NEFARIOUS

3. The Worst Day

I sat on the kitchen counter, the hot chocolate mug in my hands long forgotten.

" So you don't have class tomorrow ?" lillian broke the silence.

"Depends on the chief. He said to visit the psycho tomorrow. Yippeee he is a psycho and a cannibal! Wow! ".

"Here you go again. Joon told me he would come soon, it's almost been an hour since he left."

"Hook up? Whatever it is I won't let anyone stay here other than you. "

"Nope, he got good looks though. New blind date dad set up for me. Not gonna settle . I don't want my life to be played by some rich assholes and well, I had to act like I give a f**k about this dating thing or ma dad's gonna kill me". She said throwing her hands. Yap, she's a rich girl. That remind me of...

"hah, reminds me, my dad has been on ma back about marrying someone and when he saw that I ain't gonna marry so soon, now he's strict about me atleast dating someone or he's gonna set me up for blind dates."

"Lol y/n, you haven't dated anyone in your entire life and you're gonna marry? Pfft." oh Lils you don't know my life. If dates were a person, he would have said bye to the world long ago.

Her phone started ringing. After some time she came back.

" who was that? "

" oh. It was joon. He told me he can't stay over, something came up. Anyway he'll come over and leave. "

That's a relief. I hope he's not gonna come.

As if on cue the doorbell rang loudly.

And lils ran to the door. I couldn't care less.

The air is suddenly rent by the sound of breaking glass. I quickly scrambled on feet to see what the commotion was.

Wow, there laid my precious flower vase shattered to million pieces and a guy on the middle of the floor with my Ranunculuses on his head and lap and some crushed beneath his thick ass.

"What the f**k have you done you asshole"

"It ain't my fault that you kept your vase near my hand reach".

Then is the fault.......

"you?"

We both screamed at the same time when his face came to the view.

" I'm gonna call the police."

" sure, as if they are gonna arrest me."

"why, do you have horns for them to not arrest you?"

" Having horns is your specialty, you're the devil here and they won't arrest me because I didn't do anything".

"Barging into someone's house is an offense according to section ......."

"Woah hol'up, first of all I didn't barge, I was invited to stay over and secondly, judging from the way you seem to know about the section number of offenses, I'm sure that you are aware of the fact that, Enjoyment of one's property without any intrusion is the right of every person and the act of curtailment of such right is what makes trespass an offence."

" Argh f**k you, anyway what are you? "

" I'm a human. "

" wow from your looks, I mistook you for an animal. "

" Enough guys! What are you, 5? Joon have a seat . I'll clean the mess".

I would have hit this joon guy with the shards of glass if only lils wasn't there.

I remembered the joon asshole from my high school . He was such a pain in the ass. Well, we were like mongoose and snake. The main reason I hated him was because, I almost failed the last semester cuz of this dickhead. Well, there was this proffessor, he was a short tempered fat bastard and when he would get angry, he was as angry as a horse with an itchy nose. I low-key loved to make him angry. Anyway, I was late that day and when I peeped into Mr.itchy's class I saw that he was scolding some students like they ate his donut. After all, he repeated what he taught for 2 months continuously. So I decided to skip his class. joon was late too, he entered the class, when he noticed that the proffessor was scolding them, the thick bastard ran out the class and the proffessor called him back and that dickhead said he ran out to call me who was skipping class. So the proffessor told him to call me and come back. He came and told me that professor allowed us to enter the class. So, I went with him, but that shitty proffessor scolded me like there was no tomorrow and told that, he would fail me that semester. I had to pull an all nighter for days as a punishment. Phew-. Yh that's the reason I hate that fucker. I knew that joon's father was someone prominent in the FBI section. Who can it be?

"My brain is on five percent battery, I'm gonna sleeeeeeeeep, Bye. "

I called out to the two. Who knows if they heard me or not. Sighing, I jumped on my bed and drifted off to sleep.

.______________________________________.

*timeskip * morning.

I woke up the next morning hearing the rattling of utensils.

" When did he leave ? "

" around 12."

" aww. What a nice friend. Are those pancakes for me?"

" yep for you to look and for me to eat." she cackled.

"selfish bish."

With that, I washed up and sat at the dining table. At first I thought that my eyesight was bad, but then I realized that everything she cooked was burnt.

I didn't have the energy to complain, so I ate whatever she made and made my way to the car.

. ____________________________________.

Dr. Dae jung ,administrator of the gonjiam psychiatric hospital for the Criminally Insane. He remained seated behind his desk when I entered his office.

“We’ve had a lot of detectives here, but I can’t remember one so attractive. ”

He said without getting up.

“It is Han Y/N, isn’t it?”

“ uh, no it is Park. Park Y/N. Thanks for your time.”

“So the FBI is going to the girls like everything else, ha, ha.” He added the

tobacco smile he uses to separate his sentences.

“The Bureau’s improving, Dr.jung and is there a reason for girls to not be enrolled in FBI? ”

“ No, no problem. Will you be in gyeonggi for several days? You know, you can have a good time here as you can in seoul or Daegu, if you know the town.”

I looked away to spare myself his smile and knew that he had registered my distaste. “I’m sure it’s a great town, but my instructions are to see Dr. Byeong and report back this afternoon.”

“Is there some place I could call you in seoul for a follow-up, later on?”

“I don't know. Special Agent Mr. Choi’s in charge of this project, and you can reach me through him.”

“I see,” jung said. His cheeks, mottled with pink, clashed with the improbable brown of his thick overcoat.

“Give me your identification, please.” He let me remain standing through his leisurely examination of my ID card. Then he handed it back and rose from his seat.

“This won’t take much time. Come along.”

“I knew that you’d brief me, Dr. Jung,” I said.

“I can do that while we walk.” He came around his desk, looking at his

watch. “I have a lunch in half an hour.”

“Dr. Jung,I have an appointment with you now. It was set at your convenience. Things could come up during the interview.I may need to go over some of his responses with you.”

“I really, really doubt it. Oh, I need to make a call before we go.I’ll catch up with you in the outer office.”

“I'll take a quick look around here then.”

There stood a man with chipped tooth looking at me with a wide smile. He extended his hand to me. I took it. "Melei" he told. "Y/N" I smiled back.

He handed me a cup of Starbucks.

Melei wore the pajama like garment issued to the inmates.

He rolled his tongue around in his cheek as he handed me the coffee. "can you show me around?"

"of course" . He replied

Thank you.

“You’re more than welcome, sweetie. How often do you s**t?” Melei asked.

“........ Umm, what ?” I almost choked on the coffee.

“Does it come out lo-o-o-o-nnng?”

What the absolute f**k. As if my job's to note down the length and size of s**t. What the f**k! Gross.....

“I’ll look around myself.”

“You don’t have anything in the way you can bend over and watch it come out.” .

“Dr. Jung wants you in his office, right now. ” I said.

“No I don’t,” Dr. Jung called from where he was.

The maniac bastard caught my hand and started pulling me.

"you yellow toothed, good for nothing bastard, let go of my jacket or I would make your intestines come out of your shitty, nasty and smelly asshole, you fucker."

I tried to kick him in his crotch, but he dodged it and gave me a wicked grin pointing out his yellow misplaced teeth.

“Melei, go to your cell right now and don't come out while we’re gone.Do it."

“Are you armed?” jung turned to Me.

“Nope.”

“May I see your handbag ?”

“ I told you I'm unarmed and besides you have seen my credentials.”

“And they say you’re a student. Let me see your things, please.”

. ___________________________________.

I flinched as the first of the heavy steel gates clashed shut behind me . Jung walked slightly ahead, down the green institutional corridor which held an eerie atmosphere.

I was angry at myself for letting jung put his hand in my bag. I persuaded myself that it was all right.

“byeong’s a considerable nuisance,” jung said over his shoulder.

“It takes the staff at least ten minutes a day to remove the staples from the publications he receives. We tried to eliminate or reduce his subscriptions, but he wrote a brief and the court overruled us. Every little student doing a master’s thesis in psychology wanted something from byeong in it. The medical journals still publish him.”

“His works are pretty logic.” I said.

“We tried to study byeong. We thought, ‘Here’s an opportunity to make a landmark study’ it’s so rare to get one alive.”

“One what?”

“A pure sociopath, that’s obviously what he is. But he’s impenetrable, much too sophisticated for the standard tests. And, my, he hate us. He thinks I’m his nemesis. Choi’s very clever isn’t he? Using you on byeong .”

“what do you mean?”

“A young and pretty woman to ‘turn him on,’. I don’t think Byeong has seen a woman in several years. maybe he have gotten a glimpse of one of the cleaning people. We generally keep women out of there.

Well f**k off, jung. “I graduated from the University with honors, Mr. jung. It’s not a charm school and for what you said about turning him on, Do I look like a w***e? I think you're the one who's so thirsty here. I would prefer you rather not say things you don't know”.

The baffled look on his face was satisfying, oh lord. He cleared his throat and looked away. I could tell was pretty trusfrated. lol. I'm pretty blunt.

“Then you should be able to remember the rules: Do not reach through the bars, do not touch the bars. You pass him nothing but soft paper. No pens, no pencils. He has his own felt-tipped pens some of the time. The paper you pass him must be free of staples, paper clips, or pins. Items are only passed to him through the sliding food carrier. Items come back out through the sliding food carrier. No exceptions. Do not accept anything he attempts to hold out to you through the barrier. Do you understand me?”

That was long mahn and he rushed it all out.

“yep.”

The hallway lights were covered with heavy grids, like the lights in the engine rooms of ships. Dr. Jung paused beneath one. When our footsteps stopped, I could hear somewhere beyond the wall the ragged end of a voice ruined by shouting.

“byeong is never outside his cell without wearing full restraints and a

mouthpiece,” jung said. “He was a model of cooperation for the first year after he was committed. Security around him was lightly relaxed. On one afternoon, he complained of chest pain and he was taken to the dispensary. His restraints were removed to make it easier to give him an electrocardiogram. When the nurse bent over him, he did this to her.” jung handed me a dog-eared photograph.

“The doctors managed to save one of her eyes. Byeong was hooked up to the monitors the entire time. He broke her jaw to get at her tongue. His pulse never got over eighty-five, even when he swallowed it.”

I didn’t know which was worse, the photograph or jung’s attention

as he peered at my face with fast beady eyes. He looked like a thirsty chicken pecking tears off my face.

“I keep him in here,” jung said, and pushed a button beside heavy double

doors of security glass. I made a tough decision and stopped just inside the doors. “Dr.jung, we really need these test results. If Dr.byeong feels you’re his enemy if he’s fixed on you, just as you’ve said, we might have more luck if I approached him by myself. So I would like to interview him by myself. ”

His cheek twitched. “That’s perfectly fine with me. You might have

suggested that in my office. I could have sent someone else with you and saved the time.”

“I would've, if you briefed me there.”

“I don’t think I’ll see you again, Ms.YN, Mina , when she's done, please show her out.”

He left without looking at me again.

It’s past the others, the last cell on the right. I hope you follow the rules.”

Mina instructed me. Rules are made to be broken, lady.

“You just put it in the tray and let it roll through. If the tray’s inside, you can pull it back with the cord, or he can send it back. He can’t reach you where the tray stops outside.” Mina gave me two magazines, their loose pages spilling out.

The corridor was about 2 meters long, with cells on both sides. Some were padded cells with an observation window, long and narrow. I was aware of the figures in the cells, but I tried not to look at them. I was more than halfway down when a voice hissed,

“I can smell your cunt.” I gave no sign that I heard it, and went on.

The lights were on in the last cell. I moved towards the left side of the

corridor to see into it.I approached it,knowing my heels announced me.

Dr. Byeong’s cell is well beyond the others, facing only a closet across the

corridor, and it is unique in other ways. The front is a wall of bars, but within the bars, is a second barrier, a stout nylon net stretched from floor to ceiling wall to wall. Behind the net, I could see a table bolted to the floor and piled high with softcover books and papers, and a straight chair, also fastened down.

Dr. Byeong ho himself reclined on his bunk, looking at the japanese edition

of Vogue. He held the loose pages in his right hand and put them beside him one by one with his left. Dr.byeong had six fingers on his left hand. I stopped at a little distance from the bars.

“Dr. Byeong .”

He looked up from his reading.

For a steep second I thought his gaze hummed, but it was only my blood that I heard.

"I'm park Y/N. May I talk with you?” .

Dr. Byeong observed , his finger pressed against his pursed lips. Then he rose in his own time and came forward smoothly in his cage, stopping short of the nylon web without looking at it, as though he chose the distance.

I could see that he was small, sleek; in his hands and arms I saw wiry strength like my own.

“Good morning,” he said, as if he had answered the door.

His cultured voice had a slight metallic rasp beneath it, possibly from disuse.

Dr. Byeong’s eyes were maroon and they reflected the light in pinpoints of red.

Sometimes the points of light seemed to fly like sparks to his center. His eyes held me whole.

I came at a measured distance closer to the bars. The hair on my forearms

rose and pressed against my sleeves.

“Doctor, we have a hard problem in psychological profiling. I want to ask

you for your help.”

“‘We’ being Behavioral Science. You’re one of choi’s students I guess.”

“I am.”

“Can I see your ID ?”

“I showed them at the … office.”

“You mean you showed them to Dae jung ?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see his ID?”

“Nope? ”

“The academic ones don’t make extensive reading, I can tell you. Did you meet Melei? Isn’t he charming? Which of them would you rather talk with? Melei or jung? ”

“On the whole, I’d say Melei.”

“You could be a reporter that jung let in for money. I think I’m entitled to see your ID.”

“All right.” I held up my laminated ID card.

“I can’t read it at this distance, send it through, please.”

“I can’t.”

“Because it’s hard.”

“But-”

“Ask Mina.”

She came and said, “Dr. Byeong , I’ll let this come through. But if you don’t return it when I ask you to if we have to bother everybody and secure you to get it, then I’ll be upset. If you upset me, you’ll have to stay bundled up until I feel better towards you. Meals through the tube and I’ll hold your mail for a week. Got it?”

“Certainly, mina.”

The card rolled through on the tray and Dr. Byeong held it to the light.

“A trainee? It says ‘trainee.’ Choi sent a trainee to interview me?”

He tapped the card against his small white teeth and breathed in its smell.

“Dr. Byeong ,” Mina said.

“Of course.” He put the card back in the tray carrier and Mina pulled it to the outside.

“I’m still training at the Academy. ” I said, “but we’re not discussing the FBI we’re talking about psychology. Can you decide if I’m qualified in what we talk about?”

“Ummmm,” Dr. Byeong seemed to think over it for a second.

“Actually … that’s rather slippery of you. Mina, can you get Officer park, a chair?”

“ thank you,” I said.

Mina brought a folding chair from the locked closet across the hall, set it

up, and left us.

“Now,” Byeong said, sitting sideways at his table to face me, “what did shin say to you?”

“Who?”

“kim shin, in the cell down there. He hissed at you. What did he say?”

“He said, ‘I can smell your cunt.’”

“I see. You use CeraVe skin cream, and sometimes you wear Chanel N°5, but not today. Today you are determinedly unperfumed. How do you feel about what shin said?”

“He’s hostile for reasons I don't know. It’s too bad. He’s hostile to people and people are hostile to him. It’s a loop.”

“Are you hostile to him?”

“I think he’s noisy. How did you know about the perfume?”

“A puff from your bag when you got out your card. Your bag is lovely.”

“Thank you.”

“You brought your favorite one, didn't you?”

“Yes.” It was true. I had saved for the classic casual handbag, and it was one of the best items I owned.

I ran my eyes through his cell.

There were some scribbling and doodling on the walls.

"Did you draw them?" I asked him.

"Do you think I called in a decorator?"

"the one over the sink is the Seoul Tower. Cherry blossoms in front of it." he said.

“Did you do it from memory, all the details?” I was awed at the drawing.

“Memory, Officer park, is what I have instead of a view.”

"How is Kim? How does he look?”

“I don’t know any kim in the department .”

“You know who he is. Choi’s protégé. One of the best students he have. How does his face look?”

“I’ve never seen him.”

“This is called ‘cutting up a few old touches,’ Officer park, you don’t

mind do you?”

Beats of silence and I plunged.

“Better than that, we could touch up a few old cuts here. I brought—”

“No. No, that’s stupid and wrong. Listen, understanding a witticism and replying to it makes your subject perform a quick scan. It is on the plank of mood that we proceed. You were doing fine, you’d been courteous and receptive to courtesy, you’d established trust by telling the embarrassing truth about shin, and then you come in with a ham-handed interruption into your questionnaire. It won’t do.”

“Dr. Byeong, you’re an experienced clinical psychiatrist. Do you think I’m dumb enough to try to run some kind of mood scam on you? Give me some

credit. I’m asking you to respond to the questionnaire, and you will or you won’t. You're saying it as if it's gonna hurt you. It won't, would it ?”

“Officer park, have you read any of the papers coming out of Behavioral

Science recently?”

“Yes.”

“So have I. The FBI stupidly refuses to send me the Law Enforcement

Bulletin, but I get it from secondhand dealers and I can know the news from the psychiatric journals. They’re dividing the people who practice serial murder into two groups : organized and disorganized. What do you think of that?”

“I think that it’s … fundamental, they evidently....

“Simplistic is the word you want. In fact, most psychology is puerile, Officer park, and that practiced in Behavioral Science is on a level with phrenology.Psychology doesn’t get very good material to start with. Go to any college's psychology department and look at the students and faculty: radio enthusiasts and other personality-deficient buffs. There are hardly any good brains on the campus. Organized and disorganized a real bottom-feeder thought of that. How would you change the classification?"

“I won’t. Speaking of publications, I read your pieces on surgical addiction .”

“Yes, they were first-rate,” Dr. Byeong said.

" I thought so, and so did sir choi. He pointed them out to me. That’s

one reason he’s anxious for you”.

“Choi the Stoic is anxious? He must be busy if he’s recruiting help from

the student body.”

“He is, and he wants.... ”

“Busy with zodiac ripper.”

“I think so.”

“No. Not ‘I think so', Officer park, you know perfectly well it’s zodiac ripper. I thought choi might have sent you to ask me about that.”

“No.”

“Then you’re not working around to it.”

“No, I came because we need your...”

“What do you know about zodiac ripper?”

“Nobody knows much.”

“Has everything been in the papers?”

“I think so. Dr. Byeong , I haven’t seen any confidential material on that case,my job is... ”

“How many women has zodiac ripper used?”

“The police have found five.”

“All skinned?”

“Partially, yes.”

“The news never explained his name. Do you know why he’s called zodiac ripper ?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me.”

“I’ll tell you if you’ll look at this questionnaire.”

“I’ll look, that’s all. Now, why?”

“It started as a bad joke in Hwaseong city homicide.”

“Yes…?

" That's all I know for now. ”

I discovered that I traded feeling frightened or feeling cheap.

Of the two, I preferred feeling frightened.

“Send through the questionnaire.”

I rolled the blue paper through on the tray. I sat still while byeong

flipped through it.

He dropped it back in the carrier. “Oh, Officer park, do you think you can

dissect me with this blunt little tool?”

“No. I think you can provide some insight and advance this study.”

“And what possible reason could I have to do that?”

“Curiosity.”

“About what?”

“About why you’re here. About what happened to you.”

“Nothing happened to me, Officer park. I happened. You’ve given up good and evil for behaviorism, Officer park. Nothing is ever anybody’s fault. Look at me, Officer park. Can you say that I’m evil? Am I evil, Ms. park?”

“I think you're destructive. For me it’s the same thing. But nobody's born evil, sometimes situations change them and sometimes it's what fate has for them.”

“Evil’s just destructive? Then storms are evil, if it’s that simple. And we have fire, and then there’s hail. People lump it all under ‘Acts of God.'

“Deliberate.... ”

“Did you see the recent landslide in

Chungcheong? Marvelous! The land fell on at least sixty-five homes at a special Mass.Was that evil? If so, who did it? If He’s up there, He just loves it, Officer park.”

“I can’t explain to you, Doctor, but I know who can.”

He stopped me with his upraised hand. His hand was shaped well, I noted, and the middle finger perfectly replicated. It is the rarest form of polydactyly. He certainly gives two f***s. Lol.

When he spoke again, his tone was soft and pleasant. “You’d like to quantify me, Officer park. You’re so ambitious, aren’t you? Do you know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube.

" rube?" wtf is rube. Is it an insult or what?

"miss Park, you're a weird, unsophisticated and a naive girl. You’re a well-scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. Your eyes are like cheap birthstones,all surface shine when you stalk some little answer. And you're bright behind them, aren’t you? "

He said in the kindest of tones.

It angered me when he talked about me and I was a bit angry that he could read me. It made me feel self conscious and uncomfortable. I've always wanted to be unknown. Heck, I always used the name unknown whenever username was asked.

I raised my head to face him.

You see a lot Dr. I won’t deny

anything you’ve said. But here’s the question you’re answering for me right now, whether you mean to or not: Are you strong enough to point that high-powered perception at yourself? It’s hard to face. I’ve found that out in the last few minutes. How about it? Look at yourself and write down the truth. What more fit or complex subject could you find? Or maybe you’re afraid of yourself.”

“You’re tough, aren’t you, Officer park ?”

" yes. I'm.”

“And you’d hate to think you were common. Wouldn’t that sting? My! Well you’re far from common, Officer park . All you have is fear of it.

Has anyone ever sent you a Valentine?” that was kinda sudden.

“Yep.”

“Valentine’s Day is only a week away, hmmmm, are you expecting some?”

“I don't know .”

“No, you never do.… I’ve been thinking about Valentine’s Day. It reminds me of something funny. Now that I think of it,I could make you very happy on Valentine’s Day, park Y/N.”

“How?” lol the thought of him being my valentine crossed mind for a split second it was so funny I almost laughed out.

“By sending you a wonderful Valentine. I’ll have to think about it. Now please excuse me. Good-bye, Officer park.”

“And the study?”

“A census taker tried to quantify me once. I ate his liver with some fava

beans and a big Amarone. Go back to school, little Missy park.”

Byeong ho, polite to the last, did not give me his back. He stepped

backward from the barrier before he turned to his cot again, and lying on it, became as remote from me as a stone crusader lying on a tomb.

I felt suddenly empty, as though I had lost blood. I took longer than necessary to put the papers back in my briefcase because I didn’t immediately trust my legs. I was soaked with the failure I detested. I folded the chair and leaned it against the utility closet door. Mina in the distance appeared to be reading. I started back down the corridor.

Close beside me, shin’s voice hissed, “I bit my wrist so I can diiiieeeeeeeee, see how it bleeds?”

I should have called mina but, startled, I looked into the cell and saw shin flick his fingers and felt the warm spatter on my cheek and shoulder, before I could turn away.

I got away from him, registered that it was his gross semen, not blood, and byeong was calling to me, I could hear him. Dr. Byeong ’s voice behind me, the cutting rasp in it more clear."

Officer park.

He was up and calling after me as I walked. I rummaged in my bag for tissues.

I was on the cold rails of my control now, making steady progress toward

the gate.

“Officer park.” A new note in byeong’s voice.

I stopped. What in God’s name did I do to deserve this humiliation?

I stood again in front of Byeong ’s cell and saw the rare spectacle of the

doctor agitated. I knew that he could smell it on me.

“I would not have had that happen to you. Discourtesy is unspeakably ugly to me.”

As if committing murders was giving blessings to others. maybe, it excited him to see me marked in this particular way.

Whatever it is, use it, Jesus! I held up my briefcase. “Please do this for me.”

Maybe I was too late; he was calm again.

“No. But I’ll make you happy that you came. I’ll give you something else.

I’ll give you what you love the most, Ms. Park y/n.”

“What’s it?”

“Advancement, of course.Valentine’s

Day made me think of it.”

“Look in Chun hae's car

for your Valentines. Did you hear me?"