On The Run - Sunki

Finished Hot Cocoa

"What?" answered Sunoo in shock. "How did he know I was in the hospital if it wasn't you? You're the only person I told."
"Do you think..." started Jungwon, unsure he should finish his sentence.
"He's spying on me?" asked Sunoo.

The two friends stayed in silence for a few minutes. It was a dangerous hypothesis and they shouldn't jump to conclusions without proof.

Sunoo drank his cocoa, enjoying the sweet taste on his lips. He needed to tell Jungwon everything.

"Remember I mentioned a woman?" he asked.
"The one in the tape? Yes" replied Jungwon.
"I think there's something going on with her" said Sunoo.
"Yes, you already told me that" answered Jungwon frowning.
"I mean" started Sunoo, pausing to choose his words. "Do you think she might be related to Niki?"
"What are you saying?" asked Jungwon.
"What if they're the bad guys and Niki covers for her in the police station?" said Sunoo, finally putting words on his worst fear.

Jungwon's jaw dropped. He looked shocked and confused.

"Just think about it" said Sunoo. "The same day Beomgyu falls into coma, someone new arrives in the office. Someone we never heard about that just magically happened to be free to change stations. We don't know anything about his past. At least, he's very secretive about it."
"Can't blame him for wanting to keep his life private" replied Jungwon.
"Okay, but even if we don't think about his personal secrets, there are other weird things. Like the fact that he didn't want to check on the woman, even though it was obviously someone we should try to find" continued Sunoo.

He stopped to catch his breath. Without noticing he had spoken without interruption.

"How about the things we can't explain?" asked Jungwon.
"Which ones?" replied Sunoo, overwhelmed by all the things he couldn't understand.
"First, the fact that there are no clues. Then the tv breaking down yesterday and magically working today. The weird lady that literally disappeared from sight on the recording?" explained Jungwon.
"I don't think Niki could be responsible for that though" added Sunoo. 

Jungwon frowned again.

"Do you think that Beomgyu being hospitalized has something to do with all this?" asked Jungwon, his voice trembling.
"How could it be related?" replied Sunoo.
"I don't know, but think about it" said Jungwon. "Beomgyu is a young, healthy young man, there is absolutely no reason for him just to get sick out of nowhere and fall into coma. Things happen for a reason, but there are none for him. The doctors told us that."

Sunoo could feel his brain working fast.

What if this is all a ruse? What if she's the vilain, she somehow poisoned Beomgyu so that I would be teamed up with Niki?

"Are you aware that if this is true, we're in the biggest mess I've ever heard of?" asked Sunoo, getting more serious.

"What should we do?" asked Jungwon.
"Were you the one calling the other police station to find a replacement for Beomgyu?" asked Sunoo.
"No, Chief Park took care of it" replied Jungwon.
"Okay, so first thing I'd do is calling Niki's previous station and ask to meet with one of his old colleagues. So that we can understand Niki's background better. With a little luck this is all wrong and Niki just is secretive about his past" explained Sunoo.

Please let it be that Niki is innocent.

"Want to call right now?" asked Jungwon.
"Okay" replied Sunoo.

Jungwon had a list of all the police stations and as they didn't know from which one Niki came, they tried calling them all. One by one, the stations explained they never had an Officer Nishimura working for them.

"This is the last number" said Jungwon. "It's got to be Niki's old station. There's no other option."

Sunoo started dialing the number. He had a bad feeling.

"Good afternoon, officer Kim speaking. I'm calling about one of you former officers that got transferred to my station this week" announced Sunoo.

Jungwon looked at his friend's face. He looked more puzzled than before.

"I see, thank you for your time, have a nice Sunday" said Sunoo, ending the phonecall.

"So?" asked Jungwon.
"Niki hasn't worked in any of these stations" replied Sunoo.

He had a headache. Things that seemed normal and trustworthy had been turned upside down.

"Who is he?" asked Sunoo.
"Someone we can't trust" replied Jungwon, with a firm voice.
"Do you think that not having found any clue is his fault?" asked Sunoo.
"Maybe" replied Jungwon. "We don't know that yet though. All we know is that he hasn't worked in any other police station here. Now if we assume he's working with that woman, well, I'd say everything is possible."

Sunoo was only listening with one ear. The rest of his brain was occupied with remembering everything about Niki.

"Do you think he flirted with me in order to keep a closer watch over me?" he finally asked, his heart breaking as he did so.

Jungwon looked at his friend and knew tears were on their way. Not only was Sunoo overwhelmed by the nature of his case, but on top of that they were suspecting his partner and he had just broken his own heart realizing that.

Jungwon got closer and hugged Sunoo, who let himself go.

"You were right. He wasn't gentle with me because he liked it. He did that because he had to" said Sunoo, sobbing heavily.

They stayed like that for a while. Jungwon knew that Sunoo evacuated his emotions by crying and that he needed to get it all out before being able to do anything else. Years of experience had taught Jungwon to show patience in those moments. He patted Sunoo's head until he felt his breathing getting back to normal.

Sunoo ended the hug and grabbed a tissue. Once he dried his face, he looked at Jungwon. His face had changed from sobbing crybaby to determined police officer.

"What's the plan now?" asked Jungwon.