Once a Monster • SKZ

Chapter 9

Changbin was back in Hyunjin's office, the wind howling through tree branches as rain battered the windows which shook violently against their frames. This time, however, Changbin was in the room all by himself, or at least he appeared to be. Just to double check, he peeked around the corner of the velvet chair by the fireplace, turning up with no sight of Minho.

    He didn't know why he was in the office, nor did he remember how he got there. Just as he was about to lower himself into the velvet chair and warm himself up by the fire, the office door creaked open. Changbin stood up on alert, his heart pounding in his chest as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have been.

    Seungmin peaked his head through the gap in the door, barely giving Changbin enough time to wonder why or how he was there before entering on his own. Just like when he was found, Seungmin's eyes were wide but this time they held fear and an almost  delight in them. He made a shushing motion by raising his index finger to his lips as he dragged someone inside behind them, their head hitting the side of the door frame with a sickening crack.

    As more of Seungmin entered the room, Changbin noticed that the left side of his face and his clothes were drenched in dried crimson. Dragging behind him was a man a few years younger than Changbin, his glazed over eyes staring fixedly at the ceiling. It didn't take Changbin very long to realize that the man was long since dead. His gray sweatshirt was tattered and stained with blood that had once oozed from the array of stab wounds in his torso.

    "You'll carry him for me, right?" Seungmin asked in an almost pleading voice, an unhinged smile on his face. He gestured to the corpse behind him as if not expecting Changbin to know what he was talking about.

    "Of course I will," Changbin replied quietly, unsure of why he was agreeing to help out. Even though Seungmin had just taken an innocent life, Changbin felt no anger or resentment toward him. Only sympathy for the unfortunate victim.

    Gently, Changbin lifted the man up and carried him bridal style, Seungmin watching closely as if afraid that he would drop the body. Once the body was in Changbin's arms, he noticed that the man had the same chubby cheeks and parted brown hair that he had imagined when Seungmin had briefly mistaken him for Jisung. He felt a pang of regret, wishing he could have done something, anything, to have prevented him from reaching such an early and horrific demise.

    "Why didn't you save me?" Jisung demanded, his voice strained as if speaking took effort. His head turned so it met Changbin's gaze, his brown eyes accusing. "You should have saved me."

    "I'm so sorry I...I couldn't get there in time," Changbin replied, his voice wavering as he looked down at Jisung who had now gone silent and returned to his rigid position. He couldn't explain why he felt such intense sorrow as he followed Seungmin out of the office. He had seen death countless times before, but this felt different somehow.

    Seungmin led him through the rugged terrain of Stray Island, both of them managing to stay untouched by the raging storm. The storm raged arounds them and yet they managed to stay bone dry and unscathed by flying debris. They walked down the steep, uneven stairs to the dock before Seungmin stopped walking, staring at Changbin expectantly. Changbin didn't want to let Jisung go, feeling that if he did, guilt would haunt him for the rest of his life, closing in on him until something gave way.

    "Go on," Seungmin said encouragingly, nodding toward the ocean indicating what he wanted Changbin to do. Hesitantly, Changbin lowered Jisung's corpse onto the dock before rolling it into the ocean and watching as it was engulfed by the white caps of waves before he was nothing more than a memory.

    Changbin hesitantly tore his gaze away from the waves that slapped malevolently against the sides of the dock and rocks on the shore, a fine mist spraying into the air as they made contact. He couldn't prevent himself from thinking about Jisung, his corpse being tossed around like a rag doll in the violent current. As he looked up, he saw a silhouette of a human standing at the edge of the dock, spray from the waves removing it from view before clearing it and giving it a recognizable form even if only for a moment.

    "Thank you, Changbin," Jeongin said with a bright smile, completely disregarding Seungmin who was still staring across the ocean beside him. "I knew you would come around."

    "Answer me this," Seungmin said out of the blue, nearly causing Changbin to stumble off the dock in surprise. "Why did I have to kill him for you?"

   
    "Boss, boss are you okay?" Chan's voice asked, gently shaking his shoulders. "It sounded like you were crying. Was it a bad dream?"

    Changbin sat up, his breath hitching in his throat when he saw Jeongin sitting at the edge of his bed. Jeongin smoothed a crease in the sheets by the foot of his bed, a warm smile on his face. It was an expression, though rare, that he made whenever he was wordlessly indicating that he was there to listen or to just give a hug. Changbin would have given anything to hug Jeongin again, but he was long dead and buried six feet under. The man sitting at the end of the bed couldn't have been real.

    "You could say that," Changbin mumbled, sitting up in bed and combing a few strands of hair out of his eyes. "Are you ready for our trip to Ward C?"

    "It depends on your definition of ready," Chan replied uneasily. "From what I've heard, the patients we've seen pale in comparison to Ward C. What's our purpose of going in there anyway? Minho said we weren't authorized to go in there without permission, so what could possibly be so important that we have to break into the most dangerous ward on this island for it?"

    "I need to find Choi, or at least try to find someone that knows him and has any clue where he went," Changbin replied impatiently. "I'm not gonna sit around twiddling my thumbs until the ferry arrives to take us home. I'm going to use this time to find out where Choi is and blow the lid off of this place. Something tells me that we won't be going home without a fight."

    Chan sighed, skeptical about the fact that the institution was up to no good but didn't see a need to argue. "I still don't get where you got that idea from, but why can't we just ask Minho if Choi is here? It could save us some time and we might get easy access to his files if there are any."

    No matter what Chan said to try and deter Changbin from using their new uniforms to break into Ward C, his mind was already set. "Don't be like that. We'll be in and out. Besides, everyone will be too busy cleaning up to notice us."

    "Alright, I trust you. And...you said that Choi killed your brother, correct?" Chan asked, hesitantly, afraid that if he used the wrong words Changbin wouldn't hesitate to burn an eye out like he had threatened to do on their first day on the island. "If that were me, I'd kill him in every way possible once I found him and then kill him again."

    "He did...he killed my brother while I was at work. But I've seen enough murders to last a lifetime. I don't want to ever be behind one of them," Changbin replied, his memory flickering back to a bloodied Felix on his knees, his partner's corpse laying behind him in a pool of their own blood. He could vividly remember the shock and disbelief he felt when he got the call that Felix had killed two more people within weeks of being off of Stray Island.
Killing only brough pain with no personal gain.

    "I guess that just makes you a better person than me," Chan said with a smile though his tone was serious. "Even after years of being a police officer and seeing the awful things I've seen, while I don't condone it, I can't put it past people to try and take revenge on the person that took a loved one away. Killing them won't bring their loved one back, but it does ensure that the murderer won't cause anyone else the same pain they caused for you."

    Changbin shook his head, staring over at the door where Jeongin now stood watching with his foot tapping impatiently. "I'm afraid you're mistaken. I'm far from a good person, especially compared to you."

    Without any hesitation, Changbin walked to the door eyeing Jeongin as he hesitantly stepped out of the way. Before Chan joined him, Jeongin tapped on his shoulder, meeting Changbin's eyes with a concerned expression.

    "They have patients in there that could kill you easily. Please be careful." Changbin only nodded subtily in response, acutely aware of the fact that Chan was right next to him.

    "It's about time we end this institution once and for all."