Park Ji-hoon had a sip of his coffee. This silence after revealing was too much to bear for all of us. The atmosphere seemed to be pressing us all like air just became water.
"This refreshness was both a blessing and a curse but, at that time, I didn't know." He sighed heavily, like all the toxins were leaving his lungs.
"I wanted my family - my wife and daughter - to feel this freedom from all the social pressure and live happily." He looked into my eyes as if he was begging to receive empathy. "You would understand, Captain Kim, father to father. What kind of father would I be if I let this opportunity go." Prosecutor Kang was twitching her shoulders - small but still visible.
"So, I wrote an apology to Dr.Lee and the Church of harmony and brought my family there to set them free from all the toxicity of society. After the touch from Dr.Lee, they also became frequent visitors of the church."
He stopped to have another sip of coffee, looking into the cup. He checked his watch, then rubbed the heel of his hand across his forehead like a man fighting a sudden migraine. "Almost thirty days," he whispered, voice cracking on the number.Then, softer, almost surprised: "That's when the union boys broke."
We let the silence stretch until he could breathe again. Then he continued. "One day, Pastor Kim and his wife approached me. Said they wanted a church newspaper. I thought it was a great opportunity.Then his wife said, in an almost zen-like voice, that she wanted my daughter in her youth group, Mary of Magdala." I saw his face getting deformed as his eyes were tearing up.
"At… At that time, I thought it was a great opportunity for my daughter to have some kind of community outside from the toxic society." His tears were not stopping but falling like a waterfall.
"I.. I was happy to serve Dr.Lee and every time I met my daughter she was, too. I saw her smiling more often than before she came here. I should have known at this point but I was a blind zealous believer. I talked with my wife about how me and my daughter were lucky to be serving the Church of Harmony." He broke into a full tear, ugly and angry.
"I should have known. I was a reporter for god damn it." He banged his fist into the table.
"At first, I joined them doing volunteer work such as delivering rice to the poor neighborhood and feeding children in the adoption center. I wrote articles to glorify Dr. Lee. One thing I could tell was that she was sincere. It fooled me well. It was too late when I noticed." He banged his head hard this time.
"I was wandering around the facility and saw a room I've never seen. 'room of pleasure' it said. I heard a group of multiple females and males chatting and laughing." Prosecutor Kang's hand moved first — almost against her will — sliding the box of tissues across the table like she was pushing away evidence. Her fingers brushed the cardboard and jerked back as if it burned.
"Thank you, Prosecutor Kang." He cleaned his tears and blew his nose. "It was the den of Pastor Kim. His wife was wearing a white underwear and sitting on his knee. and Other girls were there with a few pastors involved in the church. Moreover, there were representatives serving in the municipal parliament. One of them was sitting with my daughter. She.. She was wearing nothing but white bikini, and pouring a drink into a glass while a man wrapped his arm across her shoulder.. But I did not feel anything. It was Dr.Lee's touch. I couldn't feel anger, despair and regret. All I did there was to take photos of them." He started to cry again. "I didn't and couldn't do anything. I was too deep in the Church and I couldn't rely on Dr. Lee. As far as I know, she might be in this as well."
"Well. Do you have those photos you took?" Prosecutor Kang's voice went cold - way too cold.
"...Yes I have brought with me." he pulled out multiple photos of girls in skimpy outfits - underwear, bikinis, and even topless serving man. I remembered that day clearly now. Pastor Kim's soft voice telling the women in white to let me leave, his hand light on my shoulder like a blessing. I'd felt grateful. Relieved. Now I saw the hunger underneath — the same hunger in the photo, fixed on a half-naked girl. He hadn't let me go out of kindness.He'd let me go because I wasn't his target.
Prosecutor Kang stared at the photographs for a long second. She didn't move, didn't blink. Only the muscle in her jaw jumped once, twice — like something inside was trying to punch its way out.
"My brother was fifteen", she said, voice suddenly small.Then the ice slammed back down, harder than ever: "You should have known better."
Me and Reporter Park were surprised to hear what she said.
"You have no right to cry or beg for forgiveness. You are the one who brought this to your daughter."
"But.. I just wanted-"
"Don't say you wanted her to be happy. If you did, you would have made more time for her instead of leaving her to the church. You are no better than those fathers who beat up their kids." She was berating him mercilessly.
"I… I.." Park no longer spoke. He looked up to the light again.
"You are right. I have failed my family and I need to be punished for it." He suddenly stood up and ran towards the wall. I was quick to react and apprehended him.
"What the hell are you thinking?" I cuffed him. Choi suddenly opened the door.
"Hey! what's going on?"
"Sun-ho! Apprehend him!" As soon as he grabbed and pinned down Park, I put cuffs on his arms, locking him tight.
"Let me die, Captain. She is right. I was a coward, running away from my sin and regret. I must die." He started to bang his head down on the floor.
Prosecutor Kang was frozen. "I..I didn't mean to.."
"What the heck? Hyun-su I can't pin him down much longer." Captain Choi was breathing heavily.
"Sun-ho!" I yelled at him. He looked at me holding a taser gun so stood aside and let Park go. As soon as Choi was in safe distance, I fired at Park, made him paralyzed and passed out.
She stood in the doorway a second longer than necessary, staring at Park's twitching body. Then she blinked, straightened her coat, and the prosecutor mask slid back into place.
But her knuckles were white around the remaining photographs.
"What the hell is going on and can someone explain this to me?" Choi was left wondering what was going on.
I caught my breath. "Mic off? Good. He was spilling on the church - regrets hit him hard. Tried to end it.." Choi was trying to carry him out of the room. "It was my first time seeing Dr.Lee's effect in real life." I intentionally hid the fact that Prosecutor Kang invoked Park. She seemed to be recovering - walking towards us - from her shock but her face was still in shock.
Choi flicked through the prints, separated four of the clearest ones, and slid them into his inner pocket without even looking up. "Redundancy," he said, tapping the pocket.
"If one set walks out of evidence lockup tomorrow, we're not screwed. You know how many people in this building smile at Dr. Lee on Sundays."
He handed the rest to Prosecutor Kang. Kang took them without a word, her hands steady now — but her eyes still carried the ghost of fifteen.
Classic Choi. The same guy who once kept a spare microcassette of a confession taped under his desk drawer for six months "just in case."
I didn't argue. Hell, I approved.
Only difference this time: the evidence he was safeguarding showed teenage girls in lingerie, and one of them could've passed for his daughter in four years.
We carried Park out together, Choi's pocket a little heavier than before. A faint scent of lotus incense clung to his jacket — the same cloying sweetness I remembered from the church corridor. Two weeks ago I would've thought he'd just hugged some old lady parishioner.
Tonight it smelled like rot under perfume.
As we walked out,Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. Somewhere a junior officer was vomiting in the toilet. Kang walked ahead, heels clicking too loud. Choi hummed an old church hymn under his breath — three notes, then stopped like he'd surprised himself.
None of us spoke. We didn't need to. The pictures had already said everything.
I saw the picture for the last time; the girls in the photo were like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered in the farm. Now, it was our turn to save them from the butchers.