The Burning Lives

Giseub, Hulejasig

Suggested listening: Jackson Wang - I Don't Have It

Everyone was quietly sitting down on their benches in the Courtroom. Hwoarang sat down on his own, as tense as a bow string. Every fiber in his body was on alert, and he still couldn't see Jin nor Eun-kung, despite being first-row. At last, after tens of minutes, they brought them in, wearing their blood red jumpsuits and cuffed, chains on their ankles. That sight gave Hwoarang a sting to the heart. They sat down near Mr. Shikichi, who bowed before them. The Courtroom was crowling with police officers and it gave Hwoarang the creeps. Having lived on the streets for so many years taught him not to trust policemen most of the time. Judge Sato nodded and an officer ordered the crowd to stand up for him. They all bowed, then sat down again.

-We are here today to finally hear the prosecution's case against Kazama-Seong Jin and Kazama-Seong Eun-kung for the alleged murders of Mishima Kazuya and Mishima Heihachi. We will then proceed to listen to the defense. Word to the prosecution.

-Thank you, eminent Judge Sato. We will start with the Mishima Kazuya case. Mishima Kazuya was found dead years ago, during World War III, heart missing and later found at the site, distant to the rest of the corpse. He was showing several bruises and scars, compatible with those of a brutal fight. The surveillance cameras had been tampered with, causing us to find a video of Mishima Heihachi fighting what seemed to be a... Devil form of Mishima Kazuya. The video was obviously found to be a fake. To this day, we still don't know who sent it to us, although speculations can be made about that.

-We are not here to hear and make speculations, but to build a serious, air-tight case which shows the undeniable guilt or innocence of the prisoners. Please, keep this in mind before making such accusations or alleged ones, Mr. Yamada.

-I am deeply sorry, Judge Sato. It will not happen again. Let's start from the fake video. Thanks to the advanced UN technology at our disposal, we were able to retrieve certain bits and pieces of the original, untampered video, which showed Kazama-Seong Jin fighting against his father, Mishima Kazuya.

-Objection!

-Mr. Shikichi, what are you objecting to?

-The video. I want it to be played here, before Your Honour and the Jury.

-Mr. Yamada, any objection to that?

-We... we weren't prepared for such an occasion, but I suppose I can make a few call and make it happen.

-Your offense is solely based on that video, and you don't have it here?

-I do, Your Honour. But the very short clips haven't been made into a single video and...

-Your Honour, are they saying they haven't had the time to tamper with the video?

The Judge raised an eyebrow, looking directly at Mr. Yamada.

-No, Your Honour, of course not. Let's play the video bits one by one.

Scrambled, confused pieces of video material were projected in the Courtroom. In some of them, though, Jin in his Devil form was clearly visible. Once the show ended, Judge Sato looked annoyed and with a very short fuse.

-Mr. Yamada, are you playing with this Court? Do you find this amusing?

-Your Honour, we are presenting evidence as we have legitimately obtained...

-Are you expecting me to believe Kazama-Seong Jin has wings hidden somewhere? Or horns? What travestry is this? Mr. Yamada, explain this here and now, or I am throwing these videos out from the evidence.