Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator : M.N 1391
Chapter: 2
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The two boys who had trespassed without permission were loaded into the ambulance, and Kyung-wan was loaded into the police car.
Officer Kim, who had been interrogating the circumstances before and after the incident, was dumbfounded.
“Do you think that makes any sense?”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
“Think logically for a second. If you think a robber might break in, a normal person reports it to the police, who in their right mind stabs first?”
At those words, Kyung-wan opened his mouth blankly and answered with a stupid expression.
“Then I guess I’m not a normal person.”
“Stop talking nonsense, you brat! Do you not know this is assault?!”
Would a person who isn’t normal ever admit he isn’t normal? Officer Kim furrowed his brow, lecturing or perhaps threatening as he pressured him to tell the truth. In his mind, it seemed absolutely certain that Kyung-wan had maliciously stabbed the two classmates.
Of course, trespassing wasn’t not a crime, but even considering that, the two victims were injured far too badly.
But then Officer Kim suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. It was because Kyung-wan was smiling. No, his lips were curled up in the shape of a smile, but his eyes weren’t smiling at all.
Kyung-wan let out a creepy, slithering laugh as he spoke.
“Hehehe. A father tries to die together with his kid, so he hangs his kid first, kills him, then hangs himself. He dies, but the kid somehow survives. Is that normal or not?”
The only person who heard that story wasn’t just Officer Kim taking the statement. Other officers whispered among themselves, and one approached, leaning toward Officer Kim seated across from Kyung-wan and whispered into his ear.
“That’s him. That suicide case last time, looks like it’s that kid.”
Hearing that, Officer Kim’s expression froze while writing the report. He remembered now, the father-and-son suicide case, the one that half-failed. The boy sitting here creepily smiling was the protagonist of that case.
“Sergeant Lee… shouldn’t we send this kid to a mental hospital?”
Officer Kim whispered, and Sergeant Lee scratched his head as if his brain hurt. In a moment, the parents of those punks were going to storm in here, if the suspect was insane, who was supposed to take responsibility?
In Sergeant Lee’s eyes as well, this kid, who answered blankly, then smirked, then closed his mouth blankly again, didn’t look mentally sound. And wasn’t there an incident to strongly support that?
“Hey! Where’s that bastard!”
Then the police station door flew open, and a shrill woman’s voice made everyone frown. Sergeant Lee yelped, Oh hot damn, fleeing the scene, and Officer Kim cursed him silently in his mind.
He had dumped this entire headache on him.
A plump middle-aged woman marched toward where Kyung-wan and Officer Kim were. She wore expensive-looking clothes, but, like pearls on a pig, gave off a gaudy, vulgar impression.
Officer Kim, barely suppressing his exhaustion, politely asked her:
“What brings you here, ma’am?”
“I! Am the mother of student Kang In-gyu!”
Kang In-gyu. Officer Kim recalled the name of the victim stabbed in the abdomen, and nodded with a small “Ah!” as if remembering.
Mrs. Jung, the mother of Kang In-gyu, pointed sharply at Kyung-wan with murderous eyes as she asked:
“Is this the kid?”
“…Yes?”
“The brat who stabbed my son.”
“Well, that’s true, but, ”
Before Officer Kim could finish speaking, Mrs. Jung swung her palm toward Kyung-wan’s cheek.
But the slap was wasted effort, Kyung-wan quickly jerked his head back and dodged. Seeing that, Mrs. Jung spoke in disbelief.
“You dodged?”
Kyung-wan answered in the same tone of disbelief.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Then he pointed at his head with his index finger and spun it in circles.
Is this woman crazy?
At that clearly mocking gesture, Mrs. Jung’s eyes flipped as she charged forward.
“You rotten little bastard!”
But Kyung-wan reacted swiftly. He pushed his chair back and extended one leg, nudging Mrs. Jung’s knee. Losing balance, she exposed her cheek, and Kyung-wan’s palm flew.
Slap!
Snarling as she rushed forward, Mrs. Jung froze for a moment from the flash of light and burning pain on her cheek. At least until she heard what Kyung-wan muttered.
“Damn, you scared me. Charging at me out of nowhere. Is she crazy?”
“YaaaAAAAH!”
Whether Kyung-wan was telling the truth or whether she simply refused to tolerate being called crazy and decided to actually become crazy, Mrs. Jung clawed forward like a madwoman.
To think she had to hear that from some kid who still had baby fat, and that kid was the one who stabbed her child, a brat she wanted to tear apart limb by limb. No wonder she couldn’t hold back.
But the officers blocked her.
“Ma’am! Please calm down.”
“Calm down?! You want me to calm down?!”
Mrs. Jung felt fury boiling to the top of her head, so unjust that she truly felt like she might lose her mind. She was the one who got hit, why were they restraining her?
The officers holding her completely understood her frustration. Back in school, when kids fought, the one who got beaten more was sometimes the one teachers pulled aside, it always felt like everyone was ganging up on you. Yes, that kind of unfairness.
But her frustration was not more important than the officers’ desire to avoid further chaos.
While the police were sweating bullets restraining Mrs. Jung’s violent outburst, Kyung-wan watched silently and then looked at Sergeant Lee with a sulky expression as he asked:
“Um… in dramas, when someone’s taken to the police station, they get Chinese food. Do I not get that?”
“….”
Sergeant Lee’s mouth hung open in disbelief. It was bizarre, the contrast between a crazed woman so violent two grown officers struggled with her, and this student who seemed oblivious to her existence and was whining about being hungry.
“You’re thinking about food right now?”
His question was a mix of astonishment and scolding, but the response he heard made him sigh heavily.
“After my dad died, I ran out of ramen, so I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.”
“Someone go to the convenience store and buy him something.”
There was no way he could order jjajangmyeon in this chaos. That would be pouring oil on the fire. If not for sympathy toward a poor boy who’d lost his father, he wouldn’t even have ordered anyone to buy him bread.
While all that chaos unfolded, the parents of the other victim also arrived, frowning at the unexpected scene. But they soon cooperated with the officers and began the investigation.
The matter progressed quickly. The situation and evidence were clear, but one single issue remained.
Whether the defendant, Kyung-wan, was mentally sound or not.
If not, he would receive leniency.
If yes, then he had intentionally inflicted harm, and his sentence could increase due to malicious intent.
Naturally, the victims’ parents insisted Kyung-wan was perfectly sane. But their argument weakened the moment the public defender intervened.
“Mr. Lawyer, aren’t you working too hard?”
Kyung-wan asked, and Attorney Han Sang-sik shook his head.
“A lawyer should at least be capable of this much.”
As a result of the first-trial verdict, Kyung-wan received a suspended sentence. The court accepted that he had recently lost his father under tragic circumstances, and that the shock had impaired his mental state. Combined with testimony that he had been hungry enough to ask the police for food, even the coldest judge could not fully suppress a flicker of sympathy.
The plaintiffs protested, of course, but Attorney Han had dug up evidence and witnesses proving the victims were school bullies who had repeatedly assaulted and extorted Kyung-wan. Their credibility unraveled instantly.
Still, Attorney Han was disappointed.
“I could’ve gotten you a full acquittal…”
The two students who broke into Kyung-wan’s home had been carrying knives. And they had routinely assaulted and stolen from him. He believed he could have secured a complete not-guilty verdict through legitimate self-defense. But Attorney Han didn’t seem capable enough to achieve his ideals.
Kyung-wan asked:
“So… is this over?”
“It’s unlikely they’ll push it to the second trial. Since their kids were the ones committing school violence, they’ll want to end things rather than escalate. It’s not like their sons ended up crippled.”
“There’s still the civil suit.”
At those words, Attorney Han Sang-sik looked at the boy with a strange expression. His eyes scanned him, probing. Kyung-wan returned an innocent, confused expression befitting someone his age, but Attorney Han couldn’t shake off a sense of something being off.