Miho the Killer
Chapter 89: Letters

Chapter 89: Letters

Juho’s hospital turned out to be surprisingly near Incheon, only a little over 30 minutes away at the speed Miho was driving with Shin’s Wakasaki motorcycle.

The last time I was here I was blindfolded right until I arrived at the door of Juho’s isolation chamber, so I was intrigued by how the hospital purpose-built for the poor boy would look like. But once we arrived, I saw that there really wasn’t anything remarkable about the building. If anything, it looked almost identical to Shin’s safe house from outside.

The personnel inside greeted Miho with friendly nods, asking her how she’d been. But nobody asked why she hadn’t come to visit for so long.

Don’t ask, don’t tell.

This was probably the motto in this secluded place.

Miho had been upbeat and excited to see her brother again, but when we were standing in front of the final door which awaited the happy reunion, she hesitated.

"Are you OK, Miho?"

She said nothing and took a few deep breaths in and out.

I wanted to ask her what was the matter, but I didn’t want to interrupt the moment.

It’s been a while. She probably was just readying herself for it.

"Right. Let’s go."

Finally, she found her resolve, keyed in the codes and we walked into the room.

As was the case last time, Juho sat at his desk reading and we could only see his back. He had not noticed us coming in yet. Miho’s hand sought mine, so I held hers to offer some comfort. She was trembling a little.

:Beep:

The nervous girl finally pressed the intercom, and she startled her brother and me alike.

"Nyahahaha! Guess who’s back?!"

Eh...?

"Miho!"

His face lit up as soon as he saw his sister and he ran to - or more like ran into - the glass wall and pressed his face.

"Hey, hey, you are supposed to call me sis." Miho tsk-ed and pressed her face against the wall, making the boy laugh.

"How have you been?" He asked.

"Fantastic, baby!"

So this is what she was preparing herself for. Steeling herself to get back to her cheerful best. Energetic, magnetic, infectious. There couldn’t be that much joy in Juho’s life considering the circumstances. These little visits by his sister and the bundle of energy she brought must have been the highlights of days in this confinement. Miho didn’t want to let him down. It was admirable and sad at the same time.

"Is your head alright?"

"When has it ever been alright?"

Miho quipped and Juho laughed.

After some more light-hearted banter weaved with Miho’s charm and Juho’s adoration, the perceptive young man finally asked.

"So how did you even manage to make a friend?"

I smiled and nodded as our eyes met.

"Er... well... I met Sohee at work."

That wasn’t exactly a lie I suppose.

"Are you still working at the same place?"

"Oh, yeah. I had to take some time off after the injury but now I’m back to work. Stronger than ever."

She had a smirk that said ’You can trust your sister to be always on the top of her game.’

"That’s great. Well, I wish you traveled a little less for your work. I mean all this-"

He opened his arms and spun around.

"Must cost a lot. I always feel sorry and grateful."

Such a good-mannered child. If I had a brother like this I might have loved him too.

"Heh, it’s OK. I enjoy my work."

"The only downside is that we couldn’t see each other more often because of your business trips. But you know..."

The boy hesitated.

"What is it?" Miho inquired.

"Nah, nothing. I’m not supposed to say it."

"Eh? Hiding things from your sister now?"

"I don’t know... I always wanted to thank you for it, but also... erm... never mind."

"Aw, come on. Just spit it out Juho. If it’s something you are going to thank me for it’s hardly going to be something I’d be mad about, right?"

"But Uncle Shin said..."

I immediately felt something was off. But it seemed Miho didn’t feel it yet.

"The old man asked you to keep it secret from me?"

There was no annoyance or anger in her voice, more like an amusement.

"Don’t worry. I’ll knock that old man down if he scolds you, ha!"

Miho made a Taekwondo punch pose.

"OK, well. I guess it’s alright then after all."

"Good, good. Tell me now."

"Miho... thank you for all those letters that you sent me over the years while you were busy traveling abroad for work."

Miho shot a blank look, and blinked once, twice, and thrice.

"Letters?"

"Gosh, I knew you’d be like this. It’s OK, sis. Shin told me that I shouldn’t mention it because you said it would make you feel embarrassed. So even when we met after your trips, I never talked about the letters you had sent me. But really, thank you. Your words helped me a lot during the times you couldn’t come to visit."

Just as Miho was about to say something back, I quickly pulled on her sleeve and intervened.

"Hehe, Miho’s playing dumb. What a shy girl your sister is, right? No wonder Mr. Shin told you to not mention it."

"Hahaha. You are right." Juho laughed, scratching his head.

As thick as Miho could be at times, I think the message I tried to convey with a little squeeze on her arm was successfully conveyed - drop the topic now and just move on.

After another hour or so of wholesome chit-chat and a promise to come back again sometime soon, we finally left the room and were on our own.

"What letters is he talking about?" Miho asked, puzzled.

Just what game have you been playing, Shin, you rat...

I wasn’t quite sure how to break it to Miho. The letters that Juho said he had been receiving from his sister were never written by her.

It was clearly Shin’s orchestration.

Why would he though?

And how could I tell Miho that the man she trusted the most had been doing something sneaky - or even creepy - behind her back?

"Miho, I think... Juho has been receiving some letters that you haven’t written... thinking that they were from you."

"From whom?"

"It could... only be Shin, no?"

Miho tilted her head, looked up to the ceiling, rubbed her chin and murmured.

"Hm... The old man? Whose letter was he passing off as mine? And why?"

I should have seen it earlier, and in some ways I already did. But perhaps I also have been guilty of trying to deny the reality because there was too much emotional stake in accepting the truth behind the deceptions.

This revelation about the fake letters turned the niggling suspicions and uncomfortable feelings into concrete evidence of what Shin had been doing, not to mention the fact that how he set me up with emotional manipulation that nudged me toward reporting to Detective Choi about the plan.

"Miho."

"Hm?"

"What do you think of Shin?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like-, how would you describe his relationship to him?"

"Eh? That’s a bit sudden. But I guess we are like family. Sometimes like friends. But he also helps me out with my work. Solved a lot of troubles for me too. He’s a funny old man but really has a knack for turning up at the right time with the right solutions."

"Like a divine intervention."

"Haha, I wouldn’t go that far! But yeah, fortune certainly does favor him and I’m lucky he’s on my side."

I was always suspicious of the fact that the first time Miho met Shin was at the funeral of her sister. It was also at the same time that her parents disappeared. We also ’ran into’ Shin randomly on the street on the day that we were looking for a job. I didn’t think much of it back then but Shin simply wasn’t someone that you run into by chance. Everything he did, and everywhere he went, was with a purpose.

"Listen carefully, Miho. I think Shin is hiding something from you."

"Oh yeah, sure he does. Like that whole fake plan trick, he pulled on us a few days ago. You saw how mad I was too. Tsk! But then again, you also saw how it was all for our own good in the end. He’s stubborn. He will do what HE thinks is the best. I don’t like that at times too, I must admit. But well, the old man tends to be right in the end."

What if all these problems he solved with perfection were possible because these problems were meant to be solved by him in the first place? It was like creating your own quiz and solving it, winning at a game you designed with the variables you control.

"Doesn’t... doesn’t it bother you that Shin has been lying to Juho?"

"Well, I’ll certainly ask him about it. It’s very uncool - but I’d like to hear his reasons for it first. I mean he wouldn’t have done it just for some random fun, right?"

The way Miho tried to explain away everything Shin did made me face the unbearable, heartbreaking truth.

My tigress had been groomed.