A local thief and outcasted police detective, Park Seonghwa, become unlikely partners in crime to solve a string of murders.
START: 3.31.2020
FINISH: 2.20.2021
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record 16...AUGUST 2
5:01 PM
SEONGHWA SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED BY LEVI AT THIS POINT, but somehow he always ends up dumbfounded in her presence. How can one single person be so brash and bothersome? After a few long, arduous days of trying to explain to a frustrated Levi how to throw a simple punch–it would be easier to teach a cat how to speak–they had come to a mutual agreement to give it a rest for the day, to calm down. So he is more than a little perplexed and agitated by her sudden arrival on his doorstep.
He does not have to peek out of the peephole to know she is standing outside, weight shifted on one foot as she waits. Levi is the only one that beats at his door like a crazed maniac, like all of the gold in the world is hiding on the other side.
She smoothes the wrinkles from her plain white t-shirt, looking up at him with a crooked smile as the door swings open with a shrill creak.
"Hello officer," she greets him casually, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jean shorts as if she was not just pounding at his door seconds ago. If she notices his heated sigh, she gives it no reaction. "I, the one and only Levi McKinney, have come to be your personal chauffeur for the day."
She lifts her chin toward his driveway where a scratched, obnoxiously red scooter waits on the gravel. It matches the neckline of her shirt and the fire hydrant at the end of the street. And the stop sign. And probably the flames of the underworld too.
"What the hell is that?" he squints at the gaudy vehicle through the glare of the sun, stepping out onto the porch and closing the door behind him.
"You've never seen a scooter before? You know–" she waves her hands wildly, gesturing toward it. "A moped?"
"That's not what I–" he stifles his argument before it can fully form, knowing it would lead nowhere. Talking to Levi can be like talking to the unruly waves of the ocean and expecting them to listen and obey. The words die on his tongue. "Why is it in my driveway?"
"Because I parked it there," she explains, a wry grin putting a twinkle in her eyes. She gets joy from prodding at him with jokes, pushing his buttons. This much Seonghwa is aware of, but he is unsure if it is just her personality or if she is seeking a reaction from of him.
If the case is the latter, she is succeeding. Irritation makes his blood run hot. He had just gotten off of the phone with Hongjoong's mother earlier. His friend is doing well–as well as he can do from a hospital bed anyway–but that does nothing to soothe his guilty conscious, to alleviate him from the regret of having been part of the reason he is there to begin with.
"Well take it back to wherever you got it from and go home," he grumbles, spinning on his heel to go back inside.
Thoughtlessly, she reaches out to stop him, clutching onto the hem of his shirt with her fingers. He stares blankly at her hand and then his eyes slowly drift to her face, her eyes wide and jaw slack.
