#111

I thought about chasing after him, but decided against it. If Tae-heun had been under surveillance the entire time he lived here, someone would have been visiting that house every day anyway. How annoying it must have been to collect the tapes and replace them with new ones. Especially since there would have been hardly anything to record.

Except for the first few days, Tae-heun hadn’t gone to the room he was originally supposed to stay in at all, and even when he did, it was only to change clothes. He had hardly ever had a real conversation with the man in the master bedroom either. They had talked a bit during mealtimes, but even then, the the child was the one who did most of the talking.

It must have been tough. Having to listen to the the child and Tae-heun bickering and making meaningless puns every day. Tae-heun smiled wryly and went inside.

I slowly started getting ready to leave. I was about to go take down the eldest of the Eagle Five Brothers. I decided to be an early bird and catch the worm. This time, it would be a pest, so it wouldn’t taste good.

I chose my work clothes. After a long time, I put on cargo pants with lots of pockets, a black T-shirt, and red boots. I felt the urge to go straight to the Man’s watermelon field, but I had to deal with those Young Men’s Association bastards first and then go to town. Tae-heun still had a lot to do.

It was obvious where the bastards who beat up the man were. The funeral home. According to the Man, they would have been drinking all night. So I ruled out their workplace. Actually, it didn’t matter where it was, but the funeral home was preferable. I wanted to shame them in front of their family-like neighbors. The the man would have wanted that too.

It’s been a while since I’ve stretched my muscles.

I found a pickaxe in the shed, separated the head, and only took the handle. I left the gate with a refreshed feeling.

I threw the pickaxe handle in the back seat of the car and was about to get into the driver’s seat when I felt a prickling sensation at the back of my head. It was the first time they had revealed their presence so openly. I was going to just ignore it, but I couldn’t. It felt like they were desperately begging Tae-heun to acknowledge them, and they would be disappointed if I pretended not to notice.

Tae-heun immediately turned around and ran up the alley. The slope was steep, but I had been running here for fun since I arrived, so I easily reached my destination. I was about to climb over the wall because I didn’t want to waste time opening the gate, but the gate opened on its own.

An unexpected person greeted Tae-heun.

“You have a nice house.”

It was Nam Ji-hoon, the guy I met at the room salon. Like a gangster, he was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt and black suit pants in this heat. He wasn’t from this neighborhood, so he probably wasn’t dressed like that to go to the funeral home.

“It was you? I thought it was someone else.”

I was surprised and a little disappointed.

“This is trespassing.”

Tae-heun grinned and stepped inside the gate.

“Is that so? I was just looking around.”

“You couldn’t have opened it with a key, could you? Right?”

“Ah. That’s true.”

Nam Ji-hoon smiled shamelessly. His eyes scanned Tae-heun. He raised his eyebrows slightly, as if surprised by my clothes, pants, and even the boots.

“But you seem to be on very good terms with Ki-beom hyung.”

I didn’t know how long he had been here, but he made it clear that he had seen the man and Tae-heun together at least once.

“We live together, so we have to get along.”

“You’ve become friends with Ji-hye too.”

“Kids usually like handsome people.”

Nam Ji-hoon made a helpless expression at my blunt reply.

Nam Ji-hoon was being polite even though I, who was a year younger than him, was speaking almost in a half-spoken tone. That’s why I hated perverts. How great would it be if they just got moderately upset and observed the proper order of seniority?

“So, what’s the purpose of your visit?”

Tae-heun asked.

“Purpose.”

Nam Ji-hoon dragged out his answer. Tae-heun openly looked at his wristwatch. I was expressing with my whole body that I didn’t have time to waste with him.

“Rose.”

Nam Ji-hoon replied, looking down at Tae-heun’s wrist. He seemed disappointed that it was a cheap plastic watch, not an expensive one.

“Rose?”

“Yes. If you had seen her face, you would understand what I’m saying.”

“How would I see her face? What about Rose? Did I do something?”

I asked with an innocent expression.

“It’s not that. Rose said so. That you were the owner of that bag.”

“That’s what Team Leader Park said. I don’t know anything about that bag. I just gave her a ride to town because her car broke down.”

I flatly denied it.

“And it’s not like she ended up like that because she was hanging out with me. You know that from what you’ve heard.”

At Tae-heun’s words, Nam Ji-hoon spat.

“So you don’t know anything about Rose’s situation?”

“Of course not. Detective Oh told me. He said that one of my underlings tried to have some fun with Rose and caused an accident. So he taught him a lesson he would understand.”

“Detective Oh said that?”

Tae-heun nodded.

Nam Ji-hoon frowned and stared into space. He seemed to be holding back his anger.

“How do Team Leader Park and Detective Oh know each other?”

He turned his gaze back to Tae-heun and asked. Tae-heun pretended to think for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.

“You probably know that Team Leader Park is one of my underlings. Detective Oh and I became friends after meeting through work. As a result, we started seeing each other often, and naturally, the two of them became friends too. But somehow, the two of them got along better than I did.”

Tae-heun spoke without deviating much from the facts. Detective Oh had coordinated their stories in that way when he introduced Team Leader Park, so there would be no problem even if they had a three-way confrontation.

“Those fucking bastards.”

Nam Ji-hoon cursed under his breath.

“I didn’t lay a finger on her.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Nam Ji-hoon clicked his tongue with a bitter expression.

“But Rose, was she yours?”

He wiggled his little finger.

“Detective Oh said he took care of it, but it doesn’t seem like it.”

“Detective Oh said that?”

“Yes. He said he talked to her uncle and told me not to worry.”

Tae-heun used the vague term “uncle” instead of openly calling him a pimp.

“Ah, fuck. That cop.”

Nam Ji-hoon couldn’t contain his anger and stomped his foot.

Tae-heun also cursed Detective Oh in his mind. Detective Oh had said with his own mouth that he had talked to the pimp, but he hadn’t actually resolved anything. As a result, an unnecessary tail had been added. At this crucial time.

“Anyway, have you finished your business?”

Tae-heun gestured towards the house with his chin.

Nam Ji-hoon’s gaze reached the kitchen before dropping. He was openly telling me that he had gone into the room through the kitchen.

“Did you find what you were looking for?”

At Tae-heun’s question, Nam Ji-hoon shrugged.

There was nothing in that room. The laptop was locked with a password, and the phone was ordinary. The ledger was already taken, so all that was left were the coffee pot, coffee, and bottled water. Maybe there were some snacks too.

Besides, the next room hadn’t even been repaired, so the cement floor was exposed. Unless someone was hiding, there was nothing to find out what Tae-heun had been doing in this house.

“If you’re done, get out. I have something to do and need to leave.”

“Yes. Let’s do that.”

Nam Ji-hoon spat again.

I thought of another reason why I hated gangsters. That habit of spitting. Il-gwang’s building was also full of cigarette butts and phlegm. Those uneducated bastards. I was disgusted.

“Talk to Detective Oh. There’s no point in messing with an active police officer. You haven’t been out of prison for long, and you’ll only hurt yourself if you get involved in something unnecessary. Team Leader Park is another story. You know that Team Leader Park is the cause of everything, right? Actually, I’m having a hard time because of Team Leader Park too.”

Hating it was one thing, but Tae-heun handed Park Detective over to Nam Ji-hoon in a friendly voice. Even if Nam Ji-hoon messed with Park Detective, he would only beat him up a few times. Then Detective Oh would step in and stop him, so there was no need to worry about his safety. Of course, whether he would believe Tae-heun’s words and act on them was entirely up to him.

“Madam Lee must have suffered a lot too. By the way, is Madam okay, her face? You didn’t hit Madam Lee too, did you?”

Tae-heun egged Nam Ji-hoon on and opened the gate. I gestured for him to come out quickly. Then Nam Ji-hoon looked around the house with a dissatisfied expression and followed Tae-heun out.

“But why did you block the entrance? There’s nothing special inside.”

“Ah, that? The fortune teller told me to move the entrance to the back. They said this place used to be where a shaman lived, so the energy is strong.”

Nam Ji-hoon scoffed at Tae-heun’s words.

“You believe in that kind of thing?”

“Of course. But I guess you don’t. If you’re working with land, you have to believe in feng shui and superstitions. If you take it lightly, something bad will happen.”

Tae-heun advised seriously.

“I know all the famous shamans in the country, so contact me if you need anything.”

Tae-heun said this and led Nam Ji-hoon ahead. I couldn’t stand behind him in case I got stabbed. You shouldn’t underestimate gangsters. Nam Ji-hoon seemed to be enjoying the fact that Tae-heun was wary of him. He often glanced back and smiled slyly.

If you want to feel superior, go ahead.

If we fought seriously, he wouldn’t be worth a dime to Tae-heun anyway.

“But what did you come here in?”

He couldn’t have walked that far, and I couldn’t see a car or even a bicycle. Besides, I didn’t hear a car coming last night either. That meant that someone had dropped Nam Ji-hoon off when Tae-heun and the man weren’t here, around three or four in the afternoon, and he had stayed in that house for a whole day and night. That was dedication.

What are they aiming for?

Even though Nam Ji-hoon said he didn’t find anything, I felt very uneasy. I couldn’t see anything but the Man’s yard from here, so he wouldn’t have seen Tae-heun putting on the Man’s shoes. But even so, I felt angry at the thought that someone had disturbed our private time.

It was all because of that Team Leader Park. I thought the immigration bag incident ended too easily, but in the end, things got twisted. I was already struggling to shake off the surveillance, and now I had a neighborhood gangster attached to me. Detective Oh wouldn’t have anything to say even if he had ten mouths.

Tae-heun frowned as he looked at his neatly groomed head.

“Why aren’t you answering? I asked what you came here in.”

“I walked.”

Nam Ji-hoon turned around and smiled.

“Really? Are you going to walk when you leave too?”

Tae-heun smiled and asked.

“I would be grateful if you gave me a ride.”

He was polite for someone so shameless.

“I can’t go far, I’ll only take you to the community center.”

I gave permission as if doing him a favor.

“But it looks like you’re going to work in the field?”

“Not really, just doing some errands. These clothes are comfortable to wear.”

“I heard you’re from Seoul, but that’s unexpected.”

“Is there a law that says people from Seoul can’t farm?”

“Not really, but.”

“Believe it or not, I’m good at it. Ki-beom praises me a lot.”

I showed off by mentioning the Man’s name.

“Don’t your parents farm?”

“They don’t. Not everyone in the countryside farms.”

“Then, business?”

“Yes.”

“Water?”

“I do that too. This and that.”

Nam Ji-hoon answered surprisingly honestly and gave a strange smile.

Thanks to that, Tae-heun roughly figured out Nam Ji-hoon’s background. People who sell water in rural towns often run prostitution businesses as well. It seemed like Nam Ji-hoon’s family was similar. Or maybe they were a gangster family. That’s why he was running a prostitution business at his age.

“Your friends must be jealous.”

At Tae-heun’s words, Nam Ji-hoon said, “I guess so,” with a proud expression. If he was running a liquor business and a prostitution business, he would be the envy of his classmates and seniors who were known to be players. Even going to prison would be like a badge of honor for him.

Yeah, friend. A relationship of life and death since middle school. Kwon Yong-joon was supposed to come to the wake. Kwon Il-taek, who was practically the landlord of this village, wouldn’t have skipped the wake, so Kwon Yong-joon would have definitely attended. If things went well, Kwon Yong-joon might have even brought Nam Ji-hoon here.

What a precious friendship you have there.

Tae-heun openly sneered and opened the car door. He picked up an unexpected passenger.