The TRIPlETS

A Mysterious Matters

December 1980

One rainy day, a woman, who was being chased by gangsters, was running crazily. She had three bundles and a piece of brick. In front of the building, she put down the three bundles and threw a piece of brick to the window. And, she disappeared suddenly. When the house owner heard the sound of smashed window, she came out of the door with holding a gun. But she saw the three bundles with a bloody letter. The letter had tear stains and blood marks. The letter said "I cannot live anymore because I am at risk now, so I leave my sons to you. Please take care of them well." After she read this letter, the house owner opened the three bundles. And there was a triplet. Thus, the house owner takes them to her house. This house was an orphanage and this triplet started a life as an orphan.

The time passed and the triplet became four years old. A man and wife, who took an expensive car with their own guards, came to this orphanage. They came to adopt a boy as their son. While a couple and the principal of orphanage, Sophia, were talking, a bang sounded from the orphanage. An astounded Principal Sophia ran toward sound. The sound led the Principal Sophia to the basement of the storehouse. The bang sound was made by James (first son among the triplet). James had touched a gun with curiosity and shot it at the wall by mistake. Sophia took the gun from James and scolded him. Most of the children would cry after the adults give punishment. But James did not cry and just remained silent. A couple decided to adopt the brave boy, James as their son after watching this situation. Thus, James was adapted to a rich family and was separated from his brothers, Daniel and Michael.

Four years after James left the orphanage; Sophia went on a business trip and came back with a little girl. The little girl's name was Kelly. She was also eight years old. Kelly was thrown away by her parents and had wandered around when she met the principal. Kelly, Daniel, and Michael were easy to become friend because of their same ages. They spent their time like family. One day, Kelly, Daniel, and Michael were playing hide-and-seek at the playground. When Daniel was 'it', Kelly and Michael ran place to place to hide from Daniel. Daniel found Michael easily and looked around to find Kelly. But Daniel could not find Kelly after thirty minutes. So, he felt afraid and called Sophia to find Kelly. The Principal came out with the orphanage's teachers to find Kelly. But they could not find her. Thus, Principal Sophia called the police and they searched their orphanage and its surroundings meticulously. Suddenly, a dog barked at the lake behind the building. And there was a box floating on the lake. The police opened the box and saw Kelly's corpse. The police tried to find witnesses and searched the CCTVs, but they did not get any clues to find a culprit. Thus, this case had remained an unsolved case. But, a one policeman asserted that the death of Kelly was an accident. He saw snow nearby the lake and thought Kelly was swept away by snow. Thus the case of Kelly's death was ruled as an accident. Sophia tried to hide Kelly's death to Daniel and Michael. She lied to them that Kelly had left the orphanage because her parents came back and took her. But Michael suspected the death of Kelly.

Time passed and they became twelve years old. One day, a girl collapsed in front of the orphanage door. Sophia was shocked because the girl's face was very similar to Kelly who died four years ago. Sophia calmed herself down and took the girl inside. After few hours, the girl woke up and talked with Sophia. The girl's name was Sally, and she was the same age as Daniel and Michael. After their talk, Sophia brought Sally to the dining room. Michael was shocked when he saw Sally's face.

A month later, they went to mountain for their picnic. Principal Sophia told the children to hang around in pairs. Thus, Michael and Sally became partners and Daniel and Yoji became partners. While they were playing happily, the Principal Sophia called the children urgently. She could not find Sally and Michael. When she had finished counting the numbers of the children, she determined that Sally and Michael were not there. So, Sophia and the teachers searched for Sally and Michael, but could not find them. Sophia was afraid that they were dead like Kelly four years ago

When the police came and searched for the two children, they found a corpse. The corpse's limbs were gone and its body was ripped so that the police could not distinguish whether it was a boy or a girl. The case ended as death by misadventure, as they believed it was attacked by the mountain animals. As a brother of Michael, Daniel lost his vigor because he thought that this corpse might be Michael. He became silent and his face was always filled with sadness.