Hyunho really needs to check his action. Maybe this is why he has lots of fans in the university. He unintentionally leads them. I feel his arms push through to both of my sides as he holds the handlebars. He started to drive, but I think my heart left my body at this point.
Suddenly, I felt something was off. Hyunho drives me in the opposite way.
"Whats's up with you today?" I ask a little louder. He stops his big bike at an abandoned house.
"Every time murder happens, you were always there; I should be wary of you..." He left the bike and helped me get off the bike too.
What? Am I going to be interrogated? here? I suddenly feel nervous.
"But my gut feeling is telling me to trust you." He is conflicted.
"You should trust me, Hyunho," I said. I can't make him trust me today, but for sure I will do my best to prove to him that I am innocent.
I look around the area where we stop. It's an abandoned house. "So...where are we?" I asked him. Hyunho looked at the old house for a moment before answering me. His expression is a bit sad looking at it.
"The place that I used to live and other children too"
"This is the Kim's old house?" I ask.
"No, I am actually an orphan before Mr. Kim adopted me."
Now it answers my question: why does Hyunho have a different color than Seon?. Hyunho has this cinnamon color, while Seon has porcelain.
"Why did you bring me here then? " I ask him confused.
"I just have the gut feeling you need to know this." He smiles and holds the back of his head. "Winter, I want to trust you; that's why I need to tell you about the reason why I am still in the university."
I let him talk and explain.
"This house is an old orphanage that I used to live in. There's a girl named Katie that I always play with. I treat her like my own sister." Hyunho looked at the abandoned orphanage with a longing look.
"She was first adopted before me, then after that the orphanage was burned down, and all we left died there." Hyunho clenches his fist.
"Katie used to write me letters every month, staying connected to her, but there's one letter I feel off about." Hyunho takes out an old envelope.
Write letters? That's sure pretty old-fashioned; at least the internet and devices existed in that time, surely, but then again, I can't be sure. It depends on their adopted parents if they let them use phones that time.
Dear Hyunho,
Lots of things happen on my end too! I was happy for the family who adopted me, but I'm a bit scared. I plan to meet you after I reach 20 so I can show you how I am doing well. My young master is a bit jealous, so I might have to tag him along. He gets angry easily, but I promise to never leave his side.
"After that I never received any letter again."
"It's been years; I wanted to know who her young master is and know if she is fine." Hyunho flips the envelope and sees the address of where she lived.
"I went to this address; it was a big mansion, and guards only said that there was only one who owned the house now, and it was the young master."
"Turns out this young master is studying at our university. I am searching for him, but I never know his face." Hyunho glances at me.
"Katie's disappearance, Icy's case, Martinez died on the playground... I have the gut feeling this is connected to the young master."
Well, it's really bad to always follow gut feelings, but Hyunho was created to always have a correct gut feeling. That's why players need him by their side in order to get a good ending.
But regarding Katie...
Is this his lore? Or a side character's story? I had never heard Katie in the game before. Or see it from the video game. Was Katie an NPC too?
"Winter..." he called my name and looked into my eyes. Full of determination. "You are somehow always connected in this case..."
"Will you help me with this case?"
Do I have a choice? Besides... "I also want to make it clear that I am innocent, so of course I'll help you." I smile reassuringly at him.
"Then I'll see you at the school," he smiles back.
"Woof!" Pochi answers while still chilling at his back. I forgot Pochi was still at his back.
Then again he drives me back to my house; this time it's really my house. My parents are looking outside from the window, and I can see them whispering and grinning at us.
"Moom... Daad! Big sis has a boyfriend!" Zaldy says loudly as he sees us outside.
Mom and Dad open the front door, fixing their expressions to both grin. Who's this guy? "Dad asks.
"He's my... friend from university," I said. I actually don't know how I can tell them that we're kinda close because of the murder case.
"Friend? Not a classmate?" Mom asks, getting more suspicious in a different way, but I know there is a double meaning for that one. Hyunho brought down Pochi and went to my parents to pay respect. He bows.
"I'm Junior Detective Hyunho Kim, your daughter's friend from uni. Nice to meet you."
"Junior detective?" Dad was shocked.
"But you are still a student; you must be a big shot!" Mom can't stop her thoughts.
"Moom"
"Honey," Dad and I both say at the same time.
"Anyways, why don't you come inside and have dinner with us? It's almost 5, and I'm going to cook anyway," Mom said. The thing is, she sounds like she's asking, but actually you don't have a choice.
Mom grabs his arms and takes him inside; Dad suddenly takes my photo album out for some reason.
"Why are you taking that out?"
"For Hyunho to see it, of course."
I went to my dad and tried to snatch it, but he raised it above his head so I couldn't reach it. "Come on, Kiddo, let your boyfriend see your baby pics!"
"W-what? Boyfriend?!" My face flushed by the tease and also from embarrassment; scared Hyunho saw my baby photos.
"He is a friend, Dad!"
"Like I said, boy... friend," my dad put a pause in the middle.
Dad opens the photo album of mine, as if it shines like a treasure box. Dad sits beside Hyunho and tells all the stories behind those photos.
He shows what I looked like when I was 1 month old.
A photo of me at 3 years old, crying with snot dripping from my nose.
"Oh, this one? She was crying that time when her mom needed to go to work; our Winnie likes to throw tantrums all the time." Dad laughs happily as he calls my nickname. Winnie, their endearment term for Winter.
Meanwhile, Hyunho was actually interested in what Dad was saying. As much as I want to, I'll snatch the album back, but Dad's too clever for me.
"Ohhh, this one." Dad pointed to my picture hugging my doctor's leg after a checkup.
"She was 5 years old that time and had a little crush on the young doctor who checked her up. Our Winnie kept insisting she would marry him in the future." Dad burst out laughing. "Turns out the doctor was gay-gay." Dad laughs so hard.
While I'm dying from the embarrassment.
This thing went for over 3 hours, and with that, Mom finished cooking.
NEXT DAY
I got a text from Seon; she wants to see me during break time. So after the break time, I went to the room, the former newspaper club room.
I saw Seon sticking up all the photos that are connected to the killer bear case. Including my picture and Icy's.
"We have 2 victims in this case. Different scenario, different timeline."
Hyunho starts and writes their names on the whiteboard.
"Wait, this is confidential... Are we really good to be here? This room is not even private," I said with concern.
"No need to worry, as I always roam around the school... This room is the best hiding spot for the teachers and guards." Seon opens the window so fresh air comes.
"But what if some guards or teachers come?"
"Don't worry, I already registered a club here. It's a book club," Hyunho reassured me.
"By that, whoever sees the names, details, and everything... we can just say it's part of the novel we were doing as a big project," Seon added.
"So can we really start the meeting?" Hyunho crosses his arm.
Seon sits on the couch, so I sit there too. Hyunho pushed the rolling whiteboard in front of us to see.
What are the most common things serial killers do?
To kill? ..
To murder with motive,
The triggers
And the signature.
All the victims that were reported recently have a pattern; the two victims have the similarity of self-exit, but they have similar wounds based on the autopsy.
Icy Tokyl, an art student from Benedict University, was reported to have jumped off the school building, and it was the cause of her death, but as the autopsy shows, she had 3 slashes on her face before she jumped from the building.
Interestingly... It says in her autopsy that she did it on her own before jumping.
Another victim,
Was later identified as Shayne Martinez, an accounting student at the same university, was found dead under the slide at the playground near the university.
The autopsy says he had 3 long slashes from his wrist up to his elbow, and surprisingly, the victim also did it themselves.
"There's got to be a meaning for those slashes; they may have different spots, but I knew for sure they had a reason for that," I said.
"I was actually planning to talk to the school counselor about psychological reasons why people are hurting themselves in some specific parts," Hyunho reminded us.
"Big Brother, there's also more. The two victims have a wooden bear keychain carved with their names, but I asked some of their close friends, but they were not related to each other," Seon says, placing pictures of the keychain on the table.
"Not friends, they don't know each other?" he asks.
"Yes, so I plan to go around and look for the keychain and where they bought it," Seon said. She really lives up to her role and carries the team, huh?.
Honestly, I don't really understand it every time I play the game. It has to be the protagonist who does shit and carries the team. Like, what is the side character for?
"Then I'll be helping Seon look for the keychain," I present.
"Nope, I have lots of resources to ask about the keychain already... I think the best way for you to do it is to go with big brother," Seon says.
"Why?" Damn, she really IS the protagonist.
"The school is preventing us from talking about what happened to Icy; if Hyunho keeps asking about it being connected to Icy, it will be more suspicious," Seon added.
"Besides, you can excuse yourself by saying that you were feeling distress still after you were pushed from the stairs.
Well, I guess I don't have a choice then. It's time for a little visit to the school counselor.
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