"Have I ever told you how sexy you sound reading someone their Miranda rights?"
Chantelle throws her head back against his shoulder with laughter. "No, but you have now."
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a rookie nypd detective and a famous korean private investigator must...
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"Your childhood."
Chantelle doesn't miss a beat, although his expression does catch her off guard. Perhaps he was right, this situation is worse than she thinks. But there's only one way to find out. "Start from the very beginning, I want to know what kind of person he is."
"My brother was.." Jungkook purses his lips, thinking. "..a troubled child. He just loved being mischievous and sneaky. But at the same time, he was very serious. Didn't talk much. Honestly, he seemed older than Hana and I sometimes even though he was the youngest."
"What kind of trouble did he get into?" Taehyung inquires.
"Usually stealing. He would take things from kids at school and take money from our parent's wallets." Jungkook answers. "He was never really violent, though."
"Why do you think he did those things?" Chantelle tilts her head at him.
"Well-" Jungkook hesitates for a moment, his eyes darting from her to the table. "-our parents never really paid attention to him. Maybe it's because my sister and I did well in school while he didn't. I'm not sure. But I think it was his way of acting out, you know?"
"Would you say that Hyunwoo was kind of the odd one out? The black sheep of the family?"
Jungkook nods. "Ever since we were little, he always stood out. Our parents definitely didn't treat us equally." He frowns as he speaks. "That sounds horrible now that I'm saying it out loud.."
"So Hyunwoo got into trouble for attention." Chantelle concludes. "Did it work?"
The younger man shakes his head. "Not in the way he wanted it to."
"What do you mean?" Taehyung furrows his brows.
"They beat him." Jungkook swallows thickly. "And I don't mean a normal spanking, I'm talking about drawing blood. It just got worse and worse every time."
The light in his eyes visibly dims as he recalls the memories. "He would always come to me afterwards so that I could put medicine on him. I knew it hurt him so bad. But he would still do it again a couple days later. Maybe he kept thinking the next time would be different." Jungkook shrugs weakly, looking down as he wipes at his eyes.
The detectives are stunned by the revelation. Hyunwoo's motive is becoming clearer and clearer to them now.
"When did your parents decide to send him away?" Chantelle asks quietly.
"A few weeks after his twelfth birthday. His behavior only got worse and I guess they couldn't take it anymore."
"And the letters. When did those start?" Taehyung raises an eyebrow.
"About a month after he got there." Jungkook explains. "He hated living with our grandparents and he hated my mom even more for sending him there."
