She watched as Hong Mone held the glass with shaky hands and brought it to her lips. She took a sip and smiled.
"I was burned with a hair straightener. I have the scars all over my body. My insides were pounded with a mop stick. My uterus was severely damaged in the process. I was lashed with a whip; those scars exist too. And I lost three of my back teeth in all this," Hong Mone said, her hands shaking as she balled them into a fist, trying to ease the tremors.
Han Bo-young wanted to speak but realized that she hadn't finished.
"Mone. Why don't you dance for me? I love when you dance," she whispered, trying to mimic someone's tone. "Why don't you open your buttons? I wanna see."
Han Bo-young watched in silence. Hong Mone currently looked like a puppet being controlled. She was talking as if she were reciting these words from a piece of paper.
"Mone, doesn't this feel good? I'm trying to make you happy. Doesn't it feel good inside you?" Then she burst out laughing. "Laugh, Mone. You have to laugh. Put on a happy face when mommy is tryna please you," she whispered, still laughing hysterically.
Tears had begun to form in her eyes by now, but she continued laughing. "Mone. I love you. You know that."
She finished and raised her head, her eyes meeting Han Bo-young's. Han Bo-young blinked, unable, for a moment, to look into those dead eyes. She coughed.
"I see you went through a lot as a victim," she started.
"I'd like some mints, if that's okay," the practiced voice said again.
"Song Min-ho will fetch you mints."
Han Bo-young watched as Hong Mone's hand remained extended, waiting for the mints as if her life depended on the request.
"Min-ho," Han Bo-young called out without looking away from the girl. The door opened, and Song Min-ho stepped in, his face falling as he took in Hong Mone's state. "Sunbae?"
"Mints. Get her the strongest ones you can find," Han Bo-young commanded.
As the door clicked shut, Han Bo-young leaned forward, her elbows on the desk.
"Hong Mone. You said Yoon-a told you to laugh because 'mommy' was trying to please you. Was she talking about her mother, or was she calling herself mommy?"
Hong Mone didn't blink. The mention of the word 'mommy' caused a micro-tremor in her jaw.
"Yoon-a's mother. Kang Seo-yoon," Bo-young continued, her voice dropping to a low tone. "Did you ever meet her? Did she ever watch?"
Hong Mone took another sip of water. Her shaking had stopped, replaced by a doll-like stillness.
"Stop creating problems you can't fix! You're so useless! If you're gonna touch a bitch, find a way to shut the bitch up too!" Hong Mone began again, but this time the practiced voice was on a different pitch. Han Bo-young mused that Hong Mone was mimicking Kang Seo-yoon. "You! What are you looking at? You stupid wretch! Why can't you just be a good girl for my Yoon-a?"
The door opened. Song Min-ho was back with a tin of Altoids. He handed one to Hong Mone, who took it and placed it on her tongue with shaky hands. It seemed to provide momentary relief.
"Detective," Song Min-ho whispered, leaning toward Han Bo-young. "We have a problem. Dr. Woo just called from the morgue. The toxicology report he was trying to hide? Someone just bypassed his local server and uploaded it to the federal database. The Senator knows we found the S1 variant."
Bo-young stood up so fast her chair screeched. "Then we don't have any time."
She grabbed her coat, but as she turned to leave, Hong Mone spoke one last time.
"Geonwoo and I weren't the only ones."
Han Bo-young paused and turned to look at Hong Mone, but she seemed to have entered a passive state. She was whispering incoherent words to herself and laughing.
"Min-ho, I need you to get me a psychiatrist. ASAP," she said.
She left the station quickly and headed home. She had already pulled the data off the ripper and stored it in a secure RAM. She hadn't the time to read it, but right now, whatever was in it was of utmost importance. She hadn't made it far when she started to feel dizzy. She put her hand on her neck and found that she was running a high fever.
Oh shit! This wasn't the right time for an infection to act up. Fucking useless doctor couldn't treat the infection properly.
She rolled her eyes and got into the police car. Since hers was scrapped already, she could only use this now. She headed home. The data had to be protected at all costs. The infection could wait.
She drove at high speeds, swerving past vehicles. In a short time, she reached her home. With a click, the door opened. She got in, shut, and locked the door. Her home was quiet and looked as she had left it the previous day. Although she had returned this morning to shower and change her clothes, that had taken less than thirty minutes as she was in a hurry to secure the data and return to the station for Geon-woo and Mone.
The sound of her footsteps on the wooden floor disrupted the silence of the house. She walked past the kitchen and closed the tap dripping water, before grabbing a packet of biscuits from the cupboard. With a snap, she tore open the packet and ate from it as she walked into her research room down below. She grabbed the drive with one hand, shoved it in her pocket, and grabbed her laptop with the other.
She left as quickly as she came and headed to the hospital. If this treatment was delayed any further, it would lead to complications which would ultimately lead to her total dismissal from the case. She couldn't hand over this case, not right now.
She lay on the hospital bed, reading through the information. By nighttime, Song Min-ho had sent her the file containing the interviews between Hong Mone and the psychiatrist. She plugged in her earphones and increased the volume to its highest.
"Mone. Mommy wants you. Won't you give yourself to mommy?" Hong Mone's practiced voice came through.
"Mone. Did you want to give yourself to her?" the psychiatrist asked.
"Mone. Come closer. I like when I can see you from close-up. I want to see those girls. The girls that drew me in. I wanna see them bounce. Come on. Jump up and down for mommy," Hong Mone said again.
"What happened? What did she do?"
"Oh, they feel so good in my hands, don't you think, Mone? Hmm. Mommy won't be happy if you don't smile," Hong Mone said, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper at the last sentence.
"What happened after?"
"You know I hate when you disobey me, Mone." Then Mone started shouting hysterically, clutching herself and screaming as if she were being whipped.
"Don't burn me. I beg you. Yoon-a... mommy... please," Hong Mone's real voice said, breaking up.
The lady, Hong Mone, fell on her knees and started rolling on the floor. Han Bo-young paused the video. She stared for a long time at the pure, raw agony on Hong Mone's face. Then she pressed play.
"Please! Don't! Please... Yoon-a... please... mommy."
Then she stopped rolling and sat up.
"Good girl. You've been a very good girl. Mommy won't punish you anymore." Hong Mone's mimicry of Yoon-a returned and then she stood up, her eyes staring into the distance, before she burst out laughing and then jumping excitedly. "I'm a good girl! Mommy said I'm a good girl!"
Then she stopped, sat back on the chair, crossed her hands over her knees, and stared at the psychiatrist with a smile.
"I'd like biscuits, if that's okay," she said, her tone in that scary, practiced rhythm.
Han Bo-young sucked in a cold breath.