LUMINESCENCE | K.NJ ✓

XVI - THE THINGS LEFT UNSAID

CHAPTER SIXTEEN—THE THINGS LEFT UNSAID

YOONGI HAD NEVER been present during an interrogation before. He was, after all, still a rookie officer by technical means.

There was always a first time for everything.

Granted, he wasn't in the interrogation room with Choi and the other detective participating in the questioning—he was standing outside the room, looking in through the one way window and listening through the speakers that projected the conversation happening inside. Hoseok had gone with Kirin in the ambulance, promising the frightened young girl that he would stay with her until her parents arrived at the hospital.

Yoongi knew that he probably should have gone with Kirin as well. It would have been the right thing to do—the selfless thing to do.

He couldn't help it though. There was something inside of him that wanted—needed to hear what the accused man inside that room had to say.

Perhaps he wanted to see if this really was the sick person that had taken the three missing girls. The one who was terrorizing innocent people with his unexplained actions—who would possibly try and take Yoongi's friend away from him.

Or maybe, Min Yoongi just wanted to feel useful for once.

No matter how hard he tried, he never seemed to be able to make a difference. He would work until he could hardly keep his eyes open, spend extra hours at home thinking, reading, learning how to do his job better.

He knew that he often came across as lazy or indifferent. He knew that people thought he didn't care.

Those assumptions couldn't have been farther from the truth.

So, instead of accompanying Hoseok and Kirin to the hospital, Yoongi had somehow managed to convince Choi to let him listen in on the initial questioning of Kobayashi Hiro—the boyfriend of Kim Mira.

The first girl who had gone missing.

In Yoongi's mind, things didn't add up. Especially not after he had seen the scattered fliers with the face of the suspect's missing girlfriend all over them. Why would the kidnapper be searching for someone he wanted to keep hidden? Why would he abduct his own lover?

And why would he show back up at the scene of his crime, only minutes after it occurred?

Despite his reservations and skepticism regarding the arrest of Hiro, Yoongi knew that in a case such as this one, it was imperative that they left no stone unturned, no box left unchecked. And with an eyewitness screaming at the mere sight of him, Hiro was definitely their first solid lead in the case.

"Kobayashi Hiro." The sound of detective Choi's voice broke through the tense silence that seemed to have settled across the entirety of the police department like fog.

The addressed man lifted his head and looked at Choi. Hiro's eyes were red and wide open, his fingers tapping repeatedly on the surface of the white table before him. The single fluorescent light that hung above them flickered every few seconds, mirroring the way that the suspect's gaze flicked back and forth between Choi, the other detective, and his hands.

He was nervous—but not in the way a guilty person would be. More than anything, Hiro simply looked frightened and confused. At least, that's what Yoongi thought.

But what did he know? He was just a rookie, after all.

"I'm sure you've figured out why you're here, Mr. Kobayashi," Choi continued.

Hiro swallowed. "Yes. You think I kidnapped my girlfriend."

"We more than think that," Choi said. "We have an eyewitness placing you at the scene of the crime."