“Just like Auntie said, our Seok-jun still looks handsome even as he gets older.”
“What good is looking handsome at this age?”
“This young punk has no filter in front of his hyungs.”
Baek Sang-eun didn’t join in the three men’s pointless conversation, nor did he drink soju or touch the snacks. He just propped his chin up and swayed his upper body.
“Sang-eun-ah?”
When Go Seok-jun made a sound with a finger snap, Sang-eun glanced at him with those deep eyes. Then he casually crushed peanuts between his thumb and index finger. Crack, crack—with just a few hand movements, he demolished the entire pile of peanuts.
It was a round table, so they couldn’t exactly be called side-by-side, but anyway, the night breeze blew refreshingly between the two seated next to each other. His hair fluttered here and there, and their eyes met again.
Even though he’d thrown a fit about why he sold the house, Seok-jun was grateful to Baek Sang-eun for helping his hyung when times were tough. The countryside house wouldn’t have been worth much money anyway… and Go Seok-jun didn’t even have that small amount of money.
What else could he do but withdraw the deposit from his Seoul studio apartment? But then, when he returned after finishing his stint at the police substation? The future was pitch black. His own pitiful circumstances—possibly having to live in a single room in his forties—felt pathetic once again.
“Jun, are you moving back down here for good?”
“Not for good. I’ll just be commuting to Misong Police Substation for the time being.”
“Then what about your wife? She didn’t come down with you, right?”
Baek Jeong-ho snapped his chopsticks in half and asked various questions. Divorce wasn’t a disgrace, but it wasn’t something to brag about either. Especially in the countryside, where they’d think the sky was falling if you got divorced, so he had no desire to bring it up.
“…Yeah. She’s busy with work there. I have to go back soon too. It’s just temporary, temporary. It’s nothing much, just some work stuff.”
It was an indefinite demotion, so his words kept getting longer. Even though he liked his hometown, he had to go back to Seoul. He’d established himself there, so of course he had to go back. Even though work was tough, Seoul was still nice. He rambled on as if making excuses.
The more he talked, the more irritated he became. The hyungs obviously didn’t know, but they kept asking about ‘your wife you left alone in Seoul,’ so he kept putting it off with “next time, next time.” Suddenly, Baek Sang-eun raised his massive body.
“Father, Uncle. I’m heading out first?”
“Huh? Why? Your youngest uncle came after such a long time, have a glass of soju with him.”
“I don’t have an appetite.”
Baek Sang-eun looked straight into Go Seok-jun’s eyes and made a retching gesture. He was referring to what happened earlier during the day. Shouldn’t it be my appetite that’s ruined, not yours? He should have said that, but Baek Sang-eun was already far away.
“Aigoo. He said he was boiling chicken with his friends for lunch today. How much did he drink starting from broad daylight?”
At Baek Jeong-ho’s excuse-like comment, Go Seok-jun put down his chopsticks.
“Chicken…?”
He definitely said he was putting a dog in water…
“Yeah. Teukgol Granny, do you remember her? The granny who raises chickens in the upper village. It’s just, if you go to that granny’s mountain, it’s full of chickens everywhere. She just lets them roam free on the mountain to raise them. Grade 1 eggs or something, apparently that makes good money. Still, the granny was thinking of Sang-eun and gave him two chickens to boil and eat before the weather got hot.”
When Go Seok-jun asked, Baek Jeong-ho answered casually as if it were a common occurrence. Go Seok-jun’s face instantly flushed red. He’d stuck his nose where it didn’t belong for no reason. It wasn’t even his business what others ate. Embarrassed by his old-man behavior, he gulped down soju and spat out a crude joke.
“Why is the granny thinking of Sang-eun? Is Sang-eun the granny’s type?”
“Crazy bastard.”
Baek Jeong-ho laughed heartily. His laughing face looked exactly like Baek Sang-eun’s. Baek Sang-eun was the last baby born and raised in Misong Port. Even though a baby was born after Baek Jeong-ho got married, that baby was born in the town center and was distant from the Misong Port adults.
Anyway, Baek Sang-eun had been called “baby, baby” for over twenty years, and it continued to this day—he still received baby treatment in the neighborhood. They gave the baby chicken and meat because he was working hard to earn money. Communal child-rearing should end when they’re minors, but they were still raising a guy who was almost thirty.
“But where did the baby get money to buy our house? Did you help him out, Jeong-ho hyung?”
“Ah… Your hyung had nowhere to get the money from. I’m sorry, Seok-jun-ah.”
“What’s there to be sorry about? I should be the one who’s sorry. What kind of person takes money from a kid? Sang-eun probably overextended himself unnecessarily—let me buy it back from Sang-eun. That house is my hometown anyway… and Noona needs to have a hometown too.”
Silence fell. Both the hyung who had to bow his head and borrow money from someone twenty years younger, and Baek Jeong-ho watching from the side, couldn’t have felt comfortable.
“Overextended what. Right now in this tiny Misong Port, Baek Sang-eun is the boss, the boss.”
Baek Jeong-ho raised his fist and smiled bitterly. No one had said anything, but it seemed Baek Sang-eun was making quite a bit of money. From what he’d quickly scanned earlier, even just the necklace hanging around his neck and the flashy bracelet on his wrist were worth quite a bit. These days, even young people made big money through various means, so it wasn’t strange.
Even between parents and children, when there’s a significant difference in earnings, the hierarchy inevitably reverses. Even Baek Jeong-ho, who was fierce as a tiger like his name, seemed completely unable to do anything against his wealthy and ill-mannered son.
Go Seok-jun had been in the economic crimes team for quite a while. He’d unknowingly been pickled by those who committed all sorts of fraud without remorse, with their vulgar mindset that money could do anything. He didn’t even feel any resistance to taking money from those vulgar bastards who thought money could do everything.
Even though he didn’t live righteously himself, it felt somewhat suffocating that even this rural corner operated on the logic of capital above the law, above Confucius’s teachings about filial piety to parents. What was I expecting? The stereotypical ‘hometown’ that city people imagine must have rubbed off even on Go Seok-jun, who was from the countryside. The taste of soju lingering on his tongue was bitter.
The hyungs quickly clinked their glasses. Go Seok-jun, who had no money but at least had manners, matched their pace.
Just when he was about to get drunk, the sea breeze would slap his cheeks and wake him up. However, the two hyungs accustomed to the sea breeze were already drunk as could be, and left Go Seok-jun behind as they each headed to their own homes. That was the way of seaside people, people who start their day at the crack of dawn.
“Not a single one of you has any loyalty.”
Left alone, he poured himself soju. His wife left without loyalty, his senior cut ties without loyalty, his hyungs left without loyalty. Not a single person had any loyalty.
Was Baek Sang-eun the only one with loyalty? But from Go Seok-jun’s perspective, his pride was hurt. Why ask for help from a friend’s son when you have a perfectly fine younger brother? And from a guy twenty years younger than the hyungs at that.
His own situation—not even being given enough credit to be asked if he could help when things got difficult—felt pathetic.
‘There’s a rumor that Officer Go investigates using a honeypot.’
Early in his career, a senior had thrown out such a comment teasingly. While cursing internally, Go Seok-jun had played along saying, ‘Isn’t the honeypot the best of the thirty-six stratagems?’
Anyway, honeypot investigation? Even though he didn’t like the name, he used it effectively. That didn’t mean he actually used it in real investigation scenes. It was used to the extent of sweet-talking malicious complainants who screamed and raised hell at the police station, or suspects with clear fraud charges who refused to open their mouths no matter what, or during sting operations at prostitution establishments.
And once its usefulness was exhausted, this too was a beauty deployed in operations only to be discarded. As they say, beauty doesn’t last ten days. A pretty face is useful in one’s twenties, at best early thirties—but now that he was obviously an ajusshi, it was utterly useless. It was embarrassing enough that he couldn’t even use it for disgusting self-praise that starts with “back in the day.”
“You should get going too, punk. Your hyungnim paid, so put your wallet away.”
When Aunt Bong-seon smacked his back, Go Seok-jun got up from his seat with a silly grin. He hadn’t noticed while drinking, but once he stood up, he felt dizzy. Staggering, he walked to the end of the breakwater. Swoosh—the sound of waves hitting the breakwater made him nauseous. Something hot surged up from his stomach.
“Go Seok-jun, you fucking useless bastard… At the company! To your wife! To your brothers! Fuck!”
His voice, which had been quietly murmuring, rose in a gradient. He finished shouting cheap curses at the pitch-black sea. As he shouted, he felt like vomiting and lowered his head. Even after spitting out the bile that had risen to his throat, he couldn’t raise his lowered head. Amphipods were swarming on the tetrapods.
He extended one foot toward the tetrapods. The texture of solid concrete was felt directly through the soles of his loafers. And just as he was about to lower his other foot and his body swayed slightly, an arm came in under his armpit.
“Ueoeoek!”
Making an ajusshi-like sound, he landed lightly back on the breakwater. He was already tipsy from the alcohol, and now he was startled too, so his heart pounded like crazy. He almost died from a heart attack rather than falling into the tetrapods and drowning.
“Does Uncle want to die quickly?”
All the strength left his legs. Plopping down on the ground, his gasping breaths were rough.
Except for Go Seok-jun’s breathing, it was eerily quiet. The wind blew with a whoosh sound, and the waves rhythmically struck the breakwater. And then chap-chap-chap, at the end of small footsteps…
“Waah!”
Screaming again, he pathetically crawled on all fours on the ground. A dog—too large to be called a puppy—came close to Go Seok-jun, then went back to stand beside Baek Sang-eun. Baek Sang-eun bent down and said something to the dog. As if understanding the words, the dog circled around Go Seok-jun sniffing.
After sniffing enough, the dog returned to Baek Sang-eun’s side and sat firmly like a bodyguard. Baek Sang-eun put a treat in the dog’s mouth. Even patted its head.
“Ah, shit. Sang-eun-ah… Uncle was startled.”
“Then why are you standing on the breakwater at night like a crazy person? Do you really want to die?”
Unable to answer right away, he hemmed and hawed, and Baek Sang-eun’s brow furrowed noticeably. If he keeps doing that, he’ll need to get Botox in his forehead later… Go Seok-jun, thinking thoroughly like a city person, spread his thumb and index finger in front of his own eyebrows and signaled him to smooth out his expression.
“You said you didn’t have an appetite and left, so why are you here again?”
“Just, well. Neighborhood patrol?”
“And him?”
“Him? He’s also on neighborhood patrol.”
