La Raison de Vivre
By Izzu
o
o
The surrounding area quickly getting crowded as the police arrived and curious onlookers stopping by to get a peek of the scene. Ki Young sighed to himself as he watched the officers moving the body, as well as managing the crowds that kept on increasing. And there's the press... they must have caught wind of the identity of the dead.
A few more cars screeched to a halt as moments later Ki Young felt a hand grabbing his arm. He turned around as Team Leader Kwon glared at his face.
"What did you do? Wait... we better have this talk elsewhere..."
xxx
Team Leader Kwon dragged him away from the scene as they were met by the rest of the team. Within moments, he was surrounded by the four people.
"We heard Jo Hyeon Min jumped—"
"Did you do it—?"
"I know that you're angry because he got away, but that doesn't mean—"
"Now, now... slow down everyone!", Team Leader Kwon immediately pulled them apart before turning around towards him. "All right, Park Ki Young. Fess up. What did you do?"
Ki Young shrugged. "I did nothing." he said before looking up at the others. "I went to see him because I can't stand to see him thinking that he's won over us without facing the consequences. After all of the lives that he'd taken, for killing Woo Hyun... I have to end it. One way or another."
Kang Mi's eyes widened. "Don't tell me... you didn't—!"
"I didn't push him down." Ki Young turned his eyes away. "He did that by himself. I just gave him Shin Hyo Jeong's phone."
"If there was anything else that I could have done, it was that. To show Jo Hyeon Min just how far have he gone to the point of no return. To make him realize just how big was his mistake to kill Shin Hyo Jeong. How it was a mistake for him to kill Woo Hyun, and anyone else since then. I want to make him realise the full weight of taking people's lives! That just because you replace the word 'kill' with 'delete', doesn't mean you're exempted from the sin of committing murder."
He sighed.
"The bastard did say that the only person that could convict or punish him was himself. Well, he's right."
Everyone did not try to argue that point as the five of them became silent. Ki Young continued musing in silence before letting out a small sigh. "It's over now... right?"
Ki Young looked up to the sky. "So, should I leave the Cyber Team now? Woo Hyun had wanted to quit after all... once he managed to close this case. So it should be fitting for me to do that as well,"
"No! You can't!" Sang Woo exclaimed immediately. "You have to stay,"
"We've lost too many people already..." said Tae Gyun as well. "Team Leader Kim... Detective Han... Director Jeon, we can't lose any more people from this team!"
Team Leader Kwon pulled him to the side. "Are you really going to pull out that thing you've told me before? That you're going to give yourself up and tell people of your real identity? After we've tried so hard to convince people that you're the real deal?"
"I didn't say that!" Ki Yong snapped as he pulled his arm away. "About that... I don't even think I could even go back to being the real me. Especially... after Jo Hyeon Min fell on that curb. And the fact doing so might also affect Jo Jae Min's case. I wouldn't do that now."
He let out a long breath.
"I just... thought that perhaps it's time now that I stop pretending to be a cop. Since I only borrowed it from Woo Hyun."
"Team Leader Kim..."
Ki Young looked up as he stared blankly towards Kang Mi. For a brief second, he thought he caught her looking at her cellphone. She shrugged.
"Team Leader Kim, would have wanted you to remain... taking his place in the Cyber Team." Her eyes started to swell with tears before she blinked it away. "I know that he would have wanted you to keep his job. He'd tell you to not give up. And continue catching criminals."
Tae Gyun started nodding vigorously as well, though his efforts to hide his tears were less successful. "Yes... yes! Listen to Detective Yoo! I believed that Team Leader Kim would think the same way as well. You can't leave!"
Team Leader Kwon nudged him from the sides. He smiled. "Hear that? Your team needs you. And even if I don't really know Kim Woo Hyun that well, I could tell that he considered you to be important and would have wanted you to remain."
Ki Young stared at everyone's face before turning towards Kwon. "Team Leader..."
The Mad Cow shrugged. "I wanted to believe that he did thought of you like that. As an irreplaceable partner. And I'm going to make sure you're staying in my team. Losing Kim Woo Hyun in that bloody explosion was bad enough, I'm not going to lose you as well!"
Ki Young gave Team Leader Kwon a weak smile before looking back towards Kang Mi. "But... didn't you say before, that after we solve this case you wanted to put Woo Kyun back to his proper place?"
Kang Mi sighed as Tae Gyun and Sang Woo turned to look at her.
She cocked her head. "That can wait. At least we managed to clear Team Leader Kim's name from being thought of as a corrupt cop. At least we know, that he didn't die in dishonour," She fidgeted again with her cellphone as Ki Young noticed again. She heaved a long sigh.
"Even if Team Leader died under your name, there's still us to remember him as who he really was. For now, that's good enough to me."
As she said it, Yoo Kang Mi stared straight at him... full of conviction. Ki Young glanced to each of his other teammates to see that they were also wearing the look that wouldn't accept any negative answers from him. He chuckled.
"Guys... don't look at me like that. And it's already late. Might as well we talk about this tomorrow."
"But there's a lot of good thing if you stayed with the team!" cried Tae Gyun again, refusing to give up. "I mean... on your abilities as Hades, we could use that as our trump cards in the cyber investigations! I don't think it's a bad idea to have a hacker as part of the team... I mean, when Team Leader Kim picked me to be part of the team he said—"
Ki Young placed his hands on Tae Gyun's shoulders as he smiled. "I get it. I'm not going to quit the team... all right?" He turned towards the others. "So can you guys loosen up on me a bit?"
Mad Cow Kwon grinned. "Well... since we cleared that part out. About time we're having that drink!"
"I'll pass..." said Ki Young hastily. "I thought that I should go visit father at the hospital. Now that everything's come to an end, I should at least let him know. And Yoo Kang Mi, if you don't mind... I'd like you to keep Seon Woo company tonight. Since I thought... I want to pay Woo Hyun a visit as well tomorrow."
Kang Mi nodded.
"Very well..."