When Shadows Fall | BTS Kim Namjoon

Chapter 30: Communication

Kim Yeongho settled a mug of black coffee onto the right corner of his desk and woke his computer up with a shake of the mouse. He went directly to the departmental email, checking to see if there had been any changes overnight. Nothing there pertained to his workload, so he pulled out some files – time for some intensive research while it was still early enough to be quiet around the office.

At 8:30 a.m. precisely, a hand slapped down on top of his files. "Good morning."

Yeongho looked up to see the police chief's brother. "Good morning, sir."

"I'd like any files you still have from working on the cases of Seong Hajun and Jeong Chunhwa."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

Lee Jeongho crossed his arms. "Exactly what I said."

"But sir, you took over Seong Hajun's case and Jeong Chunhwa's wasn't an official case until two days ago–"

"I know very well that you were working on them in your spare time. I'll take whatever you have." When Yeongho didn't immediately move to comply, Lee Jeongho shook his head. "Young cops always think they're going to save the world. You think you're the sole guardian of justice, don't you?"

Without a word, Yeongho reached into a drawer and pulled out the files on Seong Hajun's case and the man Chunhwa had thought was stalking her. "No, sir. I'd never presume to take your place." He shut his drawer. "May I enquire as to why you want the files?"

With a surly look Lee Jeongho said, "No, you may not," took the files, and left. Yeongho sighed, eyes falling on his nearly-empty coffee cup. He lifted it and took a gulp, grimacing at how cold it was.

He'd never imagined that police work would be like this. If he'd made any actual progress on those files, all his work would have been stolen and claimed by Lee Jeongho as his own. Yeongho had absolutely no power – the only thing he could hope for was that he'd stay long enough to graduate from "rookie cop" status and be allowed a little bit of control. For now, all he could do was keep his mouth shut as he watched his superiors mishandle cases right and left. The police chief, Lee Jeongjin, had made it clear from the beginning – asking too many questions didn't mean he was a good cop, it meant he had an issue with authority.

Kim Yeongho gulped the last of his cold coffee and headed to the coffeemaker for more, hopefully still hot this time. He really wanted to ask his coworkers if they knew why Lee Jeongho was in such a hurry to pull in all those files, but he knew he shouldn't. Besides, he'd heard Jeong Chunhwa's attacker had been caught – so it didn't really matter anymore, did it?

*

I rubbed the corners of my eyes, trying to chase away the crumbs of sleep. It had taken a while, but I'd finally fallen asleep with Jisuk's soothingly even breaths beside me. The morning's priorities were quickly decided: check my emails, make sure I had all the textbooks for my classes, eat, and see whether I was up to calling people.

Sliding out of bed, I quietly grabbed my laptop and walked out into the hallway. Jisuk was still sleeping, and I didn't want to wake her up. I was unsure of her plans, but rest seemed like it should be a high priority.

As I walked past the bathroom, Jisuk's room, and the kitchen, I resolutely avoided looking at them. Settling on the couch, I turned on my laptop and waited for it to boot up. I shoved headphones over my ears, eager to put on some music and drown out all non-business-related thoughts.

Nothing important in the emails, and my last two textbooks were both supposed to be delivered in a few days. I was glad that the trip with Areum and Namjoon's family had worked out to end a week before school started back up - if Creepface had happened during the first few days of classes, I'd have probably been even more of a wreck than I was.