PROBE | discontinued

11. Evidence-turned-Exacerbation

11:40 a.m.
District Court
Seoul

★★★

The air was grim.

Seokjin, with his eyes sternly fixated on Namjoon, asked: "You knew?"

Namjoon was incapacitated of giving an answer. At least a decent one. What could he have possibly said to minimise the direness of the situation?

"Namjoon, I've asked you a question." Seokjin's voice was low and cold, unusual of his regular self.

"Yes." The word came out soft, but heavily misted with shame.

"And you didn't think once to apprise us of the same?" Yoongi crossed his arms over his chest, his police suit tightening around the curves of his shoulders.

"I found out last night when Dr. Gong gave me a call. What was I supposed to do in less that twelve hours?" Namjoon said despaired.

"Had we known about the DNA sample we could have postponed the session to another day." Yoongi said. "We'd get more time to further gather more leads and evidence, or anything as such."

"That DNA sample was our only valid piece of evidence. Our whole case was based on the physical injuries of the victim and the foreign DNA found on it. The court would have dismissed the case before it even began if we reported the same to the court." Namjoon reasoned.

"So, you decided to go on and let the defense prove to court that the only piece of evidence we managed to get was false?" Seokjin's tone worsened, now brimmed with anger.

"We still had the pictures from Meojin Museum that we took. I thought the samples of the blood marks that you collected could have helped us put pressure on the defendant." Namjoon was not trying to defend himself; he knew how poorly he had judged the circumstance. He only tried to elucidate on his understanding of the scene. "I thought we could put something together, if not much. But I was wrong."

"No shit, sherlock." Seokjin retorted. "The samples of blood marks I collected were supposed to be solidified by the DNA sample that Gong Sil-myeong examined for us. Those pictures, the injuries—none of it means anything if we can't say who caused them."

"Moreover, what the fuck happened to that witness that Jungkook and Taehyung found?" Yoongi prompted, leaning on his car. "How does a full-grown man just randomly disappear like a thin cloud out of nowhere?"

"That man was a hippie. For all we know, he could have just made something up and spewed it to Jungkook. I fail to understand why we even took him seriously to begin with." Seokjin scoffed and his frustration was now visible in his eyes. "Namjoon, I told you not to hand such a big task to Jungkook and Taehyung. They're kids."

"Woah, woah, slow down there, hyung." Jungkook entered the conversation. His brows creased in vexation as he said, "At least Taehyung and I did something for this case. You and Yoongi hyung haven't contributed one bit so far."

"That's 'cause it's a stupid case!" Seokjin retaliated. "There's no fucking way you guys can actually get your way around this one. Not when you have a fucking multinational businessman on the other side."

"You see, hyung, that's your problem. You had given up on this case the minute the complaint was filed!" Taehyung snarled at Seokjin.

"Understandably so!" Yoongi exclaimed from behind, still leaning on his car. "You guys can be all civil you want but you know Seokjin's right. Unless you're in a position of insane power, you can't take Keith Song down."

"That's enough." Hoseok enjoined with an atypical depth in his tone. "The only reason we're failing here is because we're fighting each other and not the crime."