CHAPTER 90

Detective Han drove to his quiet apartment, the vicinity of his apartment area was quite unoccupied as he preferred a more quieter place, away from the noisy hustling and bustling of the city.

As usual, he pulled up at the driveway and walked briskly to his house, he could see that the lights were switched off and he safely assumed his wife and twin six year old son and daughter were already fast asleep as he came from work late. He had a spare key with him, so he unlocked the door by himself and switched on the light as he went into the house.

The house was a moderately three room apartment and well nicely furnished, he earned enough for a decent living as he was a top detective in the law. He walked into the living room to meet a disturbing sight that made the blood from his face run dry.

In the middle of the living room was Dae Hyun standing behind the twins whom were bound to a chair with mouths sealed with a tape, but the sight that made his face turn pale with dread and horror was the sight of his wife lying on the floor stiffly, covered in a pool of her own blood which oozed out of her head that had a knife sticking out of it. Muffled screams could be heard from the twins as they stared at the traumatizing corpse of their mother with tears flowing down their cheeks.

His gaze didn't tear away from his wife's corpse but Dae Hyun's voice brought him back to reality knowing his kids were in danger and were now his top priority as it dawned on him with a heavy weight of denial and grief that his wife was dead. His instincts were right, Dae Hyun was truly the killer, but he couldn't think of all that now as his children's lives mattered to him more than putting Dae Hyun behind bars.

"I see you've made it home but you're late, if you had been earlier, your wife would still be breathing, I got bored waiting for you." He could hear Dae Hyun's low, dark voice ringing from the other side of the room and grief hit him, he wanted to lunge at him but he had to force himself to act rationally for his kids, he didn't want to believe it, but they were now all he had left and he would protect them with his life.

He reflexively brought out his pistol and pointing it at Dae Hyun with trembling hands, but Dae Hyun didn't flinch or bat an eyelid at his action, he knew he wouldn't dare pull the trigger as he was right behind his kids and a tiny mistake would cost one of their lives to end.

"Don't do anything stupid and throw the gun over." Dae Hyun warned with a sinister voice as he brought out his hand with a knife in it to view, while drawing it close to the twin girl's throat, the blade was pulled close to her skin it cut her a bit, making a tiny amount of blood trickle from the small wound he inflicted on her and the little girl's muffled scream could be heard, making detective Han mindlessly slide the gun over to him on the floor and he caught it with his foot, picking it up slowly, he effortlessly poured out the bullets from the gun and shoved it aside.

"Let my kids go, I beg you. I'll forget about what happened now, I won't tell a soul, they're innocent..." Detective Han's hoarse voice cracked in his sentence as he spoke with a heavy heart full of guilt and regret, he had been so hellbent on catching the killer, he failed to realize his family's safety, although he never thought he would be trapped in a dilemma like this one as he didn't expect Dae Hyun to come after him and his family even after accusing him with no evidence to back it up.

Dae Hyun merely stared at him in silence with emotionless blank eyes, not in the least moved by his pleas or cries.

"Kids? They'll grow up anyways to become as annoying as you are or even worse, isn't it better we get rid of it?" Dae Hyun asked rhetorically with a dark amused face.

Detective Han on hearing him speak, felt as though his blood had been drained from his body, leaving his knees weak with fear, Dae Hyun was the anonymous gift killer and no doubt he could kill his children without any remorse.

"No!! Kill me instead and let them go, they're still kids and won't be able to reveal your identity, so please don't..." Detective Han pleaded with a somber look on his teary face as he knelt on the floor, rubbing his palms together as he begged earnestly for his kids life, he couldn't bear to see them die before his eyes, he would do anything to protect them.

The twins looked at their father with teary eyes as they were filled with fear, their little minds couldn't understand what was going on and all they could think of was that a man killed their mother in front of them and they were scared and they needed their father to save them, they had high hopes in their father as he was a policeman and he often made them believe that he could do just about anything.

"Stop scaring the kids, you're making it seem like I'm about to murder them, I'm not that cruel." Dae Hyun's voice was calm but the underlying tone in it could be perceived, making detective Han narrow his eyes at him warily with pursed lips.

"You killed my wife...why didn't you just come after me instead, why come after my family?" Detective Han said with gritted teeth and fist clenched into a tight ball as he felt his chest twist with pain and heaviness.

A short dark chuckle escaped Dae Hyun's lips.

"It wouldn't have been fun and...it's your punishment for coning after me in the first place just like Yoo Na, you both will lose everything dear to you but in this case, I'll have to kill you since you're an officer." Dae Hyun explained and detective Han's body trembled, knowing he was going to lose his family in the hands of the vicious psychopath.

"Please.. spare my kids and kill me instead..." He pleaded yet again but his pleas couldn't move a strand of hair on Dae Hyun.

"I'm not a god, so stop begging me for mercy." Dae Hyun said with a bland tone and within the blink of an eye, he grabbed a handful of the twin girl's hair, pulling her head backward viciously and with a swift movement, the knife slit her throat open with blood trickling out of it and in a second, it was spurting out of her slit neck while she gagged before she finally fell limp on the chair.

Detective Han was too shocked to move a finger as he saw his daughter being killed inhumanely in front of him while his son released muffled screams in petrification as he watched the life fade from his twin sister's eyes in front of him.

"I'll let your son live, if you take your life. A life for a life." Dae Hyun's cold voice brought him back to the face of the earth. There was silence hanging in the air and Dae Hyun slid the bloody knife to him while he wound a strong arm around the little boy's neck, ready to snap it broken like a twig if his father failed to comply.

Detective Han looked up slowly at his son that was at the mercy of Dae Hyun and he knew that he had to do what had to be done. His eyes shifted to his daughter's corpse next to his son and tears rolled down freely on his cheeks as he took the knife, hovering it in front of his chest, he brought it down firmly to stab himself, blood trickling out of his mouth till he fell limp on the floor and slowly getting covered in a pool of his own blood.

Dae Hyun satisfied with the result, stared at the little boy who was obviously shaken with cold emotionless eyes that held not a tiny bit of warmth in them.

"I won't kill you as promised, but the fire will, such a tragedy, detective and his family dies in a gas leak accident." Dae Hyun murmured to himself as he walked over to the kitchen, turning on all the gas switch, emitting gas everywhere in the house while he placed a lighter at the window sill as he stepped outside.

He was about a good distance away from the house when he saw the house go ablaze with scorching flames that ate through everything in it.