PING

Jake's phone pinged again.
It was another message notification from Detective Ahn. He dropped the towel on the bed and squinted at his phone, his hair still dripping wet from shower. Was it something really important?
His phone pinged again without warning, startling him. This time, Jake clicked on the notification and it led him to Detective Ahn's texts.

DETECTIVE AHN : Jaeyun ssi, I have some discovered a key information pertaining to your mother's demise.

Jake scoffed. This detective probably lacked basic common sense. Who the hell texts such things?

DETECTIVE AHN : I would need you at the police station.
DETECTIVE AHN : Right now.

Jake's eyes widened. Was it that urgent? Had they found out who had killed eomma?
Jake felt a pit in his stomach. He took a deep breath and tried to relax. He heard a knock at his door. He got out to open it.
It was the butler.
'Jake nim, the breakfast is ready,' he bowed.
Jake nodded.
'I'll be there in a jiffy,' he smiled. The butler left.
Jake sat down on his bed again and looked his phone. Detective Ahn Minsook's texts glared at him.

PING

His phone dinged in his hand, giving him a mini heart attack. 'Ugh this phone!,' he scorned at it.

DETECTIVE AHN : I know you've read the texts, it would be great if you replied to let me know how much time it will take you to get here.

Jake froze.
Reply. He needed to reply.

His fingers tapped away swiftly.
I'm sorry sir, I might not be able to make it to the station right now. I'm afraid I have to attend college today and I don't believe in skipping my classes.

White lies. He just wanted time to think about it. He needed time to-

PING

DETECTIVE AHN : Jaeyun ssi? Are you serious? We need you here right now. It's not a request. You need to be here. Now.

Jake bit his lip.

Yes sir. I'll be right there.

'Jake nim ?,' the Butler called him. He knocked on the door. 'The food might get cold, sir,' he said.
'I'm sorry Yoonmin ssi. Can you bring it in ? I'm kind of busy.'
He put his phone in his jeans pocket. Blow drying hair can wait for now.
He tapped on Sunghoon's name.

Sunghoon ah, I won't be attending classes today. I'll tell you the reason later.

The butler came in with the food on a tray and placed it on the peck table next to his bed. He bowed and left.
Jake ate his food in haste and made his way to the garage, clutching the keys to his Banshee 900R. He was determined to ride that car today. It was now or never.
Jake sat in the driver's seat.

'Yah it's way too fast,' eomma shrieked in panic. 'You're going too fast, Jake. We're gonna crash!,' she nudged him.
'But it's fun, eomma!,' he chortled.

No. Not today. Today was not the day. Today couldn't be the day. His hands felt shaky as he touched the steering wheel. He couldn't drive it. Not this car. Not for now.

He got out of the car and stepped out to look for a cab again. He slid into one and reached the police station.

'Jaeyun ssi,' Detective Ahn was standing outside the station with a cigarette in his left hand. It appeared like he had been waiting there especially for him. Jake was about to bend down to bow to him but Minsook grabbed his right hand and shook it. 'Good to see you,' he nodded. He motioned him to come right in. 'I had been waiting for you. I have an interesting piece of information concerning your mother's death.'

'Yes you texted me,' Jake breathed. 'What is it?'
Detective Ahn led him to a different room this time. It wasn't the interrogation room this time.
This time he was in his cabin.

'And why are we here?,' he said, thoroughly confounded. 'I thought it was a high profile secret case and that the government would freak out?'
'Uhm, about that,' Ahn cleared his throat. 'Why don't you take a seat first, Jaeyun ssi.'
Jake sat opposite to the detective. What on earth was going on?
The detective folded his palms and leaned in towards him.
'We closely examined the autopsy report of the other murder victim, Jo Younghoon and found out striking similarities. Which means that your mother probably killed by-'
'That serial killer,' Jake gulped.
The detective nodded. 'Exactly. So it's not something government has to keep a secret now.'
Jake paused to take it all in. He still had countless questions running in his head. How? He beheaded his victims, didn't he? Why did he kill her? What exactly happened'?
'So I, as a fellow human being, in the name of decency, will need to tell you that you need to be careful on your way out. Reporters will crowd around you like crazy.'
The detective eyed him intently.
'What's wrong Jaeyun ssi?'

'Uhm. I...I don't understand any of it sir,' he lips trembled. He felt like his head was spinning. He clutched his forehead.
Detective Ahn put a hand on his back and stood next to him.
'Of course you don't understand. I have barely explained anything,' he shrugged. Jake looked at him, wide eyed and pale.

Detective Ahn went back to his chair and sat down. 'This year the government didn't want to take any chance and they actually starting taking these murders seriously instead of turning a blind eye to them,' he began. 'Which means that they dug out the previous autopsy reports of the murder victims as well.'

Jake nodded, listening carefully.

'We're strongly assuming that the perpetrator hit his victims with a hammer first to render them unconscious, and then proceeded to decapitated their heads with an axe. It's because the autopsy revealed that those decapitated heads had been hit by slightly sharp and blunt object at the same time.'

'B-but,' Jake stammered, trying hard to collect his thoughts. 'How do you know it was a hammer after all? It could be something else too.'

The detective sighed. 'Well as of now, Jaeyun ssi, our primary murder weapons include a hammer and an axe. The face of the hammer is blunt whereas the claw-,' he leaned in closer, 'the claw is rather sharp, Mr. Shim,' he said. 'And I think it would be utterly impossible for the killer to carry two different weapons at night and strike with each of them. It would provide the victim decent amount of time to runaway.' Jake narrowed his eyes, gazing the officer intently. 'Seems like you found out a lot, sir,' he said. 'Uh huh, we did,' he nodded jauntily. 'The killer also seems to be left handed and getting to know that is the best thing that happened. We analyzed the angles of the wounds on the victims' heads. You see, I love left handed killer profiles. There are very few left handed people, so it makes the suspects list short to the point that we just technically zero in on the killer,' he smirked at the end.

'This serial killer only attacks at night, in dark and empty alleys or deserted streets. So as long it's broad daylight or you have a lot people around or both, you don't really have much to worry about,' Ahn shrugged.
'Broad daylight and around people,' Jake mouthed inaudibly. 'But eomma died at home,' he said softly. 'I know Jaeyun ssi. And that's why I am going to need a lot of your help. If we find out who killed your mother, we also find out who that notorious serial killer is,' he said, a victorious smile creeping on his lips.

That smile disappointed Jake. The officer wasn't interested in helping him because he cared about knowing who killed eomma but because he cared about getting promoted. Jake knew it was stupid of him to have such thoughts since this was obviously nothing but his job and Jake was a nobody to him. There was no reason why he needed to tend to him or pay any heed to how he was feeling. But it hurt. It just did. He felt betrayed.

He forced out a smile. 'Yes sir.'
'Okay so,' Detective Ahn said, his voice returning to its business-like tone. Jake liked it this way better. It was straight, crisp and to the point and it didn't give him the false hope that people like him actually cared about the victims and didn't see them as a means to climb higher up the ranks. 'Since it was homicide, I need to make a list of all the people present in the house on the day your mother died,' he said.

'People in my house?', Jake repeated.
'Yes, Jaeyun ssi,' he said. He thought hard. Nobody apart from him, eomma and their servants lived in their mansion. He had gone out with Sunghoon that day. So that meant the people present in their house at that time were...
'There's the security guard, the gardener, the butler, the cook and three maids,' he said. 'They're at house the whole time.'
'But I highly doubt they would try to hurt eomma,' he put his shook his palms in front of him. 'They all were fond of her, sir.'
The detective scoffed after scribbling in his notepad. 'Everyone's likeable until someone snaps and decides to murder them, young man,' he said, slightly amused.

Jake felt his hands curl into fists. Who the hell did he think he was? Did he just call his eomma unpleasant? This third rate Detective thought he was better than anyone else? He knew nothing. He was nothing. Just an incompetent piece of trash.
'You know nothing, so better not,' Jake said in his dangerously calm voice.

The detective looked completely unfazed. He shrugged. 'Or the people at your house could tell us who the last person to visit your eomma was,' he suggested.
Jake felt his annoyance melt away. Yeah right. He hadn't thought of it this way. 'So do you need to-'
'Yes we need to interrogate them right now,' he cut him off. 'The earlier we solve this case, the better,' he got up.

Jake scorned. Of course.

'We're heading to your house, Mr. Shim,' he said, handing him a black mask, a pair of sunglasses and a ridiculously large hat. 'You could make use of this.'
'Why?,' Jake squinted at him. 
'You'll soon find out,' the officer said. Jake was confused but decided to comply to the officer's demands anyway. As soon as they stepped out of the station, Jake knew why he had to hide his face.

'Shim Jaeyun? Is that you?'
'It's definitely him, that's why he's hiding his face like that.'
'Shim Jaeyun, how do you feel about your mother's demise? Did you ever think she would die in the hands of the infamous serial killer in Seoul?', someone shoved a camera and a mic in his face. It took everything in him to not punch the guy in front of him, to punch the source of this voice. "How do you feel about your mother's demise?" What kind of a question was that? How would that idiotic reporter feel about his mother's demise?

He didn't have to worry about the reporters, because a handful of officers circled around him, preventing anyone from getting close to him as he boarded the police car. They sped off to his house, a swarm of reporters still running behind them in a desperate attempt to get a statement from him to increase the ratings of their news channels.

'You'll have to be careful from now on, Jaeyun ssi,' Detective Ahn said. 'Reporters are going to follow you everywhere and they won't let you breathe,' he sighed. 'A great reminder of how famous your mother was, huh?,' he chuckled lightly. Jake found it hard to decide if he liked him or not. For him, there was no grey in the world. There was only black and white. There was nothing called "don't care". He either loved people in his life deeply or detested them enough to wish death on them sometimes. People he didn't love or hate with passion had no place in his life. The same was the case with his ethics. Either something was completely moral or it was entirely wrong and heinous. There was no in between. He could never understand how other people could be shallow and put them into categories like - loving this person, liking this one, this one's meh but you know, it's fine, they're okay. Some people who pointed this out, including his mother, called his point of view extreme and disapproved of it but he didn't understand why.

On the other hand, Detective Ahn was hard to read. Jake loved reading people and knowing their true intentions but it was hard with him. He couldn't decide if the detective felt sorry for him or he was only and only concerned with getting his job done and getting a higher position.

Detective Ahn put his hand on Jake's back. 'I feel sorry for you, young man. You saw her die right in front of you. Now that-,' he paused and pressed his lips together in a thin line. '-that really isn't pretty.'
Jake didn't want any of this sympathy. He loathed it. But somehow after Detective Ahn said it, he decided to believe that he was a nice person after all. He want just here to do his job, he did feel terrible for his loss.

'Looks like we're here,' he said, opening the door of the car in front of Jake's mansion. Jake looked behind him. Unsurprisingly, a lot of reporters had managed to follow them to his house. The officers from the other car got up and circled him again, until they reached past the gates of the mansion. The security guard's face was covered in shock and confusion. 'Police? Why-'

'We need to interrogate all the staff working in this house in context to Ms. Jeong's death,' Ahn flashed his ID in front of him. 'I'm Detective Ahn Minsook, and these are my subordinate officers for this case.' The security guard bowed and nodded. 'Sure sir, go ahead.'

'Actually, you'll have to come in for questioning too,' a shorter, slightly overweight bearded officer looked at the guard. 'Me?,' he said, panicking slightly. 'But I-'
'You're going to be the most important connecting link here, Mr.-', Ahn squinted at his name tag and smiled. '-Hong,' he said.
The guard gulped audibly. One of the officers put and arm around him as he reluctantly followed the rest of them. Jake felt terrible for Hong ahjussi. He had been working for them ever since they moved here from Australia, which was almost twelve long years ago. He was sure he had nothing to do with eomma's death. He just didn't want to get involved with the cops. I mean, who wants that, right?

He removed the mask, the sunglasses and the peculiar looking hat and followed Detective Ahn inside the mansion.

They sat in the living room and Detective Ahn asked Jake to fetch all the people who worked in the house. 'Anything wrong, sir? How may I help?,' the butler looked at the detective.
Ahn chuckled. 'Why don't you take a seat,' he motioned him to sit next to him at the dining table.
Jake came in with the rest of the servants.
He motioned all of them to sit. He gave each of them a piece of paper and a pen. Everyone including Jake. He felt confounded. Why him? Was he suspicious of him too?

'Well, for all we know, you could have split personality disorder, right?,' he whispered in his ear, answering his question. 'But then, wouldn't my "split personality" be capable of being left handed? What the point?,' he whispered back. 'Just do what you're told and stop asking silly questions,' he snapped. Jake almost recoiled. Detective Ahn had actually been quite friendly to him but right now he seemed kind of intimidating.

'I want you all to write your names,' he looked at his wrist watch. 'You have three seconds.'
Jake wrote his name on the piece of paper as fast as he could. Detective Ahn grunted in anger as he looked at all of them and kicked one of the chairs. 'You all are right handed,' he clicked his tongue in disappointment and pressed his features together into a grimace. He held his face in his hands. 'All of you,' he waved his hand. 'Leave. I want to talk to the guard in private. The rest of the officers followed the servants into a room. 'Inspector Kim, make sure nobody leaves the house,' he commanded a tall, well built man with tanned skin. 'Yes sir,' Inspector Kim bowed and left.

'I asked everybody to leave, didn't I?,' he narrowed his eyes at Jake, the upper corner of his lip curling into a scorn. 'But I'm...I want to stay here, officer,' he pleaded. He had expected himself to sound assertive and strong but right at that moment, the amount of power Detective Ahn seemed to hold brought Jake on his knees. He hated to admit it, but right at that moment, he was afraid of him. Maybe the cops were the way they were for a reason.

'Please,' Jake bore his puppy eyes into his. 'You know I don't really mean any harm. It's my eomma...I-,' his voice cracked.
Jake blinked his tears back. He wasn't going to cry now, not in front of some random guy he barely knew.
Yet that "random" guy's face softened a bit.
He pressed his lips together, deep in thought. 'You know what, it's fine. I have a few questions to ask you too.' 'Thank you, sir,' he smiled gratefully.

'So, Mr. Hong,' Detective Ahn turned to the guard. Hong ahjussi was a guy in his late fifties. He was grizzled of and medium built. His huge brown eyes were filled with fright.
'Who was the last person before Jaeyun ssi to enter the mansion?,' he said coldly, his slender black eyes boring into his large brown ones.

Mr. Hong gulped.
He shut his eyes and creased his forehead, lost deep in thought.
'It's okay. Take your time,' Ahn lifted an apple from the basket and took a bite, walking around in the room. 'I've got all day. This is the only case I'm working on right now,' he chuckled.
Hong ahjussi opened his eyes. They had a certain glint in them. It seemed like he finally remembered. 'Hong ahjussi ,' Jake inched closer to him and said in comforting voice. 'Don't worry, I've got you,' he smiled. 'Tell them who it was.' Mr. Hong's expression changed. His lips trembled. 'No,' he said softly. Ahn stopped eating the apple. 'No?,' Jake looked at him, confused.

'Who was it?,' the detective eyed him sharply, slamming his fist on the table.
Hong ahjussi shuddered.
'It's fine, ahjussi,' Jake smiled at him and put a hand on his back. 'No one's gonna hurt you,' he squeezed his hand. 'It...It was...', he began.
'Uh huh,' Jake nodded encouragingly. 'Yes, tell us,' he urged him gently.
'I'm getting older, my memory is probably not as sharp as it used to be I-'
'Cut the crap!,' Ahn's loud, deep voice echoed in the hall. Hong shivered in fear.
'Ahjussi, please tell us,' Jake's lips trembled. 'I need to know,' he said softly.
But ahjussi didn't speak. He stayed muted, staring at the wall. Detective Ahn pushed Jake away and grabbed Hong's collar. He grabbed him by his shoulders, his coal black eyes penetrating into his soul.

'Who was it,' he said in a low voice. Jake could feel himself trembling. He didn't want to imagine how Hong ahjussi was feeling.

'I'll tell you,' Hong looked at him, his voice shaky and unstable. 'I'll tell you okay? Please let go of me,' he said beseeched.

Ahn let go of him.

Hong readjusted his shirt and took a deep breath. He cleared his throat.

'It was one of your friends, Jake nim, but I can't remember his name right now, I don't know why. I guess I'm feeling really nervous ,' Hong forced out a chuckle.
'The tall one who speaks very gently. The one who's older than you.'

Author's note
Shit guys I'm so sorry this chapter is really really long 😭
If you're still here, you're my favourite kind of person❤️

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