By Zephyria “Detective Kim. How’s your ankle?”
“How did you get hurt?”
“Shouldn’t you be resting?”
Everyone looked at Lee-eum’s leg and said something. Fortunately, it wasn’t a major injury, just a slight sprain, and the doctor told him to apply ice packs for about a week and wear a detachable cast.
After leaving the hospital, Choi Won-joon followed him home, but Lee-eum forcibly sent him back when he tried to stay under the pretext of nursing him. Fearing he might barge in the morning, Lee-eum went to work at dawn, and sure enough, he received a frantic phone call.
When Choi Won-joon nagged him for coming to work, Lee-eum hung up, using the excuse that he was busy. The doctor himself said it was okay as long as he didn’t overdo it, so Lee-eum didn’t know why Choi Won-joon was making such a fuss.
After finishing his morning work, he went out on fieldwork with Jeong Nam-su in the afternoon. It was an area densely packed with multi-family houses, and a car had run over chili peppers spread out on the ground to dry, causing a dispute between the car owner and the chili pepper owner.
After an argument, the enraged car owner stabbed the chili pepper owner with a weapon and even harmed himself in a fit of anger, and both were hospitalized. Currently, both the perpetrator and the victim were difficult to communicate with, so they came out to get statements from the neighbors.
A police line was set up at the scene of the incident, and bloodstains remained in several places. Nam-soo sighed when he saw it.
“People must be going crazy because of the hot weather. They’re making a fuss over nothing.”
Both were living alone and had long cut off contact with their families. As they were investigating the surrounding area, the owner of a nearby hair salon, who was getting her hair done, mentioned the incident and shuddered.
“That man was always strange. He would glance at my legs when I passed by, rolling his eyes, ugh, he gave me the creeps. The chili pepper guy was wrong too, but he should have apologized if he ran over them with his car. Who would like it if he grabbed them by the collar right away? Don’t you think so, Detective?”
A customer at the hair salon added a word.
“That person wasn’t always alone. He lived with some Omega, what was her name? Kim, the owner, knows too, right? She was nice but a little slow. They set up a household, but one day, she disappeared.”
Lee-eum, who was listening, asked in detail.
“Disappeared where?”
“I don’t know. The man said he kicked her out for cheating, but that’s just what he said. He used to beat her up regularly when he was drunk. Everyone in this neighborhood knows. She ran away to our kimbap shop a few times. Her bones were broken, and she was taken to the hospital.”
“You haven’t seen her in this neighborhood recently, have you?”
The hair salon owner looked around and lowered her voice discreetly.
“Actually, there were rumors after she disappeared. Someone saw that man carrying a travel bag and loading it into his car at night. A student living upstairs saw it when he came out to smoke at dawn. But since the woman disappeared after that day, people think she was harmed.”
The customer behind her agreed, and Lee-eum and Nam-soo exchanged glances. Then they left the hair salon and went to other places, and finally went to the man’s house. It was a basement, and all sorts of junk were piled up in front of the man’s house.
As they were looking through the items one by one, they found a box sealed with tape at the very bottom. When they opened it, items that looked like they would be used in a science lab were rolling around covered in dust.
Nam-soo frowned and muttered.
“Did this guy make drugs at home….”
“They said they did a drug test at the hospital, right?”
“Yes, there wasn’t anything specific.”
Lee-eum looked at the front door and turned around. He went upstairs to find the landlord, and after knocking on the door, an old man came out after a while. The old man, wearing a white undershirt and only his underwear, seemed to be half-asleep.
“What’s the matter?”
“Hello, sir. We’re from the Seobu Police Station. Do you know Kim Gyun-seop who lived in the basement here? If you have the key to his house, could we borrow it for a moment?”
The old man scratched his neck. “I think I have a spare somewhere.” The old man told them to wait and went inside, but he didn’t come out even after a long time. Nam-soo fanned his shirt in the heat and asked how the seventieth birthday party was. Lee-eum, recalling that day, unconsciously hardened his expression.
“Don’t even mention it. It was tough.”
“I heard there was a bust of your father too.”
“Team leader told you?”
“Yes, everyone was impressed and making a fuss.”
At this point, Lee-eum should sincerely thank Choi Won-joon. The bust was delivered to his parents’ house, and his mother said that as soon as it arrived, his father put it in the most visible place in the living room and was dusting it morning and night. If his father knew that Choi Won-joon was the one who gave it to him, he might smash it with a hammer or grab him by the neck and collapse.
Just then, the door opened, and the old man handed over a bunch of keys.
“This is it, I wonder if it’ll fit?”
Then he handed over two soy milk cartons.
“You detectives are working hard, I don’t have anything to give you, so take this.”
“No, sir. We’re okay.”
“Take it. Don’t refuse what an old man is giving you.”
Since he insisted on giving it, Lee-eum thanked him, and the old man went straight inside. He put the soy milk in his pocket and went down to the basement to open the door, and Nam-soo, worried, said next to him.
“Is it okay to go in?”
“Let’s just check for a moment.”
“Sunbae, you’re also uneasy about the story you heard at the hair salon, right?”
Lee-eum nodded without denying it. Occasionally, some cases started from rumors. Someone said this, someone said that, most of them were exaggerated stories, but sometimes they were true.
When he turned the key, the lock turned. When he opened the door and went inside, something was piled up from the entrance. There were mountains of shoes, and clothes and leftovers were piled up on the sink and table, covered in mold and smelling foul.
Nam-soo covered his nose and cursed.
“Dirty bastard. What’s the point of driving a nice car? His house is a mess like this. Oh, did you see the bathroom? Crazy bastard. Where did he poop?”
When he rummaged through the piles of garbage with his foot, cockroaches scattered everywhere. Both of them were disgusted and went inside, where they found a bed mattress, and only that was intact. And next to it were clean shirts and pants, hanging with the dry cleaner’s plastic still on.
“It’s going to be a lot of work to search all this.”
“You look over there. I’ll go this way.”
When he told him to take the better side on purpose, Nam-soo made an impressed expression.
“You know what? I sometimes feel like Sunbae is an angel.”
“Shut up and find something quickly. I’m itching to death.”
Even after searching hard, most of what they found were liquor bottles and disposable dishes from delivered food. After some time, Nam-soo called Lee-eum, and when he went, there was a crumpled and torn resident registration certificate. It was a name he had never seen before, and the address was completely different.
“It seems like it’s the person he lived with, right? The customers at the hair salon said the name had ‘Jeong’ in it.”
“I think so.”
“I’ll start by figuring out the location.”
The two walked to the front door and were about to open the door and go out when something sparkled under their feet. Lee-eum bent down and picked it up. Nam-soo tilted his head when he saw it.
“Is it a fingernail?”
“It looks like an artificial fingernail….”
The fingernail was long, and there were shiny things attached to the outside. First, he put it in a collection bag and then went outside and walked to the roadside to get in the car. When he got in the car and started the engine, cool air conditioning poured out. While Nam-soo put his face to the vent to cool off his sweat, Lee-eum held the fingernail he had just picked up and examined it closely.
“I hope the rumors aren’t true.”
“We have to hope so.”
❖ ❖ ❖
Won-joon, who visited the art museum, stood in front of a certain work. It was a statue of a woman carrying a man on her back, and when he saw it, he thought of carrying Kim Yi-eum down the mountain. He pretended to be okay, but carrying a grown adult man down a slope that wasn’t even flat was not an easy task. Thanks to that, he even took medicine for muscle pain the next day.
“With this much sincerity, even Buddha would have turned around.”
He muttered to himself and smiled bitterly and went to the director’s office, where his mother was chatting with the curator and smiling brightly.
“Jun-ah, you’re here? How’s your body? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m almost healed.”
Madam Lee dismissed the employee and went to the sofa and sat down.
“That’s a relief. Your father was also very worried about you. He’s urging me to get you some tonic.”
She asked if he wanted some tea and then poured two cups and brought them over herself. It was something Choi Won-joon had bought during a trip abroad, not a luxury item, but something sold at a local store.
“Are you still using this? It’s old, throw it away.”
“It’s fine. The paint hasn’t peeled off anywhere. It’s a special cup for me.”
“I’ll buy you a new one.”
“No. What’s good for me is really good, rather than what’s good in other people’s eyes.”
Won-joon smiled, agreeing with her words.
“By the way, did you listen to the recording I sent you?”
“Yes. I listened to it.”
“As you said, Detective Kim’s father came to our house. They were going to kill each other, but they were so well-matched when it came to separating their children. It’s amazing.”
“Mom, you cover for Father. He won’t even listen to me.”
“Don’t worry. Trust Mom. I find this so much fun. I feel like a spy, it’s thrilling.”
She pretended to shoot a gun with an excited expression, and Won-joon felt that Madam Lee’s appearance was lovely. He sometimes understood why his father fell in love with his mother, gave up his life in the organization, and tried to become a company employee.
“Did you deliver what I asked you to?”
“Yes. I thought they might be suspicious if I only gave them a white porcelain jar, so I put lemon preserves that were in the house in it.”
“Thank you.”
“What thanks. Mom just wants you to be happy. How difficult is it to meet someone you truly love in life? I’ll support you, so don’t worry.”
Love…. In fact, Won-joon didn’t know much about that feeling. At first, he met him to use him, but now he wants to hold him, have him, and keep him by his side for the rest of his life. If this is love, then I must love Kim Yi-eum.