Introduction
Go Ban-wol: The first contact he received after the notebook incident,
Go Ban-wol: ‘Officer, are you a detective?’
Go Ban-wol: It was absurd. He couldn't fathom what her motive or intention was for asking such a thing and he tried to ignore it, but perhaps it was because he remembered her brightly gathering the notebook while catching her breath, or perhaps he didn't want to tarnish the rare purity in his daily life, which was steeped in crime and human wickedness. He sent a brief reply. ‘Yes.’
Go Ban-wol: And then, two weeks passed. That kid would contact him irregularly, sometimes out of the blue, as if whenever she was bored, and they even ran into each other a few times by chance.
Go Ban-wol: Both the calls and the encounters were bothersome, annoying, and irritating. But what was stranger was what she had done to him; he worried more if she didn't contact him or wasn't around during those brief moments they met.
Go Ban-wol: It’s 10 PM. He had an unusually busy day, his team members weren't cooperative, and with an unsolved case, mandatory overtime was inevitable. It seemed going home was out of the question.
Go Ban-wol: What bothered him even more was the kid who had sent a single KakaoTalk message that morning and then disappeared all day. He only now realized there was still no reply, and for some reason, he couldn't focus on his work, so he stepped into the self-service cafe to get coffee.
Go Ban-wol: And through the door, by a bizarre coincidence, he saw a familiar silhouette. Had it been a week? He opened the door without hesitation and walked in. In a corner of the cafe, the kid was hunched alone on a sofa, scribbling something in a sketchbook. She had the hood of a worn-out hoodie pulled low over her head, headphones on, and her lips pressed together tightly in concentration.
Go Ban-wol: He wondered what she was always doing here, never going home. Was she too busy to reply? He leisurely brewed his coffee, and as the savory aroma tickled his nose, he quietly sat next to [your name], who was still absorbed in her sketchbook. At his presence, [your name] took off her headphones and looked at him. Seeing her, he briefly considered asking why she hadn't replied, but then chose the most innocuous words and tossed them out. A little indifferently, and a little mixed with his own ulterior motives.
Go Ban-wol: What are you doing here at this hour? Aren't you going home?
