Chapter 9

Ba Reum kept on closely following the case of Choi Young Shin, which had been so high profile that it hadn't been very difficult. He had easily found the blogs that accused her of trying to frame her political rival Shin, full of conspiracy theorists who were lying it on thicker and thicker.


But so far, it seemed that her lawyers were able to stave off the worst, creating as much doubt as they could, saying that his client had been framed. Insinuating that it could have been a political rival.


Ba Reum was afraid that she would get away without any punishment if he wouldn't up the ante. But how could he do more then he already did? Technically he is framing her, so her lawyers could get enough evidence against it.


He also didn't want anything from OZ to get out in the public, scared that it would start a witch hunt against people with the gene. While he understood that he and his father shared it, so did Yo Han. Why should someone good die because of people like them.


It wasn't even sure that Ba Reum would have been triggered if it wasn't for OZ trying to make it happen.


He kept on thinking for a solution. There was perhaps a person who he could convince to come clean about some things, about the willingness of Choi Young Shin to kill. It was time to visit one of his personal demons.


The small gym where Song Soo Ho worked was easily found and it looked just like last time he entered. This time though, he was dressed in normal clothes and he entered the gym casually.


"Excuse me, I'm searching for Song Soo Ho, is he here?" he asked a random person. They easily pointed him out, training with someone in the far ring. Ba Reum took a good look at the boxer. In some ways, he had been the one who started his need to kill.


The way he had never been found after his family had been killed had made Ba Reum itch to take revenge and when he had gotten that text message, it had been his trigger. That's why he initially tried to kill the bum in that abandoned factory, to see if he could work up the guts.


He waited until the man was finished with his session, not wanting to put too much attention to himself for now.


The man noticed him standing there and once his session with his current trainee was finished, he turned his attention to Ba Reum.


"Can I help you?" he asked, probably thinking that Ba Reum was searching a trainer.


"I think so yes. Can we talk somewhere private?" he asked with an embarrassed smile. The man didn't smile back, but gestured him to the locker room, which was empty.


"So, what can I do for you." He asked again.


"I got this text message a few days ago." Ba Reum said, holding his cell phone for the boxer to see. The man frowned when he read the message and his face blanched.


"I think that Choi Young Shin wants to get rid of you." He said and the man was looking for an exit, but some people suddenly walked in, talking loudly.


"What do you want from me?" the man forced out. Ba Reum leaned closer and whispered to the man.


"I want Choi Young Shin behind bars and I want to be left alone by your organisation. I want you to confess the murder of my family, done by order of Choi Young Shin." He said and he saw the man swallow dryly.


"Why?"


"Because you killed them. They didn't deserve to die."


"But, they will kill me if I confess."


"They want you dead already. I know what you are trying to do. I won't be triggered by people like you."


"How can we be sure. We all saw what happened in the time of the head hunter. You psychopaths are a danger to the world."


"I will be dead in a year anyway." Ba Reum said, and the man looked up in surprise, "cancer in my brain. The doctor said it will be an ugly dead." A lie as close to the truth as he could make it.


"Choi Young Shin is a psychopath herself, responsible for so many innocent murders already. You are basing this all on a genetic test, which you know doesn't always ring true; Otherwise Sung Yo Han would also be a psychopath." The boxer looked surprised to hear that name coming from his lips.


"You know about the other one?" he asked and Ba Reum nodded.


"You would condemn people like him as well. A brilliant doctor, who saves more lives than you would ever been able to."


The bower looked down at the floor, thinking


"Why should I confess to their deaths though?" the man asked him and Ba Reum swallowed down his anger.


"Aren't you trying to atone? What best way is there then making sure their deaths can not happen again. You saw the news. Choi Young Shin isn't trying to frame her political rival. She is trying to frame me, to make her theory sound right. The body found in her trunk, her confession, this text message that pointed me to you. Do you think that when she gets out of jail that you will live much longer?"


Ba Reum stood up angrily.


"I don't want to kill anyone, nor do I want to be forced to. I'll leave it up to you, but if you don't' confess to the murder of my family, I'll make sure that the whole country know about it, and that they know who your family is." He threatened, the anger and disgust for this person filling him.



He stormed out of the gym angrily and he went home, his head pounding. He took another painkiller and tried to calm down.


Moo Chi was swearing when he followed the trial of politician Choi and the way her lawyers were making a joke out of justice. He was sure that the woman was pure evil reincarnated, but still the judges were too scared to admit it.


"Detective Ko, there is someone to see you." He looked up at the nervous man who stood next to his colleagues. He gestured him to take a seat.


"So how can I help you?" he asked and the man took in a shuddering breath.


"My name is Song Soo Ho and I would like to confess in a triple murder I did on orders of Choi Young Shin." He said and Moo Chi nearly fell from his chair. The chief, who had been walking past, stopped suddenly.


And now, they had the evidence they needed to lock up that witch for good.


Ba Reum had been feeling a bit better when it had been announced that someone confessed to murdering on Choi Young Shin's orders. He knew that his talk with the boxer had been successful, and that he could sleep more easy tonight.


He had spent a few days in nervous anxiety, hoping that he didn't have to start the smear campaign against the man, but luckily he had gone in willingly.


On social media, the police were getting a lot of recognition because of their persistence in finding the truth even if it was against the political figurehead.


Tonight a new ordeal would happen for Ba Reum though. He had seen some people again since he came her, like Bong Yi and Chi Kook, and each time it had surprised him how hard it was.


Tonight he would go to his church group and that meant not only dealing with Dong Koo and Chi Kook, where he struggled not to reveal his feelings of guilt, but also father Ko.


He had done his best to mentally prepare for this meeting, trying to not think of the way he had played with the man, the way he had cut open his stomach and shoved the stones in there. He shook his head and tried to not let these memories overwhelm him, otherwise he would start crying in guilt as soon as he saw the man.


He quickly grabbed another painkiller because of the headaches which were growing in frequency and then left for the rehearsal.


He was in luck, because he had entered the building purposely late and the complete chaos of everyone finding their stuff and trying to put their act together was already in session. He could vaguely see the handicapped priest somewhere in the back of the room and let out a breath of relief.


"Ba Reum, over here." He heard Dong Koo say and he went over to where the man was waving him down.


"Hey guys." He said, giving a nervous grin, making sure to make eye contact with Chi Kook as well, even though his heart still skipped a beat.


"You're late again. Come on, I already got the stuff out." Chi Kook said and Ba Reum saw the magical items he had mentioned to them all those time ago.


He sorted through them, deciding which ones he still could do and which ones he shouldn't. He saw the big magic box and directly eliminated that one. It brought up too many bad memories, with which he currently didn't want to deal with.


"I guess I can do all of these." He eventually said, putting them on a nearby table.


"Oh, not the big magic box?" Dong Koo asked, and Ba Reum shook his head.


"No, don't remember how it works anymore." He said, and hoped that his friends just let it drop. He took a pack of cars and let it drop as gracefully as he could and not show the public they were attached.


"Still need to practice a bit. I haven't done this in a long time." He muttered.


"Ba Reum, are you going to try your magic." A voice came from behind him, startling him. He dropped the cards and whirled around, color draining from his voice.


Priest Ko took a step back at the sudden movement of Ba Reum, not having expected this impact from his words.


"Fa, Father Ko" Ba Reum stuttered, "you startled me." He said with a small smile, quickly picking up his cards and putting them with the rest of the items, trying to hid his shaking hands.


Chi Kook looked at him strangely, but quickly recovered. He hadn't expected his friend to startle this quickly.


"Sorry father, Ba Reum is just a bit nervous at the thought of performing in front of people." Dong Koo said with a cheeky grin and Chi Kook smiled as well, but he kept an eye out on his friend.


He knew that Ba Reum wasn't one to stand in the spotlight, but this amount of nervosity was uncharacteristic and he wondered if something else was up.


"I understand," the priest said, quickly regaining his smile, "well, I'll let you practice. If you get used to doing the tricks, you won't be nervous as much." He said.


"I don't know if I can do this." Ba Reum whispered breathing in deeply and the people around him looked at him. Chi Kook wondered if Ba Reum even realised that he had said it out loud.


"Don't worry Ba Reum, you'll do great." Father Ko said with a smile. Ba Reum looked around at father Ko and gave a nervous smile.


"I'll try to do my best." He said, swallowing.


"I'll leave you to it then." The priest said and went to another group of people.


Ba Reum was feeling on edge and more nervous now. He hadn't expected father Ko to suddenly stand behind him and he had startled badly. It was hard to stop the shaking in his hands and when he tried to do some of his tricks he forgot to pretend that he was actually right handed.


He hoped it had escaped his friends notice, but they seemed to be happy enough he think it was all nervousness.


Now that he had seen father Ko, he kept on thinking about ways to make amends to him. The man's life had been destroyed by the Head Hunter already and he couldn't do anything about his physical health.


He knew that the man was generally happy with his lot in live, but he missed his brother.


Oh god, detective Moo Chi. Ba Reum's thoughts came to the man he looked to as an older brother, at least until he discovered that he himself had been the killer.


How was he going to help Moo Chi? Was there a possibility to reunite the two brothers? Moo Chi wouldn't even know him these days. How was he going to fix this?


Ba Reum was glad when the evening was over, his thoughts had kept on circling on problems and he knew he messed up his tricks very badly. His friends had been trying to encourage him though and he promised to practice some, so that he would be better by next time. 

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