Angel Smile 117 Scene 117

After all that plotting and waiting, in the end, things ended up this way. Everything had been a waste of time. In the end, all it took was a knife and a beating to take that man down.

It was too light of a punishment for that b*stard, he thought. He should have done something worse; break his kneecaps or something. But, it made him feel bad that he had hesitated in that last moment and allowed Hyuk to take the fall. He knew that although Hyuk was the one to deal the finishing blow, it was him who gave that b*stard a fatal enough wound that would make him bleed to his death even if Hyuk hadn't taken the matter into his own hands.

It was supposed to be him who should be in handcuffs right now. And for that, he felt guilty towards Hyuk.

"Hyung, how are you?" He says, partially worried and mostly trying to be civil. After all that had been happening, he was too exhausted to continue hating his brother.

"—Where's Yeo Ri?" Hyuk's tone was low, and the moment he raised his eyes to look at his younger brother, it was clear that he was trying very hard to suppress his ever-growing rage and impatience.

"..." Gun sighed. He should have known to just cut to the chase. "She woke up yesterday evening."

Hyuk's eyes widened. He abruptly stood up from the surprise, but he was cuffed to the table and could not move well.

"Where is she?! How is she?! Did she—" Hyuk breathed heavily, feeling agitated. He felt like ripping off the handcuffs and run off to Yeo Ri's side immediately and could not calm down. "—Has she asked for me?"

Gun contemplated for a while before answering him truthfully: "No."

Hyuk's eyes dulled. He collapsed into his chair with a rueful gaze. "Of course... of course she wouldn't..." Why would she, he thought. He was a murderer now. Any sane person would not want to associate with him.

"Yeo Ri... hasn't said much since she woke up," Gun sighed again. "She wouldn't even look at me, or at anyone."

"What's wrong with her? Hey, you better tell me honestly!"

"I think... she's still in shock," he said. "Don't worry; she'll get better soon. I'll make sure of it," Gun says softly, sounding as if he was trying to console himself rather than Hyuk.

"Oi, you better f*cking look after her, you hear?!" Hyuk roared. He felt so frustrated for the fact that he could not just break out of his constraints and go to her.

"You don't have to tell me that," Gun shot back. He scrunched his eyebrows in annoyance. If anything, he'd do a better job at taking care of Yeo Ri than Hyuk could ever do. After all, he practically raised her himself.

"I have to go talk to the cops now. I'll see you later, Hyung." Gun says, ending their meeting. He got up, ready to leave.

Hyuk snorted, looking away and ignoring the younger boy. He barely got any information out of him, making him feel annoyed.

Gun left the room, escorted by a police officer who then led him to a different but similarly designed room.

"Hello, Student Lee Gun," the older man who was sitting on a chair got up, greeting the younger boy. He was part of the team in charge of Hyuk's case and also one of the men who came to visit them at the hospital the day before. "Sit," he instructed with a smile.

"Make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink? Coffee?" He says amiably. Gun was a prime witness, and his testimony was important.

Gun shook his head. He had no plans of staying there for a long time, so he rejected the offer.

"I'm Detective Song Yoon Suk," the man introduced himself. He pointed to the person standing next to the door, "And that's my partner, Detective Pyo."

"This interview will be recorded. Is that fine?" Detective Song asked, gesturing to the phone on the table between them.

Gun nodded noncommittally in assent. "What is it that you want to know? I need to go back to check on my sister soon," Gun says, sounding polite despite his rude words.

"Yes, yes, of course," Detective Song smiled, his gait easy-going. "First thing's first, I'd like to hear your recount on the event that transpired a few days ago."

Gun tilted his head in thought, arranging his words before speaking.

"I was at school when I received a call from an acquaintance, telling me to go home, that my sister was in danger. When I got there, at around 12 p.m., my brother was already trying to knock down that man's bedroom door. I heard my sister scream, and before I knew it, Hyung broke the door and attacked that man. Yeo Ri was bleeding, so I called for an ambulance."

"Who was this acquaintance of yours and how did that person know about your sister's situation?"

"Hwang Se Jin-ssi. We met a few years ago and he has been helping me with various things," Gun introduced him briefly. "He was listening into the conversation through a bug that I planted in that man's room."

"Ah, yes. The bug. How did you get your hands on it? Why did you plant one there in the first place?" The detective nodded, remembering it. The recordings that it had captured were one of the substantial evidences of Lee Do Joon's crimes. Thanks to those recordings, they had managed to pinpoint several leads for a few unsolved cases.

"From Hwang Se Jin-ssi. Mainly to collect evidence. He's a serial killer, if it wasn't obvious enough."

"If you've known that he's a serial killer, why didn't you report it to the police sooner?" Detective Pyo could not resist from asking.

Gun smiled cynically in reply. "Do you think I haven't tried? I went to three different police stations, and did you know what they said? 'Why are you slandering your father? It's not good to report him just because he beats you sometimes', 'Is this a prank? Do you think the police are a joke? Scram!', 'We can't open an investigation right now. We're too busy and you don't have enough evidence for us to make an arrest'," Gun quoted blandly, reciting those harsh words that had been imprinted in his mind for years. "Just because I was a child, they wouldn't even take me seriously," he laughed sardonically.

"..." the detectives pursed their lips, feeling sorry for the child. They could only imagine how sad he must have felt back then after being rejected. As part of the police themselves, they felt terrible that he was forced to feel that way. It was no wonder that he did not rely on the authorities and spent his time collecting the evidence himself.

"Well, thanks to you, the kidnapped victims that are still alive could be saved," Detective Song says, trying to alleviate some of his scars. Going back to the earlier discussion, Detective Song continued to ask, "Also, what did you mean by 'my brother was already trying to knock down that man's bedroom door'? Was it locked?"

Gun nodded, "Yes. That man keeps his door locked all the time. It's as if there was something he was hiding in there."

The two detectives exchanged looks, knowing exactly what Gun had meant. They had found several items belonging to Lee Do Joon's victims inside one of the drawers in his room.

Listening to his explanation, the detectives discovered a discrepancy. "But earlier, you said that you had planted a bug in his room. How did you do that if the door is always locked?"

Gun paused before replying calmly, "I picked the lock."

"...I see." Detective Song furtively glanced at the file in his hand. It clearly stated in the report that Gun was a model top student who consecutively snagged the top spot in his grade, and was even in the top 1% in the mock exams. How can such a star-studded student know how to pick locks?

Kids are so scary these days, he thought.

Chapter end