The Devil of Daegu || kth ✓ ||

16. Worse Than Nicotine.

Trigger warning for mentions of suicide and other nasty business!

Credit for the art to the artist and owner! I haven't cropped out your watermark :D

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Little icicles clung to the eaves of the police headquarters, frosted windows painting a pretty, if inaccurate picture of peace and tranquility. Inaccurate, because within the polished exterior, Inspector Kim Seokjin was on the verge of a full-blown rage-induced breakdown.

"Are you FUCKING kidding me?!" He bellowed, picking up a vase from the window sill and hurling it at the wall. It smashed to smithereens just as one of his subordinates opened the door, causing the youth to jump in alarm. "S-sir, h-he's here to see you."

"Send him in." Inspector Seokjin growled, "And get out of my sight." The data analyst who had been trembling like a leaf in front of him, winced and bowed deeply, scurrying from the room.

The man entered the room, hands in his pockets, eyebrow cocked, pausing in the doorway to take in the scene before him. Alert eyes swept over the room before he proceeded, careful to step over the fragments of the vase that had suffered Seokjin's rage. "Expensive, wasn't it?"

"This had better be good, Hoseok." Seokjin had his arms spread across his desk, head bowed as if in prayer, though Hoseok knew better than to assume Seokjin was seeking guidance from a higher power. He was more than likely attempting to stifle the urge to strangle whoever was in the room with him, which, at that moment, included a solitary individual who happened to be the bearer of bad news.

"Well, uh, I take it from the discussion I definitely wasn't eavesdropping on but couldn't help but overhear that all leads have gone cold?"

Silence gave him enough of an answer.

"Right..." He rocked back and forth on his heels, measuring his next words carefully. "So, Park Jimin."

"What about him?"

"He, uh, hasn't exactly been the most cooperative lately. Which only leads me to believe that he must be hiding something."

"I need more," The Inspector finally looked up, gaze dark and sharp, "than your fucking belief, Hoseok."

"I know, sir, but-"

He held a hand up for silence. "I managed to... Secure an invitation. To The Eve."

"The Eve?"

"That's what The Wolves are calling that party they're throwing on the 31st. But I'm positive that that can't be all it is. I'll bet you anything that it's a cover up for something else. We just need to figure out what. My hunch is that it's either an assassination or a drug deal. Both would be benefitted by a huge party that's hosting the who's who of Korea." He looked pointedly at Hoseok. "So you know what you have to do."

"Wheedle out details about this party. Got it."

"We need this, Hobi. We need to get this right. If we get this right, we could end years of struggle. Of pain, death and difficulty."

He nodded solemnly.

"That will be all, Officer Jung."

Inspector Seokjin watched him salute and leave the room. He closed his eyes, exhaling slowly as he shook his head. The wolf sneered back at him, burnt into his eyelids.

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His fingers caressed the small blemish, eyes drifting back up to meet the ones already looking back at him. He smiled. "I can't believe I've never noticed this one before."