CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

the beast unleashed

It almost felt like a board meeting except there were only six people sitting across each other on a simple canteen table, on small circular seats with no backs. Rei looked almost like a secretary, or a students’ council member with her fast walk and the files she carried in her hands.

‘I’ve hit the jackpot.’ She put the files on the table.

‘It certainly looked like you did.’ Baekhyun’s eyes were wide.

‘Take a look why don’t you?’ she seated herself between Sehun and Jongin and opened the file. Inside were printed sheets of paper, some copies of profiles formatted into a form, some scans of separate papers.

‘Where did you get all this? Rich people’s trick?’

‘Someone owed me a favour.’ Rei smiled. ‘Should I explain or would you rather just read it all?’

‘I think you better give us a simpler insight.’

‘So you’ve been reading this all night?’

‘In the common room, yes. I didn’t want Soojung to find out I have years of her life compiled into this one file.’

‘So, what did you find out?’

‘Well, Soojung wasn’t originally from here. At least, as a kid, she used to stay in Busan with her dad. She has an older brother, Soohyun.’

She paused for a while.

‘Her father got cancer. It was detected late. He was pretty young when he died. Soojung’s mother took them back here, because thankfully her old hospital accepted her again but now she also works as a part time babysitter. She’d bake and sell goods at the Sunday market and she’s rarely home at all. They live half an hour’s drive away from here.’

‘And Soojung?’

‘She has no weird medical records. Only asthma, which we all know.’

‘That’s not much we can work on.’

‘Not yet.’ Rei added. ‘Soojung has always been quiet in school, and a little alone. She plays with her friends but never invites them over to her house. The teachers who used to teach her said she was always smart and hardworking but never complained. She would say okay to everything, almost as if nothing was wrong with her.’

‘A person who’s so used to having it bad they’re alright with it.’ Jongin pondered.

It was a frightening thought; an oblivious smile, an accepting face – almost robotic.

‘She went to a public school after her father died and when the school found out her mother was a single working mother, naturally, they were concerned. They asked Soojung but all she said was everything was fine, almost as if she was unaware of everything around her.’

‘Like she’s forcing herself to be right now?’ Chanyeol asked.

‘Maybe.’

‘Or maybe her brother and mother baby her? Try to make everything alright for her?’

‘I don’t think so.’ Jongin shook his head. ‘She’s too…independent to be.’ He said.

‘What else do we know about her? What about relationships?’

‘She’s never dated, at all. She went to prom with guys who crushed on her but never let any of them kiss her – but she didn’t like to obey curfews either.’

‘So she liked staying out, but not to date.’

‘She doesn’t like staying at home.’

‘Is that why she’s here? If she really wanted to run away from home why not go far away?’

‘Maybe she wants to stay close to her mother.’

‘I found something that might answer that.’ Rei took out a specific piece of paper. ‘Apparently, her brother didn’t like staying at home either. You see, their father wasn’t the nicest father. He showed symptoms that he could have been abused. He hated being at home and would join a lot of activities just so he could stay in school longer.’

‘Was she abused as well?’

‘I don’t know. But her brother had been in a lot of violent encounters with other kids from his school.’ Rei’s eyes scanned through the papers she was holding. ‘He got into several fights but that’s it. He graduated in finance and got a job close to home, in a bank. He’s the one who takes care of Soojung.’

‘Have you met the brother?’ Baekhyun asked Jongin. Jongin shook his head. Soojung was particularly private when it came to her family. More than Jongin was perhaps.

‘Maybe we could go meet the brother.’ Chanyeol’s eyes lit up.

Rei rested her face on her hand. ‘There’s not much to tell. We still have no clue who hurt her.’

‘Then maybe we should go back – to the day she got that bruise.’ Sehun suggested.

‘We need the visitor record.’ Rei said. ‘They keep that in the security office, don’t they?’

‘That’s a difficult place to sneak in.’

‘Difficult-‘ she stood up.

‘-but not impossible?’ Sehun guessed. Rei nodded in acknowledgement.

‘Perhaps we don’t need to sneak in. That’s not the only thing that records.’

Sehun caught on fast and rose from his seat.

‘Where are you guys going?’

‘Library.’ She smiled.

‘What for?’

‘To read, of course.’ She beamed,

‘And where are we supposed to go?’

‘You can check on her.’ She said to Baekhyun. ‘Let’s go.’ The two sprinted out of the canteen, just like a pair of partners in crime – in literatim.

‘Are you sure we won’t get caught?’ Sehun was excited and frightened of the idea Rei posed.

‘There can always be a first time.’ She ran ahead of him.

‘Rei!’

‘If it happens, we can always be honest.’

‘Because honesty is the best policy?’

‘Because it’s the easiest thing to do in our situation.’ She turned back, pulling her hair back. Her eyes glistened a gold kind of sparkle at him and Sehun felt his heart stop. He followed her to the library, his gaze fixated on her. Rei went to an unused computer and began working.

She worked.

And worked.

And worked.

How long has it been?

Soojung could not remember.

It was dark.

It was more than dark.

It was pitch black.

She felt a hand gently tap her on the side of her hair, and her pillows grew warm, and less fabric. She had not felt such physical affection in a long time that it felt like drops of snow melting on warm skin. Soojung slowly opened her eyes. It was all white, unlike the gloomy air of her room. She was consumed by this illuminous thing that seemed to make up everything around her.

And then lines formed a faded colour in slow motion, creating shapes, then space, and followed by time.

She was on a patch of grass and the wind was blowing gently. Across a distance were pine trees that stood like a tall gate and behind them she could see mountains of some sort, fading into the white sky.

There was a yelp and Soojung turned her head – or what she thought was her head.

She ceased to be of physical matter but she was there somehow, seeing everything around her.

She was ‘beside’ a house -  a wooden one that resembled a cabin-like structure, except that it was two storeys. It was painted in white.

Soojung heard the yelp again, and she ‘moved’ closer towards the sound. The rattling of chain was now within her auditory field and sounded violent. It was the sound of a dog, the yelp.

Once close enough, she found the chain and the dog bound to it. The chain was hooked to the wall of the house and the dog was a fit, brown hound.

And then there was a man.

A middle-aged man who towered like a shadow over the poor dog. It tried to unleash itself from the grasp of the chain around its neck but pull as hard as it may, and it was still in vain. He had a cane in his hand, a steel one. Something about his grip and the way the dog was desperately trying to release itself from the chains told Soojung that it was not the first time he used it to violent effect.

He began raising the cane, then beating the side of the dog’s body with it.

The dog let out a louder yelp, fell to the ground and then with careless haste tried to get back up on its feet. Then came another blow. The man did this while cursing things Soojung could not hear – all that was audible was muffled gibberish.

Soojung’s view remained still.

There was no consciousness to her. She was like a floating invisible camera watching and unfeeling.

He did three blows in total and the dog, although weak still clambered to its feet. Soojung remained watching. As he raised his hand high for a fourth blow a growl loudened from behind him. A Dobermann had leapt in fast pace towards the man. It bit his leg hard and the man screamed, almost falling backwards.

He swung his cane now to the Dobermann, and with great struggle, eventually fell onto the ground. The Dobermann ran as if to lead him away and they both disappeared from Soojung’s view.

The sounds however, did not sound any better.

She could hear violent barks and more yelling until at last a gunshot silenced it all. Then the man emerged into view again, his chest thumping up and down in bloody satisfaction and pleasure as he overshadowed over the hound yet again.

Everything turned completely black.

The sudden pain in her abdomen made Rei jerk forward. She held her stomach, coming to a halt. ‘Rei?’ Sehun held her shoulder. ‘What’s wrong?’

She raised her head and her irises shone a peculiar silver shade. She sat up straight and then looked at him. ‘I have to talk to her.’

‘Now?’

‘If not now, then when?’

Sehun did not let go of her arm. His eyes looked unsettled. After watching the recording of the surveillance camera, of course, neither of them truly felt settled again. Rei was calm, of course – she always was – but the sudden twitch inside her stomach felt like a minor prophecy, an unreal kind of sensation.

‘Let me go with you then.’ He felt oddly frightened for her.

‘No.’ she shook her head. ‘I…must do this alone.’ She hid her face, then slowly smiled at him.

‘But we always do everything together.’

‘I know.’ She looked hesitant and sad. Rei gently pulled his fingers off her arm. ‘But I can’t let you in this time.’ She stood up.

‘Rei-‘

‘Trust me.’ Her eyes sparkled her usual confidence. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow?’

Sehun pursed his lips tightly and then nodded.

Rei sprinted her way up to her dorm room with imaged running through her head. Connections were made between places that were never assumed to be connected at all. Inside her head, she was sitting on an empty white marble floor with a jigsaw puzzle broken into five thousand pieces.

Her hands were fast and an image was forming quicker than she imagined.

Indeed, someone did come and visit Soojung on the day Jongin discovered her with a horrible bruise on her tender face. There was little to see but much to analyse, and Rei cursed herself for seeing too much.

When she arrived in her room, Soojung was on her bed, flicking through her notes for a quiz. Her face was grim.

‘You’re back.’ She acknowledged Rei’s return. ‘Were you hanging out with the boys?’

Rei nodded, then joined her on her bed. ‘They miss you.’

‘Baekhyun and Chanyeol stopped by. Even bought me fresh coffee and some bread. You should have some.’

Rei shook her head. ‘I’m alright.’ She assured her. ‘Soojung.’ She called. ‘I want to ask you about something you don’t want to remember.’

‘Go on.’ Soojung braced herself.

‘When you said you deserved getting hit in the face for ‘killing’ Jongin’s sister, were you talking about the same person?’

Sting as it might your tender cheeks, but it will never compare to being dead.

‘Maybe.’ Her voice was weak.

Rei remembered the face well – the ginger hair, the grey eyes, the lean body. All the traits Soojung had in the form of a man. The only person to have ever made a personal appointment with Soojung from noon until night was none other than Jung Soohyun, Soojung’s brother.

The man who shot the dog.