Ignorance is a bliss/Tyunning

304

..........

"Because he's guilty"

"Come again?" Yeonjun looks flabbergasted.

"How do you know?" Beomgyu enters with comment of his own. A curious expression on his face.

"My step dad, he's not a nice person." Kai realizes he might have to explain in details to make this conversation work, even if it exposes more of him than he wants.

"When my mom married him, and we moved into his place, he would..... sneak out late at night. Have shady people walk in for business. Apparently he dealt with money laundering for a big gang in the area, and I found out after snooping in his office. I was young, inexperienced with these things. I didn't know how to react. So I confronted him...." Kai's voice wavers and Yeonjun snaps his head towards the young boy who had his eyes closed shut, invested in his story too deep to realize his hands were shaking.

"Hey...." Yeonjun whispers while Beomgyu looks at him with the same helpless, overwhelmed face. "It's okay" he scoots closer to Kai and pats his back, the younger nods in return, and visibly relaxes.

"I should've kept it to myself, but I can't see injustice and ignore it like nothing's going on. him and I were already on rocky terms, starting when he refused to legally adopt me. Said he didn't want the responsibility of a child that wasn't his. In retrospect, it worked out pretty well for me." Kai huffs in slight amusement, but again, it is layered with a mask of pain.

"Speaking up against him had cost me my home" Kai's voice cracked at the end and his eyes welled up.

"What about your mom? She had to say something about it?" Beomgyu burst out talking as if he was the one who was being wronged. "How could he just kick you out?!" The deep voiced Hyung gets heated up and by the second sentence he speaks in full Daegu satori. A rough speech that goes perfect with his blunt personality.

"My mom was sick at the time, constantly dazed, unfocused." The young boy looked into space as if recalling the old days when he was still living at home

"It was impossible to hold a conversationwith her..... it took me a while to figure out it was because he was drugging her food. By the time I was out, she was near catatonic.." Kai spoke softly, and relatively calm for someone who had just laid out most of his life story, and it's far from being a happy one.

Yeonjun, clears his throat, worried that it night crack from emotion if he had talked right away. He takes his time, like everyone at the table, soaks in the information.

It's almost as if his entire view on Kai has changed. Which is exactly what the younger was trying to avoid. But how can you separate a person's story from his personality? How can you look completely carefree while carrying such a tragic story? How can you be so happy when life has made it so easy for you to be miserable.

"I don't know what about you, but I need more alcohol...." Beomgyu states after a few moments of silence, and slides over to the counter.

"Kai..." Yeonjun says carefully. "A refill?" He suggest warmly, and nudges at the tall glass.

Kai laughs , and it's short and watery. A his lash line is damp and he wipes his nose with a napkin.

"Yeah, thanks"

"Anytime kiddo, anytime...."

"I talked to the witnesses..." Kai continues as soon as they're all back at the table with an extra food plate and a blanket Yeonjun had found in the back for Beomgyu who complained about the cold until Yeonjun had to do something about it.

"I realized even tho he was a shitty person, there is a chance he didn't commit that murder. So I went on a little investigation on my own. People sure talk a lot more when you're not wearing uniform." He laughs.

"I have a friend in the police, someone I know from way back. He gave me a few pieces of pretty nasty intel. But it conformed my suspicion.. he did it."

"Okay, so why not testify against your step dad" Beomgyu suggests "that way you can help the case by proving him guilty. Boom done, everyone wins!" He yells, hands up in victory.

"That's the thing a lot of people don't know, Beomgyu Hyung..." Kai speaks, and Beomgyu lowers his hands slowly "my step dad is not the main suspect, at least not yet. The police wants to pin the murder at someone else..... sell the case for money. If I testify against my dad, and prove him guilty, I go in the police's black list.. which is dangerous, for someone like me. They can arrest me on the street for petty crimes I didn't commit, built a report against me, my life would be over." He explains in the simplest way he can.

Yeonjun shakes his head.

"I'm sorry, how do you know so much about this stuff?" He asks, and Kai knew that question had to come sometime.

For Yeonjun who has always viewed Kai as the cheery little boy, the innocent one who seemed to care about nothing in particular. Kai who had dropped out of high school to pursue music, is suddenly showing a deep level of intelligence. The young boy understands it night be difficult for Yeonjun to suddenly see him like this.

It might feel like he had hid a secret identity from them, which technically, could count as true.

"It's not that I wanted to become an expert in this case, but this is my life Hyung. I don't expect you to understand..... but I need your help"

....

......

"I'll help!" Beomgyu declares enthusiastically after there is no  response from Yeonjun

"Justice and whatnot..." Beomgyu adds, and Kai snorts and looks at the elder with thankful eyes.

"Hyung...?" Kai turns the question over to Yeonjun, who seems deep in thought in his chair.

"One question.." the eldest says. "Does Taehyun know?"

Kai drops his gaze to the table, and straightens up in his seat.

"No, as far as I know he's still sure there's only one suspect."

"How are you so sure?" Yeonjun questions.

Kai shifts awkwardly in his chair, not sure if he should answer.

Yeonjun doesn't lower his eyes from the young boy, and looks at him determined for an explanation. After all, it's one of his best friends, caught up in the same mess. He has to make sure Taehyun knows what he's getting himself into.

"I looked through his bag..." Kai admits with much struggle. He did what he had to do, to get the data he needed, but to say that it didn't feel like he was betraying Taehyun's trust in a way. That would be a lie.

It'd be a lie if he said he didn't hold his tears the whole way back from the train station. When he felt Taehyun's hands so tight around his body, as if the elder was asking for something that Kai could not provide.

He had took advantage of Taehyun's weakness, for his own benefit. And at the end of the day, if he had to do it again. He would.

It'll hurt the same, maybe even more. But maybe it's better that way. Because now it is sinking in, that they can never make it work.

His relationship with Taehyun had ended when he made the decision to open the black bag without permission, when he first saw the title on that one sheet of paper that had slipped from the pile.

"Denver case, 304"

They never stood a chance.