BTS WORLD ARCHIVE: ANOTHER STORY

Chapter 3-2: A suspicious transaction

At the City Surveillance Center...

Detective Park pulls to a stop in front of the Central CCTV Operation center.

"You drive like a madman!" I exclaimed, still gripping the door, and touching my stomach. "I am gonna be sick!"

Detective Park ignores me, looking up at the building as he gets out. "Are we at the right place?"

Namjun nodded, getting out along with him. "Yeah, this is where the GPS says the phone was. She's near here. We'll check the C.C.T.V first."

"Hey, I'm the detective here, alright?" Detective Park snapped.

We walk into the building completely ignoring Detective Park's remark.

****

Namjun's expression seemed serious as he looked at the CCTV monitors. "It was 1:47 PM when the phone turned on near the subway station," he says, before pointing. "Oh, right there! 46 minutes and 32 seconds."

At Namjun's exclamation, the operator reruns the footage.

A man and woman can be seen chatting. People are walking past them. The woman is holding something in her hand. She fumbles with the object a few times and hands it over to them and he's wearing a cap.

The man puts it into his pocket.

"That thing..." Namjun said, peering closer. "The woman was holding Jiyoung's cell phone."

It's hard to make out, but it's obvious that there's a huge Pororo sticker on the back of the phone.

"Why does that woman have Jiyoung's cell phone?" I wonder out loud. "That's when she must have turned it on. It's at exactly 47 minutes."

"What about the kid?" Detective Park inquired. "I don't see her."

"Yeah," Namjun agreed. "She's not there."

"The transaction went quickly. They must be crazy making a hand off in the middle of Gangnam like that," Detective Park assessed.

No one seems to want to admit it, but Jiyoung's disappearance doesn't seem so simple anymore.

"Where are they going?" Detective Park suddenly questioned.

"The camera angle makes it hard to see," Namjun agreed.

The detective turned to the CCTV supervisor that was helping us. "Is this the only angle?"

The other man nodded, sympathetic. "Yes, this is all we have..."

"Damn it!"

"Wait! Over there in the corner," Namjun pointed out the back of the woman's head showing up again in the left corner.

****

"This is where the two met earlier," Detective Park mumbled, disappointed when they look around the city street to see nothing helpful right away.

"This is the alleyway where we last saw that woman," Namjun noted. "They were on the left, judging from the surveillance cameras." he paces as he recalls the surveillance video, acting out where everything was. "And...they turned this corner over here..."

"Hm..There are two buildings," the detective recognized.

I walk closer and notice something. "The flyer...The woman was holding...that's it on the floor!"

Namjun nodded. "This is the building."

****

The three of us make our way through the packed office building. Our presence starts to cause a bit of a stir.

Namjun quietly calls out to me. "Wait." He points to a woman. "That's her right?"

As soon as I nod my head Namjun calls Park over.

Detective Park looks back and notices the woman. "Oh, we've got you now."

He makes the move to apprehend the woman and the whole office erupts in chaos in the middle of the commotion.

Namjun remains polite as he asks for my help. "I'll block off the right side. Can you handle the left?"

I nodded. "Yeah, got it."