Dong-sun was wiping his tears while inside the police car, watching every person passing by and glancing at him like he's a criminal.
"Can I talk to someone?" he asked the cop beside him. The cop nodded and gave him a cellular phone. "Make it quick."
He took a deep breath and dialed Mee Yoon's number.
"Hey, where are you?" She was alarmed. "I'm not coming." His indifferent tone made her speechless.
"Listen. Whatever you're going to say to me, save it for yourself. I don't want to hear it. Not today, not in a thousand years," he said.
Her hands were shaking while holding her phone in her ear. She didn't understand what she had done wrong to receive cruel words from him.
"May I ask why? Do you even know what I'm about to say? Do you know how important it is that I have to tell it in person?" her voice trembled.
Dong-sun massaged his forehead, controlling his raging emotion. "Don't make this any harder, Mee Yoon. Do you want me to be honest? Well, then... I don't love you. You were right. What I felt wasn't love and that feeling already faded. For the record, it will never come back," he said and ended the call.
Mee Yoon stared blankly into the calm Han river. Birds dashed into the water and emerged with a small fish in their beaks. The surface water glittered together with the tears in her eyes. The mild wind comforted her as it brushed through her cheekbones. At that moment, even nature couldn't bring her peace.
Casting its condolences to her dying heart, tiny droplets of rain poured from the clear blue sky. Like any other heroine with a broken heart, Mee Yoon stayed in her seat. She didn't bother to move and let the water sip through her skin. Mee Yoon thought the rain seized because she couldn't feel it penetrating her clothes anymore. She looked up and saw a yellow umbrella shielding her from the coldness of the rain.
"Dong-sun," she said as she turned her head.
"I see. He is the reason for your anguish," he said.
"Daewon? Why are you here?"
Daewon hovered around and stood in front of her. He bent and lowered his face close to hers. "Here. Slap me," he said with a smile. "What are you talking about?"
"I committed lots of terrible things to you. I deserve to be punished."
"But why are you out here?"
"I told the cops the truth. What I know. I am no longer a suspect, but a witness."
"They caught the suspect?"
Daewon caressed her hair. "Yeah, and I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For telling the truth. Because of my statement, they caught the suspect."
"That's nonsense. I don't get why you're sorry for that. We should celebrate."
"You won't be saying that after you hear the culprit's name."
For an unknown reason, it made her nervous. "Who is the serial killer?"
"It's the one closest to you. Dong-sun."
His name echoed in her ears like a death sentence.
"You're kidding, right? I know you are mad at him, but you should not do this. Stop pulling some pranks."
Daewon straightened up. "I'm not a prankster, Mee Yoon. No matter how much I hated him, I can't possibly frame him. Even if I'm a writer, this one is not a made-up story. It's the whole truth. They shouldn't have arrested him if my point was baseless."
"Arrested?" Mee Yoon blurted.
"Yes. Youngsoo was there too. Isn't it dramatic?"
Her fingers quivered. "You're lying."
"You know Youngsoo, Mee Yoon. If he was being your brother at that moment, he could've beaten him. But he was being a prosecutor. The least he could do is prove him guilty."
Mee Yoon stood up and walked away. She had to see it with her own eyes.
***
Dong-sun sat on the same spot where Daewon was interrogated. He bowed his head while his legs were shaking. Across from him was Youngsoo, crossing his arms, scrutinizing his every reaction.
"Should we not prolong this, Dong-sun? Every time I see your face, I blame myself for being deceived by you. I, an excellent prosecutor, got fooled by a man dressed in female clothing. What an absurd headline could that be?"
Dong-sun lifted his head. "I don't know where to start, but I'm sorry for that part. I didn't mean to pretend."
"But you did. I don't care about your reasons. You can throw them into the Bermuda triangle and I will care less."
"Prosecutor Seo, I don't know why I'm here. I am not a murderer, and I have killed nothing in my life. Not even the spider in Mee Yoon's house."
Youngsoo slammed the table with his hand. "Don't you dare mention her name. You don't know why you're here? Let me enlighten you."
One by one, Youngsoo revealed the evidence they gathered and scattered them on the table. He showed him the DNA test results.
"See this? We finally found the owner of the fingerprints from the crime scenes. It matches with yours. You are so confident about killing people and leaving your prints behind because you are not registered as a citizen of Korea. You are like a ghost." Youngsoo shook his head.
"Why would I kill random women?" Dong-sun's voice cracked.
"They are not random, my friend. They have a lot of similarities with my sister, Mee Yoon. You want to know the reason. It's because you love her. You became so obsessed with something you can't have!" Youngsoo's nose flared.
"I don't love her."
"You do. As his brother, I need no concrete evidence to tell that you are madly in love with her. Any man can see that. But as a servant of justice, I can prove that you are in love with her."
Dong-sun clenched his fists. "Daewon has all the motives to fabricate evidence and get rid of me."
"I know you are going to say that. That's why it's the perfect time to listen to a little music." Youngsoo opened his laptop and played a video. Youngsoo planted a hidden camera that captures everything in Mee Yoon's living room. Dong-sun could only hear the sound coming from the video. There were familiar voices and conversations still fresh in his memory.
"The evidence is pointing at him as of the moment. Also, your brother is taking care of the case. You know how he is. It's hard to clean up Daewon's mess."
"I hope he is the killer."
"What?"
"If he is the murderer, the killings will stop. The people won't be afraid anymore, and you'll be safe. Don't you think so?"
"I can't believe I'm hearing this from you."
"So you don't want your ex to be the killer? Do you love him that much?"
"We are not going back together. We never did."
"Now, I get it. You don't want him to be the killer because you will not be able to accept that you transformed him into a monster."
"Is this how fame turned you into?"
"This is how you turned me into, Seo Mee Yoon. You dumped me like trash when all I did was—"
"I don't want to hear it. Get out."
Youngsoo stopped the video and clapped his hands in slow motion. "I'm a genius, right? I got the perfect evidence. A video where a lot of things are happening. First, Mee Yoon dumped you? My bad. I'm sorry, my friend," Youngsoo said in mockery.
"Second, it is clear that you were not on good terms with her. Maybe she kicked you out of the house because you confessed to her." Youngsoo covered his mouth with his palm, acting to be shocked.
"Fourth, you are jealous of Daewon. And fifth, you want him to be the killer so you can get out of the mess you created. The only thing that is puzzling me is why Mee Yoon let you act like a woman. I bet you threatened her until she got used to it and got some kind of Stockholm syndrome."
"I said, I am not the killer!" Dong-sun's chest pounded with fury.
"Your temper is not the ticket to innocence. It will just worsen the situation. I will call Detective Dan to take over because if I stay for too long, I might lose my license," Youngsoo said with greeted teeth.
"Someone is behind all of these. I will not go to jail because of the things I didn't do."
Youngsoo tapped his shoulder. "Everything you saw and heard is a preview of what will happen during the trial. But I'm warning you, I am more noxious in court."