“Jin, “Jin, have you found anything yet?” Eunkyung asked me.

It was July 18th, about two weeks after I was discharged. I was able to catch up with school and take my finals. Eunkyung and I decided to investigate a BHK case that happened a couple of months ago in Incheon. So, since it’s summer break, we decided to head to the Incheon Songdo Central Park to do some investigation. Although, I couldn’t understand why Eunkyung wanted to do the investigation ourselves. It’s not like the police would miss something that we can catch. But still, we’re just going to check out the crime scene at a mall called Triple Street.

According to Eunkyung, this case was about how a 34-year-old man was murdered. I saw a bit of it on the news. The gist is that he was by himself at an ATM. He was trying to transfer money, but somebody in a black cloak killed him. This person wasn’t BHK, because his left DNA matched somebody dead three days after. That person committed suicide via cyanide poisoning himself. BHK is known for using puppets, aka people he forces to do his dirty work. It’s unknown how he has such a massive supply of puppets. Some people suspect he’s breeding humans.

I shook my head. “Triple Street is so big and has already been searched. How do you expect us to find clues here?” I asked.

She sighed and wiped some sweat that was forming on her forehead. Today, she had her hair tied in a ponytail so she wouldn’t have her hair dangling everywhere while she searched. She also was wearing a simple red t-shirt and some light gray jeans. 

“Look, humans aren’t perfect. There are always times when they’ll make a mistake. Also, what harm can come from searching again?”

“We’ve already searched three-fourths of the mall and found nothing! And it took us about 2 days!” I exclaimed.

“Sheesh, you think two days is long? I thought you recovered in the hospital for a whole month. Two days should seem like nothing to you.”

She flicked her ponytail behind her and walked off to do some more searching.

“Jeez, she’s so bossy,” I muttered. 

The shopping mall has four separate buildings, each of enormous size. Eunkyung left to search the last building, the one where the actual scene happened. According to her, the last building is the least likely to have clues because that building is the one the police investigated more carefully. 

I let out a sigh. The recent days have been so hot. Eunkyung must’ve come from a hotter climate because she didn’t seem to have a problem with the heat.

I dragged myself out of the third building and went to the fourth building. 

When I opened the door, I was greeted by the most vivid room I’d ever seen.

Different shades of green, red, and blue circles were arranged in a polka dot pattern on the ceiling. The white floor had weird black spirals. The walls were made of glass, so you could see people entering and exiting. After going to the three other buildings, this one seemed to be the most colorful. 

However, unfortunately, it was also the biggest. It’s about two of the buildings that Eunkyung and I just searched, which took about half a day. Right now it is still around 14:00, so I think we can finish the search today.

Eunkyung searches the basement and main floors while I search the upper floors. She searches a lot faster than me, therefore, she covers more ground. The actual crime scene though is on my floor. She trusts me enough to be able to search it right.

I made my way to the elevator. My search plan is to start on the very top and search downward. The doors opened and I went inside. I pressed the button at the top, which would lead me to the highest floor.

After I got out of the elevator, I realized I was outside on a long walkway. To both sides were long chains of restaurants and stores. I’m a bit afraid of heights, but since buildings were blocking the view, I didn’t have to worry about it much. It felt like I was walking on the ground.

“How am I supposed to search all these mini-stores?” I muttered.

After standing there for 5 minutes thinking of a plan, I finally thought of one. Search the area around the ATM first, then search all the other stores. If I’m ever too tired, I just quit because they probably don’t matter much. Eunkyung gave me the specific location where the scene took place. There was a long aisle between Subway and a Samsung store. I strolled through the pathway, constantly glancing to my right and left, searching for the store with the name Subway or Samsung. 

Eventually, towards the end of the walkway, I noticed the alleyway. It was very bright. I’ve heard that after the incident, the mall decided to invest more in the lightbulbs. 

An ATM was barely visible at the very end. Brick walls were on the sides. The alleyway itself was a great location for a murder. Passersby could barely see anything inside due to the obstruction by the artificial trees. I ducked under some of the branches.

After I got through, I was able to get a clear view of the crime scene. Of course, there were no traces, but there was something painted on the ground. The police didn’t erase it but they wanted to keep it for reference. I looked closer at the painting. 

“Wait… this isn’t just a picture. It’s words!” I exclaimed.  “Most people can see because of light. We can see because of darkness,” I said, reading what was written.

That made no sense. It was something written by BHK, which unfortunately didn’t make much sense and didn’t tell me anything. The hope for a clue disappeared as quickly as it came. I searched around the alleyway a few more times but remained empty-handed. I sighed and left the alleyway with disappointment. The police did search everything here.

I did a quick scan of the rest of the stores to find nothing. I gave up and decided to return to our meeting spot, the tri-bowl inside the park. 

The tri-bowl was three big bowls with a cover. In between the three bowls were walkways with shallow water surrounding them. 

I might have finished a bit quicker than I expected because Eunkyung wasn’t there, even though she usually finishes before me. I glanced at my watch. 18:00! I scratched my head. To be frank, that did not feel like four hours, but rather a couple of minutes. 

“Jin,” Eunkyung’s voice called.

I glanced to my left, where the voice was coming from. Eunkyung was walking toward me.

“Well, that’s a surprise. I didn’t expect you to finish before me.”

She leaned against the metal railing.

“Well Eunkyung, there wasn’t that much on the top floor.”

She nodded. “Well, there wasn’t anything on the other floors either.”

I sighed. “Well, we wasted a couple of days in Incheon.”

Eunkyung didn’t move. She stared at the ground.

“I know!” she exclaimed. She looked at me, her eyes full of joy. “Although we couldn’t find BHK which I actually thought would leave some clues, we can always just enjoy the rest of today.”

“Hm, that’s not a bad idea,” I remarked. “A break is like a reward.”

Something nagged my mind that she was almost sure there was a clue. But if there was a clue, what could it be? When she suggested the plan, she did seem to be confident that there was a clue here.

I shove the thought into the back of my mind and tried to enjoy the rest of the day. We booked a ferry with a capacity of 12 people. The planned route was West Boat House, which was on one end of the river, to Rabbit Island, which was about three-quarters of the river.

Eunkyung left to change and told me to meet her at the West Boat House to board by 19:00. By the time I walked there and took a transit, it was already 18:45, so I’m not sure how Eunkyung will get here on time.

After 5 more minutes, Eunkyung arrived. Her hair was no longer in a ponytail. She also put on a light green jacket on top of her red shirt while her black jeans didn’t change.

We handed our tickets we bought to the booth and they let us on.

“Why are you giving me the Christmas vibes,” I complained, unable to keep myself from thinking of Christmas. Her palette of colors amused me.

“How am I giving Christmas vibes?” she asked.

“You're wearing green and red, those colors are meant for Christmas.”

She glanced down at her clothes. 

“Oops, my bad. I just meant to grab whatever jacket I could find.”

I sighed. “Whatever, I’ll just try my best to ignore the vibes.”

We boarded the boat and moved to the front for the best view. The boat ride started at 19:03. We passed under a bridge. It was dark all of a sudden but brightens quickly as soon as the boat moves out. After we came out, the tri-bowls were to our right.

The pink-reddish color of the sunset background made the many skyscrapers much more vivid. The tri-bowls looked different from the boat view, looking like they were repainted a different shade of silver. 

Eunkyung took out her phone. 

“Come here, Jin,” she said, holding out her phone to take a selfie.

“Wha-,” I tried to protest. I wasn’t dressed up for a picture. Eunkyung pulled me by her side.

“Smile and say cheese, 3-2-1!” she said, before taking a couple of pictures of us.

She smiled and put her phone away. 

“Thanks, Jin.” 

Luckily for me, the sun was shining on my face. The sun hasn’t gone down, otherwise, she would be able to see how red my cheeks were.

“Deep breaths, Jin. Calm down,” I whispered in my head, willing my blush to go away.

Eunkyung smiled as she scrolled through the pictures she took. An old woman approached us. 

“You two are a beautiful couple,” she commented. “How did you meet? ”

The breeze decided to blow. It couldn’t calm down my cheeks which were heating up like an oven.

“Well,” Eunkyung said, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “We aren’t a couple, we’re just… friends.” 

Eunkyung seemed so bashful…

The old woman glanced back and forth between us. 

She chuckled to herself. “I see. Well, nice meeting you two. Bye!”

She left, leaving the two of us in awkward silence. Eunkyung and I spent the rest of the trip avoiding eye contact and conversation with each other. Luckily, my blush disappeared by the time the trip was over.

The ride ended, and our boat stopped near the side. We exited the boat.

Eunkyung cleared her throat. “I’m starving,” she complained.