FALLING SLOWLY ||Complete||

Turning point

“So was kidnapped when he was fourteen,” the senior Hwang calls after Yo, his words enough for him to still on his tracks. Their argument had not been pretty. Yo was still conflicted when it came to the question as to where he stood with his father, whether he still dared to play along his games with ambiguous goals. His fingers curl around the disk carrying the footage and he waits for the man to continue.

“By the time we found him, he had already escaped on his own and recalled nothing of the place or people who held him.” There is a mild detachment in his voice, a sour note of guilt. “You were sick then, my attention was elsewhere. They kept him for a week.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Curiosity gets the better of him and Yo can’t help but ask. When he turns the man gestures to a seat in front of him, his face unreadable as ever but his eyes wary.

“Because someone needs to know.” He says simply. “The truth cannot be held anymore.”

“If you mean to tell me that So is not my twin - it’s been a while since I worked that out. If you mean to say it and drive a wage between us, I’d like you to think again.”

He takes the seat that was offered, but not the olive branch. His father is not the man of soundest morals, and long since his games had begun to weary Yo.
“We couldn’t find him for a week - we didn’t even know he was missing - do you know why?” The older man plays with the glass paper weight set atop his desk, carefully choosing his words. “Because his school was under the impression that he was there - someone had been impersonating him.”

“I’m supposed to believe this?”

“You are supposed to keep it in your mind,” his father nods, hope does not color his eyes. “By the time So was found and we reached back to his school the doppelgnger was gone.”

He says nothing as he rises to leave. He was half expecting to be hauled to the ground by the bunch of guards at the door, instead his father leaves him with unnecessary information. Yo waits a minute longer - filling the conversation away, wondering what he is to do with it. His father answers that unasked question.

“If something that brings this conversation to your mind happens I want you to come to me - without a delay.”

Yo thinks back to that moment involuntarily, fiddling with the document in his hand. Decision had been made for him, rather than him making it actively. He sighs when Mun Seong walks in. She opens her mouth just as he stands up.

“I’m opting out,” he tells her briskly, neatly folding the letter that carried his intentions. “It’s best for all.”

“Prosecutor nim…” She knows that stubborn line of his jaw, and lets her voice trail off in vain.

Silence between them is filled by news playing somewhere - the famed national athlete, currently on the run; suspected for two attempted murders. The office of prosecutors issued a statement yesterday hinting that they would be re-investigating into the Hwang Tae murder back in 2013. This developments could cast a major shadow on motives and justifications of senior Assemblyman Hwang who, according to our sources will be questioned on his involvement in the case shortly…

“That Hwang Shik Ryom -” Mun Seong grits her teeth recalling the older prosecutor who had taken over the case and Yo shakes his head shutting the drawer with a snap.

“Is a puppet of my mother,” he muses aloud darkly. “Brotherly love seems to run in the family.” He knows his uncle nurses a jealousy for his much advanced brother, for this is not the first time his mother had played this card. “The ball is in his court, he can play as he wants.”