THE8 | Junhao

EIGHTEEN

| CHAPTER EIGHTEEN |

It had already been about a week since Minghao started his new job, and his brain was already on the brink of bursting.

He stares at his computer, blinking at it blanky.

Since he was new, he couldn't be apart of missions just yet. He simply was in charge of being the researcher of the group... being the one who stayed behind like a coward.

Minghao tried his best to not be annoyed when Seungkwan told him his duty, as he knew he was ready.

He's had two and a half years of training to learn how to kick someone's ass. He knew all the basics, and he could fight all on top of that. Of course he was ready to simply catch a couple of idiots who broke the law.

He types away on his computer, going through many different unsolved cases, sighing as his finger moves on the mouse, scrolling through the different types of defendants.

It was all the same. A robbery here and there, a couple car wrecks, a few assaults, it was all Minghao saw on his computer screen in the two weeks he's been here.

He sighs to himself, breath echoing through the empty room.

He was alone now, the rest were off on duty, as well as the chief tagging along, going after who Minghao assumes is one of the many boring cases he's looked at so far.

The room was dull, the lighting thin. Minghao swears he sighed almost every two minutes, feeling his muscles ache in boredom.

He decides to get back to work after zoning out for a few minutes, scrolling away on the computer, the bright light from the screen bouncing off his glossed eyes, burning his vision.

After a few minutes of endless scrolling, he finds himself suddenly frozen, staring at the computer screen as if he were staring down the enemy of his life. He feels his skin prickle and burn, his heart beating thirty miles per hour at the sight before him.

He feels himself begin to shake, the mouse on the screen jerking back and forth from his horrid trembling, the arrow scanning over the bright words on the screen, turning it blue.

| CASE FILE : XU SHUCHANG |

• [ 48, male ]
• cause of death: identified as homicide
• son, ( xu minghao ), went missing day after victim's funeral. hasn't been seen since [date] november 9, 2020
• no weapon was found at crime scene

[ STATUS : unsolved ]

Minghao stares at the screen in utter horror, gripping the mouse tighter than he's ever held anything in his life. He feels the water fill his eyes, a presumptuous gift for his lack of blinking.

He lets out a shuddered breath through his nostrils, feeling a tear roll down his right cheek.

At the sensation, he immediately shoots a hand up, wiping the back of his hand on his cheek, shushing his emotions, getting rid of the evidence and turning them off.

He stares at the picture of his father at the top right side of the screen, the man's smile boring into Minghao's eyes, almost threatening him, as it's been two years since that grin had expired like bad food.

Minghao knows it's been too long, and he knows nobody cares enough to look more into his father's case.

But he cares.

He'll find the culprit. Hell, that's what he's here for.

He'll do everything in his power to have his father's murderer thrown behind bars, or maybe he'll be sicker, watching the soul leave the person's eyes as he takes their life just as they had taken his father's.