Chapter 6: Downfall

Audible gasps surrounded the whole market, women and men with their children, teenagers were all watching the scene happened before their eyes. They couldn’t believed what they heard, 

“Oh Sehun, you are held responsible for the deaths of three men in this village.” 

Oh Sehun? The boy that they loved so much, the boy that were always cheap in smiles, who were always seen helping elders and children in need, was responsible for… murdering? The villagers looked in fear at their leader who showed up only once in a blue moon. Some of them had never even seen him before. Rumours surrounded the village that he was a cruel man with greed reflected from his eyes. 

“How— What?” Sehun stammered, eyes wide, mirroring both confusion and terror over what the leader had just spoken.

“T-three men?” Sehun’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion before he let out his voice, “At what possible reason was I, Oh Sehun, blamed for the deaths of three men?!” His fingers formed tight fists out of anger and shock. 

“Ah! About that!” A cunning smile formed on the leader’s face. “You see, there are plenty of evidences for that!” His hands clapped together joyfully. The leader stepped aside, 

“Eyewitnesses! Step forward!” 

Three men, roughly around Sehun’s age, moved forward slowly. 

“Now, you still dare to say I’m only assuming?” The leader asked, smirking. 

At the back of the crowd, Luhan and Minseok only stared at one another, waiting for the scene to finish. They knew something was out of place. Even a blind man can see that a boy like Sehun wouldn’t even hurt a kitten. 

Sehun was speechless. His brain was racking for something to say but his lips were shut tight. His eyes darted back and forward to his mother and he winced at the state the woman was in. Her cracked lips begged Sehun to not say anything out of recklessness. She shook her head, pleading. 

His eyes went back to the leader, whose lips only split larger in an evil smile, waiting for Sehun’s reaction. 

“Do you mind explaining to me, whose deaths I’m responsible for?” Sehun stepped forward, taking steady, brave steps towards the leader. He decided to swallow his fears and fight for himself. He wasn’t going to let himself, his mother, get pushed down. 

“Do I have to say those names, Sehun? Do you really want me to remind you of their gruesome deaths you caused? Do you, Oh Sehun?” The leader tsked whilst shaking his head in a disappointed manner. 

“Yes! I want to hear those names you spoke of!” Sehun shouted. “I want you to explain everything to me! I want to know just how bad I have sinned.” 

“If that’s what you wished for, I have no choice but to tell you…” The leader gave a nod to the three eyewitnesses.

A young boy with reddish hair stepped forward with small, unsure steps. Sehun could tell that he was overwhelmed by the large crowd surrounding them. 

“I… I… I saw… you… two days ago…” 

Everyone was silent, waiting for the boy to continue his statement. 

Sehun stared, and in his head, his mind was trying to replay memories of what happened these past few days. 

“I saw you… with Taemin…” He muttered, “Taemin is my cousin, and his mother— my aunt, told me to call him back for dinner… because he had been away from home for hours. It— it was starting to worry her…”

Sehun widened his eyes. Taemin…? So… they were talking about Namjin,,, Woohyuk,.. and Taemin. He should’ve guessed that. How stupid of him. 

Sehun opened his mouth “I didn’t— 

 “No! when I went searching for Taemin, I went to the river where Taemin and I used to play with… There— there! It was there that I saw you… standing amongst… three men… one of them being my cousin.” 

“That doesn’t make any sense! How can you conclude that I was the one who killed them? Didn’t it occur to you that I may be a victim as well?” Sehun’s lips shook, he knew if he mentioned anything about the beast, it was all over. He knew the whole village was going to hunt down the beast. 

“Then if it wasn’t you could you describe the culprit’s face?” The leader retorted. 

“I…It wasn’t me! Believe me!” Sehun faced Taemin’s cousin. “I swear I didn’t kill Taemin! Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know, okay! But it didn’t make sense that they were all dead, except for you!” The reddish haired boy shouted. “It just doesn’t make any sense…” He muttered under his breath.

“Taemin… Taemin was a good cousin… I was closer to him that I was to my brother… now that he’s gone… I just can’t handle it anymore… You… You…” He clunched his head in distress, tears suddenly flowed down from his eyes, “YOU! You deserve to die!”

Sehun’s body felt like it was going to faint anytime soon. He didn’t know what to do, what to say. 

“I… “ Sehun was lost for words. 

Suddenly a loud slap echoed throughout the market, and in an instant, Sehun felt an extreme pain on his cheek. Everyone gasped in surprise at the sudden appearance of an elderly woman who slapped Sehun. She had long brown hair but it wasn’t properly taken care of. Her eyes showed signs of fatigue, it was swollen as well, as if she was crying for days. 

Sehun brought his head to his cheek that was now red due to the hard slap. The pain was stinging, however, it felt numb compared to the pain emerging in his heart caused by the situation. It seemed to him that just yesterday, everything was all right, and today, everything seemed to turned into a downfall. 

“You! You! It was you who killed my baby boy!” The lady shouted in anger, gnawing his nails onto Sehun’s shoulder blades, hard enough for Sehun to wince, “what did Woohyuk ever did to you?!” 

The leader told one of his men to pull the lady off of Sehun. 

“So now that we heard evidences, what is your statement?” The leader asked. 

“It wasn’t me! I didn’t kill Taemin, Woohyuk, Namjin. I happened to be there when it happened. When I was there, they were already killed. I’m not sure who.”

“Liar!!” A voice from the crowed shouted.

“I swear! It wasn’t me!” Sehun replied back, his throat was becoming tired from all the shouting he had done. 

“Liar!… Liar ….Liar!” The crowd continued to chant. Sehun couldn’t believed his eyes. All those townsmen and woman who was always so nice to Sehun suddenly turned their backs on him. Not one of them stood up for him. Disappointment surged throughout him. 

“If you say it wasn’t your doing, then at least tell us who the culprit was, but if you can’t do either one of them, the consequences will be given to your mother, after all, it’s unfair that we’re just going to let go of this, someone has to take the responsibility. Is that how you want it to be, Oh Sehun…?”

Sehun’s eyes widened. No… no… this is not happening…! Why did everything turn out like this? Why was everything unfair…? Why was everything on him?

The crowd wasn’t stopping either, instead, their voices got louder and louder. 

“Oh, Sehun, what’s it going to be? Are you going take the responsibility or are you going to be the awful son you are and give it to your mother?”

Sehun stood still. Hands beginning to tremor. Legs glued to the ground. 

The leader gave a sign to his man. The man brought a whip up high in the air. 

“This is what happens when someone doesn’t want to tell the truth!” 

“NO!” Sehun exclaimed, “Please wait— 

In a split second, the sound of the leather whip slashing against Sehun’s mother’s back echoed throughout the place. 

“I…I…” Sehun’s eyes widened in tremor at the sight of blood gushing from his mother’s white dress. 

“Please, please, stop—

Another whip. 

And another whip.

“—It was the beast! It was the beast!” 

Everything became silent. A few loud gasp were heard amongst the crowd. 

Everyone halted their movement. 

“…The beast… It was responsible for the Taemin, Woohyuk, and Namjin’s deaths.”

For a moment, there was something flashing through the leader’s eyes, but it was gone the moment he blink. He stepped forward, closer to Sehun. “You should’ve said that sooner! It would’ve saved us from all that trouble.” 

Sehun’s grip tightened, his body still tense from all the chaos. 

“Now, will you let go of my mother?” Sehun spat his words out. 

“Ah… boys, release the woman.” 

Sehun ran towards his mother, immediately engulfing her in a tight hug as if it was the last time he was going to see her. 

“Mother! Are you okay?!”

Her dried lips trembled as she began to spoke, “Sehun… please tell me that you hadn’t sinned. Please tell me that it wasn’t you who killed those boys.” 

Sehun nodded his head rapidly, tightening his arms around the woman, “It wasn’t me mother, I swear it wasn’t me, it was indeed the beast itself.” He whispered. 

The woman’s eyes brimmed with tears of relieve. “Good… Good.” 

“Now,” Sehun stood up and faced the leader, “can my mother and I go home now?” 

“Ah Ah Ah! Not so fast, young boy!” The leader smirked, “Don’t think that you are free now, boy.”

“What?” Sehun can feel anger surging through his body. “I have told you in all honesty! What more do you want from me?” 

“I still have to discuss this matter with the council. Meanwhile, you are still held under suspicion until your statement is proven correct." 

“Nonsense! You are just making things up by yourself! I am pretty sure the board wouldn’t approved of your ways!” 

Sehun should not have said that. It irked the leader. 

“Men, take him away to the dungeon! And assemble parties to search for the beast tonight.” 

Sehun’s eyes went wide at the words the leader said. No… No! Sehun’s mind went erratic, filled with worry. The thought of the beast being chased, stabbed and tortured ached Sehun’s heart. He knew it was stupid of him to say the truth about the beast killing those three men, but he couldn’t have just let his mother be punished for what Sehun was involved in, and even if Sehun were to take the blame for the deaths of the three men, the punishment would probably still fall for him and his mother, knowing how cunning the leader was. 

“Mother!” He yelled as he was being dragged away by the leader’s men. “Mother! Please be safe!”

“Sehun!” His mother chased him, only to be held back by two big rough men. “Sehun! Please… please, let go of my child!” She begged to the leader as tears fall down from the corners of her eyes. Her weak attempts on struggling against the men were useless. Right there, as she saw her son being dragged further away from her, she felt like a mother who couldn’t protect her own child. 

A/N: HIIIIIIII ITS BEEN SO LONGGGGG!! I've been soo busy lately for the last... several months? half a year? I was so busy with high school finals and now i'm busy with college... sigh. I've missed writing this story! I hope you guys still remember this (*^*) 

To the new readers and suscribers, welcome! I hope you enjoy my story so far!  

Will update as soon as I can~ Holiday's starting in a month and I'm pretty sure i'll get to update faster!

See you soon! <3

Minty_EXO