Nidra || HEEJAY

CHAPTER 20

As Sunoo sat down on his chair, Jungwon walked in with a blank face.

"What?" The older one asked, looking up from his file. Jungwoo scowled as he settled down next to Sunoo, his hands in the table.

"I checked with the transport department, and they said that no sort of a Lee Heeseung boarded their trains."

Sunoo blinked dully, "Huh? What do you mean he didn't...." He trailed off, his voice slowly turning empty.

A boy who left, but never arrived.

How can that be?

"How is that possible....unless he never left?" Sunoo said hesitantly. "Exactly what I'm saying." Jungwon breathed, "That boy never left, he's still here."

And the same doubt came in both their minds; why but a ticket if you're not to leave?

"Do you think he missed the train or something?" Sunoo asked. Jungwon shook his head, "I don't think so for if he actually did miss it, he would have bought another ticket."

"But he didn't." Continued Jungwon, "No other mention of his name in the passenger list apart from that one day."

Both knew it wasn't concrete evidence, but sometimes, just ever so rarely, intuition is much more valued than a solid clue.

This is a guess, definitely. But it might lead to more than what is needed for a solved case.

Sunoo stood up, his black hair falling askew, "I'll scourge the CCTVs, you go to his house. Oh yeah, take Ni-ki with you." Jungwon smiled at this nodded, taking his depart.

His footsteps resonated throughout the hallways, his pace sounding urgent. Somehow, this caused Ni-ki to look out of his cabin and ask, "Sir, anything you need?"

Jungwon nodded and grabbed Ni-ki's shirt, half dragging him out of the room, "Yes. I do. Now don't speak too much and follow. We're going to find Lee Heeseung"

Ni-ki's eyes blared, and then settled down. While locking a gun to his side in efficiency, he stood up, next to Jungwon, "Let's go, Sir."

And so, they went ahead.

The asphalt shuddered beneath the tires as they skid past to Heeseung's apartment, successfully unlocking the door with a bobby pin.

Wonderful, this was going very well.

'Suspect everything, everyone.' Jungwon thought as he walked through the entire house.

Old sofas, a normal TV, a few CDs and a lot of books. He checked underneath the sofa, near the roof and everywhere possible. But not one thing was different, everything was so common.

"He probably won't hide anything here." Said Ni-ki, "He can't be foolish enough to leave clues here in his apartment."

Jungwon nodded as he sighed in exasperation, his muscles aching due to the hard labour.

He turned his neck to the side in an attempt to stretch when his eye caught the blinding reflection of something from the outside.

He squinted at it, changing his position a bit. And there from outside the window, was a single, blazing camera, hidden amongst the dense trees.

A rare jewel. A god given gift.

"Ni-ki!" He called, "That camera info, I need it immediately." The other one peered out of the window and then nodded, his face grim and solemn.

The camera offered a new hope and Jungwon couldn't help but bless whoever installed it over there.

They left the house soon, but not before installing a spy camera at the entrance. And after Jungwon waited for another twenty minutes, Ni-ki came in with the tapes.

"Took quite some time for you to get it, eh?" He asked, leaning on the car. Ni-ki grinned, "What can I do? That operator guy wouldn't give them easily."

He handed over the tapes and Jungwon took them with great joy, as though someone was handing over gold bars to him.

Well, this was something like gold to them.

"Let's go." Jungwon murmured, causing Ni-ki to quickly get in. The car engine then roared to life and they were on their way to the office.

Thirty minutes later, they were in the monitoring cabin with an extremely euphoric Sunoo, "Wow! Who would have known this bad baby existed?" He asked with the tapes in his hand.

He smoothened it out and gave one endearing look before playing it.

The screen blared to life and was dominated mostly by the street, but if focused enough, it gave great details of his hall room. It showed Heeseung walking in and out, looking troubled to the core.

He seemed extremely stressed, as though something horrible was coming. He was sometimes extremely quiet and at other times flung things around.

But apart from that, nothing else.

All three watched with great interest, their doubts piling one upon the others. What was troubling him so much?

Then a dull flash came across the screen and quickly regained its normal pace. Sunoo shrugged it aside, blaming the poor technology the government used for the CCTVs.

Jungwon narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, "The tim-" "Sir, the senior office called, they want to know about your progress." Ni-ki spoke.

Both the officers paled completely.

Sunoo took the phone, "Ah, morning Sir! Yes, we are getting along well, it's just that we need more time...Sir, please understand." He fell silent, looking worried.

The call then went flat and Sunoo looked up at the others, "They said that if no improvement is done in three days, then we're off the case."

Time was running, slipping like sand through their fingers.

Jungwon grumbled to himself about how the seniors were just bastard potatoes, but it was not funny to any of them. Instead it showed that even the ever optimistic Jungwon was worried.

"Let's just send the reports to them today. Tomorrow, we'll think of how to handle this." Sunoo said. The other two nodded and went to work, while Sunoo sat near the screen, watching it as though his life depended on it.

But then again, maybe it did.

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What do you call an alligator in a vest?
An investigator.

(In a vest- gator)