———
"Good morning."
Tiffany heard the voice and lifted her head to see Joonmyun taking a seat at his desk. "Morning. What are you doing here?"
"Err... working?"
"But you spent the night at the hospital. Aren't you exhausted?"
"A little, but it's nothing new. Besides, Jongin kept me company for a bit and I managed to sleep just fine after that," answered Joonmyun with a smile. He then noticed the quiet work area. "Where's everyone?"
"Yoona's in her office. Taeyeon and Yuri went to the market, retracing Chanyeol's steps. His rookie fan came by, though."
"Oh really? What did she say?"
"She was looking for her Chanyeol oppa and had a lunch box in her hand, as usual." Tiffany grinned.
"Aw. Too bad her oppa's only going to be eating hospital food for now."
"How is he doing anyway?"
"He's okay. The doctor said he's recovering just fine. All he needs is a few days of total rest. And right after the doctor left, he tried sneaking out of bed, stumbling like a drunk, wanting to follow me to work."
"Like team leader, like a team member, huh?"
"I guess Taeyeon noona's stubbornness is kinda infectious."
"Speaking out of the experience, Joonmyun?"
"You should know, Noona."
"I do. Unfortunately."
They smiled knowingly.
"Any updates?" Joonmyun asked.
"Juhyun found some stuff but they're all pretty circumstantial, I'm afraid." Tiffany then proceeded to update Joonmyun on Juhyun's findings regarding Chanyeol's attacker.
"I see. So we have no choice but to wait?"
"I'm afraid so. What else did you guys manage to find last night?"
"When I left, they were still doing background checks on every staff involved like Taeyeon noona and Yoona noona asked. But there's nothing suspicious so far." Joonmyun switched on his computer. "Let me see whether Jongin or Sooyoung noona has managed to find anything else."
"Did you manage to talk to Chanyeol?"
Joonmyun shook his head. "Not really. He was still pretty out of it. He said to check his notes that were taken along with his clothes and told me a bit about his talk with that nurse's family. I'll go ask Juhyun for the notebook. Be right back." He stood up from his chair and left.
—-
The two officers finally reached the alley after talking to the vendors and other people they met along the way. None seemed willing to share much and those who did, unfortunately, didn't have anything valuable to tell. The general consensus was that it was just another one of the local thugs' doings.
"This is messy. No wonder they couldn't find much evidence related to the attack. How can anyone get anything from this?" Yuri said, scrunching her nose in disgust.
Taeyeon didn't reply. She was quietly scrutinizing the alley with her small flashlight aimed at the dirty walls and corners.
Yuri went ahead, walking towards the exact spot where Chanyeol was found unconscious. "Even the signs of struggle have faded. And it's only been a day," she said as she squatted down, observing the ground and some broken crates nearby.
