Chapter Text
The day of rest before the trial resumed had seen a new and even bigger explosion in interest in the case of the supposed Peter Pan killer. For security reasons, the court room had been extra secured, people being screened before they were let in, passing metal detectors and extra guards being posted.
Even with all measures, the media practically ambushed Ba Reum when he came out of the police car, flashing cameras at him while they were being held back by policemen and even then they tried to stuff microphones under his nose. He walked through the mass of people in silence, until he reached the inside of the courtroom.
Once the judge reopened the trial, the prosecution gleefully came forward.
“So, I presume you have found your evidence?” he asked, and Ji Won glared at the man, wanting to get up, and say that it had been stolen, but Ba Reum put his hand on the lawyer’s hand, who looked at his client questioningly.
“It’s with my wife,” he said, and the prosecutor blinked in shock at the statement. Ji Won looked in surprise at Ba Reum, but then smirked.
“If I may,” he asked the judge, who nodded and he got up to approach Bong Yi, who blushed red when she noticed the attention of the whole room on her when she handed the pink unicorn to the lawyer, who looked at the object in amusement.
He gave it to Ba Reum, who, to everyone’s surprise deftly opened a piece of stitching and took out a USB stick, handing it to Ji Won.
The computer attached to a beam device quickly showed the evidence, all neatly organised in little folders. Ji Won clicking open the files. The prosecution was demanding to see all of them one by one, and by the time he was half way through he was starting to look flustered.
“I think we’ve seen enough the man said,” and Ji Won leaned back on his chair, enjoying the weakness his opponent. The man shuffled through his papers, and then hesitated a bit, and picked up one.
“Since the defending party had brought in some new evidence, we would like to do so as well,” the man said, starting to calm a bit down. Ji Won frowned, wondering what he was going to throw at them now.
“Please,” the judge said, and the man got up, giving a copy of the paper to the judge and to Ji Won, and he blinked in surprise.
“This a DNA result from Jung Ba Reum, done by order of his mother when he was just a foetus. It was done with the test Daniel Lee developed,” he said, “it’s a DNA test that shows the presence of something called the psychopath gene. I would like to pull your attention to the fact that it is positive for that gene,”
“What?” Ba Reum said, leaning over to look at the paper surprised. He had never known his mother had done this test.
“The psychopath gene?” his lawyer asked, and the opposition almost grinned, but managed to put his face in neutral again.
“Yes, the psychopath gene. If you remember, 25 years ago, we had the serial killer named the Head hunter who had just been caught. A motion back then was done to force abortion on people who were pregnant with children who showed the psychopath gene based on the research of Daniel Lee, as to not have a repeat of history. Sadly, that motion had been dismissed, but not before there were some tests done on certain pregnant people to, just to test the accuracy,”
“What is your point to this?” Ji Won asked.
“My point is that Jung Ba Reum is a merciless, psychopathic killer that just seeks excuses to murder. My point is that if the motion had been granted back then, perhaps he wouldn’t be here, and a lot of other people might just be alive,”
The implication was clear as day, and with the rumour that soon broke out in the courtroom, the judge had no choice by to clear the room, not able to continue the trial that day, angrily ordering that it would continue the next, and if there was still so much rumour then, she would hold it for an empty room.
Yo Han opened his door nervously, letting Moo Chi step in. It had taken him several hours to go through the notes that the “aunt” had left him, and the information had been shocking to say the least.
It was getting too big for him, and he hadn’t known what to do. His first thought was to involve Hong Ju, but then he thought about the baby she was carrying, and he knew if she found out that he left her out because of that, he was going to get scolded, but he couldn’t let her risk their child.
So, after a few moments of hesitation and consideration, he had gotten the idea to call detective Ko Moo Chi, who was already knee deep in this case.
"So, why are you calling me?” the detective asked after their initial greetings.
“I went to speak with Ba Reum’s aunt,” he said, “but I discovered she isn’t his aunt, or mine. See, there is this secret organisation…”
“Yeah, I know. OZ, right?” the man asked, and Yo Han blinked at the phone, surprised that the detective knew about this already, and wondering how the man found out about this.
“How.. how?” he stuttered out, and he heard the detective let out a gruff laugh that sounded as far from humor as it could.
“I found an ex-member, who spilled the beans,” he said, “at least now we know why they wanted Ba Reum on trial, and had to get rid of the evidence,”
“Yeah, if they want to pass a forced abortion decree, they can’t make him seem like he got a conscience,” Yo Han said sarcastically, “And I guess that no one can know that they can’t differentiate it from a genius gene. They would have killed people like me as well,”
“Yeah, I get that,” Moo Chi said with a frustrated sigh.
“They influenced him his entire life. I got the notes,” Yo Han said, “if it’s anyone’s fault he’s a killer, it’s theirs,”
“Yeah, it is. That’s why we can’t let them win this case. Ba Reum still needs to be put on trial for what he did, but we can’t let him be used by OZ like that.”
“But how can we help him?” Yo Han asked, scared to think of the implications of the power OZ had, “they can easily stop us, you know who’s behind all this,”
“That’s why I think it’s best to go for the shock effect,” Moo Chi said grinning, “don’t let them see us coming,”
The courtroom was filled to the brim with people again, all keeping quiet while the judge glanced at the group, a slightly annoyed look on her face.
Of course, the media was now running with the psychopath test, claiming Ba Reum to be ruthless, but a lot of the public opinion were still going on strong about the fact that he only killed people who were worse than him. Only child rapists and abusers. People who had been questioned by the law and had been found above it. Yes, he was a murderer, and yes, he was wrong, but evil?
Outside the courtroom a loud protest was going on, and the demands for Jung Ba Reum to be let free was heard even through the closed windows in the silence of the courtroom.
“Let us begin,” the judge said dryly at the same moment as the doors slammed open and a man stepped in.
“Sorry, I’m late. I had to go collect the evidence,” he said with a smile, and happily came sauntering in. Ji Won stood up to protest, but Ba Reum stopped him.
“He’s on our side,” he whispered in the man’s ear.
A few guards were trying to stop the man from approaching, but the man just looked disgruntled.
“I’m sorry, he’s with us,” Ji Won to the judge, who frowned at the man.
“Of course, he is, detective Ko right,” she said, recognizing him from an earlier case where he had to testify, “I’m guessing it’s going to be interesting,”
“It sure will be,” he said with a grin, directly putting the evidence under the camera, “it’s all the proof you need that the government is been grooming Ba Reum from a young age to turn him into a murderer and then pass the bill to kill babies with psychopath genes,”
It had the effect Moo Chi was going for, even with all the threats the judge made, the whole room burst out in shock, even Ba Reum let out a startled “what?!’
Moo Chi outwardly smirked when he distributed the copies of the files he had made, glad that Yo Han had found the aunt and that she had been willing to give them all these crucial file pertaining Ba Reum going from early childhood to now, even carefully noting each murder he had done and how they had removed all traces of declarations of crimes, to give him incentive and then about the evidence they removed to make it seem like he was killing them without purpose.
The judge looked at the papers in shock, even not able to call for order while she read through them. The prosecution paled when he read through those files, and tried to run, but the courtroom guard held him back easily.
The following weeks where pure chaos for their country, first the shock of a serial killer, who might or might not be Peter Pan, and then the discovery that he had been influenced by a government official had been a lot to take in. Of course, a lot of fingers were pointed at each other, and a lot of blame was to be passed, but the files Moo Chi and Yo Han had obtained were clear.
Ji Won was glad to make his case afterward, glad that they didn’t find the need to postpone Ba Reum’s case in light of the new arguments, but when he entered the room the next day, he had been surprised by the new judge in there, who assured him that he had gone through all the evidence. Their normal judge had been put on the Choi Young Shin case, and didn’t’ have time to spent on such an insignificant case as there’s.
“And even in spite of all the efforts of the government to make my client a conscienceless serial killer, he only sought to defend those who were forgotten by the systems. Children who were young and incapable to get away from the adults who hurt them. I would like to ask the court for leniency, seeing the difficult path my client had to struggle through. I would also like to put attention on the IQ test from my client, that show’s he’s incredibly gifted and that the Daniel Lee test can’t differentiate between the genius and the psychopath gene,”
He stated in his final arguments, and was surprised when the judge read the death sentence. Bong Yi had broke down crying, and Ji Won had cursed in anger, staring at the verdict non comprehendingly. He had expected years in prison, perhaps his life, but never a death sentence.
A week later, the judge who passed the sentence was now under investigation as well, as an accomplice to OZ, and Ji Won was disappointed when his appeal was granted, to be put behind the judgement of the entirety of OZ, which would take a couple of years.
“At least I’m alive,” Ba Reum said with a smile, “and OZ will get punished as well, and I’ll be there to see them fall,”
Epilogue:
A year passed by, while Ba Reum was in prison, Ji Won keeping him up to date about every member of OZ that was put in prison. He had personally convinced some of his colleagues to try and get them sentences as long as possible, and they had easily agreed, shell shocked at what lengths they had gone to prove a point.
Bong Yi had initially been devastated by the sentence, but soon put herself together and visited Ba Reum weekly, showing off the pictures of the baby in her belly while Ba Reum proudly gushed about it, until she didn’t come a certain week, and Chi Kook burst in his cell, to show him the live feed from Bong Yi in the hospital room, sweaty and holding the child in her hands, halmoni sitting nearby and telling him that her great granddaughter is the most beautiful child that was ever to be born.
Chi Kook kept him informed with hourly reports, bragging about his godchild to anyone that stood still long enough. Sometimes it was so easy to forget that Ba Reum would stay in that cell for years to come.
It took only a couple of days when an exhausted Bong Yi visited him again, giving him the small child, which he tenderly held, a look of wonder on his face.
“She’s perfect,” he said with a smile, and Bong Yi smiled back, “I’m so sorry that you have to do this alone,”
“It’s okay, I understand. Ji Won is still doing his best to get you out,” she said, still feeling sadness about his absence, “and Dong Koo and Chi Kook send in another petition with the government,”
“That’s the third already,” he said with a grin, still looking at the tiny bundle which had grabbed his little finger.
Yo Han had been surprised when he walked into the room to check up on his wife and his newborn son. He knew that there were a lot of people who had to share a room due to overpopulation of the hospital, but the coincidence to see Jung Ba Reum’s wife chatting with Hong Ju while comparing their babies made him stand still for a second, before moving in the room completely.
After OZ had been found out, he and Hong Ju had decided that it was better to let the news of Ba Reum’s parentage be unknown. No good would come from it now, his real family was dead, and if he raked it up now, other people would suffer for it.
He smiled at Hong Ju and came in the room completely, pretending that he had never hesitated at all. A look from his wife, and he knew she was aware with whom she had been sharing a room.
It was when Ba Reum’s daughter was just a little over a year old that the elections were held. Ji Won had been campaigning for him that year, finding more and more abuse victims, and even making the ranks swell with victims who weren’t related to his case at all, but whished that he had been able to help them as well.
The protest for his freedom had swelled, and the winning party made a grand speech, pardoning Ba Reum and apologizing to all the victims of abuse, making sure to blame the previous government that had been in power.
A month later, Ba Reum walked out of the prison gates, smiling when he saw Bong Yi waiting for him, the toddler in her hands. The electric cuff on his ankle was annoying, and he had been informed that he would be psychiatrically followed monthly for the rest of his life, trying to get rid of his urge to kill.
But he was free, and he took his daughter from Bong Yi’s arms, holding her and hugging his wife in the outside air.
“Thank you for waiting for me,” he said, and she smiled, never once in her mind did she consider abandoning her savior.
When they drove home, he saw that the house was decorated, Chi Kook and Dong Koo waiting for him inside, as well as a very grumpy Moo Chi, who almost looked as if he didn’t want to be there.
Ba Reum spend the evening laughing with friends, and playing with his child, apologizing once again about what he had put them through.
“it wasn’t you. In the reports they say they even gave you drugs,” Chi Kooks stated, and Ba Reum had agreed, even though he knew it was a thin excuse. It was likely that his violent tendencies would have broken through anyway.
Two months after Ba Reum had been free, Bong Yi gifted him with another pregnancy test.
“This time, I’ll be with you, every step of the way,” he said, now having taken over the household and the care of their daughter, who easily accepted her daddy. Bong Yi had become the breadwinner in the house, but thanks to Ji Won, every member of OZ had to pay damages to Ba Reum, and they had a nice saving because of it.
Her son was born hail and healthy, Ba Reum this time supporting her while she gave birth, able to even cut the cord and hold the child before carefully handing the tiny bundle to Bong Yi.
Even though everything seemed fine for the first few years that Ba Reum was out, Bong Yi started to notice a certain strain on her husband. It started with small things, him hurriedly throwing a newspaper away, or switching the TV off, each time he encountered an abuse case.
His psychiatrist had tried giving him aversion pills, which just made him feel sick the rest of the evening, incapable of doing much. She tried to keep as much of the news away from him, but one day their program had been interrupted with an urgent news message about a group that groomed children and sold them to men.
They had put the TV off, and she had thought it was over then. But when she woke up at night, the bed next to her was empty. Her heart beating in her chest, Bong Yi went to search her husband, glad to see him standing in the nursery, staring at the children, holding the box with the aversion pills in his hands.
“Ba Reum?” she asked, and he looks up, looking pale in the moonlight.
“Sometimes I think about them. I imagine someone hurting our children,” he admits to her in a whisper, “I don’t understand why people would want to hurt them,”
“I don’t either,” Bong Yi admitted.
“God, I know it’s wrong, but how can we let those people keep on hurting our children. Why can’t we just stop them,” he said, despair in his voice. Bong Yi looked at him. She thought back to her own monster, the man Ba Reum had killed. His first murder.
It had been her wish that someone would kill him, and she never regretted that man’s death at all.
She looks at Ba Reum, who was still looking agitated and hesitated a bit. Then she went over to him, and softly took the box of pills from his hands and left the room with it.
Frowning he followed her and was surprised to see her flushing the medication through the toilet.
“Bong Yi, what are you doing?” he asked, surprised at her behavior.
“What is necessary,” she said, smiling softly and giving him a kiss, “I’ll be back soon,”,
“Bong Yi, what are you doing?” he asks her again, surprised at her weird behaviour.
“You just look after the children, I’ll be right back,” she said, feeling calm coming over her now she made her decision.
It took her several hours, but the picture on the search warrant had been clear, and she knew the dark alleys very well thanks to her job as social worker, making connections to some darker sides who quickly were able to help her further.
Knocking the man unconscious with an iron pipe and dragging him to the car hadn’t been the easiest, but she had kept her training routine up, so she managed to heave him in the trunk.
By the time he had got back, it was nearing morning and she saw Ba Reum standing in their doorway with an anxious look on his face, the bracelet on his ankle didn’t leave him with any choice but to stay at home.
Bong Yi parked the car in the garage, and she felt something deep in herself when she saw the look on Ba Reum’s face when she opened the trunk and showed the body inside. The man groaned, still alive.
“Show me how you do this,” she said, and with shaking hand she saw him squeeze the neck of the man until no breath escaped him anymore, his muscles tensing up to exert the pressure, and then she saw him more relaxed than he had been in the past few months.
That evening they laid in their bed together. Ba Reum had been more passionate than usual, and now they were both exhausted.
“I never wanted to pull you into this,” he said softly.
“I know,” she says, looking at him, “but you need this, and I love you, so I will do this for you,” she said, thinking about the darkness she was stepping in. But he had saved her, so many years ago, and then he had taken her, married her and made her feel better than ever before. Now it was her turn to do something for him.
Perhaps they would safe another just like her.
--- The End ----