March 10th, 1989

11.56 PM

"Good evening. Your name, Sir?" came a voice from the doorbell microphone. Joshua pulled down his window and pushed the button to speak.

"Good evening. It's officer Hong" he said and in a few seconds, the gate in front of them opened, clearing the way for them to drive through. "Make sure to keep your eyes wide open here" he didn't even turn to look at them when he warned. Looking straight ahead he instructed them to stay together and alerted either one when they found anything suspicious. Although the advocate was a well-respected guy who had total authority over the security, Joshua never dared to put his trust in anyone within those walls. He was the person when he feels something is off he KNOWS something is definitely off. "And let's not get blood on your hands, guys. Especially you, Jihoon," he teased. Both Joshua and Seungkwan were rather surprised when he said he's in for it, as they thought he would bail on them. To be honest, he was a lot more enthusiastic than the two officers that scared Joshua a little.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot !" Seungkwan tapped on the older one. " you don't have to worry about it much. We already have our people inside. They'll be your hand if anything goes wrong."

"Okay, so how will I know it's them?"

"Keyword, Blue diamond"

"Roger"

Joshua pulled up in front of the main entrance of the huge manor and upon getting out of the car, they were welcomed by Mr.Zhao, the advocate himself.

"Officer Hong, Officer Boo" He offered both of them a handshake. "The other chap, where is he?" to find Jun he glanced about shortly. Mr. Zhao had a soft spot in his heart for Jun since he, too, was Chinese, and throughout their initial inquiry, the young man was both nice and focused on his work, earning him a sweet spot in his heart. And not just Jun, but also the other two. Even if Joshua had concerns, the lawyer appeared entirely to trust them.

" You mean Officer Wen, sir? Something came up at the last minute so he had to attend to that, Mr.Zhao," Seungkwan answered. " So officer Lee joined us for tonight!". Jihoon came in front of both of the other officers, gave a small bow, and shook hands with Mr.Zhao. He looked quite pleased.

"Shall we?". All three followed behind the advocate into the manor that looked like a small world unto itself. Jihoon tried to keep it professional and ignore the interior but it was too glorious to be ignored. The mansion was all concrete with predominant colors of tan and gold highlights, creating an interesting contrast to the original interior trim painting and a big chandelier in the center that hangs as the main eye-catcher of the main entrance. Tall glass windows gave a view of the night sky just above the garden outside. Going through the door on the east facade, they came into the grand hallway. He was quite distracted by the whole manor that he even started to believe what Seungkwan said about the advocate could have been the reason for the CEO to disappear just to have the whole place to himself was true. That may also be an extremely probable cause.

"Jihoon?" Joshua murmured and touched his shoulder for his attention, bringing him back to the reality of him being there for an important assignment and not falling in love with the manor. Before he joined Seungkwan who was engaging Mr.Zhao with some questions, he gave a glance that said, "You know what to do." Jihoon understood what he had to do, gave out a sigh, and walked over to the advocate.

" I'm really sorry for interrupting the conversation, Mr.Zhao." The three of them came to a halt and turned to face him. He offered a gentle bow and smiled. " I didn't foresee the last-minute substitution and the long travel, but could I use the um..."

"The restroom?"

"Oh yes! The restroom. It's a little awkward and embarrassing!" he confessed. The other two giggled a little and made him regret what he was doing. He had to continue with the act, though.

"Oh, no son. No need to feel embarrassed. This occurs to me all the time!!" The advocate laughed and assured him with a smile and signaled the young servant who was standing behind them with the tea tray to come forward. " Kindly show this gentleman where the restroom is," he instructed. The servant quickly entered the study room to keep the tea tray and came to Jihoon's assistance. The officer thanked Mr.Zhao and before leaving with the servant he gave Joshua a nod and followed him to the restroom.

'This is where it starts for me. I'll just have to find the guy to help me.....'

"Officer?" the servant called him, as they entered a small hall, with a few rooms on either side. "I'm Jinyoung." Jihoon gave a questionable look at him. " Um.... Blue diamond ?"

"Oh, so it's you."

"Yes sir," Jinyoung smirked, a proud one at that. " Are you ready? This isn't where the washroom is so we need to do it quickly"

"You bet! Now let's get this over with shall we?" Jihoon pulled out a few wires from his suit and a couple from his belt. They were micro surveillance cameras handed to him in the car by Joshua. "How come they didn't check us?"

" For Mr.Zhao, The security DID check you before letting in" Jinyoung answered, flashing a wink at Jihoon. Only then he understood that even the security was helping them as well.

"Just how many you are in this ???" he questioned, unable to comprehend how well-planned his friends were.

" About 10 of us I suppose"

"I still have a lot of questions on how they were able to get their hands on you all so you, Jinyoung, are gonna explain after we're done with this"

"Aye aye officer"

"Oh please, Just call me Jihoon Hyung"

Jihoon fixed the first camera, right on the entrance of the hallway that has the storeroom at the far end, the office for all those who work there to sign up for the day before they entered the manor and the pantry, and a few more. As per Jinyoung, that was the most common place anyone would come and go. From a servant to the security, being the prime area to capture anyone in the manor.

"That should do," he confirmed. The next stop was to the kitchen. It wasn't very far. Apart from the east wing, which only the CEO and his trusted associates were allowed to enter, the rest of the mission was pretty accessible. And also close by. The Kitchen and the dining hall were on the west side of the mansion. When they entered, many servants were already there. Jihoon looked at the other, questioning how they're gonna do this.

"I'll do this, Hyung" Jinyoung took a camera from him and walked into the kitchen. The officer was just looking at him curiously, unsure of how he was going to finish the job. The young lad began a casual conversation with the chef, and while speaking, he slid the camera into his palm secretly. The chef turned and nodded to Jihoon, who returned the gesture, assuming he was also part of their insider team.

"That went well, didn't it?" Jinyoung exclaimed with glee. Jihoon patted him and they continued what they had to do. The officer didn't have much time and he had to make sure that he wasn't suspected. Although the other two officers presumably were doing their job with the advocate, he still needed to make sure others in the mansion don't get any doubts as to why he was roaming around with the young servant.

' I hope they're doing better than I am.'

---

" I hope he's doing better than we are," complained Seungkwan. " What if someone walks right through the door now and thinks Mr.Zhao is dead ?!"

"Relax, no one's gonna barge in like that. Everyone knows he has a meeting with us," Joshua explained, adjusting Mr.Zhao properly on the couch to make sure he doesn't fall. He eventually managed to achieve that after a few efforts. " and besides I fixed a surveillance camera just outside and the main East door too so we'll know if anyone comes'' he pulled out a small laptop-like device and showed it to Seungkwan who was astonished seeing that

" How did you manage to get all these !?!?" Seungkwan asked. He took the device from his hand and saw each screen displaying different locations inside the mission. All the places Jihoon has successfully fixed the cameras.

"Let's just say I got lucky with a friend of mine in the US. He works at a place where they fuse science and practicality."

"So he's basically a scientist ?"

"Most likely. He said he wanted to give this to me as a birthday and Christmas present. I didn't know it would come in handy until now. So why not use it, right?"

"I don't care who your friend is or how messed up it'll be if Seungcheol Hyung finds out, but remember to put me on the squad in the future right? "I'm on board with you 100 percent."

"If Seungcheol reacts in any way other than appreciating me, I'm just gonna forget his existence in my life."Joshua's remark made Seungkwan crack up so hard. The older officer couldn't care less about his leader at that point. He began looking through the shelves of books to see what he might discover. The sorts of books the CEO reads may also be a clue to everything for all he knows. Seungkwan joined the older. He went through Mr.Khang's study desk and the shelves.

"So how long do we have before he wakes up?" Seungkwan asked while sitting on the chair and through every paper on top of the CEO's desk.

"About an hour or two most probably. If he still doesn't get up then Jinyoung said he'd take care." 2 hours was more than enough for those two to get something out of there. They weren't looking for anything in particular; instead, they were looking for everything they could discover. "He sure reads a lot about time travel and space." He took out his small notepad and wrote the details down. For an officer, no detail should be left out. Taking out the books one by one, he scanned each page. This time they knew they wouldn't leave the manor without any clue for sure. No matter what it takes to find it.

---

"Well...I guess this is the last one I guess," Jihoon stated, holding the last micro camera in his hands. They were able to manage without getting caught by anyone, given the fact that they had people working for them to ensure that. They still needed to go to one last place. The CEO's bedroom. Despite the fact that the officers checked in the place the last time they came to investigate, they still needed to know what goes on when they aren't there. As till that day, the advocate's been the prime suspect by his teammates, and they need to confirm the truth to connect the dots clearly.

Both of them headed straight to the room of the CEO without a second of wasting. Jihoon did get sidetracked here and thereby the manor's appearance but the décor on the walk to the CEO's bedroom piqued his interest. Great pictures of individuals, of whom he had no notion, displayed on the left wall. Probably they were the ancestors of the CEO's family. He took a while seeing each one when he realized he was in a critical situation he rushed to join Jinyoung, who turned to another turn, but rammed himself into something and fell to the ground. At first, he thought he hit the wall a step before turning to the bedroom but when he looked straight he noticed another guy, around his 30s, had fallen as well. Not only him but the man dropped all his things on the ground.

"I'm so sorry sir. It's my fault I didn't see you coming" Jihoon immediately apologized, feeling ashamed of his carelessness. The man however was panicking and trying to pick up his things from the ground while ignoring Jihoon. Jihoon felt bad so he tried helping him but the man pushed his hand away and the officer was taken aback for a second.

" I-I-I'm deeply sorry for what I did. I don't want to bother you by letting you help me" the man said as he hurriedly gathered everything and stuffed it into his bag. Jihoon didn't want to make the other more panicked than he already was so he got up and took a step back. The man looked like he saw a ghost and was trying his best to stay calm. Jihoon didn't wanna assume anything but he did feel the man's behavior was rather odd.

"There you are," Jinyoung called out. "I thought I lost you somewhere else-, wait what happened here?"

"I was following you but then um...I bumped into this man over here. It was my fault for-" Jihoon tried to explain when he was cut off.

"Oh no officer, I was in a hurry and wasn't paying attention. Please do forgive me," saying that and without getting a reply from Jihoon the man left. Walking away without turning back.

"don't mind him much, he's just the cleaner," Jinyoung stated nonchalantly. "I have no clue what's gotten into him these days. Being more careless than when the CEO was around." he crossed his arm with a scornful look, making Jihoon laugh.

"Does he always look like that?"

"You mean like he's scared of something? Yeah, he always does. Mostly when he makes minor mistakes. He'd look way worse than this. Even a child's laugh would scare him off" he chuckled. "Let's go Hyung."

"Coming...." the officer answered and turned to follow Jinyoung again when his eyes caught something on the floor. Jihoon knelt down to examine more closely. 'Hmm, just a ring'. He picked it up and was surprised to find how big the ring was. He wondered if the cleaner dropped it when they bumped into each other. So he slipped it into his pocket and went into the room.