21 Baek Hyun

(Year 10)

CAMBIAMENTO DI FEDE

The feeble pendant lamp lingered like a dangling sword overhead. It emblazed the two sober looking men sitting opposite to each other. Hoseok's eye caught a glimpse of a placard installed at the posterior end of the corridor, right behind Mr Choi.

It read:

"It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive. -Earl Warren"

I couldn't reason with the placard and cackled before regaining my composure. "Yes, Inspector."

Could these knuckleheads really come up to their own standards?

Inspector Choi looked at me tempestuously.

"Baek Hyun has been designated as a transgressor, Hoseok. Are you still convinced that he didn't commit the murder?"

"No, Sir."

Inspector Choi flipped past pages of various witness testimonies.

"Call me Choi- Please."

"You're going to claim this statement in the testimony box as well, Hoseok?"

"I will claim this statement, Mr. Choi."

"I assume you know that your personal attestations and subjective claims matter; your witness account won't be revoked."

"I won't repeal. Don't fret about me."

"The assailant's fingerprints were found on the knife, even-still you'll stay firm with your statement?" Inspector Choi asked once more.

"That's right."

"Hoseok, are you somewhat favouring him?" He continued; "Since, he's your friend."

I looked away, growing more and more despondent. Yes, he's my friend. Closest- to be precise.

"What are you trying to instigate, Inspector-?"

"I know you're well acquainted with the particulars relating this case."

I nodded my head.

"The neighbours' overheard the siblings quarrel. I'm certain you know such brawling cannot be discredited at an unprecedented time... But still, do you know what the bystanders encountered, Mr. Hoseok.

Aren't you curious?"

I saw the Inspector loosen his grip on the witness statements he had firmly clasped, and peer right across at me. His hands touched his forehead ever so cautiously, meanwhile his eyes remained ferociously tense. He seemed callously persistent to put the entirety of the blame on BaekHyun, and disregarded any claim reinforcing BaekHyun's gullibility of innocence. Even-though, I knew the certitude regarding this case, I too, wanted to adroitly learn the Inspector's real intentions, and most importantly, the payola behind.

I firmly looked at him. "I'm curious, Inspector Choi."

"A dazed. blood-covered. Baek Hyun. The neighbours discerned it as a seismic disturbance due to shock. But you and I know better? Don't we?"

"We do, Inspector."

"Good, good, so do you still believe that Baek Hyun didn't commit the murder?"

"He didn't, Mr.Choi. You and I know that better than anyone else, so instead of engrossing me with false accusations regarding Baek Hyun's case, re-do the erroneous investigation your department carried out, and stop forcing wrong assertions on any innocent men you find. Not everyone on the street is a murderer, you know? "

Inspector Choi let out a frustrated sigh before speaking once again.

"You're one untiring advocate, Hoseok." He remarked.

I turned my head down as I fidgeted with the car keys inside my jean pocket. Inspector Choi looked at me anxiously. He was waiting for me to say something imploring. I guess I wasn't providing the answer Choi wanted to hear.

"IT'S TIME FOR A 10 MINUTES BREAK!!!" A female's voice blared emphatically from outside.

Choi gave me an uncertain look. "See you in 10 minutes." And left through the same corridor I had heard the bombarding voice from.

....TIME SKIP...

"I fear that you offer only supported asseverations to Baek Hyun." A tall, looming male figure emerged from the corridor.

"And you keep using mere speculation just to make the water flow your way." I replied back.

"I'm sure, Hoseok, you're aware, that your best-friend is a mental patient. We ran a back up check on his past doings." Choi blatantly commented amidst our conversation.

I sat there quietly, not showing any despair, or any sign of repulsive fear.

"That's because his father constantly beat him up."

"Doesn't this raise red flags inside you, Hoseok?" Inspector Choi leaned in, looking at me exasperatingly. "Doesn't it?"

I kept my head down, not because I was tense, but how I perceived their question. "Rotating the half truth to your advantage... Media coverage is pressing on, aren't they? I can see the bloody reporters from a mile..."

Inspector Choi considered looking behind , as if a line of reporters were huddled at an invisible entrance, near the corridor. He looked solely terrified, while his looming partner glared at me, frigidly.

Choi didn't look back at me. He lay motionless, still facing the invisible entrance near the corridor. His face grew pale and ghastly- kind of fusty as well.

"You're stuck in the same conundrum as us, Hoseok. Sweeping questions will make their way to you as well... After-all, you're a public figure as well." Enunciated the looming male figure; placing his tenuous hand on the table in front of me.

"The musty formalities of this situation, force me to ask you another question, Mr Hoseok." Said the towering figure once more, noticing his partners left leg quivering faster than before and his face seemingly petrified in its stern expression. I took Choi's terror-stricken demeanor as a yes to the fright of the reporters.

"Don't you think the oddity of the murder, and your sister going missing around the same time is too much for a coincidence, almost as if it had been arranged?"

"As long as there is no proper investigation, I will not comply to this compromise you're presenting me once again." I vocalized iteratively.

"It's been two days already, Mr. Hoseok. Are you not re-evaluating all your preferences, yet? Your sister hasn't contacted anyone in your locale, or in your own vicinity. Isn't it an awkward gesture? Or perhaps... an indication towards misgiving events that might have taken place more covertly... dissimilar to Ms Hyun's case?"

I thrashed my seat again the wall. Shaking both the male into an avid conclusion, and the inspector out of his trance. "Don't usher my sister into this." I spoke between my teeth. "Her disappearance might have nothing to do with this at all."

"Hoseok, please take your seat. Calm down." said Inspector Choi shaken.

I saw the male smile deviously, while digging his hands deep into his pockets.

"Your sister must be dead already, Hoseok. You should be more adamant then the most of us to proffer Baek Hyun as an evident murderer. Just commit to it, and finish this chase once and for all." Said the brazen man with a daring smile.

"Hey, Gwang, you shameless scoundrel!" I bellowed at the top of my lungs and almost hoisted the table at him...

He dodged, ruefully... Well, I never hit him. I didn't want to. I stood back, barely shifting the table from its hindering position.

"Are you crazy?!" Inspector Choi asked me questioningly. "He must be." Said Gwang straightening the long robe he was wearing.

"Be quiet." I declared threateningly.

"Let's just get to the point." Choi announced, clearing the grievous situation, as he positioned the bulky table back to its place. "Hoseok, do you recall Baek Hyun saying something peculiar or out of sorts?"

I humped back on the chair, straightening my back before answering. My eyes still looking inauspiciously at Gwang, who now appeared to keep his distance. "He said he was scared of the police... To me it seemed as if he suspected obtuse and dereliction from their side. He did say however that he didn't feel 'safe' anymore."

"Are those your final words?" Asked Gwang impatiently.

I sighed and said; "Yes."

Seeing Gwang leave, I turned to Choi impassively. "Listen... Baek Hyun wouldn't have dared to-"

"I know." Said Choi. "But I don't understand one thing."

"You agreed to let him go to the graveyard. Why is that?"

I stared at Choi for a brief moment, as he looked at me and nodded.

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Baek Hyun's words seeped into my thoughts again, muddling my conscious barbarously.

"I'm sorry, Hoseok-ah. I couldn't keep my promise. I couldn't save her."