Fire & Silk

20. Let's Make a Deal

"Kang Sooji?" Chief Choi flipped through the interview with Sooji again as Mina, Jeongyeon, Nayeon, and President Park patiently sat across from him. He called one of the officers in and requested that they run his name again to see if there was anything else they could find on him. "The name sounds really familiar but based on his interview, he seems like a decent guy. You said that he hasn't been in for work in a week and a half though, right?"

Mina nodded and handed the Chief another smaller sheet of paper. Before they took the trip to the police station, she was able to speak to the floor's manager who had hired Sooji. "He said that he tried calling Sooji but the first few times it went straight to voicemail and then the number wasn't in service." The Chief glanced up at the team before averting his gaze to the officer who was sent to see if there was anything else.

The officer was young, no more than 25 and tall. Despite his age, his face was worn and he looked tired. It made Mina realize just how hard both of their jobs were and just how much it took from you. "I couldn't find anything else on Kang Sooji but I mistyped and a Wang Soojin came up. Same face, birth date, and fingerprints. Unlike Sooji, Soojin is a lot more complex." The Chief thanked the young officer and started to read through the new file.

"Oh my God." This was all that the Chief said for the next five minutes as he read further into Soojin. It was silent for a few moments before the Chief flipped back to the short narrative that was included in every case file. "Wang Soojin. Born to a poor single mother in Gwangju. Did exceptionally well from kindergarten through high school despite his mother's severely abusive boyfriends beating him daily. Was a model student but had extreme behavioral and criminal problems outside of class. He shoplifted, robbed, and has five separate charges of simple assault against him... as well as a myriad of sexual assault charges." The Chief paused and placed the file on his desk, sliding it to the team.

Mina immediately went cold. She saw his face and knew that it had to be him based off of Sana's description. Thank God for her good memory, she thought. His eyes were cold and dark, the same ones that stared back at her that day he was being interviewed. Despite the rest of him, he seemed like a normal man, but you know what they say. The eyes are the windows into the soul... and Mina could see that his was nothing but pure evil.

President Park spoke first, not wanting to waste anymore time. "Chief is there any way we can find him? I understand that he hasn't shown at the company but now that we know more about who he really is, there's a possibility that he could be living at the same or a similar location."

The Chief sighed and closed Soojin's file. "I'm going to put all of my detectives and officers who are available on this case. I need just one of your team to stay at the precinct in case we need to relay information in a timely manner. Having all of you here won't be productive. In the meantime, President Park, I need you to work with the rest of your team to get this case ready for court."

"But how are we going to do that with insufficient evidence?" Nayeon looked between President Park and Chief Choi. This was something she had never dealt with in her 10 years of working at J.Y. Park Law and as terrified as she was, she was excited to be involved in something this big.

"It's okay. We don't need everything to start drafting trial documents. It's best for us to be prepared as well in advance as we can." President Park gave Nayeon a reassuring nod and got up, ushering Jeongyeon to the side. Jeongyeon hesitantly got up and looked at President Park in confusion. "Jeongyeon I need you to stay with Chief Choi."

Jeongyeon was floored. Why am I the one staying? "With all due respect sir don't you think I'll be more helpful with the team? I mean I don't know much of anything about police proceedings. I think I'd be much better helping back at the office. I-I-"