The Cursed One : The Darkside of The World

The Mysterious Case Of Missing Children - 2

Jin always hates k********g and wants to punish hard all the kidnappers. He is familiar with the k********g case, he once ever being kidn*pped when he was a child, more than 6 years ago, and almost died before he manages to escape and survive. Not only him, Youra, his first love, and many other children are also being kidn*pped by the Iron Fist horde that leads them to the final battle with Rot'un Jere in The Valley of The Flying Clouds. All those memories are traveling inside his brain as if they happened yesterday.

Jin wakes up from his reverie when the old servant comes and brings his ordered food.

"Here is your order, Young Man." The old servant said.

"My name is Jin, Sir." Jin said as he preferred to be called by his name. "Do you know about the missing children case that happened lately around this town?" Jin asked.

The old servant looking at Jin while continuing his works to serve the food on the table. "Are you new in this city, Jin?" He asked back.

"Yes, I just come this evening and saw a young mother crying in the road looking for her lost kid. Also, a few men in here talk about it."

"Hmm..." The old servant seems to think for a while. "I only know a little about it. It begins a few months ago when an old merchant is looking around for his last and only one son. He cried like a crazy person while circling the city before the guards come and take him away. The rumor said if he has 5 children and 4 of his first children are girls and the last one is a boy. He loved his son very much that's why he become half crazy like that when he knows his son is missing. The guards and several citizens were searching for the missing kid for days, inside and outside the city to the nearest village, even to the deep of the forest, but the kid was never been found. The search stopped after a few days without a good result. A few days after, another child was missing again, this time an 8 years old girl, and nobody could found her either." The old servant stopped his story when a customer called him. "Wait a moment." He answered that customer. "I am sorry, Jin. I have to go. I hope you enjoy your meal." The old servant said for the last time before he goes to the other customer that called him.

Although the old servant's story was not complete, Jin can get the major line that this missing children case is still unsolved. "Could it be that the old case has happened again?" Jin asked himself. "But that is impossible. None of them survived." Jin refutes his question.

"Krruuuuukkk!" Jin's stomach is trembling again. He thinks too much about the missing child's case and forgot that the food has been served in front of him. Jin starts to eat the food before it becomes cold and he surprises after the first bite because the food tastes very good. For a moment he forgets about the missing children case and focuses to finish his food. The starvation also makes him eating voraciously.

***

Jin walks towards his inn, his stomach has full and his energy feels refilled. One thing that made him surprise is the price that he has to pay for all the foods that he ordered. He only had to pay 5 bronze for all those delicious food, and he still has another 5 bronze coins in his pocket. He is very grateful to be able to meet that food tavern and planned to visit it again when he comes to this city again in the future.

"Drap... Drap... Drap..." Jin suddenly heard the voice of people running behind him. It's the Xian City guards who are running in a hurry.

"Move away! Move away!" One of them who seems to be the commander said to everyone, including Jin, to make a way for them.

Jin and everyone on the road immediately moves aside to let them pass through first. Jin's intuition said if something has happened that makes the guards moved to that place. Jin's curiosity makes him trailing behind the guards, but, the guards are heading outside the city and makes him unable to follows them again.

Jin is in front of two options now, he forces to follow the guards or going back to the inn. After thinking for a moment, Jin decides to go back to the inn, he will sleep and wait until tomorrow morning, there must be news about what happened this night.

***

THE NEXT MORNING

Jin feels very refreshed after taking a bath. He is now heading to the road as his inn rent-time has over because only pays for one night. He walks to the center of the city to get any news about last night's incident.

The center of the city is not too crowd in the morning like this, even the nighttime is more crowded than this time. Jin just walks around without trying to ask anyone. When he arrives at the front of the Xian city hall, he sees an old man that is crying like a mad man. Four girls are encircling that old man while trying to hearten him. Jin doesn't know who they are but he predicted if he was the same old man that the tavern owner told him, the old man that lost his last son a few months ago. But, why he is crying like that? That is the mystery that Jin wants to know.

A few citizens that were as curious as Jin who was initially walking on the road are now started to comes to the crying old man. Jin also does the same. A citizen is asking the oldest one from the girls about their crying father and she said if it was because the guards have found his little brother that was missing a few months ago inside the forest, but his brother has died and only the bone that left. The citizens start to mumbling each other, each of them has their theories about how the boy could have moved to the jungle while their missing location was inside the city back then.

A man with a sword in his hand is walking out from inside the city hall. Some of the citizens come to them asked him the updated information and he said if the guards found the kid's body near the small waterfall called Monkey Waterfall which is located inside the Xian Forest. The other man is surprised because he has looked at that place thoroughly a few times back then when the kid had just missed, but he didn't found anything.

Judging from their appearance and conversation, Jin understands now that they are not the guards, but part of the volunteer's team that helped the guards to look for that missing kid a few months ago.

"The guard said if it was just an accident. They don't find any wound from the bones of the kid." The man informed his friends again. Those men seemed to accept the guards' explanation about the cause of the kid's death, but Jin has another analysis. He sees a few oddities in this case and decides to tell those men.

"I think it was too soon to be concluded that this is only an accident, gentlemen." Jin said. All the men's eyes immediately stare at Jin.

"What do you mean, young man? Do you understand something about the case?" One of the volunteers asked Jin.

"I am sorry, I should have introduced myself first before speaking. My name is Jin, I just arrived last evening in this city." Jin introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you, Jin. My name is Moo Yong. Could you tell us what did you mean earlier about the missing kid?" Moo Yong asked. The other men are only silent but their eyes stare at Jin because of curiosity.

"I believe someone should be responsible for the death of that kid." Jin said his suspicion.

All of the men in front of Jin seem to be surprised by Jin's words. "How can you come to that conclusion while no wound in that kid's bones." Moo Yong asked.

"First, because I know if the missing location of that kid is inside this city, I got this information last night from one of the citizens. That kid can't get out of this city without being known by the guards that standby at the gate day and night." Jin said his first reason and they are surprised because they never thought about it. "The second reason is the place where the guards find the dead kid. One of you said if you were looking at that place back then several times but didn't found anything. It's impossible for a dead body appeared just like that. I believe someone was put the kid's dead body to that place." Jin said all the oddities that he noticed.

Moo Yong and all the men seem to be delighted with Jin's analysis. "So, what is your conclusion, Jin? I will report to the guards before they make an official announcement to close this case." Moo Yong asked.