By the time their supervisor from the Ministry of Education arrived, the HSK police had already settled on their subject. It sat strapped to a chair in one of their interrogation vans, blinking in mute terror as the murder investigation swirled around it. Outside, the victim lay cold in the gutter as the police catalogued the remains of the crime scene. "We found it not far from the body," the head detective explained with a sidewards sneer. "This one was easy."

"Then you've bungled this badly," the man from the Ministry announced, walking over and unstrapping the suspect. "This conjunction could never have been anywhere near the murder weapon. His presence in that context would be grammatically impossible." The man's voice was filled with the weary resignation which comes from seeing the worst of the worst in test-prep butchery. "You guys flubbed this badly tonight. I'd suggest you show better smarts with your other leads before I send you back to the HSK Beginner level for this screw-up."