Chapter 13 — Discovering the Truth
[Halmeoni – literally means 'grandmother', also used as a polite way to address an elderly woman.]
Another interrogation of Kim Hyun Jung was conducted by Hyun Woo. Soo Min wanted to give him a chance to learn about this element of work in practice, not just by observation. She chose this particular interrogation because it was less important. Hyun Woo did very well, but nothing helpful came out of the conversation with Kim Hyun Jung. He barely knew Young Chul—his name meant nothing to him, but he did recognized the face when saw his picture. Hyun Jung confirmed that he only saw him once in his life and couldn't remember where, which kind of confirmed that he must have been quite drunk while meeting him at the bar. So it was doubtful that Young Chul would be able to use his car, unless of course Hyun Jung was lying. However, Hyun Woo and also Soo Min, who was watching everything from the next room through the semi-transparent mirror this time, agreed that Kim Hyun Jung didn't look like he was lying. But of course, they could not completely rule out this version, after all, there were people who could lie without stammering or showing any signs.
Later that day, the results of Kim Hyun Jung's car check came back. The technicians did not find anything important, but it was evident that the car had been thoroughly cleaned inside in recent days, which itself was suspicious. Of course, it didn't have to be because someone wanted to cover the tracks, but Soo Min took advantage of the fact that Hyun Jung didn't leave the police station yet, and kept him by questioning a little longer. Kim Hyun Jung, slightly annoyed, claimed that he hadn't had time to clean the car recently, and that when he checked it, in his opinion the car didn't need cleaning. Besides, Hyun Jung then gave the car to a mechanic and indicated that it could only be cleaned there. To confirm this version of the events, Soo Min sent Jung Mo to the mechanic, from whom police technicians took the car, and on the same day he returned with the testimony of a man who said that cleaning the car was a service included in the price of every repair as part of the promotion. The mechanic pointed to an employee who was cleaning the entire car and Jung Mo asked him if he had come across any strange marks while cleaning, but the young boy, who was certainly not more than 25 years old, said he hadn't noticed anything disturbing, otherwise he would report it to his boss right away.
Soo Min walked all day nervous about these events. It was as if fate kept throwing obstacles at their feet, yet they had to find the man who was guilty of these kidnappings and murders. Hyun Woo tried to stay calm and reassure his partner, but after a while he had problems with it himself. This case was certainly tricky and complicated and Hyun Woo was even impressed with The Cherry Blossom Reaper, for whoever he was, had planned it all so perfectly that the truth would not be discovered too soon, if ever. He chose victims who had contact with many people, a car that several people had in the vicinity of these girls, and most of all did not seem to leave any traces. Hyun Woo was seriously wondering if there really was only one man who could do it all? For some time he had felt like at least two people were involved: the main perpetrator and someone who was helping him cover his tracks. The worst part of it was that they did not know the motive behind the actions of Cherry Blossom Reaper. Why did he choose such victims? Why were some of the bodies easy to find and the rest not? Was he just kidnapping and keeping these girls somewhere for his own sick pleasure, and those whose bodies were found had somehow tried to escape but had been caught and killed instead? Hyun Woo had a feeling that they won't get answers to all these questions until they catch the Cherry Blossom Reaper and ask him.
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Soo Min waited impatiently for the results of Seo In Sung's autopsy and kept going to the appropriate Section every now and then to be there when the results came. Hyun Woo was sitting alone in their Section office when he received a call from Jang Chang Ho.
"Detective Jung Hyun Woo?" he heard his voice in the receiver.
"Yes, that's right." Hyun Woo replied. "Should I notify detective Kim about your call?" he asked later.
"No need, I'd rather you take care of what I have to tell you." Jang Chang Ho replied quickly. "Because this case has to do with Gwangju, and as far as I know, you worked there, right? So it will be easier for you to check it, detective Jung." he explained in more detail.
"Okay, continue then Jang Chang Ho-ssi." Hyun Woo replied, clearly intrigued by what this young man had to say.
"This whole case of Cherry Blossom Reaper keep on bothering me, so I started to rummage a little bit in the history of Choi's family because I know that they would rather not let the police delve into it." Chang Ho spoke up. "And I found something strange around the time their son had an accident and came back from the hospital later. I learned that not so long after his return, one of the nannies who looked after Hyun Sik and Ye Eun was fired. Abuse of children was given as the reason, which of course damaged the woman's reputation. I contacted her and at first she didn't want to talk about it, but when I explained my suspicions, she agreed to speak to the police. Hence my phone call, detective Jung." he explained. "So I would like you to meet this woman at her house without anyone finding out about it, especially Mr. Choi and Madam Lee." he pointed out.
"Okay, then I'll meet her alone." Hyun Woo assured. He knew he should consult Soo Min on this, but she was sticking to procedures too much. Soo Min will definitely be angry with him, but will it be the first time? No, and certainly it won't be the last. Therefore, Hyun Woo continued to listen to Chang Ho and made a quick note of the address where the woman was to live. After hanging up, he decided not to waste any time and take advantage of the fact that Soo Min still hadn't come back to the office. It was now or never if he wanted to take care of this case without anyone knowing.
"Han Eul hyung, if Soo Min comes back tell her I got an important call from Gwangju, but I will be back soon." Hyun Woo walked to his colleague's desk and informed him.
"Do you want to go out now? How long will you be gone? Soo Min will kill you if she finds out." Han Eul replied in warning.
"I know, but I really have to and I will accept the punishment with humility later." Hyun Woo replied, and Han Eul looked at him as if he was crazy. Hyun Woo smiled only slightly and left their Section office, and soon the police station, taking their work car. He knew well that Soo Min would punish him extra for it, but had a feeling that what he would learn from that woman who worked for Choi's family was worth it. So he turned off the phone and drove the car to the street.
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Seo In Sung's phone still hasn't been found. The last signal was recorded in the same park where the man's body was found, which meant that he rather had the phone with him at the time of committing suicide. Then what happened to it later? Looking through analysis, Soo Min was sure that someone had either "helped" Seo In Sung die and made it look like a suicide, or was following him and waiting for the right moment to pick up the phone. But why? It had to mean there was something on Seo In Sung's phone, something important. Soo Min doubted the version that someone had found the hanged man before and simply robbed the corpse, which was suggested by Joo Chan. Yes, it was possible, but Soo Min trusted her gut. And Soo Min's intuition almost screamed that Seo In Sung had not committed suicide at all, and his phone was taken by the person who murdered him.
Unfortunately, when she finally got her hands on an autopsy, it showed that Seo In Sung was most likely to have committed suicide. No traces of interference by third parties were found. Soo Min was afraid that if someone in the upper ranks found out about the autopsy results, they would order the case closed, recognizing that Seo In Sung really was the Cherry Blossom Reaper and killed himself because of remorse. Soo Min couldn't be sure if they would be looking for the other girls or their bodies and more evidence pointing to Seo In Sung. For many, it was enough that he confessed, although only by text message. That wasn't proof enough for Soo Min, as someone else might have sent the message for him. Therefore, she will have to hurry up before those in upper ranks would demand to see the autopsy results. Soo Min had so little time, and no decent starting point which drove her crazy.
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Hyun Woo found the right address without any problems. The building in which this woman was renting an apartment was located in another Seoul neighborhood, Mapo, near Mangwon Station Exit 2. Her apartment was on the roof of the building and looked very modest from the outside. Hyun Woo knocked on the door and heard footsteps very quickly. The door opened slightly, held slightly by a chain. There was a little bit of a wrinkled face peeking out with one shapely black eye with a double eyelid, in which one could clearly see the enormous fatigue. The woman's hair was already gray.
"Who's there?" asked a high, slightly screeching voice.
"Hello, Halmeoni. My name is Jung Hyun Woo, I am a detective from Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Investigation Department, Violent Crime Section." Hyun Woo introduced himself, showing her his badge. "I got a message from Jang Chang Ho that you would like to talk about the Choi family." he explained the reason for his visit in more detail.
"Ah, yes, that's right." the woman replied. "I'm letting you in, detective Jung." she continued, then unfastened the chain, opening the door wider and letting him inside. That's when Hyun Woo saw her much better. The older woman was a head shorter than him, very thin and pale. She was wearing a plain white shirt, an ankle-length green skirt, and a sweater of the same color, but a slightly lighter shade. Her hair was gray, tied up in a high bun, the face was as pale as the rest of the skin, and heavily wrinkled. The features of the woman's face, however, suggested that in her youth she must have been really beautiful, but she still looked quite pretty, especially her eyes attracted attention even though they lost their brilliance.
"Young master Chang Ho called me and said that you would be coming, so I waited for you, detective." the woman said as they sat down together on a sofa in a small living room that was also a bedroom and a kitchen.
"In that case I am here and I will gladly listen to you." Hyun Woo assured her, taking out his pen and notebook.
"My name is Kim Mi Young and I am 70 years old. 18 years ago I was a nanny and looked after the Choi family children, their son Hyun Sik and daughter, Ye Eun." the woman began to speak, leaning more comfortably on one end of the couch. "About a month before his 9th birthday, young master Hyun Sik had a terrible accident. When it happened I calmed his sister down as she woke up from a nightmare and he played with the ball. I asked him not to throw it at home, but he didn't obey me and the ball flew down the stairs. Of course he ran after it and before I could react, Hyun Sik fell down the stairs to the very bottom." saying that, tears appeared in the woman's eyes. "Madam Lee was downstairs, so she took her son right away to the car and went with him to the hospital, and I was to stay with miss Ye Eun. That day, Mr. Choi did not come home from work, but went straight to the hospital. I had to sit with little miss all the time so I didn't know what was going on with Hyun Sik and I was freaking out with worry. I also blamed myself for that accident." she took a cloth handkerchief from her sweater pocket and wiped her eyes with it. "I heard from the security guards who were contacted by Mr. Choi so he could give them orders, that their son is very badly hurt and unlikely to survive." the woman sighed heavily. "But after a while, Mr. Choi came back informing that Hyun Sik was in a coma and that Madam Lee would stay with him in the hospital until he wakes up. Suddenly there was hope that the young master would stay alive and come back soon. I was glad to hear that, but when I wanted to visit him just to see his face, I didn't get permission. I was told that Madam Lee was mad at me, that I had not looked after her son properly and therefore they would not let me in. But surprisingly, I didn't get fired then. When I asked Mr. Choi about this, he told me that Madam Lee had asked him to postpone my dismissal. From that moment on, something seemed strange to me. At the hospital, they told me that Madam Lee was mad at me and didn't want me to see the young master, but she asked her husband not to fire me. Weird." she pointed out. "Several months have passed. I was taking care of miss Ye Eun, Mr. Choi worked all day and night, received weird phone calls in the middle of the night, went on some business trips more often than usual. Madam Lee appeared at home occasionally and avoided me and even her daughter. Ye Eun, even though she was only 4 years old, she asked me every day when her brother would be back and I had no idea what to answer her." she broke off and sighed heavily once again.
"And what happened next? Did the young master came back?" Hyun Woo asked impatiently for the rest of the story.
"Yes, one day he came back. Almost a year after the accident, Madam Lee and Mr. Choi returned home together and brought the young master Choi Hyun Sik." a woman replied. "I was glad to see him, but from the very beginning I also felt that something was wrong." she added.
"How is that? Can you explain more?" Hyun Woo asked, not understanding what she meant.
"Hyun Sik looked similar but behaved quite differently. Before the accident, he was a busy child, running everywhere and liked to prank and play with the other kids, in the end that's why this accident happened to him, because he was such a child." the woman replied. "But after returning from the hospital he became calm, sometimes too calm. Madam Lee said it was the result of an accident, after all he hurt his head pretty badly. It made sense, though, but it didn't calm my intuition. I knew these children as my own and I felt clearly that it was not the same child. It wasn't Hyun Sik." she announced at the end.
"But how? Are you sure, Halmeoni?" Hyun Woo asked, surprised at her words.
"It was not the same child. He looked like him, but it was not Choi Hyun Sik." the woman repeated, looking at him intensely. "I asked Madam Lee about it and then they fired me, forbidding to spread such nonsense. And when I started digging deeper and discovered that Madam Lee and Mr. Choi were together in Gwangju for some reason few months before Hyun Sik came back, someone started spreading rumors about me that I was abusing children and thus ruined my life. Nobody wanted to take me in as a nanny anymore, and people started accusing me of many things, wanting me to go to jail. Of course, the police found no evidence, but I was finished anyway. That's why I gave it up and everything became quiet." she added at the end.
"Madam Lee and Mr. Choi were together in Gwangju a few months before their son returned?" Hyun Woo repeated, now really intrigued by the whole story. "Do you have any more information about it?" he asked again.
"I was able to find the address of the place they visited during their stay. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to go there or find out what this place is." the woman replied and handed him a rolled piece of paper. "Young master Chang Ho told me that you come from Gwangju, so it will be easier for you to check it, right?" she asked, looking at him hopefully.
"Certainly, don't worry about it, Halmeoni." Hyun Woo assured, giving her a warm smile. Then he took the piece of paper and unfolded it to read the address. "I know where it could be." he said after a moment, looking back at the woman. "I will go to Gwangju today, check it and ask my colleagues from the local police station for help." he added.
"Thank you very much, detective Jung." the woman said, looking at him with great gratitude, then took another piece of paper and a pen from the table near the sofa and began to write something on it. "If you find out anything about Hyun Sik, can you call me? I only have a landline phone." she put down the pen, then handed him the piece of paper. "Here is my number. I would like to know if I was right and what really happened with the young master." she asked.
"No problem, I will notify you for sure." Hyun Woo agreed, placing both papers he received from the woman in the notebook, then closed it and put it with the pen in the inside pocket of his jacket. "Thank you very much for the information." he said, getting up from the couch.
"I hope they will be useful." replied the woman, getting up with a little effort, so Hyun Woo immediately joined her and helped her up. The woman smiled slightly and they walked to the door together. Hyun Woo left her apartment and went downstairs, got into the car and headed towards his hometown.
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"What did he do?!" Soo Min yelled when Han Eul started giving her a message from Hyun Woo. "What is he thinking?! We have a difficult case to solve, this is not the time to take care of private matters!" she slapped her hand on the colleague's desk, piercing him with her eyes. She couldn't believe that Hyun Woo might have been so irresponsible as to leave her alone with the Cherry Blossom Reaper case at a point like this because of some private matter.
"I tried to reason with him, Sunbae..." Han Eul began speaking again, clearly terrified by her outburst. He had never seen her like this before, although she could be malicious, but never so aggressive.
"Shut up." Soo Min growled at him, then turned and walked over to her desk, taking phone from it. She took a few deep breaths so that could efficiently find his phone number. When Soo Min succeeded, called without hesitation, but she heard in the receiver that the owner of the number was unavailable at the moment. Blood literally boiled inside her when she heard a mechanical female voice giving her that message.
"Jung Hyun Woo... How dare you turn off your phone..." Soo Min snapped, and she was overwhelmed by the great urge to throw the phone against the wall, but she stopped herself. "You're lucky I have other things to do now. I'll get you later." she said into the air and sat down on her desk before reading the autopsy papers carefully.
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Hyun Woo, being in Gwangju, first found the house that Madam Lee and CEO Choi had visited some 18 years ago. Now it was abandoned, but from neighbors he managed to find out that 18 years earlier there had been a family that looked after the orphans, or simply a foster family, living there. One day an expensive car pulled up in front of their house and a middle-aged couple got out, both of them looked rich. One of the older women living nearby also said that a month before the visit of a well-dressed couple, the family took in several orphans from an orphanage in Gwangju that had burned down. Unfortunately, no one knew what happened to the foster family who lived in this house, so Hyun Woo had to find some documents regarding possible adoptions. After all, for what other purpose would CEO Choi and his wife visited the foster home if not to adopt a child? Hyun Woo had a feeling that Mrs. Kim Mi Young was right, and Hyun Sik who came home from the hospital was not the same child, but an orphan. The real son really died and the Choi family adopted a child similar to him in order not to lose an heir. It sounded a bit like a drama script, but made sense and Hyun Woo would not be surprised if rich people were able to take such steps as long as to ensure continuity of their family and business. So he went to one of his colleagues from the Gwangju police station, briefly described the situation to him, and asked for help in finding some documents about the foster family and the Gwangju orphanage, which had burned down, because this issue intrigued him a lot. Hyun Woo had heard about this fire, that it was caused by an old faulty stove but only the sitters died because one of the kids saved the other orphans and became a hero. And that's why it was easiest to find this very boy who, as a mere 9-year-old, saved 10 other children from a burning building. According to what Hyun Woo read in the old newspapers in the library, the boy's name was Lee Joo Young. Having his name, it was easy to find him, and thus also other orphans from the burned Gwangju orphanage. The foster family, visited by CEO Choi and Madam Lee, took care of four children from this orphanage: 2 girls and 2 boys. Girls were eliminated because of their gender since Choi family needed a son, so the only thing left was to discover the identities of the boys. With the help of a colleague from the police station in Gwangju, Hyun Woo found out their names—it was the heroic boy Lee Joo Young and a little younger than him Kim Dong Min. According to the papers, Dong Min was adopted a year after joining a foster family, so he also dropped out. The date of Lee Joo Young's adoption coincided with the visit of CEO Choi and his wife, but the papers did not include the exact details of the new parents, and the address was in the US, as he was adopted by foreigners. And maybe Hyun Woo would have given up, thinking there had been a mistake if he hadn't seen the only picture of little Lee Joo Young that has been taken and put into his documents, even the newspaper couldn't take a photo of the little hero. He watched it closely for fifteen minutes and was sure the boy looked like a lot like Choi Hyun Sik. Suddenly Hyun Woo remembered visiting the Choi family mansion with Soo Min a while ago. Back then he saw several family photos there and remembered one of the older ones representing little Ye Eun and her brother. Then it hit him—Hyun Sik in that photo looked exactly like Lee Joo Young. For comparison, he pulled out an old photo of Choi Hyun Sik taken before the accident, which Kim Mi Young had given him while he was leaving so that he would have his image for comparison. This woman said that the rest of the old photos of the young master had been destroyed under strange circumstances, but since she loved these children very much, she had already taken some of them before as a memento. Hyun Woo put both photos next to each other and looked at them for a while. This made him even more convinced that the real Choi Hyun Sik had died 18 years ago after falling down the stairs and that Lee Joo Young had been adopted to replace and live as him.
"It's hard to believe, but this woman was right." Hyun Woo said to himself, scanning some documents and placing them on a USB drive. He had plenty of evidence that CEO Choi and Madam Lee concealed the fact of their son's death, adopted a similar child, and brought him home, telling everyone that Hyun Sik was only in a coma. On top of that, they must have drawn the hospital that took their son into this farce, and it was a private clinic treating members of Choi's family for years, so it probably wasn't difficult. And the worst of it was that they took an orphaned boy and made him pretend to be someone he wasn't. By reading Lee Joo Young's papers, Hyun Woo learned a bit about his story. This boy was born in a pathological family and when he was taken away from parents by the court at the age of 5, his father murdered Joo Young mother and committed suicide later. According to the description made by a psychologist, he was very introverted and his psyche was clearly shaped by an aggressive father and a fearful mother, but Joo Young liked to draw and had a great talent for it from an early age. This boy wasn't playing with other kids in the foster family, the only person he talked with was Kim Dong Min, his younger colleague from the Gwangju orphanage. Joo Young also rather avoided two other girls, even though they also spent time with him in that orphanage and he saved them from the fire. Lee Joo Young's character description was very close to the Choi Hyun Sik that Hyun Woo met. It was another thing that reassured him that this story of the child replacement was absolutely true. Additionally, Hyun Woo began to suspect that Hyun Sik might really have something to do with Cherry Blossom Reaper. He had no idea how this child swap story had convinced him to Soo Min's theory, but he just had such a feeling and decided to trust it, just like she did. It was late evening already when Hyun Woo gathered all the information he found, and before setting off for Seoul, he decided to call Soo Min.
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Soo Min, having learned that Hyun Woo not only left her to settle some private matter, but also took their police station car. She was pissed at him because had to explain the lack of the car to the Chief Kim and didn't know why, but she made up an excuse. Perhaps because Soo Min wanted to punish Hyun Woo as she wanted? Or maybe because of his great work so far, she wanted to give him a chance to come back and explain himself? Anyway, Soo Min saved his ass and hoped Hyun Woo had good reason to do what he did. When Soo Min calmed down a bit and thought about it carefully, she even came to the conclusion that it was impossible for Hyun Woo to act so irresponsibly. He must have had a good reason for sure.
After finishing work, Soo Min left the police station and tried to call Hyun Woo again, but with the same effect as before. Where was he at this time? Soo Min put the phone in the pants pocket, found her car in the parking lot, got into it, fastened her seat belt and started the engine as she started down the road towards the house. Halfway through, however, Soo Min decided to drop by her parents home. She didn't know why, but wanted to see mother and talk to her.
Soo Min parked the car in front of a narrow street that led slightly uphill. It was impossible to go any further by car, and her parents' house was located quite high up. So she only sighed a little and got out of the car, walking the rest of the way. It was already dark, but Soo Min was never afraid, after all, she probably was able to defend herself much better than many other people, she was a police officer after all. When Soo Min was somewhere halfway she had a feeling that someone was following her, however while looking around she didn't see anyone. But even so, her muscles tightened, ready to attack. Finally, Soo Min heard something behind, and near her back she felt a hand reaching towards her. She grabbed it tightly, tossing her attacker over her shoulder, and noticed that he had some kind of cloth soaked in a liquid in his hand. When the man landed on the sidewalk in front of her, and she was immediately struck by the look of her attacker: distinctive body build, hoodie, black pants, sneakers, hood pulled tight over the head, mask on the face, and latex gloves on the hands.
"The Cherry Blossom Reaper in person..." she said softly, but loud enough that the attacker heard it because his eyes grew bigger. Soo Min also noticed that his eyes were somehow familiar. "I didn't know you would shove yourself in my hands like that." a triumphant smile appeared on her lips, but the man quickly jumped up from the sidewalk and ran in the opposite direction. Soo Min was not going to let him get away, of course, and chased after the man. She was one hundred percent sure that it was Cherry Blossom Reaper and he was just about to kidnap her. Soo Min didn't know if he was that stupid or overconfident, but she was glad to meet him and wasn't going to lose sight of him. If Soo Min would lose him now and couldn't finish the case, didn't think she would ever forgive herself. That's why she ran as fast as she could, following the escaping figure with her eyes like a tiger follows its prey. Fortunately, her eyes were so used to the darkness now that the man's maneuvers to escape into the smaller and darker alleys did not help him lose her. She had to admit he was fast, damn fast. In addition, he ran so that his hood did not slip off his head even for a moment.
Unfortunately, no matter how much Soo Min wanted to catch him, legs began to refuse to obey her. But the worst part was that the man didn't seem to be slowing down even for a second. Eventually he disappeared behind one of the buildings. When Soo Min ran into the alley, where she should have seen him, the man literally dissolved into thin air.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Soo Min shouted regardless of the fact that people could live there. She was unable to accept that might have lost Cherry Blossom Reaper despite being so close. At this point Soo Min could use Min Joo Chan, he would definitely catch that son of a bitch.
Soo Min put hands on her knees, breathing deeply. Her legs were like jelly and she was afraid that she would not be able to get back to the car or to her parents' house. After some time, however, she straightened up with the intention of moving from this place, but then completely in surprise Soo Min felt an arm clench around her neck, and then she felt a stab in the neck, as if someone had stuck a needle there. Soo Min was sure that something had been injected into her the more so as soon after she began to feel faint and the elements of the street barely visible in the dark began to blur before her eyes even more.