Taeyeon rushed out of the elevator to see Sooyoung and Yoona talking in hushed voices near the end of the corridor. She immediately approached them and managed to hear Sooyoung raising her voice.
"No, Yoong. It's because I refused to go with him!"
"It's not, Unnie," said Yoona as she patted Sooyoung's shoulder.
"What's going on?" Taeyeon asked, stopping next to the two tall officers.
"Sooyoung unnie here has been blaming herself all night for what happened to Jongin," explained Yoona.
Sooyoung shook her head, shrugged Yoona's hand off her shoulder and walked away.
"Let her be." Taeyeon grabbed Yoona's arm when the latter was about to go after Sooyoung. "What happened? How bad is it?"
"It's not that bad, luckily. Jongin's shadowing officer stepped in just in time. He got a few bruises and dislocated his shoulder from being shoved against the wall too hard, but that's pretty much it." Yoona then exhaled. "But Sooyoung unnie feels responsible."
"Wouldn't you be too if you were in her shoes?"
"But it's not her fault!"
"She'll get over it. We all do. I've felt that way at least a thousand times. Each time one of you got shot or hit or nearly blown to pieces," Taeyeon said, wincing at the memory of how she almost lost the people she cared about. "But unfortunately, it's occupational hazard. Don't worry about her. Let her calm down and I'll try to talk to her later. Can we see him now?"
"Sure. The others are in there too." Yoona started walking down a few room doors from where they were standing and pushed a door to her left.
Taeyeon walked in to see Joonmyun, Juhyun and Yuri gathered around Jongin's bed.
"Hi, Noona," greeted Jongin with a smile when he saw Taeyeon appearing from behind Yoona. "Sorry to have woken you up at this hour."
"No need to apologize. Fany couldn't come, unfortunately. She's looking after Jiyoon. She sends you her 'get well soon' wishes and scolding for not being careful."
"Is that last one really from her or from you, Noona?" asked Jongin teasingly.
"Scare me like this again and you're on desk duty for the rest of the year," threatened Taeyeon, making Jongin laugh.
"No more sitting! My butt is still recovering from all the hours of sitting I've done today," protested the injured assistant inspector. "Which reminds me, we found out a lot in Suncheon, Noona. Apparently, the doctor used to go hiking with his friends and friends of those friends. Seungjin was one of them, I think, although he denied knowing him. And that nurse, Jo Chadol, was disowned by his family because of what he had done. He has a brother, Jo Himchan, who's-..."
"Stop. Sooyoung can tell us all about it tomorrow. You rest. Now." Taeyeon lifted her hand, stopping Jongin's eager story.
"B-but... we might even find a possible DNA match for Seungjin!" said Jongin excitedly before grimacing when he accidentally moved the one arm wrapped in a sling.
"What?" Taeyeon's eyes widened. "How is that even possible? I thought he was cremated?" She looked around the room, at her team members who shrugged or shook their heads, until her sight landed on Yoona who didn't react at all. "You know something."
"Sooyoung unnie hasn't had the chance to brief me completely," replied Yoona coolly. "I was planning to let her and Jongin brief all of us first thing tomorrow morning. It's still not proof, Unnie. The test results from the Suncheon police hasn't even arrived. We still have nothing, technically speaking."
