Blue Summer

Chapter 29: The will to live and love

While the police did their research, Sungmin got a call. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw it was Chang. He went into a corner and picked it up.

"Hello, sir. Sorry for not picking up your calls. I was somewhere urgent," Chang said.

"Where are you now?" Sungmin asked.

"Um, Seoul. I cannot come back. They have stopped traffic to leave from Seoul."

"Where in Seoul are you? I will send a special escort for you. I need you here urgently."

"Sir, I am at a hotel. I will send you the location."

"Good. I will seek permission from the police and get you escorted out of there."

"Yes, sir. Thank You, sir."

Sungmin turned to Officer Lee, who was standing behind him, waiting for him to end the call. Sungmin checked his phone, and Chang sent him his location. He showed it to Officer Lee, and he called out to Ha-Jun.

"Ha-Jun, our prime suspect is here," Yoeun-Ho pointed at the phone. "Go there and arrest him."

"Yes, sir."

Ha-Jun left the apartment with two other officers and drove to Seoul. Due to no traffic, they arrived at the location reasonably quickly. They went into the hotel and asked the receptionist where Chang's room was. They sent them to the third floor, to the twentieth room. The officer went there calmly approaching the room. They knocked on the door, and there was a verbal response, "Yes, come in. The door is open."

The officers opened the door and caught Chang off guard.

"Hands up and on your knees!" Ha-Jun ordered.

Chang turned to face them and lifted his hands. He went down on his knees and said, "May I know what all this is about?"

"Well, that you will tell us. What we can tell you is that you are the prime suspect behind the missing of several young teens and adults from Incheon. What exactly you have to do with this is what you will tell us." Ha-Jun signalled another officer to handcuff Chang while the other officer took his stuff.

Chang was dragged out of the hotel and taken to the police station in Seoul. There, Officer Lee was waiting for him.

He was taken to the interrogation room and made to wait there for at least an hour while his stuff was being checked. After that, Yoeun-Ho entered the room and sat face-to-face with Chang.

While all of this was happening, Misao had arrived at her home to celebrate her birthday. She was welcomed with open arms and kisses from everyone. Youra and Joon-Woo were also present to meet her. Misao was on the verge of tearing up at the sight of meeting her family. There was an unexpected guest waiting for her, too. When she entered the kitchen, Maki was sitting on the couch. Her hair was tied, and she was wearing her school uniform.

"Hello!" she jumped in amusement on seeing Misao. Misao ran to hug her as she cried. Maki looked so drained to Misao after losing all that she ever loved. Misao could not fathom the pain Maki would have gone through.

"Maki wanted to wish you a Birthday. She said it is also Ibuki's birthday, and since he isn't here, she wants to celebrate it with you," Rui explained.

Misao's heart sank. But she also felt happy. Her tears had stopped, and now she dawned a big smile. She hugged Maki again and then kissed her forehead.

Misao wished for only one thing, and that was to see Ibuki alive and well. That would be the best birthday gift ever for her.

The family hadn't been contacted by the police yet about the investigation. While Chang was being interrogated, the search party that was looking for the facility had not yet stumbled upon any suspicious buildings or areas.

On the other hand, Chang hadn't yet said anything about the facility. He kept saying the same thing over and over. He was adamant about the fact that it was Sungmin who was the real culprit behind the drug trials and that he was misleading the police with false accusations and information. For two hours, he kept telling the police that Sungmin had started the trial, and when the truth was out, he planned everything to frame Yun-Ji as he despised her. When asked about Woon-Gi's revelations, Chang insisted that Sungmin had bribed him to falsify the statement to suit his purpose.

"Ms Yun-Ji wanted to stop the trials because she knew that something was off about them, and that is why Mr Choi wasn't fond of her," Chang said.

For a moment Yoeun-Ho considered Chang's scenarios and saw the chinks in his proofs. The police hadn't directly gathered the information about the trials from Yun-Ji, but Sungmin had given it to them. It was highly likely that they could have been falsified.

Yoeun-Ho paused his interrogation for a while and went out of the room where Ha-Jun was waiting for him.

"What did you get?"

"He is making valid points. It's just that his side of the story seems believable, too. Choi Sungmin could falsify the proofs and frame Yun-Ji," Yoeun-Ho suggested.

"You are right. Should we then question him too?"

Yoeun-Ho paused to think. He recalled all that Chang told him to review it and consider questioning Sungmin.

"No, wait. It cannot be true. Ms Park sent me those pictures from Germany, where Ms Gong works. It is impossible for her to be framing Yun-Ji, and I cannot trust her. That is it. Chang is lying. If Yun-Ji was not part of the trial, why would she have such extensive details about it with her!"

Yoeun-Ho immediately went back in and said to Chang, "Now, I want you to speak the truth. Do you work for Yun-Ji?"

"No," Chang said sharply.

"Is Yun-Ji involved in the drug trial?"

"No."

"If not, then explain why she has extensive details regarding it with her back in Germany?"

Chang went silent. He gulped and responded, "I don't know."

When it seemed Yoeun-Ho was hitting a dead end with his interrogation with Chang, he got a call from an officer on duty. The men who were with Ibuki in the hospital had been spotted.

The investigation was pacing up unbeknownst to anyone it affected. Ibuki and the other subjects were asked to remain in their rooms for the entire day, with only some dry cookies and water kept in their rooms for eating.

Every time Ibuki looked at the two empty beds in his room, his heart ached. He felt that he got attached to people very quickly, just as he had emotionally attached himself to Misao the first time he met her.

He opened his diary and took out a pencil. He began sketching Misao's face from whatever he could recall. Her image in his mind had begun to diminish, and he could not recall the details of her face, her eyes and her smile. Yet he drew whatever he could recall and let his mind fill in the details creatively. The end result might not have been perfect, but he had drawn most of her face accurately and smiled when he looked at it. It was the only thing he could look at if he missed her. A tear fell down his cheek.

Then he went on to draw his sister and mother. Their face he could draw much better. His heart ached when he looked at the faces. He missed them. He missed them so much. He wept, holding the dairy close to his chest, and his face sunk and bent.

"I miss you all! I miss you!"