Epilogue

[Never After]

How would one end a tale?

The White Rabbit stole the time; the Queen of Hearts painted the snow red; the Mad Hatter cried; the White Queen dreamed; the Cheshire Cat dropped his grin.

And Alice laid still on the pool of blood. She laid her tired and injured body on the snow. There was a nearly infinite serenity painted on her face as she gazed up to the starless sky. The beautiful reverie that never seemed plausible,  yet never been as real.  

The Witch was defeated; Tiffany was killed; and Miyoung was freed.

Tiffany was laying dead some meters away from Jessica, and ah, weren’t they like sisters now? Born with loving fathers, left by their parents at tender young ages, had skepticism towards the world, bathed in blood, slept above the linen of white snow…

The pain in her stomach was nearly forgotten. Jessica focused her strength to extend her hand towards Tiffany.

But her arm was not long enough; her words could not reach her; and her heart was never truly connected to her.

The white snow seemed to absorb the siren’s blood and the regretful daughter’s too. Jessica had witnessed the similar scene months prior, when she and Sunny found Tiffany’s bloody body in the Bluebeard Chamber. That time, her death had seemed real. This time, on the contrary, it felt surreal. Jessica could almost imagine how Tiffany would slowly move her arms and stand up from her own pool of blood to reclaim the revenge she had been dreaming of for years.

But no. Tiffany stayed still. Donghae’s bullet pierced her right through her heart –it was the end of everything.

So still, so silent –was it bedtime already?

 Was it the time to read you the fairy tales again?

Choi Siwon was the first one to make a move in the stillness of everything. Having been freed from Heechul’s clutch, he fell to the snowy ground, and ever so slowly, he crawled towards his dead lover.

Heechul sighed. The night had ended, but how many hearts must be broken that night? Heechul would never forgive with Siwon –the pure Kim blood within him rejected the notion in its entirety. But even with that thought registered in his head, Heechul could not help but to feel a sense of pity when he watched the scene: Siwon was gently lifting Tiffany from the ground so that she laid in his embrace. His suit was colored red with his lover’s blood, but Siwon never cared. The lover carefully swept her red hair aside and lovingly laid a soft kiss on her lips. In the silence of the night, Heechul could almost hear the endless confession coming from Siwon’s mouth (I love you. I love you so much. I love you more than anything. I love you. I love you. I love you.)

There was no longer any intention to fight –what was there was only nihilism of reasoning.

Lee Donghae was the second person to actually move. Aware that the Witch was defeated and her minion would no longer harm them, he dropped his gun to the pillows of snow and limply, he walked towards his little sister. Yoona was kneeling on the snow –eyes wide and tears cascading from her eyes. The pain was almost numbing her, and the Im girl did not make a single move –not until a warm arm pulled her into an embrace. The same arms that had truly ended the bizarre tale that night –the hand that Donghae used to kill someone was now clutching his little sister’s body –not letting go; cannot let it go.

“You’re alive,” he sobbed. “Y-you’re alive…” he repeated as he buried his head to Yoona’s shoulders.

For the first time since the night he corrupted her, she accepted his embrace and cried on his shoulders.

The Kim heir stared at the sight of the brother and sister hugging each other, and he could only avert his gaze from them. Ah, what use would it be playing the knight in shining armor? In the end the princess could no longer be his. The bitter thought led him to steal a glance to the other heartbroken girl.

Jessica also chose not to look at Yoona and Donghae –and her gaze was fixated at Tiffany’s dead body in Siwon's embrace instead. A brief glance of her reminded Heechul that the Jung girl was equally as injured, and he knew that he had to come to her. But doing anything seemed to be impossible –Heechul did not feel like his mind was completely there.

When Heechul finally collected the awareness to perform a humanitarian deed, the commotion was heard. He eventually slowed down –the help was coming.  

His hearing was correct. Kibum and a group of special forces came rushing towards the scene. They were shouting something about evidences, culprit, and other important (yet useless to all of the real witnesses) things. Two guys immediately cornered Siwon and forcefully, they pried him off his lover. Siwon did not have a single protest (because now everything meant nothing, my Dear) when the police cuffed his hands altogether and brought him away.

A firm yet gentle hand was placed on Heechul’s shoulder. Weakly, Heechul looked to his left only to find Kibum's presence there to support him.

“Come on, Hyung. You need to rest and treat your wound.”

(Wound? What wound? You mean this empty gap in my heart? Can any of you heal it?)

“Jessica’s wound is worse,” he reminded Kibum and the two people from the medic team that Kibum had called. “Take care of her first,” Heechul instructed weakly, and he only allowed the medics to help him after he was ensured another group of medics was approaching Jessica.

Kibum stared to his surrounding and noticed that the backyard of the Choi villa  was already filled with people: strangers –those who did not live to experience the true horror of Der Märchenclub. The scene which was played before Kibum's eyes would be engraved in his memory for a long time –like a mark that refused to be gone. Another group of medics was treating Donghae and Yoona; the police was taking photographs and taking notes of the dead girl –as if she was an object of study; Siwon was dragged away; Heechul was losing more than he had ever gained that night.

And Kibum’s gaze slowly landed to another girl –the Ice Princess, who was laying immobilized on the snow as the medic gave her the first-aid treatment. The genius kid decided to come by her side. She was shot in her stomach. But perhaps, having witnessed many people got shot honed her instinct to press the wound and stop the bleeding. For that kind of injury, the amount of blood Jessica lost was considerably tolerable.

The medics were still treating her when Kibum sat beside the girl on the snow. He followed the direction of Jessica's gaze and found that the girl's eyes were hooked to the redness of blood, to the mocking purity of the snow.

“Is she dead?” she suddenly spoke.

Kibum did not have to follow Jessica's gaze to understand who she was referring at. Exhaling a sigh, Kibum responded, “Yes. Tiffany’s dead.”

“But that’s impossible,” Jessica softly muttered. “That’s impossible. The Witch cannot die that easily. We don’t wake up from nightmare that easily…”

Kibum took off his coat and enveloped it around Jessica's body –still making sure the medics would have enough space to tie the bandage around her wound. Ignoring the presence of the medics, Kibum shared his view.

“We didn’t go through this nightmare easily, Jessica,” he reminded. “We've lost too many souls; we've sacrificed too many hearts...but it’s alright now. It’s over.  Der Märchenclub is over.”

“Is it really over?”

Kibum nodded again.

“It’s over.”

Jessica broke there. She did not know what transpired her to cry. Perhaps it was relief; but mostly, disbelief. Months –they all had spent months living in the cursed rabbit’s hole, playing in the Deadman's wonderland. But now a hand was reaching down and pulling her out of the rabbit’s hole.

(Your playtime is over, Alice)

“You’re sure you want to go home now, dear? The doctor may have allowed you to leave, but you really shouldn’t –“

“Mother,” Heechul interrupted his undeniably worrywart mother. “I’m fine. Really.”

Four days have passed since the night Hwang Tiffany was shot to death. Heechul had been spending most of his following days in the hospital room. His wounds were not that fatal, but his paranoid mother still demanded the best medication to her precious son. Heechul would have rejected the idea of entering the hospital, but that time, he felt like he owed it to his mother. He must have worried her to death, and he kind of felt bad for it. Then again, four days in the hospital was more than enough, and he just had to come out.

He had to continue his life.

Heechul was walking through the hospital corridor –with his family accompanying him by his side. A young man managed himself a space beside Heechul. Kibum flashed his cousin a smile before he began the conversation. “The police is so eager in asking me about the assassin girl who –"

“Come on, Heechul. The car is ready. Your father is waiting downstairs,” Heechul’s uncle, Si Hoo, cut his own son’s speech and roughly walked pass Kibum.

Kibum stumbled a few steps backwards, but got back to position easily. Heechul saw the indifferent treatment his uncle was giving his own son, but Heechul decided that he could not blame either of them. At the moment, he simply disliked both of them.

After all the day before, Kim Kibum, using the data he got from Hwang Tiffany’s computer, succeeded in fulfilling his lifetime goal: crushing the Kim family.

Heechul knew he should have realized it. From his brief conversation with Jessica after the incident, Heechul learned how Kibum had somehow called the special force into the dining hall of the Choi. Heechul was not really concerned on how these forces could infiltrate into the Choi Villa undetected –they would always have their ways.

What made Heechul rather disappointed was the fact that of all times and opportunities Kibum had, Kibum really had to wait for a sacrifice to be made first.

Only after Eunhyuk had been shot, did Kibum allow the special force to start the ambush.

And with Kibum's action of leaking the secret data, things started to make sense. Of course, Kibum never wanted to come home empty-handed. One of the reasons he joined Tiffany's force was to find supporting materials to destroy the Kim. Jessica told Heechul how she recalled Kibum was trying to dig information on the location and reliability of her data. The rest was some sort of a given fact: after ensuring the survivors were treated, Kibum stole the old microchip from Tiffany's computer. After all, if the microchip fell to police, the Kim or the other families would have better control of it.

Using the data collected by Yoon Seung Hyun, Kibum actualized his plan –he actually succeeded Tiffany's goal. He sorted the data and sent them to the governmental offices, public websites and South Korean peoples' hacked computers. It was a massive and bloodless attack –and the chain of information did the wonder.

The revelation shocked many and the public –who originally pitied the dreadful families involved in  Der Märchenclub – slowly began to feel that their pities were misplaced. After all, who could sympathize with the fake-nobles? The Kim whose company injured South Korea’s priceless resources, the Seo’s dirty mafia plays, the Choi’s money laundering, the Lee’s bribery, the Choi’s fraud –every nastiness of the families available, Kibum revealed them all.

The man might have been public’s number one hero, but at the same time, he was Der Märchenclub’s ultimate traitor.

Nonetheless, despite the significant material and immaterial damages a man could cause to numerous family empires, Heechul knew that Kibum’s victory was not flawless.

After all, corruption was nothing new. South Korea’s economy depended heavily on the strongest private economic pillars –the families involved in  Der Märchenclub. Heechul knew that his family would pay the best publicist and invested multi-million dollars on CSR programs to restore their image back. In the end, money did the talk. Kibum might have successfully broke the pillars, but the pillars themselves would never fall. As wasteful as it was, the world would never be naïve.

Heechul knew that Kibum, ironically, understood it the most.

Sometimes Heechul wondered whether Kibum was satisfied or not. Then again, to Heechul’s minor aghast, he really couldn’t care less. He thought he would have gone ballistic over Kibum’s action in destroying the Kim’s (and other family empires’) reputation. But now that he thought about it (and as he reflected on the initial cause behind the whole  Der Märchenclub’s mayhem), a part of him felt like their families deserved to atone for their sins to Yoon Seung Hun.

Si Hoo and the other Kim’s bodyguards were taking Heechul through a secret hospital passage (after all, reporters were filling up the hospital’s entrance). Kibum trailed behind them. Si Hoo had snapped again not a few seconds earlier, something about Kibum no longer being a Kim heir and he did not have the right to follow the true Kim Heir. To this, Kibum had replied,

“With or without the Kim, Heechul Hyung will always be my brother. Only when he tells me to go away, will I go away,” sternly replied Kibum.

Heechul sighed. Why everyone was putting the burden on him now? Now that Kibum was officially removed from the Kim’s inheritance list and Hyoyeon had to focus herself in the therapy and surgery, Heechul was named as the sole heir of the Kim. The title did not look that appealing to him anymore, and he began to wonder whether Kibum’s cynic had truly been infectious. Heechul did not completely agree with Kibum, but he did not think Kibum was completely wrong either.

In the end, Heechul just wanted to run away from problems –momentarily forgetting the troublesome thoughts and conflicts of being a Kim.

His train of thoughts were disrupted by the continuous verbal arguments between Kibum and his father. Exhaling a sigh, Heechul finally decided to step in.

“Kibum will always be my brother, Uncle. You don’t have any right to decide he’s no longer my brother.”

Si Hoo’s jaw hardened. Kibum blinked –obviously was not expecting Heechul to defend him. But eventually, a grateful smile adorned his face. "Thanks, Hyu –"

But that did not mean Heechul was ready to act normal with Kibum either. He knew he would in the future; but for now... he just needed some time.

“I don’t want to see your face now, though, Kibum,” Heechul declared –drawing the line and building the walls around him.

This however, was accepted by Kibum. As a matter of fact, Heechul's lack of reaction towards the whole issue was rather perplexing Kibum–but not in a bad way.

Nodding, Kibum agreed to the notion.

“That’s fair enough, Hyung.”

The police's visit to her hospital room that day had aggravated Jessica's headache.

It was not that Jessica was ungrateful for the information that the police had let her know. But she had not truly recovered from the shock of the whole Der Märchenclub's ordeal. Not to mention, the Jung was currently put on a difficult situation –thanks to Kibum’s information. Jessica did not really care about the crumbling stock price of the Jung Bank Corporation, but still, every factors contributed one another.

Including the police's information.

“Choi Siwon committed suicide in prison earlier this morning,” Jae Won, the head police of the case, informed her.

There was a paused moment, but in the end, Jessica only drew a long sigh. Nothing surprised her anymore. Siwon’s love to Tiffany had reached the point of being maniacal. And just like the time when she heard Kyuhyun’s suicide, a part of her kind of expected Siwon’s action. After all, not everyone could accept losing those dear to them.

Siwon had been declared as the main culprit along with Tiffany. And now that both of them were dead, the police seemed eager in pointing blames on the others. The choice fell to a certain girl whose whereabouts and existence were the most questionable: Taeyeon. Again, Jessica was not surprised to hear this. Kibum had visited Jessica on the first days  she was hospitalized, and from Kibum, Jessica learned how Taeyeon had helped him detonate the bomb that night. And as expected, the nightingale never chose to stay long enough. Kibum testified to Jessica that he lost track of Taeyeon when he had rushed out of the building after detonating the bomb.

Kibum, Heechul and Jessica had a silent pact not to say a word about Taeyeon to the police. It might be unjust to the others, but they felt like it was something they owed to the little Nightingale.

Jae Won cleared his throat and Jessica was reluctantly pulled back to the disconcerting reality.

“You really know nothing about the girl named Taeyeon?”

Jessica shrugged at Jae Won’s question. She answered it with the line she had rehearsed a couple of time in her mind, “The last time I saw her was when Sungmin-sshi died. I never saw her after that.”

Jae Won tapped his fingers on his own knuckles. "... You and Kim Heechul were threatened to help her last time. I'd assure you that you are under victim's protection. So if now she's threatening you not to say a word again –"

"I really know nothing about her," Jessica stressed out and tried to play the role a bit more. "I'm glad I don't have to cross path with her again. Why are you always bringing her into the picture?  She's still nowhere to be found? Why –"

“Don’t worry, Jessica-sshi. We will continue to find her. We won't have her cause more damages to you and the other families in the future,” assured Jae Won.

Jessica noncommittally nodded. She doubted Taeyeon even had the desire to target them any longer. She doubted even further Jae Won and the police would be able to catch the girl (if she was still alive, anyway).

The Nightingale will always fly free –and none of you will be able to capture her.

The police’s visit that day had been relatively short. That, or Jessica’s intentional indifference was telling them to go away. But even after the Police’s departure, the next troublesome (if not the most troublesome) guest came.

“You look awful,” were the first words that Heechul muttered that evening when he made his appearance in Jessica's hospital room.

Jessica frowned. Despite everything that they had gone through together, Heechul didn’t seem to cease his hostility to her. And for that, Jessica could only reciprocate the action.

“If you’re here to insult me, you might as well leave, Bastard,” she remarked bitingly.

Heechul clicked his tongue in distaste, muttered something insulting under his breath. But before Jessica could press the wireless button to alarm the nurses in shift, Heechul spoke up again, “I’m not here for a fight.”

Jessica raised an eyebrow. “You look like you are, though.”

He groaned, and that time, Jessica mildly wondered whether all these insults were the major things which actually bonded her with Heechul. It was tiring, but in a way or two, she was kind of grateful for his insults. His insults, at least, were like pebbles thrown to her icy wall. They wouldn’t shatter her defense immediately; but his consistency someday might.

Before she could come up with another retort, Heechul interrupted.

“I come here to fulfill my promise.”

Jessica frowned some more and crossed her arms before her chest. “What promise?”

Heechul sighed. “It may not completely fulfill my promise. But this is the best I can do to keep my promise to you.”

She tapped her fingers impatiently and repeated her question. “What promise?”

“To bring you closer to the truth about your parents.”

What Heechul meant by bringing her closer to the truth about her parents, apparently, came in the form of bringing his father in. It was the first time Jessica actually saw and talked to the father of the most troublesome lad she had ever known in her life. Unlike his son, Kim Chunghee actually looked very docile. He was a round-faced man with generally sympathetic expression. His gesture was too nervous to be one of the heads of the Kim, but Jessica supposed, it would never be fair to judge someone by their mere appearances. After all, look at how many times she had been deceived?

Heechul dragged a chair in Jessica's hospital room closer to her bed. The boy himself chose to stand behind his father; his hand was holding the chair down –as if wanting to nail the chair to the ground. Chunghee looked uncomfortable, Jessica looked puzzled. Only Heechul seemed determined.

“You can ask my father everything, Jessica,” Heechul began his introduction. “He has promised me to –“

“Son, I never said that I would –“ Chunghee wanted to protest.

“You said I could ask for anything,” Heechul coldly interrupted. "And this is what I choose to ask."

Jessica looked up to stare at Heechul, but the boy only averted his gaze and stared at the falling snow outside Jessica's windows instead. There was a warm spot that Heechul managed to touch –Jessica was both surprised and thankful that among other things in the world, Heechul’s wish was to bring her closer to the truth.

“It’s more complicated than your mere wish,” Chunghee argued.

The debate continued in front of Jessica’s eyes. Heechul looked as if he had expected this to came, because he easily came up with another retort, “We have nothing else to lose anyway, Father. Everyone knows already how awful our families have been. What else do you want to protect?”

Even Jessica had to make a mental appreciation to Heechul. The guy had morphed himself from being the most chauvinistic heir of the Kim into someone who could honestly accept the flaws of oneself. Jessica was sure that Heechul’s apathy was nothing close to Kibum’s hatred towards his own family, but in Heechul's case, Jessica knew that this was a massive progress.

Chunghee grunted. “You should ask Si Hoo for this.”

“Uncle Si Hoo would never say a thing.”

“Then why would I?”

Heechul’s next comment, however, silenced Chunghee’s argument.

“Come on, Father. There’s nothing to be embarrassed for anyway,” he noted. “After all, my friends and brothers have died paying for your and your friends’ sin.”

Heechul’s sarcasm –and the sad truth behind his words– clouded all of their minds. Ah yes, in the end, children had to pay for their parents’ mistakes. It was a rather unquestionable rule –only that in this case, the extent was taken farther, crueler.

But Heechul’s comment managed to make Chunghee broke from his resistance. The old man drew a long sigh, before he slowly cast a sad smile.

“Then we all owe you an apology, eh?” he sadly stated, bowing his head.

“No use for that anymore,” Heechul cut off.

Chunghee bitterly smiled. “I know,” he whispered to himself. Slowly, he then lifted his head up and looked straight to Jessica’s eyes. With a broken smile, Chunghee questioned the girl, “And what else do you want to know, Jessica? Heechul’s right. It’s all our fault, and yet you guys end up paying for our mistakes,” he paused and shook his head. “We no longer have the right to call ourselves parents.”

Jessica stared at the man and wanted to blame him –blame everyone for that matter. But she knew she couldn’t. She realized that Heechul shared the same feeling. The truth was out. Kibum’s discovery on Tiffany’s file had made everything clear. She did not know whether she wanted to know any further, because they had been hurt too much, and the truth could only tear them more.

Bur eventually, Jessica decided to confront her own fear.

“14 years ago, you all ganged up to kill Tiffany's father because you were all afraid Tiffany’s father would reveal the dirt of our families,” Jessica paused, only to slightly remember the irony. The past generation had tried all their might to stop their secrets leaked, but in the end it was one of their sons who eventually disclosed everything to public. “And like it or not, it includes you and the rest of the Kim. And… my parents too.”

At her last words, Chunghee shook his head. “No, at least your parents were different,” he stated. “Your parents' only mistake was to have us as ‘friends’. But the Jungs are noble people. Your parents couldn’t stop us from killing Seung Hun, true. But…” Chunghee trailed his words. Jessica waited, but the man never finished his words.

So Jessica asked again.

“Did you kill my parents?”

Again, Chunghee shook his head. “It was an accident. You may choose not to believe it, but it truly was… an accident. We only wanted to threaten your parents. But their car fell, and…” he paused and quickly corrected himself. “No. Any other way, in the end, we still killed them. They wouldn’t have died if it hadn't been for us.”

Nobody spoke after that.

Even Jessica did not know what to think.

She didn’t even realize that Kim Chunghee had gone home with his own driver. Perhaps Chunghee said some additional information, but everything else blurred into oblivion. She couldn't care anymore. The apathy was growing on in her conscience, and only when Heechul loudly called her that she returned her soul back to the present time.

“Oi, Jessica!”

She blinked.

Heechul sighed impatiently, but his next words were composed carefully, “Are you okay?”

Jessica slowly averted her gaze from the wall in front of her to Heechul. She nearly found no energy left within her shell, and in the end she only mumbled her gratitude for Heechul. The urge to succumb back to her own lethargy was so big, but Heechul suddenly held her hand.

It was Jessica’s turn to sigh impatiently. She looked up to face the boy and muttered, “Heechul, I really am tired, and I don’t have time to play with your –“

“Why didn’t you scream at my father?” he interrupted.

His tone was desperate, and frustration was evident on his eyes. “No,” he added. “Why did you not scream at me? In the end my father never truly apologized to you, even when your parents’ accident was caused by my family’s selfishness.”

The boy’s grip around her wrist was strong, but not painful. Jessica mildly noticed how Heechul had actually learned to be considerate, and there was a part of her that was somewhat proud of it.

“I’m sor –“

“It’s not your place to apologize, Heechul,” Jessica stated firmly. “So, don’t.”

“But it’s my parents –“

“I won’t be like Tiffany, Heechul,” Jessica assured. “In the end, revenge is only an endless vicious circle. Nothing will end with that. When I looked at Tiffany…” she trailed, drifting her memory to the deceased pitiful girl. “W-when I looked at her…I don’t think she was happy. I doubt that she’d be happy even if she successfully completed her revenge.”