#01. Homecoming
The moon is beautiful.
A small fishing boat gently rocks on the water’s surface. The moon’s reflection ripples faintly on the water, and in the distance, a lighthouse blinks. The lights from fishing boats that have gone out to sea a bit farther are busy. It was a time when people on land would be asleep. Time on the sea is different from on land—the day begins when everyone else is asleep.
A young fisherman who had cast his nets into the black sea, so deep its depths were utterly unfathomable, raised his head. The perfectly round moon painted color over his face. Moonlight settled on his upturned lips that curved upward even when he wasn’t smiling, and on his broadly set shoulders befitting someone who works with his body.
The moon is beautiful today—the words he couldn’t convey, he swallowed inwardly.
His eyes, wide open without double eyelids, blinked several times as if capturing the moon within them. Though only one person was on the boat, there were always two fishing chairs. And on the table sat a speaker connected to a phone.
The night sea was quiet and calm unless a considerably strong wind blew. There was only the sound of gentle waves hitting the boat and the work lights barely illuminating the area around the vessel.
Baek Sang-eun walked across the wet deck in his rubber boots. This was the spot where he always threw his fish traps. Splash—several traps were scattered one after another.
He unfolded a chair, sat down, and tried connecting the stars embroidering the night sky with his eyes. Even if he didn’t know the names of constellations, he could at least tell the season just by looking at the sky.
It was the season transitioning from spring to summer. As a lukewarm breeze, still closer to cold, brushed his cheeks, his hair that had grown long to his shoulders fluttered in the wind. Sipping instant coffee, he savored the spring night mixed with the scent of salt. He quietly listened to the story being recited by the radio DJ in a gentle voice.
“What the…”
The moment the DJ’s voice cut off, the phone placed on the table vibrated loudly. Since it was too late even for voice phishing calls, he checked the caller first.
“Oh, Uncle. What brings you to call at this hour instead of sleeping?”
—Sang-eun-ah. Uh, didn’t you go out to work?
“I’m out working. I’m waiting for octopus right now.”
—Uncle’s heart has been so heavy… I wanted to ask you for a favor at least. I didn’t want to burden you too…
It was Ko Han-yang, his father’s friend. Whether he’d had a drink or not, his rambling voice echoed across the quiet sea like a broadcast. After one sentence, “I’m sorry,” after another sentence, “I’m sorry.” He was already tired of it. He could just get to the point.
“How much do you need?”
When Ko Han-yang answered, Baek Sang-eun let out a small snort. His father Baek Jeong-ho had sneered that it was a big problem for a young guy to get a taste for money first, but in the end, hadn’t the minnows of Misong Port who caught the scent of money latched onto Baek Sang-eun who had tasted money?
Half a year since Baek Sang-eun, who had boarded a deep-sea fishing vessel the winter he turned twenty, decided to set foot on land. Already there had been several requests of this kind. Until now, he had repeatedly refused, saying “What money do I have?” but Baek Sang-eun decided to gladly grant Ko Han-yang’s request. Because the moon was beautiful.
—It feels like a welcome guest will visit today. The next song is…
The DJ’s murmuring voice faded, and a lively intro that sounded like water droplets splashing began to flow.
***
A police substation in a depopulated coastal area. The walls, which must have originally been white, had yellowed with grime so that from a distance, you couldn’t tell if this was a police substation or a neighborhood supermarket.
The man’s mid-sized sedan that had departed from Seoul, as if uninterested in the noble seascape, turned right without hesitation and entered the substation parking lot. The parking lot held only one patrol car.
A refreshing-looking man, incongruous with the gloomy building atmosphere, got out of the car. He looked up at the moon once, then elegantly moved his dress shoes under the moonlight. The blue box of fatigue recovery drink in his hand rattled.
“Hello.”
“How may I help you?”
A baby-faced female police officer asked with fake kindness plastered on her face. At the same time, her eyes were busy scanning the man from top to bottom. The gaze looking at an outsider was excessive to be called the typical sensitivity of police.
A dark gray suit that fit his slim body perfectly, brown leather shoes, and a somewhat irritable impression that showed fatigue at a glance.
Though deep lines had formed from his sunken eye sockets, whether from lack of sleep, he was a man with an urban atmosphere rarely seen in Yongju County. A subtle sensuality showed through his somewhat melancholic eyes.
Even in passing, he was clearly not the same age and was quite a bit older. Officer Lee Ji-yoon greeted the civil petitioner who had come late at night, thinking he was exactly the type of man who would appeal to someone with bizarre taste who liked ahjussis.
“Nice to meet you, Officer Lee Ji-yoon. I’m Go Seok-jun.”
The man glanced at Ji-yoon’s name tag, then folded his eyes into crescent moon shapes and smiled. As if responding to her interest. However, the quick-witted Officer Lee just gave a small snort.
The chief, who had been looking at his phone with his glasses perched on his forehead, hurriedly got up at the visitor’s voice. The chief grasped the visitor’s hand with a broad smile.
“Well, look who it is. Go Seok-jun!”
“Uncle! I mean, that…”
“Chief, you punk.”
“Chief-nim, hello. As of today, I’m Sergeant Go Seok-jun, assigned to Misong Police Substation. I look forward to working with you.”
He bowed politely with a somewhat theatrical voice. While he was greeting them, the two officers also came out from behind the desk. The chief patted Go Seok-jun’s arm.
“Oh my, when they said they were sending a sergeant from Seoul, I wondered who would be exiled all the way to this rural valley, but I never imagined Wolseon Aunt’s grandson would come!”
Chief Kim Soon-gyu raised his voice. From “exiled” to “Wolseon Aunt’s grandson,” every word thoroughly grated on Go Seok-jun’s nerves. Even without blood relations, calling each other aunt and uncle was a typical custom of rural villages.
Chief Kim Soon-gyu, a fishing fanatic, had been a regular customer of the ‘Wolseon Guesthouse’ that his grandmother had run. He had been close enough to grandmother to even attend her funeral when she passed away. To the Go siblings who didn’t have many relatives, each customer was precious.
“Since you’re here anyway, relax and take it easy. From what I heard, there are personal reasons?”
“Yes, somewhat.”
“Right, right. When a person is too exhausted, it’s natural to come home. Ji-yoon-ah, Daniel-ah. Come out and say hello. Yeo-neun, let’s see… Think of him as my nephew. Seok-jun-ah, this is our officer Lee Ji-yoon and Seong Daniel. Daniel’s name is Seok-jan but he tells me to call him Dan.”
Only after awkward greetings continued for a while did Go Seok-jun receive a tour of the inside of the substation. The duty room equipped with a cot, water purifier, and mini refrigerator, and a changing room that would be packed with two people—that was all. Go Seok-jun was also assigned one locker space.
His official start date was the day after tomorrow, but since they knew each other, he had stopped by to greet them. Officer Seong, also a man, guiding Go Seok-jun to the changing room concluded the substation tour.
After greeting the shift workers as well, he moved to a pub near the substation with those getting off work. Even though it was a small rural substation, there were six staff members including the chief. Now with Go Seok-jun, a total of seven. The chief only worked day shifts, and the remaining six would take turns working day and night shifts.
“The busy ones are the coast guard, not us—we’re land police. In terms of incidents in this neighborhood, they only happen at sea…”
The chief, who had some soju, was speaking when he pressed his lips shut. Because he also knew how Go Seok-jun’s parents had both passed away on the same day.
Haha, Go Seok-jun, who had been laughing awkwardly, left for the bathroom. The old bathroom mirror was covered with crude stickers. This neighborhood doesn’t even report illegal advertisements, I guess. Go Seok-jun, who had been sneering, fixed his gaze somewhere.
<A Strong Stream Proves a Man!>
It was ambiguous whether ‘stream’ was the subject, or ‘a man with a strong stream’ was one phrase. The grammatical error that caused confusion in meaning held the reader’s gaze for a long time. The red palace-style font that didn’t even indicate what they were selling or where to contact looked more like a warning than an advertisement.
The faucet, worn to the extreme and even coated white with lime, was gushing water. What does this stream prove? And what did the man who left his hometown prove in the big city?
Go Seok-jun had returned to his hometown to die. If asked why he’d come all this way instead of dying nicely at home, he could answer that he’d been pushed out with people telling him to go die there.
‘I see a separation in your future.’
It would be good to blame that pseudo-religious man who had spoken to him. On his way to work, someone had grabbed Go Seok-jun. As always, he had intended to pass the man by, pretending not to hear.
‘About three times?’
Since the man had grabbed Go Seok-jun’s shoulder to stop him, he looked directly into his strange gleam. An 11-year veteran Korean police officer wouldn’t fall for a pseudo-religious person’s strange approach. Even if he was in plain clothes, how dare he approach a police officer so fearlessly.
‘Well, show some devotion to your ancestors or something?’
‘Sigh, this year it would be dangerous to go near water.’
‘Excuse me, sir.’
‘Be careful of water. You should live long.’
The man even winked at Go Seok-jun. A police couple married for 3 years, Go Seok-jun, who was no longer a newlywed, twisted his lips, openly displaying his displeasure.
With an uneasy feeling, as soon as he got to work, he babbled to his colleagues about the funny thing that had happened. Saying what era is this to be talking about separation fortunes, let’s check today’s horoscope. In doing so, he didn’t notice his colleagues’ uncomfortable looks.
Absurdly, that very night was the first separation.
His wife’s expression as she announced their separation was plain, relieved, and even seemed a bit excited. As it turned out, everyone except Go Seok-jun had noticed.
No, fuck, even so, does it make sense for a police officer to have an affair?
He raged like that, but… of course police officers can have affairs too. It seemed everyone tacitly thought that a lawyer suited his elite wife, who graduated from the Police University, better than a sergeant who’d been passed over for promotion.
Young and rich, tall and handsome. Before his wife’s new man who had everything, a man in his late thirties, a public servant who would never handle big money in the future. Go Seok-jun, a man who still heard himself called a freeloader even at this age, lost his fighting spirit.
Whether the damn man was a divorce lawyer or not, the 3-year marriage was wrapped up as cleanly as it was futile. Getting out of the jeonse house and dividing it was the priority.
