The First Chapter
Der Märchenclub
Chapter 12
[The First Chapter]
“Are you sure that Im Yoona came to Der Märchenclub today?” Sungmin asked the crowd.
What he got as replies were uncertain responses. In the hazed memories and shocks after Seohyun’s death, nobody could be blamed upon missing the tiniest detail such as meeting another regular of Der Märchenclub. Some thought that Yoona was present, but none could really recall the precise information.
“So…nobody is ascertained on this issue?”
Jessica sighed. She knew for sure that she had met Yoona earlier that night. But the question would be that whether she needed to share the particular information or not. There was no benefit she could gain out of retelling her encounter with Yoona, but on the other hand, there was no foreseeable harm in sharing such a trivial information either.
In the end, she chose to cooperate. “She was here tonight. I saw her.”
All eyes looked at her. Some even frowned. It was most probably because her voice sounded like an unfamiliar sound in the Bluebeard Chamber. Jessica could not blame those who thought that way though. She rarely spoke in public anyway.
Sungmin had other concern though. “Are you sure, Miss?”
Jessica nodded. “Yes. I met her in the ladies restroom. She was already there when I entered. We only exchanged a few words, she went out, and I don’t know where she went.”
The young police scratched his head and posed her another question. “Can you recall any other details, Miss? This will probably help the investigation.”
Jessica’s sigh was very audible, as if she wanted to express to the other how…troublesome it was and how much she regretted having to share the information to begin with. But there was no turning back. Her mind traveled back to the incident earlier as she recounted the meeting, “Well, as I told you… I entered the ladies rest room –“
“At what time?”
Jessica shrugged. “I don’t remember precisely. Around eleven in the evening, I suppose.”
“And what other details?”
The brown-haired Jung lady snorted “What, you want me to go to the details of the color of the dress or something?” she asked sarcastically. “I don’t remember much. I only met her for a very few minutes. She greeted me, I greeted her. She dropped her belonging, I helped her. That’s it.”
“What belonging?”
“Just a… bottle of medicine,” she hesitated for a moment. “Anti-depressant pill.”
There was a look of acknowledgment in Sungmin’s face. He took a deep breath before his next words rolled out, “…is it the one with high sedative?”
Jessica frowned. “How am I supposed to know?” she responded. It was a lie, of course. She recognized Yoona’s medicine very well –Jessica used to be very dependent on it too. She knew that it was composed of sedative substances. But something about Sungmin’s way of interrogating her made her inclined to tell him the truth.
“Very well,” Sungmin said as he ended his series of questions to Jessica and asked to the others. “So, Im Yoona was here. Does anyone know where she is now?”
“Perhaps she already went home?” suggested Kwon Yuri.
“Can somebody call her? Or give me her address? I’ll have my men pick her up.”
Though with grunting, they obliged to Sungmin’s request. Yuri took out her cell phone to call Yoona’s cell phone, while Sunny gave him Yoona’s address. Sungmin took the note on his phone, immediately called for his subordinates and ordered them to go to the referred address.
The moments passed in silence afterwards. Yuri was still on the phone, but the others were seated in silent agitation.
“She’s not picking up my call,” informed Yuri after ten minutes passed by. “And I called her house. Her maids told me that she hadn’t returned.”
Sunny bit her lips. “Where is she? Did…Seohyun’s murderer kidnap her or something?”
“Hey, you can’t jump into conclusion like that,” commented Ryeowook.
“But… the murderer might be targeting us all! Perhaps it’s Yoona that he’s targeting now! We need to find her and –“
“Or perhaps…” Hyukjae slowly said in a quick mutter. “She’s involved in Seo Joo Hyun’s murder?’
The group fell into another series of silence as Hyukjae’s words seeped into their mind, creating doubts, arising suspicions.
“That…could be a possibility,” muttered Kibum.
“Hey, that’s not fair!” protested Yuri. “Just because she’s not here, doesn’t mean that she’s the culprit!”
“…But Heechul Hyung also suspected Yoona to be the one who stabbed him a couple of days ago,” added Ryowook. Doubts still colored his tone, but his words only furthered wild guesses in the room.
“Well, she’s been acting weird lately…”
“And she disappears right after the murder –“
“Could it be that she’s targeting us now?”
“The young man here is right,” commented the young police, Sungmin, as he referred to Ryeowook’s earlier words. “We cannot jump into conclusion.”
But paranoia had clouded everything: trust, faith, sanity. Was it truly human’s nature? To blame those who could not speak for themselves? To put doubts on someone else in order to cloud doubts other people could have on them? Like a ripple effect, crazy hypothesis swarmed in the crowd of the richess.
“The police shall find her soon. We cannot sleep well if there’s a possibility she’s targeting us next –“
“Go trace her cell phone! The police can do that, right?”
“I can’t believe it… Yoona… She’s a nice girl…”
“Well, she can be unpredictable at times –“
“What is her real intention?”
“I was involved in a heated argument with her once. Do you think she will target me first?”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” spoke Sungmin authoritatively. He was getting rather impatient. He had handled many similar cases, and anxieties of those who felt targeted were nothing new. “Like I said, it’s too early to draw any conclusion. No one can render her as the suspect this way. We will need evidence and –“
But his words were clearly dismissed as the members of Der Märchenclub got into more speculation. Jessica felt slightly unease. Perhaps she shouldn’t have told the police about Yoona’s anti-depressant pill. She was about to clarify the matte (with what, she did not know), but someone beat her to it.
“There’s no way she can be the murderer.”
The voice was far from being authoritative, but the essence of his words made all people silenced.
Donghae’s jaw tightened and he elaborated his point more. “There’s simply no way. I know her, I know Yoona very well. She…she will not have any motive to do this vile thing.”
“But why does she need to escape?” Kibum asked calmly. “If she doesn’t commit any crime, why should she arise such suspicion?”
“She could have been threatened!” Donghae defended. “Or kidnapped! Or…” he did not have the heart to continue his words, but the option was left open once again.
“There’s no use of you all playing guessing game at this stage. Please let the police handle the problem. My men are looking for Im Yoona at the moment. For the time being, my team will commence the small interview with each of you. Starting with Cho Kyuhyun-sshi,” mandated Sungmin.
The argument stopped there as Kyuhyun stood from his chair and followed Sungmin out of the room.
Jessica let out a tired sigh as she let her exhausted body fell on to her soft bed. Her interview with the police squad had only finished by dawn. When she finally reached her bedroom, the sun was almost peaking up through her windows. It was a long night. Sungmin had not let her forget any kind of details, and sometimes she understood why the senior police, Jae Won, said that Sungmin was a good investigator. Sungmin was very critical, however it ‘forced’ her to remember one of the most traumatizing nights in her life.
“So you said that in the restroom, you heard someone singing from the garden? And it’s the same voice that you heard prior to Kim Young-Woon’s accident?”
“Yes.”
“How could you be so sure that it’s the same person singing?”
“Intuition, I suppose.”
“People don’t often have the capability to remember voice that easily. Could it possibly that even prior to Kim Young-Woon’s accident you’ve heard that voice before?”
“…I don’t think so.”
“Then how could you be so sure?”
“I said, it was just my feeling, okay? Perhaps I misheard. I don’t know.”
Jessica sighed. She had never really been that intuitive type of person and she knew she was making less sense of herself. Perhaps the queerness of Der Märchenclub eventually got to her. The thought sent shrill of disbelief to her. She was always a rational woman, she vowed to herself that she would not allow the club to affect her.
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