Drowning-Pt.2
Cold Blood
“Look at this” Kim Bum shouted as he ran to Youngjae’s table with a piece of paper, quickly setting it down onto the tables surface. “What is it?” Youngjae asked questionably, as he looked down at the paper on the table before him, seconds later grabbing it into his hands and scanning the contents carefully. “What is it?” Daehyun, approached them noticing their serious expressions. “Look” Youngjae said, handing him over the paper, with Daehyun now looking over it. “This…” Daehyun began as he looked up at Kim Bum. “Like they said, a month ago, the four of them were in a crash” Kim Bum began “It was drink and drive accident, and left the other party partly paralysed and disabled as far as I could find out” he pointed at the name on the paper in Daehyuns hand “I looked into it and it seems before the accident he was a professional swimmer, but after the accident he was left using wheelchair” he paused, taking the paper from Daeyhyun and flipping the paper over “And here” he said pointing at one part of the paper particular “What’s odd, is that even though they were caught drink and driving and were involved in a crash, there’s no record of them being arrested and jailed, there is only record of victim receiving small sum money as a compensation, since it seems it was the victims fault”.
“Who was in charge of this case?” Daehyun asked angrily, surprising the rest how worked up he seemed, fury clearly shown on his face. “It was detective Yoo Won from Seochogu Police Station”. “Give me the paper” he said extending his hand towards Kim Bum. “Why do you need it?” Youngjae asked as he observed Daehyun.
“I’m going to go meet this guy” he said, taking the paper “Find me the current address of the victim and send it to my phone” he said to Kim Bum as he walked towards his own desk and picked up his jacket, Youngjae jumping from his chair and also grabbing his own jacket, “Wait! We have to work in pairs! I’m coming with you” Youngjae shouted to the leaving Daehyun, as he chased after him.
The ride there was awkward; the ultimate silence seemed to fill the air. After the 15 minutes of torturous silence Youngjae finally spoke up “So… you been living in Busan all your life or-”. “Yes” he got cut short by Daehyun, who clearly shown the other that he was unwilling to talk to him more than he had to. However, sadly for him, Youngjae wasn’t someone who just gave up, he was way too persistent and knew that he will make the other like him sooner or later.
“When I was younger I lived there with my family for a short while” Youngjae spoke favourably, looking at the driving Daehyun, whose expression seemed to darken somehow. Youngjae couldn’t explain, but he could really swear, something changed in the others expression. “What school did you go to?” Youngjae finally asked, hoping at least this might encourage the other to talk to him. However, it was followed with a long silence. “It doesn’t matter” Daehyun finally answered, as he glanced over at Youngjae for a moment “Instead check if Kim Bum found the address of the victim”.
Youngjae could only roll his eyes in annoyance, here he was trying to be all friendly to the other, and the other was acting rudely towards him. This was probably the first time he has missed working with the overly talkative and excited Himchan. He felt like it was purposely the others day off and he was sure to pay back Himchan for making him get stuck with bad-tempered Daehyun. He took his phone out of his pocket, taping the screen for it to light up, “Nothing” he said, after seeing no texts or missed calls. “Well call him then” Daehyun ordered, as if it was an obvious thing to do.
Youngjae felt anger rush through him, here he was getting ordered by some new guy in the team as if he was in higher position then Youngjae. He quickly dialled Kim Bum “Have you found it?” He asked into the phone, and then hanged up the phone; seconds later receiving a text “I got the address” he said.
-
They finally arrived at the Seochogu Police Station; it was one of the wealthiest places in Seoul. They walked in silence all the way to reception, not sharing even one word between them. “Hello-” Youngjae began speaking to the lady at reception, but was cut off by Daehyun once again “We are here to see detective Yoo Won” he said showing his badge to her. “Ah, yes” She nodded “That would just up those stairs and third door on the left” she said, pointing towards the stairs on her right. “Thank you” Youngjae said, before following Daehyun, who was already walking up the stairs.
As they reached the door Daehyun didn’t even bother knocking, as he opened them wide open. “You were the one in charge of drink and drive accident a month ago?”
The guy looked puzzled at them “Just who are you!?” he shouted at them, with Daehyun showing him his badge. Youngjae stood outside, almost trying to hide behind the wall; feeling embarrassed by the others behaviour. “Why did you set them free without any charge?” Daehyuun asked annoyed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, we get such cases nearly every day, so I don’t understand why you think I would need to remember this one in particular” he answered just as annoyed now.
“The boy got critically injured, but what? They didn’t even get jailed for that and just a mere warning and charged a small sum of compensation, you expect me to believe that this was done cleanly?”
“Look here!” He shouted at Daehyun “I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but I suggest you calm down and stop this type of act now, I won’t just sit here and listen to these groundless accusations that you’re throwing at me, and I suggest you leave before I get angry”
“Come on” Youngjae said finally stepping into the room, as he grabbed Daehyuns wrist to lead him out of the office. Daehyun just glaring back at him, as he threw Youngjae’s hand off himself, leaving the room first, Youngjae just bowing in apology and quickly following after the other.
“What the hell was that!?” Youngjae yelled at the other, who was still walking in fast pace. “Well what do you think?” Daehyun stopped looking back “It’s obvious that he got money from that accident”. “And yelling will help how?” Youngjae questioned, Daehyun looking at him in disgust “Forget it, get someone from your team to collect the files of the crash from them”. “Why can’t we do it now?” Youngjae asked annoyed by the others behaviour. “Because I’m not going back in there and I’m going to pay a visit to Sangtae, either your coming or no” he answered plainly as he walked off towards the car. “” Youngjae cursed; the other really possessed an ability to irritate people, and seemed to be really good at it.
-
Youngjae knocked on the door, and shortly an elderly man opened the door, looking questionably at the two of them. “Hello, is this Cha Sangtaes house?” Youngjae asked unsure.
The man looked for a moment at them both, before answering “Hello, yes" He nodded his head “Why?”
Daehyun quickly took out his badge, showing it to the man “We are here to talk to Sangtae, is it possible to see him?” he said firmly, making Youngjae feel a bit uncomfortable how straightforward Daehyun was acting.
“It is” The man said “but I doubt you’ll get much out of it” adding, as he opened the door wide for them, welcoming them inside as he showed them the way to the living room. They looked at each other for a moment, before going in, neither understanding what the man meant.
“Sit down” he said, as he pointed at the couch “Sam, bring Sangtae here” he shouted towards the direction of one of the rooms and their left. A minute later, they saw a person bringing over a guy in a wheelchair. The guy in the wheelchair seemed blank. He didn’t even look at them, or it rather seemed that he wasn’t looking at anything, as if he was in his own world.
“Like you see” He paused “He’s not much different from being dead”. The words came out harsh, but looking at Sangtae it didn’t seem quite far from the truth. He was there and he wasn’t, he sat there in his wheelchair not moving as if he didn’t even exist. “It’s been hard” the father said, as he sat up walking to one of the cupboards and opening the door, as he took out a bottle of wine and a glass “Would you like some?” he offered, but both shook their heads “Suit yourselves” he smiled, pouring the drink into the glass.
“He won so many awards, and was so active” he said as he began laughed to himself with smile spread on his face “Till…” he paused, as he sipped on the wine, continuing as he glanced towards Sangtae “After the accident we didn’t even get a single apology, we watched him in coma for a week not knowing if he will survive and the only thing they offered was a damn compensation saying it was our sons fault, !” He swore, slamming the glass on the table anger showing on his face now “They left my son like this, my wife…” he looked at the picture of all three of them on the wall “My wife passed only a year ago, and that same year it felt like my son was taken away too” he coughed slightly, trying to get himself together as tears formed in his eyes “…his girlfriend of two years had also disappeared that same day, but the police didn’t even bother to search for her, they just put up some missing person posters as if she wasn’t any better than a missing dog”.
“Girlfriend?” Youngjae asked curiously “She disappeared on the same day as the crash?”. The father just nodded “They both went out to a restaurant that day and then she disapeared. It’s been a month and still nothing”. “What about her parents or siblings?” Daehyun asked. “It was only me and her” The carer spoke up in with slight anger showing on his face, as if trying to hold himself back “Our parents passed away a while ago, leaving just the two of us and then one day she disappeared… without a trace”. “Now most of the days he comes here to look after Sangtae. He stays with him for a whole day while I’m in work” The father spoke up, trying to change the subject.
“So being able to swim ever again is out of question?” Daehyun asked in half curiosity half statement, looking over at Sangtae. “He’s half brain dead and can’t even walk, of course he can’t swim” The father answered somewhat annoyed now “Can I ask you for what purpose you came?”.
“Two of the people that were responsible for your son’s accident were found dead by drowning” Daehyun said indifferently, trying to read the fathers expression, which seemed rather unclear. “You think…” The father laughed, as he looked towards his son “That my son did it? In that state!?” he raised his voice in anger now “He can’t even get out of the damn wheelchair!” he shouted, anger drawn on his face as he breathed heavily.
“It’s not that” Youngjae tried to calm the other down “This is just part of the investigation”. “I don’t care” The father answered back in disbelief “For a second I thought that you might be trying to help us out by re-investigating the case, but this is what you came here for? Get out of my house now!” he said as he pointed towards the door, though which they came in through.
-
“ ‘So being able to swim ever again is out of question’ ” Youngjae repeated mockingly, “What kind of stupid question is that?”. “A one that he responded to” Daehyun said irritated. “What?” Youngjae asked now confused. “Are you really a detective?” Daehyun snorted “If you observed Sangtae carefully you would have seen him clench his hands when his father spoke about the accident, and when I mentioning swimming he began slightly shaking”. “Do you remember the hospital he was treated at?” Daehyun asked, now getting into the car, “I do, why?” Youngjae asked “Because we are going there now”
-
“Hello, we would like to see doctor in charge of patient Cha Sangtae” Daehyun said, showing her his badge. Youngjae watched from the side, for the first time that day the other began behaving like a normal person. “Ah, yes, that would be doctor Lee, you just need to follow the corridor down, and it’s room 105” she said smiling back at Daehyun. Daehyun thanked her and began walking, with Youngjae following behind.
-
“If you look at all the scans, he seems mentally fine” He doctor Lee said pointing at the scans “There doesn’t seem anything wrong from his brain scan”. “Then why is he acting like that?” Youngjae asked confused. “I don’t know myself” The doctor replied, just as confused “though he is medically fine, seemingly there is something wrong, but there’s no way to know what, I guess the scans cannot show everything”.
“Then what about his legs?” Daehyun asked. “That would be caused by the high nerve damage received to the legs from the high impact of the crash” The doctor replied, adding “Unfortunately it’s something that can’t be treated, so technically he will never be able to walk properly or swim again”. “So walking is impossible?” Daehyun asked in curiosity. “Well it’s not that it’s impossible” The doctor pondered “But it’s rather, a difficult and long process, because his legs are half paralysed, rather than walking he would be dragging them against the ground”.
-
“I looked into the girlfriend” Kim Bum said handing over the file to Youngjae “Seonhwa was also a swimmer; they have quite few pictures together on the site of their club”. “What about her disappearance?” Himchan asked, as he rolled closer with his chair, taking a look at the file too now. “There isn’t anything we could find, Changtae and her met at a restaurant and both left together, as far as the CCTV’s cameras in restaurant showed.
10minutes later Changtae got into that accident and the girlfriend couldn’t be found anywhere”. “What about the CCTV from the crash?” Daehyun said, from the opposite side on the desk, others looking up at him. “I tried looking for one, but it’s gone”. “What do mean it’s gone?” Youngjae questioned. “It’s just gone, only that record is missing, when I asked Seochogu Police Station, they said that someone had stolen it, and they couldn’t find out who” Kim Bum answered, just as puzzled.
“So they both leave together after eating at restaurant, 10 minutes later one gets hit by a car the other disappears?” Himchan went over the information they gathered. “I doubt he could have killed her within 10 minutes and got rid of her body” Youngjae said, leaning back in his chair “Something is rather off”. “Did anyone see the CCTV recording?” Daehyun asked Kim Bum, “Well apparently detective Yoo Won took the recording and looked over it with some other detective, and when they left it in the evidence room it disappeared, but they couldn’t find out who took it”. Daehyun chuckled “It just magically disappeared from the evidence room… that is within a police station, and no traces?”. “Could it be that the girlfriend witnessed the crash and is now taking revenge in place of him?” Himchan suggested. “I doubt” Youngjae “Shook his head she could have just reported it to the police”.
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So my writing is still not perfect, but I'm trying to improve...
Please feel free to tell me if there are any mistakes... so I could correct them...
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