Alice sat at the counter of Joe's bubble tea bar and drank her beverage while working on her laptop. She saw a reflection of someone on her screen and asked, "Did you just get out of class?"

"I finished today's test early," Shun replied, taking the seat next to Alice. "Otherwise, class would end in another hour. What are you doing here by yourself today?"

"Anubias switched my time slot with someone else for the next few weeks, so I don't need to go back immediately after lunch break." Alice finished drafting an email and dimmed the screen. "Where and how did you come up with that script for last week?"

"It was a combination of solar system vocabulary from science class and literature analysis in English class. Middle school wasn't that bad..."

"But isn't that almost least ten years ago?! Why make it public just now? And for the sake of catching a perpetrator?"

"The script that I gave you is slightly different from my homework assignments, but I wasn't expecting you to improvise on-air. You made the script so much better..."

Alice giggled at Shun's compliment. "Creativity goes a long way. If you don't mind, I'll keep the script at my desk. It's still a 'masterpiece'—as Julie calls it—no matter how much variation there is."

"Glad that you like it."

"I'd like it even more if you captured the words I verbally said onto a framed canvas."

"And will you finally decorate your work desk and house with canvas paintings if I actually did what you requested?"

The redhead leaned back and gasped as a blush spread across her face. "Why do you still remember these things...?"

"Because I—"

"Why hasn't anything happened yet?!" Dan suddenly groaned loudly as all customers stared at him. "Shun and Alice are here already. Joe, can I get a regular-sized coconut milk tea with mini pearl?"

"You got it!" replied the owner.

"What are you talking about, Dan?" Shun asked.

"I thought you said that reading a romantic essay on-air would 'reach out' to the perpetrator and lure them out. What if we blew our cover?"

"There's no way that could happen. Only the three of us, Anubias, and your police colleagues know about this."

Alice opened her folder and pulled out the script. "The underlying meaning is that 'I' am experiencing emotional distress and would like 'a certain person' to leave me alone. I didn't specify whom this 'person' is, although I implied only see this person as a friend or acquaintance and will not reciprocate any romantic feelings that this 'person' has for me."

"You emphasized a lot about havoc and consequences, actually..." the brunet recalled.

"If I'm not mistaken, nobody is actually bothering Alice to that extent," stated Shun. "But unless the obsessed fan knows what Alice isn't under real emotional distress in present day, then—"

"What if the obsessed fan works at the radio station?!" Dan blurted after grabbing his drink. "Or at least in the same building? Alice literally works there nonstop, so anyone that can observe most of her daily habits would be someone from work."

Alice dropped her cup on the counter and spilled milk tea everywhere. "Does that mean I'm in even more danger?! What if I can't ever step outside of my house again?!"

Joe saw the puddle and grabbed a damp towel. "Let's clean up first before your laptop is in danger of short-circuiting."

Alice turned off her laptop while Dan received an incoming call. "Hi Runo. I'm at Joe's place. Do you want to order—"

"Now's not the time for refreshments! I highly think that Gunz is hiding something and need you to get to the bottom of this."

"I'm not supposed to tell you this, but he is on our watchlist already. Let me call Chan." The brunet hung up and then called his supervisor. "Hey Chan, Runo called and told me that she believes Gunz is participating in suspicious—"

"Dan, you need to come to Anubias's office right now. I'm on my way to see him because we suspect that Gunz has been missing for the past three days."

"Gunz is missing?!" screamed Dan. Shun and Alice both stared in surprise as the police trainee finished talking. "Copy that. I'll be there soon."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Anubias returned to his office with a huge binder from the human resources department. Sitting in his office were Chan, Dan, Julie, and Runo. "I apologize for the trouble that's happened. This binder contains all current and former employees that have worked directly under Free BV Radio. Do you really think that the perpetrator works here?"

Dan flipped through the binder pages as Chan answered. "This person is obsessed. They'd have to be close to here to observe Alice and the people around her. Is there anyone who idolizes Alice more than the average person? How about new people that haven't been here for long?"

"I don't know anyone that's particularly 'diehard', but the most recent new staff member after Alice is Gunz, who apparently didn't show up to work for a few days and isn't returning my calls."

"I knewthat he was engaging in suspicious activity. Listen to this." Runo placed her phone on Anubias's desk and played a recording that featured part of Gunz's conversation with someone. "He left quickly after Alice changed the program the other day, so I followed him and recorded this. It has to mean something."

"Runo, that can mean anything," Anubias refuted. "It does sound suspicious, but all he mentioned is what Alice was doing and nothing else. This is weak evidence."

"But Runo does have a point," Dan agreed. "Anyway, I found Gunz's work profile. We've been following Gunz for the past few days since everyone seems to have issues with him, but he hasn't been to his usual places lately—"

"Including his workplace," Julie growled.

"Yeah, that too...and it didn't seem odd to any of you?"

Runo shrugged her shoulders. "People nowadays just disappear when they don't like a job anymore, which is why retention rates for less important jobs are rather low."

Chan glanced at Gunz's home address and called Billy immediately. "Hey Billy, I'm still at Anubias's office, but I'll text you Gunz's actual address since we got his PO box last time. Go there immediately with Robin and Jake. Dan and I will be there soon." The police madam hung up and sent the text before calling Dan to leave. "Thanks for everything, Anubias. We'll keep you updated."

During the car ride to their destination, Dan discreetly asked his supervisor, "Do we really think that Gunz is the obsessed fan?"

"Dan, we're not even entirely sure that the perpetrator is truly one of Alice's diehard fans or that they work in the building. They're just convenient theories that require our knowledge to prove or disprove. It's not normal for someone like Gunz to just cut off from the world without prior notice." She parked the police car in front of a store and unlocked the doors. "It appears that Billy borrowed one of my colleague's cars. Let's go upstairs."

As the two ran up the stairs, someone wearing a silver-gray bike helmet and workout suit ran downstairs and bumped into Dan, who screamed, "Dude, watch where you're going!"

"Forget about it!" Chan yelled.

"But he hit me really hard!"

Chan arrived at the apartment and entered the open front doors. "Billy, there you are. Find anything yet?"

The blond trainee shook his head and held up some power cords. "Someone actually broke into here before we arrived. Everything else looks untouched, but the laptop is missing. This charging cable is still warm."

Dan massaged his arm but snapped his fingers. "That guy that bumped into me with the corner of something. Chan, what if he had the laptop?!"

"He did not look like Gunz, but we're all going after him downstairs right now!" she ordered. The entire team rushed downstairs, and the police madam spotted their target on the sidewalk. "Billy and Dan, you two go around the block and stop him from there. Robin and Jake, you two come with me."

"Got it!" replied everyone.

After a long chase down a few streets, Chan and her team continued chasing until she saw a small car driving. "If you cross the street now, then I can't guarantee that you won't get hit by the car!"

The laptop thief crossed the street anyway, while the incoming driver braked the vehicle. On the opposite end of the street were Dan and Billy, who rushed forward and grabbed the thief and laptop. "Gotcha!"

Chan slowed down her pace and placed handcuffs on laptop thief. "Dan, put this guy in the backseat of my car before you take the front seat. Billy, take the laptop and return to the station with Robin and Jake in your car." After the trio left, the police madam pointed her finger at the thief. "You have a lot of explaining to do, man..."

After initial processing and finding an empty interrogation room at the police station, Chan and Dan took their seats in front of the suspect. The police madam looked at the suspect's driver license and asked, "Is your first name really Wiseman? What were your parents thinking?!"

"That's what it says on my birth certificate!"

"Whatever! Why were you in Gunz's apartment in the first place?"

"I'm his boss and have a spare key to his apartment."

"Hello?! Gunz works for Free BV Radio, not some exercise buff like you!"

"Madam Lee, I'm just as serious about his real job as I am about my birth name. He works for me under Dispatch Daily. My work ID is my bag."

Dan searched through Wiseman's messenger bag and a photo ID with Wiseman's face and job title. "He's not lying, Chan. In fact, this is the same tabloid that released the video of Alice's hospital incident."

His supervisor leaned closer to Wiseman after pounding the table. "What else are you hiding?"

"I admit to planting Gunz into Free BV Radio solely to obtain details about the drama between Alice and Dylan. But then the threatening packages came, so Gunz wanted to stay longer. I told him to be careful and not to blow his cover, but he hasn't replied to me for a few days. I took his laptop so I can continue working from where he left off."

Chan finally calmed down and returned to her seat, just before someone knocked and opened the door. "Billy, we're still interrogating. Can this—"

"We need to talk."

The police madam handed everything off to Dan before stepping outside. "This had better be important, Billy."

"Someone called the emergency line after seeing bloody red water come out of the faucet at some old building. I told Robin and Jake to investigate because I was still unlocking the laptop. They found a body in the water tank on the roof. We all think it's Gunz."

"Well...that changes everything..."

-x-x-x-x-x-

"...and that's exactly what she told me. It could be why he was gone for the past few days."

At the Kuso residence, Shun drew more circles and arrows on his whiteboard after listening to Dan explain his findings. "The killer is smart. They chose a secluded abandoned building that's up for demolition in hopes that the evidence will disappear soon."

"Demolition was scheduled for tomorrow, but Chan successfully requested postponement. You can thank some idiots for choosing that unlucky building to party at. But if Gunz is dead, then is he not the obsessed fan?"

"We can't be certain. Gunz seems really dedicated to his boss at Dispatch Daily, who released the misleading video of Alice. He probably pretended to be one of Alice's biggest fans just to get close to her. If my theory still stands true, then the real obsessed fan probably eliminated Gunz because Gunz started this mess. If Gunz released the video to start a scandal, then he could've released that 'blacklist threat' audio clip as well. It was it first day of work, too. He was there to hear Dylan."

"The video did nothing to help Alice, but the audio earned her more fans and support."

"Or maybe the obsessed fan hates Gunz because he deceived Alice altogether. Who else is left for us to suspect?"

"Alice herself."

The raven-haired student drew a long streak across the board by accident. "Dan, why would you question the victim? Do you know how traumatized Alice is?"

"I'm not saying that she directly killed or hurt anyone, but she could be taking advantage of this drama to boost her popularity and reputation."

"That, I won't argue with you about. Maybe my plan with reading the script did work, because the obsessed fan did do something—in the form of eliminating Gunz. But why haven't we seen the package yet?"

"Do you really want more gross stuff traveling in the mail?"

"Alice received teeth and hair as proof of Dylan and Katie's mishaps. But Gunz isn't coming back, so what could the perpetrator possibly send to Alice? Especially since Gunz's body was submerged for—"

"No more disgusting details for me! Good night!"

With Dan upstairs in the bathroom, Shun erased his mistake marks and flipped the board over. Did Alice have anything to benefit from her friends dying? He suddenly dropped his marker at the mere thought. Alice genuinely hates Lync and feels disturbed by the obsessed fan. Nobody in their right mind would ask for this...

-x-x-x-x-x-

Runo packed Gunz's belongings into cardboard boxes and replaced the lids. "How exactly did we end up hiring a paparazzi reporter? Who approved his work application?"

"Forget about it, Runo. At least he's gone." Julie taped the boxes and moved them to a corner near the double doors. "Can one of you guys wipe down the desk? It's so dusty."

Rafe dampened a washcloth in the breakroom to clear the dust. "Gunz was a nice guy until we found out that he worked for the tabloids. I feel so stupid right now."

"Don't beat yourself up over it," Jack reassured. "Besides, we still haven't caught—"

"Good morning!" Everyone jumped after hearing an uncommon voice from the double doors. Kato welcomed himself inside with a box in his hands. "Miss Alice has another package."

Everyone then retreated to their work desks, and Runo pointed at the package with a trembling hand. "Kato, you didn't need to come all the way up here. We could've picked it up if you—"

"Whoever used the recording room before Nene left a huge mess!" complained Alice as she exited the recording room. "Why are you hiding under your desks? Was there an earthquake?"

"No, but you have an equally deadly package!" screamed the Julie.

"Another package?"

The redhead accepted the package from Kato before he returned downstairs. Everyone else ran up to Alice and exclaimed, "Don't open it!"

"Can you all please calm down?! If the obsessed fan sent me this, then it's not something that will physically harm me. Besides, I finally replaced my paper knife." Alice uncapped the blade and pierced through every piece of packaging tape. She lifted and flung the lid back. "See? I'm still in perfect condition."

"Is that a smartphone?" Jack asked. "And do you smell blood?"

With a pen, Rafe touched the cracks on the screen and gasped. "It's Gunz's phone. I recognize the phone case and cracked screen."

"This is evidence. I'm calling Dan." Runo stepped outside and dialed the brunet's number. "You have no idea what kind of package just came in today."

"Is it something that belongs to Gunz's body? That's what Shun thinks."

"Not at all. It's actually Gunz's smartphone. What should we do with it?"

"Thank goodness it's not a body part! Anyway, keep the phone in the box. I'll tell Chan when I see—"

"Julie, what are you doing?!" After Runo's sudden scream, Dan stopped talking. The double doors opened as Julie dragged the bluenette back inside. "You're hurting my arm! Why's everyone at the recording room windows? And where's Alice?"

"That's the problem! She said she's going on air to teach the obsessed fan an unforgettable lesson!"

Dan heard the Australian's cry and gasped. "Runo, I'm leaving. I need to find Chan immediately."

After the call ended, the bluenette tried opening the door, but Alice surprisingly flipped the rarely used lock switch. In an audio message, Runo said, "What are you doing?! There has to be more peaceful methods than calling someone out on air in public!"

Why should I resolve this peacefully when the perpetrator used violence to begin with? Despite hearing Runo's message, the radio host still approached Nene, who stared in surprise. "Nene, can I interrupt your program for a moment?"

"Uh...sure?"

"Thank you, because I'm seriously fed up with this." Alice gripped the main microphone tightly and stared into the camera that was livestreaming Nene's program. "This is Alice Gehabich from 'AOA: Alice On-Air'. Here's a message to the person who sent me another package today—stop mailing me things and stop bothering the people around me. Do you really think you're doing me a big favor? Get real. This is the most disrespectful thing that anyone's ever done to me. How dare you hide in the corner and use me as your excuse to justify the unethical things you did? Once I find out who you are, I will personally send you to the police station."

To her advantage or not, all major TV and radio channels halted their current programs to livestream Alice as well. Social media also blew up with discussions about the radio host's stern warning.

She ended her rant with a finger pointed at the camera and the coldest glare that anyone had seen. "This isn't over."