STEP

CHAPTER 9

The police bureau is in a state of chaos; beneath the commotion of the telephones and fax machines lay stacks of paper that has fully buried the desk, in the hallway, people come and go. A young policeman brisk walks past and taps Jin on the shoulders, "I've left those 3 rooms vacant for you, case 322's investigation report session will commence in 10 minutes in the small meeting room on the 2nd level."

"Thanks," Jin smiles before instructing a female officer behind, "you can bring the both of them to the pantry for some water, we'll go upstairs together later." He points to Kris and Luhan, and then turns to tap on the three others, "three of you, please come with me."

Across the hallway and into another wing, the amount of people has evidently decreased. Opening the doors to the rooms along the hallway, "you can stay here" Jin says to Chanyeol who has been observing the surroundings. The person in the room who was flipping through the case files lifts his head smile, "hello," he says, welcoming Chanyeol into the room. He then shuts the door.

Jin turns behind and glances at the two following him, "before recording your statement, may I please have your fingerprints." Speaking as he points at the last fingerprint machine located at the end of both rooms, "both hands, starting with your thumbs and then the other fingers."

Jongin frowns, "why is that not required of Chanyeol?"

Jin ponders for a second, "it isn't required.......... for now."

Drooping his eyelids, Baekhyun eyes Jongin, the both of them leave their fingerprints as the respective doors behind them shuts.

Luhan rests in the lounge, only to feel slightly uncomfortable under the watchful gaze from a strange man across the room. He turns his head momentarily to hide from the man's line of sight.

"Why does that person keep looking at us?" Luhan asks Kris in Chinese. About 30 years old and quite good looking, wearing a weird glove on his right hand, Luhan summarizes silently in his heart.

"He is?" Kris turns to glance, "do you know him?"
Luhan shakes his head, "but he seems to recognise us."
Kris turns again to look, "isn't that rather normal?"

Without speaking, Luhan looks at that person and takes out a broken string jade pendant from his pocket and after a moment, places it back in.

Opening the door, a woman instructs Kris and Luhan, "it's almost time, you may go upstairs." Then, she turns to the person at the side, "please wait a little longer, he is almost done with his matters."

"His concussion hasn't fully healed, it can't take too long............." As the person speaks, he is interrupted again by the woman at the door, "soon, soon."

Walking into the meeting room, there are approximately 7 to 8 people gathered at the long desk, each of them having information files of different sizes and photos. On one side of the long desk is a projector depicting the desktop as Jin stands in a corner, glancing through the files in the rather short period of time he has.

"All are present?" Jin lifts his head to look before shutting the door and dimming the lights right above the projector.

"It's been hard on all of you working on case 322 these past few weeks, and today, we will do a little closure and organization. We've invited 2 very special guests today, both of which you must all be very familiar with," pointing to Kris and Luhan as he speaks, "the victims of case 322, who are also the survivors, Kris and Luhan."

Everyone nods at Kris and Luhan with friendliness while the two respond, though a little lost.
"Korean of this standard shouldn't be a problem right?" Jin questions carefully.
"......No." Luhan says, while Kris nods in agreement.