Used to the Darkness || DoTae

Chapter Two

Friday, April 8th 2158, 10:24.

Cheongnam, South Korea.

It was abnormal for Doyoung to arrive at Headquarters later than 8 AM, but he'd arranged with Chief Kwon that he could take a few hours to spend time with Jiyeon, his daughter, before she left for Seoul with her mother. It was bittersweet to watch them drive away, and Doyoung felt a piece of himself fracture as he watched the back of the car disappear around the corner. He told himself that it was for the best, that Jiyeon would be safer and have better opportunities in Seoul, but he'd never imagined that he'd be separated from her before she turned eighteen. He couldn't help but feel like he'd lost his daughter, his one true pride and joy.

Doyoung sighed as he stepped out of the elevator and made his way to Unit C's office. He couldn't spend the whole day moping, he had a job to do. They needed to catch Lim Kangdae's killer, whether it was Lee Taeyong who killed him or otherwise. Doyoung pushed open the door to the office and was immediately bombarded by Donghyuck, who was wearing a red hoodie rather than his usual white one. Doyoung gently shook his head. Even he couldn't convince the analyst to dress more professionally, but his presence in Unit C was an absolute exceptional circumstance, as he was the son of the Chief of the National Security Department. Doyoung didn't think any less of him for how he got there—after all, he also had blood ties to the Korean Central Intelligence Agency.

"Good, you're here," said Donghyuck, pulling the Lieutenant into the room. "I need to show you something. I was searching through Lee Taeyong's file and I found something strange. I wanted to wait until you got here to say anything."

"Alright, let's go. But before that, has the CCTV or DNA analysis come back yet?" asked Doyoung as they walked over to the younger agent's desk.

"We have a partial CCTV analysis done," Minhyung added, joining them. "It has been confirmed that Lee Taeyong was not at the scene of the crime at the time of Lim Kangdae's murder. A man entered the Lim Family office before him and left before Lee Taeyong arrived. He isn't lying—Lim Kangdae must have stabbed him to avert suspicion."

Part of him still wanted to believe that Taeyong was the killer. It would be a clean case if he was, as they could have a long-time troublemaker arrested and close the case easily. However, it was looking less and less like that was the case. "Could he not have arranged for somebody to arrive before him to make himself look innocent? We have to consider everything," said Doyoung.

"That's unlikely. How would he have been stabbed? Would Lim Kangdae forgive his killer? I don't think he would," said Donghyuck, and Minhyung nodded beside him.

"There has to be an explanation," Doyoung insisted. "Lee Taeyong is a twisted killer. He's been on our watchlist for years. Surely he planned it."

"It seems to me like Lee Taeyong is a victim here," said Minhyung, breaking his silence. "He's injured, Doyoung. Would he do that to himself? It doesn't make sense."

"He's a psychopath, Minhyung," Doyoung spat through gritted teeth. "Of course he'd do anything that he could to keep himself out of prison. He's stayed out of prison this long, hasn't he? He's as sly as a fox."

Minhyung sighed, turning around in his seat. He looked up to where Doyoung was standing, with his arms folded over his chest. "There's no evidence to prove that Lee Taeyong is a psychopath, and you know it. He's a sick, messed up man, but he isn't a psychopath. He's been through hell and came back twisted."

"Lim Kangdae was the one who dragged him through hell, Minhyung. Backwards! He gouged out his eye and shattered his shoulder. We have no idea what else Lee Taeyong went through in Lim's black site for eight months—he has more than one reason to plug his boss with bullets."