#12

Damn it. Who does he think he is?

He was trying to figure out a way to escape.

“A week from now? Perfect. By then, I’ll make sure it’s clean enough for a good sleep.”

Mr. Han replied cheerfully and got into the car, only to come back out exclaiming, “Ouch, hot!”

The thermometer inside the car was reading 34 degrees. In that brief moment, the heated interior felt like a sauna. He hurriedly opened all the windows and doors to cool it down. It was only after about five minutes that the three of them could sit in the same seats as before.

The sedan began to drive down the winding road they had just traveled. Holding onto the handle, Tae-heun looked back.

A man was standing on the porch.

Is this what addiction feels like?

He felt like he was going crazy missing the fresh air. He longed for the rural scent and the smell of grass he had experienced yesterday, even the scorching heat of the sun. It was strange; even though he wasn’t eating anything, his mouth kept watering.

He was so desperate that he dreamt for the first time of something other than the two-story house. It was a dream of a man drinking water from a faucet. While watching the water splash everywhere, Tae-heun waited for his turn. Of course, his turn never came, and the man, wearing red rubber boots, wobbled away, limping off the porch.

Tae-heun felt gloomy all day. The stench he thought he had gotten used to became unbearable, and the cement wall visible when he opened the door felt like a prison.

Let’s escape.

He began to solidify the thoughts he had while leaving the man’s house yesterday.

It wasn’t that he had a specific place he wanted to go. He just wanted to be anywhere but here. That was the only thought in his mind.

The final roll call usually took place after dinner was delivered. Most of the time, it ended before 10 PM, and no matter how late it got, there was never a call after 11 PM. So, escaping after the last roll call was the most rational and highest probability option. He figured the one watching him would be asleep too.

The problem was money. The cash he had brought was more than enough, but right now, he didn’t have a single penny on him. He could either go to Seoul and prepare for himself or contact an accomplice to come over. Both options carried significant risks.

Damn it. He scratched his eyebrows.

He thought about leaving his ID and borrowing money, but Lee Seon-jae was dead, and Kim Tae-heun had no ID or anything. He was literally invincible.

I don’t know. Let’s stop thinking and just get out of here.

Let’s go out and have a cup of coffee.

After returning to the house yesterday, he had thoroughly surveyed the area to understand the layout, but aside from the locked front gate, there was no way out. It really felt like a prison; both the wall and the gate were excessively high and thick. The security was even tighter than the iron gate of Ilgwang Financial’s executive office.

The only place that seemed feasible was the barbed wire fence. The wall was slightly slanted and narrow. It might be difficult for a thin and small person, but for someone with Tae-heun’s build, it seemed possible to use the house as a foothold to climb up.

He practiced climbing the wall all day until the roll call phone call came. At first, it seemed impossible, but after some trial and error, he easily reached the barbed wire. Confirming that he could see a road beyond the wire, he cheered inwardly.

He eagerly awaited the last roll call phone call. At exactly 10 PM, the phone rang. It rang twice before disconnecting, and a minute later, the third call came in. Once, twice, three times, four times, five times. He crouched in front of the phone and immediately answered.

After finishing the roll call, he attempted to escape an hour later. In his excitement, his left palm got slightly torn on the barbed wire, but aside from that, he managed to jump over the wall without any major injuries. He lowered his body as much as possible and scanned the surroundings.

Damn it. Tae-heun felt perplexed as he looked around at the dark surroundings.

He had assumed there would be a village nearby since they had traveled by car, but all he saw was a forest. The road he had seen through the wire earlier wasn’t a road at all. It was the remains of another building. Perhaps someone had started to build a villa by cutting into the mountain, as there were several half-finished buildings on the flattened land. One of them was half-buried in a pile of dirt. The place where Tae-heun was staying seemed to be one of those ruins, transformed into a prison-like facility to suit their tastes.

Somewhere in that building, there was a watcher. It was possible that they had set up traps everywhere. Tae-heun kept his body low, searching for a way out. Even though he had been hooded, he hadn’t walked long and had gotten into the car, so there had to be a road leading out nearby.

After about 30 minutes of searching, he found an entrance camouflaged with grass and branches. It was a fairly wide mountain road that could accommodate a van. His heart raced with excitement.

As soon as he stepped out the door, he ran. He wanted to get away from the house as quickly as possible. He had a vague hope that there would be a village at the end of this road. Even though the temperature had dropped, it was summer, and he was wearing long sleeves and long pants, so it was bearable. The slippers were a mistake, but he couldn’t afford to be picky about that right now.

The mountain path led through a steep slope, then repeated gentle ascents and descents before reaching a village. As expected, it wasn’t a city. It was at least a small town, but it was a rural village not much different from Dongjam-ri, where he had visited yesterday.

At a time well past midnight, the rural night was deep and quiet. There were no houses with lights on. Who would he ask for directions? If he woke someone up, they might call the police, and that would be a disaster. Tae-heun wanted to know where he was, so he searched for a signpost. Instead of a signpost, he found a bus stop. He was lucky.

Seojeon-ri. It was written without any context. It would have been nice if there was a route map. He couldn’t spend the night at the bus stop, and it was awkward. He plopped down on a wooden bench that looked like it had rotted from the rain. For a bus to run, it had to be bright outside. At least six hours had to pass, and he didn’t want to waste that time.

Tae-heun got up again and walked back to the supermarket he had passed earlier. Since it was a business, there would likely be some drunks looking for alcohol late at night. He figured they wouldn’t be surprised if he knocked on the door at dawn.

Sure enough, when he knocked, a middle-aged man who seemed to be the owner appeared. He looked annoyed but willingly opened the sliding door and asked what he was looking for.

“Excuse me, but where am I?”

It was surprising for a big guy to suddenly ask where he was. The owner closed the door again and then opened it once more.

“Why do you ask?”

The supermarket owner asked, gripping the door tightly, looking very wary. It was hard to tell if he was using a dialect because his words were so short.

“I came to visit nearby and got lost.”

He spoke as gently as possible, in a pitiful voice.

The supermarket owner looked Tae-heun up and down and seemed to understand a bit.

“Seojeon-ri.”

“So, I want to know exactly where Seojeon-ri is.”

“Do you want me to give you the address?”

“Yes, I would appreciate that.”

“Gyeonggi-do, Hanju-si, Hwangmu-eup, Seojeon-ri.”

Hearing the word Hwangmu-eup made him laugh.

Dongjam-ri was also part of Hwangmu-eup. He didn’t know how big Hwangmu-eup was, but it meant that Dongjam-ri was somewhere nearby. There was a house he could live in just a stone’s throw away.

To deceive Tae-heun, Detective Park’s group had taken three hours to get there. What dedication.

“But why did you come here?”

“Dongjam-ri.”

“How did you end up all the way here from there?”

The supermarket owner clicked his tongue. His wariness had lessened significantly.

“Do you want to borrow a phone?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Come on in.”

Tae-heun followed the owner into the store. He heard a woman’s voice asking who it was. It seemed to be his wife, as the owner went inside, said a few words, and then came back out with a phone.

Since he had escaped, he might as well make a call.

He beeped his accomplice, worried they might take action thinking something had happened to Tae-heun. He reassured them that he was fine, that nothing was wrong.

He didn’t know the man’s home phone number, so he returned the phone.

“Not answering?”

The supermarket owner asked worriedly.

“No. I guess everyone is drunk and sleeping.”

“Oh dear, what a situation. There’s a guesthouse nearby; should I check it out for you?”

“No, it’s fine. Just tell me the way to Dongjam-ri.”

“Are you going to walk?”

“Yes.”

At Tae-heun’s words, the supermarket owner became even more anxious.

“It’s quite far, and the world is dangerous; you should just sleep here.”

“Hey, wouldn’t a thief or a robber be more scared to meet me?”

He smiled at that.

It seemed he wasn’t entirely wrong, as the man made a gesture of agreement. He looked at Tae-heun with envious eyes, saying how nice it was to be young. Nevertheless, he tried to dissuade Tae-heun once more, and when he persisted, he gave up.

The supermarket owner told him two ways to get to Dongjam-ri. One was to take the road where the bus ran, and the other was to cross the mountain. It was the very mountain where the immortal enjoyed eternal life.

“If you cross that, you’ll be right at Dongjam-ri. It takes about two hours on foot, but the terrain is rough. If you had sneakers, it would be fine, but slippers are too much. So, don’t even think about going that way.”

“Of course. I’ll walk slowly along the main road like a stroll.”

“Alright. Take your time. It’s farther than you think.”

Ignoring the supermarket owner’s advice, Tae-heun headed toward Mansu Mountain.

Going back wasn’t in his nature. The mountain didn’t look that high, and he was confident in his stamina, so he thought climbing for two hours would be a piece of cake. He stepped onto the mountain without hesitation.

A beast howled. The wind rustled the leaves, and twigs made a loud noise as they broke under his slippers. The steep ascents and descents repeated. Just as the supermarket owner had said, the terrain was rugged and the valleys deep. Tae-heun slipped and fell frequently.