#63

At the entrance, Detective Oh scratched his head and greeted everyone. He called the elderly men “uncle” or “aunt,” and addressed middle-aged men and women who looked to be of the same age by their names, speaking to them in a friendly manner.

A child raised both hands and waved vigorously.

“Uncle! Over here, over here!”

The child was anxious that Detective Oh might not see him. A man also grinned widely and gestured towards Detective Oh. “Oh, right,” Detective Oh acknowledged him. For some reason, both the child and the man were overjoyed by this small interaction.

Detective Oh arrived at the group of Tae-heun only after having drunk about five glasses of makgeolli. Taking advantage of the already drunken Mr. Hwang, who was rambling and nearly lying down, Detective Oh squeezed in and sat down. He patted the man’s shoulder.

“Uncle! What brings you here on a weekday?”

“I came to see Ji-hye. How have you been?”

“Of course. And you, uncle?”

“I’ve been well too.”

As he said this, he exchanged glances with Tae-heun.

“Brother, have some pajeon.”

The man offered a plate of pajeon along with chopsticks to Detective Oh.

“Thank you. Everyone just gives me drinks and no snacks, I was about to get upset.”

Detective Oh feigned a pout and quickly popped a piece of pajeon into his mouth. When Tae-heun filled his glass with makgeolli and handed it to him, he downed it in one go.

“Wow. This is amazing.”

Detective Oh exclaimed with a big smile.

“Director, you’ve really become one of us here. I didn’t recognize you at first.”

Detective Oh teased as he looked Tae-heun up and down.

“I guess I was born to be a farmer. The work and this place are just so comfortable.”

Tae-heun shot back, and they exchanged glasses of alcohol.

The man, who was weak with alcohol, was already starting to feel tipsy and laughed frequently. There were no young men or women around like Kwon Yong-jun, and most were at least ten years older than him, so he didn’t mind this time.

While they were exchanging updates, Detective Oh first asked, “Cigarette?” and gestured outside. It seemed he had something to say. The two stepped out of the living room side by side.

It was past 9 PM, and it was quite dark outside. The temperature was pleasantly cool. The two walked out to the front yard of the village hall under an umbrella. The area in front of the hall was bustling with people coming and going, so they decided to walk a bit further. They stopped only when they reached a vast expanse of rice fields.

He offered a cigarette, but Tae-heun shook his head. As Detective Oh lit his cigarette, he said, “It’s been a while since we’ve been in touch, hasn’t it? I’m sorry. Things have been so urgent that I haven’t had the mental space to contact you.”

His bright voice suggested that he was busy with good things.

“Is your desire to go to Toronto still valid?”

Detective Oh asked while exhaling cigarette smoke.

“Has my passport already been issued?”

Tae-heun asked hesitantly.

“Oh, not yet, but my ID will be issued sometime next week. If all goes well, you should receive it by Monday. The passport will take a bit longer, but it should be processed by mid-July at the latest. Since the dates are roughly set, I thought you might want to buy your plane ticket in advance.”

“Is that so?”

“Thanks to you taking the risk to help, everything is progressing smoothly. Of course, you’ll need to do a couple more tasks.”

“If it’s work, I’m more than willing.”

He replied, trying to hide his complicated feelings.

“Are you gathering in Seoul again?”

“Oh no, just once is enough. You have no idea how anxious I was back then.”

Detective Oh pretended to wipe his brow and laughed.

“You can do it here.”

It felt strange. He had known this day would come. It was something he had been thinking about for a long time, so he should have felt either overwhelmed with emotion or indifferent. But the words “new ID,” “passport,” and “plane ticket to Canada” that he heard through Detective Oh felt entirely foreign. It felt as if he was listening to someone else’s story.

“But do you happen to know anyone in Canada?”

“No, I don’t. I’ve never been abroad.”

He smiled bitterly. Tae-heun had never been abroad, a place that Lee Hyun-jun frequented as if it were his own home. It was not by choice but by circumstance.

“Then that’s a relief. Every time we asked, you said ‘Canada, Toronto’ without hesitation, and I wondered if you had a hidden wife or something.”

Though it was said in a joking manner, he must have genuinely worried. If he had a girlfriend instead of a wife, the situation would have changed. There was a risk of secrets leaking out, and they would have to double or even quadruple their efforts to cover her identity.

“Is Canada really that strange to suspect?”

“Not really, but usually, people prefer the U.S.”

“Is that so? The U.S….”

Tae-heun responded lukewarmly.

As long as he could go to Niagara Falls, he didn’t care where it was. He had learned from a travel magazine that the falls were in Canada, so he just assumed it was there and said Canada. He was truly ready to die. He was thinking of falling into that massive waterfall, so the country was not a consideration. If he had seen Iguazu Falls in that magazine, he would have gone to Argentina or Brazil.

“You must be quite troubled. I would be too.”

Detective Oh, who had been silently smoking beside him, patted Tae-heun’s back. He offered a kind smile as a form of comfort. It was true that he was troubled, so he accepted his comfort without further words.

“Let’s head back in. After a few more drinks, let’s have a second round at Ki-beom’s house. I brought some sashimi.”

Detective Oh winked.

“Sounds good.”

The two walked side by side through the rain.

“By the way, the village chief keeps bringing up the broadcast.”

“Yes? What broadcast?”

“You know, ‘My Hometown at 6.’ He asked if you would go on it with the youth association president.”

Detective Oh stopped walking. Frowning, he cursed, “That crazy old man.”

“I thought he was just joking at first, but since he brought it up again today, it seems he’s serious.”

“That guy, really. Ha. I’m sorry. I’ll talk to the village chief about it.”

In front of the village hall, he spotted a familiar figure. It was a man. He stood awkwardly among those smoking, not even smoking himself. Tae-heun waved at the man. Instead of waving back, the man looked down at his feet and splashed a small puddle with his rubber boots. A shy man. Thinking he must be blushing under that umbrella made him feel a pang in his heart instead of laughter. It must have been because of the rain.

Tae-heun supported the drunken man from the village hall, while Detective Oh carried the sleeping child. The person who dropped them off in a van was Ms. Hyun-sook, the head of the women’s association. She was a classmate of Detective Oh from elementary school and ran an apple orchard with her in-laws and husband. Because of her husband’s love for alcohol, she was repulsed by it and didn’t even touch it as a joke. Thanks to that, they arrived home comfortably.

“Hey, Oh Dae-oh. You know there’s a reunion next month, right? If you skip this time, you’re out.”

“I know. I won’t skip it.”

“You talk a good game. You used to come around all the time when you needed something, but now you don’t need it?”

“Come on, I got it. No more nagging.”

Detective Oh pouted playfully with a smile.

“Anyway, I made it clear.”

“Yes, yes. I will definitely attend this time.”

“Drink in moderation.”

“Are we going right away? Let’s have a piece of sashimi first?”

“No way.”

Tae-heun found it amusing that Ms. Hyun-sook and Detective Oh were the same age, so he quietly watched their conversation. Once their talk seemed to have ended, Ms. Hyun-sook’s gaze shifted to Tae-heun.

“Were you called Tae-eun? Take Ki-beom and lay him down quickly. He’s standing and sleeping, standing and sleeping. Rest now. I’m leaving.”

Without giving him a chance to respond, Ms. Hyun-sook bid farewell.

“Drive safely.”

Detective Oh saw Ms. Hyun-sook off.

Tae-heun, knowing that the man would sleep standing, laid him down on the porch. He wanted to bring the man inside first, but Detective Oh said, “Please take Ji-hye,” so he picked up the child from Detective Oh’s back. Detective Oh followed him into the child’s room and spread out a mat, and Tae-heun carefully laid the child on it. The child smelled of makgeolli.

“Oh my, what kind of child drinks alcohol like it’s a beverage?”

“Everyone here does that. I grew up drinking makgeolli when I was little, and look how well I turned out.”

Tae-heun laughed at Detective Oh’s words.

“Now we just need to bring Ki-beom.”

“I’ll do it.”

“You’re going to carry that big guy by yourself? What if you hurt your back? Come on.”

Saying this, Detective Oh strode towards the porch. Tae-heun hurried his steps to keep up and passed Detective Oh.

“I’ll do it. Detective Oh, please prepare the sashimi.”

“It must be heavy….”

Tae-heun wrapped his arms around the man as if to show off. It was heavy, but not to the point of hurting his back.

Hearing Detective Oh’s exclamations of admiration, he took the man to the inner room. Just like when he was a child, Detective Oh spread out a mat, and Tae-heun carefully laid the man on it. The man also smelled of makgeolli. He had always accepted alcohol without refusal, even though it was weak. Seeing Detective Oh leave the inner room, he gently pinched the man’s cheek.

“What’s this? Not even able to eat sashimi.”

After expressing his regret with words that wouldn’t be heard, he stood up.

“The mullet is in season, and it tastes amazing.”

As he set the table, Detective Oh licked his lips.

Having already filled their stomachs with pajeon and makgeolli, the two had a few shots of soju with a piece of sashimi. It wasn’t the freshest, but it was definitely delicious since it was in season. It was a pity that the man couldn’t enjoy this delicious food. Then he remembered that the man had never eaten fish at home.

“I guess Ki-beom doesn’t like fish? I hardly ever see him eat.”

Detective Oh laughed at Tae-heun’s question.

“Not at all. He likes it, but he doesn’t know how to clean it.”

“Really? Don’t they clean it for you at the market?”

“They do. But he’s so busy that even if he goes to town often, he forgets to buy fish. If he forgets, he can’t buy it, and if he can’t buy it, he can’t eat it. That’s how it is.”

Detective Oh poured alcohol into an empty glass.

Tae-heun promised himself to buy fish the next time he went to town and wondered what kind of fish the man liked best. He listed mackerel, hairtail, croaker, and pollock, and then wondered if he knew how to eat sashimi. Since he lived far from the sea, he probably hadn’t had much exposure to sashimi. There were sashimi restaurants in town, but the man wasn’t the type to spend his own money on such expensive food.

He wanted to feed the man fresh sashimi. If he was going to eat, it would be better near the beach. He imagined that they could stop by a sashimi restaurant while visiting Daecheon Beach, and his body and mind were already at the vast sandy beach. Just picturing the man in a swimsuit under the sun made him salivate, even though he wasn’t eating.

“But how did you end up following the farming work? Ki-beom wouldn’t have asked you to go.”

At Detective Oh’s question, Tae-heun returned to reality.

“Well, I’ve spent my whole life just dealing with paperwork, so I wanted to do something different. If possible, something physical.”

Tae-heun gave a vague answer. Not knowing this, Detective Oh nodded vigorously.

Silence fell. Fortunately, the sound of the rain was loud enough to prevent any awkwardness.