Token

Chap 1: connection

Jimin stretched his aching muscles, hearing a few satisfying cracks as he did. He rubs his tired eyes, they stung as they begged for sleep. The office was deadly quiet, every sane person far gone, Jimin left alone. He was finishing up his latest article. Criminals of death row it was called. He'd interviewed men on death row in the USA, along with families of criminals who received it. It was his first headline case, first one he did solo.

He was allowed to travel to America for his research. He meet several disturbing men he knew would haunt him for the rest of his life, though he did find it fascinating what he found, what they talked about. He asked them all if they were afraid, and many of them said death didn't scare them, merely excited them to see what was next. This, Jimin found intriguing, curious as to what was meant by this. He also found it interesting the various reasons people were sentenced this severely. The mind of criminals, more specifically sociopaths, psychopaths fascinated him. Wanted to know what it took to be one, what made their brains tick. What processes them to kill, to hurt people, made them capable of it.

Prior to this article he had done one on juvenile kids in the U.K. Him being born and breed in London he wanted to discover why so many kids turned to gangs. Many of his classmates had joined gangs, disappearing from school to be later found either killed in a gang fight or sent to prison.

"Aghhh! Come on Jimin, stay awake just a little longer." Jimin huffs out in tiredness, head falling limply forward.

He was struggling to find an ending, didn't know what to put for his final words. His small fingers tapped on the desk while he started to overthink.

"Breaking news."

The sound of the flat screen which was permanently on in the officer blasted, startling him. He glances to the tv, seeing in bold hotel death in Toronto. He quickly turns up the tv, wanting to find out more.

"The body of a well known business man was found in his hotel room. It is yet to be confirmed how he died, but the police suspect foul play. It is to be believed that it was a robbery gone wrong. They haven't expelled any details yet as to what or if anything has been taken. What they do know is it appears the victims passport has gone missing."

Jimin frowns, having recognised something similar happening a few weeks back but in Tokyo. Could have sworn that persons passport went missing too. He remembers because he found it odd. It was a women who had been discovered in the bathtub of her hotel. She had been drowned in her own bath, yet nothing had been taken expect her passport. Jimin jots down what he could get from the news report, wanting to delve deeper into the story. Jimin searches up deaths in Tokyo, hoping to find the one he's looking for. After narrowing down the search by being more descriptive, he finds it. It was exactly three weeks ago. She had been flying there for a business trip, something to do with her company getting involved with a new shareholder. She was killed on her first night there, arriving in the morning.

"Huh? That's weird, that can't just be a coincidence. Two deaths in hotels with both missing their passports." Jimin was able to notice things like this, it being part of his job to find loopholes, errors in people stories to exploit for media.

"Listen to me Tae, I'm telling you there's a connection between these two cases." Jimin sat at the detectives desk, they had been some what friends for years, both helping each other out professionally from time to time.

"Jimin, they are on the opposite sides of the world. How could they be connected, plus, the mo is different for both of them. She was drowned while he was strangled." Tae takes in a deep breath, Jimin was always barging into his office with another theory or looking for information to use for his latest article.

"But both passports were missing, that has to be something at least!" Jimin argues, not understanding how he couldn't see what he saw.

"They were both visiting, I'm sure whoever killed them probably were going to use it to sell fake identities. There's a big market for that now Jimin, I'm sure it's pure coincidence." Tae tried convincing him, not in the mood right now to deal with him as he had a pile of cases that needed doing.

"Coincidence? I thought cops didn't believe in it. There has to be something in this Tae, why don't you try talking to the police in Toronto." Jimin held strong, determined to push his theory on.

"Jimin it's not my case, hell it's not even in the UK! It's not my jurisdiction. I only do London crimes Jimin, and I get enough of those as it is." Tae rubs his temple, exhausted from the draining shift he's having.

"So it doesn't matter cause it's not happening here? Seriously." Jimin scoffs, he was sick of cops always doing this, only caring when it affected them.

"Exactly. If I cared about every crime that happened in the world Jimin I wouldn't get anywhere. I can only focus on so many cases. And London isn't exactly the safest place. Do you know how many stabbings I have already and it's only fucking Wednesday. I can't deal with your shit to right now Jimin." Tae groans at him, staring down at the huge pile of files.

"Fine, I'm sorry I bothered you. Next time I'll just keep my thoughts to myself." Jimin gets up, grabbing his notebook he brought with him to show Tae.

"Jimin I didn't-." Tae tried speaking but Jimin ignored him, walking out the room slamming the door behind.

Jimin walked out into the busy street of London, busses, cars, people passing him without a single care. No one was affected, curious about the world around them. Jimin never understood that, how people could go about their day not noticing the world. He supposed that's why he got into journalism, wanted to see the world for what it really was, educate people to the harsh truths of reality. He knew in some way Tae was right, why would he care when it was happening on the other side of the world. You couldn't safe everyone. But Jimin also knew there was something there, two deaths both in hotels both with passports missing. He didn't care if he sounded delusional, if it was far fetched. He decided right there he was going to pursue it. Going to find it if the deaths were connected, if what he thought was true. There was a killer out there, a killer that didn't confine to one place. If Jimin was right, no one in the world was safe.

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Honestly what am I like??? Another one!!! I truly must be insane🤪 well you angels wanted another crime book so here it is. JIKOOK still going strong