Chapter Text
Hwang Hyunjin
Age 23 (4 months prior to present day)
No, it wasn’t the obnoxious, ear-splitting ringtone that woke him up. It wasn’t the endless sounds of car honks, engine revs, church bells, and police sirens upon the many other metropolitan sounds that woke him up. And it certainly wasn’t the petite figure shuffling beside him in the queen-sized hotel bed that woke him up. It was the throbbing, nauseating headache that forced his heavy eyelids to open.
A groan rumbled from deep within Hwang Hyunjin’s throat as he sat up and allowed his bloodshot eyes to adjust to the blinding sunlight that reached every corner of the unfamiliar hotel room. The raven-haired man allowed his brown and bloodshot eyes to scan the scene surrounding him.
Past the foot of the bed he was situated on was a black leather couch. The very couch that he and the stranger to his left had begun their night, shameless sounds pouring into each other’s mouths as their lips crashed together like restless ocean waves.
Beyond that couch was the TV that had been displaying a random show Hyunjin couldn’t care less about and emitting sounds into the atmosphere the night before. Sounds that were drowned out by the bodies that were united on the bed. Sounds of skin slapping, nearly pornographic moans, and breathy words that all amounted to meaningless nothings. Yet another meaningless attempt to chase the intense pleasure he once felt in the past, only to be underwhelmed yet again.
To the right of that TV was the kitchen, with a fridge that was home to nothing but fancy and overpriced hotel beverages and a countertop that was home to the car keys of the two individuals.
Hyunjin’s eyes fell upon the very bathroom where he had spent a large portion of his night vomiting his mistakes into the toilet and disregarding them one flush at a time. His knees had dug into the tiles of the bathroom floor as he gripped the toilet seat with his large and slender hands, anticipating another release. Anticipating a cure for the intense nausea that clouded his senses. A cure that never came.
At last, his eyes fell on the nightstand directly to his right. It was then that he finally noticed the blaring ringtone emitting from his phone. Appearing on the screen in bold letters was the name of the man himself, Kim Hongjoong.
Hyunjin’s eyes went wide as he slipped out from under the abundant layers of hotel sheets and nearly ripped the phone from the charger before pressing the answer button and settling the device between his ear and his shoulder.
“Mr. Kim, good morning!” Hyunjin chirped with fake enthusiasm as he bent down to retrieve the clothes that had been discarded on the floor the night before. “Wha-,”
“Hwang Hyunjin, I’ve been trying to reach you all fucking morning,” his boss spat on the other end of the line, startling the man as he fumbled with his belt. “Where the fuck are you?”
“I-,”
“You know what, forget it. We need you at the station ASAP, so get a move on. I want you here in ten, got it?”
“Got it,” Hyunjin barely breathed before the line disconnected abruptly.
“Jesus,” he cursed under his breath as he threw the booze-stained T-shirt that he had worn to the bar the night before over his disheveled black hair.
After quickly examining the room to ensure that he did in fact collect all his personal items, he turned on his heel and slipped out the hotel door, not sparing a second glance at the figure that was slowly stirring awake on the bed.
“Good morning, Mr. Hwang,” Jung Wooyoung chirped as Hyunjin swiftly entered the television station, no longer wearing the stained T-shirt he left the hotel in and instead wearing one of the professional button-ups he kept in his car in case of emergencies.
“Morning, Wooyoung,” Hyunjin smiled, quickly glancing at the reporter with full intention of looking away shortly after. However, the coffee cup that the man extended towards him grabbed his full attention.
“A cup of hot Americano for the road,” Wooyoung stated with a cheeky grin, causing Hyunjin to raise an eyebrow.
“An off-site trip?” The news anchor deadpanned, sucking his teeth before taking the cup from Wooyoung’s grasp and taking a sip.
“Guess someone’s too good for off-site trips, huh?”
“Last time I checked, that wasn’t in the job description,” Hyunjin huffed, taking another sip of his coffee before nearly choking on it in shock at the feeling of a hand aggressively grasping his shoulder.
“Glad you could finally join us, Prince,” Hongjoong said, suddenly appearing on the taller’s left and looking up at the raven-haired man with a smirk. “Come on, you’ve got a story to tell. Time to get your pretty face out on the street again.”
Hyunjin’s mouth gaped at the words. “But-,”
“Van’s out front. Makeup and wardrobe are ready for you.”
And with that, the producer turned on his heel and made his way towards the facilities before Hyunjin even had the chance to retort.
Once the bathroom door fully closed, Hyunjin peeled his eyes from that direction to glare at the reporter next to him. The man simply shrugged his shoulders before taking a sip of his own coffee.
“Lord knows what that guy wants you to report on,” he sighed. “But it couldn’t possibly be worse than the dead case I’ve got.”
Hyunjin snickered before running a hand through his shoulder-length hair and looking out the window at the black van parked on the curb directly out front. On the sliding door, which had been open to allow equipment handlers to load filming equipment into the vehicle, was the logo of the SKZ-TV television station.
“Got that right. We haven’t gotten a new lead on the Lee Corp. case in weeks.” Hyunjin agreed, directing his attention back to the reporter. “How it still makes it to air is a mystery to me.”
The older snickered at this and shrugged his shoulders. However, that snicker turned into a gasp as the reporter jumped at the vibration that emitted from the phone in his pocket rather suddenly.
“Speaking of which,” Wooyoung sighed upon pulling the device out of his pocket and observing the notification on the lock screen. “Duty calls. I must bid you farewell now, Prince.”
“Yeah, thanks for the coffee, man,” Hyunjin snickered. “Could use some more creamer, though.”
Wooyoung sucked his teeth and narrowed his eyes playfully.
“Shut up.”
After a subtle nod of their heads and a light fist bump, the two men parted ways to attend to their own business. It was the procedure in their relationship. The early bird bought the coffee that the two reporters sipped on while engaging in light conversation and gossip, their daily exchange always cut short by the calling of their never-ending tasks. That was the procedure that the two had become accustomed to after months of working together.
Wooyoung began working at SKZ-TV straight out of college approximately seven months prior. Four months before that, Hyunjin found himself parting ways with the very television company that he had been working for nearly a year and seeking refuge at SKZ-TV.
Hyunjin had known from a young age that his future belonged to the field of journalism. After falling in love with his father’s camera in grade school, he didn’t hesitate to enroll in journalism classes at his middle school and become an active member of the yearbook club, photographing school activities and contributing to the creative arrangement of the photos.
Outside of school, he and his father would often travel to national parks and eye-catching landmarks, taking photos of animals and breathtaking sceneries. His father would often give Hyunjin photography tips during their photography runs, resulting in constant improvement of the young man’s abilities
He had continued to take journalism classes in high school because at that point, photography defined who he was. However, what he didn’t expect was for his high school’s journalism curriculum to consist of not just standing behind the camera, but in front of it as well. Something that the boy had no experience in.
At first, he was rather nervous. His grade in his journalism class began to slip as soon as the reporting unit began. After all, Hyunjin would often find himself stuttering in front of the camera and struggling to maintain eye contact with the lens. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint why this was, but he assumed that he was just a bit camera shy.
That was definitely not the case.
After finishing the four-year journalism curriculum at his high school, Hyunjin had received enough constructive criticism and reporting tips to find himself not just being comfortable in front of the camera, but enjoying it as well.
Perhaps even more than photography itself.
Contrary to his mindset before entering high school, Hyunjin entered college unsure about his relationship with photography. He decided to major in journalism, allowing him time to collect his thoughts and properly decide which path he wanted to take. Photography or reporting?
At the end of the day, he ended up working as a photojournalist for a relatively small television company upon graduation. Hyunjin made peace with the fact that he wouldn’t be making much money starting out. After all, he didn’t have many options to begin with. However, he held out hope that one day, the television company he worked at would allow him to stand in front of the camera, even for a few seconds. But they denied this request, stating that Hyunjin’s photography skills were beyond exceptional and shouldn’t be put aside.
Oddly enough, Hyunjin wasn’t flattered by this compliment but rather angered by it. It was then that he realized that at some point, photography had become an obligation rather than an enjoyment in his life. Because photography had been his lifeline for as long as he could remember, it felt unnatural to do anything else. However, it also felt unnatural to be confined to the back of a camera. Almost as if he was wired to be in front of it this whole time. The conflict plagued his mind for months on end, resulting in the man eventually loathing his job and the way it sucked the spirit out of him day by day.
At last, after working for almost a year at the workplace that he despised, that bored him, that damn near made him sick, he finally did something to fulfill his true passion. He pulled the plug on his photography career, applied to SKZ-TV, and was offered a position as a reporter. A reporter!
Though it was a relatively small position, Hyunjin couldn’t have been happier. He finally understood where his future was destined to be his entire life.
Hyunjin would’ve never guessed that he would end up back in the mobile newsroom after his recent promotion to news anchor. After all, the position called for him to work at the studio and the studio alone. But here he was, back in the very seat that he sat in as a tense and horrified rookie reporter 11 months prior.
Only this time, he wasn’t travelling to the site of a popular music festival to interview some of the locals. He was travelling to what would be the first of many crime scenes linked to the “Miroh Murders” case, a case that would expand far beyond investigator’s expectations and a case that Hyunjin would find himself a bit too involved in.
-4 Months Later-
Seo Changbin
Age 25 (Present day)
She was seizing. She was seizing and he didn’t know what to do.
All he could do was scream as medical workers spilled into the room, pushing him out into the hallway before closing the door on his face and shutting the blinds. All he could do was stare at his reflection in the window of the door. His face was a deep shade of red. His eyes were bloodshot. Tears stained his cheeks like a river delta. The corners of his mouth were pulled downward, and his lips molded into a pained pout.
His lower lip quivered as he was pushed away yet again to allow the gurney transporting his convulsing sister to be wheeled out of the room by medical staff and down the hallway. His feet acted upon their own accord and followed the gurney, enclosing his fingers on the railing as soon as he caught up with it.
As he ran alongside the gurney, his eyes never strayed from his sister’s face. He observed every flutter of her eyelids. Every twitch of her lips. Her nose wrinkled and unwrinkled uncontrollably as she seemingly slipped in and out of consciousness. Her fingers spasmed against the sheets. Her limbs tensed and untensed again and again.
“Eclampsia,” she had muttered only hours before, her wrist shaking as she brought the spoon of pudding to her lips. “E-fucking-clampsia.”
Changbin held his head low as he sat in one of the available chairs in the hospital room, sighing before redirecting his eyes up towards his sister whose eyes were trained on the TV screen before her. The TV was displaying that same god forsaken TV show. She wasn’t sure exactly why her eyes remained glued to the pixels.
“What is that?” Changbin’s voice was monotone. “What did they say?”
“I-I’m not really sure. Something about high blood pressure and seizures,” she explained. “They’re going to monitor me for the rest of the pregnancy. Worst case scenario, they’ll have to do an emergency C-section.”
Changbin’s eyes widened.
“This early?”
Changbin’s sister sighed before peeling her eyes from the TV screen at last and staring down at the sheets covering her lap.
“Something about some sort of abruption,” she thought for a moment before continuing, “A placental abruption. Could harm the baby.”
“Fuck the baby,” Changbin ran a hand through his black hair decorated with green streaks as he refrained from raising his voice around his fragile sibling. “What about you?”
“I don’t know, Bin,” a tear escaped his sister’s eyes as she threw her head back against the headboard of the hospital bed, taking in a shaky breath. “I don’t fucking know.”
The room fell silent after that. And it was that same silence that filled the hospital waiting room on the surgical floor hours later.
Changbin’s ears had been buzzing ever since his sister was wheeled around the corner, disappearing from his sight completely. Leaving him alone with his racing mind. The mind that naturally gathered a list of the worst possible outcomes of the situation and replayed them in his brain over and over again.
Curse one of them for coming true.
“Mr. Seo,” the surgeon began. “There was a complication during the cesarean.”
Fuck you.
“I am very sorry.”
Damn. You.
“W-what, how did this happen?” Changbin croaked, trying his best to contain the sea of emotions, but failing to do so and allowing the dam to break as he let out a sob, “I d-don’t understand. What went wrong?”
“While in surgery, your sister went into cardiac arrest. Not much else can be said about the cause of death until an autopsy is performed but ultimately, we weren’t able to save her or the fetus. Once again, I am very sorry, sir.”
Only hours before, the man was gripping the warm hand of his sister as if it was his lifeline, dampening the sheets underneath him with tears.
“Who did this to you?”
“Bin-,”
“Who did this to you, dammit,” Changbin looked up at the woman with fire in his eyes. Fire that spread from the roots of his brain to the ball of his foot.
“Why do you care?”
Changbin inhaled deeply through his nose, closing his eyes and focusing on his rapidly beating heart. He fisted the sheets beneath his palm before allowing the words to roll off his tongue. The words laced with nothing but anger and truth.
“Because I’m gonna fucking kill him.”