Chapter 27: Soul's Game

THE officer sighed and took a long glance at Wooseok, who was staring into nothing while fidgeting with his knuckles.

"I'm asking you this because Soul said that he had nothing to do with what happened to Yu Junwon. Are you sure you don't know what he's talking about?"

Wooseok barely shook his head, "I-I don't understand... I know that he gave Mal the medicine on purpose. He used the fact that Mal doesn't recognize faces so that he can give her the wrong drug!"

"Are you absolutely sure, Kim Wooseok?" The officer repeated, this time leaning closer towards the white-painted desk to take a closer look at the boy in front of her. "Because he keeps repeating that Junwon was in on it."

"In on it how? Junwon was the one who was wounded through all this!" Wooseok ran a hand through his soft, dark hair, his mind already spinning with thoughts.

How?

How could Junwon be in on it?

That made zero sense.

"I don't get it..." Wooseok began once again, shaking his head. "That doesn't make any sense. Soul is lying to you! He's going to do anything to shift the blame from himself, so that he wouldn't have to stay in jail!"

He sat up straight and leaned closer to the table, his hands placed together in a begging motion. "Listen to me, please. Soul did it. He poisoned Junwon, and right now, Junwon is sick and I'm really worried about—"

"Actually, Wooseok..." The officer interrupted, her mouth turning into a straight line while she bit her own tongue. "You weren't the first one who called about Soul. Someone else called before you."

Huh?

What was she talking about?

Did someone figure out Soul's game before him?

Who might that be?

Questions spiralled through his brain, hitting it from all directions like a locomotive. He gulped his saliva and thought for a brief moment, only for a frown to draw itself over his face as he realized that his mind wasn't working properly.

"Who is it?"

"I can't say who it was," the officer replied, "but they told me that Junwon passed away this morning."

It took Wooseok a few moments to absorb the words the officers had let out.

And when he did, tears immediately began collecting in his eyes. His heart dropped in his stomach as his eyes widened, his entire body trembling in shock.

"W-What?"

"I understand how hard it is for you." She spoke in a softer, less strict tone, getting up from her seat while not taking her eyes off the 18-year-old teenager. "I'll leave you alone for a few moments, and when I come back, I hope you'll get to help us more."

Wooseok's ears caught silence for a few seconds, soon followed by the noise of the door closing with a loud thud.

And as soon as he met the dead silence again, he allowed himself to break down into soft sobs, ignoring the dull ache in his chest.

The ache that reminded him of how guilty he was.

Why did he have to let that happen?

Why didn't he fix everything when he had the chance?

Because why didn't he speak up when he had the chance?

The guilt, the desperation, and the heartbreak were too much. He threw his face in his palms in order to muffle his sobs. His heartache grew stronger with each breath he took, all while he attempted to get up from his seat to move his legs for a little while. Even if he wasn't going to get out of the interrogation room, he knew he needed some kind of a break.

"Why..." He quietly mumbled, one of his hands running through his hair while the other attempted to wipe away his streaming tears. "Why?"

Why did he have to lose everything between a day and night?

Why did he have to be such a failure?

. . .

Rajwan made his way away from the interrogation room, approaching Santa, Yacht, Earth and Quinn with a small, weak smile.

"It's done." He spoke, his hand reaching for Quinn's to reassure them, and himself. "I told them everything."

The four of them nodded with a proud smile, their faces lightening up after a rough night of crying their hearts out.

"I think I saw someone here though." Santa began, glancing around the empty hallway as his eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. "I think it looked like Wooseok."

Yacht furrowed his own eyebrows in confusion, turning to stare at the hallway, then turning his gaze towards his friends. "You think he was here? Do you think he might've told the police about what Soul and the others did?"

Santa hesitantly nodded his head, his hands turning into fists.

"I... I d-don't know. Maybe?" He bit his lower lip before continuing. "I mean, we all know he's not bad, right? Maybe he found out that Soul did what he did and came to tell the police."

Rajwan sighed, his fingers gently massaging his temple to calm himself down.

"That doesn't really matter right now." He whispered, his gaze directed at the floor. "We need to go back home. I'm really tired."

They all nodded their heads, and quickly followed each other out of the police station, heading towards Rajwan's BMW car to drive home.

. . .

Rajwan sent Santa, Yacht, and Earth a soft, weak smile, his eyes following their hunched over, heartbroken figures as they entered one of the guest rooms to spend the night in. He waved at them and muttered a small 'good night' before heading towards his own room, already exhausted.

As soon as he peaked his head inside to see what was inside the room, the figure of Quinn sitting on the bed with their head between their palms, already devastated about what he assumed was Junwon's sudden death.

They were all devastated, weren't they?

He blinked tears away from his eyes before taking a few steps inside the room, his gaze still fixated on Quinn and their hunched over, depressed figure.

"H-Hey, babe..." He began in a broken tone, which caused Quinn to look up from their palms and meet his gaze. It was only then that he spotted the white, folded paper beside them.

"Rajwan, you have to see this..." Quinn spoke, grabbing the paper with one hand and passing it over to their partner. "This came in the mail today."

Rajwan accepted the paper with a shaky grip, then scanned its features with a tearful glance. On one side, the paper was completely blank, which was why he suspected that it had anything important.

But on its other side, however, was his biggest nightmare.

"It's the forensic science examination of Junwon's body."

The other quickly nodded his head, allowing a small tear to stream down his face as his eyes slowly read each word on the paper.

Name: Yu, Junwon

Age: 19 years, 5 months, 2 weeks.

Time of death: 11:01 AM

Cause of death: Heart attack, caused by poisoning.

"E-Excuse me?" He squeaked out, his heart stopping at the last sentence. "Caused by poisoning?"

But didn't...?

But didn't Yacht already take away the medicine that caused him his illness in the first place?

"I-I don't understand." He finally spoke, shaking his head as he glanced at the paper, then at Quinn. "What is that, how is this possible?"

Quinn shrugged, opening their mouth to reply but failing miserably.

"I don't know, Rajwan... I really don't understand any of that."

Rajwan stood still for a moment, his eyes staring into nothing as he thought. For a brief moment, he had no idea what he was thinking about.

But it didn't take long for him to absorb everything.

He gestured for Quinn to follow him out of the room, which they did with no hesitation. They both gathered their courage and quietly closed the door behind them. Rajwan hurried towards the room beside them—his sister's room.

Quickly opening the door and hurrying inside, he allowed Quinn to enter the room before he shut the door behind them both. Eventually, he inhaled, once, twice then took a look at Quinn.

"We need to figure this out. Once and for all."