EARLIER

 

Seungri.

 

Seungri.

 

Seungri.

 

A man dipping his hand in grimy paint and slapping it in gobs on his bedroom wall. Over the colours he had brushed on so carefully – a painting on his wall. A landscape from a twenty-year-old's imagination. His first masterpiece in the hospital.

 

Jieun's back is crooked as she sat on a chair right outside the room, watching through a double-sided mirror. Her eyelashes drooping over eyes b with teardrops of fatigue, occassionally blinking them away. She sits there, watching Seungri murder his own painting.

 

He had been doing this again and again, so many times that his room was a sickening, bright splash of abstract colours.

 

Thirteen , two halves of a heart, one dead ambition.

 

He talked to Jieun the day before, about when he was six and wanted to be an artist. Before his mother became a drunk and beat him on his path into cocain abuse.

 

She sits in the black silence, head drooped as she wrote into her clipboard. Seungri is still ruining his painting. He has brushes in his room, and tins of paint.

 

She gave them to him because he couldn't talk without throwing up.

 

His withdrawal symptoms are better now, even though it's only been 5 days. She watched his movements, they weren't as bad as yesterday. Yunho stood next to her, watching the figure paint as he spoke to Junsu on the phone, ocassionally pausing to look at the time.

 

“Have you gotten anything out of him?”

 

Silence. Jieun kept writing.

 

“Doctor.”

 

“Oh, you were talking to me?” Jieun looked up.

 

“Yeah, I need to talk to him.”

 

“Look at him, you can't talk to a junkie.”

 

“Okay, he's a suspect. I need to talk to him somehow, when do you think he can...”

 

“We could make him high again.”

 

“... be serious.”

 

“I'm sorry, this is rehab. All I can do right now is monitor him for some violent tendencies or any portrayal of inner rage.”

 

Yunho stared at her with a poker face, pointed at Seungri, “...by drawing?”

 

“...yep.”

 

“I went to therapy as a kid, they made us do that. Does that even work?”

 

“Depends on the therapy, what were you in for?”

 

“Never mind,” Yunho shrugged and checked his watch again, “damn it, I can't leave until 5.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Xiumin's in until 4.45, I can't walk past his office without him hissing at me about Jinki these days.”

 

Jieun grinned to herself, suddenly there was a knock on the door. Yesung was there, something wedged under his arm. He nodded curtly at Yunho, who waved back brightly and gestured towards Jieun, “can we talk?” She nodded, stowed her flipboard under her handbag and followed Yesung out. He slipped a CD folder into her pocket.

 

“What's this?”

 

“The footage for the hypnosis, I asked Jinki about Eunhye and sent Daehyun home.”

 

“What did you get?”

 

“Jinki remembers nothing, he barely even remembers himself rushing into the police department and punching Nichkhun. Daehyun googled Eunhye and got a couple of names, but there was this one girl who disappeared one day and is presumed dead. There's even an empty grave for her in Incheon.”

 

“Do you think she's dead?”

 

“Highly likely. The parents sent the kidnapper money every month because they were too afraid to call the cops. Eventually they found out that they were sending cash to an abandoned warehouse. They wiped it clean – there was nothing there. A month after the last letter, they got a jar of Eunhye's blood and a note that said 'she cried too much'. That really suggests that he might've killed her.”

 

“Where was she taken?”

 

“Parking lot outside Hongdae Studio. Daehyun rewatched the video just now about 4 times, I don't think I remember him being this scared since Jiyeon. Something is weird going on with Onew, he's positive of it. He remembers them. The way Jinki's voice just changed and he just took the identity of...”

 

Yesung trailed off as Yunho appeared at the door, a doughnut he had produced from who-knows-where between his maws. He winked at Yesung and waved to Jieun, “I'm clocking out, I'll be at my office if you need me.”

 

Jieun and Yesung watched his outline fade in silence. Then Yesung pulled Jieun's arm.

 

“Why is he here all the time? Doesn't he have work?”

 

“He's been checking in on all the suspects ever since Jinki's episode, but he just basically stands there and takes notes. I don't know,” Jieun shrugged, “forget him, what else did Daehyun...”

 

“I don't like it when cops are involved. Like how that Junmyeon keeps sniffing around, He tried to talk his way into Jinki's ward this morning, took a needle to scare him off.”

 

CRASH.

 

Jieun and Yesung jolted. Yesung bolted into the surveillance room and his jaw fell open. The warden lay on his side, blood spurting from the side of his neck. A tray of food lay scattered on the floor by his side, a bloody plastic knife on the floor next to an apple. The door was wide open. Jieun slammed a hand on the emergency alarm and Yesung swore.

 

“A knife in a criminal psychiatric unit, this is gold! Just,” he slammed a palm on the table and it shook, “Gold!”

 

“We have an escaped victim, I want him back in his ward right now!” Jieun shouted into the hallway. The nurses were panicking and the other patients were beginning to wail in their wards.

 

“Where the hell is security?”

 

*

 

PRESENT

 

When Junmyeon watched the surveillance footages again, he couldn't believe it.

 

A man.

 

Black coat.

 

Pasty skin.

 

Twitchy movements.

 

One unsteady movement, quivering but sharp. One aim, and in a split second, a bullet sliced through Park's Bom's brain. Then two more further up the forehead. The murderer didn't even bother to hide his face, it was all in plain view. A dancer screamed. He turned and ran down the fire exits. At the 4^th floor, he got impatient and jumped out a window, landing in a trash bin, scrambling out and between the alleys.Surveillance saw everything.

 

That was the funny thing about CCTVs. You can watch everything unfold, but you can't do Jack Squat.

 

But that wasn't a problem for Junmyeon. It didn't add another file to his hill of cases. The face was clearly distinguishable from the excellent-quality footages.

 

It was Seungri.

 

*

 

“You were supposed to have him in containment,” Junmyeon caught up with Jieun's speedwalking, red with fury. She was flipping through her flipboard, ignoring him.

 

“HEY!” Junmyeon actually shouted. The entire hallway went silent. Without missing a beat, Jieun snapped her folder shut and turned to look at Junmyeon with an irritated impatience.

 

“Hot tip,” she took a step forwards, “never shout in a mental hospital. We always have room for one more.”

 

“What the hell happened with Seungri?”

 

“Okay, I have enough to deal with today without you ing about an escaped patient. I have an injured warden which your buddy Seungri stabbed when he escaped, weve called security and we're still looking for him. He's a paranoid schizophrenic, it's illogical for him to go far...”

 

“He just shot a celebrity at YGEnt Tower.”

 

She stopped walking and turned to stare at him, wide-eyed.

 

“What did you just say?”

 

“He broke into YGEnt Tower and shot Park Bom.”

 

“Come again?”

 

“Gawdammit, doctor! If you had kept him properly under containment, we wouldn't be scrubbing blood off your damn hands. We're looking for him right now and guess what? You're fired.”

 

“You didn't exactly hire me, and I don't understand. He was deathly afraid of the outdoors, so afraid that he had an axiety attack...” she trailed off and her eyes widened all the more, “son of a , that's it.”

 

“What?”

 

“Find Seungri.”

 

“What?”

 

“I'll explain when you get Seungri.”

 

“You don't have to explain . Seungri is the one, Seungri must've found out Park Bom knew stuff. Seungri's Jack.” He didn't know how the last word popped out, since he wasn't even sure if Jack was real. But it seemed to scare the out of Jieun, because she dropped her folder.

 

“Did you just say Jack?”

 

“I...”

 

“Who said this name? Did she say what he looked like? Black suit, black gloves, tattooes all over where you could see his eyes, freaky custom mask...”

 

“Wait, how do you know?”

 

“Because Lee Jinki's recently been seeing that figure in his dreams every night through the eyes of Lee Hayi, just as he's seen the figure through Chaelin's years before she was kidnapped.”

 

*

 

“Do you remember what I told you about Dr. Sandara's case? When she had sessions with Jinki and he would zone out and mutter nonsense? I took records of everything strange he's ever said when he's zoned out.”

 

“I don't understand.”

 

“Yesung and I have been working on this for weeks, we used to be partners on the Jiyeon Case, when everyone we knew were massacred around us. Tell me, Officer Junmyeon. Do you believe in the paranormal world?”

 

“No.”

 

“Well, then all I have to do is ask that you keep an open mind when you listen to me,” JiEun swiped her card to her office open and sat Junmyeon down on a couch in the seating area across her desk. She pulled out a black notebook, flipped it with her thumb to the last few bookmarks and pointed at a few sentences.

 

I feel eyes around me, eyes following me, eyes haunting me in my sleep and wake.

 

A car came and ate her up, I wonder if I stop sleeping, she'll come back?

 

Just because someone smiles, it doesn't mean she's happy. Like Mona Lisa, look at her eyes. Look at her eyes, Jack.

 

There are eyes everywhere, and I have to watch them watch me to sleep.

 

Good night, Eunhye.

 

Junmyeon froze.

 

Good night, Eunhye.

 

Good night, Eunhye.

 

Good night, Eunhye.

 

Good night, Eunhye.

 

Good night, Eunhye.

 

Good night, Eunhye.

 

He reread it until his eyes hurt, and his fingers clenched as though a cold hand had clasped around his chest.

 

Good night, Eunhye.

 

Eun Hye.

 

Yoon Eun Hye.

 

The first girl to ever disappear.

 

“What is this?” He pointed at the sentence, Jieun was watching him carefully, “who is this?”

 

“I don't know. Neither does Jinki.”

 

“Bull, you could be helping a serial killer and not know it, now I demand that you tell me.”

 

“I'm a psychiatrist, not a bloody idiot. I put him on a polygraph and interrogated him under hypnosis.”

 

“Where the heck did you get a lie detector from?”

 

“I work for the police 3 times a year... are you seriously asking me that?”

 

“You hypnotised him and put him on a lie detector and came up with this?”

 

“No, I came up with this.”

 

She flipped her laptop open and keyed in her password. The screen popped up and she spun the screen around for him to see.

 

It was a footage. Jinki was strapped to a chair, one of his chairs free. Yesung and another man he didn't recognise were standing by Jinki's side, Jieun behind the polygraph. Jinki's head was drooped, his shoulders slouched, appearing to be in a kind of trance.

 

“Jinki, can you hear me?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“State your name.”

 

“Lee Jinki.”

 

“State your occupation.”

 

“Houseman at Seoul National University Hospital.”

 

“Can you try to remember where you were on the 14^th of May, of year 2015, around 9am when Chaerin's disappearance was confirmed?”

 

“At the hospital, working overtime after a 15-hour surgery.”

 

“What about on the 15^th of June, around 2pm when Nichkhun claimed he saw two people haul a girl up a car?”

 

“I was talking to her.”

 

“On the phone?”

 

“Yes. She called me because she was scared.”

 

“Why was she scared?”

 

“There was a power cut in the post office and she couldn't leave from the front door because all the doors were automated. She was afraid of the dark and she just wanted me to get her out.”

 

“Was Hayi the type to run away?”

 

“Never.”

 

“Do you think Hayi was kidnapped?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I dreamt it. And everything bad that I dream about is true.”

 

“When did you dream it?”

 

“The night Chaerin was found.”

 

“Tell me about that dream.”

 

“I was standing in the middle of a square in the late evening. The tower clock across the road struck seven. Chaerin was sitting on a bench under the hundred-year-old birch tree in front of the tower, bent over some papers on her lap.”

 

Jinki's tone changed.

 

“Then the dream changed. I was standing in an alley, next to a door with a blue handle. It was the post-office's back door. The door swung open.”

 

Jinki shivered.

 

“There were two people. One of them was masked, and he was holding a struggling girl by the neck and face; the other stood at the doorway, his face shielded by the Japanese drapes hanging over the doorway. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't move, couldn't say a word. They were carrying Hayi, and she was screaming into her gag and kicking. They crashed her head against the side of the vehicle and she was knocked out. There was someone waiting in the van. They tossed her into the vehicle.”

 

“What happened next?” Jieun's voice breathed into the silence.

 

“I woke up and Hayi told me Chaelin had been found.”

 

Jinki only dreams about people who are in danger. The second they found his sister, he began to dream about the next victim.

 

Hayi.

 

“What was...”

 

“A car came and ate her up, I wonder if I stop sleeping, she'll come back?”

 

Jieun looked up from her writing and blinked.

 

“What was that?”

 

“I dream when bad things happen. I wonder if I stop sleeping they'll all go away.”

 

“Jinki, did you have anything to do with Hayi's disappearance? Perhaps that's why you dream about them?”

 

Something was going on with Onew in the screen. Junmyeon squinted at Onew's hands, they were scratching the arms of the wooden hair until chips of white were visible. Onew was breathing way too loudly. His shoulders were twitching.

 

“No, I don't know what happened to Hayi. I was at your clinic, dropping off Chaelin.”

 

Junmyeon turned to Jieun for assurance and she nodded.

 

Onew's limbs were twitching, his head twisting from side to side. Yesung was beginning to look antsy. He could be seen preparing a syringe at the side, the boy rolling up his sleeves.

 

“Daehyun, roll up his sleeves.”

 

“Right,” Daehyun moved forwards but before his fingers touched Jinki, a voice rasped into the chilly, choking silence. A tone of voice Junmyeon knew, a cold, desperate tone he had heard in KBS building two days before it was silenced forever.

 

“I feel eyes around me, eyes following me, eyes haunting me in my sleep and wake.”

 

Jieun gasped in the screen.

 

“Wait I thought...” Junmyeon turned to look at Jieun. She was pale as a sheet.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Jinki, what did you just say?”

 

“Jack,” his tone was softer, “Jack, look at the picture you brought me. Isn't she beautiful? Look at her smile.”

 

“Did you know when you close her lips, her eyes look sad?”

 

Daehyun, Yesung and Jieun were staring at Jinki now, the polygraph steady. No one was lying in there.

 

“Just because someone smiles, it doesn't mean she's happy. Like Mona Lisa, look at her eyes. Look at her eyes, Jack.”

 

“I'm not angry at you, Jack. I'm sure you love me, just as much as you loved the other dolls. I love you too, but baby dolls cry.”

 

He was having a conversation with someone who wasn't there. Daehyun looked as though he had seen a ghost.

 

“Jack, there are plastic eyes everywhere. I see eyes. There are eyes everywhere. I feel eyes around me, eyes following me, eyes haunting me in my sleep and wake. I've always known you were there. Every day when I walked home from school, you were always there. I knew you. I knew you.”

 

“I know who you are now.”

 

“Who? Who is it, Jinki?” Yesung knelt down in front of Jinki.

 

“You're always there, you're always the puppeteer playing with me.”

 

“What is his name? What is Jack's real name, Jinki?” Yesung asked.

 

“What is your name?” Jieun suddenly spoke, her voice calm and clear, echoing over the whole ward.

 

There was a pause.

 

“My name is Lee Hayi.”

 

There was a collective intake of breaths.

 

“State your name again, as well as your occupation.”

 

“Lee Hayi. Student at Seoul Co-Ed School.”

 

“Where are you now?”

 

“I don't know.”

 

“Describe your worse memory,” Daehyun had chimed in, and his voice was trembling. He looked vaguely familiar.

 

“Eunhye asked for tea, but she didn't reach for it. She was all stitched up. Jack put me in an oven for spilling the tea.”

 

Junmyeon let out an air of cold air, he was shaking so much.

 

“Who's Eunhye?”

 

“One of the dolls.”

 

“Who is Jack?”

 

“Jack's the one who plays with us.”

 

“How does he play with you?”

 

“He turns us into dolls and makes us behave like dolls.”

 

“Can you describe him?”

 

“He is tall, all in black. Black cape, black hat, black suit, black mask that moved with his face, and tattoos on every inch of his skin. And he has a dog.”

 

“Hayi, can Jack hear you right now? What are you doing?”

 

“I'm in my bed. There are eyes everywhere, and I have to watch them watch me to sleep.”

 

“Whose eyes?”

 

“Jack's.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Good night, Eunhye.”

 

“Wait, wait...”

 

And then Jinki's shoulders began to jolt. As though having a violent seizure, Jinki began to hack, throwing back his head and rolling his eyes until there were only whites of his eyes.

 

“When I count to 3 and snap my fingers,” Jieun's voice was shaking but still clear, “you will awaken from your sleep. One, two, three,” she snapped her fingers. Jinki crashed to the floor, still coughing.

 

The video ended.

 

“We found a massive bruise on his left arm when he slept. At first we thought it was from the fall, or self harm. But then we realised they were blood clots, the kind you get after an injection or infusion,” Jieun slapped the laptop down again.

 

“Now, I need you to be quite honest with me if you want me to help solve this case. Who is Eunhye?”

 

“I have a pile of disappearance cases in my office, the first disappearance was of a girl called Yoon Eun Hye.”

 

“May I have that file?”

 

“No.”

 

“Officer.”

 

“It's confidential, wait. How are we so sure Jinki isn't faking it?”

 

“The polygraph has been the best lie detector for almost a century, why would it fail now?”

 

“He's an insane doctor isn't he, doesn't he have...”

 

“He's a doctor, not the CIA. And no, he is not insane. He's stressed and paranoid, but not insane. He thinks his dreams are premonitions only because he has experience of them coming true.”

 

“I can't... I can't accept this...”

 

“That boy you saw in there is a university student, Jung Daehyun. Top 10% in his year, bright and ambitious. When he was 16, he wanted to be a forest ranger. When he turned 19, he wanted to work in forensics. Why? Because due to non-scientific reasons, he became the most important informant in the Jiyeon Case whereby he witnessed two highly respected men of science murder a young woman. The young woman drowned and possessed him to avenge herself and bring down one of the oldest, most corrupt institution in the world.”

 

“Asan Institute,” Junmyeon mouthed.

 

“Exactly. Yesung and I were employees at the Asan Psychiatric Institute, and Daehyun was our patient because apparently he went into a rambling frenzy about a woman who was not supposed to exist. One night, I was detained and made to watch a CCTV footage of me hacking a co-worker to death.”

 

“What?”

 

“Only it wasn't me. It was a girl called Park Jiyeon, and on my face, was hers. She spoke to me and when I out, it was her moving around in my body.”

 

“Okay, this all sounds cuckoo as heck.”

 

“It does, until we were led by Jiyeon to all the evidence necessary to shut down Asan forever and clear our records.”

 

“And this Jiyeon... is a ghost?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Very funny, Dr Lee.”

 

“Daehyun and I were both possessed, Junmyeon. And we're here telling you about it. We're not a circus act, we're shrinks and doctors and some of the brightest ones in our field. You find loopholes in the Jiyeon case details published on paper because many details have been removed. This world is critical, this world is skeptical. They absorb what they want to hear, and they listen to what they want to believe. It's time to open your eyes, Officer Junmyeon.”

 

Then, his phone rang.

 

Junmyeon, watching Jieun at the corner of his eyes, took it. It was Kyungsoo.

 

“We found Seungri.”

 

---

Hope you like the chapter!