Chapter 9: The Truth Turned Upside Down

“Mom… wake up.”

“Dong-gyu…”

“Please, just wake up!”

Dong-gyu’s desperate scream echoed throughout the police station.

It was like looking at his own reflection in a mirror.

Who would have thought that one day he would see his own miserable reflection in his mother?

The way she kept her head bowed, apologizing to everyone around her, just as he had always done at school.

It was humiliating.

No, more than that. An unbearable rage surged through his chest.

“Dong-gyu, what’s wrong with you? I’m sorry. Please, hurry up and apologize…”

“What are you sorry for? What the hell are you apologizing for?! What did I do wrong?!”

A fierce fire blazed in his eyes.

The trembling that had always consumed his body whenever he felt afraid suddenly vanished as if it had never existed.

Why could he only say these things now, in a situation like this?

Why hadn’t he been able to speak up sooner?

Instead of fear, it was now regret and bitter resentment that shook Dong-gyu to his core.

“You don’t even know what you’ve done wrong? What are you, some kind of psychopath?!”

Jin-woo’s mother, worked up into a frenzy, roughly shoved Dong-gyu’s kneeling mother aside and pointed furiously at Dong-gyu’s face.

“What do you think you’re doing? Ma’am, are you all right?”

Startled, Team Leader Choi hurried over and helped Dong-gyu’s mother back to her feet.

“Hey! You did that to Min-jun, who hadn’t done anything wrong, and now you’re saying you did nothing wrong? What an utterly shameless little bastard!”

“Who said he did nothing wrong?”

Dong-gyu glared at the mothers with burning eyes and muttered in a low voice.

“Oh, my goodness! Look at those eyes! Officer, what are you doing? Are you really going to leave such a dangerous child alone?”

“Why haven’t you thrown him in a detention cell yet? Children like him grow up to become a menace to society!”

Seeing Dong-gyu shouting with such fury, the mothers began making a scene.

“That’s enough. All of you, please leave. Haven’t I already told you that the investigation is still ongoing? Out. Now.”

Team Leader Choi moved Dong-gyu behind him and began ushering the enraged mothers toward the exit.

“Why are you dragging this investigation out any longer? Isn’t it obvious he did it?”

“How cruel can fate be? The person who should have died is still alive, while our poor Min-jun is fighting for his life…”

“Lady, your life is already ruined because of your son!”

Even then, the children’s mothers continued hurling insults and accusations at Dong-gyu and his mother.

“Ah, please, just get out—”

“Fine! I did it! I was the one who did it! Happy now?!”

Dong-gyu’s anguished scream suddenly burst out.

Everyone in the room, including Team Leader Choi, froze in their tracks.

“D-Dong-gyu… Why… Why are you doing this? You didn’t do it, remember? Hurry up and tell them you didn’t do it!”

His mother clung to his arm, pleading desperately, but Dong-gyu shook her off.

“That bastard deserved what happened to him a long time ago! Why am I always the one who has to suffer?!”

His eyes bloodshot, Dong-gyu turned toward the other children and shouted with murderous fury.

At his terrifying outburst, all the children instinctively hid behind their mothers, lowering their heads.

“Heh…”

Dong-gyu let out a bitter, hollow laugh at the sight.

How convenient it must be to be born into a powerful family.

All they had to do was hide behind those dependable walls, and no one could touch them.

At that very moment—

“Looks like he’s just confessed to the crime himself. Let’s wrap this case up.”

As though he had been waiting for Dong-gyu to say those exact words, Attorney Kim glanced at Team Leader Choi with a faint smile.

In-hye’s Hospital

“Chae-rin, have you been feeling all right since the incident at your school? Have you experienced any headaches or dizziness?”

“I’m fine.”

Sitting at the edge of the soft sofa once again, Chae-rin took a sip of tea and answered briefly, her expression unchanged.

Still, she seemed a little more relaxed than she had been during her previous visit.

“That’s a relief. The tea tastes good, doesn’t it? It’s the kind my former professor always used to drink. It has a lovely aroma, and it helps calm the mind.”

“What kind of tea is it?”

“Chamomile. Nice, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I think it’s nice. By the way, that letter Team Leader Choi showed us the other day…”

Chae-rin set down her teacup and spoke with a noticeably serious expression.

“You mean the letter asking someone to save them?”

“Yes. Did he manage to find out who sent it?”

For some reason, the brief message in that letter had lingered in Chae-rin’s mind ever since the incident at her school a few days earlier.

“I was actually going to ask him about it myself, but he hasn’t been answering my calls. He must be busy. The incident at your school has become quite a big deal, and it’s even made the news.”

Dong-gyu’s case had grown into such a major scandal that it was now dominating the headlines day after day.

A brutal act of revenge by a bullied outcast.

It was exactly the kind of sensational story the media couldn’t resist.

Everything remotely connected to Dong-gyu was being reported in exhaustive detail.

His birth and family background. His relationships with classmates and academic performance. Psychological analyses of his condition before and after the incident. Even the possible connection between the video games he frequently played and the crime.

News articles about him were flooding the internet, with new updates appearing almost every second.

“But I heard his trial is already scheduled for today.”

“Really? His family must have quite a lot of influence. They’re moving incredibly fast. Well, considering what happened to their only son, I suppose they want to get him behind bars as quickly as possible, by any means necessary.”

Knock, knock.

“Doctor, you have a visitor.”

A gentle nurse’s voice came from outside the door.

“Yes, please come in.”

“Hah… Hah…”

No sooner had In-hye spoken than Team Leader Choi hurried into the room, breathing heavily.

“Team Leader Choi? What brings you here without even calling?”

“Both of you. Come with me. There’s somewhere I need to take you.”

Throughout the drive, Team Leader Choi wore an unusually stern expression.

Normally, he would have cracked one of his corny middle-aged jokes from time to time, but today he didn’t seem inclined to loosen up at all.

“Do you know what’s going on?”

“No. I have no idea either.”

Sitting in the back seat, Chae-rin and In-hye exchanged curious glances and whispered to each other, puzzled by Team Leader Choi’s unusual behavior.

“Team Leader Choi, where are we going? This road leads toward the courthouse, doesn’t it?”

As always, it was In-hye who eventually broke the awkward silence.

“Yes. We’re going to the courthouse.”

“Why there all of a sudden?”

In-hye looked slightly taken aback by the unexpected destination.

“There’s someone I’d like you and Chae-rin to meet, Doctor Jung.”

Team Leader Choi spoke seriously, glancing at the two of them through the rearview mirror.

“Who? A criminal? A witness? Who are we meeting?”

In-hye leaned forward between the front seats, her face full of curiosity.

“Remember the letter I received a while ago?”

“Yes. But why are you suddenly bringing that up…?”

In-hye tilted her head, confused by the sudden change of subject.

“Did you find out who sent it?”

At the mention of the letter, Chae-rin, who had been quietly listening until then, finally spoke up.

“Yes. I found out.”

“Who was it? And is that person all right now?”

Chae-rin leaned forward as well, her expression filled with concern.

The sender had gone so far as to write a desperate letter begging Team Leader Choi for help. Naturally, she couldn’t help worrying about what that child might have been going through.

“Not particularly. Not in the situation they’re in right now.”

“What? What do you mean?”

Chae-rin grew restless at his cryptic answer.

“You remember the incident at your school a while ago? The one where a student fell from the rooftop after a fight?”

“Don’t tell me… The student who fell was the one who sent you the letter?”

In-hye’s already large eyes widened even further.

How could something like this happen?

The thought that she had unknowingly rescued the very child she had been trying to find sent chills down her spine.

“Min-jun sent you the letter?”

Chae-rin looked utterly bewildered by the unexpected possibility.

“No. It’s the other way around.”

“What? What do you mean, the other way around?”

“The person who sent me the letter is the suspect.”

“What?!”

In-hye cried out in shock.

For a brief moment, silence filled the car.

The revelation was so far beyond anything they had imagined that Chae-rin and In-hye could only stare blankly at each other.

“Then… are you saying that the boy named Dong-gyu, who’s been all over the news lately, sent you that letter?”

In-hye asked repeatedly, unable to believe what she was hearing.

“Yes. We checked the CCTV footage at the post office and confirmed that he was the one who mailed it to me.”

“Then… are we going to the courthouse because of Dong-gyu?”

Chae-rin spoke as though she had finally begun to understand.

“Yes. We’re going there because of him.”

“Why? His investigation is already finished, and his trial is today.”

In-hye still looked unable to understand.

“Even so, I owe him a reply to that letter asking for help.”

Team Leader Choi tightened his grip on the steering wheel, his expression resolute.

Inside the Courtroom – Dong-gyu’s First Trial

Although Dong-gyu was only seventeen years old, the severity of the crime meant that his case was being tried in an ordinary criminal court rather than a juvenile court.

Reflecting the enormous public interest surrounding the case, the courtroom was already packed with reporters and spectators.

Among them sat Dong-gyu’s mother.

Throughout the proceedings, she couldn’t take her eyes off her son’s gaunt face as he sat in the defendant’s seat.

Fear and anxiety were written all over his expression.

All she could do was watch him, her heart breaking with every passing moment.

However, the four children seated in the front row of the gallery as witnesses looked remarkably calm compared to Dong-gyu.

“Defendant, is it true that you struck the victim with an iron pipe? Do you admit to striking him at least ten times, including on his buttocks and other parts of his body?”

The prosecutor pressed Dong-gyu with a dry, monotonous voice.

“…Yes.”

After hesitating briefly, Dong-gyu gave a short answer.

“But in your earlier statement, you claimed that the victim fell from the rooftop due to an accidental misstep unrelated to the assault. Is that correct?”

“…Yes. It was an accident…”

“Defendant!”

Suddenly, the prosecutor raised his voice and shouted at Dong-gyu.

“Are you seriously going to keep lying when your friend is lying in intensive care, fighting for his life because of what you did?! You pushed him, didn’t you?!”

The sudden change in the courtroom’s atmosphere drained all the color from Dong-gyu’s face.

“Your Honor, the prosecution is coercing the defendant into making a statement.”

“I acknowledge the objection. Prosecutor, please exercise caution. Defense counsel, would you like to respond to the prosecution’s argument?”

“Yes, Your Honor. But before that, we’d like to call our witnesses.”

Dong-gyu’s court-appointed defense attorney attempted to shift the direction of the proceedings by requesting witness testimony.

“You’ve requested four witnesses. Are all of them necessary?”

The judge flipped through several pages of the case documents before glancing toward the children waiting in the witness area, tilting his head slightly.

It was highly unusual for the victim’s own friends to appear in court as witnesses for the defendant.

“Yes, Your Honor. They are crucial witnesses who were present at the scene of the incident.”

“Very well. Then, Mr. Kim Dong-geon, please take the stand first.”

“Yes.”

Dong-geon answered briefly and walked toward the witness stand.

There was not the slightest hint of nervousness or hesitation in his movements.

“Let’s confirm your identity. You are Kim Dong-geon, born in 2001. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Dong-geon answered again, briefly turning his head to exchange a discreet glance with the other children.

The witness examinations continued for quite some time.

Throughout the proceedings, the children used every descriptive word they could think of to provide detailed accounts of what had happened that day.

They vividly recounted the events, explaining the situation in as much detail as possible.

Yet every testimony ultimately came down to the same conclusion:

Dong-gyu had indeed struck Min-jun with an iron pipe, but Min-jun’s fall from the rooftop had simply been an accident.

“Then let’s hear from our final witness. Please come forward and give your testimony.”

Just as Jin-woo, the final witness, was about to take his seat in the witness stand, the courtroom door suddenly opened.

A man hurried inside and handed the prosecutor a small note.

“Hah…”

The prosecutor let out a quiet sigh as he read its contents.

Sensing that something was wrong, everyone in the courtroom turned their attention toward him.

“Your Honor, there’s something I need to report.”

“What is it? Go ahead.”

“…We’ve just received news that the victim, who was being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit, has passed away.”

After a brief hesitation, the prosecutor delivered the news in a heavy voice.

“Ah…”

“Oh, my…”

Gasps and startled exclamations erupted from various parts of the gallery.

“…No way…”

But of everyone in the courtroom, Dong-gyu was the most deeply shaken.

His hands began trembling uncontrollably, like leaves caught in a violent wind.

He instinctively tried to stop them by squeezing them between his knees, but the trembling wouldn’t go away.

“Order, please. Let us observe a moment of silence for the deceased. Now, prosecution, you may proceed with questioning the witness.”

The judge calmed the commotion in the courtroom and continued the trial.

“Witness. Are you going to give the same testimony as the witnesses who came before you?”

“…”

At the prosecutor’s question, Jin-woo said nothing.

Instead, he quietly stared at Dong-gyu, who was sitting in the defendant’s seat.

Then he slowly turned his head and exchanged glances with the three other children sitting in the witness waiting area.

“Please answer the question. Are you going to give the same testimony as the previous witnesses?”

“No.”

The unexpected answer sent a wave of commotion through the courtroom.

“Are you saying you witnessed something different from what the previous witnesses described?”

The prosecutor raised his voice, visibly excited.

“Yes.”

“What did you see?”

Every pair of eyes in the courtroom turned toward Jin-woo, waiting for his answer.

“I saw Dong-gyu push Min-jun off the rooftop.”

Jin-woo spoke while looking Dong-gyu straight in the eyes.