BTS Kidnapped

Part Fifty-Six

Over the next few days Inspector Kwon backed up to the beginning of the investigation, gathering all of the evidence that had been collected and reviewing each piece one at a time to try and find anything anyone had missed. Starting from the kidnapping and moving forward, the first piece of evidence he decided to scrutinize was the video that had been broadcast, supposedly confirming the deaths of Bangtan Sonyeondan. After watching it several times, Inspector Kwon commissioned copies which he sent to leading experts in the fields of movies, makeup, and autopsy, even slipping a copy to a contact he had that worked in shadier employment than most.

Waiting several days, he was more than disappointed when none of his contacts had been able to come to a unanimous agreement. Some had said that the boys were without a question deceased while others had been convinced that the video was a farce.

Re-reading the initial interviews of the staff at BigHit, Danny made several notes, remembering that he had meant to question the managers that had been with BTS that night, also making a note to question the staff at the studio. Yet another brick wall was met when he realized the only people who had been there were BTS and their two manager-nims. From what he could tell Bangtan Sonyeondan had been working on a completely self-produced album to release for their fans.

As Christmas quickly approached, Inspector Kwon felt an overwhelming pressure to find closure for the families, yet he knew he was no closer to the truth than when he had started several weeks before. Obstacle after obstacle kept presenting themselves and as he sat at his desk late one night, he wondered if he would ever have the answers he so desperately needed. As he went about finding the BigHit staff, he realized that as their jobs had ended, they had scattered to the wind. One of the manager-nims had moved to a different province to care for his aging parents and the other had since passed away from an apparent suicide which had been attributed to the loss of his job. Several of the stylists were now employed with other agencies or local salons but due to the hectic holiday and award show season, none of them were available to come in for questioning until after the new-year.

Going over the files of the stylists who worked closely with Bangtan Sonyeondan, something caught Danny's eyes. One of the senior stylists had been having severe money problems right before the kidnapping, yet now the woman's debts were clear. She was now working in one of the high-end salons in Gangnam and had never been questioned. This was a huge red flag in Danny's opinion and it frustrated him that he was finding so many open holes in this investigation.

Knowing that his superiors would reprimand him for what they saw as a waste of department resources, Danny had the woman brought in.

He now sat across from a woman who was clearly nervous.

"Ms. Ha? I am Inspector Danny Kwon and I have a few questions for you. I'm sorry we had to pull you away from your new job. But you were one of Bangtan Sonyeondan's senior stylists and yet you were not questioned after the kidnapping."

Danny leaned back in his seat giving the woman a hard stare.

"I am curious as to why you think that might be?"

The woman sat in her chair with her back straight, hands clasped in her lap as she let the question float in the air between them. Her face was impassive, moderately made-up, relatively casual in the way that the K-pop stylists he'd met during the investigation seemed to be. Danny didn't know if it was to minimize them, draw less attention to their features so that the idols they cared for didn't look, didn't form bonds, didn't grow attached, though that seemed the most likely reason. Without much contact with the outside world, it could be easy to mistake a hand gently carding through hair to create texture for a touch of endearment, especially if the hand belonged to a pretty woman. Still, Soobin was attractive in her reserve. And there was something else in her face, her posture, her silence that gave him pause - a stoicism that begged definition.