Chapter 13 - Heart Burn

Lim Byungsoo studied the beautiful prosecutor sitting across him. He knew of the iron clad Han Sunye who was known to corner her prey with her wits. But this was the first time he had actually met her in person.

From outside, she looked like a friendly person who was probably a little naive but professional.This was contrary to the rumors he had heard about her.​​

"What do you want to know?" he asked warily. It was obvious that she was going to ask him about the case or accuse him of the murders. They all did.

Sunye stretched her left hand and said, "My chest has been paining for the past few days. Whenever I eat sweets stuff, it begins to pain a lot. I don't know why. It happens especially at night!"

"Do you have a bitter or acidic taste in your mouth?" Lim frowned.

"Yes!" Sunye exclaimed. "And it worsens when I bend down! I'm afraid I'm suffering from minor heart attacks."

"Nah," Lim said. "It's a simple heartburn. Do you eat sweets a lot? Do you suffer from gastric?"

"Err…" Sunye clicked her tongue as if guilty of the things he had just said. "I do suffer from gastric due to the medicines prescribed to me. I suffer from hypothermia and the medicines I take have gastric as a side effect."

"Well, you need to stop eating the sweets," Lim stated. "And also, drink plenty of liquids to lessen the gastric. Talk to your doctor and chnge your prescription to something which will not give you gastric. It's just a heart burn. Nothing to be afraid of."

"So I don't need any surgery?" Sunye asked.

"Nope."

"Thank god!" Sunye said, looking relieved. "I thought I'd need a surgery."

She paused before adding, "Just like Kim Jaemin did."

Lim froze upon hearing the name but quickly composed himself.

"Mr. Kim had a series of heart attacks," he stated. "Heart burns often seem like heart attacks but his case was-"

"A heart attack, yes," Sunye said. "So you prescribed him nitroglycerine, am I right?"

"Nitroglycerine eases the pain of heart attacks and widens the blood vessels," Lim argued. "It's completely safe for people with heart problems!"

"Except for the fast that Mr. Kim did not have a permanent heart problem" Sunye countered. She took out a document and put it on the desk for him to read.

"This is a statement from the forensic team," she said. "They noted that the heart's vessels had swollen incredibly after the open heart surgery. They had also noted high levels of nitorglycerine in Mr. Kim's body whereas his heart did not seem to have any sort of clots which could induce a heart attack."

Before Lim could argue, Sunye took out another document and read out loud.

"This is Mrs. Kang Hara's forensic report," she went on. "She had the same results. Her otherwise healthy heart which had no history of problems, suddenly was suggested to go through an open heart surgery after she had seemingly suffered from a heart attack. In her case, you prescribed her beta blockers to stabilize her heart rate."

"Her heart was beating at irregular rates!" Lim exclaimed, slamming the table.

"Mrs. Kang was suffering from a heartburn, not a heart attack," Sunye said in a steely tone. The naivety she had feigned was now gone and was replaced by a hard anger. She stood up and put her hands on both sides of the table, staring down at him like an eagle eyeing a prey.

"Beta blockers are for permanent heart diseases," she went on. "Once prescribed, they cannot be discontinued. Heartburns are not permanent heart problems and could happen to anyone. It's nothing a simple antacid cannot solve. And yet, you have prescribed two healthy elderly patients with powerful dosages of these medicines. What started as heartburns, turned into a series of heart problems thanks to your medicines."

Lim glared back at her. The lawyer was trying to fool him with her logic and he was not going to back down this easily.

"Prove it that they were suffering from heartburns," he smirked. "They came back to me again and again with symptoms of heart attacks. There is no documentation to prove that those patients suffered from heartburn first!"

Sunye sighed and sat back down. Lim grinned at her, feeling victorious. The lawyer had no idea that he had been masquerading his patients' heartburns as heart attacks for years. They had trusted him blindly, following his every instructions while he fed on their fear of death.

But to his surprise, Sunye smiled at him.

"It's not the medicines which were the problem, Dr. Lim," she said, leaning back causally against her chair. "It's the dosage. The dosage for the nitroglycerine was increased to three times the regular dose a few months after the surgeries. This, combined with the beta blockers, had caused the heart to behave more erratically, ultimately leading to the fatal attack for the patients, killing them. You didn't prescribe them the medicines for speedy recovery. You prescribed these to kill your patients."

Lim's grin disappeared. The existence of those medicines in the victims should not have raised any question since he had prescribed them as their doctor. But how did the lawyer know of the increase in dosage?

"I've gone through your other patient files," Sunye said. "You didn't increase their dosage after surgeries even though they had the same surgeries. That's because those patients had chronic heart problems and increasing the doses of these medicines in that state would kill them. Then I looked at their bank balance and realized that they would be of no use to you. But Mr. Kim and Mrs. Kang had money. Money which caused problems between them and their children. Money which they had left to you after you gaslighted them into believing that you were their savior. Am I right?"

"I was only relieving them of their pain!" he claimed.

"None of them signed any euthanasia clause so I'm afraid your Angel of Mercy argument isn't gonna work here," Sunye shrugged. "You can either take up a lengthy process in court where you would be convicted and probably sentenced to death. Or…"

She took out another paper and handed it to him. "You can confess and take the quick punishment," she said. "In this case, since you're confessing on your own free will to show…remorse, the court will not interfere here. The judge will hand you prison time and you can spend a maximum of twenty to twenty five years here. I won't press for death penalty."

Lim was staring at the paper in front of him. She was right. If the case went to court, he would undoubtedly lose because the prosecutor had all the evidence against him. And he would be sentenced to death.

"Where do I sign?" he asked after a while. Sunye smirked and pointed at the spot. Lim took the pen she offered and signed it. As soon as he was done, Sunye snatched the pen and paper from him.

"I'll submit this to the court on Monday," she stated, putting the paper inside her bag. "Goodbye, doctor. I hope you repent in here. If not, then it's your loss."

With that, she left the room, turning her back on the bitter doctor.

….

Lim was taken back to his cell where he sat on his bed in despair. The judge was going to sentence him to jail and he would be too old to continue his practice by the time he was released. The money he received from his stupid patients would be confiscated and he had killed those people for nothing.

Bloody bitch! He cursed Sunye in his head.

The lights of the prison were being turned off and the alarms rang, signaling the inmates to fall asleep. Lim did not lie on the bed but was fuming over his lost money. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he did not notice the figure approaching his cell. Footsteps could be heard from afar, heading his way.

"Dr. Lim."

Lim looked up to see a prison guard, standing right outside the cell. He frowned.

"I've never seen you before here," he noted. The blue eyed guard was smiling at him with a mischievous twinkle.

SD did not say anything but slowly took out a photograph from his pocket. The doctor frowned a little before his eyes widened in shock.

"I-It can't be!" he whispered. "T-that's…"

"Your lies had killed many, Doctor," SD said. "Don't you think it's time for you to pay for them?"

"I'm already in jail!" Lim spat. "What more do you want? And who the hell are you? How do you have that photograph? All their pictures were destroyed! Everything related to the monarchy was destroyed! The statues, pictures, documents! Everything! Not even a shred of their existence is left!"

"What do I say?" SD shrugged. "I'm an exception. But you…you my friend are in deep trouble. There are many loyalists of the monarchy in jail. Political prisoners and also gangsters who were the lapdogs of the late King. Are you sure you wanna go to that jail?"

Lim was shocked by those words. He had not thought about that at all! The central jail was full of inmates who had rebelled against the new regime. They would not be happy upon finding him there!

SD threw something inside the cell. The doctor picked it up to see that it was a sharp razor.

"You can either let yourself be tortured by those inmates," SD stated. "Or, take the easy way out. Choice is yours."

The doctor gaped at the razor and then a SD. Who was this person?

But there was no time to dwell on the mysterious guard's identity. He must make a decision. If he went to central jail, then the monarchy's loyalists would not let him live. They would torment him everyday and subject him to a life worse than death. And if he managed to survive his sentence, the life after prison would be even more brutal. With no job and dignity, he would not be able to survive.

Choice is yours…

SD's words were circling his mind. The blue eyed man smirked as the doctor took the razor and placed it on his own neck.

"The game is only beginning," he said as blood sprayed over his handsome face.