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38. End Game

"Did you see another ghost?" asked Hyunjin as he and Seungmin re-entered the hospital room.

After Hyunjin had convinced Seungmin that their childhood pact of, "brothers from another mother 'til death and beyond" still existed and that he was fine, Seungmin offered to help him get settled back in his bed. Seungmin kept insisting on doing so, telling Hyunjin that he wasn't a god, just a very lucky idiot so he needed bedrest to get better. As soon as they opened the door to the room though, it was evident something had happened. Minho was in his bed as white as a ghost while Bonita was seated beside him looking just as panicked. It was clear that Hyunjin's lighthearted jest to attempt to lighten the mood wasn't helping at all.

"We need to get out of here," said Minho in answer to Hyunjin's question. "Have any of you seen Han?"

Changbin suddenly appeared in the doorway with a clipboard in his hands. It was clear that he had come to check on both the patients, only to stop short when he saw them all looking ill at ease.

"What's going on?" asked Changbin.

Minho wasn't willing to be idle anymore as he got up, Bonita getting up first to loop an arm about him and help him steady himself.

"We need Han and the van to take us somewhere quick," said Minho. "Lives are at stake!"

Hearing the urgency in Minho's voice, Changbin was unwilling to question it. Even though he didn't know Minho all that well yet, he knew that the other wasn't one to get worked up over nothing. Excusing himself from the room temporarily, Changbin walked down the hall to the room where he knew Han was trying to sleep. Opening the door, he could see Han curled up on one of the bottom bunks in an oddly angled starfish position. Using the clipboard still in his hands, Changbin slapped Han's shins with it. The action caused Han to jerk out of his sleep and bang his forehead on the bunk above him as he sat up.

"What the heck dude?" Han groaned as he rubbed a hand over his bruising forehead.

"We need the van," Changbin said, "and you have the keys, so wake up."

"Why can't you just take the keys from my pocket and drive the van yourself?..."

Seeing that Han was just going to attempt to turn over and try to sleep again, Changbin sat the clipboard down and grabbed Han by the back of the shirt. Doing so yanked him right onto the tiled floor with another yelp.

"You're so freaking gruff!"

"I can drive the van, but I need you to help me sneak some patients out."

"Oh not this again..."

"Stop complaining and follow me. Lives are at stake!"

"They are?"

"Yes," said Changbin as he watched Han stumble to his feet at those words, wincing as he followed quickly after him.

- - -

Ilsung sped his car down the road as he tried to use the in car phone to call his brother's phone yet again. For what felt like the hundredth time, the call went straight to a full voicemail box.

Stepping harder on the gas, Ilsung sped past stop signs as he followed the GPS directions to where Jongsu's phone signal was pinging from. He didn't care if the police caught him for speeding. If anything, he found himself half hoping that the police would catch him so they could hopefully show up and save the day.

Ilsung had always tried to protect his brother from suffering the consequences of his actions half because he had thought it was his brotherly duty and half because he thought what his brother did was his fault. Tightening his hands about the wheel, Ilsung kept his focus on getting to the location while his mind wandered back on the first time Jongsu had called him upset.

He had thought Jongsu had been half kidding when he had confessed to him on the phone that he had killed a woman back twenty some odd years ago. After all, the only thing Ilsung could remember Jongsu killing up until that time was that cat. However, when he had turned the news on and saw them depicting the crime scene just as Jongsu had relayed it to him on the phone, he felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach.

He couldn't help but think that the woman's death was his fault too. He had been the one that had helped Jongsu stay off his pills, lying to their father that he had been taking them. Jongsu idolized his brother for that, and doing what he thought a good older brother should do, Ilsung kept it up. Never in a million years did Ilsung realize things would end up like this.

Promising to help make sure Jongsu escaped suspicion, Ilsung made Jongsu promise to get some help as a compromise. The next day, Ilsung had taken Jongsu to a mental institute and enrolled him as a patient before going to the police station to make sure the police weren't looking in his brother's direction. Thankfully that didn't take much work on Ilsung's part as the only witness to the crime was the woman's four-year-old son who had been taken out of the country after her death.

Ilsung tried not to let the guilt he felt towards Jongsu's actions eat at him as he tried to go about his daily life. It didn't help that for several months after the murder, it was publicized everywhere. He checked in with Jongsu's health team weekly to hear about how he was doing, relieved that he was participating in all his treatments and overall seemed to be doing well. Soon Ilsung felt as if his life was returning to some semblance of normalcy. The murder was tucked away as a cold case and Jongsu seemed to be mentally in a better place.

It wasn't until several years later when the institute that Jongsu seemed to be flourishing in burnt down that Ilsung had to come up with a new plan. In the hopes that his brother had been rehabilitated, Ilsung set him up in a small house across town. He hadn't known at the time that the mental institution had done more harm than good when it came to Jongsu. It had taught Jongsu how to be a chameleon of sorts, Ilsung shocked when Jongsu killed again and this time a famous actor at that.

The words still echoed in Ilsung's mind as his grip tightened around the steering wheel. Ilsung wanted to turn Jongsu in, but Jongsu had blackmailed him and threatened to bring him down with him. Not wanting to ruin the career that he had established for himself, Ilsung had helped Jongsu cover up the second murder as an accident by becoming hired as the new CEO of Starbright Entertainment. He made sure that everything stayed under wraps and he thought that it would be like the first time. He was really hoping that he wouldn't have anything to worry about.

Yet again, Ilsung was proven wrong, and with a guilty heart, had told his loyal employee Lee Know everything. After all, Lee Know had almost become Jongsu's third victim. Keeping his foot glued to the gas pedal, Ilsung knew what he had to do. Lee Know had offered him a grace period to turn his brother in himself before he would inform the authorities himself on everything. Ilsung knew that he had to use this reprieve to do just that.

Tonight it was time for the games to end one way or another.