#67

Leaving the cleanup to Detective Oh, Tae-heun hurriedly ran home as if he had urgent business. Surely, Detective Oh would be driving a man over.

As expected, Detective Oh’s private car was parked in front of the gate. Tae-heun pushed the gate open with a sense of relief and stepped inside.

“Mr. Ki-beom, you’re already here?”

It was quiet. The little bastards were sprawled under the porch, taking a nap.

Had he been here for a while?

The sliding door was closed. The man always opened that door first when he came home.

“Mr. Ki-beom, Mr. Ki-beom!”

Without even taking off his sandals, he pressed his palm against the porch and opened the sliding door. There was no trace of the man.

It seemed he had just left after parking the car. Disappointed, Tae-heun plopped down on the porch.

Could he have walked?

Imagining the man limping along the rough road in this heat made his anger rise.

“Did you have to take a dump or something?”

Detective Oh poked his head in through the gate and made a joke.

Little bastard.

He almost let a curse slip out. Even if he did, what would Detective Oh say? He would probably just wonder why he was acting like that.

“Let’s go out for lunch too.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Then we can drink.”

Detective Oh said this with a friendly face and disappeared outside the gate.

He thought about lying that he couldn’t go because of a stomachache, but then he considered that he might run into the man on the way. Or he might be napping at the youth association office. Suddenly, he felt energized.

Detective Oh had started the engine and was waiting for Tae-heun.

“It’s hot for some reason, and it’s over 30 degrees. Ah, damn, can’t you at least leave the car door open? The kid has no sense.”

Detective Oh grumbled a little louder than a mumble. Instead of being grateful for bringing the car in this heat, he complained. Tae-heun clenched his fist without realizing it. He barely held back the urge to punch him.

“Detective Oh, let’s stop by the village hall before heading to town.”

His voice trembled from gritting his teeth. Fortunately, it seemed Detective Oh didn’t notice.

“The village hall? Why there?”

Detective Oh smacked his forehead with his palm.

“Oh my, look at my mind. I almost forgot if it weren’t for you, the director. I even mentioned I’d stop by the village chief’s house yesterday.”

He made a comical face towards Tae-heun. A chuckle escaped. He was a man who was hard to hate. There must be a hundred snakes crawling inside him. No wonder he was a veteran detective. He shook his head.

After parking the car in the village hall parking lot, Detective Oh went to meet the village chief, while Tae-heun dashed to the youth association office. As usual, the youth association president was sitting at his desk, his head buried in the monitor. He was so engrossed that he didn’t even notice Tae-heun entering.

The sofa was empty. He frowned without realizing it.

“Hyung, where did Mr. Ki-beom go?”

At Tae-heun’s question, the youth association president nearly fell off his chair in surprise.

“Oh, you scared me. Why did you come in without a sound?”

“Where did Mr. Ki-beom go?”

The youth association president straightened up, as if to say, ‘How would I know?’

“Did he come at all?”

“Well, thinking about it, I don’t think I saw him today.”

Damn it. Where did he go?

“Even your father was looking for Ki-beom. Director Kim, if you see Ki-beom, please give me a call.”

Tae-heun left the office without replying.

He took out his useless cellphone but put it back in his pocket. The man didn’t even have a cellphone, let alone a pager that even middle school students carried. He tried to remember what was written on the calendar about where he was going, but it was unlikely he would recall anything that wasn’t a number. He had asked where he was going every breakfast, yet today he hadn’t asked what was keeping him busy, and he blamed himself.

He stopped by the guest room, but none of the elders were visible. Strangely, there were no passersby on the road either. Everyone had gone out to the fields and farms. Due to the rain yesterday, everyone was busy checking on their crops. Occasionally, he saw people replanting seedlings or covering the fields with black plastic. He thought the man must be working in someone’s field just like them.

In the end, Tae-heun couldn’t find anyone and sat in the shade in front of the hall. He thought it was a tiny village, but searching for the man made it feel incredibly vast. After wasting time meaninglessly, he met Detective Oh again. He climbed into his car like a cow being led to the slaughterhouse.

He barely ate lunch. The cold noodles that had tasted so good when he ate with the man felt tasteless. He didn’t even touch the dumplings that he usually devoured in one go.

Detective Oh knew that Tae-heun had no appetite, so he quietly ate his share. After finishing lunch, the two went to a coffee shop. At least the coffee was decent, and it made him feel a bit better.

Before entering the coffee shop, they each read the sports newspaper and the morning paper from their seats. They weren’t uncomfortable with each other even without speaking. That’s why Tae-heun found Detective Oh quite likable. He had been surrounded by people who couldn’t stand awkwardness and would throw out silly comments and questions throughout his life. If Detective Oh had been like that too, he probably wouldn’t have decided to do this job.

The two exchanged newspapers and read them carefully. Occasionally, they would throw in a comment about an article, and if their interests aligned, they would have a conversation about it. Before they knew it, two hours had flown by. Tae-heun’s depressed mood had also lifted. Just when he was getting bored with the newspapers, a new figure appeared in the coffee shop.

“Director, it’s been a while.”

Detective Park greeted him warmly. He looked much brighter than the last time they met.

“You’ve changed a lot since I last saw you. You look healthy.”

“You look comfortable too, Director Park.”

“Really?”

Detective Park smiled, stroking his cheek with his palm.

“But Director, you’ve tanned a bit.”

Detective Park exclaimed in admiration as he took a seat next to Detective Oh.

“I’ve tanned?”

“Yes. You’re still pale, but you definitely look a bit tanned.”

“Is that so?”

Tae-heun grinned. He was somewhat aware that the color of his hands had darkened, but he had no idea his face had tanned.

“What do you mean tanned? You’re still the same. But why are you smiling about that? I wish I could get a bit paler.”

Detective Oh chuckled and teased Tae-heun.

“Boss, over here.”

“Hey, it’s fine. Let’s go.”

Detective Park was about to order drinks when Detective Oh stopped him.

“Director, shall we get up now?”

“Sure.”

Without even wetting his throat, Detective Park immediately stood up. Detective Oh paid the bill.

The three of them exited the coffee shop side by side.

“Dong-hee, you lead the way.”

Detective Oh pushed Detective Park’s back.

“Hey, you should lead. This is your territory, isn’t it?”

“Is that so? Haha. Alright. I’ll take you to the best place in this neighborhood. It’s a bit early now, but later.”

Detective Oh said this while shaking his wallet at Tae-heun.

“Let’s have a blast tonight. The old man gave me a hefty amount of cash to treat you right.”

He said this with a triumphant air.

Thinking they might take him to a room salon, Tae-heun followed the two of them leisurely.

Since it was a weekday and the sun was still high, there were few entertainment venues open. A makgeolli place, known as a “daepot,” was in operation, but since he had drunk enough of that yesterday, he passed it by. Only Detective Park, unaware of this, was eager to go in.

The place Detective Oh led them to was a small chicken restaurant. The savory smell was overwhelming. Naturally, the man came to mind. He liked chicken legs and preferred fried over seasoned. After eating one chicken leg and one wing, he would slow down. He didn’t eat the breast meat, so that was Tae-heun’s share. The thought brought a slight smile to his face.

“Seeing you smile, I guess I picked the right menu. The smell of chicken is nice, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I thought you had it in your head.”

Tae-heun joked.

They ordered fried chicken and a pitcher of beer to start an early drinking session. To accommodate Detective Park, who hadn’t eaten yet, they also added seasoned chicken and chicken gizzards. Tae-heun tore into a chicken leg. Somehow, the chicken tasted better than franchise chicken. He remembered the name and phone number of the place. He thought he should buy a chicken on his way home later while downing his beer.

Feeling better and perhaps because he was hungry, the drinking session was enjoyable. The three of them called out code names only they knew and shared past anecdotes. They were mostly things that weren’t particularly secretive, things that anyone would call a friendly senior-junior relationship.

Tae-heun felt that the 16 days in the safe house felt like a past life. No, it must be a past life. If you think of it as a kind of purgatory before being reborn, those 16 days weren’t particularly regrettable. He could have fallen into hell, but instead, he had come to heaven. What’s so special about heaven? The place where the man is is heaven. Moreover, he had met friendly detectives who could laugh off a past he wanted to erase with a few jokes.

Whenever he went to the bathroom, he called the man’s house. Once, no one answered, and once, the line was busy. He called back five minutes later, but it was still busy. It remained busy even after ten minutes. The kid must have gone off to chat with Sister So-jin again. Or someone from the village must have called to ask the man for a favor.

What did the man eat for dinner? Would he think of me? Would he be fine, thinking he was out having fun with Detective Oh? When he was alone, he only thought of the man.