BTS WORLD ARCHIVE: ANOTHER STORY

Chapter 4-7: Looking for Patterns

Namjun returned soaking wet from the rain. I asked the detectives to borrow a towel from somewhere in the station and hand it to him. "Here. Dry off a bit," I tell him delicately.

"Ah, thank you." Namjun 's voice is helpless and quiet. After sitting quietly with the towel for a while, Namjun finally manages to speak. "I...I've never felt powerless like this before. I thought it could do anything, but now... I feel like a fool. I can't do anything."

It hurts watching Namjun blame himself.

"I just feel awful and sorry for Jiyoung for her father." He's in so much pain that he can't even continue speaking.

I swallowed nervously. "Now...now's not the time to despair, Namjun. Are you really going to walk away without finishing this without reuniting Jiyoung and her dad? I know that's not what you want." Namjun didn't say anything or look at me; I resorted to yelling. "There has to be something that we can do! If you feel really that sorry, don't you give up!"

"Give up..." Namjun repeated numbly.

"Namjun!" I look at him with pure desperation, hoping he'll get out of his funk.

Namjun nods slowly, lost deep in his thoughts until...He comes to a sudden realization and grabs my hand. "Reporter!"

I jumped, not expecting him to touch me, but I tried not to make my surprise obvious. "What?"

"I know how you can help."

"What is it?" Detective Park cuts in and studies Namjun's face before walking over to us. "Are you chatting about the weather while everyone else is working up a sweat?" He sounds peeved, but he's holding a tube of ointment. "Here," he handed it to Namjun. Violence is never the answer. We should remember that. I'm sorry. You know, I didn't do it on purpose."

Namjun shook his head. "Let's not make apologies we don't mean."

Detective Park huffed in annoyance. "This kid... I made a mistake. I want to genuinely apologize." The older man looks down at the floor.

Namjun watched him and sighed. "I got worked up too. I'm sorry."

I smiled. Well, I'm just relieved that they've made amends.

Both men look a bit embarrassed and begin to fidget.

I blurt out a question to break the awkward silence, looking at Namjun. "What's the thing I can help with?"

Namjun nodded. "Right. Well, it just occurred to me. Everything's gone according to some plan, whether it was that prank with the phone or the photo. It's like a game. But if it's someone trying to play a game, maybe they're following a pattern."

"A pattern..." Detective Park repeated.

Namjun's expression turns grim. He nods.

"If something like that exists, we'll find it together," I say. "Let's hurry."

The rains continue to fall, and every minute counts. At this point, we have to try anything that might lead us to the kidnapper. An hour passes by as we sit gathered around the computer.

Namjun looks at these references. "This is an interview some orphanage director did..."

Detective Park picks up the article and starts to leaf through it. There's a photo of a brightly smiling, innocent child on the next page.

"The director received a suspicious letter," Namjun explained. "He told them to go to a strange address. There, they find a child in an empty swimming pool tied up, similar to how Jiyoung is in the picture. Thankfully, they arrived in time to save the child from drowning. If you keep reading, there are more cases of similar kids being saved from similar scenarios somewhere every year for seven years. What if the same thing kept happening?"

"How come no one knows about this?" I asked.

"No one cared enough to," Namjun says. "I think someone's trying to prove a point." He looked to Detective Park. "You can assess the police database, right? You might be able to find more similarities there."

Detective Park nodded curtly. "Alright, let's have a look." Detective Park's desk is a mess. Namjun walks up to take a closer look. The Detective searches the database for a long time and then points to something on the screen.

"Right here. Of course, there's a similarity here," Namjun stated, taking over the seat from Detective Park and starting the type of mile a minute. "They were all seven years old and came from troubled home environments. Broken family is parents with alcoholism, disabilities, legal guardians."

"So, the kidnapper targets neglected children," Detective Park concluded.

"Well, we can't say for sure they were neglected, but they definitely spent a lot of time alone," Namjun corrected and looked back to the missing girl's photo. "The same is true for Jiyoung."