Role Model | Lee Taeyong

Seven ☻

|| NARRATOR ||

"You're in a jolly mood."

Taeyong stares at his fellow detective from the mirror in the car, a faint smile on his face. "Am I not allowed to be?"

"Not really. We're here on a murder case, not for vacation." Yuta shrugs his shoulders. Taeyong bites the inside of his cheeks, ignoring the Japanese boy and his legitimate remarks. "You can't get to me, Yuta. I can feel it, we're gonna get a good lead today."

"That's the spirit, Taeyong!" Yeri pats his shoulder proudly, smiling at the boy. Little did she know that the reason why he was so happy was because of her.

Taeyong parks the car on the lot, all four detectives jumping out of the car. "Do you think the school is open, yet? There are no other cars in the lot except for the teachers." Doyoung asks him.

It was peculiar that the teacher's car was in the exact same spot as yesterday. And he for sure knew because her tire was slightly over the parking line and it was sort of driving him insane that she didn't know how to park correctly.

Nope, I'm not letting these little things get the best of me. I'm the new, calm and collected Taeyong. I don't get mad at little things and I'm the best detective in the precinct. Taeyong reassures himself before pressing the door open to let them all into the school.

They walk into the front office, but the teacher was nowhere to be seen. "She has to be here somewhere, her car was in the parking lot," Yeri says, her eyes searching the room for any clues as to where the teacher may be.

"Somebody check the halls. Doyoung, you come with me." Taeyong instructs. Yeri and Yuta adventure out in the hallway as Doyoung and Taeyong stick inside the office, perking around at every detail.

A rotten smell suddenly wanders into Taeyong's nostrils as he scrunches up his face and blocks his nose. "Ugh, smells like shit in here." He complains to the other man, almost gagging at the smell.

Then it hit him.

Doyoung quickly realized as well, as his eyes widened when both of them looked up to meet the eyes of each other. They race in the direction of the smell, tumbling into the printer room where the body of the teacher laid on the floor, completely split in half with the dried blood staining up the carpet below her.

Taeyong tried his best not to throw up at the sight. The body's torso was covered in maggots crawling around from the open flesh, and her eyes stayed open and weirdly human while the rest of her body was completely mutated.

"Fuck my life," Taeyong mutters, groaning loudly as he shuts his eyes to comprehend what was happening. Just when he thought that he would get some progress with this case, turns out that another murder had occurred and it's his fault because he wasn't careful enough to protect the teacher.

"Oh my god, what happened to her?" Yeri exclaims in distraught as the two other police officers run into the room. Taeyong places his head in his hands. He couldn't believe it. He had failed his job to protect his citizens.

"Um, Taeyong? You might need to look at this." Yeri says, suddenly standing behind him. She places a note in his hands as Taeyong raises an eyebrow. He unfolds the note, his breath hitching when he reads the words.

"PARASITE'S GET IN THE WAY"

"Parasite? What does that mean?" Yuta asks over Taeyong's shoulder. His eyes refer back to the dead body and all the insects inserting themselves into the lady's wound. He winces, turning away abruptly.

"Whoever committed this murder placed the parasites onto the flesh, or at least expected for that to happen to the body eventually," Taeyong says in a quick breath, placing the note down and leaving the room. It was too much for him to handle and the room was starting to become too stuffy for him to even inhale oxygen in.

He runs out of the office in a hurry, leaning against the hallway while shutting his eyes. Taking a deep breath in and out until somebody's footsteps reaches beside him. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not fucking okay. It's my fault this person is dead." Taeyong scoffs at the idiotic question he was asked. "Everyone makes mistakes-" Yeri starts but gets interrupted.

"Yeah, you're right." He turns to face the petite girl. "And it was a mistake to listen to your advice. Thanks for reminding me the reason why I never let my guard down, especially during the job." He spats in her face.

She was taken aback by his sudden outburst towards her. She was already aware that Taeyong had slight anger issues, but she thought that maybe the conversation they had yesterday would have some sort of progress with it. "I was only trying to help you out. I don't like seeing you act so miserable, it's sad." She defends herself.

"Oh, so now you pity me? Listen here, I don't need your sympathy. I'm my own person and I'm capable of myself. So, for next time's reference, don't come into my room late at night and try and convince me to focus on something outside of work." He snarls.

Yeri sighs, placing her fingers on her temples while softly massaging her skin. "Let's not argue on the job, Taeyong. It's unprofessional." She says. "I'm going back inside, you go do whatever you want. I'm done trying to be the nice guy."

Taeyong knew that he had messed up, referring to both the case and Yeri. He never wanted to make her mad, and he felt an overwhelming amount of guilt when she walked away from him.

I'm the real parasite here. He thinks to himself, heading back inside to the computer on the desk. If the teacher couldn't get the information he needed in time, maybe he could. Besides, it would maybe distract him from the wrongdoing that had washed over him.

He goes onto the student files and searches the name 'Lee Narae'. To his demise, nothing showed up except for one file. He hesitantly clicks onto his, praying to the lords that he would find at least one valuable piece of information that he could use.

It was a picture, taken on the day of a school festival. His eyes search the picture, desperately looking around to find the girl. He found her, all the way in the front row. She stood out easily from the others, with her two messy braids riding down her shoulders and her slick eyes that looked like could kill by how sharp they were.

There was something else about the picture that caught him off guard. And it wasn't about what she was wearing, or maybe the secret message that was written under her name. It was the boy next to her, who had his arms draped around Taeyong's sister's shoulder. Taeyong clenches his teeth, not sure if he should be happy or pissed at the fact that a boy was being so close to his baby sister. But nevertheless, his eyes turn downwards as he tries to find the boy's name on the list down below.

"Mark Lee." He says as his finger traced over the name. "Mark Lee, I'm going to beat your ass."