#207

Lee Seon-jae rushed straight to the police station. But he couldn’t meet the man or stop him.

The the man was in the middle of writing a confession.

The girl.

The moment Lee Seon-jae heard from Detective Jang Il-seop that there was a ‘girl’ in the group photo related to the Kim Cheol-soo kidnapping and murder case, the name Maria flashed through Lee Seon-jae’s mind, and that guess turned into certainty because of the Man’s sudden confession.

“Shit. Shit.” He spat out curses.

A confession could be overturned later. But as long as Maria was involved, the man would never retract his statement. He would never call Ji-hye’s mother to the police station.

Lee Seon-jae and Attorney Park Soo-nam moved to a cafe in front of the police station and sat facing each other with serious expressions.

Attorney Park’s phone was ringing off the hook. He himself was busy making calls here and there.

“Who is the accomplice?”

During a brief break from the calls, Lee Seon-jae asked the lawyer.

“Na Jin-soo.”

Rocky. He knew it would be that bastard.

Yoon Ki-beom’s close friend had betrayed Yoon Ki-beom once again. No, he had already killed his close friend, so what was the big deal about selling his name?

“He said they were classmates at Borisu Technical School.”

Even in this situation, Galilla’s name did not come up.

“Which prison is that bastard in now?”

“Anyang Prison. I applied for a visit, but it was rejected. When I checked, I found out that he recently hired a famous lawyer. A former judge, too. I know his family is struggling financially, so I don’t know where he got such a big shot. Honestly.”

Attorney Park wiped his sweat with a handkerchief, looking troubled.

It was obvious that Lee Seok-doo had hired the lawyer for him. A criminal with nothing had gained a reliable backer.

“What about information on the girl?”

“There are no hints at all.”

Attorney Park added, “The vocational school is just a name.”

“Didn’t he say who Na Jin-soo was?”

“Yes. He said he saw her for the first time that day. He doesn’t even remember her name.”

“What about Ki-beom?”

Attorney Park shook his head.

“The detective in charge said that Yoon Ki-beom also said that he didn’t know the girl and that he and Na Jin-soo killed Kim Cheol-soo.”

Lee Seon-jae rubbed his face roughly.

Maria.

That woman was the card that Lee Seok-doo held. No, it was Detective Oh Dae-Ho’s card from the start.

Na Jin-soo, who killed Yoon Ki-beom, would have learned about the man living under Yoon Ki-beom’s name through Detective Oh Dae-Ho. He would have naturally remembered the boy named Shim Kang-woo, who looked exactly like Yoon Ki-beom, and he might have recalled that the girl in the Kim Cheol-soo murder case photo he had was from the same church orphanage as Shim Kang-woo.

But there was no way Na Jin-soo would have given Detective Oh that information for free. He probably tested the waters by leaking appropriate information here and there, without revealing the really important facts.

Lee Seon-jae now understood why Detective Oh couldn’t go to the police station even after obtaining an important card to prove Yoon Ki-beom’s crime. And why he went to Lee Seok-doo.

Detective Oh didn’t have the capacity, money, or power to do it, but Lee Seok-doo could make attractive offers to Na Jin-soo in prison. He could give him whatever Na Jin-soo wanted, whether it was money or a position. The lawyer attached to Na Jin-soo was proof enough.

Oh Dae-ho. You son of a bitch.

Detective Oh Dae-Ho’s twisted obsession was about to ruin the Man’s life.

Lee Seok-doo must have judged that Lee Seon-jae, having grasped the situation, would come to him and bow his head. The reason he quietly retreated from Cheongyang was obvious.

But Detective Oh, who had even taken money, broke his promise and tried to meet Lee Seon-jae, so from Lee Seok-doo’s point of view, it was like dropping a turd in a perfectly cooked meal. He didn’t condone kidnapping, but if it were him, he would have used that method too.

Fortunately, they didn’t know the card Lee Seon-jae held.

Choi In-ho and Kim Sung-hwan.

Lee Seon-jae vowed to make sure that the two men testified that the man was not the real Yoon Ki-beom.

It would be ideal if they took the bait, but even if they didn’t, there were plenty of other ways. Time was on Lee Seon-jae’s side.

Lee Seon-jae called Bae Young-do and gave him two more resident registration numbers. The owners of the numbers were Lee Sang-hoon’s ‘comrades’ who had filed the missing person report for Lee Sang-hoon, whose name Kim Sung-hwan was now using to live. It was an alternative in case Kim Sung-hwan, who was not an easy opponent, retaliated instead of taking the bait Lee Seon-jae sent. There was no harm in preparing in advance. After all, he didn’t expect much from that man.

Lee Seon-jae’s phone vibrated the moment the man came out of the interrogation room to be transferred to the prosecutor’s office. The the man walked out with his arms held by two detectives, his face as white as if he had seen a ghost.

Lee Seon-jae, who could only watch the man from afar, immediately recognized the number on his phone as Choi In-ho. It was the number of the general hospital where Choi In-ho worked.

Choi In-ho had endured until this time despite receiving the mail in the morning. He also showed caution by not contacting him on his personal cell phone. Perhaps he was late because he was consulting with Kim Sung-hwan.

I’m calling you after seeing the mail.

Choi In-ho tried to be as calm as possible, but his voice was trembling. Not out of fear, but out of excitement.

“Speak.”

Lee Seon-jae said as dryly as possible.

I, I want to see more of the video and photos… what should I do?

Lee Seon-jae chuckled briefly and gave him the place and time to meet.

What’s the name of the person who’s answering the phone?

“I’ll see you later.”

Choi In-ho asked politely, but Lee Seon-jae hung up without answering the question.

First of all, Choi In-ho had taken the bait. That man would check the location of the small building right away. He might even scout it out in advance. He wanted him to feel that it was a safe place, whether he sent someone or went there himself. That was why Lee Seon-jae had called him to that building.

Lee Seon-jae was disgusted by the fact that he had to negotiate with a bastard like that. But he needed that bastard more than anyone else. The testimony of a respected doctor was more precious than gold.

By the way, who saw Kim Sung-hwan’s package first?

Kim Sung-hwan’s three children were on vacation now, and his wife was also an elementary school teacher, so there was a high probability that she was at home. Whoever it was, they would have received the mail instead of Kim Sung-hwan, who was at work.

“I’m going to meet a friend at the Suwon District Prosecutor’s Office. I’ll contact you as soon as I secure the photos they took with the accomplices.”

Attorney Park excused himself to Lee Seon-jae and left in a hurry.

He felt strange.

The the man who was trying to become a murderer for the sake of the the child’s mother.

Lee Seon-jae was worried that even though the man had become a murderer, he might still have feelings for the woman named Maria.

Crazy bastard.

He scratched his eyebrow.

* * *

Choi In-ho gripped his trembling hands.

The moment he saw the Polaroid photo was still vivid. He had been excited all day. He never thought he would see it again. His eyes were hot with emotion.

He contacted his wife first.

‘Na-yeon, I found it. The videotape that contains our heyday. And the photos.’

His wife screamed with joy.

The two had lost Yoon Ki-beom too early. Choi In-ho and his wife had encountered Yoon Ki-beom’s serious injury without being prepared, and they had to watch the the child’s early discharge.

They thought they had another year left. But the 365 days they believed would be given to them as a matter of course disappeared without warning.

After that, the two could not make love as before. Special Activities continued at the orphanage even after Yoon Ki-beom left, but Choi In-ho and his wife could not enjoy it. They gradually lost interest in Special Activities, and eventually Choi In-ho became impotent and his wife suffered from frigidity.

Since then, they had tried counseling and all sorts of stimulating things like swapping, but it had no effect at all. He wasn’t excited.

How could he get hard if he couldn’t taste a child as sacred and perfect as Yoon Ki-beom?

He had bought children who looked like Yoon Ki-beom for money, and he had met girls a hundred times prettier than the girls at the orphanage, but he never felt the same way.

The orphanage children were wild.

Even though he had borrowed the power of drugs, the children who spent the night with him genuinely enjoyed the moment.

Ah. How active the children were.

Choi In-ho finally shed tears.

He wanted to enjoy once again the feeling of having and ruling over the girls who were pregnant with his and Yoon Ki-beom’s children. He was convinced that he would live a second life if he watched the video.

Choi In-ho indifferently looked at the uterus of the pregnant woman and the alien-like fetus, which he had seen so many times. But on the outside, he did not forget to play the role of a doctor who was more gentle and kind than anyone else, and who was also very skilled. He was a professional. He prided himself on being the best obstetrician and gynecologist in Korea.

Choi In-ho ate lunch with his colleagues and junior doctors and chatted with the nurses in charge, but his mind was elsewhere and he kept saying nonsense. Somehow, even that was enjoyable.

‘Doctor, is there something good going on? I think you’ve smiled the most I’ve ever seen you smile.’

The head nurse asked with a curious face.

‘Secret.’

He winked.

Choi In-ho barely managed to resist the urge to call the person who sent the mail right away. It was thanks to his wife.

‘Honey. What will the vice principal say if he finds out later? I hate being nagged by that son of a bitch.’

His wife hated Kim Sung-hwan as much as he did. No, she hated him. But regardless of their feelings, they had to go with Kim Sung-hwan for the rest of their lives.

Ah. Cruel fate!

His wife said that there was no guarantee that the mail had not gone to Kim Sung-hwan as well. She was right. Regardless of who the sender of the mail was, it was most likely that it was a errand runner hired by Kim Young-ja, so he had to assume that Kim Sung-hwan had received the same mail. His wife was a truly wise woman.

‘Honey, I’ll talk to that bastard and call you back. Until then, you absolutely can’t call. Got it?’

‘I got it. Whose order is that?’

The two laughed out loud for the first time in a long time.

Choi In-ho had not smiled at her recently. Neither had his wife.

They were tired of each other. They were tired of being together, so they slept in separate rooms, and their waking and eating times were different. They fought whenever they met, so they deliberately avoided seeing each other. It had been seven years since that happened. It was around that time that they stopped trying to restore their marital relationship.

Nevertheless, they did not divorce because they needed each other. Choi In-ho needed a beautiful and intelligent wife, and his wife needed a doctor husband who made a lot of money. They were more of a community of fate than a couple. It was the same as Kim Sung-hwan. He didn’t want to admit it, but that was the reality.

Now was the time for that relationship to change.

They looked at each other like strangers now, but there was still affection for each other deep in their hearts. Now all they had to do was fan the flames of that affection.

Had an hour ever been this long?

His wife, who had said she would call, had not been heard from. But he didn’t want to contact her first. His wife was probably impatient as well, perhaps even more so than he was.

Kim Sung-hwan, that fucking bastard, must have told her to wait. He was always cautious.

Choi In-ho barely managed to resist the urge to abandon his patients and return home right away. From morning to afternoon, he had examined twelve pregnant women and delivered three children. After delivering the third child, he returned to his seat and received a call from his wife.

He hurriedly called his wife.

His wife was cackling so hard on the other end of the phone that she was out of breath.

I called that bastard’s house just in case. It’s vacation, that bitch. Then she said that the mail had arrived by quick service early this morning. The moment I heard the words ‘quick service,’ I knew he had received the same thing. I thought it was urgent, so I contacted my husband, and he came home right away, picked it up, and went out again.

“Is that so? Serves him right.”

Choi In-ho laughed loudly as well.

“Serves him right, doesn’t it? Feels like a decade-old indigestion has finally cleared. Honey, do you know how much we suffered, feeding his wife and kids while that bastard was rotting in jail? And that bitch doesn’t even appreciate it. Ugh. That double-crossing bitch.”

His wife’s rambling went on and on. Choi In-ho barely restrained himself from shouting, “So what happened?” and instead asked calmly, “So? Did you get in touch with Kim Sung-hwan?”

“Of course. He answered right away, you know? He tried so hard to sound calm, but his voice was shaking so much, I almost died laughing. You know those vibrating machines at bathhouses? I swear, he sounded like he was taking the call on one of those.”

His wife burst into laughter again.

Goddamn bitch, just get to the point.

Choi In-ho glared at the receiver, pressing his fingers against his temples.

“Na-yeon. What did Kim Sung-hwan say?”

He asked again, suppressing his anger.

“What do you think he said? He told us to call.”

“That’s it? Nothing else? Is he going to call too?”

As he bombarded her with questions, his wife said, “Calm down, honey.”

“He wants us to meet him first, you know how cowardly that bastard is.”

Choi In-ho paused, lost in thought. Then, he slowly spoke his thoughts to his wife.

“Na-yeon, what if, just what if, we could buy all the videotapes? What if he offered to sell us the originals first? Would we still need to ask that bastard Kim Sung-hwan for permission then?”

“Are you crazy? Absolutely not. Those are ours.”

His wife shouted.

“Absolutely not! Why would we tell him about it? Get a grip, honey.”

That’s my wife. There was no way he could share that precious thing with Kim Sung-hwan. Absolutely not. He wouldn’t even allow copies. Not of that material.

He was the one who initially suggested filming the video. He was the one who suggested taking the photos. Therefore, his wife and he had the right to possess all of it.

“Right? It’s ours, right?”

“Of course, honey. It’s ours!”

Having finished their conspiracy, the two giggled with delight.

“Honey, the videos and photos are all ours. Let’s buy them all, no matter the price. I think I could be happy living in a tiny room if I just had those.”

“Me too. I love you, Na-yeon.”

“I love you, honey.”

Having ended the call with his wife, Choi In-ho picked up the receiver with a joyful heart. Then, he dialed the number written on the back of the Polaroid picture. Just in case, he used the hospital phone.

“I’m calling in response to the mail you sent.”

The voice on the other end sounded young. It was a short call, but the voice was very pleasant to listen to.

Thanks to that, Choi In-ho was even more excited.

He could finally meet Yoon Ki-beom, seventeen, eighteen years old, whom he had loved so dearly.

Ah. Beautiful the child. My perfect muse.

Father to so many. The twin of my soul and body.

Choi In-ho unknowingly shed tears, overwhelmed with emotion, and finally sobbed.

Tears of joy.

208 – Chapter Title Without Number