#209

Choi In-ho looked older than in the photos, but considering his age of 53, he certainly looked young. It was evident that he took care of not only his face but also his figure. Despite wearing shoes with heels, he was around 173cm tall, and his leg, which was said to have been affected by polio, seemed only slightly uncomfortable rather than severely impaired. Recalling Bae Young-do’s words about Choi In-ho having undergone several leg surgeries, Seon-jae extended his hand towards Choi In-ho.

“I’m Lee Seon-jae.”

“Choi Yun-beom.”

Choi In-ho shook Seon-jae’s hand and introduced himself with his changed name.

The the man who had come to find Yoon Ki-beom’s data, whom he had loved so dearly, was briefly distracted by the beautiful Seon-jae, but that was all. The curiosity and excitement in his eyes disappeared in less than a minute. His perverted tendency to be aroused only by boys and girls of a specific age range was evident even in that fleeting moment.

Seon-jae inwardly mocked Choi In-ho and swiped the card key.

As Seon-jae passed through the automatic door first and turned on the power, the fluorescent lights illuminated the dim office all at once. He led Choi In-ho as if escorting him.

Choi In-ho looked around the office with curious eyes. He even stopped walking when he looked at the six wall clocks hanging on one wall and the city names written below them. There was no sign of impatience. He must have been trying his best to remain calm.

“Since we have friends who often work late, we treat them to delicious food once a month and send them home early.”

At Seon-jae’s words, Choi In-ho asked, “Is this a securities company?”

“You could say that. We deal with stocks and bonds. Well, we also invest in real estate, and we attend auctions without fail. Frankly, you can think of it as we’re doing anything that makes money. Why, are you interested?”

At Seon-jae’s question, Choi In-ho laughed and waved his hand.

“I don’t know anything about investing.”

“That’s why you need experts like us. Come for a consultation sometime.”

Seon-jae, speaking as if throwing the words casually, opened the door to the executive office.

Choi In-ho looked up at Seon-jae and nodded with a gentle smile.

It felt strange. Because the man was briefly visible in that smile.

The the man can’t even smile because of these bastards. Shit.

Seon-jae frowned, glaring at the back of Choi In-ho’s head.

“Is whiskey okay with you?”

“No. I don’t drink.”

“Is that so? That’s a shame. Then, how about something else?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you worried I might have poisoned it?”

As Seon-jae threw a barbed joke, Choi In-ho looked troubled.

“It’s not that…”

“Just kidding. Our teacher is surprisingly innocent.”

Seon-jae looked at Choi In-ho, poured himself a whiskey, and took a sip. The unique aroma and taste pleasantly warmed his throat.

While Seon-jae was drinking, Choi In-ho admired the night view through the large window.

“It’s better after 9 o’clock. It’s a bit ambiguous now.”

“It’s quite nice even now.”

Choi In-ho’s phone vibrated. It only rang briefly once, so it must have been a text. Probably a text from his wife saying she had arrived. He stood in front of the window, checked the text, and then turned his back to the window.

“Please, sit down.”

As Seon-jae pointed to the sofa, Choi In-ho finally approached the sofa. Seon-jae moved almost simultaneously.

He sat down first, with his back to the window, in order to seat Choi In-ho in a position where he could see the TV screen. Very naturally, Choi In-ho’s gaze turned towards the TV stand.

His eyes widened in an instant. Seon-jae pretended not to notice and took another sip of his drink.

“By the way, I heard you’re an obstetrician? How’s the birth rate these days?”

He asked, placing the glass on the table.

Choi In-ho didn’t answer. It was as if he hadn’t heard anything.

“Teacher! Teacher?”

Seon-jae snapped his thumb and forefinger together, making a series of clicking sounds, and only then did Choi In-ho startle and look away from the TV screen.

“Why are you so surprised? Did you see a ghost or something?”

He joked, pretending to follow Choi In-ho’s gaze.

“Ah…. That?”

He said casually.

“It was on.”

He found the remote control and turned off the TV screen in front of Choi In-ho.

Choi In-ho sighed softly. Even though the screen was off, Choi In-ho’s gaze lingered on the TV for a long time, and then turned to the box placed in front of the TV stand.

“Where did you get that?”

Choi In-ho asked. His voice was trembling. Not only his voice but his whole body was trembling.

Just like when they first talked on the phone, he was thrilled with excitement. He was so excited that the front of his pants was bulging. But he wasn’t aware of it at all.

Son of a bitch. He was no different from an animal.

Seon-jae picked up his glass and swallowed all the remaining alcohol.

“Is it Kim Young-ja?”

Choi In-ho asked.

His once calm face was flushed red, and he was sweating even though the air was cool because of the air conditioner.

“I can’t tell you who it is. I have a confidentiality agreement with my client.”

Seon-jae answered deliberately slowly.

No sooner had Seon-jae finished speaking than Choi In-ho shouted, “I’ll buy it all.” He literally shouted.

As if he didn’t know his voice would come out that loud, Choi In-ho hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand.

“Who said they’re selling?”

Seon-jae said teasingly.

“Aren’t you going to sell it?”

Choi In-ho looked bewildered and anxious. He seemed desperate to see that videotape right away. His gaze kept going to the turned-off TV stand.

“Did that Kim Sung-hwan bastard claim it was his? Everything that comes out of that bastard’s mouth is a lie. I suggested it and filmed it with equipment I bought with my own money!”

He added in an agitated tone.

Seon-jae didn’t react at all and just fiddled with his glass. Then Choi In-ho looked at Seon-jae, carefully gauging his reaction, and kept swallowing hard.

“Could I get some water?”

He finally asked for water, and Seon-jae pointed to the mini-fridge with his chin instead of bringing it himself.

Choi In-ho took out a bottle of water from the refrigerator and drank it down in that spot. As if his thirst wasn’t quenched, he drank water even while sitting on the sofa.

“I’m willing to pay whatever you ask.”

“Teacher, please. As you can see, I have a lot of money, so I’m not particularly tempted.”

Seon-jae leaned forward and stared at Choi In-ho.

“Just tell me anything. I have a lot of connections, even though I look like this. I can get you anything you ask for.”

Choi In-ho said, glancing at the TV screen again this time.

Having only seen a paused screen, Choi In-ho was ready to grant whatever Seon-jae asked for. His resolute expression and sparkling eyes were proof of that.

It was too easy. Seon-jae was even wondering if there was a trap.

“How much do you know about Yoon Ki-beom?”

Seon-jae asked, leaning back on the sofa again.

“How much?”

“Whether he’s alive or dead, and if he’s alive, where he is and what he’s doing.”

“Ah.”

Choi In-ho finished the remaining water, then wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

“I heard he became a farmer. And he’s raising a the child.”

“Heard? You haven’t seen him?”

“I met him exactly once, no, three times.”

Choi In-ho confessed after a moment of hesitation.

Seon-jae raised his eyebrows as if surprised.

“When?”

He asked, suppressing his curiosity as much as possible.

“I met him twice in the winter of ’89, and once more in the summer of ’90. After that…”

Choi In-ho frowned, having said this much. He shook his head as if he wanted to forget the memory of that time.

In ’89, the man was twenty years old. It was when he was struggling to survive in society after leaving that hellish orphanage. But Kim Sung-hwan, that bastard, found the man and broke his leg.

“Did he look like Yoon Ki-beom? The young man you met?”

Seon-jae asked.

Choi In-ho blinked, not knowing the hidden meaning in those words, and said, “Yes. It was Ki-beom.”

“Was it really Yoon Ki-beom that you knew?”

When Seon-jae asked again, Choi In-ho frowned again, then took out a handkerchief from his jacket and wiped away the sweat. After taking a moment to catch his breath, Choi In-ho revealed his feelings at the time in a trembling voice. It was as if he was assuming that Seon-jae knew everything.

“Of course, he wasn’t the boy I knew. Actually, I regretted meeting him. When children turn twenty, their skeletons change. Especially boys, they change rapidly. Naturally, their physique also changes, and their skin becomes thicker. Well, I was somewhat prepared for it, but I was still very disappointed. He wasn’t the boy I knew. But when I heard his voice and saw him smile, he was still the same as he was back then, so I couldn’t completely cut him off. I definitely thought it would be the last time I met him, but I kept thinking about him again. Of course, I was tormented by regret after meeting him.”

“How was his leg? Was it okay?”

Choi In-ho shook his head. Then he buried his face in his hands. He sighed in agony as if he didn’t want to think about it at all.

“It was perfect…”

He muttered as if talking to himself.

It seemed he was recalling the time when Yoon Ki-beom, who had been a perfect boy, was ruined.

“Do you know who did that?”

Seon-jae asked quietly.

Choi In-ho, who had been burying his face in his hands, raised his head and looked up at Seon-jae.

“Yoon Ki-beom’s leg, who do you think did it?”

He posed a riddle with a meaningful smile. Teasingly, he drew out the end of his words.

In that instant, Choi In-ho’s eyes were filled with intense suspicion. It seemed there was someone he immediately thought of.

“Kim.”

Seon-jae slowly started.

He had only said the surname, but Choi In-ho jumped up from his seat. His clenched fists and his whole body were trembling with anger.

“Kim Sung-hwan, that son of a bitch, I knew it was that bastard!! That dog-like bastard!!”

He stomped his feet.

There was no need to correct him to Kim Young-ja. From the beginning, he had intended to lie that it was Kim Sung-hwan.

Seon-jae waited for Choi In-ho to calm down.

Choi In-ho, who had been pacing around, strode to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water. But as if water wouldn’t do, he asked, “May I have a drink?” Seon-jae, who had been sitting all along, finally got up from his seat and headed to the tray where the liquor bottle and glasses were placed.

“Straight? Or on the rocks?”

“Straight, please.”

Seon-jae poured the same kind of liquor he had been drinking and handed it to Choi In-ho.

Choi In-ho emptied the glass in one gulp and handed it back. Only after drinking two glasses in a row did he seem to calm down, and his voice became calm again.

“This time, on the rocks, please.”

“As you wish.”

The sound of ice falling into the glass was refreshing.

Choi In-ho took a sip of the liquor with ice and stood in front of the large window.

“How do you know about that?”

“You know Kim Young-ja, right?”

“Shit. I knew it was that bitch.”

“Hey, you shouldn’t say that. She’s the one who kept those precious materials intact all this time.”

Choi In-ho didn’t agree with Seon-jae’s words and silently tilted his glass.

“But it wasn’t just the leg, was it?”

Seon-jae stood next to Choi In-ho and threw another riddle.

Then Choi In-ho raised his head and looked up at Seon-jae.

“What do you mean? It wasn’t just the leg?”

“Who asked to meet the adult Yoon Ki-beom first?”

Seon-jae changed the subject.

“I did. I shouldn’t have chased that the child away like that. He was a the child who worked so hard for us, and we sent him away like a peddler just because he hurt his leg… I was sorry. I was also fed up with the orphanage work, and I wanted to meet Ki-beom one last time while I was sorting things out. I wanted to apologize on behalf of everyone. So I told Kim Sung-hwan, that bastard.”

“And then?”

At first, he flatly denied knowing where Seon-jae was or what he was doing for a living. He got angry, asking when they had ever cared about a graduate. He wasn’t wrong. Unlike the girls, it was their practice not to pay any attention to the discharged boys.

But Yoon Ki-beom was an exception. That boy was special, so he needed to be given special treatment.

Who was Choi In-ho? At the time, he was very close to influential figures in the legal profession, so he could have found Seon-jae without Kim Sung-hwan’s help if he wanted to.

Choi In-ho bluntly told Kim Sung-hwan, who was getting excessively angry, that he would find him himself. He named a few police officers and prosecutors he was as close to as childhood friends.

Only then did Kim Sung-hwan ask for some time. He literally asked. It was strange because he wasn’t the type to do that.

“Were you alone when you met Yoon Ki-beom?”

“Well, with Kim Sung-hwan….”

Choi In-ho only said that much before narrowing his eyes.

“So you went to the meeting place with the teacher?”

“No. Kim Sung-hwan brought Yoon Ki-beom out.”

Choi In-ho’s gaze wandered into the air after saying this much.

“That’s strange.”

He whispered softly.

“What was strange?”

“That’s… their relationship was strange. He was strangely affectionate, that bastard’s eyes.”

Choi In-ho tilted his head, recalling the past. That couldn’t be. He thought.

“Is that strange?”

“Of course. It’s strange. That bastard hated Yoon Ki-beom very much. No, he loathed him. If he could, he would have killed him!”

After saying this much, Choi In-ho gasped and covered his mouth.

It seemed like a thought had flashed through his mind.

The very suspicion Seon-jae wanted. The suspicion that Kim Sung-hwan had done something to the ‘real Yoon Ki-beom.’

Seon-jae looked at the increasingly splendid night view and raised his glass.

210 – Chapter Title Without Number