The sound of a gunshot alarmed all of the officers outside. They were going to approach the vicinity cautiously but the loud gunshot made them realize that they had to act fast.

Wonshik signalled everyone to go in at once, with him leading in the front. As they opened the doors to the gallery, they noticed the dimly lit hallway that was both eerie and deserted. But there are definitely people here.

As they made careful yet hasty steps, they found a large grand entrance door at the end.

"Hyung!" a young man's voice could be heard. Shouting in despair.

"J-Jaehwan?" Hongbin recognized the voice immediately.

The police immediately opened the door, surprising the boys inside but both sides were just as shocked.

The moment the doors opened, they saw blood everywhere. Lee Minhyuk was lying still on the floor, severely wounded and seemingly unconscious. Lee Jaehwan held Cha Hakyeon tightly in his arms, clutching tightly to seal the pierced wound on Hakyeon's abdomen.

And Jung Ilhoon, who could barely stand straight, held the gun pointing toward Lee Jaehwan.

"Freeze!" Wonshik shouted in a hurry. "Don't move, Jung Ilhoon!"

Ilhoon glanced to the side, and dozens of police had already gotten them surrounded. But he didn't have any fear on his face. Instead, he found everything rather hysterical.

"Ha-ha..." Jung Ilhoon was covered in blood and wounded. He could barely stand but he didn't pay any attention to the police. He fixed his gaze back towards the other three boys, all on the floor, kneeling and lying in front of him. "Blame it all on your shitty life, Lee Jaehwan."

Ilhoon held his gun up high, pulled the trigger back and aimed at Jaehwan. Once and for all, Ilhoon will end everything.

Is what he thought.

Bang!

A gunshot pierced through Jung Ilhoon's chest this time.

Everyone looked back towards where the bullet came from and when Wonshik turned around, he couldn't believe it.

"H-Hongbin?"

It was his dear partner who shot at Ilhoon.

A single shot in the chest, disarmed Ilhoon from the gun and caused him to fall right onto the hard white marble floor.

Now covered in red.

"Lee... Jaehwan..."

Ilhoon had one last breath as he lay still on the floor, his gaze was cold as he stared directly at Jaehwan and moments later, with his eyes still open, his vision finally turned into the abyss.

The police immediately swarm the four boys from all sides, first checking Jung Ilhoon's vitals.

"He's dead," one of the officers confirmed as they approached Jung Ilhoon's body and took the gun away from the corpse.

"This one here too," another said as he checked on Lee Minhyuk.

"What... the hell happened here?" Wonshik was almost too scared as he saw the blood beneath his feet.

"Hyung! Hakyeon-hyung!" Jaehwan, who was barely scratched, was the only one with any breath left in him to grieve. His body was cold from fear, his hands trembled from holding onto the older in his arms.

Hakyeon didn't say a word. He couldn't. The last thing he felt was Jaehwan's tears falling onto his cheeks, precious... he wanted to reach out. But he could no longer feel any senses in his body.

Moments later, everything turned black.

"Call the ambulance right now!" Wonshik instructed the officers.

"Hyung! Please hyung!" Jaehwan cried and cried. "Please don't leave me behind."

Wonshik, Hongbin and Taekwoon could only stand there to watch until the ambulance finally arrived.

Two dead.

One unconscious and currently in a hospital nearby.

And the last one was escorted to the police station for questioning.

The station was in an uproar.

Everyone was busy going back and forth to sort out what exactly happened at the abandoned gallery. Yet, the boy that was sitting in the interrogation room didn't say a single word.

"Kid must have been shocked," one of the officers said as they passed by the corridors.

Wonshik collected the files for the case and walked towards interrogations but he didn't go in. It wasn't his place this time to do the questioning, after all, he's had a few run-ins with Lee Jaehwan in the past. When he entered the mirror room on the other side of the interrogation room, Hongbin was already inside.

His partner was anxious, as he watched his younger cousin cuffed and shocked in that tiny, grim room.

"Are you okay?" Wonshik asked as he placed a hand on his partner's shoulders. He knew the answer already but he felt like he should ask anyway.

"I..." Hongbin gulped nervously. "I killed Jung Ilhoon."

In that sheer moment of panic, fearing that Ilhoon would kill Jaehwan, Hongbin reacted without thinking and pulled his gun out. A bullet was shot from his very own gun before he could even rationalize what he was doing.

It was the first time ever that Hongbin had shot and ended up killing someone on the job. Misshots often happens as an officer but this time, Hongbin knew deep down that the one bullet he had, he didn't hold back. At that very moment, the thought of Jaehwan being killed in front of him, terrified him more.

"You did what you had to," Wonshik tried to consult his shaken-up partner. "But we're going to have a lot of explaining to do after we get back to Seoul."

Exactly what the hell happened back there? Wonshik could only silently watch from the other side, hoping that Jaehwan would finally come clean.

Then, the door opened in the other room.

Taekwoon was in charge of the interrogation as both Wonshik and especially Hongbin were deemed unfit for the job this time.

It was the first time for Taekwoon to meet Lee Jaehwan face-to-face. The young man was shaken up for sure, his gaze was empty like his soul had already left him.

Taekwoon stood there for a moment in front of Jaehwan, glanced back at the mirror knowing that his two partners were watching from the other side and then gave them a nod.

Leave it to me, that was the kind of expression Taekwoon had as he pulled out the chair and sat down.

"My name is Jung Taekwoon. I'm an officer from the Homicides Investigation Department of Gangnam Station," Taekwoon started out slowly. "I know you're still in shock right now but we need you to cooperate and tell us exactly what happened back there."

"..."

Jaehwan didn't utter a sound. He could only look down shamelessly on the floor, anxiously digging his nails into his palms and his throat completely dry.

Taekwoon looked at Jaehwan for a second. Then sighed.

"Look, we can't help you if you don't speak up. Both Lee Minhyuk and Jung Ilhoon are dead. And Cha Hakyeon is currently unconscious-"

"Hyung! Is Hakyeon-Hyung alright?" Jaehwan shot up at the mention of Hakyeon's name.

"Luckily he's not severely wounded. The bullet missed his vital organs, so he's going to live," Taekwoon told him. "After his operations are over, we'll be transferring him back to Seoul for follow-ups."

Jaehwan sighed in relief and slowly plopped back down into his seat.

"You're shaken up, I get it," Taekwoon continued as he slid a cup of tea across the table for Jaehwan. "But we need to know what exactly happened to help you. If you want to help Cha Hakyeon, you should speak up."

Why am I doing this? Taekwoon was having a hard time trying to stay neutral and professional. Without letting his past resentments get the best of him. And since neither Wonshik or Hongbin could do this interrogation, he was the only one left.

"They-" Jaehwan spoke finally. "Ilhoon-hyung and Minhyuk-hyung...kidnapped Hakyeon-hyung and I."

"Both of them? Then how did Lee Minhyuk die? He was already dead by the time we got there. Did Cha Hak-"

"No! It's not Hakyeon-hyung!" Jaehwan denied it immediately. "It was Ilhoon-hyung. He tried to kill both me and Hakyeon-hyung but Minhyuk, he... changed his mind."

"You think we can believe that? If both of them are responsible for kidnapping you, why would they backstab each other?"

"Because they had different motives."

"What do you mean?" Taekwoon was being patient.

"They both hate ... my family. They wanted to use me as a hostage to get to my parents Lee Bora and Lee Jinhwan. But Minhyuk-hyung... he's not a bad person. He's just desperate and lost. Even though Ilhoon tried to kill us, Minhyuk-hyung didn't. So, he tried to stop Ilhoon. But he got shot instead."

Jaehwan's voice cracked as he spoke. The image of Minhyuk falling back and into his arms, made him shiver again.

"Were you close with Lee Minhyuk and Jung Ilhoon? If Lee Minhyuk had a change of heart, it means that the two of you were quite close, right?" Taekwoon asked carefully.

"We..." Jaehwan hesitated but when he looked up and noticed the sharp gaze from the police officer, he felt slightly intimidated. "We've known each other since we were kids. But we weren't close. I've only met them briefly as a kid."

"But you're all now attending the same university, Seoul National University, right?"

"Yeah but we're not in the same department. It was Minhyuk-hyung who recognized me first. But still, I wouldn't say we were close."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said, he hates my family. He only approached me because of my family," Jaehwan told Taekwoon honestly. Though those words stung as he spoke, there was no use keeping it a secret either.

"You're saying he got close to you, along with Jung Ilhoon, in order to get revenge on your parents but somehow had a change of heart and betrayed Jung Ilhoon? Is that supposed to convince me?"

"I know it sounds ridiculous. But that's the truth. He said that to me before he was killed by Ilhoon-hyung."

"And why does he hate your family so much?"

"My parents... they stole everything from Minhyuk-hyung's family and because of that, they couldn't afford to pay the medical fees for Minhyuk's younger twin brother, Lee Minhyun. He was suffering from cancer for a long time but the medical fees were too high and they couldn't afford it anymore. If you don't believe me, you can check that easily. It was all over the news," Jaehwan said.

Taekwoon noticed the young man clenching his fist in anger as he spoke. It didn't seem like he was lying.

"And what about Jung Ilhoon?" Taekwoon was testing the waters to see how much Jaehwan was willing to spill.

"It was the same. But more unfortunately, Ilhoon-hyung's father killed himself. I don't blame him for wanting revenge against my parents because of what they did but he-"

Jaehwan gulped nervously, his eyes were turning red as he tried to find the words.

"Jung Ilhoon, he killed my brother - Lee Jaeho," he told the officer.

"W-what?" Taekwoon's eyes widened as the young spoke. He glanced back to the mirror, wondering what the other two on the other side were thinking of as the truth was slowly being revealed in front of them. "How do you know?"

"Ilhoon-hyung told me himself. He killed Jaeho-hyung as revenge. He was going to kill every single one of us eventually. What right do my parents have to have three kids, when they ruined so many other people's lives, including his? So, he killed Jaeho-hyung as... the White Rose," Jaehwan looked straight at the officer as those two words came out of his mouth. "He took out these weird things from a suitcase, tried to kill us using it. Said something about a clean and beautiful death so that he didn't have to get himself dirty."

"And what about the gun? It was three against one. You really think we can believe that?" Taekwoon was in confusion as the name White Rose came out automatically in Jaehwan's mouth. But rather than claiming Cha Hakyeon as the White Rose Killer, it was Jung Ilhoon? It didn't make any sense in Taekwoon's mind. He was confused and frustrated. Was the young man sitting in front of him really telling the truth? Or is it all a lie? He knew he had to be careful with his questions at this point.

"You said it yourself, he had a gun!" Jaehwan said. "We were scared! And you saw what happened right? Minhyuk-hyung and Hakyeon-hyung were both shots! Do you really think we didn't try to fight back?"

"Calm down. Did Jung Ilhoon really admit that he's the White Rose or-"

Just then, the doors opened.

"That's enough," a middle-aged man in a black suit, with a tall posture entered the room. His presence was suffocating. "The interrogation ends here."

"Who-" Taekwoon was confused and irritated that an outsider interrupted the interrogations.

"Lee Jinhwan. Lee Jaehwan's father," the man introduced himself. "My son will not answer another question. Everything will go through my lawyer first."

"..." Jaehwan was shocked to see his father but he didn't speak anything against it and sat down calmly.

"We're still in the middle of an investigation," Taekwoon told him.

"And? You're suspecting my son for whatever happened. But it's clear to see that this boy was also a victim himself. He has all the rights to refuse questioning and won't be answering another word unless it goes through my lawyer. Or unless you have any other evidence to keep him here."

Taekwoon was flustered that he couldn't say anything or stop Lee Jinhwan from taking Lee Jaehwan out of the room. He stood there dumbfounded, with the business card of the said lawyer on the table.

Once Jaehwan left, both Wonshik and Hongbin went to Taekwoon.

"What the hell was that about?" Wonshik hated that he couldn't step in either.

"That's Lee Jinhwan for you," Hongbin was also not pleased.

"At this rate, we'll never know what really happened," Wonshik sighed. "What a headache."

"Taekwoon?" Hongbin noticed Taekwoon's silence for a while as he stood there. "You okay?"

"White Rose... that's what Lee Jaehwan said, right?" what Jaehwan said was on Taekwoon's mind the entire time. "What did he mean by Jung Ilhoon being the White Rose?"

Taekwoon looked at his two partners, still shocked and puzzled.

"Do you think he was telling the truth?" Wonshik asked back.

"There's no way. Cha Hakyeon is definitely the White Rose, I know it!" Taekwoon is set on the true identity of the infamous serial killer to be Cha Hakyeon but the fact that Lee Jaehwan is now claiming that Jung Ilhoon is the one left him in a fog.

"But we can't deny the evidence we brought back from the scene when we found them - the syringes, that suitcase and stuff all had Jung Ilhoon's fingerprints over it," Hongbin reminded them. "Also, one of the syringes also had Cha Hakyeon's blood in it. No matter how we look at this, Cha Hakyeon seems like a victim here..."

"You think Lee Jaehwan is covering up for Cha Hakyeon?" Wonshik knew exactly what was on Taekwoon's mind at that moment.

"That would mean that Jaehwan knows the identity of the White Rose Killer?" Hongbin asked back.

"It's not unlikely. They're close after all," Wonshik told him.

"But then why would Jaehwan bring it up? And what about all those evidence we found, if Ilhoon isn't- "

"Calm down, Hongbin-ah. Both of you have your own suspicions and I'm just as confused as you two. Whether Jung Ilhoon is the White Rose Killer or Cha Hakyeon is the one, the point we have to focus on right now is getting to the bottom of what exactly happened at the art gallery. Since we can't ask Lee Jaehwan, the only one left to ask is Cha Hakyeon," Wonshik said.

"And you think he'll cooperate?"

"Probably not. So we need to proceed with caution."

"He hasn't woken up yet, right?" Hongbin asked.

"Not yet. But our colleagues at the hospital said that Cha Hakyeon has already survived the most dangerous period. It will take time but we need to transfer him back to Seoul Hospital first to continue our investigation. We've already bothered everyone here long enough," Taekwoon said.

"Right."

The following day, without a wink of sleep, the rest of them went back to Gangnam Station to follow up with their investigation. But the station caught wind of what happened rather quickly and everyone was in an uproar. Not because of the shooting but more so, about the "White Rose Killer" finally being caught and punished.

"Look at you three," Lieutenant Seo InGuk greeted them as they entered his office. "You guys look horrible."

"We know. Sorry for causing so much trouble," Wonshik said first.

"We've sent people to keep an eye on Lee Jaehwan as you requested but so far, it doesn't seem like there are any sudden moves from that family. And with Lee Jinhwan's power, there's nothing we can do right now even if you want to interrogate Lee Jaehwan."

"Why would Lee Jinhwan interfere of all times? You mentioned that he rarely bothers with Lee Jaehwan's affairs, right?" Taekwoon turned towards Hongbin.

"Yeah. That's why I was confused too but what if he's afraid of Jaehwan spilling everything he's not supposed to say? That's the only thing I can think of," Hongbin assumed. "Look at how quickly he showed up at the station, and in-person to top."

"And now, we have another problem, right?" InGuk asked them. "The White Rose Killer is finally caught. Everyone is talking about it at the station."

"Jung Ilhoon can't be the White Rose!" Taekwoon was quick to deny it.

"Then, find me evidence," InGuk said sternly, which took the three of them back. "Do you really think we can just base on your words alone and memories from years ago, will be enough?"

"..."

"It's not that I don't believe you, Taekwoon-ah. But right now, all the evidence we found at the art gallery and also Lee Jaehwan's accusation of a dead man being the White Rose Killer is more evidence enough to coin Jung Ilhoon being the White Rose Killer. And because he was shot by a fellow officer," InGuk stared at Hongbin for a bit, "the higher-ups want to play it off as if the White Rose Killer was punished by justice. It's almost been four years at this point. Not only are the higher-ups frustrated but the public wants an answer. They're going to use this opportunity to put an end to this case if you can't provide any other evidence."

"I'll get evidence. I promise!" Taekwoon seemed sure of it as he told the lieutenant.

But after they left Seo InGuk's office, both Wonshik and Hongbin looked at Taekwoon with uncertainty. They watched Taekwoon walk off quietly because they were worried about whether Taekwoon could really find any evidence to pin Cha Hakyeon as the White Rose Killer instead of the dead man Jung Ilhoon.

"Will he be okay?" Hongbin asked.

"Before worrying about him, you should worry about yourself first," Wonshik was referring to his partner shooting Jung Ilhoon.

"Luckily they aren't going to charge me for this. A few reports and suspension of my gun for a week or so isn't too bad," Hongbin said lightly. "It could've been worse."

Wonshik sighed a bit at his partner's seemingly relaxed composure.

"What were you thinking?" Wonshik asked. "You've never let your cool off like that."

"What could I have done? He was about to shoot at Jaehwan. Jaehwan is still family, whether he's involved with the Apostles or not," Hongbin said honestly. "If you see your family's life in danger right in front of you, can you really stay calm in that kind of situation?"

"I get it. But-"

"I know where you're trying to get at, Wonshik-ah. I won't go astray. That I can promise you. No matter what I do, I will never go down a path that will make me regret everything. Whether Jaehwan is involved or not, I still want an answer from him directly. If