#143

Disciplinary procedures were immediately initiated. Park Dong-Hee was currently suspended from duty and awaiting reassignment, and Detective Oh was also summoned to determine his responsibility. Detective Oh, already overwhelmed with the Kwon Il-taek case, was now facing even more trouble.

“They’ll meet soon. Kim In-sung went looking for him with a vengeance.”

“How soon?”

“Could be in thirty minutes.”

Prosecutor Jeong pointed to his ear, implying that he was currently wiretapping Il-gwang.

“Uncle?”

Tae-heun exhaled a puff of cigarette smoke. He frowned, recalling Lee Seok-doo’s ugly face.

“No. Lee Seok-doo doesn’t bother with small fry like them.”

Prosecutor Jeong extinguished his half-smoked cigarette.

“Did your aunt mention it?”

“Mention what?”

“That Lee Seok-doo put a bounty on your head.”

“Oh. I think I heard something about that.”

It was around the time of the search and seizure, he vaguely recalled hearing that Lee Seok-doo believed Lee Seon-jae was still alive. He was the type to hold shamanistic rituals, of course, but relying on a shaman’s words even for the life or death of a dead man was so typical of Uncle that he scoffed at it. To old geezers like Lee Seok-doo, DNA tests were just a trick by the police and prosecution to catch criminals.

“How much did he offer, again?”

“Are you really worried about that in this situation?”

“Of course. I’m curious.”

“Three thousand.”

“Not bad. If he has so much money, why was he so stingy at my funeral? Did he spend maybe thirty?”

Tae-heun joked, and Prosecutor Jeong chuckled, calling him a ‘bastard.’

“Honestly, it’ll be harder to meet Lee Hyun-joon than Uncle. That bastard barely shows up at the company.”

“He’s been coming in every day lately, though. Not that he’s doing any work. But thanks to that, we bought some time.”

A bounty on the head of the dead Lee Seon-jae.

Uncle might do something like that, but Lee Hyun-joon was the type to scoff at it. He might even be hoping his father would go senile. Which meant he wasn’t the type to meet someone just because they came looking for him.

As expected, security at Il-gwang was tight. No matter how precarious Il-gwang’s situation was, it wasn’t a company that a small-town thug could just waltz into.

Kim In-sung couldn’t even get a direct phone call with Lee Hyun-joon, let alone meet him. Naturally, Kim In-sung was sweating bullets. He had gotten hold of something big, but there was no way to deliver it. So he collected evidence. Photos. Because nothing in the world was as reliable as photos.

Tae-heun took another drag from his cigarette before putting it out.

“So what do you want me to do?”

Tae-heun asked as he got up.

Prosecutor Jeong hadn’t come all the way to Dongjam-ri just to deliver news. He wanted him to leave. It was an obvious conclusion, but he didn’t want to say it himself. He had no intention of leaving the Man.

“Take it.”

Prosecutor Jeong abruptly handed him a document envelope. Tae-heun, who had been wondering what the documents he’d been carrying were, opened it without hesitation. He expected it to be a getaway plan or plane tickets, but it wasn’t.

It was information about the Galilla Orphanage. Tae-heun raised an eyebrow, not understanding the meaning of this.

“You asked me to look into it, didn’t you?”

He was a truly interesting person. In this urgent situation, suddenly the Galilla Orphanage? Tae-heun chuckled.

“I did.”

“Weren’t you going to investigate it?”

“Maybe.”

Tae-heun put the documents back in the envelope.

He wasn’t just saying ‘maybe,’ he really intended to investigate. Even though his life was on the line, he had to know. If things went wrong and he disappeared from this world, he had to eliminate the Man’s weaknesses so that he and the the child could live in peace for the rest of their lives. Thoroughly, so that no one, not even Detective Oh, would dare to touch them.

“Bastard, you’re going to do it anyway.”

Prosecutor Jeong must have seen Tae-heun’s determination.

“Do it.”

He openly encouraged him.

“Why are you suddenly like this? You were telling me not to before?”

“Would you listen if I told you not to? Go.”

The more Prosecutor Jeong acted like this, the more Tae-heun’s rebellious streak kicked in. He couldn’t believe it, especially coming from Prosecutor Jeong. Wasn’t he the one who worried about Tae-heun’s safety more than anyone else? Had he taken some kind of drug?

“If you guarantee their safety, then I will.”

Tae-heun said, tossing the document envelope onto the porch. Then he held out his hand, asking for another cigarette.

Prosecutor Jeong handed him one, frowning. He knew, of course, that Tae-heun wasn’t talking about his own safety.

“Whose safety?”

“Yoon Ki-beom and Yoon Ji-hye.”

“Good grief, anyone would think you were their family.”

Prosecutor Jeong gave a hollow laugh.

Now that he and the man were a couple, they were family, but he didn’t bother saying it out loud.

“Lee Seon-jae, what’s gotten into you? You’ve even made friends. I’ve lived long enough to see everything.”

Then, he stared at Tae-heun intently. It was an ambiguous expression, impossible to tell whether he was feeling sorry for him or admiring him.

“You’ll have to live even longer. To be surprised by something like this.”

He’d probably be shocked to death if he knew that those friends were the kind who touched each other’s balls, sucked each other’s dicks, and shared each other’s holes. Tae-heun laughed inwardly.

“Don’t even say that.”

Prosecutor Jeong cast his gaze beyond the empty gate.

“I’ll do it, I guarantee it.”

The answer came too easily. That’s why he didn’t trust it. He was the same person who barely guaranteed Lee Seon-jae’s safety before the operation started. Tae-heun raised his middle finger.

There was no way Jeong Jae-jin would do something like that. He’d probably just assign a couple of low-ranking officers and call it a day. And if they died, he’d apologize with his usual indifferent tone, saying, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not kidding. I’m serious.”

Prosecutor Jeong said again, noticing that Tae-heun didn’t trust him.

“How can I believe you when you’re acting so unlike yourself, Prosecutor? I wouldn’t believe you even if you made soybean paste from beans.”

Tae-heun tapped the stone step with his slipper.

“I’d rather get caught myself. You know what our methods are like, Prosecutor.”

He grinned.

“You crazy bastard.”

Prosecutor Jeong said sternly.

“How good of a friend is he that you’d do this?”

He asked seriously. He stared at Tae-heun with eyes that seemed to see into his soul.

“A friend whose life is worth more than my own.”

He was someone more precious than his own life. If he had ten lives, he’d give them all. He himself was puzzled as to how he had come to love the man so much, but it was the truth. Just as there were no specific qualifications or conditions for falling in love, risking one’s life for love was also something beyond his control.

“Lee Seon-jae has finally become human.”

“When wasn’t I?”

“You weren’t. Ask anyone in the world. When has Lee Seon-jae ever been human?”

Prosecutor Jeong said, gesturing with his eyes toward the document envelope.

“His life must have been tough. But on paper, he doesn’t seem like a very good person.”

He spoke cautiously about Yoon Ki-beom. Whatever kind of person the real Yoon Ki-beom was, it was clear that the man was a good person. That was enough.

“He must have turned over a new leaf. Look at me. Didn’t you say I’ve become human now, Prosecutor?”

“Bastard. You never give an inch.”

Prosecutor Jeong laughed with a look of exasperation.

The two were silent for a moment. Outside the gate was quiet as well. Unlike the usual sounds of farm machinery and various animals that never allowed it to be quiet, Tae-heun thought the Man’s house was particularly quiet. If he and the man had sex here, the chicken coop or the blue roof above would have heard everything. He tried to recall how wildly he and the man had played, but as usual, the memories evaporated.

“Damn it. You’ve finally started living like a human being, and I can’t even help you.”

Prosecutor Jeong reproached himself as never before. Even good flower songs get old after hearing them once or twice, and Tae-heun snapped the unlit cigarette.

“I can’t listen to this anymore. Are you so free that you can talk like this? Or did you already hand me over to Lee Seok-doo?”

“You bastard, don’t even say that.”

Prosecutor Jeong glared at him with a hurt expression.

“So what do you want me to do? What are you going to do?”

Tae-heun deliberately asked in a demanding tone. He was the type of person who naturally became rebellious when pressed, so this shitty atmosphere would disappear. As expected, Prosecutor Jeong’s expression changed. He reverted to his usual arrogant and bored look.

“Do that.”

Prosecutor Jeong pointed to the yellow envelope again.

“If you really can’t trust me, go with Yoon Ki-beom. We can take care of the the child as much as you want. You know my aunt’s personality.”

“I’d understand if you told me to go to Canada instead. What’s the reason for all this?”

“To get out of harm’s way, you idiot. Don’t you know that the most dangerous places right now are the airport and the port? They’re completely compromised.”

“Oh, I know. Of course, I know. But at least I could try to go to Incheon.”

Tae-heun brought up their escape plan. He was the one begging to go to Incheon, instead of Prosecutor Jeong, which was absurd.

“All the big shots are flocking there.”

“Why?”

“Kwon Il-taek.”

“How many went?”

“Almost all of them.”

Whew. He whistled.

“Is it that bad?”

“Yeah. They must have underestimated us country bumpkins. The scale of the fraud is enormous.”

“It seems Kwon Il-taek and his children weren’t the only ones involved.”

Prosecutor Jeong nodded.

“They had three top-notch guys attached to it. It’s a scheme.”

“Shit.”

“The damage here isn’t even worth mentioning. They’re talking about five hundred billion won in Seoul alone. The people in this town can’t even compare.”

If that was the case, Incheon was out, and Hwangmu-eup and Hanju-si were also dangerous since Kim In-sung controlled them.

Tae-heun turned his gaze back to the document envelope.

“Is it safe if I go there?”

“For now. You need to use your head while you’re moving.”

Since Prosecutor Jeong was going this far, Tae-heun couldn’t keep refusing.

“Is it Anseong or Ansan?”

“Pyeongtaek. And Gimje.”

“It was Pyeongtaek?”

“They were originally in Ansan, but they moved to Pyeongtaek. I think it was about two months before Yoon Ki-beom left the orphanage.”

The so-called great-uncle didn’t even know where his nephew had been. It made him angry that he treated Yoon Ki-beom so badly. Even though he knew the man might not be Yoon Ki-beom.

“And why Gimje? Are you telling me to go to Gunsan and take a boat if things go wrong?”

Prosecutor Jeong joked, “That would be good.”

“The employee who worked at that orphanage the longest lives in Gimje. The others couldn’t last more than a few months and kept changing.”

“What about the director?”

“The director was sentenced to eight years in prison in 1994 and died of pneumonia in 1997 while serving his sentence. There was also his younger brother who ran the orphanage with him, but he served three years and was released, and his trail disappeared after the fall of 1998. We don’t know if he’s alive or dead.”

Having said all this, Prosecutor Jeong asked, “So, is it worth going?”

Tae-heun glanced out the gate. The Man, knowing nothing, was probably trembling with anxiety in the van or surrounded by police. There was no time to hesitate and chat here.

“Are you really confident you can take good care of the the child?”

“Should I tell that to my aunt?”

“Oh, for crying out loud, what are you going to tell her again? Of course, I trust you.”

The problem wasn’t the the child, but how to persuade the Man. He was a man who cherished the the child. There was no way he’d leave the the child behind, especially with the village atmosphere so unsettling.

“But Yoon Ki-beom can’t go. It’s not easy to hide an adult man. Especially someone like him.”

Prosecutor Jeong said preemptively, in case Tae-heun was hoping for it.

From the start, Tae-heun had no intention of entrusting the man to anyone. He didn’t want to be separated from the man for even a minute. Especially with danger lurking, it didn’t make sense to leave the man behind and go alone. Of course, it might be more dangerous for him to be with him, but he was confident that he could protect at least one man.

“You’re good at lying. Show off your skills.”

Prosecutor Jeong said casually, seeing that Tae-heun was still hesitating.

In that instant, Kwon Yong-joon came to mind. The person the man still felt sorry for. If Kwon Yong-joon had called him crying, if he had asked for help and begged him to come to where he was right away, the man was the type of person who would drop everything and go.

Tae-heun seriously considered it.

144 – Chapter 144