Chapter Text
There was an undeniable irony to be found in this situation, but he didn't have the willpower to look into it deeper. Not while sitting in a dimly lit, foul-smelling alleyway in the heart of a city that is slowly but surely crying out for his blood. Blood of Shin family.
In the back of his head, he figured it made sense for them to hate and despise him. He had been a bully and is the son of a murderer who had deceived and poisoned them while maintaining a cheerful and compassionate façade. It was only natural for them to feel betrayed after being fooled by his father's kind mask. Hyeok-Woo knew the man behind the mask far too well, unlike the mayor who was more of a stranger—a figure he had encountered only during occasional public events when he was younger, there only to paint his father as a loving, devoted family man, despite his numerous responsibilities to the city. But, truthfully, he never spent much time with the mayor, not that would stop their hatred, given that Hyeok-Woo thrived on the dirty money amassed at the expense of those unaware. Hyeok-Woo found it more baffling that there were still people supporting his father, rather than seeing the truth
He gazed up at the sky, far above the towering buildings, pondering how it would feel to escape from it all—to soar away from his current situation. But where would he go? He knew enough English to travel abroad, but living there alone would be completely different. Regardless, he couldn't remain where he was now. He couldn't stay and witness his father's release, allowing him to continue his cruel plans. Since Hyeok-Woo had failed to complete what he started at the hospital, he had no choice but to run. It was somewhat comical that he dreamt of flying when he was too weak to walk.
A part of him sneered at his own weakness. "Get up already! Are you an animal, sitting in the dirt? Why are you being so damn dramatic about this? You're fine, aren't you? Fine, then stay there, you worthless trash." It sounded like his father. Hyeok-Woo blinked at the thoughts and snorted, which triggered a series of coughs escaping his lungs. He winced when the sudden move made his bruised ribs burn. "Damn this smell."
"Are you okay?" Startled by the familiar voice, he turned his head. There, around the corner of the street, stood a figure with curly hair and a face he knew all too well.
He closed his eyes and groaned. "Go away."
For a moment, the sound of footsteps echoed through the street, and Hyeok-Woo almost breathed a sigh of relief, but then the steps grew louder. He opened his eyes once more, only to find So Mun standing directly in front of him.
"Didn't you hear me? What are you standing there for? Fuck off already," Hyeok-Woo muttered, getting up and preparing to leave.
"Wait," So Mun snapped his hand up and grabbed him by the wrist.
"Don't touch me!" Hyeok-Woo pulled his arm back, stepping away from So Mun, who stared at him with a frozen look of surprise. Hyeok-Woo raised an eyebrow at the dumbfounded expression. A moment passed before So Mun finally cleared his throat and lowered his arms, stuffing them into the pockets of his black jacket. "Can we talk?"
Hyeok-Woo swallowed, taken aback by So Mun's sudden meekness. It seemed insane for little Mr. Golden to be one feeling guilty between them, so he didn't know how to react to it. "What is there to talk about between us?" he retorted.
"A lot, actually. It's important," So Mun insisted.
"What’s got you to look so serious?" Hyeok-Woo scoffed.
Still, So Mun didn't back down. "I am serious. It's a matter of life and death. Please."
Hyeok-Woo squinted with a perplexed look, but after a while, he nodded slightly. "...Fine."
So Mun widened his eyes at Hyeok-Woo's retreating figure, about to reach out and grab him again. "Where are you going?"
The ginger-haired boy snorted and looked back. "Do you want to have your super serious talk in a dark, filthy alleyway that smells like something died and its corpse is still here?" He gestured for So Mun to follow him and began walking away. "Just walk, since now you finally can."
And so they did. In silence, they strode through the streets, as any attempt at small talk from So Mun was met with a scoff or a side-eye that was starting to grate on his nerves. Instead, he kept his thoughts to himself. He had a lot on his mind ever since he finally found his former bully.
"Come on," Hyeok-Woo snapped his head back, gesturing with his thumb toward a spacious white building on their left. They both entered, with So Mun slightly trailing behind, taking in the wide hallway adorned with pretty lights and chic furniture. It wasn't as extravagant as the super fancy places he imagined rich assholes like Hyeok-Woo frequented. While modern and stylish, the place had a relaxed vibe with soft music playing—a new K-pop song that had been recently released—and distant chatter filling the air. As they walked, So Mun noticed that the music seemed to be coming from the reception desk, where a girl around their age sat. Wearing glasses and a black turtleneck, her long black hair was neatly braided. Her name tag read "Ha Yoon."
She glanced at them and rolled her chair closer to the desk, engrossing herself in the laptop in front of her.
"Is my usual room empty?" Hyeok-Woo asked.
She nodded. "Hi, yeah, want me to send your favorite drinks up too?"
He shook his head. "No, just whatever today's specialty is," he glanced over his shoulder at So Mun, who forced his wandering gaze to meet Hyeok-Woo's. The other boy huffed and turned back, mumbling, "No alcohol."
The girl blinked, her gaze shifting to So Mun, who quickly bowed in greeting. She raised an eyebrow but returned the gesture. "Of course."
"Alcohol?" So Mun mumbled. The girl smiled politely. "This is a karaoke bar but also a billiard club, so, of course, we have alcohol." Her grin turned mischievous. "Not that I would give any to minors, though. Sorry." Hyeok-Woo huffed, "Yeah, yeah, I remember." So Mun felt like there was a story behind their conversation that he didn't know. But speaking of which, wasn't Hyeok-Woo already celebrating his 19th birthday? So he was older than him, huh?
"Anything else?"
"No, thanks." Hyeok-Woo walked further down the hallway. So Mun bowed again and quickly thanked Ha Yoon before rushing to catch up.
"Hyeok-Woo," the girl called, but the boy merely stilled instead of turning back. "He seems like a sweetheart. Don't be too mean to him. No trouble in the club, remember?"
"He could and did beat my ass," Hyeok-Woo retorted over his shoulder. "More than once." Mun grimaced, but only boisterous laughter answered them as they entered the elevator.
So Mun was taken aback when they entered the room at the end of the hallway and found drinks and plates of light food already waiting for them. "Wow, they made our restaurant seem like amateurs and we're the ones with super speed." Hyeok-Woo merely took a seat on one of the couches.
"Talk. What do you want from me?" Hyeok-Woo demanded with crossed arms.
So Mun startled. "I... Well, I..."
"If you came all the way here just to annoy me, the doors are that way," Hyeok-Woo interrupted, pointing towards the exit.
So Mun took a deep breath, gathering the courage to say what he had to. "When I was 5 years old, I got into a car accident. That's when I hurt my leg."
"Are you here to tell me your tragic backstory? I have no interest—" Hyeok-Woo began coldly.
"I survived, but my parents didn't," So Mun continued, cutting him off. The silence that followed was deafening.
"The guy who caused the accident crossed a red light while driving drunk and took his own life out of guilt afterward. At least, that's the official story," So Mun revealed. "But I was conscious after the crash, and I overheard him. He told someone else that he finished the mission. The accident was set up by someone to kill my parents."
The words left no room for doubt, and yet it seemed like they both were caught off guard by the revelation. "They were both in the police force, and they were so busy that I had to stay with my grandparents most of the time. They would work until evening, and I barely saw them. That night, I called them and lied, saying that I forgot my homework, so they came to pick me up. The car crash happened on the way back, and I blamed myself for so long."
"But then, I met Go Mo Tak. He was a detective working on the same case that got my parents killed and left me crippled. On the same day of the accident, he was stabbed multiple times and fell from a roof. He was in a coma for years and only recently regained his memory," So Mun explained, his voice filled with determination.
"So what? Are you trying to make me feel guilty about what I did with this?" Hyeok-Woo responded coldly, reaching for a glass in front of him.
So Mun gritted his teeth, his anger rising at the older boy's callous words. "The case they were investigating was the murder of Kim Yeong-nim, the same case that Mayor Shin—no, your dad—was arrested for, Hyeok-Woo," he revealed. "The mayor was the one behind her murder and the one who ordered the hit on Ahjussi and my parents."
"You- what the fuck are you saying?!" Hyeok-Woo slammed his glass onto the table, his white teeth bared for a moment before he sneered. "And do you even have any evidence? Spare me the bullshit, okay?! Do you think my dad is so easy to send to jail? He's already gaining public support again. People are even protesting in front of the police station, claiming 'harsh treatment' during his arrest. What's the point of sending him there when he'll just come back out when he wakes up?"
"That's why I need your help!" So Mun growled and hissed.
"Why would I help you?"
"Don't you want him gone!?" The question hung in the air, an accusation that pierced through them both, leaving a deafening silence behind.
So Mun gritted his teeth, willing his temper not to flare up again. "Do you believe that he isn't capable of killing someone to achieve his goals?"
“You think I don’t know how cruel he can be! If you came to me expecting me to be a witness against him then turn back immediately, you won’t even be able to open a case against him properly much less take him to court. You don’t have any evidence, do you?”
So Mun took a deep breath, considering the question carefully. "I believe there's a way," he replied with determination. “It won't be easy, and it won't happen overnight, but if we're persistent and smart about it, we can expose his crimes."
The other boy rolled his eyes "Oh yes, we just need, let’s see-” he counted off his fingers “Gather evidence, connect the dots, and build a strong case against him. You think playing detectives is easy?”
“I’m not playing!”
Hyeok-Woo scoffed "Even worse, that you’re being serious about it. How do you propose we do this? Do you think we can just walk into his office and find a folder labeled 'Evidence of My Crimes'?"
So Mun shook his head. "I know it won’t be that easy, but there has to be something that he didn’t destroy that we can use against him."
Hyeok-Woo turned to stare outside the window, eyes distant. "And what if we find something? What if we manage to gather evidence against him? You think the system will just take it from there and bring him to justice?"
He stared right ahead, locking eyes with his former bully. "Even if he manages to slither away again, I won't stop or back down. I will bring your dad down and make him pay for all the bad things he did, with or without your help. Even if I die trying." His voice spoke of conviction and relentless stubbornness. The hair on the back of Hyeok-Woo's neck lifted, and a quiver slithered in his stomach.
"You might. He will kill anyone that stands in his way. Me, you, doesn't matter who," Hyeok-Woo retorted, his voice filled with a mixture of dread and resignation.
So Mun locked eyes with Hyeok-Woo, refusing to back down. "Hyeok-Woo, are you gonna stand by him even after hearing about all this? Just because he is your father?"
Something sparked in Hyeok-Woo's heart, a cold and dark emotion he despised. He snorted, the bitterness evident in his voice. "Like me being his son ever mattered to him."
Immediately after the words left his mouth, Hyeok-Woo's eyes widened, and then they turned sharp, resentment building up inside of them once again. "Leave, I don't want to spend any more time on you."
So Mun reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, writing down something. "This is my phone number. Think this through more and give me your answer then. I hope you'll do the right thing so all the victims can move on to the afterlife peacefully, at least."
"...Whatever," Hyeok-Woo replied dismissively.
When Mun turned to leave, Hyeok Woo got up from his seat instinctively. "Wait," he said "You said that your detective looked into this case."
Hyeok-Woo's arms visibly trembled, his anxiety palpable. So Mun's concern deepened at the sight. "Do you... Do you know why he killed her?" Hyeok-Woo forced out, his voice strained.
So Mun wasn't in much better shape either, he had to search carefully for the words. He took a deep breath, his mind filled with the images of the crime scene. "She used to be a part of his election campaign, but then she..." His voice cracked as he met eyes with the red-haired delinquent. "We believe she got pregnant with his child, and that's why he got rid of her."
A heavy silence fell in the room, the weight of the revelation sinking in. The tension between them seemed to have grown tenfold in a matter of seconds.
So Mun looked at the boy who stood shell-shocked, his brows scrunched and pale face twisted with confusion and pain. Tension in his shoulders seemed to have frozen him before a small gasp for air left his mouth, small and shaky as if he had to fight his lungs so he could breathe. Suddenly, he slumped back on the floor, as if he were a marionette whose strings were cut off. So Mun instinctively moved to catch him but stilled when the other boy's eyes snapped to him, staring at him with unfiltered fear. Then, with great effort, he put his elbow on the seat behind him and the palm of his other hand on the floor, trying to pull himself back up, away from So Mun, even when his legs didn't want to cooperate.
So Mun watched.
His heart squeezed at the sight.
Somehow, during these few months as a counter, while he was investigating Major Shin and the death of Kim Yeong-nim, even when he found her body stuffed into a small yellow suitcase and heard of her pregnancy from Mo Tak after her autopsy, he never once thought about how closely related all of this is to his former bully, how that child would be Shin Hyeok-Woo's little sibling, had it been born. Had its father not decided to end the child's life before it could even begin, alongside its mother's.
He never imagined how Shin Hyeok-Woo would react to finding out about all of this or what would happen to him when his father's crimes were exposed.
So Mun eyed the bruises and split lip on the boy's face. A small part of him thought the redhead deserved it, as this wasn't even close to all that he did to the kids he used to bully. But much more than that, he felt bad seeing him injured for something his father did that he had nothing to do with. This wasn't the victims fighting back. His former friends - if those other bullies could even be called that - simply discarded him when his father's influence couldn't be of use to them any longer, and instead, they made him just another target to bully. Another victim.
It wasn't only students, nor only people in the school who grew wary of the surname Shin ever since the major's arrest a week ago. Their city, if not the whole of Korea, already knew about the arrest and the crimes the major was accused of.
And yet, from the brief memories he read, his son didn't agree with what the major did, nor did they have any sort of loving relationship like So Mun had with his parents before their deaths or the one he still has with his grandparents and even fellow Counters. Even his friendship with Woong-min and Ju-Yeon cannot be compared to the bullies who turned their backs on Kyeok-Woo the day his father was arrested.
Shin Hyeok-Woo was on his own against all of this.
"The police will probably approach you about it too. Insist on talking to a detective called Kang Han-wool when they do. He's one of the few who isn't under your dad's thumb, and he would be willing to hear you out properly," he said, but he knew it fell on deaf ears. The bully was paler, many shades lighter than a few minutes ago, and his eyes seemed vacant and fixated on the floor, as if unable to look up for fear of something. "Call me if you decide to testify against him or just need help again." He set a piece of paper on the table, with his number written on the other side, and left the room.
He could only hope Shin Hyeok-Woo would accept his help.
* * *
Even after So Mun left, Hyeok-Woo remained frozen on the floor of his usual room in the club. It was only when he noticed the sun was going down that he slowly came out, leaving almost untouched snacks and drinks on the table. After the discovery, he had no appetite nor strength to keep food in his stomach.
The walk home was normal, so normal that it didn't fit.
How could everything seem so fine after what he had just found out? It made no sense.
When he finally opened the doors of his house and stepped inside, he was surprised to see three extra pairs of shoes, two of which were in disarray. He frowned and looked around, but the living room seemed to be in the same state as when he left. "Looks like the police came to check the house again, and the housekeeper probably let them in before she left," he reasoned with himself. But at the same time, perhaps due to his encounter with the curly-haired hero wannabe from earlier, a deeply unsettling feeling settled in his gut.
The eerie silence was interrupted by low groaning and choking sounds coming from the left corridor, a place Hyeok-Woo usually never dared to venture. In an almost dazed state, he followed the noise until it led him to the doors of his father's office. He hesitated to go in and check if the police inside were the ones under his father's influence or the ones So Mun told him to seek out.
He didn't even need to, as the doors opened by themselves, causing him to flinch back. His father stood there, staring him down.
"What do you want?"
“You-you're back, father.” Hyeok-Woo stammered, bowing his head while he also peered inside the room, head still bowed, and saw that everything appeared the same as always. He bowed even more deeply and turned to walk away to his room. Just before he left the hallway, the feeling in his gut intensified to the point of nausea. He could feel his father's gaze on his back, but when he looked back, it wasn't his father's eyes staring at him. Instead, pure ebony black eyes replaced them. But just as suddenly as it happened, they were gone. Hyeok-Woo saw them switch, confirming that a moment ago, they were different and yet he just couldn’t understand what he saw.
Terrified, his mind screamed at him to run, but his upbringing whispered that this was not how things were dealt with in this house. So, he turned back and walked away wordlessly, keeping his heart lodged in his throat as best as he could, eyes fixed on the floor, and mouth pressed shut until he finally entered his room, where he nearly collapsed against the door.
His legs felt weak.
But they nearly buckled when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching his door. Quickly, he locked it, the click of the lock ringing out loudly in the room. He cursed inwardly for not doing it immediately upon entering.
There was a gasp on the other side. "No, don't touch him." Hyeok-Woo jolted at the sound of the doorknob rattling. "Still, we can't kill him yet. Now isn't the time. No, not yet." The rattling sound persisted, while on the other side, Hyeok-Woo gritted his teeth, desperately trying to stay silent while holding the door shut.
The rattling was so forceful that it felt like the door would break. Then, it abruptly stopped.
Silence.
After a few moments, he cautiously unlocked the door to check the hallway. When he saw it was safe, he locked the door again and collapsed against it, shaking and gasping for air.
"Shit, what the fuck was that?"
He stayed up late into the night, afraid to close his eyes, knowing that something was still lurking in his house, waiting to kill him.