The reed field was dark and muddy due to the rain that had just started. Ba Reum followed the tracks in the mud in the direction that halmoni had pointed. The rain had already started to wash some of them away.
Ba Reum pulled is mask higher on his face, making sure that it covered his features as much as possible. Better not to be recognized. He knew that it could put him in an annoying spot where he had to explain himself.
He actually didn't know himself why he would risk his own life to go after the guy, he should just have called the police on a burner phone and observed from safety.
But this guy, he had hurt Bong Yi and now he had hurt halmoni. The only reason why he hurt these people was that Ba Reum had saved his life.
He heard a child scream in the distance and quickly made his way over. He slipped and fell in the mud, making him all covered up in dirt.
He finally saw the dark figure of Kang Duk Soo bended over a small figure that was trying fight back, but she was just too small to do any damage. He could hear Kang Duk Soo laughing with her attempts.
Ba Reum sneaked up behind the man and pulled him away from the small figure.
"Run," He shouted and he threw Kang Duk Soo on the ground. He kicked him multiple times in the crotch and then the ribs and the kidneys.
When Kang Duk Soo fell to the ground, Ba Reum took a nearby rock from and started to hit the guy on the head. The stone was wet and slipped out of his hand.
He didn't bother grabbing it, and just started to strangle Kang Duk Soo with all his might. Kang Duk Soo tried to pry his hands of his neck, making a choking sound, saliva dripping from his mouth. Eventually Kang Duk Soo stopped moving.
"Die." He hissed.
A lightning flashed and Ba Reum saw the body under him.
The sudden shock of seeing the damage mad him stop suddenly. He fell back, breathing harshly.
There was blood everywhere. On Kang Duk Soo, on the ground, on his hands and arms, even on Ba Reum's face. Kang Duk Soo's face was full of bruises and cuts, barely recognizable.
He quickly felt if there was pulse. After a second or two he could feel it. He could breathe a bit now, but still, it didn't feel strong.
Ba Reum was panicking, he didn't know what to do, how could he solve this.
Suddenly he hears the sirens in the distance. That's right he had called an ambulance for halmoni.
He looks up, he couldn't see them, just here the sirens. They are still in the distance. He looks at the prone body in front of him. He was still alive, but for how long. Perhaps if he If they found him in time, he would life.
That took the decision right out of his hands. He dragged the body with him towards Bong Yi's halmoni and laid it close by. He flattened the reeds around the body, hoping that they would find it quickly.
The sound of the sirens was getting close by now. He needed to leave, the quicker the better.
He looked back one more time, they would find him here, he wouldn't die then. He would not be responsible for killing him.
He was about to run away home before the ambulance came, but he stopped in his tracks. Did they know about the girl?
With this rain and the temperature being so cold, she could freeze to death if she stayed out of here. She hadn't been wearing a coat for as for as he had seen.
He bit his lip, looking at the dark field. He hesitated, but then he went back to the place where he had found her with Kang Duk Soo. He looked around for a bit, using the flashlight on his cell phone, and quickly saw some prints he could follow.
He ran in the direction of these prints and soon arrived under an old bridge. There was a sort of cellar over there and he could see muddy streaks on the handles. He heard some sniffing when he came closer.
"He's gone, you can come out now." Ba Reum said, trying to deepen his voice so that it wasn't recognizable. He heard her breath hitch and then she was quiet.
She was probably terrified. He tried again.
"Can you open the door, the bad guy is gone." He knocked on the door.
The girl still didn't open it, so Ba Reum, who could not wait anymore, opened it for her. The girl flinched back. He sighed. He was not good with kids.
"You can come out now, otherwise no one might find you." He hold out his hand. "Please?" The girl eventually accepted his hand, and he pulled her softly out. She was shaking badly, from the fear, the shock, the cold. She didn't seem capable to walk anywhere fast enough.
"Come, jump on my back" he said, crouching down. This would be the quickest way. The girl crawled on his back and buried her face in his shoulder. He could feel her started to quietly cry.
Ba Reum started to walk out of the field, exhaustion and shock setting in. He could feel himself starting to shake. He suddenly felt so tired and cold, but he couldn't stop now.
He was almost at the edge of the field when he suddenly ducked down, lying almost flat on his stomach with the girl on his back. She looked up, startled, her eyes wide. His position made it feel as if they were in danger.
Ba Reum was not paying attention to her, but to the figure he just saw getting out of a car.
What the hell was Moo Chi doing here?
He could not find Ba Reum here in this condition, with the girl on his back and Kang Duk Soo and halmoni wounded.
If Kang Duk Soo died he would surely be arrested. Even if he didn't die, the damage he did would not be seen as self-defence. Better not to be seen here at all.
Moo Chi stepped away from the car and entered the reed field more in the direction where halmoni was lying, probably following the lights of the ambulance and police cars. Good, he could make his escape, but what to do about the girl? He didn't think that he could bring her all the way home without being seen by anyone.
"I'll bring you to the car," he said, getting an idea, "don't worry, this car belongs to a good ahjussi, he will help you." He opened the door of the car, which Moo Chi left unlocked in his haste to get to the crime scene. He tried to lower the girl from his back on the back seat, but she didn't want to let go.
"Don't worry it's safe." He said, she hesitantly let go, so that he could put her on the back seat.
"You'll be safe here." He said, wiping a few tears from her face.
"You promise?" she said, looking him in the eyes.
"I promise." He held out his pinkie finger and she hesitantly hooked her pinkie finger in his and they put the thumbs together to seal the promise.
"Good, you can lie down." He put Moo Chi's discarded coat on the girl so that she can warm up and then he went away.
This way the girl could be found without him risking his identity by bringing her home himself, she could warm up and the police could bring her back to her family.
In the rain he went back home, hiding as much from other people as possible. He began to shake harder and he was starting to feel nauseous and dizzy. The journey took him longer than he would have expected, but he had to stop sometimes, leaning against walls, to catch his breath. He swallowed nervously, bile rising up from his stomach.
When he finally arrived home he couldn't muster the strength to sneak back in through the window, and just entered through the front door.
He opened the door and stumbled in, just in time to vomit all over the floor. Afterward he fell to his hands and knees, losing the strength in his legs.
Soo Jin heard the noise and stumbled in the room, turning on the light. She was startled when she saw the dirty state that her son was in, blood covering his hands and face where the rain hadn't been able to wash it of yet.
"Ba Reum, what happened." She said, she ran over him and kneeled next to him.
"Mum," he cried leaning against her shoulder "I think I might have killed someone."
When he comes home he is in a panick, because he nearly killed a person.
Mom confronts and comfoerts him, you didn't kill him, it's normal to want to kill scum like that.
Ba Reum feels nauseaous, gets physically sick.
He pukes and cries. Mum takes him to shower. For some reason Chi Kook calls, mum picks up and tells him Ba Reum is ill and can't get on phone now.
He hears Ba Reum crying on back ground.
Next day mum calls Ba Reum in ill.