Bubble

22. Suspicious

To say silence fell upon the room when Bang Chan fully revealed his face would be an understatement. It was like the whole world stopped and everyone became frozen. It was I.N's mother that broke the silence after what felt like an eternity, looking at her misty-eyed husband and then back at Bang Chan.

"Is that...is that Chris?"

"No," said I.N.

"Well then, who is he?"

"Well...remember that show I wrote in college? The show that ended up being greenlit and that Chris played the main character for...this is him."

"You expect us to believe this is a character you created?"

Bang Chan felt a blush creep across his face and to the tips of his ears as he turned his head to look away from the staring gazes and down at his feet. He had no idea what he was supposed to say in an awkward situation like this, so opted to remain silent. Bang Chan's head remained down until he felt someone's hand on the underside of his chin bringing his head up. His eyes locked with those that the hand belonged to. It was none other than Chris' father.

"You're...you're real..." he whispered teary-eyed.

Bang Chan didn't have time to respond to the touch on his cheek as he was transported back to the last time he had been touched in that way.

"Why are you leaving me?" fifteen-year-old Bang Chan called out as his father's hand fell away from his cheek. The moment his father's hand fell away, he could see the wasteland of the world he once knew. Or at least, that's what he thought he saw. The withering landscape seemed to slip upwards along with his father and his mother. His entire life itself seemed to shift and change until he was standing hidden within the foliage of a series of bushes. Water rushed down his face as he pushed the branches aside.

A flash of lighting lit up the scene before him. Due to the ferocity of the storm, no one could hear the woman lying on the puddle littered pavement as she screamed, grappling her hands upwards to try to get the man off her. In another flash of lightning, Bang Chan could see that the man had his hands around the woman's neck as her screams became more and more strangled.

Bang Chan wanted to move to help the woman but couldn't. Instead, he felt fear flood his being as he stayed paralyzed in the bushes.

"You should have just followed me...why didn't you follow me?!" snapped the man. "You manipulated me...took everything from me!"

Bang Chan tried to focus on the man, but his focus became blurrier than before. It was as if the rainwater had flooded his eyes and made it so he couldn't see.

"Bang Chan, are you okay?"

Bonita's voice brought Bang Chan back. The scene before him had disappeared and he was now staring upwards at a popcorn white ceiling with I.N, Felix, and Bonita all hovering in front of him.

"Bang Chan, are you okay?" repeated Bonita. "You passed out just now."

"I...I think so..." he said, frowning a bit at the images his mind just played for him.

Felix moved to put a hand behind Bang Chan's back, helping him to sit up as I.N's mother and stepfather just stood there watching everything.

"Perhaps you're just all exhausted from the journey," suggested I.N's mother. "We can continue this conversation after you all get some rest. Let me show you where you can get settled."

Nodding, they all followed her back out into the main hallway, leaving just I.N and his stepfather alone in the living room. As they all left, I.N watched as his stepfather settled back into his chair again, looking completely lost and confused.

"Jeongin, what's going on?" his stepfather asked to the carpet.

"Dad, I wish I knew."

- - -

"Seriously! Why do you make a mess every time I'm gone?" asked Minho with a sigh.

After arriving home from his investigation at the entertainment company, Minho had to get down onto his hands and knees to clean up the milk that had flipped out of the dish and onto the kitchen floor in his absence. The culprit of it all sat on the kitchen counter above his head, swishing its tan and white tail back and forth. Minho balled up the wet paper towels as he stood up, looking right into the eyes of his pet cat.

"You're more trouble than Bonita, Mittens," said Minho as he threw the paper towels away.

He walked out of the small kitchen that was basically the entryway to his apartment and entered his bedroom, flicking on the light. Sitting down on the edge of his bed, he dug the note out that he had shoved into his pocket when Mr. Ahn had found him. The thing that had caused it to stick out to him was the address stamped in the corner.

'Isn't that the name of a mental institution?' thought Minho.

His eyes scanned further down the crumpled note, noticing that all the other information was scribbled out by a black sharpie. It looked as if this had been a note that had been destined for the garbage and had accidentally been filed away with the 'Bubble' show notes. However, Minho had a feeling there was no accidental where all this was concerned, especially considering they might be involved in figuring out a murder.

Digging out his cell phone, Minho scrolled through his contacts before clicking on Changbin's number. He let the phone ring for a few moments before the other picked up.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"Seriously?" asked Minho with a sigh. "This is Lee Know. I can't believe you told us to put your number in our phones, but you didn't bother to do the same."

"I knew that."

"Lies, but lets move on," said Minho as he looked at the note in his hands. "I have a favor to ask you since you have access to hospital records."

"Patient records are confidential. Are you trying to get me arrested?"

"Just don't get caught. Besides, I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I just have the name of the institution."

"Fine...Give it to me."

After Minho gave Changbin the name, there was a brief pause for a second followed by Changbin saying, "I can see what I can find out, but I might not be able to find out much."

"Why's that?"

"That mental institution was shut down a few years ago. It caught fire. Don't you remember?"

"No..." said Minho. "Just still look into it, will you? I'm sure patient records were transferred somehow. Look for anything suspicious."

"Anything suspicious with mental patients. Got it."

"I'm hanging up now," said Minho as Changbin chuckled.

True to his word, Minho hung up on the call before clicking open his internet browser. He typed in the name of the mental institution, watching as articles came up that showed that what Changbin had said was true. Clicking the first article link that popped up, he skimmed through it to see that officials thought the fire was caused by some electrical malfunction since rewiring was going on at the facility at the time.

"I wonder if the building is still standing..." muttered Minho, backing out of the article to pull up an interactive GPS map. Typing in the address of the institution, he saw that the image that was pulled up was dated last year and showed the skeletal almost haunting remains on the outskirts of Seoul.

"I guess I know where I'm going tomorrow," said Minho. "Maybe the remains hold secrets that will help us out."