“I think I know where that forest is, Hyungnim?”
“Hmm?”
It wasn’t just something he said—Son Yowan really had an idea of where that “forest” was.
“If the tree is a radio, then the forest should be where many radios are gathered, right?”
If it was such a place, Son Yowan knew it.
“You’ve seen it!”
“Yep.”
“That’s fortunate, let’s go right away…”
“Captain So’s room.”
The Director, who had brightened up, froze with his beaming face still in place.
“So, about that.”
Son Yowan smiled and put on the sunglasses that had been tucked in the breast pocket of his coat. That made him feel a bit better. The sunset sunlight was so harsh he could barely keep his eyes open.
“I think I can check if there’s the right radio, so what can you all do for this virtuous and altruistic young man who’s taking risks for everyone’s sake?”
No one answered, but Son Yowan tapped under his lips with his index finger, pondering something, then suddenly made an “Ah!” sound.
“Let’s start by hearing this, shall we? Your attitude toward Captain So is different from before—why is that?”
***
The Detective’s room door was closed.
“Captain-nim, I’m here!”
Even as Son Yowan greeted him, he thought the door might be locked.
If it really is, I’ll have to pick it with wire.
During the time when Captain So was a glasses-wearing guy (though that was only recently), it was something he’d often done for their friendly? activities??.
“Huh?”
So Son Yowan was rather flustered when the doorknob turned obediently.
“Why is it unlocked?”
A possibility suddenly flashed through his mind.
Could the room’s owner be absent?
That would be even better. It could be called the perfect opportunity. Hah, to get a chance to search through the radios in the room right after making a deal with the VIP gentlemen. What a lucky guy I am…
However, Son Yowan had to realize the cruel reality that the sweet taste of fortune he’d briefly savored was actually just the taste of maltitol.
「Looking for Park ○-gwan, last seen in the northern district. 159cm, 52kg…」
As soon as he opened the door, all kinds of sounds that burst out from inside pierced his ears, swept through his brain, and forcibly stopped Son Yowan’s thoughts.
「…black pants and black sneakers…」
「Looking for Lee ○-gyu, a resident of Hoechang District…」
「Looking for Lee ○-min, an 11-year-old boy who went missing at the intersection in front of Hoechang General Hospital. White windbreaker, white patient gown with blue vertical stripes, barefoot. May be in a wheelchair.」
「…if you have seen him, please call the police immediately. 1○○」
「…looking for… If anyone has seen…, please call the following number…」
Thud.
The flood of sounds disappeared as instantly as it had arrived. Son Yowan learned for the first time that when exposed to all kinds of sounds and then suddenly confronted with silence, you could feel that silence as sharp as needles.
So he was standing there dazed when something flew at him. When he caught it reflexively, it was headphones.
“…That.”
When he unconsciously turned his head toward the direction the headphones came from, only then did he see the room’s owner, whose body was buried in a large chair, almost lying down. With his eyes closed and both hands placed on his stomach, looking as if he was in a deep sleep, he only tilted his chin toward Son Yowan.
“Just wear them for a moment.”
Son Yowan thought there was no point in wearing headphones right now, but he did as he was told.
「Scratch.」
Is that a pencil sound?
Instead of music or voices, very faint scratching sounds came through the headphones intermittently.
「Scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch.」
“…”
But strangely, as he listened to the white noise of a pencil scratching paper, the pain that had been stabbing his head slowly subsided.
“Here.”
Once he’d stabilized somewhat, Son Yowan approached the room’s owner sitting inside the radio tower and held out the headphones to him.
Then the room’s owner let out a long sigh without even opening his closed eyes.
“Thank you very much, Captain-nim!”
Son Yowan added that, thinking the lack of thanks might have been the problem, but there was still no response from the other party.
Of course, Son Yowan wasn’t discouraged. It was a bit disappointing that what he thought would be the perfect opportunity to find a tree in the radio forest wasn’t, but he shook off that disappointment in less than a second.
Son Yowan casually tossed the headphones onto the table and also roughly threw his own body into a seat. It was across from the large chair where the room’s owner sat, and though not as big and soft as the other’s, the cushion was quite good.
“Ah, you opened your eyes.”
Son Yowan, who had been enjoying the soft texture of the cushion he couldn’t even dream of in his hometown Peripheral District, suddenly looked ahead and saw that the room’s owner, who had his eyes closed earlier, was now looking at Son Yowan.
He is looking at me, right?
His eyes were already weary from fatigue, and seeing them in this dark place, they looked just like dead fish eyes, so it was impossible to tell where he was looking—or rather, beyond that, what he was even looking at.
“By the way, I guess that earlier wasn’t an alarm but something you turned on, Captain-nim?”
Even though he wasn’t sure whether the other person was looking at him or not, Son Yowan started babbling away without caring. Actually, even if he really wasn’t looking at him, well, so what? His ears were open, so he’d hear the words, wouldn’t he!
“You turned it off earlier, didn’t you, Captain-nim? Right? Anyway, so I figured it wasn’t an alarm! Thinking about it, that makes sense. If it were a real alarm, I would’ve heard it before I opened the door. But wow, impressive. I really couldn’t hear any sound at all before opening the door! I wonder if this room’s soundproofing is exceptionally killer, or if all the hotel rooms are like that.”
“They’re all similar.”
“Can’t even test it out, haha… Oh.”
Son Yowan didn’t show it, but he was a little surprised.
He’s answering?
He naturally thought he’d be ignored.
“That’s why I told people to… act together with others as much as possible.”
A rustling sound came from the sofa cover. Glancing over, he saw the room’s owner was changing his position. His limbs were still slumped, but if earlier was closer to a “lying position,” the changed one was a bit closer to a “sitting position.”
“Because if you’re alone in a sealed room and encounter a Goeidam, no matter how much you scream, people outside won’t be able to hear you.”
Come to think of it, the Detective seemed to have said something like that before.
When was that?
“So until the investigation is over, exercise restraint. Move freely within Manghyang, but be in the same space with other people—preferably many people.”
Wait, hold on. Was that advice?
He’d thought it was a warning. Not because Son Yowan was particularly twisted, but because everyone who heard it took it that way.
Hmm.
But he didn’t think about it for long.
That guy spoke like shit, so everyone took it like shit—it’s not my fault I misunderstood!
That’s right. Anyway, it wasn’t Son Yowan’s fault.
“And… you’re right that I turned it on.”
Son Yowan, who had quickly resolved his slight unease and was enjoying his righteousness, heard the Detective’s words and went “Hm?” for a moment. He’d wondered what the hell that guy was suddenly talking about.
“Ah!”
Only then did he remember. He’d definitely asked. Since there was no sound from the hallway radio, was it not an alarm but a broadcast you turned on?
“Phew…”
“So it was! I thought so! But they were all missing person alerts—is there a reason you’re only listening to those? Is it for work, by any chance? Are they missing person alerts related to Goeidam?”
The meaning of the sigh directed at him was crystal clear (“He asked and already forgot?”), but Son Yowan pretended not to understand and poured out questions again. It was a winning strategy to keep the other person distracted by the flood of questions so they couldn’t question his attitude.
“You’re really diligent, Captain-nim, doing work even after coming all the way here.”
Son Yowan mixed some flattery into his questions and added some self-promotion. An appeal that he knew absolutely nothing about what you did.
A wanted man.
But it was absurd when he thought about it anew. The Detective was a wanted man who caused trouble in the central area and fled here. And the person the Detective tried to kill but failed was The Godfather.
That’s a pretty radical development.
Moreover, some of the VIPs seemed to seriously suspect that the Detective was the culprit who corrupted the Goeidam.
As for Son Yowan, his opinion was that it was too early to be certain. The reason was simple. In the future scene he’d “seen,” the Detective only appeared belatedly, long after people had already died. Nevertheless, he couldn’t definitively say “the Detective is not the culprit who corrupted the Goeidam” because the scene he saw was literally just a “scene.” A scene was only a part, not the whole.
