minghao released his wrist and hurried up to the front door, dropping the bag. he dashed back and held onto jihoon once again. "that should be enough for miss," he murmured with a small smile before continuing to drag jihoon from house to house.
jihoon watched dumbfounded and minghao dropped little bags of gold by the poorest looking homes. "you're.. giving out gold? is this some sort of joke?" he asked disbelievingly.
"tax day, tax day, right around the corner~" minghao sung, ignoring jihoon's question once again.
"where did you get all this.." jihoon stopped and thought back to the shop robberies. he isn't keeping the gold for himself? "minghao... you're not bad, are you?" the killer stopped his singing.
"bad?" he glanced at jihoon, "that all depends what you think in here," minghao tapped his own head. the man turned from a gawking jihoon and walked towards an alleyway. jihoon didn't like those places...
"wait- minghao, can't we just continue walking forward?" he asked meekly. "or do you plan on killing me."
stopping, the man dropped jihoon's wrist and suddenly reached out to pat either side of his face. "don't be scared jihoon, nothing will happen." grabbing him again, minghao trekked into the alleyway, with jihoon trailing behind. for once, jihoon found minghao's strange (probably made up on the spot) songs comforting.
just like the killer said, nothing happened. that is.. up until now. "there are people." minghao said, after a few minutes of walking in the dirty alley.
"where?" jihoon's eyes darted all around and listened closely. he saw no one else but minghao and only a quiet drip drip dripping of water could be heard.
"they live here. come this way, i'll show you." the two turned a few more corners before they were met with a group of people from young children to old adults. it looked as if these people made a home in the alley.
multiple dirty broken mattresses were placed on the ground with tattered blankets on top. a wire hung between the two stone walls with clothing hanging on them. small bags of food were placed on the ground along with buckets full of water.
"is that haohao?"
people stopped what they were doing and looked at the two boys. smiles broke out everywhere, people came over pulling minghao into hugs, chattering about how great his art was, welcoming him, giving him food. to sum it up, the people here absolutely loved minghao.
"you brought a friend?"
"an interesting one," minghao dug into his pockets and dropped the rest of the gold on the ground. jihoon could only laugh from beside him and wave at the curious people.
"minghao, we can't thank you enough for the gold." a woman with a red bandanna flashed minghao a genuine smile. minghao simply ignored the woman and crouched down to get closer with the children crowding around his legs.
the woman only laughed, small crease marks appearing on her face, "still the same, huh."
looking at minghao, jihoon kept on pondering. there was something familiar about the way he acted.. what was it.. no, who was it...
"minghao's friend?" jihoon jumped and looked at the woman who thanked minghao.
"lee jihoon."
the woman nodded, " you can call me mei. it's nice meeting someone new who isn't a lousy criminal." she laughed, "it's the first time minghao has ever brought over a friend."
jihoon didn't want to sound rude and say that they were more like acquaintances so he just went with the flow. "does minghao live here?"
"oh no, i don't think minghao lives anywhere really," mei said, "he kinda just.. floats around. but he does come around lots to play with the kids." jihoon looked down the alley to see him in a heated game of thumb war. for once, jihoon could say that minghao looked... normal. his eyes weren't emotionless and staring into nothing, he wasn't doing something or saying something strange, he looked like a regular twenty some year old adult.
"minghao is only like that around kids," mei chimed in. "he's a bit hard to deal with sometimes right? y'know, a little odd, emotions jumping all over the place.." jihoon nodded. everything mei said was so accurate.
"why is that?"
"well," mei paused, "there's something wrong with him. like- mentally. it makes his emotions go all over the place. i've heard he's been through some pretty traumatic events as a child. no one is too sure what though."
jihoon snapped his fingers. right! at clover field there was this child just like minghao. her emotions always changed so rapidly but when playing with her teddy bear, those were the times she was calm. i think it was called bipolar..
"it's good that minghao has someone to keep him in check, i mean, we can't have him go out killing everyone." mei said casually.
"ah.. you know about that?"
"of course i do, we all do." mei gestured at the people all around. jihoon unconstitutionally shifted away from the woman. so, all these people are fine with murder. great, really great.
mei raised her brow, "oh you didn't figure it out yet?" jihoon frowned in confusion. "i'll give you a tip, once you head back, go look through the past papers and take a closer look at the articles on the murders. maybe you'll notice something."
mei slid off leaving jihoon more confused about minghao than ever.
trente-huit
Start from the beginning
