It was almost morning when Ba Reum's cell phone started to ring. He woke up with a start, and looked at the number that was calling.
Ba Reum had expected him to call sooner than this, but he had eventually got too tired of waking and just went to bed. He guessed since he hadn't called late in the evening he would at least wait until the morning, but Ba Reum wasn't that lucky.
He grabbed his cell phone and held it to his ear.
"Yes?" he said in a raspy voice from sleep.
"Am I speaking with Ba Reum?" the voice sounded a bit hesitant on the other side of the line.
"Yeah, it's me."
It's me, Sung Yo Han." A small pause, "I received the results of my test. I think it's best that we see each other in person."
"Yeah, that's fine. I'll come over." Ba Reum said, already getting out of bed. He wouldn't be able to go back to sleep anyone.
"No, it's better that I come to you. Can you give me your address?"
"Yeah, sure." Ba Reum said. They ended the conversation, not saying anything more.
Ba Reum texted Yo Han his address, and pulled on his clothes. It wouldn't do well to receive his guest while just wearing his pyjama's.
The coffee had just finished brewing when he heard a knock on the door.
He let Sung Yo Han inside. He looked paler then usual and very nervous and fidgety.
"I take it that it was a negative test." Ba Reum said, pouring out a cup of coffee and gesturing to Yo Han if he wanted a cup as well.
He took it and took a sip while Ba Reum was pouring himself one as well. Yo Han took the moment to collect himself.
"It was." Yo Han licked his lips, "I don't actually know what to do right now." he confessed,
Ba Reum nodded. He hadn't liked his parents and ran away and even he had been shocked when he discovered that he hadn't been his mother's son. What must it be to discover after 25 years.
"you talked about those guys who were following us when we were young. Do you think it's related to this."
"I don't know. I didn't dare to tell my real mother that I was Jae Hoon for multiple reason. One of them is because I feared that those stalkers would find me again if I revealed myself." Ba Reum said, Yo Han nodded at his words.
"But there is one thing I know. The same people who followed us are also related to the current murder cases."
"What do you mean?"
"The one were my mother was victim off. I investigated and that's when I saw him. The same guy who was following us, is currently following the perpetuator. I think he must be protected him, but I don't know why."
Yo Han thought this over, finishing up his coffee.
"Perhaps my mother knows more." He eventually said. Ba Reum looked up in surprise.
"Do you think we can ask her. Wouldn't she be in league with the people that followed us."
"No, I don't think so. I know my mother, she would not put my life in danger like that." Yo Han said.
"But she did lie about who she is to you." Ba Reum said, warning Yo Han not to believe in his mother.
"Unless she didn't know." Yo Han defended her.
"Unless she doesn't know." Ba Reum agreed, shaking his head with a small mocking smile while drinking the dregs of his cup. Yo Han pretended that he didn't see.
"I want you to be there when I confront her with this." Yo Han said, making Ba Reum look up in surprise. He had expected Yo Han to want to confront her in private.
"I Just want you to back up my word and to explain her why I did this test." Yo Han explained, but what he didn't say is that he didn't want to be alone for this.
"When do you want to do this?"
"Rather sooner then later. Tomorrow!" Yo Han said, "at least, if you are free?"
"I can be there, before noon if it's possible".
"Yes, I'll see her at 10 o clock. I come and fetch you."
"That's fine, I'll see you in a couple of hours then." He said, letting Yo Han out of the door.
Ba Reum was actually glad that he finally could get some answers about his heritage without him risking to reveal his identity.
He had always wondered about why he never fit in with his family, and discovering he wasn't related was 1 thing, but why was he there with them?
He wondered if Yo Han had been treated the same as he was with his family, but unlike him he seemed like a genuinely caring and nice person, even though he didn't show it in public all that often.
The fact that he had, without asking, taken care of his hand when they were still small said enough. He could actually bring himself to care more about stranger then him.
The next day Yo Han came to get it him. He was 10 minutes early and he was even more emotionless then normal. It was obvious that this mask was something he did in self-defence, to protect his feelings from getting hurt, and probably to calm himself down.
But even with that mask on and the silence in the car, Ba Reum could feel the tension seeping from him.
When they finally arrived, Yo Han's mothers seemed glad to see her son, but surprised that he had taken a friend with him to her place. Normally he didn't really take his friends to his house. He hadn't even introduced his girlfriend to her yet, even though she knew he had one.
"Yo Han, nice that you come to visit. And your friend." She said, clearly trying to get him to tell him who his friend was and why he came with them.
"Mom, this is Ba Reum. I invited him because of something that he showed me." He said, while taking off his shoes, his voice was very even. His mom looked at him questioningly, but gestured to a seat on the sofa while she made some tea.
Ba Reum took this opportunity to try to calm down Yo Han.
"You okay there?" he whispered in his ear. Yo Han gave him a startled look.
"I don't know." He said honestly, swallowing a lump.
"It's best that we stay as calm as possible, otherwise we might not get any answers." Ba Reum stopped talking when he saw that Yo Han's mother had returned with the tea. She gave them all a cup and added sugar.
"So, Yo Han, is there a reason why you came here with your friend?"
"We came here because of this." Yo Han said and slid the envelop with the DNA results toward her. His mother took the envelop with a confused look on her face. She took out the papers and looked at it.
"Yo Han, what is this?" she asked, not understanding the technical forms in front of her.
"This is a DNA test that says I am not your son." He bit off, sounding more aggressive than he would have liked. His mother's face fell and she gasped.
"Yo Han, why would you do such a test." She asked, but Yo Han noticed it immediately was that she didn't deny the results.
"So it's true? You are not my mother." She hesitated, licking her lips and thinking before answering.
"No, I am your mother. I might not have given birth to you, but I am your mother." She said, looking down at her clasped shaking hands, sounding a bit desperate.
"Why would you do such a thing." She said, looking at the test that she had dropped back on the table.
"Remember back when I was 10, I told you that I was being followed?" his mother nodded, not able to look him in the eye.
"Ba Reum was being followed as well, just like me. And just like me he found out that his mother isn't his mother either." Now his mother was looking at Ba Reum with an odd look of fear in her eyes.
"And who was your mother?" she asked of Ba Reum, oddly breathless and emotionless.
"Kim Hee Jung." He answered her and she gasped at the response, barely able to breathe. Ba Reum looked at her with her eyes wide. She definitely recognized that name.
"How did you find my son? Why did you do this to us?" she asked, harshly. He pulled back a bit at the though accusations.
"Because I thought he might be in danger. And I wanted answers."
"Danger? Answers? What kind of answers can you possibly want?" she spat out at him, as if everything was his fault.
"Do you know who my real mother is?" Yo Han butted in suddenly.
"Yo Han." His mother groaned, not wanting to answer.
"Do you?" he asked again, more insistent this time.
"I do." She said, hoping that he wouldn't keep on asking. She really didn't want to lie to him anymore, but she didn't want them to find out.
"Who?"
"I don't think you should." His mother began.
"WHO?" he stood upright now, shouting at her. Ba Reum stood up and took hold of Yo Han's arm, just to stop him in case he wanted to do something he regretted.
"Calm down." He said to Yo Han. Yo Han turned to Ba Reum, his pupils wide in anger, but underneath he saw the sadness. He took a step back.
"Who?" he asked again, more calmly this time, holding his fists clenched to his side, his arms stiff and Ba Reum still holding him at the elbow.
"Yo Han, once you know, you cannot NOT know. Nothing good can come of this." His mother tried again, hoping that he would let it drop.
"Who. I just want to know who is my real mother." He said desperately.
"It's Kim Hee Jung." She whispered.
"What?" Ba Reum asked, his hand dropping from Yo Han's arm. "My mother?"
Yo Han's mother nodded faintly.
"Explain now." Yo Han said angrily and sat back down, pulling Ba Reum back down on the couch next to him.
And she did. She explained about how she discovered her husband had been a serial killer. How she had done the test and how her son had shared the psychopath gene with her husband. She told about the other woman, who was also pregnant from a child with that gene, but so certain that her son was going to be a good person.
They listened in an horrified silence, which increased ten fold when she told about the pact she made with the woman. When she told about how they switched out their children and swore to kill them if they showed signs of being a psychopath.
When Ba Reum heard about that plan he suddenly got up and ran toward the nearby kitchen and vomited in the sink. Some tears slipped out, but he blamed it on the puking, instead of the sadness he felt in his heart.
"So I am your son." He asked her.
"Yes."
"And you thought I was a monster?"
A moment of hesitation, then "yes."
"and you made a pact to kill me or Yo Han if we showed signs of being a psychopath." He asked, a hollow feeling in his chest. He remembered all the looks he had gotten from his mother and al the times his stepfather had called him monster. How long would they have kept him alive if he wouldn't have ran away.
"Yes, we both agreed to the pact. We changed our babies because then we wouldn't have to face killing our own child."
"Bull shit." Ba Reum said angrily "You just though I would have been the same as the Head Hunter, a serial killer. You didn't see your son. You just saw a monster." He swallowed.
"Seriously, never have heard from a psychologist if you saw these signs in your child? Killing a kid was your first solution?" he looked at her in disgust.
"Fuck this shit." He got up and went out, before he did something that he regretted.
Yo Han stared at his mother, who was now openly crying.
"Do you know about the people that followed us?" he asked, his voice rid of emotions, cold as ice.
"No, I don't. I really thought you were just imagining in." she said. He nodded and got up.
"Yo Han." She said, getting up and taking his hands in hers.
"You are my son, my true son." She said desperately, his back towards her, not moving. Then he pulled his hand from hers without turning around and stepped away, not saying a word. She crumpled to the ground.