CASE 5 - No Turning Back

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Another late night call and another sleepless night.

Wonshik and Hongbin received a call at three in the morning on their 'supposed' day-off, but instead, they headed directly back to the station to see what the problem was.

"What's the case, hyung?" Hongbin asked InGuk as soon as they arrived. "Is it something big?"

InGuk let out a sigh.

"I don't know..." he said as he massaged his head.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Hongbin and Wonshik followed InGuk into the other side of a one-way mirror interrogation room. When they arrived, the suspect who sat at the desk shocked them.

"A k-kid?" Wonshik couldn't hide his stunned expression.

"We got a call earlier about a murder. His neighbor discovered him with a metal bat, completed covered in blood," InGuk told them,

"Blood?"

Wonshik could see the child's clothes still covered in a dark crimson color and blood splatters that were left unwiped on the child's face.

"More specifically, his father's blood. The neighbor found him standing next to his father's corpse and when we took him in, he wouldn't tell us what happened. He doesn't have a mother either and we've already tried calling his relatives, but no one picked up. All of us have tried our best to get him to talk but he wouldn't say a word as if he can't hear us or something. I thought maybe the two of you guys could give it a shot as well."

"How old is he?"

"Barely twelve this year."

"Name?"

"Song Badam."



Wonshik stood in front of the door before he went into the room. It was crazy enough for him to think that he was about to interrogate a minor.

I can do this, he's a kid but he's still..., Wonshik tried to persuade himself a little before he opened the door. It can't be that different from interrogating a grown man, right?

The boy didn't even twitch or look at Wonshik when he came inside the room, he simply stared down at the table, not a word or a sound.

"You're Song Badam, right?" Wonshik decided to take a slower approach.

Badam didn't respond.

Wonshik let out a heavy sigh, this is going to be tough.

"Do you know why you're here?" Wonshik asked. "We want to help you sort this problem out, but we can't if you don't tell us what happened. Your neighbors said that she found you standing next to your father with a bat when she came over to check what all the noise was next door to her. Did something happen between you and your father? Please tell us the truth."

Wonshik waited patiently, hoping for an answer of some sort but Badam didn't even bother to look at him. He scratched his head helplessly at how to deal with a child.

"If you don't say anything, we'll have to put you into custody until we find out the truth. We tried contacting your relatives but they didn't pick up. Do you have anyone else we can contact to help you?" Wonshik asked.

Badam finally moved a little, his eyes started to look watery but it was obvious that he was trying to fight back. He was definitely thinking about something that finally moved him but he still refused to utter even a single sound.

Just then, Hongbin knocked on the door to come in and take his turn.

"Hi! My name is Hongbin. My friends usually call me Kong though, as in 'bean' in English. Are you hungry? You've been sitting here for a while, haven't you? You should be hungry by now," Hongbin said with a higher pitch voice than he usually talks just as if he really was talking to a young child. "Should we get you something to eat? What do you like?"

But Badam didn't budge either at Hongbin. Neither of the two could do a thing.

That's when Wonshik opened up a file based on the neighbors' report and those have known the father and son for a while. There were witnesses of child abuse and Badam's father's consecutive cases of disturbance to the neighbors. Wonshik looked at the files and then looked at Badam's arms that were peeking out from his sleeves. There were indeed dark bruises everywhere.

"Did you father hit you?" Wonshik asked. "Is that why you tried to defend yourself?"

Badam bit his lips nervously, holding his tears and pain inside, trying to deal with the entire situation alone despite only being twelve.

Wonshik and Hongbin looked at each other, completely sympathizing with the child's situation and that Badam must have gone through rough times because of his father and most likely traumatized enough to hurt him as if he was defending himself.

However, as much as the two tried to get Badam to tell them the truth, nothing worked.

Knock. Knock.

InGuk opened the door, "there are people here to see, Badam-ah."

Two younger men walked into the interrogation room, simply in T-shirt and shorts, as if they came in a rush. They looked worried and sad as they entered the room to see Badam looking down on the table.

"Badamie," Jaehwan called out the boy's name.

Badam immediately reacted to the familiar voice and looked up. As soon as he saw Jaehwan's and Hakyeon's face, he broke down.

"Hyung!" the child finally let go of holding back his tears and cried out loud.

"It's okay, Badam-ah. We're here for you. It's okay," Hakyeon hugged the child tightly in his arms as he soothes Badam's sorrows away by rubbing gently along the child's back. Badam clutched tightly at Hakyeon's shirt, desperate and afraid.

Wonshik and Hongbin was completely shocked and dumbfounded at the child's sudden tears. They looked at each other and then at the child who didn't want to let go.

"What's going on?" Hongbin asked InGuk as they decided to leave Badam with the two young men in the interrogation room. "Who are they?"

"Don't know. But we saw their names and number on the child's phone, assigned as emergency numbers. They seem to have a small chat room together on Kakao so we decided to give it a try and call them. I didn't think that they'd really show up so quickly though. They must be important to that kid, just look at how much he clings onto those two. None of us could even make Badam twitch yet the moment he saw those two young men, he finally looks like a child," InGuk said as he looked sympathetically towards the three on the other side of the room.

"I wonder what their relationship is with the kid. He cried as soon as he saw them."

"Yeah..." Wonshik looked at the two named Jaehwan and Hakyeon, curious as well as the rest as to what their connections are with Song Badam.

Two boys without any blood connections to the child yet were able to bring the child back from the darkness before he drowned too far. As Wonshik watched the three of them together, even he couldn't help but feel sorry for whatever was happening.



"He'll be alright," Hakyeon told Jaehwan and held the younger's hands as they were in the taxi on their way to the police station.

They never thought that they'd have to be at a police station in the middle of the night. As soon as they made it through the front doors of the station, Jaehwan's heartbeat grew rapid and he immediately broke into a cold sweat. It was becoming hard to breathe just thinking about Badam's situation.

"We're here for Song Badam," Hakyeon acted calmly as he spoke to the receptionist.

"You must be Lee Jaehwan and Cha Hakyeon," a man came walking towards them as if he had been expecting their arrival.

"Y-yes," Jaehwan answered nervously.

"You are?" Hakyeon asked.

"Seo InGuk, the head supervisor of the Homicide Investigations Department," the man said.

"H-Homicide? What happened? Is Badam okay?"

"He's okay but I'm not sure about how long. He is currently under the investigation of the murder for his father, Song Yonghwa. One of the neighbors found Badam holding a metal bat next to his father's body when she was coming over to check what the noise was in the middle of the night. We've already confirmed that the blood on the bat belongs to Badam's father and the fingerprints on the bat belongs to the child and his deceased father. We've been trying to ask him questions for the past hours or so, but he wouldn't say a word. We've also tried contacting his relatives but no one would pick up either since they're all out of town and this is the middle of the night," InGuk gave the two young men a briefing as he walked them to see Badam. "We saw your numbers on the child's phone as emergency contact numbers and the ones he's recently contacted the most. We were hoping that you could help us. Seeing how the two of you rushed here so quickly, it means that you guys are quite close to the kid, right?"

"We play and hang out with Badam a lot and occasionally tutors him," Hakyeon said.

"I see. Thank you for coming anyway. We want to help the child especially since he's only a minor but if he doesn't say anything, it'll be hard for us to investigate the situation."

"We understand."

Jaehwan followed InGuk next to Hakyeon as they made their way through the eerie hallways, one interrogation room after another. As soon as they opened the doors, they saw Badam sitting slouched and motionless as if he was a lifeless doll.

'Badamie," Jaehwan said the boy's name.

Badam turned his attention towards the familiar voice and as soon as he saw the familiar faces of the two, he cried. As if he found his salvation in just seeing the two of them, Badam dashed forward into their arms.



After the police left the three of them alone, Hakyeon and Jaehwan continued to comfort Badam until he was calm enough to talk.

"Badam-ah, what exactly happened? Can't you please tell us?" Hakyeon asked in a soft tone.

"I... dad... he fell and I ..." Badam started to shake uncontrollably and his voice was stuttering while his body was trembling as he recalled what happened that night.

"It's okay, Badamie. Take your time. We're here to listen," Jaehwan held the child's hand firmly and looked at him earnestly, letting Badam know that everything was alright.



Badam returned home that night after school and hanging around the playing like usual until dark. He was worried about going home and honestly, he didn't want to if he had the choice. He sat on the swing, looking at his phone several times and was tempted to call either Jaehwan or Hakyeon like the usual so that he could stay over at their home for the night instead. But he felt guilty for always bothering the two older brothers, knowing how busy they must be with school since Jaehwan always complained about the large amounts of assignments he had to finish up. So, Badam decided to go home reluctantly.

As he opened his front doors back home, he saw his father sitting at the table, drinking in the kitchen again. Badam didn't say a word and simply glanced at his father while he made his way back into his room quietly. It was about eleven in the evening already and the lights were all turned off. Badam was already deep asleep until suddenly, he heard a loud shattering sound coming from the kitchen.

He knew it must have been his dad and he knew better than to go out of his room but that man is still his father and Badam was worried about him. So, he slowly opened the door to peek through the slit. However, as soon as he did, his father caught sight of him and dragged him out of his room.

"No! Stop!" Badam started to shout and cry for help, knowing exactly where this was going to lead him. He could feel his father's grasp digging deep into his skin, hurting him like the usual.

"Shut the fuck up!" the man said as he punched Badam across the room so hard that the child hit his back against the table legs.

He threw Badam around and then pinned him into the corner as he grabbed a bottle of beer from the table. He drank and drank the beer as he stared down at his son, who was completely terrified from just being watched by his own father. As soon as his father finished the bottle of beer, he threw the bottle right next to Badam and it shattered against the wall. The shards from the glass bottle cut Badam's face.

It stung.

Badam hid his head between his knees, scared and helpless as his father continued to throw the glass at him.

"Why are you still here? Leave me alone and stop mocking me! Don't look at me like that!" his father started to shout nonsense to Badam. "Do you think I don't know what's going in that tiny brain of yours? You should've left, just like your pathetic mother!"

Badam's father have always been suspicious about whether or not Badam was really his because his wife left her son to elope with another man while Badam was only seven. That was also when he began to drink more and more. He already had a bad temper but it only got worse when Badam's mother ran away suddenly.

Badam tried to contact his mother several times in the past especially when enduring the abuse of his father. But no one ever picked up. A year later, his mother was found dead. His mother was diagnosed with stomach cancer and knew that she didn't have long to live neither did she have the money for surgery. She had been sick for a long time and wanted to tell Badam's father as well but seeing how cold her husband was, she knew it was hopeless. Her only worry was for Badam. When Badam found out why his mother left him, he felt both sad and betrayed. He would have rather stayed by his dying mother than to remain in such a hell hole.

He knew he shouldn't have but he couldn't help it, he did resent his mother a little.

As Badam hunched over to protect his head and face, his father continued to throw things at him mercilessly. Then, unlike the other nights, his father suddenly went into the closet and grabbed a metal bat from it.

The sound of the bat scraping against the wooden floor terrified Badam to no end.

"N-no..." Badam's voice could barely be heard as he backed away as far off to the side as he could. He could only fear and cry for escape.

But his father didn't hear a single word as he swayed from side to side, making his way slowly to Badam. Instead, he lifted his bat and hit it hard against the table while breaking everything that was in his way.

"If only you weren't here..." the drunk man said. "If only you could disappear..."

"H-help! HELP!" Badam tried his best to call for help as he crawled towards the door and tried to grab the handle to the outside. "Save me..."

"Shut up!" his father yelled at him and grabbed Badam's legs, then dragging his son across the floor far from the entrance. "Shut up! Shut up! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Bam!

Badam knew he was going to get killed if he didn't do anything. Whether his father was drunk or not, he knew better than to stay but there was no escape. He was completely trapped. Then, his father aimed the bat right above the child's head, ready to kill his own son.

One swing was enough to send the child flying across the room.

Badam tried to block the bat's impact as much as he could with his thin, fragile arms but they hurt so much that he almost couldn't feel them anymore. It felt as if they were broken.

His father continued to beat Badam and not let the child yell for help by over Badam's mouth with a towel.

Badam laid there on the floor, staring at the room sideways. His head was spinning and his vision was slowly diminishing as he began to lose consciousness.

I'm sorry... please save me, Jaehwan-hyung, Hakyeon-hyung... he wanted to call out those names as he tried to fight back one last time. Even if he was going to die, he wanted to recall those names and faces that brought him peace once upon a time. Even if it's the last piece of memory he could have, that was all it mattered.

His father approached Badam who was lying on the floor, he was ready to lay down the final blow but just as he did, he wobbled and tripped over the chair that was lying on the floor. He fell face forward and hit his head right at the corner of the table...

He lost his balance completely and stumbled a little more before he completely fell to the ground.

He couldn't stand up and was seeing the room spin around him. He caught glimpse of Badam and tried to reach for the child, refusing the let the child go even at his last breath. The father and son both lost consciousness at once but only one of them regained his conscious after a little time.

Badam thought he was going to die but he woke up once more and realized that the time only passed a little since he was last conscious. As he opened his eyes, he saw his father laying next to him, blood all around his body and not moving a single muscle. Scared but worried at the same time, Badam crawled up towards his father's body to check on the drunk man.

"D-dad?"

Badam leaned closer to listen for his father's breath.

The man didn't respond. He laid there motionless and blood was gushing out from his scalp. It was obvious that he was dead.

"H- Badam was just about to shout for help but held it back just in time before he did. If he called for help, then the man he calls 'father' might be saved. If he didn't, he will finally be free from the horrid man's grasp forever.

But...what if he isn't dead, yet? That single thought made Badam twitch a little in anxiety.

Badam saw the metal bat that was sitting next to his father's body, and without a second thought, he grabbed it. He clenched the handles hard, not letting loose for even a second as he worries that the moment he lets go, his father would wake up. Badam gathered his strength and stood up tall, as he looked down onto his father's body, he felt the confidence within himself and for once, he felt superior towards his father. He tightened his grip and took a deep breath.

He swung the bat straight down onto his father's corpse, first he hit the scalp, and then to reassure himself, he did it once more. Blood splattered all over the room and even on himself, but he couldn't stop... he had to make sure and he didn't want to take any chances for the 'what ifs'.

That night, Badam stood there next to his father's corpse, looking at it without a hint of remorse or grasp to reality. All these years of abuse was finally over and although he knew of the consequences, he no longer cared. The consequences for killing the man was less scarier than allowing for the man to live.

Even when the neighbors broke into his house after hearing all the ruckus, even when Badam was apprehended b y the police, even as he saw the city disappear before his eyes on the way to the police station, nothing was more frightening than the thought of his father still being alive.

"You're kidding, right? He's twelve, isn't he?" a policeman was whispering to another as Badam made his way towards the interrogation room.

"Is the father dead?" another asked.

"The hospital just confirmed it," the other answered.

Badam let out a sigh of relief, thank goodness.

The police tried to get Badam to talk throughout the entire night but no one understood the child's feelings. Some of them interrogated him violently, slamming the table and yelling at him but he was already numb to this kind of aggressive behavior. Others were kind and tried to play the 'friendly' game but Badam knew that it was all a trick to get him to talk. Every single one of them were liars and pretentious. Nothing could affect Badam's feelings, except for two people.

"Badam-ah."

That soft and familiar

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