growled.

“Okay, fine.” Jeongguk chuckled as he opened the door to his car while Jimin hopped in to the passenger seat. He started the engine of the car and drove into the highway, silence filling the place as Jimin was determined to ignore Jeongguk and keep his eyes to the window.

“…You have to admit, Park. That was pretty loud.”

“Jeon, you have your entire life to be a jerk. Why not take today off?”