Case: Ghost

Ghostie Boys

"Detective Do, along with the promotion, the higher-ups want to transfer you to Busan for a year - if you decide to take the opportunity, of course," Captain Oh broke the news to Kyungsoo a few minutes into their meeting. Sehun had called Kyungsoo into his office first thing in the morning, and it was this piece of news that followed Kyungsoo around the rest of the day. He brewed his coffee mutely, sat at his desk mutely, drank his coffee mutely, worked on reports mutely, and waited in line for the bathroom mutely. When it was his turn, he went to a urinal mutely, unzipped his pants mutely, and peed mute -
"Hey ghostie buddy!" Chanyeol greeted cheerfully, coming up to the urinal right beside Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo squirmed and looked away. "Hey," Chanyeol tried again.
"I'm trying to pee," Kyungsoo cut him off. He finished peeing in silence, then zipped up. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you to stop talking to me when I'm using the restroom."
Chanyeol finished and zipped up too, then joined Kyungsoo at the sinks. When they were washing their hands, Chanyeol whispered, "I found a case. This one's really good, I think it'll even top the Alpha Killer case."
Kyungsoo snorted, "I don't believe that."
"You also didn't believe in ghosts, look at us now," Chanyeol logically pointed out. They dried their hands with some paper towels and left the restroom, and then they walked down to the break room.
Kyungsoo gave in with a shrug. "Alright, brief me on it." Chanyeol began to give an animated information session on the case. "I said brief, not write a novel," Kyungsoo criticized.
When they got to the break room, Chanyeol pulled a bag from the fridge and pulled out sandwiches, handing one to Kyungsoo. He also got two sodas. They sat at a table in the snug room, dug into their food, and drank from their sodas as Chanyeol summarized what he was going to say. "A group of ghosts have been haunting the alleyway a few blocks from my house. They used to be gangsters, and after I did some research, I found that some people from the Korean mob actually died around that area. These ghosts harass passerby at night, anyone who goes in the alley or goes near enough to it."
"Has anyone filed a report with the PD?" Kyungsoo asked. Chanyeol shook his head, and Kyungsoo stopped eating. "So we're not even working a case, we're just - what, exploring? This isn't even an official case, how are we supposed to work through the department on this? We won't have access to our equipment -"
"Shh" Chanyeol shushed, "It's not helping that you're broadcasting to the whole city, pal. Look, I thought ahead -"
"For once," Kyungsoo threw in.
"- And I found a case nearby, one we can use as a coverup for the ghost mission," Chanyeol continued seamlessly, "It's on a criminal that's been mugging people." Kyungsoo thoughtfully chewed his sandwich. He caved in with a shrug, and Chanyeol whooped, "Ghostie buddies!"
"Oh my god," Baekhyun froze in the doorway, wide-eyed as he witnessed the scene before him, "Minseok wasn't lying, you like Chanyeol!" He said to Kyungsoo. Then he turned and yelled out to the rest of the floor, "Hey, Kyungsoo is having lunch with Chanyeol! He's actually eating with someone - Sitting right here with him!" A commotion began outside as people began to swarm over, at which point Kyungsoo dropped the sandwich Chanyeol had bought for him and ran out.
"Wait, but I got you your favorite!" Chanyeol called out after him. It only grated Kyungsoo's nerves more as he realized that Chanyeol even knew his favorite sandwich.
~~~
"I loved him so much," the woman wept, "He even knew my favorite sandwich, I mean that's the definition of love right there," she choked up and just sobbed into her tissue.
Kyungsoo was furiously working his jaw, then the pencil in his hand snapped in half. He came back to reality and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for your loss," he told the lady sitting across from him at his desk. He had been taking her report on the criminal mugger who had killed her husband.
She looked at the broken pencil, "Thank you. You seem to feel upset on my behalf too."
Kyungsoo hesitated, "Uh, yeah… Yeah, that's why I'm angry," he lied. "I'm going to leave you with Sergeant Kim Jongin, okay? He's very capable." Kyungsoo walked her over to Jongin's desk, and handed him the report. "I'm working late tonight on this mugging case, but I need you to wrap it up here with her."
Jongin agreed, then pointed at Kyungsoo's face, "Glasses, young man," he reprimanded.
"I thought we were over that," Kyungsoo grumbled, maliciously taking out his glasses and putting them on. As he was leaving, Captain Oh approached him.
"Don't forget about the promotion, you need to let me know of your decision by the end of today," Sehun reminded him cheerily, "You leave for Busan in four days. I'm very proud of you, Sergeant Do."
And just like that, Kyungsoo was back to being mute. He nodded mutely, then went and took the elevator mutely, walked through the lobby mutely, got into Chanyeol's car mutely, flinched to the music blasting from the speakers mutely, glared at Chanyeol mute -
"Gee, gee, gee, gee, baby, baby, baby," Chanyeol was singing. He was wiggling his long limbs everywhere, dancing to the poppy song.
Kyungsoo reached over and shut off the speakers. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop singing to loud music like this? It makes my ears bleed."
Chanyeol grinned, "Sorry, I'm just so excited. And even more because apparently you like me~" he sang, "We're best friends~" Kyungsoo roughly punched Chanyeol's arm. "Ow," Chanyeol pouted.
"Let's hurry this up," Kyungsoo muttered.
~~~
"Let's take our time," the criminal said, a gun in his hand and aimed at Chanyeol, "Don't worry, I'll shoot you, but I like to enjoy the look of fear my victims have before they die."
Kyungsoo was beside him, and trying his best to remain calm. They had chased the mugging perp right into an alleyway, and were now in a standoff. For the past few minutes, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol had been using negotiation tactics on the guy, but it was hardly working. That was often a sign that they were dealing with a mentally unstable person, rather than someone mugging for survival, as was usually the case.
"Alright, let's do this!" The man shot his gun, and Kyungsoo yanked Chanyeol to the side so hard he tore the uniform. The criminal was tackled into the wall, and his gun skidded across the floor. When Kyungsoo looked up, he saw the man fighting with two bigger guys.
Chanyeol looked up, "Those are ghosts," he panicked, "We can't let them kill him, we'll get blamed."
"And it doesn't help that he's mentally ill," Kyungsoo added, "We'll get our asses torn." They kicked into action, pulling out their salt bullet guns and shooting. Kyungsoo made sure to pocket the perp's gun so he couldn't get a hold of it again. Chanyeol charged one of the ghosts and shot three bullets. Another gangster threw Chanyeol against the wall and punched his face over and over, pouring blood everywhere.
The mugger was screaming maniacally, kicking and punching and wriggling every which way. Kyungsoo shot multiple times at the ghosts surrounding the man, then swiftly handcuffed him to a pipe. At that vulnerable moment, the mugger bit Kyungsoo, and two ghosts picked him up and flung him far down the alley. His skin rubbed off on the dirty pavement and bled, and his face suffered the hard blow too.
Chanyeol finally managed to break free of the ghosts that had encircled him, and he ran over to Kyungsoo. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Kyungsoo groaned painfully, contradicting his answer. But they simply didn't have the time. "The bullets aren't working, they just have a temporary effect."
"They must be attached to something then, like the ghost of the cabin," Chanyeol figured.
"But what could they possibly be attached to?" Kyungsoo asked. The two simultaneously eyed the ground. "You don't think…," Kyungsoo trailed off.
Chanyeol nodded, "I think so."
And then began another long round of fighting as the ghosts swarmed the pair. The two detectives shot at the floor, spilling the salt of their bullets across the entire length of the alleyway. "Give me a minute," Chanyeol shouted as he ran for the car parked outside the alleyway. He took a case of beer from the trunk and came back, handing one to Kyungsoo. "We really have to be careful here," Kyungsoo warned.
"Yup," Chanyeol affirmed. They poured alcohol everywhere, without letting any touch the buildings.
"I'll call the fire department," Kyungsoo dialled for emergencies on his phone, and even as gangster ghosts beat the living hell out of the two officers, Kyungsoo carried out the call, and Chanyeol flicked on his lighter.
"Come on!" Chanyeol yelled. Kyungsoo hung up, took the mugger off the pipe, and ran for the exit, where Chanyeol stood. "Here goes nothing," Chanyeol said under his breath. He dropped the lighter on the floor, and the entire alleyway quickly lit up in flames.
Kyungsoo handcuffed the mugger again and shoved him into the backseat of the car. "We should've brought a police car for this guy though," Kyungsoo commented.
"Hey, my car had beer, okay?" Chanyeol defended his decision to use his car for this mission, like nearly all the others. They waited for the firefighters, blamed the incident on the mugger, explained that he was crazy, and then went on their way back to the precinct.
~~~
In the car, Kyungsoo was smiling widely and looking out the window. It was down, so that the wind could ruffle his hair and cool down his sweaty body. "You were right," he admitted, "That was better than the Alpha Killer case. God, it was so…," he searched for the right word, "awesome!" It wasn't everyday Kyungsoo talked like this.
Chanyeol basked in this feeling of joy, and in the fact that Kyungsoo said he was right for once. "All I'm hearing is that you like me."
Kyungsoo gave him a deadpan look. "Too far, you ruined the mood."
"Aw come on!" Chanyeol complained, "Just admit it. Look, I almost died back there and you know it."
"This crazy bastard," Kyungsoo glared at the mugger in the backseat for a solid minute.
"Exactly," Chanyeol said, "And who knows if we'll get lucky again like that next time. I could die whenever, and I want you to know that you'll never have told me how you truly feel."
Kyungsoo turned his glare onto Chanyeol. "Are you trying to guilt trip me?" He asked incredulously.
Chanyeol avoided eye contact. "Maybe."
"It's not working," Kyungsoo muttered darkly. They arrived at the precinct and put the perp in a holding cell. It was late at night now, and the midnight shift of people had begun to come in. Captain Oh was just leaving his office when he saw Kyungsoo. "Detective Do, good timing, come into my office."
"Ooh, you're in trouble," Chanyeol teasingly shoved Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo's good mood, however, had been ruined, actually ruined now. He followed Captain Oh into his office, and closed the door.
Captain Oh sat at his desk and looked at Kyungsoo. "Have you made your decision?"
Kyungsoo's hands were in fists. He had always thought the day this opportunity came, he would be happy and immediately say yes. But now, it wasn't at all like that. He glanced outside at Chanyeol through the window, who had sat at his desk. He thought about the ghosts, helping people here, the ghostie boys…
"Detective Do," Captain Oh said.
Kyungsoo took a deep breath and looked at the captain. Okay, maybe Chanyeol really had guilt tripped him a little bit. For the past few months, somehow. "It'll be a while before I get a promotion here, but I can wait. I'll be staying, sir."
~~~
"Oh man, what did he tell you, Kyungsoo? Did you get scolded?" Chanyeol attacked Kyungsoo with questions as soon as Kyungsoo left Captain Oh's office.
"Yes," Kyungsoo blatantly lied, "And it's Detective Do."
"Are we seriously back to that?" Chanyeol asked, "Seriously? Just because I wanted you to admit you like me?"
"I don't like you," Kyungsoo insisted, "Now, take me to the hospital. We need to get our injuries checked." They went down to Chanyeol's car, and after a while, Kyungsoo gave up and said, "But we are the ghostie boys."
Chanyeol grinned, "Haha, would you look at that? Ghostie buddies for life!" He sang loudly.
"I didn't say buddies," Kyungsoo shot back, "I said boys." But of course, Chanyeol had heard what he wanted to hear. And he continued to make fun of Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo made an effort to refrain from killing him, although he did throw a few punches. Because that's what friendship is, and whether he admitted it or not, that's what Kyungsoo and Chanyeol had between them now.
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A/N: Story is now complete, thank you for reading and I hope you all enjoyed! Shout out to Chanyeols_baldspot, I loved reading your comments ^_^