There's an alarming vacancy at Dalgom Moon Bed & Breakfast. Now its up to NIS profiler Jungkook Jeon to investigate the sudden disappearance of the owner's entire family. But the steely agent finds it hard to do his job when distracted by the B&B's...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Although it was relatively early, after the short night before, Jungkook had told both Taehyung and Jimin to head to bed and get a good night's sleep. He was certain the next day would be a long one, and he wanted them all to start out rested.
He stripped down to a pair of boxers and then opened the window, despite the air-conditioning that kept the room cool and pleasant. Since the age of seven, Jungkook had always kept his bedroom window open, never knowing when he might need to make a husky escape from a raging drunken father.
Certainly more than once throughout his childhood, he'd used the window to flee the wrath of Junie Jeon. Like Lalisa, Jungkook's mother had abandoned him and his father when he was seven. She'd left him in the hands of a brutal man who'd either beaten him half to death for unclear reasons or ignored him until Jungkook was old enough to exit and never look back.
He'd lived on the streets, worked a hundred different jobs, and waffled between a life of crime and a life of investigating crimes. He'd finally managed to make his way through college with criminal justice degree and a minor in psychology, and that's when the NIS had brought him in as a profiler.
He loved his job and he was good at it, but his particular case already had him frustrated by the lack of leads. The bank records had shown no red flags either in the personal or business finances. The email accounts showed no threats or unusual activity. So far he and his team hadn't spoken to anybody who didn't admire or like the family.
Granted, they were still in the beginning stages of the investigation, but he knew that, in many disappearances, within the first couple of hours, the taken were killed.
What he didn't know yet was who had been the intended target. Was it Sokjin, and his wife and stepdaughter were merely collateral damage? Was there something in Jisoo's past that might have brought this on?
He turned off the light in his room and got beneath the lavender top sheet, his mind whirling a million miles an hour There had to have been more than one person involved; otherwise how was it possible for a single individual to neutralize three people and get them out of their home? And Lalisa had heard nothing, which meant either she was lying or whoever had come in and taken the three people had done so relatively silently. How was that possible with a seven-year-old little girl in the mix?
The sound of a splash came from outside the window - a loud splash. Must be a fish the size of a minitorpedo, he thought. A thrashing noise followed, and then a faint cry.
Definitely a female cry. Lalisa had told him she was going out to get some fresh air. Who had made that splash? Had it been a fish, or her?
Jungkook bolted up from the bed and flew out of his room. He stumbled down the stairs two at a time, his heart surging with adrenaline as he remembered she couldn't swim.
As he flew through the lower level of the house and into the kitchen, he noted that Lalisa's door to her rooms was open, as was the back door.
He burst out into the hot night air and again heard a splashing and a frantic cry from the pond. By the time he reached a vantage point where he could see the water, the moon glittered down on the smooth surface.
