002. Mystery
The Demon Within
Lesson #2: Start from connecting the dots.
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Her elegance and classy appearance made her look like a vintage model who has just walked straight out of a magazine.
Her fitted, modest style and flattering silhouette put every woman her age on the edge, wishing to have her intense beauty and sharp looks.
Byun Haeri glided across the empty hall, hips rocking from side to side as her beige heels made soft clicks against the floor with each step she took, disturbing the quietness of the hall. A deep sigh left her lips once she reached a closed door, hand resting on the doorknob for a brief second as she was about to push the door open and walk in when she heard voices coming from the inside. She paused with a concerned expression, realizing that the rest of the parents must have gotten there before her.
It was one of these days she had to attend her son's school meetings, but this time around was different.
She wasn't there because the principal called her to praise her son's high grades and great achievements.
She was there because her son got himself in trouble again and it seemed like he wasn't going to get away with it easily this time around.
She closed her eyes in attempt to swallow her nervousness and was about to turn the doorknob when she heard one of the parents speak.
"I heard that you didn't even pass the Korean Mathematical Olympiad," the woman spat harshly, making Haeri pause with a frown. "How is it possible for you to be the top in school if you've never passed one before?"
"Yeah," another parent agreed as her voice echoed. "My son placed the first this year in the KMS but he's still not good enough to be a top student."
"I'm starting to doubt this school's teaching system," another parent said and Haeri found herself gritting her teeth.
She knew exactly who didn't pass the KMS last year and this year as well.
It was none other than her own son, Byun Baekhyun.
Trashing her son when she's not around wasn't the best thing those mothers decided to do as Haeri found herself pushing the door open with so much force before storming into the room. Her eyes scanned the room to find Baekhyun occupying a chair in front of the school principal and a total of three mothers staring back at her with raised eyebrows.
Baekhyun was wearing a black cap shadowing over his dull eyes and blank expression as he didn't seem to notice Haeri yet.
"Being good at maths doesn't really prove anything," Haeri's cold voice rang in the air as she closed the door behind her and stepped further into the room. "If my son isn't good at maths, that only means he's a human being and not a studying machine. He can't be perfect at every single subject out there. Human beings have weaknesses and my son's happened to be maths."
Baekhyun didn't need to budge now that his mother was finally around, heck, he didn't even need to utter a word.
"But it seems like people like you don't understand what I'm talking about."
"People like us?" One of the mothers pointed at herself. "What does that mean?"
"Mothers like you who bully other parent's son," Haeri clarified and slammed her beige handbag onto the tabletop before pulling a chair to settle down next to Baekhyun.
The principal was watching their exchange silently, his eyes followed the black silk fabric cascading from her shoulders to her waist until she sat down.
"Your son being a top student gave you some kind of extreme arrogance it seems," the second mother commented with a scoff.
"I'm just a proud mother," Haeri pointed out lazily, pretending to fix her wristwatch with a blank expression. "At least my son only at maths unlike yours."
The second mother froze instantly when Haeri fixed her with a dark look.
"Mrs. Ahn," Haeri hissed through gritted teeth. "Your son at everything, even at P.E."
"That's enough," principal Jang finally spoke. "This is definitely not the reason why I asked everyone to gather here today."
"You didn't seem to have a problem with them bashing my son," Haeri shifted her attention to him. "Or is it because bashing poor students is a lot different from bashing the rich ones?"
Principal Jang scowled.
"Mrs. Ahn's son is the son of Prosecutor Ahn," Haeri continued with a scoff. "He's not allowed to be bashed although he's absolutely good for nothing."
"Ms. Byun," principal Jang warned.
Haeri glanced at the mothers. "I could be very nice and considerate but when it comes to my son, I don't think you will like witnessing what I become."
"Ms. Byun," the third mother spoke for the first time, eyeing Haeri warily. "Do you know why your son is here?"
"No," Haeri tilted her head to the side before crossing her arms over her chest. "Enlighten me."
"He got one of his classmates pregnant," the first mother informed with a chuckle.
There was a little pause as Haeri eyed them one after the other, wondering if they were for real.
"My son?" She pointed at herself before scoffing again, giving the first mother a look. "Are you sure you're not talking about your own son here?"
The door swang open before any of the mothers could speak again, revealing a total of three students showing up, earning a few gasps from their mothers.
"Jihoon!" The first mother hurried towards her son. "What are you doing here?"
"You're here too, Huwan?" The second mother gasped and pointed at her own son.
Principal Jang tapped on the desktop with his knuckles to get everyone's attention before they could panic more. Haeri watched as he stood up and walked around his desk to stand in the middle of the room, getting a full view of everyone.
"We all know that one of your classmates... unfortunately, committed suicide last Friday," Mr. Jang addressed the boys. "She's no longer with us."
"Choi Sujin," Jihoon agreed with a nod. "But what does that have anything to do with us, sir?"
Mr. Jang took a moment to phrase his next words. "Her parents declared that she was... she was... pregnant-"
Haeri shot to her feet in shock. "What?!"
"Her parents want to know what happened because they think the baby's biological father is the reason why Sujin committed suicide," Mr. Jang continued slowly, eyes darting around.
The boys exchanged confused and shocked glances, not sure what to make out of that.
"Do you seriously think my son did something as horrible as getting his classmate pregnant?!" The second mother snarled in disbelief.
"My son has nothing to do with this," the third mother spat, pulling her son to her side. "I won't allow you to accuse him for something like that!"
"Why are you not saying anything?!" The first mother pointed at Haeri. "Is it because your son is the one who did that to Sujin?"
Everyone shifted their attention to Haeri who remained quiet.
"Yeah, it must be him," the third woman scoffed and looked at Baekhyun. "Sujin used to be his seatmate."
Jihoon pulled a smirk. "That's true, they were always sticking together. She even used to visit his house."
Principal Jang started massaging his temples at this point. "We need to calm down and wait for the victim's parents and the police to come."
"THE POLICE?!" The mothers gasped in shock, giving him panicked looks. "Why getting the police involved?!"
"Is this going to be in my son's school record?!" The third mother asked in panic. "His reputation will be completely ruined and no school out there will accept him once he graduates!"
"Oh, Gosh!" The first mother gasped as well. "I completely forgot about the school record."
"I won't allow anyone to touch my son!" The second mother pulled her son behind her, embarrassing the hell out of him. "He has nothing to do with what happened to Sujin!"
Baekhyun was watching and listening to everything carefully, aware of the fact that his mother next to him was doing the same. He was just waiting for the right time for her to snap at everyone when someone pushed the door open, gaining everyone's attention once again as Sujin's mother finally came to view. Her bloodshot eyes, dark expression and black outfit was the first thing Haeri noticed when she turned around to face her. A couple of police officers joined the room shortly after and the entire place went into a stunned silence.
"Hana," Haeri started slowly, heart clenching at the sight of Sujin's mother' miserable state. "I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to Sujin-"
A loud slap echoed in the air catching everyone off guard as Haeri's words were interrupted when Hana slapped her hard.
Baekhyun found himself shooting to his feet instantly, already on his way to ask Sujin's mother to off when Haeri stopped him, grabbing his arm firmly.
"Your son was the last person Sujin tried to contact!" Hana screamed at her. "Her life could have been saved if he didn't ignore her phone calls!"
The officers stood by the side and decided to watch everything silently, never missing the chance to note down several notes that could be useful for the case.
Haeri bit her lower lip before touching her burning cheek with her free hand. "I understand your pain-"
"No, you don't!" Hana cried, her voice cracked halfway. "Nobody understands the pain of losing my only child!"
Haeri tightened her grip around Baekhyun's arm when she felt him shifting next to her, giving him a warning look when he made eye contact with her.
"Did you do it on purpose?!" Hana addressed Baekhyun this time, approaching him slowly. "You knew she was pregnant with your child. Is that why you stopped answering her phone calls?!"
Baekhyun's eyes twitched, clenching his jaw with a dark expression.
"That must be the case because I can't think of another reason for you not to answer her calls," Hana's tears rolled down her cheeks. "You two used to stick together! You must have slept with her and-"
"Hana," Haeri cut her off when she realized that Baekhyun was on the verge of snapping. "I understand your pain but that doesn't allow you to accuse my son of something like that without proper proof. I can fill a defamation lawsuit against you for falsely accusing him of something he's not responsible for."
Hana clenched her fists and was about to lash out at her when one of the officers stepped in.
"Please, take a seat," he addressed them with a serious gaze. "Let's stop wasting everyone's time here and get done with this."
Haeri pulled Baekhyun to sit down next to her forcibly despite his faint protests.
"We're here today to take everyone's DNA in order to find out who's the father of Sujin's baby," one of the officers declared and fixed the boys (including Baekhyun) with a serious gaze. "That's why I'm asking you to cooperate."
"I don't understand why my son has to be here," the first mother refused to cooperate. "I asked him about Sujin and he said that he wasn't even close with her."
Hana shot her a glare.
"We picked up the names based on who was keeping touch with her in the last three months," the officer replied simply, scanning the boys.
"What about her boyfriend?" The second mother asked. "I heard that Sujin had a boyfriend."
"His current medical condition doesn't allow us to communicate with him," the officer explained. "But we took his DNA and the results were negative."
"Does tha mean she was cheating on Jaewon?" Jihoon concluded in shock before exchanging glances with his classmates.
Hana closed her eyes when they started talking bad about her daughter.
"What about the boy who died in the car accident?" The third mother asked the officers. "Haekjin was his name, right? Everyone knows how much he and Sujin hated each other."
"He's not the biological father," the second officer took a deep sigh. "His results were negative as well."
"That's why we don't have a choice but to look for the real father now," the other officer added after a moment or two. "If you're sure your sons are not the ones responsible for what happened, then you better cooperate and let us carry on with our work. We're going to do some cheek swabs on everyone. The faster we get done with this the better."
The mothers exchanged glances for a few moments.
"My son will go first because I'm sure it wasn't him," the second mother pushed her son towards the officers. "Though, his father better not find out about this. No one will be happy if he does."
Haeri resisted the urge to scoff and watched Huwan approach the officers with shaky steps.
"Olsun had a crush on Sujin," Jihoon suddenly spoke, pointing at his classmate with a smirk. "I don't know whether she knew about it or not but there's a chance he could be the one who got her pregnant."
The third mother gasped. "Are you accusing my son now?!"
Olsun clenched his fists before gulping nervously, feeling everyone's eyes on him.
"I mean," Jihoon continued to smirk. "He's here for a reason, ri
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