When Chi Kook had visited Bong Yi and explained to her what had happened that night with Ba Reum's mum and Ba Reum, she had felt so guilty for powering down her phone.
She had been so lost in her own misery that she had let her friends down, even after he had helped her so much.
She wanted to go to the hospital immediately, but she was in no shape to go and that's what Chi Kook said.
"Better to clean yourself up a bit first. If you go there looking like this, you won't be helping anyone."
"But I want to help." She said, her voice sounding hoarse.
"First take a shower and clean yourself up. I'll prepare something to eat to go with that alcohol in your stomach." Chi Kook said, looking at all the empty bottles that were littering everywhere.
"But," she started to say.
"No buts." Chi Kook interrupted her and pushed her in the bathroom despite her protests and closed the door behind her.
He started to clean up the bottles and after a few minutes heard the water from the shower go on.
He quickly looked at the nearly empty fridge and sighed again. He would have to buy her some food soon. She obviously wasn't taking care of herself.
For now he quickly took out some leftovers and prepared some rice.
Bong Yi came out, drying her hair when he was still preparing the food and went to sit at the low table he had prepared.
"Are you feeling better now?" he asked when he put up a plate of food in front of her.
"Yeah. A bit." She said, eating a few bites, "I still want to do something to help Ba Reum oppa."
"You can, but for now eat. Then I'll take you shopping for some food, since you have obviously been surviving on scraps. Then you can still do something for Ba Reum."
"But, I want to do something now." She started to protest with her mouth full.
"No you can't. How do you except to help someone unless you can help yourself." Bong Yi blushed at that, but she kept silent and the rest of her food.
Like he promised, Chi Kook went with her to the shops, making sure she had groceries enough to last her at least a week and he even paid for it all when she was distracted. She protested, but he wouldn't' tell her how much he had paid.
When they came to her house he gave her the groceries and went home himself, wanting to catch some sleep because he had changed his normal shift with a night shift from a colleague.
Bong Yi put the groceries away and decided that she would at least call Ba Reum today, just to see how he's doing right now.
Chi Kook had expressed some concern about his friends mental state, but he said as long as Soo Jin wouldn't take a turn for the worst, Ba Reum would be okay.
When Ba Reum answered the phone, his voice sounded drained, sad and distracted, as if his mind wasn't really there with the conversation. She could sympathise with that feeling at least a little. She thought back to her grandmother, lonely in prison. At least she was still in good health.
"Oppa, it's me Bong Yi." She stared, "I heard what happened." It was silent on the other side of the line.
"Are you still in the hospital? I can come visit?" she decided to try and continue the conversation.
"No, they said I could go home." He answered and the conversation grew still again.
"How is your mother?"
"In coma still. For now she shouldn't be in immediate danger, but the doctors don't know when she'll wake up." He said. She could hear his breath hitching as if he tried not to cry.
"Do you want me to come over?" she asked.
"No, I rather be alone for the moment. But if you are free tomorrow, can you" she heard him hesitating to ask.
"You can ask, don't worry."
"I know it sounds silly, but can you sit with mum. I have to go to something tomorrow morning, and no one is with her already tonight. I don't want her to be lonely."
"Of course I will." She answered, grateful that she could do something for him, even something as small as that.
"Thank you. I'll probably be there late morning as well." He said.
After her conversation with Ba Reum she waited until it was late in the evening before she texted Chi Kook. She didn't want to wake him up before his shift.
She asked if he would be able to join her after his work was over and go visit Ba Reum's mother together. She was a bit nervous to sit alone with an unconscious patient.
She heard the sound of a text coming in and smiled when he answered that he could come with her.
Ba Reum had looked up several school symbols and badges on the computer and it didn't take long before he found out from which school this badge belonged. A few moments later and he had the complete teacher list printing.
There were of course no measurements given, so he couldn't compare their stature or height with the figures that had broken in.
He went to bed and amazingly he fell asleep almost immediately. When he woke up the next morning he still felt tired. His head was still pounding and even the indoor light hurt his eyes and when he held his head in an angle he kept on hearing an high-pitched ringing.
Of course that wouldn't stop him. He skipped breakfast and made sure to bring his sunglasses with him. It was still quite dark outside, but he wanted to be early at the school, to be sure to see all the teachers arriving. He also wanted to take a look at the parents. One could never be sure that it wasn't one of them.
He took out the teacher profiles and looked at the profile pics. He would try to connect most of them, but he knew that unless he was lucky that it could be possible that he would be parking here a couple of days.
People were starting to arrive, some working here, some of them bringing their children. Some children came by bus.
Ba Reum stepped out of the car and made sure that he mingled in the crowd, trying not to stand out. He took several pictures of people fitting the general figure while pretending to look things up on his smartphone.
So far there weren't many people yet who could be the smaller figure. The bigger figure he hadn't seen very clearly and if he remembered correctly seemed to be more of a general height and build. Whenever he saw a teacher entering the building he was sure to try and take a picture if opportunity allowed it.
He made sure to sometimes go back to his car and drive the block around and come back about 10 – 15 minutes later, as not to make anyone suspicious.
He repeated this another 3 times. The last time he almost couldn't find a parking space. It was getting very busy and crowded as the school was about to start. A few minutes before the bell rang the crowd was thinning and only a few last minute students were still entering the school gates.
He made one last round, just to be sure if it was one of the stragglers, but then it was time to go. He wouldn't gain any information anymore while standing here.
He would come back in a day or two when the school ended. Best not to be continuously seen here, otherwise they might think he was some sort of sexual predator or something.
He wished that he could investigate quicker, because every day the murderer wasn't caught was a day longer his mother would have to fear for her live.
These kind of people didn't take kindly about their victims staying alive. She had seen them, so she could identify them. He knew that there was a cop standing guard in the hospital, but he also knew that people failed.
You only had to think about what Halmoni managed to do with someone who was guarded at this hospital as well. And she was just an old lady. His mother was helpless, in a coma.
When he was walking to his car a wave of dizziness and exhaustion hit him and he felt very lightheaded. He realised that it was probably not wise to come here without having anything to eat yet.
It probably was very unsafe to drive a car in his condition, but he felt like he didn't have another option right now. He decided to first go grab a bite to eat somewhere and that he would go and sit with his mother.
He knew Bong Yi would be there, but after she left, he could sort through the photo's he had taken and see which ones he could eliminate completely and which ones he needs to examen further.
He was about to put down his seatbelt and leave, but the he spotted another car, just standing on the parking lot.
In particular, he saw the person that was sitting in the car. It was a man, who just made himself comfortable, as if he expected to be here the rest of the day.
The face looked so familiar and his head started to pound and his ears rang. Why did the face look so familiar? What was it? He shook his head, trying to clear his mind.
Why was he feeling like this. He took his smartphone and took a photo and enlarge it, so he could see the face clearer.
He frowned, studying the face, his eyes widening suddenly.
"Haven't you wondered why the bunny is getting this big?"
That guy. It had been that guy and the rabbit from when he was young.
But wait, that was before, before he was with mum. Who was he then.
Memories came flashing back in his mind, and nausea rose, his head pounded harder. The ringing in his ears was crippling.
He was suddenly filled with one urge. The urge to run, run from this guy or run from these memories that kept on flashing by.
He had to get away from that guy. He drove away, as quickly as he could. He could not remember the way he took or even if he waited for the lights to turn green. He just drove as his body was telling him to, to get away from the danger.
His flight response was triggered.
He parked his car haphazardly in one of the parking lots near the hospital ran the rest of the way in top speed, his heart beating together with his head.
He almost ran someone over, but he didn't even take the time to apologize.
Bong Yi and Chi Kook were sitting with Ba Reum's mother in the hospital room. They were silently talking. When they had just entered, they felt weird to sit in this room, with the beeping of several medical devices on the background.
They had sat together in silence, but then they slowly started to talk more.
"I hope this isn't insulting to Miss Jung." Bong Yi said nervously.
"No, it's okay. She likes to hear some chatter. It is better than the silence." Chi Kook patted her hand, reassuring her. They were talking about last weekend's television show when suddenly the door swung open at alarming speed.
The cop that had been sitting outside had jumped up, clearly not knowing what to do with this situation.
The door rebounded, but the person who just entered, had already passed through, nearly knocking Bong Yi over.
It was only once he was sitting on his knees next to his mother's bed that she recognized Ba Reum.
He had grabbed his mother's hand, holding it tightly in his. She could hear him quickly talking to her, so silent and quit that she barely could understand.
"Memories… sorry mother, so sorry….my fault…please forgive." She could see the tears falling from his eyes and this more than anything shocked her, because she had never before seen him cry, or even appear vulnerable before.
"Oppa, what's wrong?" Bong Yi asked concerned. She put her hand on his shoulder but he ignored her.
"Ba Reum?" Chi Kook asked and Ba Reum seemed to snap out of his mood when he heard his name being called.
He opened his eyes and looked up at them, his face sweaty and he was shivering.
He got to his feet and looked Chi Kook straight in the eyes.
"Ba Reum?" Chi Kook repeated.
Ba Reum took a step forward to Chi Kook and promptly fainted.