Mission J

I was able to make it back to the agency garage in about ten minutes on foot. Granted, my pace may have been faster than an average walking pace and I took a few shortcuts but I really was no fan of wasting time that I didn’t have to begin with.

The elevator let out a sharp ding! and opened, opening up to the Lower Level of the garage. I fished the car keys out of my pocket as I walked out and headed to my car.
The garage was probably secure enough but I didn’t want to risk any information I held to be tied back to Seo or the agency. I was hired for discretionary circumstances, after all. They must want me to keep their hands clean. So a change in location was a must.

The car chirped sharply in response when I pushed the button on the remote to unlock the door. I rounded around to the driver’s side, opened the door and slid in behind the wheel.
The moment the door slammed shut, a comfortable closed silence surrounded me, allowing me to think in peace.

Even though I was relocating, it was best to stay within the city borders and find an open place that will give me both space and privacy to work. The waterside walk Detective Paek took me to would work fine. I could get there with a car in no time.

Without wasting another moment, I buckled up and shoved the key into the ignition. The Lamborghini Gallardo Nera roared to life as I pulled out of the lot and sped out of the garage.



The traffic on the way was mercifully minimal, allowing me to retrace my routes and get back to the walk smoothly. The moment the car came to a stop I checked the time. It was only about twenty-five minutes since I left the café. That guy Yi Jung must still be on the way to the girl’s place.

I unclipped my seatbelt and reached over to the glove compartment. Only a few standard things were in the small storage place, a map, car registration, a pen and other ordinary items one may find in a glove compartment. I pushed past the contents and felt around the back. My fingers caught the tab on the top edge and pulled it forward. The back plate flipped forward and opened up the hidden compartment, revealing a small protective carrier case.

I set my phone aside on the dashboard and pulled out the case onto the passenger seat. I pressed in the number code on the lock and threw the case open.
The contents consisting of my laptop and attachments sat securely in the shock absorbent foam, ready to be put to use.
My mind went to autopilot as I started the set up routine. I let the laptop sit in the case, opening it and started it up. The phone was plugged in with a USB connector, along with a custom designed hot-spot device and headphones. The latter I unraveled and fitted over my ears. Set-up: done in less than three minutes. It was time to work.

Automatically, the laptop opened a number of spreads, displaying all of the downloaded matter on my phone onto the screen. A map of the city opened, and my eyes zoned in on the red dot marked on the screen.

“Hello again, Yi Jung-ssi.” I muttered to myself.

The dot was solid, not blinking, signaling that the tag was currently stationary. I hit in a three-key code and a digital audio display popped up on the screen. New sounds flooded into my ears in a jumbled noise of nonsense.
I closed my eyes and focused.

Rustling. The loudest sound was this rustling sound of fabric rubbing against the phone. Not surprising, he must have his phone in his pocket or something. I adjusted the filters and rearranged the volumes.
He was in a busy place; I could hear a number of people walking in the background. But the map indicated that he was standing still…
Suddenly, there was a deep rumbling sound of an engine approaching followed by a high screeching sound of brakes and a slow deflating hiss. Then the rustling of fabric grew louder, lasting about a little less than a minute before the rumbling resumed.
A bus. He’s getting on a bus.

I opened my eyes and looked back over the map on the monitor. Sure enough, the red dot was now blinking, and it was now starting to move west.
Yi Jung was on his way.

I closed out of the audio display and turned my attention to the other files open on the screen. Most of these weren’t useful at the moment; phonebook, camera gallery, emails and texts--- everything I had copied and downloaded onto my phone was now all in a folder on my laptop. Yi Jung’s life was practically displayed in neat and organized files on the screen, for me to read and dig through. Maybe I can find something more about the coworker Ga Eul.

I typed in the girl’s name and hit enter.
The computer filtered the files through the search and a condensed file and an activity log came up.



There was only one contact under that first name, and it was a lengthy log. A quick glance told me they frequently talked on the phone, texts were exchanged regularly. They were close friends, even outside of work.

I had no interest in violating their privacy by reading any of their texts. I was getting a lot of information on this girl already and I hadn’t even started digging. I had barely scratched the surface of the piles of info I had gotten from this guy’s phone. I skimmed through the picture gallery and the rest of the filtered log. She just celebrated her twentieth birthday last month, and from the looks of it, started working at the café a little over a year ago. And up until today, she was always punctual to her job.
This was a lot of information from one phone, but at this point in time and situation that was the extent of its usefulness. It didn’t give me anything I could use to help determine if Ga Eul was alright, which I wasn’t expecting in the first place. I had her cellphone number, but if she doesn’t pick up the call I couldn’t make a trace, not with the equipment I had on hand. Ultimately all I had here was half the record; only Yi Jung’s side of the exchange. It wasn’t going to help me track the events timeline on the girl any further. All I could do now was wait and see what Yi Jung found.

I sighed in frustration and sat back in my seat. I wish I could do this more hands on and go to the girl myself. But this was police business, and if it was related to the stalker I couldn’t risk being seen there by the slim chance that the stalker was still hanging around the girl’s place. That would make the whole already difficult job with Superstar that much more complicated.
More complications…who needed that?

An alerting beep rang in my ear, drawing my attention back to the map.

The red dot was solid once again. It pulsed steadily, tracing the tag in its last spot of its recorded movement. Then another beep sounded and the dot turned green.
Yi Jung was now on foot.
I glanced at the time and calculated the elapsed time briefly in my head.
It was currently 3:09 PM, roughly thirty minutes since I first picked up Yi Jung’s trace. And it was fifty-one minutes since I left the café.
I hit the enter key twice, and the map zoomed in on the dot. The map blurred momentarily as it readjusted its focus, zooming in on the tag. The map cleared, showing a zoomed in map layout of the streets and buildings. Yi Jung was about a ten minute walk from the nearest apartment complex, where I was guessing Ga Eul lived.

I hit the three key code again, pulling back up the digital audio display.
Yi Jung wasn’t wasting any time; his steps were at a quick trotting tempo of a slight jog. I could hear both his footfalls against the concrete and his ragged breathing.
It didn’t take the predicted ten minutes for him to get to the apartment as I heard the sound of sliding doors and the bing of an elevator only four minutes later. I listened intently, anxiously waiting to know.
There were a few shuffling sounds as the elevator slowly climbed the floors to whatever floor Yi Jung was heading to.
Finally, I heard the ding and the trembling of the door sliding open.

A pop-up alert came on the screen then with an alerting sound.



He was calling her again.

The phone rang the standard amount of times before there was a click on the other end. I found myself holding my breath in anticipation despite myself. A cheery and gentle voice answered.



Voicemail. A happy tone that felt like it was an insult. I heard Yi Jung sigh shakily into the phone, his breath scratching in my ear.
“Ya, Ga Eul. You’re starting to scare me. Just answer the phone already.” he begged. “Just let me know you’re okay.”



I continued to listen tensely. His steps slowed but rang loud tauntingly. It was a few moments before I heard new sounds through the phone.



“Ya! Ga Eul! It’s Yi Jung. Open up!” I heard him calling.
He knocked on Ga Eul’s apartment doot again, clearly impatient.
“Ga Eul!” he said, raising his voice angrily.
He swore under his breath, and I heard more shuffling.

There was clear clicking of the phone’s buttons being pressed at a furious pace. And once again Yi Jung’s breathing was in my ear.
The next thing I heard sank a heavy weight into the pit of my stomach.

From somewhere further away in the background came a bright tune of a happy ringtone. I could even hear the lyrics of the song.



Half a second after the song started, an alerting beep rang from my laptop.



“Ga Eul?” Yi Jung murmured, his tone hushed.

Shuffling of delayed steps reached the phone and the ringtone grew louder as it continued to sing cheerfully.



The ringtone was practically singing in my ear now, clear as day. He must be standing right over it now…

A strangled gasp from Yi Jung broke through the tense quiet and there was a clumsy sound of stumbling. Did he fall?
The next thing I know, my laptop practically started to sing with a chorus of alarms.



I sighed, the development sending a sinking feeling heavy in my chest. My only consolation: it didn’t seem like he found a body.
I clicked on the outgoing call to listen in, hoping to hear exactly what he found to cause alarm.

It took long four rings before the call was picked up.
“Yeboseyo?” a tired, somewhat irritable voice replied.

I frowned. That was most certainly not Detective Paek’s voice.
Yi Jung also seemed to pick up on the not-so-friendly tone.
“Uh, yes. I--- I need to speak to Paek-ssi.” he said in a shaky voice.

“Eh? Paek? What do you want him for?” this guy continued. “Why are you calling his cell?”

Here’s a better question: Why are you the one answering his cell phone?

Yi Jung answered, sounding unsure.
“I…I need help. My friend…I think she’s in trouble. I’m at her apartment and---”

“Wait a minute, how’d you get this number?” the strange guy answered.

“I—I got it from this girl. She said she was friends with Paek-ssi and he can help---”

The man on the other end scoffed and sighed tiredly. He scoffed.
“Listen kid, this is a stupid prank to pull. Paek is a detective with the city. We can arrest you for pulling a stunt like this.”

“I know he’s a detective! I was told this and I need his help! This isn’t a prank!” Yi Jung yelled, losing his shaky composure. “I need to talk to Paek-ssi now!”

“I’m his partner, Detective Choi. You better watch your tone, brat.” he grouched. “We can track your call to exactly where you are and go arrest you right now.”

“I told you, I’m at my friend’s apartment building! You should come, do you want the address?” Yi Jung snapped back.

I heard Choi scoff again, sounding way too superior for his own good.
“Kid, playtime is over. We’re too busy to deal with immature punks like you. Better fix that humor of yours cuz it’s going to get your punk ass in trouble. Or worse---killed.”

Then there was silence. A beep sounded from my laptop.

“That son of a bitch,” I murmured, stunned in disbelief.
He hung up on us…that rat bastard.

“Yeboseyo? Detective! Yeboseyo?” Yi Jung yelled.
He swore loudly and closed his phone with a forceful snap that made me wince. But I felt his anger as well.

Enough of this lay-low approach. No more waiting. Now I had all this pent-up aggression, frustration and anger to deal with. It was about time for me to retaliate.

I pulled off the headset and grabbed my phone. Pulling up Yi Jung’s number on the laptop, I hit the enter key to make the call.



I inhaled and gathered myself into a calm composure as the phone rang before putting the phone to my ear.

“Yeboseyo?” Yi Jung answered, sounding confused and wary.

“Yi Jung-ssi,” I said.

He immediately recognized my voice.
“You…You’re the girl---”

“Yes, listen. Now isn’t the time to explain.” I said, cutting him off. “I understand you made the call to Paek-ssi but he didn’t pick up.”
A shocked silence answered me as I had seen coming.
“I will explain later, I promise.” I said. “But let’s take care of you first. Give me a few minutes to get you help, can you stay where you are?”

“Uh, I…ah…” Yi Jung stammered. I heard him breathe in shakily. “Yea, I will stay.”

“Good. This won’t take long.” I reassured him. I was about to hang up when he started talking again.

“Ga Eul…she’s in trouble, isn’t she? I found her phone, and there’s a---I found…I think it’s---”

“Yi Jung-ssi, it’s best not to say anything right now, especially not to me.” I said, cutting him off again. “Please, try to calm down for the time being. Arrasso-yo?”

“…alright.” he said shakily.

“Alright.” I said. “Expect a call in a few minutes.”

I hung up and set my phone aside. Without a pause, I grabbed my laptop, set it on my lap and got to work.