He headed towards Arthur's shop quickly.
Even during the ride, a tear lingered in his eye.
He let it linger there until it finally fell.
He slammed his foot harder on the race, putting great force.
"Motherfu*ker…y-you lied." He muttered, voice coming off as broken.
Arthur was also aware of what could happen.
He had been in this crime shit before, too; he knew what the police could do.
Arthur was not inside the shop; he was outside his shop, where he could see the fields spreading across the stretch of land as if they owned it.
He was out to breathe some fresh air and see the orange sky.
"Life fades away just how this Sun sets…new lives fade in just how the Sun rises. It's a confirmation that we all will die one day," Athur muttered to himself while he was seeing the field.
His heart was feeling lighter, unsure of why it was.
Si-Hun, on the other side, was getting questions asked on and on.
He was still really uneasy.
After the questioning was done, he was standing alone in a dark corner when he saw an officer passing by, the same officer who talked to Minjun.
"Hey…officer. Why isn't your senior officer, Minjun, here?" Si-Huna sked, worry spiking in his tone.
"Why would you ask this?"
"Did you not talk to him? Wasn't he your head?"
"Aish, we did talk to him. He hung up the phone. Of course, it would hurt when YOU did something horrible, and now, there isn't even a drop of guilt visible on your face," The officer mocked him.
"He hung up…?" Si-Hun said as his heart clenched.
The officer left from there.
Si-Hun didn't look here and there and immediately left the area, hidden from everyone's eyes by using the shadow veil.
He immediately sat on his bike and started the engine.
As soon asit accelerated, he fled off to Arthur's.
The speed clicked 120km/h in no time.
While riding, Si-Hun asked Kuro.
"Kuro! Can I use teleportation!?"
"Master! You already used so much power there! Teleportation over long distances is REALLY fatiguing, and you would really feel fatigued!" Kuro shouted, trying to keep his voice louder than the wind.
Si-Hun clenched his jaw, eyes tense as ever.
"No…no…!" He kept muttering under his breath.
With each passing minute, his heartbeat was rising, really RISING.
[Arthur's Shop]
Minjun looked into his eyes with his gaze sharp enough to pierce through glass.
Arthur didn't hold back and stared back, eyes silently apologizing.
"Young man-
He was cut off when Minjun took out his gun and pointed it right at him.
"You lied to me," Minjun spoke, voice dangerously low and calm, though the trembling in his voice betrayed him.
"Arthur…I'm talking about something…YOU LIED TO ME!" He shouted, voice rougher now.
Arthur was helpless, yes, he did lie, not out of some bad intention, but a purpose.
He just looked at him, eyes still vulnerable but strong.
Minjun's gun was trembling in his hand.
"Y-you told me Si-Hun was a normal predator…you told me he meant no harm, so I sent Baek Hyeon to keep an eye on him to know if it's true…turns out…It wasn't. HA! You fooled me!" Minjun was getting more intense.
"Arthur…you succeeded in fooling me! Why aren't you celebrating your victory!? You won!" Minjun said, laughing.
Minjun looked at his gun.
"A lie I made wasn't for that purpose…I didn't know someone would…die. You were the one whose greed was visible in his eyes the day you came to talk to me. This law and police, they're all greedy, they're all always trying to print money! Don't say you're not like that…I could see it in your eyes!" Arthur said, revealing the truth he had been hiding in his chest for more than a decade.
The pain of his lost son tore out of him at this moment.
Minjun scoffed.
Si-Hun was still in the way.
The wind seemed to stop him, the road seemed to stop him, his warned bike seemed to warn him.
Sweat was dripping from his forehead even in winters.
"You think I'll believe you? NEVER."
"Your eyes can betray you, your mind can gaslight you, your heart can restrict you. Be careful, Officer," Arthur spoke, voice low and rough as if it carried the weight of that silent grief he kept to himself.
Minjun's grip tightened on his gun, his finger sliding into the trigger, face wicked.
"You took away something precious from me…Now, I will take something precious from you. Brace yourself…" Minjun said as he looked directly at Arthur.
Arthur didn't say anything; he accepted it.
"Death would have found me even if I hid somewhere no one could reach. It…would've found me…it would've found me."
"He will come, MINJUN," Arthur continued.
He knew Si-Hun was not so dumb as not to not pay attention.
Minjun knew it too; Si-Hun wasn't ordinary.
This was the exact time…
He came…
"He came…I told you he'd come."
Si-Hun's eyes widened in horror as he quickly got off his bike.
Minjun knew it.
Minjun did something no one expected.
He glanced at Si-Hun and did what would win him this time.
He shot his leg.
Si-Hun groaned as he stumbled.
Minjun then turned to Arthur and…pulled the trigger.
The metal clicked against the gun and snapped.
The sound echoed in the area.
Minjun already knew this guy was fast; he would save him if he didn't shoot early, but he wanted to ask Arthur about the lie for his satisfaction.
Kuro, standing there, stopped.
"Arthur…'' He whispered.
He saw his master stumbling and dragging his dead leg to reach his mentor…"His father…" He muttered.
"MINJUN NO!" Si-Hun screamed, the words tore out of him, REALLY harsh as he stumbled to run to Arthur.
Arthur didn't shout or say anything as the bullet screeched his skin and went through his organs.
He held his chest and looked at the blood in his hand.
"You lied to protect this man. Your lie cost me my brother, and your own life too," Minjun spoke.
"Lie?" Si-Hun thought.
Arthur's mouth dripped blood, too.
Si-Hun's leg was almost lifeless, but his spirit was not.
Seeing his mentor, his father, die in front of his eyes like this…his heart twisted, his eyes glossy as he dragged himself to Arthur.
Minjun took some steps back and looked at his gun, realizing what he had done.
There were no bullets left.
"I crossed a line..."
"I...I still...lost." He muttered.
"I took a human life with my own hands," Minjun whispered to himself.
He couldn't betray the law.
He looked at Si-Hun and Arthur, their vulnerability.
One loss, a thousand consequences.
Si-Hun was on the edge.
He reached Arthur and held him tight.
"ARTHUR! ARTHUR! LOOK AT ME, ARTHUR! DON'T…YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME SO EARLY!" Si-Hun said, his voice rising with each word.
Arthur finally looked at his face, covered with mud and blood.
"Young man, save that spirit…Don't waste it on me…You're a strong man, from the day when I first saw…I could see it in your eyes. I would've left if it were early or later…Death finds everyone; no one is spared. You still have life ahead of you, live it, son. Live every moment."
Si-Hun's breath hitched as he heard the word "son" from Arthur's mouth.
"Arthur…" Si-Hun spoke, voice broken.
"I have one last favor to ask you…keep my shop the same as it is. Keep it safe and check it…That place holds too much for me for me to abandon it at my ending time." Arthur said as he coughed one last time.
The Sun had almost set.
The sky was an abstraction of orange and yellow.
"Over and out, young man…!" Arthur said, smiling as he took his last breath, looking at Si-Hun with something in his eyes that even Si-Hun couldn't explain.
Arthur never forgot saying this…not even at his ending time.
Even Kuro felt the weight of that goodbye, a true father's sacrifice.
With that…Arthur's legs grew heavy, and he fell from Si-Hun's arms.
Si-Hun held him immediately and sat on the ground with him.
He stared at Arthur's face before running his hand over his eyes to close them.
It was almost night, and a small thunder hit the sky.
One drop of rain fell, then another.
In a few minutes, the rain got a little heavier, not loud, but heavy.
He looked up at the sky, then looked down.
The raindrops fell on him and drenched his hair and his leather jacket.
He was so helpless.
Everything was against this man, right?
He couldn't save anyone, not even the man who called him his son, even when his own father never did.
Not even the man who saw him when no one else did.
Not even the man who encouraged him to go ahead in darkness when all his intentions were for him to find light after darkness.
Si-Hun was on his knees for his mentor.
His respect was on top for this man.
He gave him too much in his life…even his own life.
A sob escaped his mouth.
Then another.
His sobs were as helpless as him, quiet and powerless.
Tears slipped from his eyes.
The raindrops mixed with his tears.
The blood on the ground was spread over the road, and the water now spread it even more.
The rain witnessed his grief and felt the presence of heaviness, not the loud kind, but the kind that people almost brush off.
Each raindrop was aware.
Si-Hun's body couldn't take the shock of such a beloved man's death.
His lower lip trembled as he looked at Arthur's lifeless body lying there.
This was the same man who had called this lost man his son, the same man who had taught this man what he needed to know.
Arthur died, but he fulfilled the role of a father to a son who needed it the most.
Si-Hun got up and picked Arthur up.
Minjun was drenched too.
If he wanted, he could've killed Minjun right there...but then, then what difference would there be in between them?
He didn't lay a hand on him; he knew Arthur would tell him not to if he was alive.
"He could've killed me if he wanted...the why didn't he? I took away probably the most precious one from him. " Minjun asked himself in his thought.
'Why didn't you kill me?" Minjun finally asked.
"If I were to kill you, then it would've been out of rage, not a reason or purpose. There wouldn't be a line separating us, then." Si-Hun replied, voice low and raspy.
Minjun's eyes twitched.
"I couldn't control myself...I didn't live up to this." He murmured to himself.
At the time, he could hear police sirens approaching the area.
Minjun didn't leave.
The police came and pointed their guns at Si-Hun.
"Why did you leave the site!?" An officer asked Si-Hun.
They saw the body in his arms.
"I didn't kill him," Si-Hun whispered, head low.
"I didn't kill Baek Hyeon," He muttered to Minjun.
"He is…saying the truth?" Minjun thought.
"We see a dead body in the suspect's hand." The officer informed on the radio.
"You killed this man!" An officer shouted.
"I killed him." Minjun spoke.
Everyone froze, including Si-Hun.
He slowly lifted his head, which was low.
Minjun didn't look into his eyes.
"I committed a murder, and I shall face the consequences."
"He didn't kill Baek Hyeon." Minjun continued.
"I will take the blame for his death on me. I was the one who sent him there. Arrest me." Minjun whispered.
Si-Hun's breath hitched, but he didn't say anything.
"But-
The officer was cut off by Minjun.
"I can't go against the law. I order you to arrest me. I am now a criminal at this time, not your boss," Minjun spoke.
The officers hesitantly stepped forward and put handcuffs around Minjun's hands.
Before leaving in the police car, Minjun looked one last time at Si-Hun and bowed in respect.
"You saved him…You saved him from dying in misery." Minjun said to Si-Hun.
After that, the police cars left.
No one could put handcuffs around Si-Hun's hands.
Minjun took the consequences, not the blame.
The day wrapped up, and the Sun set as Arthur left the world.
The night was dark and heavy with unspoken words lingering in the air.
Si-Hun sat outside Arthur's shop and waited for the ambulance he had called to take his body away and bury him tomorrow.
He looked at the fields, and the rain was getting heavier now.
The ambulance arrived in sometime and took Arthur away.
Si-Hun planned his funeral himself.
Si-Hun stayed by Arthur's side the whole time.