#167

It was almost 9 PM when Tae-heun entered Gimje. He had driven slowly, worried he might run into Man.

Had the man even arrived in Gimje? If he had, was he at the reservoir? The thought of the man alone in the reservoir in this weather, with no proper shelter from the rain, gnawed at him. Of course, imagining him lost somewhere, not even making it near Gimje, was even more maddening.

He had initially planned to just secretly check if the man had arrived at the reservoir, but then Prosecutor Jeong had gone out of his way to make time for him, so he shifted his focus to finishing the job quickly.

man was a diligent and experienced farmer. He was someone who could tidy up flooded fields in the pitch-black dawn and even take care of startled elders, a responsible man who would step up to repair collapsed pig farms and damaged village facilities after a night of heavy rain. So, it was perhaps only natural that the man would look after Kwon Yong-joon. Therefore, his worries were nothing but useless. He knew it all in his head, but his heart wouldn’t listen.

If they had parted while he was awake, it wouldn’t have been like this.

Of course, if that were the case, he would never have let the man go in the first place.

Kim Young-ja wasn’t answering her phone, probably out. He had no choice but to go to her house unannounced.

Caution!

That was the only phrase written on the yellow sticky note attached to Kim Young-ja’s name. If Prosecutor Jeong had made a note of it like that, she probably wasn’t an ordinary woman.

Tae-heun stopped by the village supermarket where Kim Young-ja lived to double-check her location. Kim Young-ja lived at the edge of Gujeong-ri, bordering Jeongeup City. She had worked at a hospital as a nursing assistant back when nurses were called “nurse aides,” and in 1981, she transferred to the newly established Galilla Orphanage. She was thirty-three years old then, exactly Man’s age now. She had married while working at the orphanage, but divorced in less than a year, and had no children with her Husband.

Kim Young-ja stood in court with the director of Galilla Orphanage, Kim Young-ja, and the vice-director, Kim Sung-hwan, not as a witness but as a defendant. That meant she might be in cahoots with them. She appealed that she couldn’t help it, that she had only done as she was told because she was afraid of threats, and it worked, earning her only a year in prison.

After being released, Kim Young-ja wandered around various regions before settling in Gimje two years ago, a place with no ties to her. She even applied to change her name to Kim Eun-sook. Although the name change application was rejected and she was still Kim Young-ja on paper, she seemed to be living under the name Kim Eun-sook, deceiving her neighbors.

The number of streetlights dwindled as he approached Kim Young-ja’s house, until he couldn’t see an inch in front of him. The road was unpaved and terribly rough. Kim Young-ja lived past endless rice paddies and empty lots, in a place where it seemed no one else could possibly live.

Kim Young-ja’s house, without a single light, was no different from any other rural house, but it seemed particularly neglected. The paint was peeling off the walls and gate, and even the roof looked like it could be called an abandoned house. Moreover, the top of the wall was lined with shards of broken glass and barbed wire, making him reluctant to even approach.

He could understand why the supermarket owner had frowned and said, “Ah, that house?” as soon as he mentioned the address.

“Hello? Is anyone home?”

Tae-heun shouted loudly in front of the gate.

There was no sign of life. She must be out. He had been warned by Prosecutor Jeong, and given her past record, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to check out the house beforehand.

Tae-heun took off his white shirt and dress pants and changed into all-black clothing. He then put on a black ball cap and, just in case, leather gloves. He parked his car in an empty lot near Kim Young-ja’s house, turning off the engine.

First, he surveyed the area around the house. There was plenty of empty land, but he didn’t see any rice paddies or fields being cultivated, nor any houses that could be called neighbors. Moreover, it seemed that people didn’t frequent this area much, not just because of the rain.

Who would want to visit such an abandoned house?

As Tae-heun circled the house along the wall, he discovered a structure consisting only of pillars and a roof, standing against the back wall.

Unlike the old house, it looked newly built. He saw a car cover inside the structure, so it seemed to be a place to park a car.

With so much empty land nearby, why would someone bother to spend money to build a structure? He was certain it was either because the car was expensive or because they had a lot to hide.

As Tae-heun examined the structure, he noticed a wooden plank leaning against the wall, about chest-high. The plank was excessively old and filthy, as if touching it would transmit germs. It was an object that didn’t fit the newly built parking area. The purpose of such an object was likely to be a screen.

Tae-heun pushed the plank aside with his gloved hand. Sure enough, there was a small side door underneath, slightly smaller than the plank. Because it was the same color as the wall, it would have been difficult to notice the door even without the plank, especially at night, and if a car was usually parked there, it would be completely hidden by the car.

A side door leading into the house.

It was a very convenient space for sneaking away. She was definitely not an ordinary woman.

Thinking he might need equipment, Tae-heun returned to his car and opened the trunk. A toolbox containing various screwdrivers, screws, and removers for car repairs was placed in one corner of the trunk. Tae-heun picked up a Swiss Army knife, also known as a MacGyver knife, and a bunch of wire that could be used as clips from the toolbox. And duct tape and a flashlight too.

“Long time no see.”

He chuckled.

After gathering his equipment, Tae-heun returned to the parking area behind the house and easily opened the side door, which had a cheap padlock. He passed through the door and, before closing it, returned the plank to its original position from the inside.

The outer wall of the house was right in front of him. It was only 1 meter away from the back wall, close enough to touch with an outstretched hand. There would definitely be an entrance of the same size as the side door in the outer wall. But he couldn’t find it easily. The outer wall was cracked in many places, and the paint was peeling off, revealing the cement blocks, also known as “boruku.”

He gave up for now and went around the outer wall toward the yard.

Kim Young-ja’s house was almost identical to the first impression he had of the blue-roofed house he had worked on with Detective Oh. A yard overgrown with knee-high weeds, a seemingly abandoned shed, and even a well with a closed lid. It was eerie, as if a ghost would pop out at any moment.

But only the exterior was like that; the front door and sliding door were completely new and made of iron, looking quite sturdy. In particular, sliding doors were usually made of glass, but this house’s sliding door was blocked, making it impossible to even peek inside.

Tae-heun flicked the three locks on the front door with his finger. They all looked complicated and difficult to open.

A lock with a key is no different from an open one.

That was one of the few useful pieces of information Uncle had taught Lee Seon-jae.

Of course, Uncle hadn’t taught him how to pick locks.

But it was only natural for a teenage boy who spent all day handling documents in the office to want to learn how to pick locks, something he had only seen in movies. There happened to be a former professional thief at the company, so he pestered him and learned how to pick locks. The thief taught him a few tricks for fun, but the boy developed his skills on his own.

He had diligently researched on his own. He bought every lock he could find in Seoul, including those from hardware stores, and tried to pick them over and over for dozens of days. Soon, the boy Lee Seon-jae could pick any lock. It was a useless skill, though.

The boy’s interest soon shifted to something else, but his hands remembered the sensation for a long time. Thanks to that, he used it very usefully whenever he needed it. Including this time.

It took a while because it had been so long, but picking the locks was no problem.

A new world unfolded when he opened the front door.

Whee.

Tae-heun whistled without realizing it.

Unlike the dilapidated exterior, the inside of the house was incredibly luxurious. A large digital TV worth nearly ten million won was placed in the living room, and a chandelier hung from the ceiling. The leather sofa was also an expensive one that would cost several million won. The floors were covered with the finest carpets, and a rug made of real tiger skin was stylishly placed right under the sofa.

Heh. A hollow laugh escaped him.

“Look at this.”

The marble sink and dining table, and even the large refrigerator, looked like something a tycoon would have.

There were two visible doors, one of which was the bathroom.

Only one room in this large space.

He was genuinely curious about the master bedroom.

When he opened the master bedroom door, his jaw dropped. It was like a queen’s chamber. The wine-colored bedroom was filled with a large bed with a canopy draped in ornate lace curtains, a built-in wardrobe carved in relief, a fancy dressing table that matched the built-in wardrobe, a liquor cabinet and mini-refrigerator filled with liquor, a large TV, and even a small safe. There was even a bathroom in the room, complete with a bathtub.

When he opened the built-in wardrobe, it was filled with clothes and shoes from all sorts of luxury brands, including furs. They were worth tens to hundreds of millions of won per piece. And what about the wallets, bags, and clutches? He was speechless.

The dressing table was the same. The dressing table was covered with expensive perfumes and cosmetics. They were all brands that could only be bought at department stores. When he opened the drawers, jewelry boxes were stacked upon each other. It was full of so-called gold and silver treasures.

But what caught Tae-heun’s attention was the small safe. If a woman who allowed anyone to take the expensive items in the room had a separate safe, there must be something significant inside. He decided to take that first, whether it opened or not.

After confirming that there was no alarm, he lifted the safe whole. Judging by its small size, which even a woman could easily lift, it was clearly Kim Young-ja’s treasure chest. If not, there was nothing he could do.

Unless Kim Young-ja had won the lottery, there was no way a middle-aged woman who had been to prison, and who was also unemployed, could enjoy such wealth. Kim Young-ja had no inherited property, and she had long severed ties with her siblings who could have helped her. If she had met a good Husband, she wouldn’t have disguised her house as an abandoned one.

Before going to prison, Kim Young-ja’s only job was at the orphanage. Therefore, all the wealth she enjoyed must be related to the orphanage.

As Tae-heun was about to leave the house with the safe, he turned around abruptly. It was because the structure of the house was strange. That is, there was a gap between the position of the sliding door visible from the outside and the actual structure of the house inside. The sliding door was not visible at all from inside the house, and the sliding door protruded forward by about the length of Tae-heun’s hand span.

Tae-heun checked the position of the sliding door again and then went inside the house to estimate the structure. The sliding door was in the same position as the wall behind the sofa in the house, where a large painting was hung. In addition, there was a fairly large space between the wall where the painting was hung and the sliding door. A space large enough to fit a large safe.

“Interesting.”

He smiled.

Tae-heun first moved the small safe to the car, then went to the shed to find something to smash. Inside the shed, which was full of cobwebs, pickaxes and shovels covered in black mold were scattered haphazardly. He picked up a pickaxe and tapped it, causing dust to fly everywhere. Although the blade was rusty, the handle was sturdy and quite usable.

He took the pickaxe and went back into the house. There was no need to hesitate. He went up to the living room with his shoes on, removed the tiger-print rug, and then pushed the sofa to one side. The sofa was terribly heavy, but he managed to move it with the help of the carpet.

The problem was the frame. It was nailed to the wall on all sides, making it impossible to remove by hand. There was definitely a mechanism to move the frame, but there was no time to look for it.

Tae-heun immediately raised the pickaxe and struck the painting. After a few swings, the painting shattered, and with a cracking sound, the frame fell to the floor. Behind the spot where the frame had hung, behind a thin plywood wall, was a safe, as expected. It was four times larger than the safe Tae-heun had taken out earlier.

To open that, he would need welding equipment, not a pickaxe. Or a safe-cracking expert, or the owner of the safe. In other words, there was no way to open it right now.

I’ll ask when the owner comes.

Tae-heun thought this and wiped the sweat from his brow from swinging the pickaxe.

I should have turned on the air conditioner.

He belatedly turned on the air conditioner, then leaned back on the sofa as if collapsing, looking up at the fancy chandelier. A chandelier in a farmhouse; her taste was certainly unique.

By the way, is the owner even coming today? He was starting to get worried. If Kim Young-ja stayed out, he would have to lie to the man again. If she didn’t come tomorrow either, he would have to go back to the Safe house, full of questions.

Deciding to leave it to fate, he got up from the sofa. There were more places to look.

Tae-heun slung the pickaxe over his shoulder and slowly looked around the interior. As he moved, he tapped every wall he saw with the handle of the pickaxe, in case there was another secret space inside the walls, but so far, nothing additional had been found.

He went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. The refrigerator was full of fresh products, such as milk, yogurt, and various seasonal fruits and vegetables, as if she had gone grocery shopping a few days ago. The freezer was packed with beef and pork.

Next, he opened the cupboards one by one, and they were just as full. Starting with coffee and drinks, there were cereals, soups, sugar, and all sorts of canned goods, including all kinds of imported products.

Kim Young-ja was really living well. Excessively so.

Finally, he checked the boiler room. The boiler room was located closest to the outer wall behind the house. He thought there might be a door to the outside in here. The boiler room wasn’t very large; the boiler was installed on the right, and three oil drums were lined up below it. And along the surrounding walls, junk and boxes were piled up haphazardly.

It was no different from the boiler room of any other house, but since that couldn’t be the case, Tae-heun put down the pickaxe and tried to move the boxes. But most of the boxes were empty. Without even lifting them, he kicked them aside.

Then, a stainless-steel terminal box, one meter in width and length, appeared where the boxes had been blocking. When he pulled the handle of the terminal box, buttons and wires that meticulously imitated the inside of a terminal box, enough to fool anyone, were revealed. When Tae-heun touched the inside of the terminal box with the handle of the pickaxe, it made a ‘thud’ sound. There was space behind it.

Again, there was no time to wait. He struck the inside of the terminal box with the pickaxe, and as the plastic circuit board was chipped away, a space appeared where a woman of average build could sit or barely lie down.

In the corner of the space, along with bottled water and chocolate bars, there was even a chamber pot. In other words, Kim Young-ja had prepared for the possibility of hiding in there for hours or even days until she could safely escape through the side door.

Tae-heun squeezed himself into the space with difficulty. As expected, there was a door that only opened outward. When he pushed the door open forcefully, he saw the side door right in front of him. It was within reach, the very place he had seen from the outside earlier.

It was so thorough that it was admirable. The fact that she was preparing to escape so thoroughly was proof that Kim Young-ja was definitely not innocent, and it was proof that she was very afraid of someone.

There was nothing more to look at.

Tae-heun left the house, leaving the pickaxe leaning against one side of the living room.

He waited for Kim Young-ja to return under the structure behind the house.

He eagerly awaited the appearance of someone who was closer to an enemy than an ally.

168 – Chapter Title Without Number