At first, Jaesun thought the man who walked up to the counter that afternoon was a customer. She greeted him accordingly. “How may I help you, sir?”

“We have something to deliver,” the man said, looking a tad uncomfortable. Jaesun had no idea why that might be.

“Oh, a shipment of cloth?” she asked.

“No, I’m afraid not. Come see for yourself.” Curious and also bewildered, she came out from behind the counter to go outside and investigate.

There was a long canvas bag sitting on the ground, between five and six feet long, and the end was tied off with drawstring. Jaesun bent down to untie it and detected a foul odor. Tossing the string aside, she pulled the neck of the bag open and rolled it back a bit to reveal the head of her older sister, deathly pale, her eyes open and glazed.

Jaesun stumbled backward. “Oh my god,” she whispered, completely in shock.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” the messenger said.

“What happened?” she demanded, getting up to confront the man.

“I don’t know. I was just given the job of bringing her back.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Jaesun demanded, her volume and pitch both rising up a notch. “People don’t just die for no reason! Didn’t anyone say how it happened or why?”

“Miss, I’m sorry, but the only information I got was your address, that was all.”

“I demand to see a law enforcement officer. NOW!” She’d grabbed the man’s collar now and was shaking him.

A crowd had begun to gather around to see what the fuss was about, and the moment people laid eyes on Jaesoo’s unmoving body, they began to whisper amongst themselves in alarm and surprise.

Her mother came out at that moment. “Dearest, why are you harassing this poor man?” Her eyes fell upon her elder daughter and she let out a scream that echoed down the street. Then, her eyes rolled upward and she fainted.

“Mum!” Jaesun exclaimed, letting go of the man.

Her father appeared moments later. “What in—oh my lord.” He dropped to his knees on the ground, staring at Jaesoo’s body, his mouth agape, hands trembling.

“Who? Who is responsible for this?” he yelled, glancing around at the crowd. “Somebody tell me who killed my daughter!” And then he wept, clutching Jaesoo’s body. Jaesun was holding her mother, who had yet to come to consciousness.

The delivery man made a run for it, and people began to disperse. Several stayed to offer their condolences, but nobody lingered for long. Anyone who did had curses flung after them by Jaesun’s father.

Eventually, after settling her mother down on her bed, Jaesun joined her father in moving her sister’s body inside. They couldn’t leave it in the shop, so they rested it on the floor in Jaesun’s room as a temporary measure.

“You better go find your cousin to let him and his family know,” her father said quietly when they sat down in his office for a moment.

She nodded mutely and obeyed, running all the way there.

Dongwoo was minding his family’s shop, just as Jaesun had been doing a short while ago. At the moment, he was engaged in conversation with a customer, smiling his trademark smile and gesticulating.

Seeing the look on her face, he knew something was wrong and requested that the customer forgive him and release him for a moment. She pulled him aside to tell him the news, and once she did, his smile collapsed, and he began to weep openly, not caring who saw. He had always been this way with emotions, easily read like a book and completely genuine.

“What are you going to do now?” he asked, sniffling. She handed him her handkerchief. It was dry, just like her eyes. For some reason she didn’t have any tears to cry.

“I’m going to find out what happened to her,” she declared.

***

That was easier said than done, unfortunately. She had to bribe someone to get the investigator to come take a look at all, something that disgusted her.

According to the officer, Jaesoo had died of internal bleeding due to a hit on the head. There was a lump on her skull from the injury. That was all that he could conclude, however.

“Sir, please help me find the murderer to took my sister’s life,” Jaesun said.

“I’m afraid I don’t have the time for that,” he replied, looking somewhat apologetic. “There are so many incidents in a day that I have to take care of. This one’s no different. It’s not special. I can’t spend more time on it. The most I could do is file a report to the capital and wait for response to see if there is information there. It would be a miracle if I could get a reply back within the next four months.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Jaesun snapped, not caring that she was talking back to a man of some power. “An innocent woman was murdered and you’re not even going to bother to figure out what happened and track down the criminal? What kind of justice is this?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s just how things go these days.” The inspector shrugged and went on his way, leaving Jaesun positively fuming.

Her father simply said, “Let it go. You know no one is going to do anything or help. Not with the kingdom falling apart the way it is. We’ll simply have to bury her and be done with it.”

Jaesun wasn’t content to let it go. How could she? Her older sister, her companion since she was born, was dead with no explanation, and no satisfaction of seeing the guilty given his due punishment. 

She kept everything to herself for a while, waiting for the time that she could put her plans into action. If the Crown would not serve justice, then she would take the law into her own hands.