***
They said that almost all incidents occurring in Yongju County fell under the Coast Guard’s jurisdiction. The few land-based police officers literally handled minor disputes—things like catching someone who stole from another person’s pepper field, or dealing with drunk and disorderly conduct that was common even in cities. Occasionally there were theft or fraud cases, but those should be transferred to Yongju Police Station, not handled by a tiny police substation.
Assigning him to the night shift on his first day was the Chief’s way of showing consideration. During hours without civil complaints, Go Seok-jun learned practical work from Officer Lee Ji-yoon. No matter that his rank was Sergeant, it was only natural that he knew less than an officer who had worked at a rural substation for several years.
Go Seok-jun also did a patrol round near the schools where he’d attended elementary, middle, and high school, and around the market area. It felt strange visiting these neighborhoods for the first time since graduating. The next day was the same.
Even though they took turns napping in the duty room, he couldn’t fall asleep easily. There were piles of materials he needed to read to adapt quickly to the work, and it was also because everything felt unfamiliar. Anyone who sleeps soundly from their first day after a transfer is weird anyway.
Due to the classic work schedule of day-day-night-night-off, Go Seok-jun ended up staying awake for two nights straight.
“Sergeant-nim, have you ever tried tarot reading?”
Go Seok-jun’s body flinched at Lee Ji-yoon’s sudden question.
“Tarot?”
“Want to try it once? This is pretty accurate. It’s a site my friend shared with me. She’s obsessed with fortune-telling and superstitions like saju and all that.”
Even in Seoul, colleagues he was close with often mentioned going to get tarot readings. Go Seok-jun never accompanied them because he had nothing particularly curious to ask about.
Back then, Go Seok-jun’s life had no question marks. A job guaranteed until retirement, a pretty and smart wife. He might wonder things like ‘Will I become rich?’ but having chosen public service as his career meant he could never dream of striking it rich anyway.
If he had to add one more, it would’ve been ‘When will my wife and I have a child?’ But the couple had agreed to think about children after his wife finished law school. Now it had become a forever unnecessary question.
Now Go Seok-jun’s life was full of question marks. When can I return to Seoul? Will I never be able to go back? Will there be no women in my future? Can I buy back my family home?
“Officer Lee, wait. Show me that thing from earlier.”
He squeezed his eyes shut then opened them, thinking about the questions floating in his head. They said to think of only one concern, but for Go Seok-jun it wasn’t just one problem. It was literally a total crisis. Hoping at least one of them would give a satisfying answer, he chose a card.
“Ahhh! What’s this! This is bad, isn’t it?”
“Hahaha! What kind of question did you ask to get this? This is the Devil card. Read the interpretation too.”
A naked man and woman were bound together with chains. A scary-looking devil was looking down at the man and woman from above—it was a strange card. Lee Ji-yoon just giggled, finding it amusing.
“Be careful of… the pleasure and desires within yourself. You might lose something old and precious due to a moment’s temptation. Don’t forget there’s no easy or fast path, okay? Geez, Officer Lee. I’m not that kind of guy?”
Even if it was just word games, it was an embarrassing result to show in front of a female officer. In the end, he went outside with a cigarette in his mouth. He lit the cigarette while inhaling the cold air that was enough to clear his head completely.
Losing something old and precious. Is the third farewell not a farewell to the world, but a farewell to my family home? To call getting back my family home and receiving another transfer back to Seoul an ‘inner pleasure and desire’ is too grandiose. That was a matter of survival.
This is all because of that cult bastard. The words that came out of that bastard’s mouth became a seed. Watching the cigarette smoke scatter randomly into the dark air, Go Seok-jun let his head drop heavily.
The thought of maybe getting a place next door to his hyung’s villa ended briefly. He didn’t want to rent a place when he didn’t even know how long he’d be in Yongju. Renting a place meant settling down here, which was absurd. If he waited quietly, whether it was one month, two months, or half a year, he’d go back to Seoul. If his senior was human, he wouldn’t cut off his tail and abandon him like this.
“Han Jae-hyung, that son of a bitch…”
Honestly, he wanted to argue that he hadn’t taken any money, but his senior’s wife wasn’t a police officer and hadn’t had an affair with some high-ranking person’s son, so of course she kept her position. There was no justification.
Actually, he could have pointed out that Han Jae-hyung was the one who took the money. But in an organization with a clear hierarchy, if he bit his senior, he might really cross a river he could never, ever return from. When I get back to Seoul, I absolutely won’t get involved with that bastard again. Go Seok-jun ground his teeth as he stood next to his car that had been left in the parking lot for several days.
He tidied his side hair while looking at his reflection in the passenger window. His eyelids were already thin to begin with, but now they were sunken, making him look like a ghost.
He’d been indebted to Baek Sang-eun for two days. The first day because he didn’t bring his car, and the second day he also took a taxi home. The second day’s night shift crew were all new faces, and it was because the Chief told them to have a drink together to bond and then go home and rest well.
From city people’s perspective, they’d wonder where bars opened in the morning, but the fishing village’s clock ran a bit differently from the city. There were bars here and there frequented by fishermen who went out fishing at night and returned in the morning.
It would be really shitty for the guy who rolled in from the city to skip the company dinner, so Go Seok-jun had no choice but to participate and do his social duty. He tilted his glass while squeezed among fishermen who poured down soju without even washing off the salt. This damn countryside reeked of salt everywhere. Even Baek Sang-eun’s truck that he’d ridden for commuting.
“From now on, you have to drive me. Got it? I don’t want to ride that truck.”
After tapping the hood twice, he went inside. Lee Ji-yoon was still busy doing something on her phone. Go Seok-jun flipped through the incident log mindlessly to kill time. Why do they steal from other people’s fields so much? Why is there no end to drunk driving arrests when times are what they are? After being at a city police station that ran so busy there weren’t enough hours in a day and had an equally varied crime list, being stuck in a rural substation made him feel restless.
Still, time passed anyway, and quitting time approached. His worn-out body needed time to adjust to the all-night work he hadn’t done in a while. It felt like his body had broken down. Even after starting the engine, he couldn’t depart right away and buried his face in the steering wheel. His two eyes, soaked in fatigue, were murky. At this rate I’ll have to get LASIK surgery again.
At the sound of a horn blaring long with a bwaaaang—, Go Seok-jun raised his head. He checked his elbow wondering if he’d pressed it, but he hadn’t.
A live fish truck appeared before his eyes. Am I seeing things because I couldn’t sleep? He rubbed his eyes, but the pink sunglasses reflected in the untinted windshield were definitely Baek Sang-eun’s. He had no choice but to get out of his car and knock on the truck’s driver-side window.
“Sang-eun-ah, why did you come again today?”
“I came to pick up Uncle again today. Please leave first.”
He wanted to argue why are you picking me up when I have my car, but he was too tired to bicker. Even though he knew the good kid came because he was worried about him commuting without a car, Go Seok-jun, soaked in fatigue, was on edge.
Let’s not get irritated at a good kid. He forced the corners of his mouth up while looking at his face in the rearview mirror. He raised his hand once toward Baek Sang-eun who wasn’t budging as if waiting for him, then returned to his car and shifted gears. He squeezed his eyes shut then opened them to chase away drowsiness.
“What?”
The live fish truck was following close behind. I understand he’s worried, but… Isn’t this a bit much?
He pressed down hard on the accelerator to create distance. The rpm quickly rose and the car body shot forward like a bullet.
The live fish truck, having also increased speed, quickly caught up to Go Seok-jun’s car. He increased speed once more and moved to the side lane. The live fish truck ran down the road shoulder to shoulder with the sedan.
“Sang-eun drives like shit…”
He slightly reduced speed to let the live fish truck get ahead. His mind, which had been hazy from lack of sleep, became tense. Flashes sparked before his eyes. Watching the scenery rapidly changing outside the car window and the signpost reading ‘Misong Port’ in the distance, Go Seok-jun brightened his completely cooled eyes.
“Hey, is it fun following Uncle?”
He shook off Baek Sang-eun. The race enjoyed on a road with sparse traffic was quite thrilling. The live fish truck probably turned off toward Misong Port. He had plenty of gas and time to spare. Intoxicated by a strange sense of victory. Go Seok-jun, in a hyperaroused state from cheap dopamine, drove for quite a while longer.
How far had he gone straight? A new signpost appeared. ‘Yongju Hot Spring.’ As if possessed, Go Seok-jun turned the steering wheel toward the hot spring. It was a hot spring famous for the legend of people curing illnesses by soaking their bodies in the water, so outsiders occasionally visited too.
The parking lot was already nearly full with people who came to cure illnesses through bathing. After parking, his body that had burned energy through arousal drooped. If I bathe and purify myself in water that cures all illnesses, maybe these psychogenic disorders putting me through hardship will all be cured too.
His mouth fell open at the sight of the hot spring he was visiting after a long time. Due to his job characteristics, he frequently used saunas in Seoul too, but the size itself was different. The provincial bathhouse was so vast it could be called expansive, and it had naturally spring hot water and various event baths. It was a scale where one could spend an entire day at the bathhouse. The young guys probably don’t know this pleasure yet—like an amusement park for ajussis.
After soaping his entire body and washing his hair, he soaked his body in the bath labeled ‘Natural Hot Spring Water.’ As he entered the warm water, his body relaxed languidly.
He closed his eyes while leaning his body against his elbow. Sweat beaded on his transparent, clean skin. A satisfied smile hung on Go Seok-jun’s face too. He cleared away the cluttered thoughts making his head dizzy and focused only on the bubbling sound of water rising.
Splash, splash. The sound of wet footsteps kept coming. The scrubber’s voice calling for customer ‘Number 95’ echoed through the bathhouse, but Go Seok-jun was alone in tranquility amidst the slight commotion. Should I go to the dry sauna and sweat it out now? As he slightly lifted his buttocks, a black shadow fell over Go Seok-jun’s head.
“Huh?”
He first covered his face with the towel hanging around his neck. One might say what’s the fuss between guys, but Go Seok-jun’s position was a bit awkward. It was because he’d left his hometown without confirming the secondary sexual characteristics that had happened to Baek Sang-eun. Like this, sitting side by side at a sauna as man to man was a first.
What’s the point of covering my face? Should I cover my body then? He thought that briefly too, but since he was in the water, he couldn’t cover his body either.
Then when I leave? Shouldn’t I cover it with the basin when I go out? No, why cover my body anyway? We’re both men. Go Seok-jun, who had been curled up, straightened his body and wrapped the towel around his neck again, draping it over his shoulders. He even splashed hot water on his face pretending nothing was wrong.
“What?”
When he asked bluntly while just rolling his eyes slightly, the guy’s gaze slowly scanned Go Seok-jun’s body. When a power struggle occurs between men in a bathhouse, they deliberately spread their legs wide and act arrogant to show off their masculinity. But Go Seok-jun modestly closed his legs, then thinking that wasn’t enough, crossed them.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m asking why you’re here. You were tailing me like crazy, so I thought I’d stolen your money or something?”
As he just flapped his mouth while covering his face, Baek Sang-eun cupped his hand and splashed water on his shoulders. For someone who chased after him pressing the accelerator like crazy, he was excessively calm.
“I just followed because Uncle was going this way.”
“You just followed?”
“Yes. You didn’t sleep. I was worried.”
