Supernatural Investigation 101: Chronicles Of Nakashima Wakana

His brother is standing in front of him with a warm smile on his face.

This is what he saw in the vision.

Choi Minjae, his brother, looks the same. The smile on his brother's face stupefies him. There's no bloodthirst in his brother's eyes. He has so much to say to his brother, but he doesn't know how to say it.

"Come here." Choi Minjae spreads his arms. "Give me a hug."

He should hate his brother who killed so many people. Because of his brother, Oh Soo-Mi noona can't see anymore. He should not be walking toward his brother like a fool. 

When his brother's arms wrap around him, he breaks into tears. He has been missing his brother more than his parents. Choi Minho cries harder when his brother pats his back. "Why did you leave me behind, Hyung? Why? You should have stayed with me. Why did you do that?"

"Forgive me." Choi Minjae sniffles, "I am sorry for what I did. I wanted to stop myself, but I couldn't do it."

"You didn't kill me." Minho snivels, "If you could stop yourself from killing me, why couldn't you stop? Hyung, you should have said something that day."

Choi Minjae keeps begging for forgiveness. Minho tells him to stop. No one glances in their direction. Most souls are used to seeing people drowning in emotions like this. When Minho stops crying, Choi Minjae takes him to a quiet place. They don't sit on the empty chairs that belong to the souls meant for reincarnation. 

"It was inevitable, Minho." Choi Minjae tells him with a hoarse voice, "The moment my gifts reached a peak, I knew that I couldn't stop myself. It was overwhelming. I wanted to pull both of you out of the agony. I ended up hurting you and Soo-Mi."

His voice trails off. Choi Minjae looks at his bloodless hands. How long has it been since he did that to Soo-Mi?

"Though she can't see the future anymore, she can still sense it." Choi Minho leans on his brother's shoulder. "Hyung, she's living as your widow."

Choi Minjae's lips quiver weakly. His throat tightens. Soo-Mi… she shouldn't live like that. How will he move on if she lives like that? He took away her eyes with his own hands. 

"You should come with me." Choi Minho raises his head and studies his brother's tearstained face. "She's still waiting for you."

"It's not possible for me, Minho." Choi Minjae closes his eyes and whispers, "Those who reach the purgatory cannot become immortal or stay in hell. I have to reincarnate."

Minho clutches his brother's sleeve and asks with a desperate voice. "Where are you going to reincarnate?" 

He can find his brother again and then…

"It's a different world." Choi Minjae gives him a slow smile. "I am going to reincarnate as a worm. There's nothing we can do to change their decisions."

Worm? Choi Minho releases his sleeve, watching him with a touch of melancholy in his eyes. His brother won't be his brother anymore. 

"If you become immortal, we might meet again someday." Choi Minjae strokes his brother's head. "Maybe it will take a hundred years. I heard that my fifth life is human again."

"No." He hugs his brother. "I won't leave this place without you, Brother. If you are going to be reborn as a worm, I will also reincarnate with you. I will go wherever you are going."

Choi Minjae wraps his arm around his brother, pulling him closer. "Who will look after Oh Soo-Mi if you are also gone?"

"Brother, don't ask me difficult questions." Minho pushes his brother away and shouts at him, "If you were worried about her, why did you leave her? I understand that you lost control over your gifts. They controlled you for a moment. What about the time when you found some sanity? Did you never think of us once? You should have returned to us. But you chose Monarch over your family."

His brother lowers his head, pinching his lips together as tears fall in his l.a.p. Minho becomes quiet. No matter what his brother says, he won't leave. His brother is his only family. Oh Soo-Mi's parents and brother won't abandon her. Who does he have? His only brother is in hell.

"Minho, I truly couldn't control it." His brother covers his face with his hands. "I was able to stop myself from killing you and Soo-Mi. When Father and Mother came out of the house, I felt their fear and panic. It made me feel euphoric." 

He realizes that his brother means every word.

"My gifts made me insane. I wanted blood. I wanted to give them pain and feel their pain." Choi Minjae's voice cracks as he trails off. "I enjoyed killing them all… especially the moment before their souls left their bodies."

Faces of victims flash in Choi Minho's mind. His brother hasn't forgotten a single victim. Particularly, the last moments of his victims are clear in his brother's head. Instead of euphoria, his brother is in deep agony. 

"When it was over, I felt better and worse at the same time. I didn't want to do it, but I could never stop myself." Choi Minjae continues with a weary look in his eyes, "Monarch found me. They recruited me. I killed whoever they wanted me to kill. I became their weapon. In return, they promised me that they would cure me."

"Cure?" Choi Minho furrows his brows. "What cure?"

"They were experimenting on humans and other creatures." Choi Minjae crumples under his brother's gaze. "They told me that there was a possibility of transferring my gifts to another human."

Choi Minho realizes that his brother's soul is no longer carrying the gifts. He can read his brother's mind at ease. There's no obstruction. He shifts away from his brother, staring at him with disbelief.

"They tried it several times, but they failed. Transferring cultivating vein or magic was possible; however, gifts couldn't be moved from one body to another one. I don't know how many people died there." 

Under the low fluorescent light, his brother puts his face between his knees, tensing his shoulders. 

"After the experiments, the intensity of my gifts grew more. It became too hard for me to handle them. I didn't want to stay in Monarch anymore. I killed anyone who was in my way. I didn't even know where I was going, but I wanted to run as far as possible."

"Why do you not have your gifts anymore?" Choi Minho questions him with a quiet voice. For other creatures, death might take away their magic or their ability to cultivate. Espers aren't the same. When they die, their souls carry their abilities unless they are purified in the flames of hell or the holy river of heaven. "Did you lose them in hellfire?"

It should be hellfire. Gifts can't be transferred. This is not just any gift. His brother had R-graded gifts. Even though his grade is A, there's a large difference between the two grades. 

"I was wounded by the handlers." Choi Minjae's shoulders tremble uneasily. "After I lost them from my trail, I collapsed somewhere. When I woke up, I found myself in a hospital." 

That man from Monarch told him that his brother killed himself. Choi Minho curls his fingers. Did his brother kill himself when it became too much to bear?

"I was leaving the hospital when I felt her pain," His brother croaks. "The child was only three. She was living on machines. I didn't want to feel her pain. It made me so miserable. I wanted to run away from her, Minho."

Choi Minho is breathing rapidly. Did his brother kill a child? His brother wouldn't go this far, would he?

"I felt it." Choi Minjae stares at his shaking hands. "I was killing her. She was bleeding a lot. I didn't want her to die. She opened her eyes slightly and cried out in pain. I wanted to stop myself desperately."

His brother pauses for a moment. "Something changed at that moment. I felt my gifts leaving me. They were completely s.u.c.k.e.d by her body." 

His brother's gifts… Minho's mouth is dry. No, those were not gifts. They were a curse. His brother gave it to an innocent child. 

Choi Minjae finishes his words with a low voice, "The new life experiment was a success, Minho. She and I got a new life. Her body healed completely after my abilities were transferred to her."

"Why did you kill yourself?" He doesn't want to care about a stranger. Minho yells at him, "You could have come back to us."

"When I had those abilities, I couldn't find the strength to kill myself. I was driven by insanity." Choi Minjae sniffles, "After I found clarity, I couldn't live anymore. I did so many horrible things. I hurt you, Father, Mother, and Soo-Mi. That child has my curse now. She will live the same life that I lived. I could not bear it anymore."

That girl will live the same life that his brother did. Choi Minho holds his head. She was only three when his brother died. She should be around six or seven now. "Instead of turning her into one of us, it was better if you had killed her, Hyung."

Yes, that would have been better. Choi Minjae grabs his brother's hand and pleads, "Minho, you have to save her. If Monarch finds out, they will look for the reason why it worked. They are horrible creatures. I became a monster because of my abilities, but they are simply evil. Become an immortal and don't let her abilities wake up. Do anything with those gifts. I don't know what Monarch did to me, but my abilities were growing exponentially before they went inside her."

"No, I don't want to do this." Minho jerks his hand off him. "If you cared that much about that girl, you should have lived and paid for it."

"Please, Minho. I beg you." Choi Minjae looks at him with wet eyes. "I regret everything. I shouldn't have killed myself. Even if she was not healthy, she would have lived. That life would have been a lot better than what I gave her. I know that I am asking a lot, my brother. Help her live a life that she deserves. If you see her become like me, you must kill her. If Monarch ever finds out about her, they will turn her into a weapon like me."

When Choi Minho leaves Hell, he meets an angel who asks him whether he wanted to take the path of light or darkness.

"My path is decided." Choi Minho says to the angel, "I am going to take responsibility for someone in my brother's place."