Chapter 73 Sequel to Death

The perspective of Boro continues:

Ah, I’m exhausted.

Not only did we need to go hours upon hours overtime yesterday, but now they’re forcing us to work on the weekend as well.

The bureau was beyond frantic—louder than ever with more employees present than likely since its inception—for good reasons.

"I just can’t wrap my head around it—how could the System Killer eliminate Bonnie the same night he pulled off those murders?"

Pressed my hands against my head—my brain was admittedly getting fried by this; was it like that for Ri as well?

He’s... only human after all.

"I have a bit of a wild theory, but I need a few more clues before I let y’all on it."

I glanced at Ri. "Won’t it facilitate your ’clues’ if we can work together towards gathering them?"

My words were almost instinctive—I didn’t particularly think I was saying something profound, yet his response made it seem that way.

Ri’s eyes widened and a smile popped up on his face, then he answered, "you are... actually right as fuck!! You might be a genius, Boro."

Right, right...

"So, listen closely..." he said cheekily, almost with betrayal towards how heinous the situation is.

Then, changed up his voice into quiet whispers... "I’m thinkin’ he’s got insider information—someone in the bureau or something along those lines, y’know?"

An unpleasant thought.

"What— what?— are you serious with this?"

"This is why I don’t want to tell anyone yet—it’s a dangerous claim to make, and if I’m wrong and they change up their approach it could maim us beyond repair."

I wouldn’t doubt Ri, but I will—especially after yesterday.

A little while had passed... then...

"Wait, so did we ever learn who’s the person Smile vaporized?"

With a cigarette in his mouth, Ri turned towards me.

"No—we know it’s an irregular, but going beyond that isn’t possible."

I sighed. "This is such a headache—is there really no way to retrieve his System number?"

He tilted his head—subtly, then replied, "why do you ask me as if I’m in a better position to know than you?"

Stared at him for a moment, my eyebrows slightly raised, before giving him a gradual nod of agreement.

"You two are still here?—what are you doing?!" stated Jessey in a tone that wasn’t exactly pleased—understandably.

"Ou shit," instantly let out Ri as he repositioned himself on the chair—he previously had his arms behind his back, legs on the desk and a carefree expression that unfortunately was slaughtered in an instant.

We quickly got everything prepared and left...

Still somewhat early in the morning; the sun might’ve been up already, but that didn’t imply people would be—especially on a Saturday morning.

"So, how’s your little Black Death schtick going?" inquired Ri—nonchalantly.

Instead of giving him an immediate answer, a giggle was forced out of me. "Well, it wasn’t going anywhere—I’m going to change up my approach after you scolded my ass yesterday."

"Oh?" His eyes subsequently reached mine.

"My words reached you—huh," he let out as his face clutched for the sky upon being finished with his skim of my expression.

"Don’t they always?—not to overpraise you or whatever, but you always have something insightful to say whether to me or the bureau."

He began looking all sheepish... grinning like some lovey-dovey girl fawning over her boyfriend. "Yah?—praise me more, yes, yes."

Chuckled. "Don’t get ahead of yourself, little bitch!"

Then, with some force my hand went onto his back—slugging him tenderly, making him move a couple extra steps forward.

"Liam—yes; Madison—yes; Sinn—no."

Hmm...

"And Bonnie—no."

Ri and I then split apart—it wasn’t a one-man job whatsoever.

First location...

I rang the bell and waited—after just thirty seconds or so, the door creaked open and a woman in her forties or early fifties opened.

"Good morning, we’re with the Im City bureau of investigation—would you be..." I looked down on a little sheet of paper and then back up towards her face.

"Yes, did something happen?" she said worryingly—a natural reaction.

I proceeded to swallow any and all of the discomfort I could possibly have—no one would want to be the bringer of bad news, in spite of it being a responsibility of great empathy and compassion.

"With our deepest condolences, we regret to inform you that your son Liam had lost his life."

The woman stared at me for a few moments, then kneeled down as tears began flowing out of her face. I stood in front of her with her door wide open.

"What?—Liam has been what?!"

Her hand went onto my leg.

I did not move.

"I’m very sorry."

"You’re— you..." she said as she wept on the floor, voice cracking under sorrowful moans.

A lot of people here don’t have immediate family—lots are orphans, but some are lucky enough to have parents, siblings, and in some cases even grandparents.

Liam had a lot of family. And someone had to be the carrier of misery.

This continued for what felt like an eternity—it was roughly ten minutes, but it did not feel that way at all.

This woman lost her son.

I had to sympathize with that—deeply and with utmost respect for her loss.

Typically, the bureau of investigation isn’t the one to do this—the reason we had to do this was actually simple, and it was that our role wasn’t to give sympathy but rather preface it with that and then proceed with questioning that could help the investigation.

We were short on time—and we had no time for sobs.

Yet, neither I nor anyone could ever disrespect the family of victims enough to change our treatment towards prioritizing the investigation.

"How’d— how’d my little boy die?—can you tell me?—please?"

This woman was old—she clearly wasn’t online, so she wasn’t unlucky enough to come across pictures from yesterday that were blowing up Im City’s internet.

We don’t censor these things—people have their rights, even if we’re dubious over other things there are some things we could never betray.

"He was a victim—murder victim, of the so-called ’System Killer’ that was allegedly executed," I said formally and lukewarmly; my tone could be seen as apathetic or indifferent, but it wasn’t anything along those lines nor did I have such intentions.

Hours passed...

Hours upon hours of tedious and torturous conversations.

Eventually, we were at a bar—it was the alleged location the three of them were at the night of the murder.

"Did you see them leave with anyone?—was it really just the three of them?"

"Hmm... I don’t really..." her eyes paddled across the ceiling. "No—I don’t think they did."

Sigh—dead-end after dead-end, it’s almost as if he had randomly spotted them in the park and decided to murder them on the spot.

And what if that’s the case?—what then?—we’re wasting time talking to people that don’t have anything valuable to tell us?

"I saw someone that might be of interest to you."

Said a woman from behind me; my eyes instantly went onto her and she came into my view, sitting next to the bar counter, a beautiful woman in her early twenties.

"Is that so?" I voiced as I sauntered towards her, sat down next to her, and then inquired further, "tell me more about it."

"You going to buy me a drink if I do?"

I don’t like her tone—this is a serious matter and she’s being all seductive with my ass.

Took out some money and placed it on the counter—her face immediately lit up with a satisfied smile; didn’t like that even more but sometimes you have to be the sacrificial lamb, what can I say.

"A man by the name Sung Oh."

"Sung Oh?"