Scent Of a Man | HyunSung

Chapter 26

San's POV
Seoul, Korea
19 October, 2028

As I was playing with my rubber, I heard the door opening. I knew it wasn't Seonghwa, because unfortunately, he was already here and I had to deal with him the whole day. I looked up and I saw Mr Han on the door, standing with a folder full of files of our last case. I could always recognize this folder, because Seonghwa poured his coffee on it.

"Back to the case "Burden", the suspect is found. The address might be his ex wife's house, but we can not be sure until someone goes to check it." He said and came closer. "I know I said that you're not going to work on it now, but I really would like you to finish it." He said and I nodded while taking the files. "And also, San... Please take care of him."

"I can..." Seonghwa started, but I interrupted him.

"I will." I smiled and as soon as our boss left us, Seonghwa looked at me.

"I can take care of myself." He snorted and came closer to me to take a look. "Is this the guy that killed all of his lovers?"

"Yes." I whispered. "Let's go!" I said and we both took our stuff, ready to leave. As soon as we started walking down the hall, he started talking and complaining about something. I didn't listen to him, because he was making me so annoyed. Sometimes people should know when to stop complaining about their life with other people like their colleagues.

"Hello, Seonghwa..." Someone said to us as we left the building, but neither did Seonghwa turn to see the man, nor I. I was so into the case, trying to update my information with whatever I had in my hands. Seonghwa was walking straight ahead and he didn't look like he was ready to meet someone who could talk to him.

"Park, Choi!" Someone yelled at us and I looked up just to see the prosecutor. "The Burden case?"

"Exactly. They found him!" I said and he smiled.

"Good luck. I heard that he's not..."

"I'm sorry, we gotta go!" I interrupted him in a rush and kept walking straight to my car. I opened it and let Seonghwa sit on the passenger's seat. He took the folder from me as I sat into the car and started the engine. "Sirens?" I asked him, and he hit the siren. We drove off as soon as we could and did our best to go to the place where they last spotted the suspect.

***

"Yes, Ma'am, but I really need your help." Seonghwa whispered. "If we don't find him, we can't say for sure what's going to happen after that. He's a dangerous man." He explained, while I was looking at old pictures in frames. The whole house was old and for a young lady like her, I didn't get why the house was so old. Not only the house, but everything inside of it.

"Ma'am, is this you?" I asked, looking at a black and white picture of a young lady, looking just like the woman, but at the same time the picture seemed to be taken years ago.

"No, this is my mother, she died last year..." The woman said slowly and looked at me. "I don't know how to help you."

"Do you know where your ex husband might be?" Seonghwa asked and honestly, this was his first smart move till we left the departament. I looked at them and the woman shrugged. She started talking about her ex husband, but I didn't listen to her, because honestly, I didn't think that in the picture was her mother.

Yet, we didn't find anything there, but as we were still in that old house, my phone started to ring.

I answered it as soon as I saw that it was the boss. I made a gesture to make Seonghwa come with me and he thanked the lady before leaving with me.

"Yes, Mr Han, we will be there." I said and hung up on him, opening the car door. I jumped in quickly and left my phone on the charger. "They know where he is."

"How can we follow someone and not even know his name?" He asked me and as I drove off, he grabbed the files. "How?"

"I don't know, he had stopped using his real name since he was five years old, didn't you see how little his ex wife knows?" I asked and I turned left. "Maybe she knows, but..."

"What did you see in that picture?" He asked me.

"The picture was made to look that old. I think that it's either her or..." I thought. "Or her twin sister." I smiled.

"The burden is not a male. The burden is actually the wife of a man. Jealousy made her kill all of his lovers. And probably, he's dead too, we can't prove it, because we didn't see his body." I said, realizing how everything can fit in place.

"So you say that..."

"Yes, this is not the wife of the poor man, this is her twin sister. She's covering her sister and she's trying to hide her somewhere..." I didn't say much, but as soon as Seonghwa asked himself quietly "But where?" I took an u-turn and hit the gas making a sign for him to put on the sirens.

"Where?" He asked me.

"In her house. She showed us all of the house, but she didn't show us the last room, saying that it was her mother's room." I explained.

"You're good."

"I know, Seonghwa, I know..." I smiled and hit the brakes as soon as we were already there, seeing a woman looking just like the one we were talking to before going out of a window. We ran after her, trying to catch her, while Seonghwa yelled at her to stop before shooting at her. He kept on yelling and I kept on trying to catch the lady, but with no success. The next thing I knew was that I heard someone shooting and I thought it was Seonghwa, but when he fell on the ground, I stopped and came back to him, kneeling. I saw him bleeding and I felt sorry for making him do it. He was hurt and if I got this before leaving here, maybe he shouldn't be like that now.

"Seonghwa? Are you okay?"

"Catch... the...burden..." He whispered and turned his head aside. I called 119. "A policeman was shot near the Auyong Fruits and Vegetables store. Thank you." I said and hung up. "Hey, hey, you annoying boy, stay with me, okay?" I asked him as I hit his cheeks slightly to prevent him from falling asleep. "Stay with me, Seonghwa, they will come..."