Forget Me

Chapter Twenty Five

There had to be a way. Korn kept repeating that to himself. It didn't seem to matter how many times he said it, nothing came to mind.

He was on his way to Mew's house when he saw a pair of police officers patrolling the market. They were always present but Korn had never paid them much attention. From what he knew, it wasn't common practice to approach them. Most people kept a healthy distance unless something was wrong.

Something was wrong with Yut. Korn wasn't willing to find out just how far he'd go to prove whatever point he was making. He knew it was a step too far, but Yut and his threats left him without any alternatives.

"Good evening," He greeted the two burly men with a deep wai.

"Can we help you?" They didn't sound too pleased with his interruption of their evening stroll.

"I was wondering if there is anything someone like me can do about a bully."

"Isn't that something you report in school?" One of them said with a derisive snigger.

"He's not in school. The guy hangs around here and harasses people for...fun, I guess."

"Unless he has injured someone or someone makes a formal complaint against the harassment, there isn't anything we can do."

It was just as Korn had thought. Nobody would come forward to report the harassment since Yut picked his victims carefully. He also seemed very careful about not doing them grievous bodily harm. None of the boys he'd been pestering ever had any visible wounds.

Coming to think about it, apart from a few light bruises, he and Mew had walked away from their run-ins with Yut relatively unscathed. Perhaps they were not such good fighters after all. If it was luck, the chances that it would happen more than once were slim to none.

It was more likely that Yut had been toying with them. Luring them into a false sense of superiority so they had no defences against him when he finally struck. If what he had been doing so far was just playing, then he was capable of far worse than they had thought. It would explain a lot.

"What if he is targeting a specific kind of person?" Korn changed his tactics in the hope of finding a way around Yut's Machiavellian plotting.

"Specific...aren't people just people?"

Korn wasn't about to let their lack of interest deter him. There was no time to beat around the bush, "He likes to harass people he thinks are gay. Can that be reported as a hate crime?"

"It can. But again, they would have to be willing to report the harassment and/or be injured for us to do something about it."

"Can they remain anonymous when they do it?"

The cops were giving Korn a look that said they were just indulging him but he wasn't willing to let it go. "If you can get enough people to make a complaint—even anonymously—we may be able to look into it. But you have to understand, for anything to move forward at least one person has to make a formal accusation. The anonymous cannot testify in court."

"Understood. Thank you, officers," Korn said with another deep wai.

He moved out of their way and watched them continue down the covered walkway. Their conversation hadn't given him an easy way out—which is what he was looking for. He didn't want Yut to find out that Korn was responsible for whatever happened next. Yet Korn wasn't willing to let the matter drop.

Armed with the little information he'd gleaned, Korn knew what he had to do next. He could get more than one person to make an anonymous report. But to get the ball rolling he would have to do it first.