“Give him time, won’t you? It’s not like you’re in a rush to give the position to her. She is still not fluent in her Korean language.”

Yoonseo sticks up for her son. It’s unacceptable for her that a mere child who came out of nowhere soon will take over her son's position as the CEO of the Yang’s Medical Safeguard company, especially when they have no blood relation. She worked hard for her son to finally get recognition from the grandfather to take over the position.

Of course, when she heard the news Evelyn got injured from the fight with her son Yoonseo felt amusingly happy. Even so she composed herself not to give away an amusing cast.

Evelyn smirks as her stepmother taunts her. Fast, she cruelly turned the table.

“Well mother, I myself am considered to be able to communicate very well with my subordinates regardless of the language barrier. But if a small pebble like this makes you doubt my effort, I would be glad to take another language lesson from now on. I guarantee I’m a fast learner.”

She puts on a business smile plus intimidating glare straight into. Flaunting fluent formal Korean language to that stenching wench.

Jiyeon stares at her unbelievably. She’d never talked to him in Korean since their first meeting. Even to the rest of family members. He, who was sitting next to Evelyn, whispered to her. “Why won’t you talk to me like that, huh?”

Ignoring him, she remains quiet and enjoys the dinner. He would usually won’t leave her alone once discovered an interesting thing about his little sister and pestered unfailingly. So this time, he must be also planning to make her speak in Korean when they talk to each other.

Everyone’s back to Seoul once the dinner is over, except Jiyeon and Evelyn choosed to stay, they need to have a serious talk about some matters. It’s a rare opportunity for them to meet up even though they live in the same apartment building.

“What is it?”

“I need your help. Can you come over to the company lab by Tuesday midnight? Go by yourself alone.”

“Why do you want me to sneak into your company at midnight?”

“I have a suspicion. There’s a strange addiction happening to the test subject. It shows the side effect of experiencing severe hallucinations by the after-administration of the drugs.”

“But the research team insists they never put such a component into the pills. I wonder where the substances were added.”

“It’s just a simple paracetamol pill. If the test subject doesn’t relax and has problems loosening their brain stimulation. It means your concoction isn’t accurate.”

“The problem is...”

“The body sleeps, but the brain shows hyperactivity.”

“Man, I have a headache solving this matter myself. I was trying every nook and cranny of possibility why such substances caused commotion.”

She glances at him, unable to interpret his talking. There’s no way a brain would be hyperactive after the body falls asleep. Unless when the test subject experiences dreaming. That’s it, they’re experiencing a dreaming state as the after effect of the drug consumption.

“How much is the frequency indicating hyperactivity?”

“Over 90 percent percent of the trial days and total subjects experience the same thing.”

“That’s not possible. I need to check it by myself. And it’s not that I can do it only by one night. Science is not a one night’s job.” She quoted the last sentence from his last conversation with their father.

“Hahaha… since when has my little sister learned to be cynical?” He can’t stop his laugh. The conversation went on almost late, while they’re enjoying some sips of wine and the beautiful view downhill from the balcony.

***

“Homeless man found dead horribly with the mutilated organs removed from the body. It is estimated the time of death was more than 24 hours. The body was found by another homeless man who was scavenging for leftovers from a garbage dump in the narrow alley behind a restaurant.”

“It is possible that the execution of the corpse was not carried out at the scene of the crime but only to be dumped in the trash to avoid the traces of the perpetrator being recorded.”

“The police are still checking CCTV around the scene and witnesses including restaurant owners and employees.”

A reporter was broadcasting the news live in the background for the investigation team and the police that night. as well as maybe the other way around from the reporter's point of view. The Gimpo police station gets a call from someone who is suddenly approached by a homeless person who yelled at him while  he was passing the street in front of the alley, saying he found a body in a garbage dump. Out of fear, he immediately called the police without checking what the homeless said was true.

“I thought it was just a prank call.” Said Woorim unbelievably while checking at the corpse that was taken out of the dumpster.

“What kind of inhumane act is this? It’s like his life isn’t suffering enough.”

Detective Yeon is speechless. For him, many things he had seen at the crime scenes. People commit crimes with their own motives. Something was too saddening and sorrowful to hear that he wanted to feel like defending the suspects. There are also those who commit heinous acts for trivial reasons, which even when thought about a hundred times still seem unreasonable. So this time, he just wanted to uncover the truth behind this incident.

His life does not dwell on the definition of good and evil, he only carries out his duties as a policeman who obeys the law. Revealing the truth can help the aggrieved party to get his own justice after the perpetrator gets punished. Although most of  the law becomes a knife that injures those who have already suffered bad luck and saves those who should be punished.

“Do you think the body was mutilated by someone who’s good with a knife?” Daehwan asked one of the forensic men.

“No, it’s a haphazard job. They just cut out the limbs and weren't planning to also cut the other body part.” He showed Daehwan the cut off arms and legs.

“They cut the arms and legs so it’ll fit easier into the sack. The wound at the stomach was older than this part. The armpit and the thighs. I thought they were supposed to dump it somewhere but the plan changed...”

“It’s definitely not a job out of revenge or an impulse. It must’ve been to show off the other party the result of doing something they would regret. They must have a deal with someone.”

“So it’s a threatening message.”

“Wow! It’s really good to have you with us, Kwon Min. At least your brain is used for good purposes.” That man smirks. Daehwan’s sarcasm can’t hurt his feelings in this field of occupation.

“Check out his background. He must’ve not only been a mere homeless.” Kwon Min added again. Then walking out of the scene.

“I wish I had a genius head like him, well not the other traits.” Daehwan mumbles to himself. Woorim that walks beside him can’t hear what he says and asks again. He just grinning and answers it as nothing rather than out of his rumbling.

The body was taken by ambulance to the hospital that will take care of criminal suspects and victims. They’ll make an autopsy after the family member agrees to investigate the body. But if there’s none claiming the corpse as their family member, the body will be exterminated by incineration.

***

“Acetaminophen is supposed to have side effects in the case of administration at certain doses. They can wake up again in a few hours because of sleep disruption. But in this test, the subject not only had sleep disturbances but also had experienced dreams. This dream varies according to each research subject. whereas in our previous version of the drug, acetaminophen did not have a sleep-disordering effect. Especially hallucinations.”

One of the doctors explained to Evelyn about the case studies she found in the fever-reducing pills they had developed. This pill is a random test item taken from the product that will be sampled for ST company. The same composition has been used for several other drug companies before. This incident confused them.

“Could you check if amphetamines, opiates, or benzodiazepines were added into the substances?” Evelyn orders her to check for the substances she has suspicion on.

“What do you mean?” Jiyeon that was there was also listening to their conversation trying to check his hearing.

When the researcher goes to check for the drug that she mentioned, Evelyn explains to him the situation that could probably happen in the terms someone’s who’s not studying biochemistry would understand.

“You have rats in your company.”

“What?!” He still can’t catch up.

“There's a probability the abused drug substance is added into the acetaminophen.”

“That’s the cause of the sleep disruption and the nightmares your test subject experienced.”

Now he understood what Evelyn meant. But his face still showed confusion. More on how these ingredients can be mixed into the tested substances that have been tested many times and have been consumed safely without implications.

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

“Nothing.”

His eyes widened, how could in this situation he won’t do anything. While in his mind, he’s already imagining capturing the culprit and beating them to death.

“Keep playing your role, the praid of the family’s son.”

“I have a suspicion this thing would lead somewhere however.”

“Are you going to make your move finally?”

“Probably. You in?”

“Of course, I promised you, however.”