Third Chapter

Death is a scary matter. Was there anything more fearful than death? Surely there was, And I started to experience it. Ethane died in the evening and the cops took father away at night, 10:00pm. The officer in charge said that a lady telephoned them to know that he clearly saw a man wearing yellow dress pushing Ethane off from the roof. She lives in an apartment next to our house. She didn’t want to reveal her identity. And she doesn’t want to say anything more on this topic. She wants that the police will investigate this matter thoroughly. After a lady, there was a call from a male, who said the same thing.

I protested- "the time when this incident took place, father was standing before me. I was standing inside of the house, and father outside, the only thing between us was just a door. We both ran to the spot after hearing that loud bang. So how could he?" 

"We understand your words, but we have to investigate." 

"The person, who had just lost a daughter, his only daughter, you are taking him away. At least take him after a few days. Why today?" 

"It has to be done today. The faster the better." 

It could have worked if I had offered him some money, but at that time, I didn’t think of it. They took father away. Not only father also my little sister. Her death was unnatural, she needed an autopsy.

I stayed in my house all alone. All types of unknown people entered the house. Entered and got out. Not a single familiar face. Meanwhile some reporters with camera also invited them in. a bright flash, they took a picture of me. I lost control over my rage.

"Get out of my house! Every single one of you! Everyone that enters the house, I’ll murder you" - I sneered.

Maybe to prove my theory right I brought a huge dagger from the store room. Seeing my crazy state, people actually got out of the house, but didn’t leave totally.They started to create a small gathering outside of our entrance. Some people even threw pebbles at our house’s direction. The cops did one job correctly before taking father away though, they left two officers to guard the house.

When father was being taken away, he seemed normal. Too normal, for someone who had lost her daughter and was now being taken away by the cops. He was certainly too normal. He just had his head down all the time. He just told me in a whisper once- "Have you seen what Lucifer is able to do? Be careful." 

"How?" 

"Just call the almighty. Hope he will come to help. Turn on every single light. Make sure it is never too dark. If plausible even light up the candles." 

I wanted Satan to come. To talk to him. To know what he actually wanted. There were no obstacle for him to come today. After all, my house was now nothing but a desert and I was the only bandit walking inside this oppressed darkness.

He didn’t come. At 12:00AM father returned. The cops dropped him in front of the house. One of the officer in charge was a student of father. Because of him, he, without any extra trouble got released. But they didn’t return the dead body of Ethane. Her autopsy would be done at 10:00pm, tomorrow morning. Before that, there was nothing for us to do.

I don’t remember what the time was back then. I sat on Ethane’s bed, the only light that filled the room was the light from the table lamp. Her bed was a total mess, one of the pillow was on the floor, clothes all piled up under her bed. Four of her paintings were framed on the wall. A green village. Sunset by the see. A boy with a flute. A picture of an angel. There was a photograph of us two siblings as well. A picture of us standing at the sea shore. Waves were crashing on our feet, she wore a pink Japanese maid dress. There was some cosplaying competition going on some nearby venue that day, that was the reason for her costume. Her beautiful white skin and thin legs looked really beautiful in that picture. However it can’t be seen now, father had covered that part with a tape. He didn’t prefer her daughter to show any part of her skin anymore.

I felt really weird. I was sitting in the room of a dead human. The smell of her body, still fresh, lingering inside of the room, but that person was no longer here. Father was crying and reciting bible,I believe. I felt numb, the emptiness reminded me of how death had visited this house.

Where have they kept Ethane? The thought crossed my mind so many times in my own subconscious. I wanted to kick that thought out, but failed miserably. I didn’t know how a morgue looked like. Was she lying down with many a few no named dead bodies? Or was she lying on the hard cold floor? Or perhaps operating table? The doctor will come in the morning. Take a scalpel in his hand. Then slowly run it across the white milky skin. Which limb will he choose first? Legs? Arms? Maybe he will start with her belly. Slickly running that scalpel across her smooth white skin, and then the red would flickered out of it, devouring the whole white with scarlet…then….then I couldn’t think anymore. I felt the tears pricking up in my eyes. I shut my eyes tightly.

A knock on the door. A very light knock, and a small one. As if trying not to disturb this silence. I asked – who?

Somebody from the other side of the door replied in a meek tone – Oppa, can I come in?

I knew that voice. It was Ethane’s, a little trembling, the type that you can hear when someone tries hard to stop crying. I again asked in a deep voice – who?

Another reply from the other side, "Oppa, if you promise not to get scared, then I’ll enter. Can I?" 

I didn’t reply. My brain was not working properly. Was it because I was sitting in her room and thinking about her that now I was in daze? Was I hallucinating? What should I do? Call father? Or tell Ethane to enter the room?

The door started to open, her hand can be seen. A watch on her white wrist. She wore watch that day. A brown watch. She jumped from really high. The glass of the watch should have been broken by now. But it was okay, as good as new. The door slowly opened up even more, the squeaky sound of the door almost seemed deafening in the silence of the room. Now she was in full view. Her large expressive chocolate eyes, dimples visible on her fair milky skin.

"Oppa, are you scared?" 

"No…" 

"They kept me in a cold box. I got scared, so I left. I wont be here for too long. Oppa, can I sit down?" 

I nodded.

"Can you turn off the light? I can’t see properly, the lights hurting my eyes." 

Like a robot I raised my hand to turn the light off. The room didn’t become fully dark, a light was still shining on the balcony. A little splatter of that light was coming through the window. Ethane was completely visible in that light. A small doubt formed in my mind about her being actually Ethane. Was she Ethane? Or was she Lucifer in the form of Ethane? Or was it really my imagination?

"Is father crying?" 

"Hmm…" 

"I came here to tell you something oppa. After that I’ll leave." 

"What do you want to say?" 

"Please be careful. Satan Lucifer will kill you. A little careless, and he will target you." 

"How can I be careful?" 

"Keep him confused! So confused that he could never understand you." 

"How can I keep him confused?" 

"Keep him so much confused like he could never tell what you are planning to do next. I wasn’t a genius like you, but you are. You can make him really confused." 

"Bennie, I’m not that genius.." 

"Then do one thing! Go to someone who is really a genius!"  – she smiled. She smiled even after being dead. My heart snapped, seeing that smile of her, a smile that only Ethane could manage to give. It was painful.

"I don’t know anyone who is actually a genius, Ethane…" 

"You dunno now, but you will know in the future. You will meet someone who is a super genius! Ask for his help then!" 

"How would I know that he is a genius?" 

"Ask him a riddle! See, if he can give the correct answer or not. First start with an easy one, then gradually move to the hard ones! Oppa, start with this one-

Say so the poet Kalidash,

Who knows where he walked to,

Don’t have it so you eat it,

If you had it then what would you do?"

Ethane burst out into laughter. Just like before, a sweet loud laughter. Just like she was before, the type of sun shine girl…my sister… her laughter was loud. Surely the sound has reached father’s room as well.

Father stopped. He walked towards my room, his footsteps could be heard. Ethane said,- "Oppa… I’ll leave..bye.." 

Father entered the room calmly, his eyes puffy and tear stains still visible on his cheeks.

He tried to sound calm – "why are you laughing, Methane? Are you not feeling well? Take two sleeping pill and go to sleep, son…."  he sat down by me. I laid on her bed, facing my back to him. He pulled the blanket over my body, making sure it covered every bit of skin of mine. His hand slowly caressed my back, I only breathed.

" I started to sob hard, but it sounded like a laughter…" 

Father murmured- "you were crying? But it seemed like a girl’s laughter to me…. I suppose people really do lose their mind in the time of danger….what have I heard when what I should have…it felt as if.." - he stopped. His voice broke, a low chuckle left his mouth.

"Father, can you do something for me? Take me to the morgue… I’ll stand outside…." 

"It won’t be the right thing to do" - father replied, quite surprised by my words.

Why?- I sat up, looking straight into his eyes – "Of course it’ll be the right thing to do… Your daughter is lying there all alone! She is scared!" 

Father stared at me for awhile, before answering – "how will we go there? Its too late…" 

"We can surely find a cab… if we can’t then we will walk there." 

"Let me think…" 

"There’s nothing to think father! Trust me, Y-your daughter, my si-sister is really scared… Please trust me FATHER!" - I winced.

"What will you do by going there!" 

"Read the bible! That’s what you told me to do when I’m scared right? I’ll do that!" 

It was 3:00 am in in the morning, when we reached the morgue. The guard easily let us in, no trace of shock evident on his face, whatsoever. He surely had seen a tons like us to come here for their dead beloved ones before.

" My sister’s dead body is in the morgue…. Can I see her once?" 

"It’s not allowed." 

"Can’t you try?" 

"Well… if you give me some tips…. I can open the lock… but you can’t go near, just a glimpse from far…. But still we need the permission of the supervisor.. Without permission it’s not possible… not even if you give me a thousand dollar… my job will be gone…but it’s rare for him to stay this late…"

" I’ll give you the money… go and find him…"

The guard actually found the supervisor. He opened the door with a password. I handed his 400 dollars. He asked for 200 more, for the guard.

I silently gave him what he asked for. I entered the morgue with him. An 100 watt fluorescent light was lighting up that huge empty white room. There were only three dead bodies in there, all covered in white from head to toe. Ethane said that she was kept in a box…she was wrong.. They were all kept on tables. A strong scent of phenyl filled the room.

I slowly took two steps ahead with trembling legs, eyes searched for signs of knowing which one of those three was my sister. The supervisor said, "Ethane is in the middle." 

I whirled around to see the supervisor, eyes wide to its maximum. The supervisor was not supposed to know the name of Ethane.

A smirk at the corner of his lips.I asked through my greeted teeth, "who are you?" 

"You came to see your sister… What’s the use of that question? But it would be better if you do not see her though." 

"Who are you?" 

"I’m your tutor. My name is Park Hyoshin! The one’s touch that you had enjoyed once…now have you recognized me?" 

"Yes.." - I took a step back, I didn’t know why.

"I don’t have any business with deceased people though. What I do is with living ones, the ones whose heartbeat raises when they fear me – his smirk widened – like you. But I still came here. For your sake, since you want to see your dear sister so much… then please do see her."

What happened next was something beyond horrifying. Ethane screamed from underneath the white cloth –

" Don’t you dare see me oppa! Please! For God’s sake, don’t you dare!"

I immediately fainted on the floor. By the time I came back to my senses I found myself lying on Ethan’e bed. A blanket over my body, a ceiling fan still running over my head. I could hear father saying something from the next room. Going to the morgue, viewing Lucifer, fainting, they were all either my dreams or my imagination.

But yet there was a simple small error somewhere. Wait, it won’t be a proper conduct to call this error small.I go to the morgue with my father in the morning. The guard that I had seen last night, he was still there. He informed us about the supervisor’s permission the same way he did last night. He asked for tips.

"How much" - I asked.

$400,  he replied.

Then came the supervisor, the same face that I had seen last day. After they opened the door, he asked for $200 dollars more, for the guard.

Last night I entered alone, today I entered with my father. The scenario was the same, three deadbody on the table, covered in white. I automatically walked up to the one in the middle.

Which one is my daughter?-I heard father asking the supervisor in a meek tone.

The supervisor replied with sheer annoyance – " the middle one. Don’t go near. I’ll show you the face, after that leave." 

I once saw in the autopsy report that there was nothing about a child in her womb. Just – A death caused by falling from height. And the places where she was bruised was written and described, Then why did Ethane do this? Why would she jump off from the roof? Was she mentally ill by chance? Did she somehow imagined herself to be pregnant? There are diseases like this according to psychologists or psychiatrist… right?

I once saw a movie with Ethane. The yellow snake. In that film, a lady suddenly start to feel that she was pregnant. The morning sickness, or all kind of signs for her to be pregnant also started to appear. She even did a pregnancy test, even that came positive. Then one day she saw a dream, a dream where she saw that the child that she was carrying was not a human, rather it was a snake. Terrifying movie.

Was Ethane suffering from something like this as well? Did she really think of herself as someone else just like I used to think her of as Binnie? Because I have a proof that she was certain about the child in her womb is real. She wrote a letter to her unborn child. I’m writing the letter exactly how she wrote it-

Dear HCHO,

Hello! Did you like your name? Formaldehyde! I’m your mother, Ethane! I’m a normal hydrocarbon. BUT you are a super reactive formaldehyde! If you pour Ethane in water, nothing will happen. Water will be just water. And Ethane will be just Ethane. But if you put Formaldehyde in the water – you have NO IDEA WHAT CAN HAPPEN!

You dunno how much havoc you will be creating only by being born! The only sad thing is that I won’t be able to see all these havoc at that time. Because I won’t be alive then.

                                                               From your mother.

Taekwoon closed the file and looked at the clock. 11:10 pm.

Wonshik was sitting with a book on the floor. Whenever Taekwoon studies, he also joins in. Taekwoon had already taught him the alphabets, now he can read the small words. He has potential for studying and making small childish songs with words. Taekwoon is really impressed by that.

  "Appa, Do you want coffee? Shall I make it for you?" 

  "Hmm… sounds good.." 

A childish beam flashed upon his feature. As if, doing even a simple task as this would make him the happiest person on earth.

  "Wonshik.." 

  "Yes appa.." 

  "Are you a genius?" 

  "I think I’m pretty genius…" 

  "Then how about a test. A quiz for you-

   Say so the poet Kalidash,

  Who knows where he walked to,

  Don’t have it so you eat it,

 If you had it then what would you do?" 

  "Can’t solve it.." 

  "Then you are not a genius. I can’t solve it either. I’m also an idiot like you." 

  "It’s good to be an idiot, appa" – he replied firmly.

  "No, it’s not. It’s good to have intelligence, as sharp as a knife!" 

  "Sharp as a knife?" 

  "Hmm… just like a knife can slice through everything, your brain should as well! Like Cha Hakyeon. Don’t you think he is a real genius?" 

  "Yes he is. But he has problems in his head. I’m really scared of him"  – he whimpered.

  "Why?" 

  "He acts weird at night. Talks to someone! In a complete different tone!" 

  "How do you know?" 

  "I used to sleep in his room before. He lives alone. He had a small bed for me at the corner of the room. At last, I told him that I didn’t want to live in there with him. Then umma sent me to another room." 

  "Umma?" 

  "Ahh….you see he kinda acts like a mother…." – his fingers fidgeting continuously.

  "Hakyeon talked in a different tone sometimes?" 

  "Hmm!" 

  "What did he say?" 

  "I don’t know what he used to say! He used to speak in English! Appa, will you teach me English?" 

  "Surely! First let’s see if we can solve this quiz or not. Say so the poet Kalidas- is there any hint in this?" 

  "Appa, who is Kalidash?" - He asked, his voice filled with childish confusion.

  "Kalidash was a huge poet of South Asia. Meghtdut, Shakuntola and many more of his books are quite famous. He was the poet of King Bricramadittya. Bicramadittya was also genius, once a demon asked him three questions. The rules were if he gave a wrong answer, then he will die. And if he answered all three correctly, then he will become his slave. Bicramadittya gave all the answers correctly."

 " What were the questions?"

 " I don’t remember currently. I just remember that the questions were mysterious but his answers were easy and normal."! 

Wonshik straightened up, and put his hands on his lap. Faking a salesman’s pose he said in a deep tone –" Demon can’t get away from you either. Even you will be able to answer them."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Cha Hakyeon and Jung Taekwoon sat face to face. Hakyeon was on the rocking chair. Though his was rocking on it a few moments ago, he isn’t doing that anymore. His gaze stony, eye brow frowned, a small ‘y’ like shape formed between those brows. He seemed worried about something. But then the worry disappeared and he eased up on his chair.

  "Taekwoonie, do you know? Today is a special day!  "

  "It is?" 

  "You dunno?" 

  "Don’t think so." 

  "Not even after seeing the rice cakes I’ve brought for you today?" 

  "No" 

  "Wonshik wore a hanbok today. You still haven’t realize?" 

  "I haven’t noticed…" 

A giggled bubbled up from Hakyeon’s throat.

  "Taekwoonie, today is Chuseok. I wouldn’t have brought rice cake on normal occasion, would I now?" 

  Taekwoon replied in a troubled voice – "it’s been quite long since I have celebrated Chuseok, so…I forgot.." 

 " How about in your childhood? Didn’t you use to celebrate it?" 

  "Of course I did. New hanbok, new shoes.. I would always keep my hanbok by my pillow. I loved the scent of the new clothes… Even today, Chuseok to me, is the fresh smell of new Hanbok." 

  "I also brought a new hanbok for you. Wonshik has prepared the water for you, now go and finish your bathing. After that wear the hanbok. And wonshik will bow before you, as his older. Then you will eat rice cake with me, that is the reason why I came here and I’ll take my leave. Not alone though, with you."

 " Does Wonshik really need to do it?"

 " Yes! To me that is one of the most beautiful memory of my childhood. When I finished bowing before my father, he would bestowed one of his angelic smile upon me and Ethane would act like dying out of cringiness. Then he would give us New Year blessings, I would always receive 100 won less than Ethane." – Hakyeon pouted.

" Bathing, wearing new clothes, bowing – can’t we escape it?"

 " Surely we can. Why can’t we! But I thought you would listen to me. I suppose I couldn’t ask you properly. If I said it with a bit more emotion then you would have listened to me." 

  "You have said it with enough emotion. How could you say it with more emotion than this?" 

  "If tears started to roll down on my cheeks while I kept on reminiscing about my childhood memory, then you would have agreed in a matter of time. You work with logic, looks stoic but you have too much emotions"  – Hakyeon’s voice started to get deep from the unshed tears, he lowered his face. Taekwoon tried to take a glimpse of his eyes, there were tears welling up in those. He wiped it off with the back of his hand. His body quivered slightly.

Taekwoon’s lips slightly parted – "why don’t you eat another piece? I’ll go and take a bath. Gimme the hanbok that you brought for me, I’ll wear it and come out." 

Hakyeon removed his hand and an ear to ear grin appeared on his face.

  "The tears that you have seen right now, are not real. They are fake… the fact that your decision can be changed only by a few drops of tears, I wanted to prove it. That’s what the tears were for. I told you before, that I can cry very quickly, haven’t I?" 

 " Hmm…"

 " I’m an expert in acting, you do understand it now,right?"

 " Hmm…"

 " Ethane was even better! She could imitate any human’s voice. You could have had a lot of fun if you met her! Also she was beautiful, way more than you could ever imagined her to be." 

Taekwoon stood up in order to get a bath.

 " No need to bath. No need for wearing any new hanbok either. I won’t bring changes in your daily life. But, since its chuseok we can at least drink a cup of coffee together right? I’ll tell Wonshik!"

 " Hmm"

  "I’ll take Wonshik with me today. He can play around my house today since it’s Chuseok. It's a great deal for poor orphan like him. Ain’t I right?" 

  "I do not understand what you are saying. But you have good thoughts, so your reason must be valid." 

Wonshik entered the room with two cup of coffee. Hakyeon took sips from his cup, and Taekwoon lit up a cigarette. A small question was circling in his head, but he was unsure of asking it on this happy occasion. The question was about those two sibling meeting the Satan. They met Satan in the time difference of one week but the timing seemed off. The whole writing seemed like a hazard to him. Hakyeon wrote in the file that it was winter,when he saw Lucifer or dreamt of Lucifer. And right after a few days they went on the terrace to drink tea. He wrote about allium there. Allium shouldn’t be there on winter, carnations should. But Hakyeon clearly wrote that the carnations were not in season then. Even if they had met Lucifer, then who was it that met him before?

Hakyeon eyed him from head to toe as he put down his cup – "You seem as if you have something to ask? Your eyes are sparkling with confusion. You can ask me if you want to." 

  "No. it’s nothing." 

  "How much have you read?" 

  "2nd chapter" 

  "You had problems in first chapter, but found none in second?"  – he raised an eyebrow.

  "Not that much.. there were a few small ones… not important." 

  "So you found no important data from 2^nd chapter?

 " There was one" – Taekwoon said, putting the cigarette but on the ashtray – "Your Satan Lucifer was a huge liar. He was not mixing lies with the truth. He was mixing lies within the lies. Your mother was never a e. She was a school teacher, just like your father." 

Hakyeon asked in a calmed tone, a bit too calm- " I never wrote that in my file. Where did you find it?"

Taekwoon wanted to light up another cigarette but looking at his guest, he refrained himself from it, rather he took his coffee mug in his hand.

  "I have a hyung in Jeolla-do… I asked him, and he sent me a letter with your mother’s details." 

  "Can I see?" 

  "Surely…"

Taekwoon handed the letter to Hakyeon. Hakyeon started reading it –

Heyo dear dongsen!

It’s amazing that you remember me by! I was really shocked that you have sent a letter to me and not to your Junhyung Hyung or Sungkyu Hyung, since you called them your favorite hyung but not me -_- . But yeah.. I was shocked.

Anyway.. let’s get to the main topic! After getting your letter I started looking for her. It was REALLY hard, since you only wrote her name as Kyungri, no family name what so ever. But yeah, I didn’t have to look that hard. It seemed like she used to study in our own high school. And her husband’s name match with the name that you have written “Jaehwan”. Now don’t ask how I know our student’s husband’s name, I don’t wanna brag. But yeah, I had to dig through a lot of papers. For your information I had called ALL the students of her class to know about her family, marriage and job. I spent a lot of money. According to all, she was a very brilliant student! Did you know she passed from Seoul National University! Later she became a high school teacher. She got married with the very first boyfriend she ever got. They dated for 7 years and later got married. It’s so much rare to find this type of true love these days. And yeah, I have also visited her grave. She lies beside her father T_T

And yeah, that’s it. I suppose detective by hobby business is going well! I’m thinking of visiting Seoul… You better treat me then! And yeah… have you grown any taller? -_- I won’t meet a mountain when I see you right? I suppose that’s it. And do send me letter to know about my health a little as well, not only for business purpose!

-_-

Your Dear STRONG lovely best hyung,

Yang Yesop!

Hakyeon peered over the letter to see the poker faced Taekwoon. He casually folded the letter in half and returned it to Taekwoon.

  "I never knew about this solving patterns of yours. I always thought that you would read my story and then solve it by thinking deeply. I really have never imagined you to ask information from other through letters." 

  "Hoping you have no problems with that." 

  "Yes I do! You need to ask me about every questions that you have, not to people! I will answer you truthfully! You cannot tell outside people about this!" – He replied sternly.

  "Okay." 

He said standing up – "I’m leaving. Do you have anything that you want to know from me?" 

  "The electricity bill of your old house. I want to see them. The type of organized man you are, you surely have kept them with you." 

  "Do you need all of them?" 

  "All." 

  "I’ll sent them away." 

Hakyeon strode away from the house. He was supposed to take Wonshik with him, but he didn’t. Maybe he forgot.

He forgot another thing – eating the rice cakes with him. He had said that, that was his main reason to visit him today. Surely he was upset of something. Was it the letter by Yang Yeseop? Taekwoon just couldn’t be sure.

The day of Chuseok wasn’t completely ruined for Wonshik though. Taekwoon took him to the zoo. A little kid’s chuseok would be destroyed for him, it didn’t sound right. Wonshik never went to the zoo before. He was really appalled by seeing the animals. He fed the giraffe, ate four ice creams. It was almost impossible to move him from the monkey’s cage. Just like “Like dissolves like” Taekwoon thought Wonshik also found his own kind.

"Having fun?"  – Taekwoon asked, rather expressionlessly, but Wonshik knew that he was also having fun.

Wonshik bobbed his head up and down.

At night, he went to the chicken place owner’s house with Wonshik. Sanghyuk looked as if he had seen an alien in his house. He stuttered – "wh-why have you come? I-if you wanted something then y-you s-should have j-just called!" 

  "Why? Am I not allowed to come?" 

  "What are you talking about? If it’s my house then it is also your house! It’s just! Where did you get my address?'' 

 " I have my links."

Sanghyuk arranged a huge feast for them. And Sanghyuk’s mother was highly pleased at Taekwoon. She reminded Taekwoon of his own mother.

After that Taekwoon had to watch an anime movie with them. Sanghyuk’s family watches anime movie with him on holidays.

Taekwoon wanted to skip the movie – "It’s your family night. How could I-" 

 "Who the hell said that you are not my family?! Show him to me! I’ll surely murder him!" 

The movie wasn’t bad. The name was “Garden of Words”. Main genre romance, so I actually loved it. I  always had a thing for Japanese romantic movie.

After finishing the movie, Wonshik declared that he had only met two noble man in his life.

  " One is me..I can sense.. who’s the 2^nd?

  " Umma’s appa! Jaehwan-sshi!"

  " Who’s best among us? me or him?"

  " He’s first!" - he declared.

He returned home at 12:00. A huge limousine standing out of his house. The car driver sneered at him, -      

  "Where have you been? We came here at 9:00 pm and it 12:00 now! How long did you intend to make me wait?" 

The temper of rich people’s drivers are always hot, and over that it was a holiday…

Taekwoon whispered – "Why? Problem?" 

  "Don’t know! I’ve brought your food! Take it!" 

Driver took out two large food containers from the passenger seat of the car.

  "We have finished our dinner…" 

  "Don’t need it then throw it in the trash can! I can’t take it back. Sir even sent you a letter. Here…" 

Taekwoon returned home with those food and the letter.

Taekwoonie,

It’s an apology letter. I behaved badly with you on the day of Chuseok, didn’t even finish eating rice cakes with you.

I think the reason is quite clear to you. I didn’t want this personal matter to be known by someone else. But I shouldn’t have behaved that way. Because I hired you to solve a problem, and you are to do everything that you need to do to solve it. So it is only natural for you to do everything in order to solve it. Beside. I did not forbid you to contact anyone either.

I’ve sent some food for you. None of them are my cooking. Our private chef cooked them. The day I’ll cook, I will feed you by making you sit before me. I’m quite a good cook. The ones that study chemistry are all good cook. The reason? I’m sure you can describe it better than me.

Maybe my father was a good cook because of being a chemistry teacher as well. You wanted to meet him right? I’ll make arrangement, and then you will be able to eat his cooking and meet him as well.

Taekwoonie, be healthy, okay? Ah! Right! I almost forgot to thank you for something. Well, I’ll thank you now. You taught Wonshik how to read. He is a very good boy. I kept the boy to look after father, he used to love father a lot. Even father used to like him. But we have never thought that this boy needed education as well. But you thought of it. All this small activities are what that makes one exceptional. You are exceptional Taekwoonie…

                                                                                                                                                               From

                                                                                                                                                          Cha Hakyeon

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A professor of Psychology in University of Aberdeen in Scotland had sent Taekwoon a letter. The letter is like this –

   Jung Taekwoon,

   At first take my hearty welcome. I’ll apologies for the delay. It seems like you are yet again solving another mystery. Here I thought you would become a famous singer with that vocal of yours, or a famous athlete, but here you are solving third class mystery. That’s a job for the police not you.

Anyway, I’ll get to the main point. Yes, Cha Hakyeon did got a Ph.D. from our university on chemistry. The main topic of his thesis was “Colloid Science”. I also found out that he was a very brilliant student. He was given an offer to become a professor at this university, but he didn’t accept it. You asked to know about his mental state, I talked to a few people that knew him, all of them said he had no problem whatsoever.

Cha Hakyeon didn’t live in the campus area though, he used to rent an apartment nearby. At the end of his study session he brought in his father with him I talked to the landlady of the house, but what that old lady said was really ridiculous. She said that both him and his father didn’t sleep in the night. But I doubt it, here, the old landladies can hardly be found awake at night. They would get drunk and fall asleep. So how could she know what they did or not. Beside, a boy who had been doing a Ph.D. on a subject like Chemistry, it’s only impossible for him to work hard all day long and then not fall asleep.

Now, I think the information that I’m about to share with you now, will interest you severely. He had a huge interest in drama, or acting or theater work. He was once supposed to work in one of Shakespeare’s drama “The Ornet” but didn’t. He had worked in a movie as a mere Indian boy as well, although it was a small role. It was weird for a Korean to be hired as an Indian character. I believe it has something to do with his skin tone, or he is really good at adopting any language. I know you don’t have any gadget to play DVD. But I’ll still send you the DVD of that film. I haven’t watched it yet.

You really wanted to know, if he used to consult any psychologist or not. But I’m sorry to inform you that, psychologists do not release information about their own client. Therefor I can’t help you with that. I’d need legal permission for that.

Well, if you need anything more, now I’ll suggest you to e-mail me. Letters might not seem like a problem to you, but it’s a troublesome. E-mail is far easier, far faster. So….Do it! If you need money, I’ll send you that either.

From

Ok. Taecyeon.

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