“Why didn’t you tell me Lee Seongyeom’s body was in that state?”
Daerim flipped over the white arm, tied it with a rubber band, then tapped to find a vein. After finding the vein without difficulty, he carelessly rubbed an alcohol swab on the arm.
“There’s no way I wouldn’t have told you.”
“Choi Daerim.”
Siwon’s low voice pierced Daerim as if rebuking his impudent attitude. It was a cold voice that seemed like even the surrounding air would freeze. Daerim, who finished connecting the IV to Seongyeom’s vein, raised his eyebrows and took a deep breath.
“I contacted you. You saw the missed call record last night.”
Siwon, who was searching his memory, twitched his eyebrows as he recalled interrogating the Dogang Faction’s action captain on the sea.
Was the timing bad?
“If it’s someone the Boss cherishes, we don’t treat them carelessly either. However….”
“However?”
“If the Boss has any conscience left, to mercilessly do this to a kid who came to make money….”
“Ah, enough.”
“He’s even sixteen years younger than the Boss….”
“I said stop.”
Toward Daerim who was about to list only proper words again, Siwon waved his hand. Daerim shook his head while organizing medical supplies.
The Boss is the type who, when fixated on one thing, only looks at that, so he’ll try to keep watch by his side until that child wakes up. But considering the current organizational situation, he knows better than anyone that this isn’t the time…. Afraid of really incurring Siwon’s wrath by adding one more word about organizational matters, Daerim carefully chose his words.
Even though he’d finished organizing, Daerim lingered without leaving, so Siwon, who had been watching Seongyeom, asked if there was more to do.
“No, it’s not that….”
Daerim hesitated to speak, feeling it was somehow presumptuous. But having already brought it up, he decided to open up about Seongyeom.
“About Seongyeom-nim.”
Siwon’s gaze, which had been endlessly watching the sleeping Seongyeom, turned back to Daerim. Daerim adjusted his glasses and continued.
“He seemed more accustomed to enduring pain rather than saying it hurts.”
“…Accustomed? What do you mean by that?”
“Well. I’m just telling you what I felt.”
It was a cryptic remark. Siwon stroked his nose bridge with both hands and thought carefully.
It could be easy to overlook because of his gentle impression, but thinking about it carefully, Lee Seongyeom had a more sensitive body than anyone. He was just trying hard to act dull to adapt among people.
Naturally, Seongyeom’s past appearances came to mind. How he was easily startled even at small signs. How he suffered unable to wake easily from nightmares. Putting those appearances together, one suspicious hypothesis comes to mind.
“Perhaps he has some kind of trauma. Getting involved in this incident stimulated that wound?”
“Could he have been getting beaten somewhere?”
At Siwon’s speculation, Daerim unconsciously added his opinion. It wasn’t an unrealistic guess. Showing such severe psychological problems meant there was a high possibility he’d been exposed to situations that triggered that trauma for a long time.
Siwon recalled Seongyeom looking sad. His mouth felt bitter for no reason, so he suddenly stuck his hand into Daerim’s gown pocket.
“What are you doing?!”
As the startled Daerim hopped backward, a handful of orange glucose candies came up in Siwon’s hand. Siwon tore open three at once, dumped them into his mouth, then crunched and ate them.
“Why so surprised? I can’t smoke in front of a patient.”
When Siwon tried to return the remaining candies, Daerim shook his head saying “Boss, please have them all” and picked up the medical tray.
“Anyway, the reason I’m telling you this is to say don’t pull Seongyeom-nim in any further here. It would be safest to send him abroad somewhere when the Dogang Faction is quiet for a while.”
“…I know.”
Unlike his response, Siwon was conflicted. Seeing the eyes filled with hesitation, Daerim inwardly clicked his tongue.
You have no intention of letting him go at all. What will you do if you repeat the same mistake like that again?
Just as he was about to leave the bedroom thinking further conversation would only hurt his mouth, Siwon muttered as if reading Daerim’s mind.
“I have to deal with it first before getting stabbed in the back like that time. Right?”
“…Pardon? Ah, yes….”
While Daerim was bewildered, Siwon leaned back leisurely and asked.
“By the way, did the delivery arrive well? The contents should arrive while still fresh.”
“Ah, that.”
At the sudden mention of a delivery, Daerim, whose spine turned cold, recalled one progress report he’d received earlier from the twins Lee Cheon and Oh Cheon.
“You mean the action captain’s head.”
Siwon, who brought his clenched fist to his mouth, twitched his eyebrows and looked at Daerim with expectant eyes as if telling him to answer quickly.
“It should have arrived by now.”
Daerim looked up at the electronic clock on the wall. Looking at the two white dots blinking at regular intervals pointing to 12:05 AM, he took out his phone from his gown pocket.
***
While passing through the spiral road carved from the mountain, the sea illuminated by moonlight formed a spectacular view. Despite the late hour, the road flashed with car lights from young couples wanting to enjoy the summer night view and people who came for night fishing.
Then, mixed with the sound of insects from somewhere, came a sound sharply cutting through the air. The identity of the increasingly loud roar was a single bike with a streamlined red-colored body. The red beast that appeared spewing explosive exhaust sounds dashed through the darkness, instantly overtaking the cars ahead.
[12:06]
Oh Cheon, who checked the time, twisted his right hand to increase speed. By now it should have been more than enough time to arrive and deliver the head.
Oh Cheon checked whether the square styrofoam box fixed with a net to the bike’s back seat was attached well. Just as he was about to increase speed more, he felt vibration from the smartwatch wrapped around his wrist. When he touched the screen, Daerim’s voice was heard from inside the helmet.
-It’s me. How’s it going?
“Almost there. A bit late because I’m going around avoiding crackdowns.”
-Got it. Contact me when you leave after delivering the gift.
“Yessir.”
As soon as the call ended, Oh Cheon twisted the throttle hard. He shot out with an engine sound that seemed to burst the air.
How long had he been riding? The red bike, which had been slowly running on a dirt road where the asphalt ended and even streetlight illumination disappeared, came to a complete stop in front of a gloomy-looking underpass.
“You have arrived at your destination. Ending navigation.”
As the driving program noona declared farewell, Oh Cheon removed his hands from the handlebars he’d been holding for two full hours and raised his hunched body with difficulty.
“Ah, please. Tell me it’s not here.”
Oh Cheon, who flipped up his helmet shield, turned the bike head to illuminate the inside of the underpass. Nothing could be seen because it was full of fog.
“Fuck, what kind of place is this for a hideout…. Did they only gather beggar bastards to fill their numbers?”
Even though it was creepy, he had no choice but to get off the bike because he had an assigned mission, took off his helmet, and put on a sanitation service hat and vest. Oh Cheon, disguised as a cleaner, hugged the sleek red body of the bike he cherished like his own body and kissed it with smooching sounds.
“Oppa will be right back, okay? If another bastard tries to ride you, say you don’t like it, got it? Yes, oppa trusts you.”
Oh Cheon, who finished preparing his mind while talking to the bike, tucked the styrofoam box he’d brought hanging on the net under his arm and turned on his phone flashlight.
“Ugh, fuck. The smell.”
The moment he took one step onto the cement stairs, musty mildew smell and sewer odor stabbed his nose. Even Oh Cheon, notorious in Kwonmyeonghoe for being cruel, had no choice but to cover his nose at the unsanitary conditions.
As he moved forward, the humidity increased and water droplets flowed down the wall. It was when Oh Cheon’s body and mood were heavily sinking in the tremendous yin energy.
“Ah, fucking hell…. Why is there a shrine?”
Oh Cheon wiped up the sweat that had dripped while pressing his eye area at the scene spread before his eyes. The red lantern hanging from the ceiling, the golden Guanyin statue fallen in the center of the floor—everything looked ominous.
“Geez.”
Oh Cheon stretched his stiffening neck. When he closed his eyes and rotated his neck, the sound of muscles relaxing was unusually loud.
Usually when you kill a person for the first time, all your nerves become alert and you can’t sleep. From the second murder on, will develops. You agonize between human and beast senses over how to end a life in one stroke. As the number increases, guilt decreases and the skill of killing develops into the skill of survival. Something called ‘sixth sense’ like a beast turns over the human mental system.
Oh Cheon’s sixth sense developed that way was telling his whole body. If you want to die, just go down there. Even though they were more than dozens of steps apart, tremendous killing intent could be felt, so Oh Cheon considered giving up on the mission and going back for the first time.
“What should I do? I really fucking don’t want to go.”
Muttering into the air, he soon looked down pathetically at the styrofoam box tucked under his arm.
“That’s right, you bastard. If the Boss didn’t seem in his right mind, you should have stopped him even by hitting his head. Huh? Ugh, fuck. Who am I even talking to?”
Oh Cheon, who tucked the styrofoam box firmly under his arm again, walked toward the collapsed shrine as if jogging. He put the box down on the floor and grabbed the hand of the shattered golden Guanyin statue and threw it to the corner. Dust rose hazily. Holding his breath and lifting the carpet, just as his sixth sense told him, there was a handle on the suspicious wooden floor.
Should I really just go back after doing up to here?
If I report honestly to the Boss, surely he’ll understand, right? Unlike thinking the Dogang Faction hideout with hundreds of gang members would be a flashy building, it’s an underground facility beneath a collapsing shrine under a shitty underpass. It was really ominous, so I just roughly threw the action captain’s head in front of the entrance and came back….
“Fuck, that won’t save our Boss’s face.”
It’s gangster work he started again with difficulty. I can’t run away after leaving just a head in front of the door in such a shabby way.
“Fuck it all.”
Oh Cheon lifted the wooden board leading underground. Is it really starting from inside there? Unlike the path he’d walked so far, a red carpet was laid on the floor.
“Choi Jeongcheol, you fucking bastard….”
Oh Cheon, who chewed out Jeongcheol thoroughly one last time, first dropped the styrofoam box below, then put his legs first into the passage where one standard-sized male could go down. The feeling of walking into death with my own feet was absolutely fucking terrible.
