House of Cards ||Vminkook

Chapter 22: Mad Men

For several days now Namjoon had found that his concentration really wasn't as good as it usually was. It actually wasn't that much of a surprise when he thought about it. After everything that had happened last week it was no wonder why his mind kept wandering away on him. But it wasn't exactly helpful nor productive that he kept finding himself staring at his screen or a file and having no recollection of what he had just read a minute ago.

Namjoon sighed and pushed his chair out ever so slightly. He ran his eyes over the office to see that everyone was present save for Daesu. He was pretty certain that he had heard the man saying something about going to check on another department, but he didn't have a clue what one. It was presumably something to do with homicide considering the events of the last two weeks. A quick glance over at Hoseok showed him that he was in the act of writing something up, pen in hand scrawling all over the sheet of paper and head held low. He was clearly concentrating and yet he found that he just couldn't.

It was hard to concentrate on something that wasn't Taehyung.

"More homicides," Daesu announced as he stepped into the office, a file in hand that he was already in the act of opening up. His voice caught him by surprise and so Namjoon turned his head to track him as he crossed the room. The photographs would go all over his desk of course, and then be transferred to the board as soon as they had all studied them. "Haedogje Pa is going through a rough patch, huh?"

"What's that make it now?" Hoseok asked no one in particular, just hoping for an answer.

"Twenty-one confirmed deaths," Namjoon replied as he shifted to sit back in his chair. "Probably a dozen more unconfirmed today or more. That's a little more significant than a rough patch, Oh."

"I'd say," Daesu agreed as he dropped the pile of photographs onto the desk. "I was around for the original ascension of Jeon and I thought that that was bad. This right now, it's making the slaughter back then look like a slight disagreement at a family dinner."

Namjoon might have not been around for when Jeon had ascended the throne, having been nothing more than a baby of two years of age, but he had heard stories; had read the files. He could recall a phrase being used to describe the upheaval that had occurred, something akin to "the streets running red with blood" in multiple districts over nearly a whole year of conflict and purges. But Daesu was right. This was something else, something much bigger. Namjoon thought that the phrase that would be used to describe this conflict would be sure to mention the gutters being filled with corpses all over the capital before the infighting was solved and peace restored once more.

"Sounds like The Boy's head is going to roll," Youngjae said as he shifted in his chair to look at Daesu. Namjoon heard something in his tone that he thought sounded much too pleased by this fact, something that he didn't like at all but chose to ignore as he got out of his seat.

"Any clue about who it is?" he asked as moved over to Daesu's desk to check the photographs out. Across the office came the sound of the other chairs being pushed out, wheels squeaking against the linoleum.

"From what I can tell, I assume that it's Kim sympathisers. The Boy did go on a preacher's rant about wiping them all off the face of the earth by all accounts," Daesu explained. "Happened in Jung-gu, that district is known as Kim Jintae territory because he was born there. Naturally I assume it's also Kim Jinwoo territory now too."

"Don't get much trouble there," Sungah added as she stopped beside the desk, eyes quickly checking over the crime scene photographs. "You could be right about it being sympathisers. I'll contact Jung-gu's department; try and set up a connection with them in regards to the case, try and get more information from them just like we did with the Incheon homicides." She turned on her heel to cross the office again, clearly more interested in finding out facts than studying photographs.