#165

Tae-heun left the national highway and re-entered the village. He passed the signpost that read “Deokgok Village” and moved towards the village hall. Finding a public phone wasn’t difficult. Tae-heun, who memorized any number, perfectly memorized the newly received cell phone and pager numbers.

Damn it. If the man received the pager, if he pressed the number to check the voice message, he would have realized it wasn’t the number he used before. He hadn’t thought that far. He had been arrogant, assuming he would always be with Man, that he could keep him from knowing the number had changed, and that had made things worse.

How was he going to explain this?

It was one mountain after another.

But he decided to worry about that after he found the man and hurriedly checked the voice message.

As expected, Kwon Yong-joon’s voice had arrived. He sounded very desperate. It even sounded like he was crying.

[Hyung, you’re coming alone, right? You have to come alone! Don’t bring anyone.]

Tae-heun squeezed his eyes shut.

man left Tae-heun as soon as he checked this voice message. It went without saying that Kwon Il-taek’s death had made him even more impatient.

Tae-heun knew Prosecutor Jeong’s intention in leaving that voice message. While waiting for Kwon Yong-joon, who wouldn’t come alone, at the reservoir, Tae-heun was free. During that free time, Tae-heun would be able to comfortably meet with the orphanage staff without having to lie to Man.

The problem was that Tae-heun had fallen asleep, and the man had left without Tae-heun knowing.

He felt pathetic. When he wanted to sleep, he couldn’t sleep a wink, driving him crazy, but at the most important moment, he fell into a deep sleep. He wouldn’t have minded if he had a good dream. It was a series of nightmares. He wandered through a terrible nightmare he couldn’t wake up from, only to face an even bigger nightmare.

Even though he could guess where the man would go, he couldn’t help but worry. He felt like he was going crazy. What if he had an accident, what if he lost his footing and fell somewhere, what if the driver of the car he happened to get into was a criminal? Or what if he was one of the hunting dogs?

His heart felt like it was going to burst with fear. But his brain had stopped. He couldn’t think of anything. He leaned against the public phone, holding the receiver, and gasped for breath.

After finally regaining his senses, he called the cell phone. The cell phone that the man had.

“Please, answer. Please just answer!”

Tae-heun’s prayers weren’t answered. the man didn’t answer the phone until it went to voicemail. Moreover, on the third try, a message saying the phone was turned off played.

He sighed deeply. He barely suppressed the desire to smash everything he saw with his fist.

Then, belatedly, he thought of his wallet. He took the wallet out of his back pocket and opened it, but the cash was still there. It seemed he hadn’t touched the wallet so as not to wake Tae-heun.

He wondered if the man had brought any money with him. He even regretted saying he should have asked to see his wallet.

With no other choice, he left a voice message.

“Ki-beom, it’s Tae-heun. Do you have enough money? I was completely knocked out, but since you were taking it anyway, why didn’t you take the money from my wallet too? I don’t know what you’re riding, but don’t do anything unnecessary, and don’t move around too much. You know the meeting time is midnight, right? I heard Yong-joon’s voice message too. So I know you left. Ki-beom won’t like it if I go early, so I’ll go to the reservoir exactly at 5 a.m. tomorrow, at sunrise. Okay? So please be there. Then I’ll see you at that reservoir tomorrow. I will!”

While leaving the voice message, he stuttered and trembled so much that the alarm went off repeatedly, and he had to extend the time twice. Whatever happened, he just hoped his sincerity was conveyed.

After leaving the voice message, his legs gave out. Tae-heun squatted down on the spot and looked at the ground. Only then did he notice the shoes on his feet.

No wonder his feet hurt. They were the shoes he had exchanged with Man. The inside of the right shoe was higher than the left shoe. It was so meticulously done that no one would notice it from the outside, but a reinforcing plate was added inside the right shoe to compensate for the difference in his two legs.

They weren’t cheap, but they weren’t top-of-the-line either. They would have been better if they had been broken in, but the man cherished these shoes as if they were sacred.

Tae-heun had been so out of it looking for the man that he hadn’t even noticed the different heels. He probably limped too, but he didn’t even notice that.

Sniffle. Tears welled up.

He buried his face in his arm, as the man did.

He wanted to buy the man better shoes. He wanted to buy him sneakers that were comfortable enough to run in. But the man who would wear them wasn’t in front of him. It wasn’t like he had gone far away, and even though Tae-heun knew where the man was going, he felt helpless.

The rain was getting heavier. The surroundings had darkened in the meantime. There was no more time to delay. Whether it turned out good or bad, he had to leave. Before leaving the village, Tae-heun made one last call to the orphanage staff.

To Kim Young-ja, the nurse who had the same name as Kim Young-ja, the director of Galilla Orphanage.

* * *

Yoon Ki-beom was in a good mood. He was happy that he had gotten a ride on a truck going into Gongju, and that he had taken a bus to Gimje not long after getting off the truck. He was excited that he wasn’t wasting any time.

Besides, with his cell phone clipped to his left belt and his pager clipped to his right belt, he felt like a gunslinger with twin pistols. He unconsciously straightened his shoulders.

The sneakers he had exchanged with Tae-heun felt as comfortable as if they had always been his. His left foot was slightly bigger, but when he tightened the shoelaces, they fit perfectly, and his swollen right foot fit perfectly without having to tighten the laces.

Of course, he limped, but he didn’t care. After limping for more than 10 years, it felt natural.

There was a reason why Ki-beom wore specially made shoes. For example, the boots were for using his strength evenly, and the shoes were custom-made because he only wore them on special days and wanted to feel special on those days. That was all. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to show his limp, or because he was uncomfortable with people whispering that he was a cripple, that he spent more money.

Ki-beom ate bread and drank Let’s Be coffee on the bus to Gimje. He still didn’t have much of an appetite, but he felt like he had to eat something to keep moving. At least the sweet coffee went down easily.

Even though it was Sunday, the bus was empty. Ki-beom’s seat next to him was also empty. Ki-beom felt awkward being alone for the first time. He had always sat alone whenever he went to see his uncle, but it felt like something from a past life. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, and that was exactly how he felt.

He hadn’t left Tae-heun on purpose. Left, no way. He had just left first.

Yong-joon had left a voice message. He was crying because he had heard about the chairman. He felt so heartbroken, he wondered how Yong-joon must feel. The thought made his eyes red again.

He believed that Tae-heun would understand that he had left first.

Ki-beom leaned back in his seat and looked out the window. It was raining. He thought he should buy an umbrella when he arrived in Gimje. He took out his wallet and checked the cash. Fortunately, he had enough money for the bus fare to the reservoir and to buy an umbrella. At least he wouldn’t have to wait in the rain, so he was lucky.

“I’m lucky today.”

He smiled to himself.

It was all thanks to the child. Ever since he heard the child’s voice, everything seemed to be going smoothly. He smiled again as he recalled the child’s voice, shouting and chattering as if his ears would burst.

Without realizing it, he kept reaching for his pager and cell phone. The pager and cell phone were still there. But the pager number had changed. He didn’t know anything about machines other than farm equipment and trucks, so he had no idea if this was normal or if it was broken.

Then he remembered Hyung Gi-cheol talking about a wide-area pager a few years ago. He said that there were pagers that could only be used in one area and pagers that could be used nationwide. Hyung Gi-cheol, who rarely left Hwangmu-eup, had gone out of his way to replace his pager with a wide-area pager, even paying extra. And the number had changed too.

He vaguely thought that Tae-heun’s pager probably worked in a similar way. Otherwise, there was no way the number on the perfectly working device would have changed.

You really have to learn, he thought.

Ki-beom nodded, piecing together old memories.

Then he fell asleep, and when he opened his eyes, the bus was entering the Gimje Bus Terminal. He arrived at exactly 8 p.m. He really wasn’t wasting any time.

He was so happy that he started to whistle, but he quickly closed his mouth, saying “Snake.”

He naturally checked his cell phone and pager. The cell phone was turned off because the battery was dead, and there was one voice message on the pager. He decided to check it after he got off.

The rain was getting quite heavy. That was the only flaw in this trip. He hoped there would be somewhere to sit near the reservoir. Worrying, he prepared to get off the slowly stopping bus. He raised his large body, then sat back down for the smaller passengers than him.

After watching everyone get off one by one, he finally got up. He carefully stepped down the stairs so as not to slip on the rainwater.

“Yoon Ki-beom?”

He had just gotten off at the terminal and was about to buy an umbrella.

Ki-beom turned around at the sound of someone calling him and was startled. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

He wanted to ask why you were here, but he could only move his lips, unable to make a sound.

“Let’s go together.”

“I, well.”

“Why? Do you doubt me?”

“No, it’s not that.”

Ki-beom hadn’t even said he was going, but the other person believed it and walked ahead. He didn’t even look back.

Ki-beom hesitated for a moment. If he ran and got on any bus, and hid inside, they wouldn’t be able to find him. He would get scolded by the bus driver, but he could ask to be let off in the middle. Then he thought about the money he had. He didn’t have enough money for a taxi. He could only take the bus a couple of times, and he had to walk a bit to the reservoir. If the bus went too far, if the driver didn’t stop even if Ki-beom asked, he might be late for his appointment with Yong-joon. The thought made him anxious.

The man in front was getting farther away.

What should he do?

Ki-beom looked at the terminal where buses were coming in one after another.

“Aren’t you coming?”

The other person shouted.

“…Yes, I’m coming!”

There was no choice.

He had been lucky until just now, it seemed the luck the child had given him had run out. When he thought about it, Ki-beom never had a choice.

Ki-beom walked dejectedly. He swayed, his whole body leaning heavily to the right. The man who was walking ahead waited for Ki-beom with his head tilted.

Was it because of his posture, or was it because of the dim lighting?

Ah. Another person’s face overlapped the man above.

The boy he had forgotten for a long time.

The boy who was unfamiliar yet familiar.

His vision blurred.

Chapter 166