In the end, he was led to the local park. Gillian to led him to a bench under a vibrant orange and red tree with leaves scattering all around with the sunset acting like a halo, making the spot look like as if came out of wonderland. Soon after, the other turns away in another direction, baffling Bai Yohan.

"Gillian? Where are you going?" he asked completely puzzled.

"Stay there for a bit, I'll be back in a minute" the other replied without turning around or stopping.

Normally Bai Yohan would keep pestering him, however with everything that has happened today, he had little energy to try to figure out what his friend was up to; thus, he decided to quietly sit on the bench under the tree, contemplating his life. Today just wasn't a good day for him at all. For whatever reason, today he couldn't handle it.

Maybe it was because of that dream he had.

Maybe it was because he hadn't slept well at night.

But he has pulled all-nighter's before, and he had much more energy than today.

It was definitely the dream.

Honestly, he has seen so much atrocious shit before, but a mere dream can scare him so easily? Why was he so weak? Why couldn't he be like Gillian: fearless in any situation and always knowing what to do despite not talking that much to people. Bai Yohan has tried a lot in the past to get his over his disgust and fear of the smell of blood.

Just the stupid smell.

He can stand anything but just not the smell, why? Why can't he just not get over it?

Due to his weariness, he managed to anger a family member of the No Mercy Killer. He should have explained sooner. He should have tried to reason with her more. He should have done things differently.

Maybe Laurence was right about if he was even qualified for the job. Even if Laurence doesn't think that now, his past words still hold truth because how incompetent he was today. He was a fraud, nothing he ever did was good enough for him. He wanted to be something more, to do something more. Things seemed to be going too fast today so he didn't even bother trying to take extra measures just in case something went wrong.

....

..

.

"Chief??!" An investigator was shocked that Bai Yohan already had a lead of the whereabouts of where this missing girl could be. "Already? Are you sure? There isn't any other evidence that points to this place." The investigator added; he knew that the young Chief detective was very bright, but he didn't know how he made the correlation to where the missing girl could be held.

"I am very confident in this, trust me." Bai Yohan smiled as he added "And yes, the evidence doesn't say that it's that place specifically, but the evidence does cross out all other areas that she could be held at without suspicion. Even if I'm wrong and she's not there, then at least we have another place crossed out." He handed some papers to the other. The investigator stared at the other with complicated eyes and finally took the papers from his hand. As he was about to say something, a voice interjected.

"Are you pulling things out of your ass now?" The voice belonged to a redhead named Laurence. He had slight stubble on his face and a scowl plastered on his face. He reached out for the papers in the investigator's hand and took a moment to carefully read it over before scoffing. He looked straight into Bai Yohan's eyes and asked "Are you even qualified for this job? So young yet so stupid. We already have looked here if you can't remember." Bai Yohan slightly laughed and didn't take his insult to heart too much.

"Sir, we only looked at the surface of everything, as I was thinking about all the places we have investigated before, it was impossible to hide someone there effectively, however, I clearly remember checking if there were any basements of hidden rooms present, but there were none. The only place we haven't truly looked if it has a hidden room or basement is that place. Besides even if I'm wrong, it doesn't hurt to check right? We might have overlooked something." Bai Yohan explained to the best of his abilities to try to calm the other down. He saw the reluctance in his eyes and added "I am already going to make the others investigate this too, you're welcome to join." The detective was silent for a moment before scoffing and turning his back "Fine. Let's see how hard you fail."

The old building was once again surrounded by several police officers and investigators trying to look for the missing girl or any hidden rooms like the Chief suggested. Laurence was crossing his arms while looking intently at Bai Yohan who was knocking on the walls to see if there was a hollow space somewhere. The constant knocking got to Laurence's nerves.

"Stop doing that, you're not going to find a hidden room like that." He expressed as he gritted his teeth. Bai Yohan ignored the comment and continued to feel the wall until he noticed one specific area made a hollow sound.

"Here." The young Chief said.

"Huh?" Laurence was confused.

"I want you to look here. The wall is hollow, and I can feel there is something behind here. There is also fresher paint as well, you can notice the brighter colour." Bai Yohan pointed out.

Laurence was sure they weren't going to find anything but decided to have people investigate and demolish the wall to see what was behind.

A few minutes later, several construction workers arrived with their tools on hand and started to demolish the pale peach wall. With every blow, you could notice something inside. A dirty old door. The construction workers were confused but continued to do their work and immediately after Laurence exclaimed.

"You weren't kidding about the hidden room?" His eyes were wide open.

Bai Yohan showed a melancholy smile and said nothing. It's better to show your worth with actions and not words. Words can only mean so much. Promises can be broken; you can never be truly certain with just words so it's always a necessary case to back your words with actions.

Hours passed and the missing girl was found, all messed up but safe.

Bai Yohan worked tirelessly all night that day to combine all the evidence together, so the others didn't struggle to know everything that had happened in this case. It also made the lawyers' job easier. As he was writing something down in the dim light his lamp provided, he had a sudden flash of thought come through his mind, making him stop what he was doing. Was he really cut out for this? Did he take too long? He shouldn't have taken so long, if he didn't then maybe the trauma of that girl wouldn't be as severe. He should work harder, do better.

Everything in his mind told him he was a fraud.

What kind of incompetent detective is he to take so long to find a simple room that was hidden in plain sight?

He was a fraud.

Why can't he do better?

Bai Yohan knew these thoughts were just intrusive, but the thoughts still didn't fail to question his own legitimacy. He... needs to do better.

As that final thought crossed his mind, pen touched the paper once again and fast scribbles were written.

...

..

.

Bai Yohan's thoughts were cut off when he heard footsteps heading his direction. Lifting his head, he saw Gillian, holding... two ice cream cones? It's the middle of September and it's freezing outside, why is holding ice cream? The detective put on a confused expression asking him why the other wanted to eat ice cream in such cold weather. Gillian sat next to him and handed him an ice cream cone.

"Uh dude? It's freezing out, why eat ice cream right now?" He asked as he took the cone.

"Ice cream is good for any weather; besides it always cheered you up in the past." Gillian stated as he leaned back into the bench and took a bite out of ice cream. Before the other can retort, Gillian adds "Alright, you tell me why you are acting so weird today. If you're worried about not being able to find the Killer Killer, then its best to not think about it too much, you'll find them sooner or later. Bai Yohan stays silent and looks at the ground.

Silence.

"If it's what that woman said, then don't mind her too much, everyone has their own ideals on what justice is, some more extreme than others. Yohan, I think you're doing a great job." Bai Yohan's subordinate adds to fill in the silence. The detective lets out a slight smile and starts to eat his ice cream as well, in deep thought.

A short while passes and just as the detective has finished his ice cream, Gillian repeats his question. The other sighs and slowly crosses his arms as he looks at the distance, not focusing on anything. As Gillian is about to say something, Bai Yohan begins to speak.

"You might think that I am stupid for this, but I had a nightmare. It was graphic, blood everywhere and the smell was worse. I can stand blood but not the smell. After a while of being in this vivid dream, I felt my stomach being ripped open and the pain was extremely real. It was pure agony. Anyway, isn't it embarrassing losing sleep over a stupid nightmare? Sorry for being a bother in that regard." He says as his face turns slightly red, embarrassed at being scared over a mere nightmare.

"It's not embarrassing. It's completely understandable, I've also lost sleep over nightmare in the past too. Don't worry Yohan, it's okay to be upset about a dream. Also, why don't you like the smell of blood?" The other didn't mind about the reason for why Bai Yohan was acting off today. The detective stayed silent, not wanting to answer. He preferred to keep it a secret for now, maybe one day he would tell his friend when he was ready. Gillian didn't' mind the silence and continues to eat his ice cream while murmuring a "You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Bai Yohan hums, glad that he isn't being judged by his friend. Seconds later, Bai Yohan puts on a bright and sunny smile and stands up, ushering the other to hurry and go back to the agency to have a meeting with the other detectives and investigators.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Days pass, the autumn leaves falling, creating crunchy pathways for people to walk on, creating a serene and calm moment. On one of those days, Bai Yohan is once again out with his subordinate investigating and trying to find any other leads that can lead to the identity of the Killer Killer. The workload is heavy but with enough effort, both believe that they can crack the case. However, as both are making their rounds and trying to interrogate anyone suspicious, people around them seem to be in distain, asking them why they are trying to find the guy who killed such a heinous criminal. Bai Yohan sighs as both he and Gillian sit down in a café.

"Maaaaannnnn..." The pale man immediately slouches and puts his head on the table. "Why are people making things so difficult?" He whines.

"Different ideals, I guess. But let's not give up, we still have a lot to do." The man with jet black hair encouraged. "Like I said before, I truly believe you will catch this person" He added.

The detective mumbles something under his breath before slowly getting up and ordering some tea and cake for himself. The other ordered a full meal and mint tea. The atmosphere in the café was just perfect, the warm, serene lights adding vibrant yet dim halos to every individual present in the room, the sweet and bitter scent of coffee emanating through the air, the distant chatter and clicking on keyboards sounded all around, calming Bai Yohan's nerves. With everything that has already occurred, he really needed a break from it all.

"Dude, do you remember our English teacher back in college?" The silver haired man asked the other.

"Mr. Caddell? What about him?" Gillian didn't look at the other as he took a sip of his tea.

"I saw him on the news a few days back."

"The news? What did he do?" Gillian put down his teacup confused.

"He was caught stealing money from the school, apparently he had been doing that for years." Bai Yohan snickered. He didn't like his old English teacher because he was a douchebag.

"Huh. Guess now we found the mystery of how he always came to college with all his fancy stuff. A teacher's salary doesn't pay so much that he could so much." Gillian reminisced. "I mean most of the time he would spend his time bragging in class about all the vacations he went on. Total nutjob." He added.

"Yeah! Remember that one time he made me stay after class for over two hours because I said I didn't care about his designer shoes? I still don't understand how he didn't get in trouble." Bai Yohan huffed.

"Didn't he target you after that all the time?" Gillian crossed his arms.

"Fuck my life, YEAH! HE WOULDN'T STOP COMMENTING SARCASTIC REMARKS ABOUT ME IN CLASS. He also wouldn't shut up." The pale man became more animated as he jolted up.

"Keep your voice down Yohan, this is a public space remember." The other reminded.

"Shoot, sorry. But you know how much of a dick he was right?" Bai Yohan grumbled.

The silver haired man continued to complain about every little thing that had happened in the past while also stuffing himself with the fragrant and rich chocolate cake. Even in his animated state, Bai Yohan was very relaxed and didn't want the moment to end. With so much piled up, he had the tendency to forget to relax and take things easy, this moment was perfect for him to unwind.

As the sky turned a gorgeous shade of orange and the wind started picking up speed, both Bai Yohan and Gillian did not utter a work, just enjoying the somewhat silent atmosphere as they played with their drinks. However, this moment didn't last long.

As Bai Yohan was staring into space, zoning out the conversations going on all around him, his ears perked as he heard the words "No Mercy Killer". Snapping out of his daze, he pursed his lips in a thin line and started to pay more attention to his surroundings.

"...aren't kidding right?" A voice sounded surprised.

"Of course not! My friend told me all the gruesome details and I'm pretty sure he's telling the truth." The other person responded confidently.

"I always wondered what the hell the police were doing, not being able to catch one guy, but your friend managed to do so?"

"The police don't really try, and you know that, all of them are lazy. Hah! I'm glad he managed to get rid of such trash. But I heard the police is looking for the culprit." The owner of the voice grimaced.

"Then why are you talking about it here? Are you stupid? What if your friend gets caught?" The other person sounded alarmed.

!!?

The arm that Bai Yohan was leaning his head on slipped and he almost knocked his tea over. Gillian, seeing this raised his eyebrow and expressed a look on his face asking what was up. Bai Yohan exchanged a look and he quickly looked away to the subject of his interest, showing the other that he should listen. Gillian gave a vague glance over the direction the other was looking at before finishing his drink and walking over to the people who he overheard.

?????

Bai Yohan stared at Gillian with wide eyes, wondering if his IQ dropped. Bro!? Don't just go ahead and talk to those guys! It may work in TV but certainly not in real life!

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, Bai Yohan found himself bamboozled. Gillian's personality did a complete 180 as he started conversing with those guys like they didn't just say that one of their friends is the guy who killed the No Mercy Killer.

Wtf??!

And those strangers just went along with Gillian asking questions???? What's going on???

Bai Yohan didn't even bother listening to their conversation, picking up his hot drink and downing it in one go like it was the first time in 10 years that he got to quench his thirst. Immediately he regretted it as the tea went down his throat and completely burned his insides. He quickly spit out the remaining tea and fanned his face. For a couple of seconds, Bai Yohan tried his best to not throw up, trying to endure with the pain of drinking something so hot so fast. Great, his tastebuds got burnt and so did his pride. Stupid. It seems like his IQ was also dropping by the second.

Ai... Nothing seems to be making sense these days...

After cleaning up his mess, Gillian finally returned.

"Uh dude, what was that for?" Bai Yohan accused.

"I just asked for some info, I'll tell you when we get out of here." Gillian said as he took a seat as he looked at Bai Yohan's face "The hell happened to your mouth?" His eyebrow twitched as he pointed to his face.

"I uh..." Bai Yohan didn't know what to say. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Ummmm" He made a fool of himself while trying to formulate the right words. Gillian's face twisted into a more confused expression.

Gillian: ??? Bro, you ok?

"I chugged down my tea, and burned my mouth, that's all I have to say." Bai Yohan explained as he tried to cover his shame.

As the day came to an end, Bai Yohan was pumped. This could be his breakthrough! Even if he doesn't have the evidence for it yet, he might be able to catch the guy!

In the events that followed after the two left the café, Gillian told him that he got a name of a possible suspect, the guy that stranger was talking about. Somehow those strangers didn't suspect Gillian of trying to dig up more info about the guy and to catch him. Bai Yohan sometimes wonders how some people can be so trustworthy. Putting that to the side, he knew what he needed to do; find out where this guy lives, arrest him under suspicion of one or several murders, search through his home and if possible, get him to fess up!

Even if Gillian's method of getting the information was unrealistic, it still worked! He's got to treat him to lunch some other time in the future.

The days that followed were full of tedious work, from trying to do a background check on the person Gillian got the information about, to compiling evidence trying to link to a possible suspect; Bai Yohan just wanted to bust into that dude's house and arrest him already, however he didn't get a warrant to do that from the police agency so he needed to wait.

On one chilly afternoon, Gillian entered the evidence room where Bai Yohan was contemplating his existence, wondering how he ever got to this point. Seeing the detective zoned out, Gillian cleared his throat to get the other's attention.

"Yohan, we got the warrant." The tan man waved the papers.

The detective turned around, hurriedly took the papers before snatching his coat and leaving out the door in one swift motion. All done without a single word.

"Seriously? Not even a thanks?" The tan man complained before hurrying to catch up to the other man.

The two took a while to get there, the suspect lived quite far away, in an isolated town, far from the main city, the neighbouring homes were quite far away from each other. As the two of them got closer to the home, Bai Yohan thought that the home looked quite normal, even so, it's always the ones you least expect so he cant really judge a book by it's cover now can he. His footsteps were firm as he walked on the gravel pathway, not having an ounce of hesitation in his body. Gillian followed as he was in deep thought.

As the detective was standing at the front door, he took a deep breath before knocking on the door a couple times. They both waited a bit but they didn't see or hear any sign of moment from inside. He looked behind him and Gillian gave him a slight nod, telling him to continue.

He knocked again, this time harder.

"Anyone home?" He shouted.

A few moments later, the door creaked open as a tall, buff man with shoulder length hair tied in a low ponytail was visible. He glanced at both of them before fully opening the door, letting his whole body be shown. He was dressed nicely, a black turtle neck with black pants and a cream coloured sweater.

"Hello. Can I help you with anything?" The man spoke with a slight Italian accent. His brown eyes were clear with concern, looking very innocent. Bai Yohan was stunned for a second before making up his mind; it didn't matter how innocent your suspect looks, if you let them go, they might strike again! Bai Yohan cleared his voice before speaking.

"Hello Mr Ricci, I am Chief Detective Bai Yohan and this this my subordinate, Gillian. We are here today because we have a warrant for your arrest." The detective calmly explained as he showed his Detective badge. "I hope you can cooperate Mr Ricci. This is a very serious matter." He added.

The man widened his eyes in surprise and shock, struggling to get his words out. Gillian carefully examined the man in front of him, he seemed to have his own suspicions, like the drop of blood that was visible at the hem of his sweater. His pupils shrank.

"What? Why are you arresting me?" Mr Ricci tried to reason with the two. "I swear I haven't done anything bad. I'm just an artist in the middle of nowhere. May I know why I'm being arrested?" He added. His hands were sweating so he kept rubbing his hands against the side of his sweater. Bai Yohan sighed before looking back at Gillian, who was getting ready to cuff the man.

"You're under arrest for the suspected killings of more than 20 people, sir please do not resist." Gillian grabbed the mans wrists and swiftly put the cuffs on. Ricci protested "What?! I swear I never would do that! Please believe me!"

"Mr Ricci, whether or not you actually are the culprit will all depend on if we find evidence linking you to these crimes or not, I advise you to not make things difficult for yourself. Please come quietly and all will be known in due time." Bai Yohan pulled out a notebook and started scribbling some sentences in it. Gillian took Ricci by the arm and led him to the car while Bai Yohan was sorting out some notes before heading the same direction to catch up with them.

The drive back to the police agency was not quite as Bai Yohan imagined, as he was focused on the road, Mr Ricci would always ask questions to either Gillian or Bai Yohan, Gillian would mostly ignore his questions but Bai Yohan could only say "I've told you, we can discuss your guilt when we get to the police station." Unfortunately, the questions didn't stop.

Bai Yohan pulled up to the parking lot before getting out and ordering his subordinate to drag the suspect out as well. As Bai Yohan was walking, he also noticed the bloodstain on the sweater. "What's this?" He wanted to confirm if it was actual blood or not. Ricci looked down and saw the blood, a bit panicked. "Oh, I cut myself by accident when I was cutting some vegetables. See?" He showed his pointer finger which had a Band-Aid on it. Bai Yohan pursed his lips in a thin line for a moment before speaking "After you're free from the handcuffs, hand that sweater over to Gillian." He looked at his subordinate to confirm with him.

Ricci looked calm before agreeing. The Chief Detective instructed everyone on what to do before heading off to get another team to search Mr Ricci's home to see if anything could be found.

For legal reasons, a person cannot be held prisoner for longer than 48 hours without evidence of them committing a crime, so they must be let go. Time was ticking but Bai Yohan wasn't able to find anything worthwhile. The lab results concluded that the blood present in Mr Ricci's sweater was indeed his own so that wasn't of much help. Another problem was that the team that was supposed to find evidence in Mr Ricci's home, didn't find anything. Everything in the home seemed perfectly normal, the only difference was that there was a lot of art supplies in the basement and there was a slight smell of blood, but that could be explained by the fact that Ricci had a freezer with fresh cow meat that he himself butchered. He obtained the cow from a local farm, and he paid quite a lot of money for it, several investigators confirmed with the farm owner, and it was indeed true. There seemed to be nothing else they could do.

Even while questioning Mr Ricci, nothing seemed to be out of place, he had an explanation for everything. At this point, Bai Yohan was losing hope, thinking that maybe it'll be too late before he would find the culprit.

Thus, the fruitful day came where the agencies were forced to let go of Mr Ricci and declare him innocent. Both agencies were bummed that they didn't find anything but they still had hope that something could arise in the future, especially Laurence. Ever since Bai Yohan solved that missing girl's case, Laurence's view on him changed drastically and he believed that Bai Yohan could solve anything if he put his mind into it and if he had the resources for it. Laurence made his way to go encourage the younger detective and offer him more help.

Bai Yohan was grateful for the support. Even if he couldn't get the person responsible for these crimes, he still had time to find out more suspects. He wanted to make whoever that person was pay for their crimes. and continued to work hard that day, talking to several other investigators and discuss their findings. While Bai Yohan was discussing his findings with the others, Gillian was sorting out some files before pausing. He saw a particular name in one of those files; something that's not exactly linked to the case, but is another investigation all together led by another detective. His eyes darkened as a sudden flash of suspicion crossed his thoughts. He needed to confirm his suspicions tonight.

The amber lights dimmed as night was approaching, Bai Yohan finished what he needed to do, and he was quite tired, so he decided to not work any overtime today. As he was walking out of the building, he paused as he looked at the moving sunset. The golden light illuminated his face, making his face look softer. The detective stood there for several minutes before exhaling. The day was sure a beautiful one, it was a pity he didn't get to enjoy it longer. As he was about to start walking out of the gates, Gillian popped up out of nowhere.

"Jesus!" Bai Yohan was startled. "I swear, just where the hell do you pop out from?" He added as he slapped the other on the shoulder.

"It's your fault for not paying attention to your surroundings." Gillian retorted. Bai Yohan humped as he crossed his arms.

The two walked side by side talking about irrelevant things, completely forgetting about work and other important matters. Bai Yohan lived quite close to Gillian, just about a 10 minute walk, so they usually walked home together. Their old college and university were also quite close as well, that's how they wound up meeting each other. When Bai Yohan first met Gillian, the other didn't have that distinctive scar on the side of his mouth, instead, his skin was flawless and his eyes much brighter. However, Gillian was off for a whole week before returning to school with a scar on his face. Bai Yohan didn't get much of the details of what truly happened, however, he did know that Gillian was attacked by some madman. How he survived, he still doesn't know, what he does know is that Gillian did end up killing the madman in self-defence. At that time, Bai Yohan didn't know what to think, someone he knew killed another, but after a while as he matured, he understood and completely supported Gillian. In a situation like that, what can a 17-year-old do? Being attacked out of nowhere and not knowing how to escape, that's the last thing that can be done, no?

Nevertheless, he's glad that Gillian made it out alive that day.

The house that's closer to the agency was Bai Yohan's so he quickly said his goodbye and quietly headed to his home. For a moment, Gillian stared at Bai Yohan's door before continuing to walk the path to his home. Minutes passed and as he got closer to his home, he didn't open his door, instead he went to the garage to take out his car.

He wasn't going to rest just yet.