Chapter 15 — End of the Chase

Hyun Woo again went to the second wing of the house and turned into the corridor from which Soo Min had come out earlier. He immediately noticed a slightly ajar door at its end and a light radiating from the room to which they led. Hyun Woo raised the gun up, walked to the door, opening it wider, and saw a metal staircase leading down. So it was a basement. He walked slowly down the stairs and immediately noticed in the center a hospital bed with stripes that were however cut.

"Soo Min Sunbae was prepared as always." Hyun Woo said to himself, as he guessed that Soo Min was strapped to this bed, but prudently had some small knife with her and freed herself from the straps.

However, his attention was quickly distracted by the chill emanating from the opposite side, so he looked in that direction. What Hyun Woo saw terrified him very much: the open door to a room that resembled a morgue in its coldness and general appearance. The only strange accessory was the couch placed in the middle, with 5 human-size dolls perched on it. The worst thing, however, was that Hyun Woo recognized the faces of these dolls from the photos of the Cherry Blossom Reaper victims. All the missing girls whose bodies were not found sat there—aspiring models Kim Min Hee and Joon Hwa Young or trainees from talent agency Shim Eun A and Kim Hae Ran. And in the middle was Choi Ye Eun, Hyun Sik's younger sister. Hyun Woo stepped closer to the cold room and examined each of the 'dolls' closely. You could see Ye Eun looked the best of them all, but she was the last one, which is probably why Hyun Sik no longer made mistakes while mummifying her corpse. It was as if the previous victims were the test and Choi Ye Eun was the final creation. The mere fact that she was sitting in the middle, had the prettiest dress, the most carefully made makeup and hairstyle, meant that she was treated exceptionally.

Finally Hyun Woo returned to the main room, unable to look any longer at what this psychopath had done to these girls. He looked around the room carefully, but Hyun Sik was not there. Soo Min mentioned that she left him unconscious on the floor. Well, probably during their conversation he regained consciousness and got out of the basement. Now Choi Hyun Sik was probably somewhere in that house and Hyun Woo bet that he was hiding somewhere upstairs, probably in his studio. Because where else could an artist like him feel safest?

Hyun Woo looked with disgust at a metal cabinet full of bottles with colorless liquids and a table on wheels, full of surgical equipment, then also at a wooden table against another wall where a bouquet of artificial cherry blossoms was already prepared.

"It's prepared it for Soo Min. He wanted to make another doll out of her." Hyun Woo stated and was overwhelmed with great anger. "That son of a bitch... Sick bastard..." he growled and almost ran up the metal staircase, quickly getting out of the basement and finding his way back to the dark corridor.

Just to be sure, he checked the ground floor, but found no one, so then walked slowly upstairs, his gun still in front of him, and Hyun Woo was ready to pull the trigger as soon as he found Hyun Sik. It was as dark upstairs as it was downstairs, and even the window at the end of the corridor did not do much. No wonder, this house was in the middle of the woods and the trees blocked out most of the natural light of the moon or stars, and the property wasn't lit right now, as if someone wanted to make it seem as if there was really no one there. And it probably was that, after all Choi Hyun Sik was going to carry out his sick transformations in the basement. Since there was no security here, he must have told his family nothing about it, it is possible that he had slipped out of the family residence unnoticed, kidnapped Soo Min and brought her here. The only question was how did he found out where to look for her? Hyun Woo knew one thing: if they managed to catch Choi Hyun Sik, or rather Lee Joo Young, they would probably find the answer to this and many other questions.

He walked slowly down the hall, checking each room carefully along the way. Finally Hyun Woo stopped by Hyun Sik's studio and first put his ear to the door, listening. Finally he pressed the handle, but it didn't budge. This did not worry him, however, because in a moment he kicked the door with all his strength, also fueled by anger. The door and lock were neat though, so Hyun Woo had to repeat it a few times, but finally opened the room. At night, the mannequins on which the young master Choi's creations were placed looked a bit scary, especially those covered with black sheets. Hyun Woo decided not to look in their direction, but concentrated on searching the room. First, of course, he checked behind the door, but found no one there. The more he searched the room, the more it seemed that no one is there, but why was the door locked then? Choi Hyun Sik must have been hiding in this room. But Hyun Woo didn't have time to think about it anymore, when he saw from the corner of his eye that one of the covered mannequins move, then the black sheet fell off him, and Hyun Sik, who was hidden under it, threw himself at him in surprise. Everything was happening so fast that Hyun Woo wasn't able to point the gun on him, and then Hyun Sik managed to knock it out of his hand.

In this darkness, finding anything on the floor was a miracle, so Hyun Woo focused on the attacker, protecting himself from his fists, since Hyun Sik was punching him blindly. It was dark, but during their struggle Hyun Woo was so close to his face that he could clearly see the maddened anger beating from his eyes, even though his face was emotionless, like carved out of stone. However, Hyun Sik no longer looked as innocent as before. On the contrary, he kind of terrified Hyun Woo, however, the anger he also felt towards this psychopath helped him to contain his fear. Hyun Sik was terribly strong, and that surprised Hyun Woo the most, because at first glance young master Choi looked like a thin, weak man. Hyun Woo wondered where from he was getting enough strength to attack him, more muscular police officer, and to fight fairly evenly. Hyun Woo began to fear that he would be able to deal with Hyun Sik and finally his fears began to take real shape.

Choi Hyun Sik knocked him to the floor, sat astride him, and clasped both hands around Hyun Woo's neck, not letting go of it at any moment and not paying attention to how he struggled and hit his arms. Eventually Hyun Woo began to run his hands around the floor, hoping that he would find his gun, after all it had to be somewhere. He felt more and more breathless and panicked that this was how he would die. But suddenly Hyun Woo heard sirens in the distance, and then clear sounds of cars approaching. Hyun Sik heard it too, for he immediately let go of his neck and sprang to his feet, looking around nervously, clearly looking for a way out. But then Hyun Woo, even though he was still gasping for breath, rose from the floor to kneel, grabbing Hyun Sik by the legs, then pulled hard, knocking him over. He intended to hold on to this guy until the police raided the house to arrest him. They started to struggle again, but soon Hyun Woo noticed that Hyun Sik had found his gun and without hesitation fired several times, but only hitting him twice in the arm through the darkness. Hyun Woo grabbed his arm and hissed in pain, but unfortunately he released Hyun Sik at the same time. Of course he took advantage of this and stormed out of the room like a hunted animal, abandoning the gun along the way.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soo Min, as she felt better, got out of the car ready to go back to that house and find Hyun Woo by herself. Soo Min felt she couldn't leave him alone, had to go in there and help catch the Cherry Blossom Reaper. However, Soo Min did not manage to take a step towards the side door of the garage, because she heard the approaching sirens and the clear sounds of oncoming cars. This area was so terribly quiet that it was impossible to confuse these sounds with anything else. Soo Min ran to the gate, waving her arms to trigger the sensor now and hasten the opening of the gate, so that the police cars could enter immediately, without waiting. And it helped, as shortly after the gate opened completely, three police cars pulled into the property. From the one that entered first, Min Joo Chan quickly got out, keeping his partner, Jung Mo, inside.

"You better sit here." he advised, then walked over to Soo Min. "Are they still inside? You haven't seen anyone leaving?" he asked, and when she nodded, Joo Chan turned to the policemen who had stepped out of the other police cars. "Check the back of the house and if you come across anyone, shoot in the air to let us know, okay?" he instructed them, and they obeyed immediately and scattered around the grounds near the house.

"I'm coming inside with you." Soo Min decided, but she swayed again.

"You're kidding? No way Kim Soo Min." Joo Chan replied, looking at her with obvious concern, then looked at his police car. "Jung Mo, take Soo Min, let her sit with you." he instructed, and his partner obeyed.

Soo Min was struggling a little, but felt dizzy again, so she finally got in the car. Meanwhile, Joo Chan pointed to the side door to the garage.

"Here is the open door, isn't it?" he asked, looking at Soo Min through the car window.

"Yes. Hurry up." Soo Min urged him, and then they all heard a shot, but it was coming from inside the house.

"It was upstairs, at the back of the house." Soo Min said quickly. "Probably Hyun Sik's work room, the door to it is right in the middle of the corridor." she informed Joo Chan, he just nodded and rushed inside the house quickly, flying through the garage, not even paying attention to the cars standing there. In a few seconds he was in the dark house and immediately climbed the stairs, he walked through the corridor, gun outstretched. Joo Chan found the room with no problem as the door was thrown open and he stepped on the gun lying by the entrance. Then he found Hyun Woo lying on the ground, his left arm pressed with his hand, and despite the darkness, Joo Chan knew there was a lot of blood.

"Enter the house through the side garage door, then through the garage to the house, upstairs and into the open room in the middle of the hall. We have an injured policeman there. Call the ambulance right away." he said through a walkie-talkie strapped to his belt, which also included a holster for a gun.

"The Cherry Blossom Reaper... He escaped... to the corridor..." Hyun Woo spoke up in a very weak voice. "Leave me and catch him before he escapes." he added.

"I have to wait for the guys to come and take care of you..." began Joo Chan, looking at him worriedly.

"Catch the Cherry Blossom Reaper first, hyung." Hyun Woo interrupted him, looking at him intensely. "He wanted to make a mummy out of Soo Min, just like those other girls... They are here in the basement... Leave me here, I won't die too fast... And catch him, goddamn it." if Hyun Woo had more strength, he would probably shout, but it came out a bit softer, but no less charismatic. Joo Chan was impressed and nodded.

"Hang on." he tapped him on his good, right shoulder and lifted to his feet as he ran out of the room.

Joo Chan searched the floor for some time for Hyun Sik's traces, until finally, in one of the rooms at the end of the corridor, he saw an open window and tablecloths tied to the radiator, forming a rope, on which someone had clearly come down. Joo Chan came outside in the same way, and at the very top of the metal fence he saw a piece of white cloth, as if someone had left a piece of their shirt.. There was a forest behind the fence.

"So you ran away there." Joo Chan smiled slightly, climbed the fence and quickly found himself on the other side and ran into the forest. "But you won't run away from me." he added as in the distance saw a human figure slowly running deeper into the forest. Joo Chan followed the fugitive running like a cheetah, with the same run that terrified anyone who tried to escape from him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soo Min stared at the house in horror, then as the policemen who were supposed to check the rear came back to the front of the house and ran in through the side garage door.

"What the hell is going on there?" Soo Min was almost out of the car, but Jung Mo put his hand on hers and closed the door again.

"Sunbae, I think Joo Chan found Hyun Woo and Hyun Sik, so he asked for support." Jung Mo turned to her in a reassuring tone. "Relax, everything will be fine..." he wanted to continue when the policemen came out of the house, supporting Hyun Woo, on whose arm a piece of scarf was tied, slightly red with blood.

Then Soo Min could not stand it and got out of the car with such a sudden and decisive movement that Jung Mo did not even have time to react. She ran to the policemen holding her partner and immediately began examining his bleeding arm.

"Oh my God, Hyun Woo! What did I tell you... So that you shouldn't put yourself in too much risk... So that you should run away if it was too dangerous..." Soo Min turned to him with a slight resentment, but quickly scolded herself for such an attack. "I'm sorry. What happened?" she asked him much more gently, with a clear concern on her face.

"During our struggle, Hyun Sik knocked the gun from my hand, and after a while he found it faster than me. Then shot me, dropped the gun and ran away." Hyun Woo explained.

"And where is Joo Chan hyung?" they suddenly heard Jung Mo's worried voice behind them, who also got out of the car and came closer.

"He's looking for Cherry Blossom Reaper." Hyun Woo replied to him.

"I saw Detective Min in another room, climbing out the window, then through the back fence, and running into the woods," one of the policemen joined in, the other one who had only left the house now. "The Reaper must have escaped there, and if Joo Chan is chasing him, he won't get far." he added in reassuring voice.

"I hope so..." Soo Min said softly, looking at the gate that had been blocked earlier by the policemen so that it wouldn't close again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Until now, Joo Young was a predator, and he could hide himself so wonderfully that everyone saw him more as a gentle rabbit than a cunning fox. For the first time in a very long time, he felt like a helpless animal again, similar to when he was in that damned orphanage in Gwangju. Joo Young ran through the forest as hard as he could, but heard the man getting closer and closer. So what if he escaped early and had the advantage? That policeman ran much faster than him and didn't seem to be tired at all by the chase, in addition, through such unpredictable and heavy area as a forest.

Glancing over his shoulder several times, Joo Young saw his face and, despite the distance between them, recognized him immediately. It was Min Joo Chan, the terror of criminals, strong as a machine and fast as a cheetah. No criminal he chased had escaped from him. So why was Joo Young still stubbornly running? Perhaps he had no intention of giving up without a fight. Yes, his entire mission crumbled, they found him, and they would surely take away the wonderful creations he made, including his beloved Ye Eun... But he couldn't put himself in their hands just like that, they had to get tired of chasing him a little more.

He was overwhelmed with anger at them all, especially Soo Min. How could she deceive him like that? Soo Min said that she wanted to understand him, but then ran away from him anyway, rejecting the most beautiful gift he could give her: being the chosen one, eternally beautiful! He thought she was different, but it turned out that not only did she lie to him, but also brought her colleagues from the police station here? After all, he was explaining to Soo Min exactly what his mission was, and that was a good mission. He had no doubts about it, no matter what others wanted him to believe. They all called him a criminal, a psychopath, and then finally the Cherry Blossom Reaper... How he hated that nickname. Yes, Joo Young did leave a bouquet of cherry blossoms, but it was only a symbol of a beauty that was in danger of passing. He chose artificial ones because their beauty did not fade away and it was just a new symbol, a symbol that he can keep this beauty forever. He saved all these young, beautiful women before their beauty was ruined by time or other people. He was saving them because couldn't save Im Hae Won back then and he felt a great deal of guilt. Unfortunately, the world did not understand him, as any great artist. It is only a few years after his death that people will open their eyes and see that what he was doing was good and important.

Soon his thoughts were interrupted by the sharp pain he felt in the bend of his right knee. Thinking, Joo Young didn't even notice how he slowed down, allowing Min Joo Chan to shoot him, choosing his leg. Joo Young fell to the soft ground, landing face down in some bushes. He tried to get up, but the pain in his leg was excruciating and he only managed to sit up. One of his hands went down to his right knee. Joo Young felt something wet, sticky and warm there. After raising his hand at eye level, he saw blood.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The ambulance entered the property after about 20 minutes and the paramedics with the doctor immediately treated Hyun Woo's wound. Fortunately, the bullet didn't go deep, so they managed to remove it on the spot, but Hyun Woo had to go to the hospital anyway. Before they could move on, however, Joo Chan entered the gate, leading the limping Choi Hyun Sik, handcuffed. His right knee was clearly bleeding.

"I had to immobilize him." Joo Chan explained, and paramedics quickly took care of Hyun Sik's wound as well.

Then Hyun Woo, Hyun Sik, and Joo Chan, who was watching him, took an ambulance to a nearby hospital. Soo Min her police car, Jung Mo the Joo Chan's police car, both right behind the ambulance, and the rest of the policemen were busy securing the area. Soon more police would be there to collect traces and take the mummified bodies of five young women who were still sitting on the couch in this cold like a morgue room in the basement.

Hyun Sik's wound was even shallower than Hyun Woo's, so much that the bullet did not even stick into his body, so right after treating the wound, Choi Hyun Sik was taken in Joo Chan's police car to Seoul and Soo Min followed right behind them. She stayed with Hyun Woo for a while as the doctors treated Hyun Sik's wound, but Hyun Woo himself told her to go as soon as they took the Cherry Blossom Reaper so she could go with him to the police station in Seoul. So she obeyed, even though was worried, and asked if he would like to be moved to a hospital in Seoul, but Hyun Woo assured her that Gwangju was his hometown after all, and that his mother would have a closer distance to go and visit him.

Soo Min was feeling much better, besides, in the hospital she received something to compensate for the effects of the drug that Hyun Sik injected her. That's why she felt good enough to drive all the way to Seoul, right behind Joo Chan's police car, in which apart from him sat Jung Mo and of course Hyun Sik, handcuffed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Over the following days, police searched the entire house of Choi Hyun Sik with the help of the Gwangju police, and new evidence was brought to Seoul every now and then. Even Seo In Sung's phone was found with messages from an unlisted number full of threats that if Seo In Sung did not confess to being the Cherry Blossom Reaper, his parents would pay for it. Recent messages said that he should come to the park, but leave the car a few streets away. After that, nothing more, just a message sent to the assistant in which Seo In Sung admitted that he was the Cherry Blossom Reaper and could no longer live with it. In Choi Hyun Sik's studio, a phone with a sim card was also found, which after many analyzes was connected to the restricted number from which messages were sent to Seo In Sung. The messages on this phone were deleted, but as nothing was ever completely lost, it was possible to establish that this phone was definitely sending messages to Seo In Sung's number, and the times of sending these messages coincided with the time Seo In Sung received them on his phone. There was still no clear evidence that Choi Hyun Sik was 'assisting' Seo In Sung in suicide, but the mere fact that he had his phone indicated that it was highly possible.

Autopsies of mummified women, including Ye Eun, indicated that each of them was killed by a poison found in that metal cabinet in the basement, and then Hyun Sik performed a careful procedure to ensure that his creations remained intact and eternally beautiful. The medical examiners also pointed out clear differences between the first mummified girl and Ye Eun, his last victim. It was evident that Hyun Sik chose other girls before Ye Eun more to train himself in his artistry, if you could call it like that. Hyun Sik wanted to make sure that when deciding to kidnap her, he wouldn't make any mistakes and Ye Eun would turn out to look perfect.

After the arrest of young Master Choi, of course, a storm broke out, mainly thanks to CEO Choi and Madam Lee. Neither of them wanted to believe that their priceless heir could have done something so terrible. CEO Choi was constantly pointing to evidence that Hyun Sik did not leave his home in Gwangju when the victims of the Cherry Blossom Reaper were kidnapped. But when police technicians checked the company that guarded Choi Hyun Sik's house and was responsible for monitoring, it turned out that their system had several break-ins that, surprisingly, no one noticed. During them, the image from the cameras was changed to the one on the previous day, so you could not see Hyun Sik leaving the property. In addition, when the images from the cameras located near the road leading to the house of young master Choi were checked, they showed the exact KIA car used by the Cherry Blossom Reaper. CEO Choi was shocked that his car was still in use. During the next interrogation, it was revealed that Secretary Lee really disregarded his boss's word because Hyun Sik called him and asked if he could take care of an urgent errand. Torn between CEO Choi's command and young master's request, he chose Hyun Sik because this boy rarely asked him for anything, and Secretary Lee absolutely wanted to befriend him. So he left the junkyard before his boss's car was destroyed. But since the employee who was supposed to take care of the destruction back then now was already dead, it was impossible to check how this KIA landed later in the hands of Hyun Sik and it was not that important, besides, everything should be clarified after interrogating the young master.

Of course, the Gwangju evidence that Hyun Woo brought was checked right away. The fact that the biggest secret of CEO Choi and Madam Lee had come to light in this way effectively shut them up, and they no longer held a grudge against the police. They themselves were also questioned in another Section, because they could only be accused of persuading others to falsify medical documentation, when they wanted to conceal the death of their son. The second was also the adoptive one, where CEO Choi paid a foster family and officials to write lies on the papers about who really adopted Lee Joo Young. And despite strenuous efforts from the police, reporters discovered this secret at the speed of light, and a huge scandal broke out. After the arrest of Choi Hyun Sik and associating him with the character of the Cherry Blossom Reaper, the shares of the Choi family fashion house dropped drastically and partners began to sever contracts, but after another 'false heir' scandal, everyone had completely turned their backs on the Choi family. Not even a whole week passed since it all began, and everywhere has already been written about the great fall of the 'Choi Family Empire'.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soo Min entered the interrogation room and sat down at the table in front of a man who until recently was called Choi Hyun Sik.

"Lee Joo Young-ssi..." Soo Min called him by his real name, though she had a hard time getting used to the fact that this was his name. "At the last interrogation you told us about your childhood again, but now I'd like to hear the full story of how you carried out your mission." she said, quite cautiously to encourage him to speak. Soo Min could see clearly that he was angry with her for approaching him like that while they were talking in the basement of his house. He felt clearly deceived and spoke to her very reluctantly, but she still wanted to get the whole truth out of him. Joo Chan offered to help, assuring Joo Young would sing everything nicely after one interrogation with him, but Soo Min preferred to personally interrogate the Cherry Blossom Reaper.

"I already told you everything, Soo Min. Don't you remember?" he spoke to her completely informally, but she got used to it too.

"I know, but we need to record your words. Do you understand?" Soo Min replied, without taking her eyes off him for a minute. "You may be angry with me, but you are in our hands now. Inside your house in Gwangju, we found more than enough evidence that you are the Cherry Blossom Reaper, so it makes no sense for you to remain silent. You might as well say everything and try to convince us that you don't deserve punishment." she added with a slightly malicious smile on her face.

Soo Min did not expect miracles, but surprisingly her words helped. She saw it in the changing expression on his face. He was no longer devoid of emotion, he was clearly angry and one could see the fury in his eyes.

"Stop calling me that. I hate that nickname." Joo Young growled through gritted teeth. He didn't say exactly what he meant, but Soo Min knew it was the term Cherry Blossom Reaper. He always reacted the same when someone called him by that nickname.

"Then tell me everything, from the very beginning, and I will stop." Soo Min set a condition, addressing him firmly.

"Okay." Joo Young agreed, smiling mischievously. "I'll tell you. Everything." he confirmed, then settled back more comfortably in the chair. "When I saw Im Hae Won destroyed, I couldn't forgive myself for not saving her, for not saving her beauty." he continued to talk. "That's why I made a decision that when I will find another creature as beautiful as her, I would make sure that her beauty won't be damaged. And I found that creature when I met Ye Eun. When we both grew up in this huge mansion and I felt a hatred for those people who told me to be someone else, she was the only sunbeam in my life. For Ye Eun, I was able to endure anything." Joo Young had a dreamy look as he said it. "Unfortunately, I couldn't fully show her my feelings, after all, I was supposed to be her big brother, right? I suffered immensely because of it. And then I saw who that old devil, Choi Young Sik, had engaged her to... I was scared that soon her beauty might be destroyed. And that's when I knew I couldn't wait anymore to get my plan done." his expression became immensely sad within seconds.

"So you were preparing for this, am I right? And your main target was Ye Eun?" Soo Min asked, still staring at him intently.

"The answer to both of these questions will be, of course, yes." confirmed Joo Young. "And I had a lot to do, I had to think about everything. Get to know the distribution of cameras in the city, choose people whose disappearances will not immediately cast a shadow on me. Fortunately, I had a lot of young women around me who fit this puzzle. But I chose only the ones from among them who deserved to immortalize their beauty." he pointed out clearly.

"What about the KIA car that belonged to your father? How did you get it?" Soo Min asked, curious about this part of the story.

"As for this car, when I took it from the junkyard, I didn't necessarily think about the plan." Joo Young confessed. "I just liked this car and I didn't want it to be destroyed. When I was a child, I asked if my father would give me this car when I get older, but he said no, he would like to buy me a car more worthy of an heir to a huge fortune. Then CEO Choi added that I should not think about such old junk." and as he said it, one could see the disappointment on his face. "It seems funny now, but as a child, I felt very hurt. So later, when I found out that my father had instructed Secretary Lee to take the car to the junkyard and see it destroyed, I had to do something. Since I knew how much Secretary Lee wanted to be friends with me, I called him and asked to run an errand that I was supposed to handle myself. Later I called the junkyard and asked them to hold off destroying the car for a while, I even promised that guy a certain amount of money. He agreed, and over the weekend I managed to took the car and hid it in a rented container unnoticed. Back then I wasn't as much under bodyguard's surveillance as nowadays, so later I was even able to take this car to my house in Gwangju. There in the garage, with my own hands, watching tutorials on YouTube, I remade this KIA. I changed the paint color a little and tint the windows." he explained thoroughly.

"Well, how did you get the artificial cherry blossoms to create your... lovely bouquets?" Soo Min continued with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"From the warehouse where you can find materials from the Choi family fashion house." Joo Young replied immediately, without hesitation. "You already know someone broke in there, right?" he asked, and when Soo Min nodded, continued. "It was me. I broke into the system, and when I changed the view from the cameras, I could walk around the warehouse and take whatever I needed." he said with a slight smile.

"As for mummifying a corpse, how did you learn how to do this?" Soo Min asked him another question.

From his expression, she could see clearly that he didn't like the way she described what he had done to those women.

"I found detailed instructions on capturing beauty for eternity on the Internet, specifically in the part called Deep Web. I even had contact with someone who named himself Necromancer." Joo Young replied. "That person was the only one who understood that what I wanted to do was right." he pointed out, looking at her kind of accusingly. "However, he did not help me for free, but thank God that I was adopted by a wealthy family and never ran out of money. It's also good that when I started working in a fashion house and brought it a big profits, I got an account from my father, from which I could spend money on whatever I like and no one checked my statements." he added.

"Maybe you can also explain to us why the image from the camera at the gate of your house does not show that you were leaving the property on the days when the women went missing?" Soo Min continued asking questions with extraordinary calmness. She tried very hard to keep this calm voice and face expression, even though his words filled her with both anger and disgust.

"I changed it the same way as the image on the cameras in the warehouse. It is not that difficult. I also learned that from a few hackers from the Deep Web. Just like hacking the phones to follow the women who have been chosen." Joo Young replied as calmly as if he was saying how nice the weather is today, and probably that irritated Soo Min the most in this whole interrogation. This man looked like didn't care what he did, even more—as if what he was doing was perfectly normal.

"I understand." Soo Min spoke up. "But one thing surprises me... You say that you prepared everything by yourself. You acquired the plan of where cameras are put throughout the city and remembered the whole layout, learned to mummify a corpse, acquired your father's car unnoticed, learned how to change image in cameras and hack into systems and your victims phones to track them..." she enumerated successively on her fingers. "And I don't want to believe that you could have done it all yourself. I think someone helped you, at least with some of these things." added Soo Min, looking at him closely.

"Apparently I'm not just a genius at fashion design." Joo Young replied, his face turning serious. "You think I couldn't do it all? Why? Do you doubt my intelligence?" he asked kind of reproachfully. "I'm saying I did everything myself. I know it may be hard to believe, but I learn really fast, much faster than others. If you ask at the schools I attended, they will confirm my words. I have always had the best academic record and heard many times people calling me a genius. But to me it was natural and I never understood what all these delights were for." he explained.

"Well, if you say so, I will not pursue this topic anymore." Soo Min surrendered, seeing that even if her suspicions were right, and he was lying, she would not be able to get any information about a possible helper out of him. "We already know that you were the one who sent threatening text messages to Seo In Sung, and you also had his phone hidden in your studio." Soo Min continued. "But I would like to ask if you killed him and made it look like a suicide?" she finally asked.

"I helped him a bit, because he didn't want to listen to me." admitted Joo Young. "For how he treated Ye Eun, Seo In Sung should have sacrificed himself, don't you think, Soo Min? He was filthy and was holding her with his dirty hands." he continued, his eyes showing anger. "Seo In Sung deserved to die and since he didn't want to kill himself, I had to help him. Then I sent a message to his assistant so that Seo In Sung would finally fulfill his role as a scapegoat." added Joo Young, sighing slightly.

Soo Min only looked at him with a kind of sympathy, but there was a lot of anger in it as well. Yes, she agreed with the statement that Seo In Sung had done something wrong, but he certainly didn't deserve to die.

"Do you have any more questions, Soo Min?" this time Joo Young asked, looking at her in some strange way, at least she was not able to decipher his current expression.

"I think that's enough for now." Soo Min replied, taking a deeper breath. She felt a need to rest a bit, because in a moment would not be able to control her expression and tone of voice. "Thank you for your cooperation." she added, then got up from the chair, went to the door. There were two policemen standing in front of them, waiting to escort Joo Young to his cell in pre-trial detention. "You can take him away." she said to the policemen, opening the door, which then opened wider and two tall men in uniform came in, caught Joo Young by the shoulders, helping him out of the room. And the help was useful to him, because apart from handcuffs on his wrists, he had bigger ones on his ankles.

Soo Min stood next to the door leading to the interrogation room and watched the policemen escort Joo Young until they were out of sight, entering another corridor leading to the pre-trial detention center.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When CEO Choi found out that his son had confessed to everything, he seemed completely devastated. It was evident that he truly believed in his innocence to the end. Madam Lee, on the other hand, seemed much less shocked and Soo Min did not understand it at first, because she thought this woman was the one who would be more devastated by the news.

Soo Min went to their house on her own, without the Chief Kim's knowledge, to just tell them about their son, that a court hearing was about to take place and to find out if they would want to attend, because however little they knew about what Hyun Sik was doing, their testimony might help a bit. Besides, Soo Min also felt that although he was not their real son, they had raised him over the years and treated as their own child. No matter what their reasons were at the beginning, they surely loved him at least a little. The more she wanted to tell them what was happening with Hyun Sik, or rather Joo Young, because he himself did not want anyone to visit him, even though Madam Lee and CEO Choi asked for permission many times.

Mr. Choi left the room immediately after learning that his son had confessed to being the Cherry Blossom Reaper and further detailed his actions. It was enough for Soo Min for the entire answer to the question whether he would like to participate in the court case. Only Madam Lee remained in the living room, and sat for a long time in silence, staring at the coffee cup in her hand.

"Detective Kim..." Madam Lee finally spoke, slowly looking up. Her face was terribly pale, and that accentuated the shadows under her eyes even more. In general, this woman looked a lot poorer than when they first met.

"Yes? Would you like to say something, Madam Lee?" Soo Min asked hopefully.

"I should have known from the beginning that there was something wrong with this boy." the woman continued, regret clearly visible on her face.

"What do you mean?" Soo Min asked, slightly surprised at her words.

"When I saw him in that house, when we visited this foster family, he was so similar to Hyun Sik... And then when I saw him draw beautifully, what aesthetic sense he had... Then I thought that God gave us a real gift." Madam Lee continued, staring somewhere in the distance. "Our Hyun Sik was not really interested in art, but Joo Young was. Very much. It might sound horrible, but at times I was glad that our real son died and we could adopt Joo Young... He really fit the role of heir for the fashion house." she admitted with a faint smile. "And so perfectly remembered everything we taught him about our family. Only his behavior was completely different from Hyun Sik's, but that could easily be explained by his accident, associated with this serious brain injury and subsequent coma." she continued, already with a quite serious expression on her face.

Soo Min listened attentively and did not dare to break her monologue.

"At first everything was perfect, but after a while Hyun Sik... I mean Joo Young..." Madam Lee corrected herself immediately. "He started to behave strangely. Several times I caught him killing insects, and then larger animals such as mice, rabbits and cats. And not right away, but he clearly have abused them before killing." she confessed with clearly visible difficulty. "Every time I punished him for it, gave him more and more spanks, because he seriously scared me... But I tried not to think about it too much and to remember how perfect of an heir he is," she sighed, then took a sip of coffee. "However, one time, when Ye Eun was 7 years old, saw him killing a kitten in the basement of our house. She came to me crying, and terrified I flew to this basement. I remember getting rid of the animal's body, spanking him really hard for it, and threatening that if he did something like that again, we would send him back," she added.

"And what? Has it helped? And how did Ye Eun react to that?" Soo Min finally asked, unable to bear her curiosity.

"Joo Young calmed down, but Ye Eun began to have nightmares and was afraid to approach her brother. She wanted to tell father about it." Madam Lee replied after taking another sip of coffee. "I told her that she can't tell anyone about it, because it's just such a disease and her brother has already recovered from it. Ye Eun was such an innocent and extremely naive child, believed in everything I told her, so she believed in this too. Ye Eun stayed away from her brother for a while, but after a year she seemed to have completely forgotten about it and normally accosted him, encouraging to play with other children. As they both grew up, she even caught a great contact with him, he spoke to her more willingly than to anyone else. I was very happy about it and I forgot what Joo Young used to do. I was so proud of him, of his academic performance, and then the results of his work. He made such wonderful creations that I was very happy to give him the place of main designer in our fashion house." she admitted with a pale smile. "But now that I see what happened... That he turned into such a monster... That he hurt those poor girls and most importantly Ye Eun... And also claims that he did something good..." Madam Lee's voice began to tremble, and her eyes glazed with tears. "I really wish I had done more when I noticed his disturbing behavior." she added and put the cup on the table as had to pull a cloth handkerchief from her sweater pocket to wipe away the tears that started to run down her sunken cheeks.

"Madam Lee, I understand you feel guilty." Soo Min said, trying to show as much empathy as possible. She wished that Hyun Woo was with her at the moment. "Yes, you could take him to a psychologist right away, and perhaps you would have prevented all of this from happening, but you had no way of predicting that it would develop so much in his head. Besides, it is uncertain whether doing anything would prevent his transformation into Cherry Blossom Reaper. So please, don't be so hard on yourself." she added, then got up from her seat and sat down next to Madam Lee on the couch, stretched out her hand and started to lightly stroke the woman's back. Until a few weeks ago, before Soo Min started working with Hyun Woo, she would never have been able to do something like that, probably wouldn't even say a word. Now Soo Min saw clearly how much she had changed and that made her miss Hyun Woo even more. When will he finally come back from that hospital in Gwangju? She didn't think his wound was so bad that he would have to stay in the hospital all week.

"Thank you for the kind words, detective Kim." Madam Lee replied, looking at her gratefully. "I will come to this trial because I know that it is also my fault. My husband wouldn't help much because he doesn't really know what was going on at home. But I have to appear in court." she decided, and Soo Min gave her a slight smile, not ceasing to stroke her back with her hand.