1 THE MASKED MAN

The voices of the kids on chorus had echoed in a crowd as it created a peaceful hymn of melody inside a cramped room while reciting a song on their small curled-up lips, followed by the calling of the students name in front.

"Next up, I called upon Yeon Jae for winning the first prize in a math competition."

The teacher called, holding a certificate and a gold medal in her hands.

"Everyone, let's congratulate him!

-Give him a round of applause."

As his name was called, a girl of his age beside her spoke while crossing her arms.

"God, I swear to beat you next time, brother!"

Her scornful face had made him form a smile before he replied, teasing her.

"Then I'll do much better."

Hearing him respond as she looked at the silver medal on her neck made her pout.

"Ahhhh!"

She irritatedly screamed as she kicked the air.

As they both walked together from the side walk, the little girl, who had the same polish uniform as her and was wearing a yellow hat, could be seen happily skipping around on her foot as the boy, who's 3 inches taller than her, watch from behind.

"AHHHHH! I'm so hungry! I can't wait to taste mom's cooking!"

She yelled, holding the strap of her bag on both sides.

"Then let us hurry home!"

She then stood there for a while to gaze at him from behind.

"Then I'll take the lead! I won't let you beat me again this time!"

She shouted as they both skipped on their feet, racing towards each other.

"Soo-ah! Be careful so you won't trip!"

He reminded  as both of them chuckled till they arrived at the old cultured wooden house, where the front door was left wide open.

"Mom! Look what we've won!"

Soo-ah's boastful voice had echoed outside.

"Take off your shoes first!-

Before he could even finish his word, Jae immediately held onto her twin sisters wrists as they walked towards the kitchen, where they unexpectedly had to witness such a crime that would hunt them forever.

"Ma-mom?"

The place was a mess; their seemingly happy portrait was shattered on the floor, and there were red spots everywhere, splattered on the floor and onto the wall.

The more they get closer into the kitchen, the more their heart start to beat as fast and loud as a drum, and what's more made them shiver was a sight of blood and shattered furniture in the hallway. When they heard a sudden crash of the plate on the kitchen, they were left startled out of fear, where they found a man with a towering height, wearing a long black coat  and a  black mask with the beak of a crow that looked sharper than the tip of a knife, pointing a pistol at their mother's head.

"MOM!"

Soo-ah almost shouted when Jae immediately covered her mouth, leading it to bleed as she tried to free herself from her brother's hands.

"....Uhmmmmm....Mom!"

She bit her brother's fingers and scratches his arms as she bawled her eyes from tears, shaking her head, while Jae just stood there frozen on his feet, he was petrified that he couldn't even feel the pain in his wounded hands.

He watches as their mother, who's kneeling on the floor, looked at them with tears in her eyes as she whisphered something on her mouth.

"Go, run."

They both left with widening eyes as they couldn't seem to blink from the shock. The time when the man clicked the pistol in his hand, even though it didn't make a sound, their world had turn slow-mo, the time when their mother slowly fell flat on the floor with her two widened eyes.

Their minds went blank that they couldn't even move an inch from where they stood behind the cabinet.

Jae even tried to pinched his thigh multiple times just before the man was about to caught them, and when he reach their direction, he found a two pieces medal and a pair of kids shoes behind the cabinet.

He picks it up before he throws it hard on the floor.

Meanwhile, as Jae carried Soo-ah on his arms, multiple questions flooded his mind.

'Who is that man?'

Both of their faces have turned pale as he continues to run from the scene without anything on his feet but a wounded bare foot.

'Why?! Why did he do that to Mom?! '

As the question flooded his mind, he did not even notice the passel of people looking at them with confusion.

He just continued to question himself without even getting an answer but a puzzled mind.

'Why do we have to witness that crime?!

-I need to get back there to save mom! '

He thought without knowing that he was already shouting on top of his lungs as they entered the nearby police station at the other side of the street.

"Help! I need help!"

He continued to scream until his voice turned hoarse, barging without notice into the police station, looking like a homeless little kid.

"Help! Ma-Mom! Our mom was killed!"

Their eyes then widened.

"What in the world?"

States the man wearing the uniform of a police officer while holding a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Please help us!"

He pleaded as he caught his breath while the girl behind his back just kept mumbling the same word 'mom' on her lips.

"Our mom!" He inhaled. "Our mom got killed! She was shot!"

He continued to plead, but the cops just stared at them with grimacing eyes and wrinkled nose, as if they were not convinced by his word that even though he tried to walk towards them,he was only avoided like a disgusting flies.

"There's too much blood, please..."

His pleading continued until his eyes watered, but the people inside only stared at each other and looked at them with disbelief.

Until....one of the police officers sighed before he spoke.

"Hey kids, its not a time to play joke; who would even break into someone's house in the middle of the day?"

He scoffs and rolls his eyes with irritation.

Hearing it, both left them with wide eyes; they did not even blink despite the continuous flows of water coming out of their eyes.

"Wha-What?-But we were not."

He stuttered.

"Hey, do you think our job is that easy for us to get pranked by mere kids?!"

The other one raised his voice, which left them speechless.

Both of them just left with nothing but a stiff expression on their faces.

"I'm not lying, our mom."

He mumbled, staring at the air as they were shunned away by the cops.

"Go somewhere else! haist! kids these days."

They irritatedly spoke as they put their attention on the other matters, ignoring them as if they weren't even there.

"Brother..."

Soo-ah then called, which caught his attention.

"How about mom? "

He did not answer; the only thing he knew was that both of them were standing in front of the burned house, watched by a passel of people, whisphering from one ear into the others along with a continous scheme of the sirenes.

"Half of the house was burned; we could not even find the body of the victim,"

Stated by one of the cop who'd they pleaded earlier, only to came an hour late before responding to the crime scene.

"It must have mixed with ashes,"

He added as he gazed at the two lifeless kids who were staring at the house without even blinking while holding the hands of each other.

"Tssk! Who would have committed such a crime?"

The other shook his head.

As the people came and passed by at the scene, the twins were left on the spot; they were both silent, but their minds were saying the opposite while hearing temporary sympathy for people who would just pass by and stay to watch the scene.

"Poor kids, I heard that their mom was the only parent they had."

"It must be tough for her to raise two kids,"

Said the other.

"Who would look after them now?"

Asked the old woman, who looked sympathetic.

"Gosh! They're still so young! "

As they continued to whisphered at the ears of one after the other, Jae began to questioned.

'Why no one believe us? '

He thought while staring intensely into the cop.

'If they just came on time, would we be able to save Mom?'

His feet were bleeding, and every inch of his body was wounded, but both of their expressions couldn't be described.It was just too lifeless like porceline dolls.

"God! Look at those kids expressions; they must be so shocked."

The old lady screamed out of sympathy, but the twins ignored it.

"If only the case had been reported earlier, we would have prevented it. Haist."

The cop sneer as he gaze at them like nothing.

'Why is it our fault?'

He tilted his head.

'They're the ones who did not believe us...

Is it because we were just kids?'

He then gritted his teeth as his eyes suddenly burst out with tears.

"Shame on them!"

He shouted as he felt the grip on her sister's hand, but when he turned his head to look at her, Soo-ah's face gave him terror. She was smiling from shock with trembling lips while a clear liquid of water continued to fall from her eyes as she repeatedly asked the same question multiple times.

"How about mom?"

She then looked at her brother.

"How about us?-

she stopped in mid-sentence as the following words that came out of her mouth had left both of them in despair.

-We were just kids."

He was startled from those words as they tightly embrace each other, bawling their eyes in front of people who'd earlier felt sympathetic was slowly fleed out of the scene where only both of them left in front of a half-burned house while a man in a long brown coat stares at them not so far from where they stood.

"I heard both of you got nowhere else to go."

A husky, deep voice spoke while inhaling a smoke from a tabacco in his mouth.

They both look at him as they wipe their eyes. They could not properly see him because of the clouded vision from the water on their eyes, but as soon as they rubbed it with their hands, what stood beside them was a one-eyed man with a scar on his right eye that was visible even on the silhouette from his hat.

Jae frowns as he wipes the snot on his nose.

"Are you looking down on us because we were kids?!"

He spoke in anger.

"Did I say so?"

He then inhaled another smoke before coming to such a conclusion.

"Your mom...

He gazes at the both of them, where he frowns to see their height not even above his hip.

-She got murdered, is she? "

He affirmed that left them with a rigid expression and widened eyes.

"You! How did you know?!"

Jae shouted as he hid his sister from behind.

His immediate action had left the man so amused that a smirk formed on his lips.

"I heard it from a cop."

He briefly responds while he stares down at them.

"Come with me and I'll help you find the culprit,"

He suggested, but Jae immediately turned down his request.

"Why would we trust a stranger like you?!"

His eyes were flaring with a sharp-intense look, and looking into them made the man take off his hat and pull back his hair in annoyance.

"Gosh! I hate dealing with stubborn kids!"

He mumbled, but what he stated next had made their souls left their bodies.

"Your mom.....

He paused for a while.

"I know who killed her."