the naked face || bts

thirteen

Twenty minutes later Yoongi unlocked his office door to admit Jimin and Lieutenant Jungkook. Jimin's eyes were red and teary. His voice was hoarse. Yoongi had a momentary pang at having dragged him out of a sick-bed. Jungkook's greeting was a curt, unfriendly nod.

'I told Lieutenant Jungkook about the phone call from Kim Seokjin,' Jimin said.

'Yeah. Let's find out what the hell this is all about,' Jungkook said sourly.

Five minutes later they were in an unmarked police car speeding downtown. Jimin was at the wheel. The light snowfall had stopped and the gruel-thin rays of the late afternoon sun had surrendered to the oppressive cover of storm clouds sweeping across the Seoul sky. There was a loud clap of thunder in the distance and then a bright, jagged sword of lightning. Drops of rain began to spatter the windscreen. As the car continued downtown, tall, soaring skyscrapers gave way to small, grimy tenements huddled together as if for comfort against the biting cold. The car turned, going west towards the Han River. They moved into a land of junkyards and fix-it shops and dingy bars, then past that to blocks of garages, trucking yards, and freight companies. As the car neared the comer, Jungkook directed Jimin to pull over to the curb. 'We'll get out here.' Jungkook turned to Yoongi. 'Did Seokjin say whether anyone would be with him?'

'No.'

Jungkook unbuttoned his overcoat and transferred his service revolver from his holster to his overcoat pocket. Jimin followed suit. 'Stay behind us,' Jungkook ordered Yoongi. The three men started walking, ducking their heads against the wind-lashed rain. Halfway down the block, they came to a dilapidated-looking building with a faded sign above the door that read: FIVE STAR MEAT PACKING COMPANY. There were no cars or trucks or lights, no sign of life. The two detectives walked up to the door, one on either side. Jungkook tested the door. It was locked. He looked around, but could see no bell. They listened. Silence, except for the sound of the rain.
'It looks closed,' Jimin said.

'It probably is,' Jungkook replied. 'The Friday before Christmas- most companies are knocking off at noon.'

'There must be a loading entrance.' Yoongi followed the two detectives as they moved cautiously towards the end of the building, trying to avoid the puddles in their path. They came to a service alley, and looking down it, they could discern a loading platform with deserted trucks pulled up in front of it. There was no activity. They moved forward until they reached the platform.

'Okay,' Jungkook said to Yoongi. 'Call out.'

Yoongi hesitated, feeling unreasonably sad that he was betraying Seokjin. Then he lifted his voice. 'Seokjin!' The only response was the yowling of an angry tomcat disturbed in his search for dry shelter. 'Seokjin!'

There was a large wooden sliding door on top of the platform, used to move the deliveries from inside the warehouse to the area where the trucks were loaded. There were no steps leading onto the platform. Jungkook hoisted himself up, moving with surprising agility for such a large man. Jimin followed, then Yoongi. Jimin waited over to the sliding door and pushed against it. It was unlocked. The great door rolled open with a loud, high-pitched scream of protest. The tomcat answered hopefully, forgetting about shelter. Inside the warehouse it was pitch black.

'Turn on your phone, Jimin.' Jungkook said.

A glow of artificial light washed over them, rendering things in what seemed to be an enormous empty cavern somewhat visible. Cautiously they inched their way into the gloom. Yoongi called out again.

'Seokjin! It's Min Yoongi!'

There was no sound except for the creaking of the boards as the men moved across the room. Yoongi could hear Jungkook groping along the walls looking for the light switch. Yoongi kept moving forward, turning on his own phone flashlight. 'Seokjin!', he called. He heard Jimin's voice from across the room.

'Here's a switch.' There was a click. Nothing happened.

'The master switch must be off,' Jungkook said. Yoongi bumped against a wall. As he put his hands out to brace himself, his fingers closed over a doorlatch. He shoved the latch up and pulled. A massive door swung open and a blast of frigid air hit him.

'I've found a door,' he called out. He stepped over a sill and cautiously moved forward. He heard the door close behind him and his heart began to hammer. Impossibly, it was darker here than in the other room, as though he had stepped into a deeper blackness. 'Seokjin! Seokjin...' A thick, heavy silence. Seokjin had to be here somewhere. If he weren't, Yoongi knew what Jungkook would think. It would be the boy who cried wolf again. Yoongi took another step forward and suddenly felt cold flesh lick against his face. He jerked away in panic, feeling the hair on his neck rise. He became aware of the strong smell of blood and death surrounding him. There was an evil in the darkness around him, waiting to close in on him.

His scalp tingled with fear and his heart was beating so rapidly that it was difficult to breathe. With trembling fingers he turned his phone towards the ceiling. In its light he saw a huge bunch of mangled flesh up in front of his face, and it took a shocked second before he realized that he was looking at a slaughtered cow dangling from a meat hook. He had one brief glimpse of other animal carcasses hanging from hooks and the outline of a door in a far corner before his phone died. The door probably led to an office. Seokjin could be in there, waiting for him.

Yoongi moved farther into the interior of the inky black cavern towards the door. He felt the cold brush of dead animal flesh again. He quickly stepped away and kept walking cautiously towards the office door. 'Seokjin!' He wondered what was detaining Jimin and Jungkook, He moved past the slaughtered animals, feeling as though someone with a macabre sense of humor was playing a horrible, maniacal joke. But who and why were beyond his imagining. As he neared the door, he collided with another hanging carcass.

Yoongi stopped to get his bearings. He fumbled in his pockets and found a single match. Carefully, he lit it. In front of him, impaled on a meat hook and grinning obscenely, was the body of Kim Seokjin. The match went out.