Conceal

12. Revelations

Kihyun was waiting for this moment to come. He replied DC Hyungwon's text message with a "sure, I'll be there after work at 5:00pm", and tucked his phone back in his pocket before Manager Mingi could catch him slacking. As promised, the detective did his research on Minhyuk's profile, reached a conclusion in just one night, and wanted to report his findings with Kihyun as soon as possible.

As far as Kihyun knew, text messages could be deceiving because he never knew what the other person was feeling, but he was sure Hyungwon's text sounded urgent, even without exclamation marks or foolish emojis. Looking at his half-made bread, he shook his head to fend off distracting thoughts. He was working now, and the most important thing was the ball of dough in front of him, not some words on his phone screen, now safely inside the pocket of his trousers.

—

At exactly 5:00pm, Kihyun was invited into Hyungwon's office in the police station. The room was spacious and comfortable, just like any good study rooms should be like. A dark blue, square-shaped rug took of most of the floor in the centre. Hyungwon's desk and chair were found on one end of the carpet, and behind them were huge floor-to-ceiling windows that took up the whole wall. Opposite of the desk was a coffee table with two couches, decorated simply with two cushions on each one. Kihyun was seated on one of the couches, waiting for the detective to get his documents ready. In front of him was a tall shelf made of polished dark oak, and it was filled to the brim with books about law, important case files, and, most remarkably, trophies and certificates indicating Hyungwon's numerous achievements.

Kihyun took a sip from the cup of coffee Hyungwon made for him and sank deeper into the couch, relaxing even more in this homely room. If finding those drugs in his bag was a pit he fell in, then being in this room and receiving help from a competent detective was equivalent to him being slowly lifted out of the hole and into safety. However, that feeling only lasted until Hyungwon walked over to Kihyun with a folder in his hands and a concerned expression on his face. Kihyun could almost imagine Hyungwon typing him the text message this morning, looking exactly like the way he did now.

"Sorry for the delay," Hyungwon apologised, sitting down on the couch opposite of Kihyun. "I had another case to work on after I texted you, and I barely had time to prepare."

Kihyun waved it off and tried to smile, even though he felt unnatural with his lips curled up like that. "No need to say sorry, I understand you must be a very busy man. Besides, I should be the one apologising, having you do additional research just to help me."

Hyungwon let out a few friendly chuckles. "Don't say that. It's my job, and I'm glad to help." He opened the folder and scanned through its contents one final time. "I'd be more upset if you wouldn't let me help you." He looked up from the pages. "Shall we begin? I'll keep this as short as possible, I'm sure you have family to return to."

Kihyun blushed slightly as he thought about Shownu, who was waiting at home, probably trying very hard to prepare a decent meal. "Sure."

As if on cue, the detective straightened up and wiped off his smile. "Now, I want you to understand that there is a certain limit as to how much I can dig into for each person, especially since I'm solving your case alone." Hyungwon waited for Kihyun to nod before continuing. "I didn't know what I was looking for at first, but I came across something that I think you should know. This might explain a lot of things."

Hyungwon flipped to a page with a big picture at the top followed by dense text. He turned it around so Kihyun could read it. It was a newspaper article, and the picture displayed the front side of a school building. On the top of the page wrote Student Found Smoking in Back Stairwell of XXX School.

"This was the highschool Lee Minhyuk, Lee Jooheon, and Lee Dawon attended." Hyungwon explained while Kihyun was still examining the page.

Kihyun read the first few paragraphs, but stopped after that. He had already learnt enough. "Dawon was suspended?"