Chapter 18

[Kim Heechul]

The past few days had been extremely exhausting to Heechul, Kibum, and Ryeowook. Heechul had been kind enough to lend them his personal bodyguards for the purpose of investigation, but it had been only now that all the data were compiled.

The three of them were united again inside Kibum’s private library. Heechul threw a brown envelope to the table and dropped himself on the cushion. Kibum took a remote from the book shelf and aimed it at the projector screen and the image from the device connected to his laptop appeared slowly.

Ryeowook cautiously took a seat between next to Kibum. The youngest Kim had not been able to participate much in Kibum and Heechul’s investigation as Ryeowook was given another task to find out clues from Choi Sooyoung. Ryeowook was certainly not well informed of the latest development.

“You look unhappy, Hyung,” commented Ryeowook as he stole a glance at Heechul.

Heechul massaged his temple first before he replied, “This brotherhood… Der Märchenclub is filled with plenty of suspicious people.”

“Not what it looks on the outside, yeah,” agreed Kibum. He then spun his chair to Ryeowook’s direction and began to update Ryeowook with the information. “These are the list of members in Der Märchenclub whom we considered to be clear out of any suspicion,” he said as he pressed on a button on his laptop. 

A list of names appeared on the projected screen.

Ryeowook’s eyes darted from the top of the page to the bottom of it.

Choi Sooyoung. Im Yoona. Jung Jessica. Kwon Yuri. Lee Donghae. Lee Hyukjae. Lee Soon Kyu.

“Among the 17 members of Der Märchenclub, two are dead, five are from the Kim’s Family, eight are considered to be harmless, while the three others actually… worth to be suspected on,” Kibum said.

“Four, in addition to Park Jung Soo, but he’s not a member of Der Märchenclub,” reminded Heechul.

Kibum nodded in agreement. He then turned to look at Ryeowook. “What did you find about Choi Sooyoung and the Choi?”

Ryeowook sighed in clear discomfort. “Sooyoung-sshi doesn’t look suspicious to me. I’ve tried to hang around her lately, but she did no suspicious actions.”

“Were you able to find anything about the Choi from her?”

“Not much,” admitted Ryeowook. “She’s a proud of her family and has never spoken ill things about them. She also admitted that she was not that close to Choi Siwon to begin with, but she said she admired her cousin very much.”

Kibum shrugged. He already had a cross-check on Sooyoung’s background and also found out that there was nothing suspicious about the tall lady. He was still on the view that she could be used to further examine the Choi though. Turning his attention to his laptop again, Kibum clicked another button and the projector screen hung on one side of his library showed a photograph of Park Jung Soo with several notes written below his picture.

“Alright, we’ll update you with our findings then, Ryeowook,” Kibum announced. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and sat casually on his mahogany table. “We’ll start with Park Jung Soo, or what we all know as Leeteuk Hyung.”

Ryeowook focused his attention to the screen.

“Leeteuk Hyung truly has a shady past. He was one of an orphan the Choi found in Oryu Orphanage when Leeteuk Hyung was 11 years old. He studied martial arts and other stuffs, including weaponry under the Choi bodyguard. He was originally envisioned to be Choi Siwon’s bodyguard, but the Choi decided that Leeteuk Hyung actually has more prominent skill in managerial stuffs, so the Choi suggested him to be Der Märchenclub’s manager instead. He’s been handling the role for the past five years.”

“Weaponry…” Ryeowook repeated the word. It was not a secret to most male members of Der Märchenclub, as they also got to spend their teenage time with Leeteuk in the past. In Ryeowook’s mind, Leeteuk was this smiling, cool Hyung who taught him and the others the basic stuffs of self-defense that their original bodyguards did not let them study at first. Leeteuk was more than capable to be involved in the killing but –

“But he has perfect alibi, all the time,” added Kibum. “In Kangin Hyung’s case, in Heechul Hyung’s case, and definitely in Shin Dong Hyung’s case, as he was still retained in the police when Shin Dong Hyung was murdered. Leeteuk Hyung testified to the police that he was with the chef of Der Märchenclub when Seo Joo Hyun was murdered, and the Chef also supported his alibi.”

“He knows whatever scheme the mastermind has on Der Märchenclub, though. That’s for sure,” commented Heechul as he reminisced the last warning Leeteuk gave to all of them in the latest meeting of Der Märchenclub.

“Indeed. And that’s why we could never be less careful about him,” said Kibum. A mild touch on the laptop, and the screen projected a different document –this time with a different photograph and different notes.

Ryeowook frowned. On the screen was a photograph of a cute looking girl with a cheerful smile. He didn’t recognize who it was though.

“This…” elaborated Kibum. “…is a girl named Taeyeon. She’s also one of the orphanages found by the Choi in the same orphanage they found Leeteuk Hyung. She underwent the same training along with Leeteuk Hyung and… there’s a high possibility she’s actually the one behind all of these.”

“Where is this girl now?” questioned Ryeowook.

“Her whereabouts is unknown,” said Kibum. “After the death of his brother, she… was reported to be subscribed into a mental hospital. But less than a year after, she disappeared from the Choi’s surveillance. And missing person always makes the perfect suspect, doesn’t it?”

Ryeowook stared at the photograph of Taeyeon in disbelief. The girl looked so… normal, harmless really. He could not even imagine how such a nice-looking girl was capable of doing absurd things. It was impossible, simply…impossible.

“We’ll get to her later,” decided Kibum and the screen changed again, now revealing another familiar face of…

“Kyu,” Ryeowook muttered in worry.

“Cho Kyuhyun, right,” Kibum repeated and he could understand the disbelief look Ryeowook was so obviously showing. “The reason why we include Kyuhyun on this list is because…of the past he had.”

“His past?” Ryeowook echoed. Yes, he admitted that Kyuhyun was like an additional member of their little brotherhood. Most members of Der Märchenclub had known each other since little, but Ryeowook only got to know Cho Kyuhyun when they first met in Der Märchenclub. There were not many things that Ryeowook knew about Kyuhyun, as the later was considerably quiet and he always distanced himself with the rest members of Der Märchenclub.

“Kyuhyun was diagnosed to have schizophrenic tendency.”

Ryeowook’s breath hitched.

Kibum continued his explanation. “It was not as severe as people might have thought. But there was once, when he was put in rehabilitation when he was around 16-17 years old. And the interesting thing is…” Kibum paused to click another button on his laptop. The screen changed back to the earlier picture of Taeyeon. “He was treated in the same mental hospital ward Taeyeon was in. People with schizophrenia is not the most sociable people, but some staffs from that mental hospital recalled how Cho Kyuhyun occasionally spent his time with Taeyeon.”

Ryeowook suddenly felt like his migraine was back. But he knew that he needed to prepare himself better than this. Kibum had not even finished with the list of people he suspected. “…Alright. And the next suspicious person is?”

The photograph of Choi Siwon appeared on the screen and this brought little surprise to Ryeowook. After all, they had suspected Choi Siwon since the very first. He thought he heard Heechul’s snort from his left, but Ryeowook decided it was better to pretend not to hear.

“Choi Siwon, the protégé, the perfect heir to the Choi. His life record is almost inhumane, sometimes, with the amount of achievements he managed to get ever since he was a small kid. Objectively speaking, he’s a good, law-abiding citizen who had never posed any trouble. If anything, he should actually be out of the list –“ Kibum paused when he heard Heechul’s dark chuckle. “But I also believe in Heechul Hyung’s intuition. He has to have something related to all of these.”

“Is the Choi really the puppet master behind Der Märchenclub?” asked Ryeowook.

“Actually, after I’ve skimmed the club’s annual report and documents, I found out that the Choi’s involvement might not have been as major as what we have thought. Der Märchenclub is only a social gathering for the young heir and heiress before they take their respective place in each family. The first gathering was held around forty years ago, involving Seoul’s major families at that time, the Kim, the Choi, the Jung, and the Lee –the Lee who was Lee Soon Kyu and Lee Hyukjae’s ancestor, not Lee Donghae’s ancestor,” Kibum clarified.

Ryeowook nodded in comprehension and Kibum continued to share the information, “As the years progressed, more families are involved. Each family gives annual donation for the club and the management is run by one person appointed by votes from each family. Other than donating Seoul Opera House, the Choi’s contribution is actually the same with the other families, so the Choi does not per se have any control in the Club.”

“Controlling the Club through Leeteuk Hyung might be another issue, though,” pointed Heechul out. Kibum nearly smiled. His older cousin’s sentiment towards the Choi might have been delusional sometimes, but the other times, his suspicion could actually hold some truth in it.

“The last one on the list…is this girl,” continued Kibum as he nudged at the changed screen. “Hwang Tiffany, or rather… Yoon Tiffany. Hwang is he