Chapter 38

[Coulrophobia]

Despite the mutual so-called understanding between the four of them, the implementation of such trust was never easy.

It came without much protest that Hankyung was to be seated next to the assassin girl during their trip back to Seoul. Heechul drove the car while Jessica chose to sit next to the driver’s seat. Hankyung did not mind this seating arrangement. He had sworn his loyalty to the Jung and he would not risk having his master sit next to someone who could take her life in an actual count of second. Well, worst came to worst, Hankyung already got his gun back. The key to Taeyeon’s handcuff was also safely tucked inside his pocket. Though he could never be too careful for having a murderer sitting next to him, at the very least, he had taken all the feasible precautions.

The car continued its way through the path down the hill to Seoul.

Though driving, Heechul occasionally stole a glance through the driver’s rear view mirror to Taeyeon.

The more Heechul saw her, the harder it was to believe that such girl was capable of doing anything harmful. Taeyeon was petite –even for a girl. Her face, given a different circumstance, was something that he would describe as ‘cute’. Even so, despite the air of obliviousness that she always seemed to carry, the child-like eyes held another thing in them. It was not necessarily a murderous intention. It was something he would classify as a determination.

Sometimes Heechul wondered what made someone as brittle-looking as Taeyeon was begin to consider humans’ lives as something insignificant.

“What is your plan, girl?” Heechul finally allowed his voice to come out –the first time he did so after they left Oryu Orphanage.

Taeyeon didn’t even avert her gaze from the sight outside the car when she made the reply. “Kill him.”

Heechul snorted, “That’s not a plan. That’s your end goal. How are you planning to get to your goal, that’s my question.”

“That’s your job to think,” replied Taeyeon in a tone that nearly made Heechul wanted to smack her head –had he not remembered her status as a merciless killer. “I don’t care how. Just get me to him, and I’ll do the rest.”

The Kim nearly banged his head to the steering wheel. “You have no plan?!”

Taeyeon shrugged, finally tearing her gaze off the scenery outside. “I’ve never been the planner type,” she defended.

Heechul groaned. “Well, excuse me. But I’ve never planned any killing before, how should I know?”

Nobody made the reply.

Heechul’s comment, however, arose something else in Jessica’s mind. Casting a pensive gaze to the road ahead, she slowly asked, “Is there…no other way aside from killing your target? If you want to stop your comrade, we can just…hand him to the police or something.”

Taeyeon blinked, as if Jessica’s idea was surprising to her. “You still trust the police?”

The comment, delivered in such a dangerous innocence only the Nightingale was capable of showing, bugged Jessica. But she decided to ignore her own uneasiness and argued, “Well, they could be incompetent at times. But at least, they’re not without…” she paused her sentence in mid-air, as if only then that she realized the core question that she should have asked since the very beginning. “…Who is your comrade anyway?”

“I thought you already knew.”

“W-we didn’t. W-we don’t. You haven’t told us,” stammered Jessica.

“But you’ve looked through that notes, haven’t you?” Taeyeon asked back.

Jessica nearly spoke her confusion out loud. But before she made herself look like an idiot in front of Taeyeon, Jessica quickly grabbed her bag. Heechul had entrusted her with the notes from Oryu Orphanage earlier. If it was this notes Taeyeon was talking about…

Frantically, Jessica flipped through the pages –trying to clarify Taeyeon’s indicative query. She stopped at the page containing Jung Soo’s picture, studied it for a while, and moved to the next page. The next page was about a boy named Yesung, but this did not seem like the indication Taeyeon had implied. Jessica then focused on the page containing Taeyeon’s profile. A mild tingle made it to her spine, nonetheless, even this could not make Jessica conjure up a definitive conclusion. Letting a soft frustrated grunt escape her lips, she then flipped the next page.

And the book fell to her lap immediately after.

Sitting next to Jessica made Heechul notice her weird gesture. While still keeping his hands on the steering wheel, he demanded, “What is it?”

The only reply that came out of Jessica’s lips was only a dull whisper.

“My goodness…”

Knowing that Jessica would not respond to his inquiry anytime soon, Heechul decided to step on the car’s brake immediately, rendering the car stopped in the midst of the path down the hill. In haste, the impatient guy then snatched the notes from Jessica’s lap and read the content for himself.

It was fortunate for him that the sun still stayed to illuminate the nearly-ending day. With the aid of the soft sunrays, he read the notes. The page that was opened to him turned out to reveal similar information regarding a child who was once trained in the Oryu facility. Heechul narrowed his eyes to have a better look at the old photograph.

And he could immediately comprehend why Jessica reacted the way she had.

The face looked way younger. It was a picture of a short kid with chubby cheeks –a normal boy under a different situation. But though Time had taken up her might to grow the young boy, some characteristic traits of his face remained the same.

And the name written beside the photograph affirmed Heechul’s fear.

“S-Sungmin.”

Taeyeon nodded absentmindedly on the backseat of the car.

Heechul shoved the notes back to Jessica rather ruthlessly and returned his hands back to the steering wheel. However, he did not step on the gas pedal and the car remained immobilized. Heechul did not even need to speak the reason behind his action to make Taeyeon elaborate.

“It’s the truth. I’m not lying. He’s leader of our mission all these times,” explained Taeyeon without taking her gaze away from the view outside the window.

“You think I can easily believe the words of a killer?” retorted Heechul as he clicked his tongue in distaste. “This could very well be your propaganda to make us turn our side against the police! You’re using us to make the job easier for you in the future. Sungmin is on our side. He even finished up Leeteuk Hyung and –”

“That notes isn’t enough as an evidence for you? He was really once trained in the same facility as me. He was one of the best, he had been used in highly-secretive missions ever since he was 14 years old. His existence within the police force is just a decoy carefully crafted since years ago and –“

“Still,” interrupted Heechul. “Even if he was trained to be an assassin once, that doesn’t mean he is one now. You, on the other hand, are a different matter.”

Taeyeon sighed. “I don’t have any other proof, honestly. But I’m telling you the truth.”

“Anybody can say such typical line.”

“Then why don’t you see it for yourself?” Taeyeon challenged. Faced with Heechul’s silence and the other two peoples’ passiveness, Taeyeon continued, “Lure him out. I’ll make him reveal his true nature. Is that fair enough?”

“But –“

“I have no gun with me at the moment. I am handcuffed. If I turn out to be giving you misleading information, you know what to do with me.”

“Still –“

“I thought we agreed to trust each other?”

Heechul grunted, but eventually decided to drive his car back to the path. “Alright. We’ll just see later whether our pact can still stand after.”

It was late at night at Seoul Police Headquarter, but the idea of staying up late at his office was no longer a rare occurrence for him. Sungmin almost practically lived in his office now. The other polices, whether his allies or not, had gone home –save for the few who had to stay due to their working shift.

Sungmin twirled the gun lazily between his fingers as his passive eyes looked at an indefinite object across the empty confinement cell. It was the one in which Jung Soo had been kept months ago, before he was later moved to the private cell underground –the same one that he had kept Taeyeon in.

The cells, this one and that one, were empty now.

The Circus Master still thought the situation as a hassle. Losing Jung Soo was quite a detrimental turn point in his plan. Killing the Story Teller was not something the Circus Master considered as a spur of sentimental melancholy –it was merely something rational he had to do in an objective point of view. The Circus Master might be the ace in killing, planning, and deceiving –but it was actually the Story Teller who had the real talent to control people. The Circus Master knew that controlling the members of Der Märchenclub would be way harder now that the Story Teller was no longer around. But Der Märchenclub was not the only thing he was worried about. The Nightingale had been one of his greatest concerns the past few days.

Without the Story Teller, nobody could control the Nightingale now.

Oh, how he was tempted to just eliminate the Nightingale too. The girl posed more threat to him than his real targets. He was not blind of the hatred she felt towards him. It was a risky teamwork, but he still needed her. The boss needed her. And those who were still needed could not be disposed that easily.

How troublesome.

The Circus Master closed his eyes and all he saw was black.

It was indeed in a practical sense, but if he allowed himself to be a bit of a poet, he meant it in a figurative way too.

He was not someone trapped in the darkness. He was the darkness itself. And for the very same reason, he knew there was no need to save him from the darkness. He lived as it anyway.

He nearly laughed. But even his cynical laugh could not wash the real irony away.

In the back of his mind, he suddenly heard a voice of the past.

“You are the one who pulls me into the new light.”

And an image of a petite girl, with honey brown hair, cheeky smile, and cheerful voice that a part of him thought as adorable began to materialize in his mind.

The Circus Master chuckled to himself. Not again. No being sentimental all so sudden, Sungmin.

But the softer side of him succumbed to the joy of reminiscing. Memories flowed their way into his mind, enriching his soul with something akin to fondness, pouring him with something that felt both foreign yet achingly familiar at the same time.

“You don’t know me, Sunny.”

“This may be a careless thought, but in my opinion, you don’t have to know someone to fall in love with him.”

            “How so? If you love someone you don’t know, then you only love an image that you want him to be. Not the real him.”

“Maybe. But that would invalidate all examples of love in the whole world, then.”

            “Why?”

“Because you can never know everything about someone. Despite that, people cannot stop themselves from loving the other, can they?”

            “Then it proves how humanity is all about obliviousness. It proves how humans live…and love through lies.”

“Sometimes…it doesn’t matter through what method that we love. Sometimes it just happens, you know? Like snap, snap, and there, you fall in love. Sometimes it has to be through lies…and other unpleasant things, but still –”

            “If what we have is built on lies, then what would you do?If I’m possessed with a darkness that you cannot even imagine, a monster that you don’t know I am, will you still claim to love me?”

“…Yes, I will love you still.”

            “You have such a sweet mouth, Sunny. No offense, really. But why would you still love me?”

“…Because even if you do possess a darkness in your heart, you are still the one who pulls me into the new kind of light.”

He opened his eyes when the knocks on the door were heard.

The image of the girl, the fragments of his past disappeared as fast as they appeared. With a hazy look, Sungmin stole a quick glance to his wrist watch. 2.03 AM.

Who the hell could be visiting him at such hour?

Forcing his body to stand up from the chair, Sungmin then dragged himself to the door. He checked his pocket to ensure the presence of his gun within. Satisfied, he grabbed the door knob and pulled the door open.

It was the person he had not really expected to see.

Jung Jessica, in all her icy glory.

Even when her mental voice was screaming at her to run away, her high heels remained on the same spot. Even when her heart was beating like a noisy drum, she maintained the same stoic façade. Oh, she had not known she was such a good actress before.

Sungmin studied the heiress for a brief moment.

“Is there anything I can help you with, Jessica-sshi? There’s got to be something very important for you to see me at such hour,” Sungmin stated –his cynic was one thing that was detected effortlessly.

She did not reply immediately on purpose. Jessica faked the trembles so well that Sungmin had to sigh and ask her again, “What is it, Jessica-sshi?”

Drawing her hands to her lips and trying her best to look as vulnerable as she could, she delivered her words in what she hoped sounded like a choked muttering. “I-I h-heard it again…”

“You heard what?”

“The voice. T-the song. The same voice that I heard w-whenever accidents in Der Märchenclub h-happened. That girl…”

Now that she was provided with the knowledge that Sungmin might not be as saint as he had fooled them to believe, Jessica started to pay more attention to the tiniest gesture he made. She watched how his eyes widened momentarily, how his jaw hardened, how there was a faint panic that crossed his eyes.

“Where did you hear that voice?” he asked.

“S-Seoul Opera House.”

Sungmin was not the ace investigator for nothing. A single moment of panic could never make him less aware of his actions and the surroundings –including the Jung girl’s testimony. “What were you doing there anyway, Jessica-sshi? And did you hear it or did you see it or what?”

“I-I was…” she stammered, practically trying to find the reasons. When Heechul arbitrarily decided that Jessica should be the one who lured Sungmin out (“You’re the woman here. Use that for your benefit for once. If Hankyung or I were to be the bait, he would be more alarmed!”), Jessica had tried to rationalize everything on her fake testimony. However, to be questioned by an experienced investigator such as Sungmin, reciting reason turned out to be not that easy.

“Yes?” Sungmin waited impatiently.

“M-my parents. I-I was looking for clues about my parents’ accidents in Der Märchenclub’s archives.”

“Alone?” countered Sungmin.

“Y-yes.”

“Are you sure you were really hearing that girl’s voice, Jessica-sshi?”

“I-I don’t know… But it really sounded like her. I-I’ve never mistaken her voice before.”

At that statement, Sungmin sighed, “Yes. You’ve heard it a couple of times.”

“I just thought you should know,” she finished.

Sungmin stared at Jessica. The action was so sudden that Jessica’s heart beat made a leap. She did not like the way Sungmin was looking –examining– her. She was kept reminded with the fact that this man was someone trained to kill and to detect lies all the times. As seconds trickled by, Jessica could not be that conceited anymore to say that her acting made it. She knew that Sungmin was still having suspicion on her. But she knew that despite that, he was still giving her the benefit of the doubt.

“Thank you, Jessica-sshi,” he responded in a business-like tone. “We will handle this.”

“I-I think it’s better for the police to go there now. I don’t know if the girl already escapes now or not.”

“That goes without saying,” he assured her coldly. “Alright, let’s go.”

She nearly did double-take when Sungmin spoke his last line. “I’m sorry?”

“Let’s go,” he repeated in clear impatience. “You’re the one who heard that voice. I’d need your help to investigate this further.”

Anxiety crept back to her sense, and Jessica knew it was apparent on her face. The part of the deal in Heechul and Taeyeon’s plan was only for her to lure Sungmin out of the police office to Seoul Opera House. After that, her role was supposed to be over. She was not supposed to have any further job description in the plan that Heechul and Taeyeon had devised on impulse.

Her resistance brought more suspicion to herself, she knew. She could tell from the way Sungmin’s eyes attempted to study her again. Jessica fought the urge to look away, because that would only weaken the situation. Though undeniably hard, she tried her best to regain the control back again. “I’ve told you all I know. My presence there won’t help you.”

“That’s for me, as the investigator, to decide,” Sungmin concluded firmly. “Now, come on. You said it yourself. She might escape if we wait another moment.”

The young police’s persistence nearly reminded her of Heechul’s. She had been forced to help Heechul investigate a case more than once. But it was different with Sungmin. Heechul might have been arrogant and idiotic, but at least Jessica had a hunch that Heechul was not a bloody murderer. Sungmin, however, was an entirely different case.

The realization of Sungmin’s upper hand position encouraged Jessica to protest. “I really don’t think –“

“It’s not about what you think,” he cut her.

Knowing that if she resisted any further, she would look more suspicious than she already was, Jessica mustered up the courage to state her affirmation, “A-alright.” She decided to agree for that point. At least Hankyung was waiting for her below, and Jessica did not think Sungmin would be that reckless to do anything harmful to her when they were still in the police office. She knew she just had to bear the presence of a killer beside her for a couple of moments, and after that, she could go to Hankyung and –

“We’ll go with my car. You said you were alone, didn’t you?”

Damn.

“Actually my driver is with me,” Jessica responded quickly –completely abhorring the idea to share a car alone with a murderer. “I’ll go with him.”

During their 10 minutes conversation, Jessica quickly learned that Sungmin’s eyes tended to narrow slightly when he doubted something. And he was narrowing his eyes again –which meant Jessica’s testimony had weighed lesser credibility to him. She also learned that despite all his suspicion, Sungmin was truly someone who could mask his feeling well, even better than Jung Soo, in Jessica’s opinion.

Adapting to her impromptu information, he then decided, “Fine. Then surely you won’t mind if I join your car instead? It’ll be less alarming to drive there in a civilian car anyway.”

At that point, rejecting his idea would make her lies more visible. At the very least, although she would have to inevitably share a car with an assassin, her bodyguard would be there with her. Nodding slowly, Jessica then followed him downstairs to the first floor of the police office. During the short trip outside, she realized that Sungmin had not attempted to call his subordinates to follow him.

“You’re not getting help from the other police?” Jessica asked in a rather pitchy voice. She knew it was a gamble. She did not know how many police was there under Sungmin’s influence, but on the other hand, she was pretty certain that Sungmin could not possibly control the entire police squad. Having a real justice protector with them would surely help Jessica’s position.

Sungmin did not share the same idea.

“It’s early in the morning. The remaining police have their own duty. I am more than capable to do this alone.”

Debating him anymore than this would not do her any good. Silently, she just trailed behind him as they walked out of the police office and headed to Jessica’s car.

As Jessica’s car strolled in the silent night (early morning) of Seoul, the Circus Master closed his eyes.

Jessica was sitting at the front seat of the car, next to her bodyguard –a Chinese-descent man named Hankyung or something. The Circus Master knew that the Jung heiress was cautious about him, but it was not that he could blame her. After all, the feeling was rather mutual.

He did not buy Jung Jessica’s earlier words.

He had long been trained to detect lies, including one that came from a very skilled liar. He would be fair –Jessica lied way better than most people did. Something about her trademark stoic façade and the right amount of trembles almost made him believe her. If he could allow himself a little bit of honesty, it was not that Jessica’s acting was a complete failure. It was just his well-trained instinct telling him something was off.

In fact, despite the flaws, the Circus Master could actually believe Jessica’s story. After all, if what Jessica recounted was true, it would come to no surprise. It was not the first time the Nightingale disobeyed him. Although he had instructed her to go to Oryu Orphanage, there was always a big possibility the Nightingale would defy his order. Thus, the possibility that the Nightingale chose to stay in Seoul and waited for the opportunity to kill him remained open.

If that was the case, then he would be grateful to Jessica’s information. That way, he could have his grasp around Nightingale’s frail wings again. The Circus Master was debating on whether it was time to declare the Nightingale as a traitor or not. Sure, he still needed her. But he didn’t need her that much to risk having his life threatened all the time.

And if Jessica was really lying, then the Circus Master could easily use the opportunity to find out what her plan was. She had planned for h