범죄 (Crime) Part.II

Monstrum

"So you don't know the man who kidnapped you, right?" Minhyuk asked calmly. The doctors had given him the permission to interview Kang Chaeyeon, after they had checked her vitality status. "You only noticed that he was tall?" He tried to confirm again, what the girl had told him. The small girl nodded.

"Good. Do you still remember what he said to you?" She nodded again.

"He said that I have to wear the dress." Her high voice sounded thin and sad, but she was a brave little girl. Being able to talk about all of that wasn't easy for her. Minhyuk knew that she was speaking about the dress Kang Chaeyeon had been wearing when he had left her in the café. "I wasn't allowed to spill food on it. Or take it off." Her grip on the bedsheets tightened a little before she continued. "And I had to say this sentence."

"You're my mom now?" Minhyuk repeated. "This sentence?" Kang Chaeyeon nodded again.

"The police are currently examining the dress. And Chaeyeon" he flashed a small smile at the young girl. "Everything you've told me was really a great help to us."

"Is it my fault?" The girls voice was suddenly shaking, as if she was about to cry, when she spoke after being silent for a while. She wore a horrified expression and Minhyuk could only imagine what kind of dark thoughts were buzzing around in her head.

"Oh, sweet heart, no. Of course not!" He reached for the girl's small hand and hid them in his bigger ones. Her fingers were cold and she was shaking noticeably. "Listen to me. Nothing of this is your fault. You're still a child. You're perfect. You did perfect." Minhyuk was furious inside, but maintained his soft expression, knowing too well that it was the most important to comfort her at this moment.

"The man who did this – it's his fault. And his alone. For you it is only important to concentrate on completely recovering now. There is no need to worry. I'll be here to protect you." The little girl seemed to finally relax a little. His words were doing their effect. "And I'll promise you that I'll protect you, until your grandparents from Gimhae arrived, ok?"

"Ok." Minhyuk could see how Kang Chaeyeon still seemed unsure and scared by the whole situation, but at least her body wasn't shaking as bad as before. "Will you stay here? Until they arrive?" she asked.

"Of course."

Not even a second later Minhyuk found himself trapped between the skinny arms of the little girl, holding him tightly, pressing her face against his shoulder as she tried hard not to cry. Minhyuk started patting her back. They had to catch this bastard.

"I don't get it. How can something like this happen?" Lee Jaeyoon said. Jooheon had arranged a meeting with him at the crime scene of the second kidnapping and murder.

"Sadly, we got no answer to that, Mr. Lee." Jooheon said. "That's the reason why we asked you to come here. You've checked Lee Hotaek and Kim Minji."

"Yes sure." The man said, shrugging his shoulders once, before letting them hang down again. "That is my job as a social worker. I need to make sure the environment is safe and suitable for a child. And then I make a recommendation for adoption." His glaze wandered behind Jooheon's back towards the door of the apartment Lee Hyewon and her parents had lived in. "Lee Hotaek and Kim Minji fulfilled all of that. They were wonderful parents-to-be."

"The man who kills these people is someone who..." Jooheon tried to be careful with his next words, so he wouldn't anger the man. "who knows the intimate details that you would uncover in your inspection anyways." He said. "Can you think of any colleague of you that would misuse this kind of information for something like that?" The social worker shook his head.

"No, no one. We really are the first and last line of defense." He added the last part with a sigh. "The children have no one else, they only have us."