Vendetta

Chapter 12

Chan began unveiling the truth once Jeongin was sitting by his head, well out of the reach of the knife. There was no doubt that Chan underestimated his capability of hurting somebody. Never in his life had he laid a hand on any of his siblings with violent intent, but he had changed. He knew what Chan had done and the kind of monster he was, and he vowed to take the revenge that Minho had refused to.

    "Let me tell you something about my father," Chan began, speaking in the same tone he used to use to read them stories. "He was devoted to his career as a psychologist and was quite well-respected in his profession. Most of all, he loved running experiments to see what the human mind was capable of, within ethical guidelines. But...there had always been an experiment he craved to try, however, it was far from ethical."

    Jeongin leaned closer listening to every word with a deepening scowl. He had never felt terribly attached to his father, seeing as how the man always seemed to have something more important on his mind. Not even his sudden death had fazed him. To Jeongin, he was more of a stranger than a father. He had nothing to mourn.

    "Everyday the mind is filled with a sensory overload, being fed more important than we can even begin to comprehend. To make it easier, our mind fills in the gaps. My father wanted to do something along the lines of that. He wanted to see if he could raise a child with the illusion of a perfect life. He wanted to see if it was possible to raise a child in a shithole and yet have them believe they lived in the lap of luxury."

    "Then why didn't he just use you?" Jeongin spat. At the question, Chan smiled as he thought it over. Why did perfect strangers have to be roped into an experiment that could have easily been done on his own child.

    "I was already six years old when my father decided to put the experiment into motion. I would have remembered too much from my childhood for it to be accurate. To make up for that, he kidnapped Minho. Snatched him right from his bed in the middle of the night. He needed more trials, so he kidnapped more children. All of you were locked away in his crumbling home, far away from civilization."

    As Chan spoke, the stench of rotting flesh lingered in the air. Minho's corpse was beginning to decay at its spot just a few feet away. Jeongin couldn't bring himself to look over, fearing that he would fall apart if he accepted that his sibling, his almost father figure, was dead. The stench was proof that Minho would never leave him, manifesting himself in the strange ways he had even while living. Even in death, Minho wasn't going anywhere in a hurry.

    "Though everyone but you retained at least one memory of their past, it didn't interfere with the results. Until recently, his experiment ran smoothly. All of you fell for the illusion of false life in a home that's barely stable and a family founded on emotionally and physically distant parents. Part of the illusion was not educating you either. If any of you went to school, you would barely fit in with first graders. Hell, Jisung didn't even know what a tree was."

    "If you knew all of this, why didn't you set us free once he died?" Jeongin asked, his world shattering with each word that escaped Chan's lips. "His experiment was a success. You could have freed us."

    A grin formed on Chan's face, stretching from ear-to-ear. It wasn't the warm and comforting dimpled smile that Jeongin had grown up with, but the reflection of the person Chan really was. The facade had fallen away, revealing the twisted nature of the man he had nearly idolized and accepted as a father.

    "You're right. I could have. The thing is, I didn't want to. My father planted his twisted desires in me, creating a monster far worse than he ever had been. I soon wanted my own experiment, one that my father denied time and time again since it interfered with his own. I had grown tired of waiting. Three years ago, I killed both my parents, shot them straight through the head, and started my own experiment. You ate them for dinner the night they died."

    Jeongin screamed, feeling his lips as if they still held traces of his parent's flesh on them. He couldn't believe that not only had he consumed another human being, but that it was fed to him by the man he trusted most. Betrayal after betrayal brought tears of rage to his eyes, but it also made him itch for the knife laying just a few feet away. The urge to hurt, to kill, didn't scare him but it felt almost welcoming.

    "That's right," Chan cooed, the scream like music to his ears. "Their flesh tasted like pork. Bet you couldn't even tell the difference. But you see, my experiment, my project, pushed the human limit: how much could the human body handle with minimal care? Or as I liked to call it, Project: Lee Know. Just for that project, I set up this lovely area to explore that question, but of course I had to make money off of it also.

    "I brought each one of you down here and put your clips on the black market to see who got the most bites. Minho was the winner by a landslide so I made him my main victim, though of course I needed to switch things up a little from time to time. It was a perfect outlet for the desires I held secret for so long."

    "You're sick!" Jeongin cried, kicking Chan sharply in the ribs. He yelped in pain, but smiled as if he had enjoyed it. "I can't believe you would maim and torture your own...whatever we are for money and for your own twisted project! Do you even love us?"

    "Minho asked me that same question," Chan replied, his smile fading. "I can say this truthfully. I love you more than you could ever begin to imagine. I would gladly give my life for each and every one of you. However, I won't let love stand in the way of my project. I'm devastated that Minho died, but I'm more mad at myself for growing careless. He could have lived much longer if I hadn't let my anger get the best of me."

    "He could have lived longer if you didn't torture him every moment of his life!" Jeongin screamed, resisting the urge to reach for the knife. "You made his life's purpose to be in agony to the point where dying was the most merciful option for him. Tell me, Chan. Were you going to feed him to us for dinner?"

    "I had fully intended on it," Chan said smoothly, his face betraying no emotion until his eyes widened in fear as Jeongin reached over him. "We had an agreement! You little shit, don't you dare do this, you'll regret it!"

    "I hope you're happy with the results of your experiment," Jeongin said monotonously as he straddled Chan once again, pressing the tip of the blade deep into Chan's torso. "Because you won't ever get a chance for a second trial."