Chapter 15: The Truth Comes to Light
It was nearly three in the morning.
Most sane people would've been asleep.
I, unfortunately, had never been one of those people.
The Golden Chronicle's headquarters were practically deserted. The fluorescent lights above me buzzed quietly as I sat alone at my desk, sipping lukewarm coffee while sorting through old case files.
Some people looked through family photo albums when they felt nostalgic.
I looked through murder cases.
To each their own.
I flipped through another file when I heard footsteps approaching.
My boss appeared beside my desk.
He glanced at the mountain of papers surrounding me and sighed.
"Oh, Sota. What are you still doing here?"
I looked up.
"Just reminiscing."
"Reminiscing?"
He folded his arms.
"Don't you have a wife and child waiting for you at home?"
I smiled.
"I do."
"Then why are you here?"
I tapped the stack of files.
"The good old days."
My boss stared at me.
"You're twenty-nine."
"I know."
"You're talking like you're sixty."
I laughed.
"Maybe."
The truth was, I'd met a lot of people over the years.
Politicians.
Police officers.
Detectives.
Victims.
Murderers.
Con artists.
Even serial killers.
Every one of them had a story.
And stories fascinated me.
"I've met so many interesting people," I said.
My boss shook his head.
"Most people don't describe serial killers as interesting."
"I'm not praising them."
I leaned back in my chair.
"I just find ordinary things boring."
That earned another sigh.
Then I smiled.
"You know, there's always been one person I wanted to interview."
My boss groaned immediately.
"Let me guess."
I grinned.
"The Red Ghoul."
"Of course."
I pointed at him.
"You know me too well."
The Red Ghoul.
One of the most infamous serial killers in modern history.
The media portrayed him as a monster.
The government called him a terrorist.
Yet the deeper I dug into his victims, the stranger the story became.
"Do you remember that hotel fire three years ago?" I asked.
My boss nodded.
"The one where two U.S. Marshals were targeted?"
"Exactly."
I took another sip of coffee.
"The Red Ghoul started that fire to kill them."
My boss frowned.
"What's your point?"
"The point is that both marshals survived."
"And?"
I lowered the cup.
"One was later exposed as a child predator."
His expression hardened.
"The other turned out to be a con artist."
Neither of us spoke for a moment.
"They both disappeared a year or two later."
The silence lingered.
My boss eventually shook his head.
"Curiosity gets people killed, Sota."
I laughed.
"That's a journalist's job."
"No."
His tone became serious.
"It's a journalist's job to know when to stop digging."
I ignored that.
Mostly because I disagreed.
"Do you remember Fumiatsu?"
His expression softened slightly.
"The veterinarian?"
I nodded.
The smile disappeared from my face.
"His daughter died in that hotel fire."
My boss sighed.
"I remember."
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
I remembered that night vividly.
The smoke.
The sirens.
The grief.
Then came the hunt.
The months spent tracking the Red Ghoul.
The confrontation.
The blood.
The rage.
Fumiatsu had almost killed him.
Almost.
"If we hadn't dragged him to the hospital," I said quietly, "the Red Ghoul would've died."
My boss nodded.
"Probably."
I stared at my coffee.
"Do you think Fumiatsu made the right choice?"
My boss considered the question carefully.
Then he answered.
"Yes and no."
I looked up.
"If he'd killed the Red Ghoul, he would've become the same thing he hated."
I listened.
"But because he spared him, the Red Ghoul escaped."
A bitter smile appeared on my boss's face.
"And that's partly our fault."
I couldn't argue with that.
The room fell silent again.
Eventually I broke it.
"You know, there've only been two serious attempts to catch the Red Ghoul."
My boss nodded.
"The FBI agents."
"Tetsuya and Kenzo."
"And Fumiatsu."
I smiled faintly.
"Quite the lineup."
My boss chuckled.
"Something tells me Fumiatsu still hasn't let it go."
I didn't answer.
Because I knew he was right.
I suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, speaking of interesting people."
My boss groaned.
That reaction alone made me grin.
"Tetsuya and Kenzo are getting destroyed by the media right now."
"The Ren incident?"
"Exactly."
I shook my head.
"I even tried getting an interview with Ren at the detention center."
"And?"
"They refused."
"What a surprise."
I sighed dramatically.
"What a waste."
My boss rolled his eyes.
"From what I've heard, Ren's a sociopath."
"Maybe."
I leaned forward.
"You know something interesting?"
"What?"
I held up two fingers.
"There are only two people who've genuinely scared me."
That got his attention.
"The first was Toshiro Sobu."
I remembered that interview vividly.
The politeness.
The composure.
The smile.
Everything about him felt normal.
And yet...
Every instinct in my body had screamed at me to leave.
"He was incredibly kind."
My boss frowned.
"But?"
I stared into my coffee.
"I couldn't stop feeling uneasy."
The memory still bothered me.
Then I laughed.
"The second person was a mercenary."
"A mercenary?"
I nodded.
"Met him last year."
"What was his name?"
I scratched my head.
"Merlin?"
"No."
"Mervin?"
"No."
Then it clicked.
"Merrin."
I paused.
Then another realization hit me.
I burst out laughing.
My boss looked confused.
"What?"
"His full name."
I couldn't stop laughing.
"Merrin Jigglecap."
My boss stared at me.
I laughed harder.
"That's not even intimidating!"
He rubbed his temples.
"It's three in the morning."
"I know."
"You're laughing at someone's last name."
"It's a funny name."
Eventually I calmed down.
My boss shook his head.
"So what was he like?"
The laughter disappeared immediately.
I remembered that encounter.
The smile.
The calmness.
The friendliness.
"Kind."
My boss looked surprised.
"Kind?"
I nodded.
"Almost too kind."
Then I remembered the moment everything changed.
"When I accidentally asked about his past..."
My voice lowered.
"He looked at me."
A chill ran down my spine even now.
"Just for a second."
My boss waited.
"The expression disappeared immediately."
"But?"
I swallowed.
"But for that one second..."
I shook my head.
"It felt like I was staring into something dangerous."
Very dangerous.
I eventually changed the subject.
Then my phone vibrated.
I glanced down.
A message.
Sender: Fumiatsu.
Twenty minutes ago.
My expression immediately hardened.
"What is it?" my boss asked.
I opened the message.
Only one sentence appeared.
«Post this on the newspaper tomorrow.»
Attached beneath it was a PDF.
Curious, I opened it.
My boss stepped beside me.
The document loaded.
The title appeared.
THE NEO SUN TZU PROJECT
My smile vanished.
I began reading.
The further down I went, the heavier my breathing became.
Beside me, my boss had gone completely silent.
Page after page.
Name after name.
Detail after detail.
By the time I finished, my hands were trembling.
I slowly lowered the phone.
Neither of us spoke.
For the first time that night, I wasn't excited.
I wasn't curious.
I was worried.
Very worried.
I stared at the screen.
At the name of the man who had sent it.
Then I quietly muttered,
"Fumiatsu..."
My voice barely escaped my throat.
"What have you gotten yourself into this time?"