𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 • 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐬𝐨𝐨

10

"are we seeing minghao now?!"

"no, i'm introducing you to our division. and it's 'boss' to you now, jisoo," seungcheol glances back at jisoo, stepping inside the elevator. "plus he also doesn't do daily appearances. he told me he already had work for us waiting at our desks. if you want to eat humans, let's get to work immediately."

jisoo was neatly wearing this white button-up shirt with a dainty little necktie and black slacks, which seungcheol helped assembling. it wasn't very much awkward, since, well... the river scene, remember?

what seungcheol wore was pretty much like what jisoo had on, except he was wearing this pale green tie and a beige jacket with lots of pockets. jisoo wanted to wear a jacket, too, but seungcheol assured him that it wasn't a part of the dress code.

as soon as seungcheol opened the door too his division's office, a hooked arm scoops seungcheol away from jisoo, and they were both left surprised.

jeonghan, who was also a detective, was headlocking seungcheol and ruffling his red, frizzy hair. he was laughing, and he had a chunk of hair hanging out from his ponytail, which was weird to jisoo (who didn't have a chunk of hair out of his ponytail).

"well, isn't it second division's new chief?!" jeonghan laughed, knocking on seungcheol's head—and the red haired detective could only hope that he wouldn't hit the wound he had from that big rock. "should we go out for pork belly later?! guys! mr. chief says he's paying for samgyupsal later!"

"jeonghan!" seungcheol whined, shrugging off of jeonghan's grasp. despite hating how his previous partner always messed up his hairdo, he liked the gesture of friendship anyway. "i can't! i'm going to be busy. right! have you heard about jisoo?"

jeonghan averts his gaze to the newcomer, who stuck his nose up the air. seungcheol huffed. his arrogance is quite a problem. "of course! you were trending over night! didn't you guys watch the news?"

"anyway, jisoo," seungcheol quickly strides back to jisoo's side, shaking his head in an attempt to make his hair seem more neat. "he's yoon jeonghan, also a detective. we were partners before. yoon jeonghan, jisoo."

"nice to meet you." jeonghan waved at jisoo with a smile, and added, "can i see your antlers? from the pictures online, you had them! were they edited?"

why was jisoo not uttering a word? seungcheol found that a little weird.

"i'm hiding them right now. why do you want to see them?" jisoo asked, narrowing his eyes. "are you going to cut them off?"

"oh, no, no!" jeonghan laughed, shaking his head. "i saw that they had little shiny accessories on them. it was cute! do you guys have jewelry too in forests?"

jisoo finally smiled, and seungcheol sighed in relief. it seems like jisoo will get along perfectly with jeonghan. he's just a fisher for compliments and jeonghan is good at giving compliments(but he blackmails) so they're like perfect puzzle pieces.

"i'm flattered! seungcheol doesn't like the trinklets." jisoo's antlers suddenly appeared, and the trinklets on it jingled and swayed. jeonghan gasped in surprise, with a curious glance on jisoo's antlers. "i actually stole these jewelry from the people i've eaten!"

seungcheol instantly frowned. yeah. no more introductions.

the newly appointed chief gives jeonghan a quick 'bye!' and pulls jisoo away, walking towards his new desk with the man-child in tow. seungcheol noticed a box on his desk, labeled 'jan-jun' which probably contained the cold cases minghao was talking about.

"you know, people usually don't like bringing up dark topics in daily conversations. especially when you first meet," seungcheol glanced at jeonghan, and then back at jisoo. "you startled him with your sudden antlers appearance, too."

"well, i don't care about what other people think," jisoo huffs proudly, crossing his arms. seungcheol rolled his eyes. "even.... if you like yoon jeonghan."

seungcheol's calm composure was suddenly gone, and he was at a loss of words—while jisoo only laughed at him. quite hysterically, might seungcheol add. a true sadist outside of its habitat. beastars kinnie.

how could jisoo figure that out?! can he read minds now or something? or did jisoo mean 'like' as in general like? could jisoo even sense romantic signs of liking someone? this is making seungcheol short-circuit early in the morning.

"how'd you—okay, let me make this clear, i liked him. like in the past. past, past. not anymore. maybe a little... but no, not as intense as before. so you shut up or i'm not getting you fruits." seungcheol says, in a hushed volume. his way of speaking only made jisoo laugh harder. "stop! how can you even sense that?!"

"i was an official matchmaker for lots of animals in the forest. willy the wild boar can vouch for me!" jisoo claimed, winking at seungcheol (who was close to losing his sanity). "if you ever decide that you like him again, you can come to me. consultation costs an eye, though."

"enough!" seungcheol exclaimed, opening the box on his desk. jisoo shook his head and laughed at the latter. "let's just start working on our first case."

seungcheol opens a manila folder, whilst sitting on top of his desk. he was waiting for jisoo to read it beside him—but he remembers that jisoo can't read, so he reads the case file out loud.

"june 19. witness ha juhan has reported several sightings of a hooded, tall person assaulting bypassers and robbing their belongings, before inflicting permanent injuries on victims. the offender has a total of 203 victims; all incidents happened in or near do-gang street, where ha juhan resides in. victims have also filed reports, but the security cameras were not able to—"

"let's go to that street." jisoo cuts off seungcheol, which seungcheol did not appreciate. the chief detective raises an eyebrow. "what? i know who the culprit is."

"who?"

"ha juhan. come on." jisoo's antlers retracted, and he shook his head to fix his head of hair. "let's go! i want to eat a human now!"

"you can't just assume that!" seungcheol points out, closing the manila folder. "being a detective is not all about rash decisions!"

"okay, then, give me more info about the bad guy." jisoo challenged, crossing his arms. he looks like he will wreck his dress shirt whenever he moves a muscle.

seungcheol sighed, opening the manila folder again to read out information. "min hunae, a victim, claims that the offender has a mole on their neck. kim woogyu received several hits and stabs on his lower right abdomen, as well as 9 other victims. another victim, lee changmi managed to break the offender's right arm severely, the—"

"alright, that's it. let's go. or i'll bite off a finger of yours, seungcheol." jisoo threatened, impatiently waiting for seungcheol to get up. "ten fingers are better than nine, right?"

damn it. seungcheol was supposed to be the boss here. with a prolonged sigh, he takes out his car keys, and glares at jisoo. "if you're wrong, i'm going to blow you up."