Victim
Two police officers came bursting in.
The person who followed along was Taejeong’s aunt. As soon as the police grasped the situation, they immediately requested backup. The sound of the radio continued without pause.
The sound of sirens arriving shortly after scattered through the night air. Not only police cars but ambulances and even fire trucks came rushing in. The unconscious Vice Director was carried away, and the two people got into police cars.
Taejeong’s aunt, watching the two people getting into different cars, chose the same car as Taejeong. Seonwoo thought that was natural. Those two were family, and he was an outsider.
The car Seonwoo was in arrived at the police station first. Upon entering the police station building, the person guiding them changed to a detective. Though he wasn’t handcuffed, the detective gripped his forearm and he followed where he was led.
The detective division office had desks lined up without partitions, but all the seats were empty and several ceiling lamps were turned off. The detective who brought Seonwoo sat him down in an empty seat and disappeared somewhere, telling him to wait a moment.
“……”
The office left alone was quiet. Seonwoo was listening to the sound of the desk clock’s second hand. His mind was strangely calm. Even though it wasn’t a situation for that, he could only think about when Taejeong would come.
But contrary to his expectations, it was the detective who appeared after a while. Taejeong’s aunt followed in after. Without any particular instruction from the detective, she pulled over an empty chair and sat next to Seonwoo, her expression dark.
“The friend who came with you confessed everything on the way here, you know? You too, don’t waste your energy and let’s make this easy. It’s late at night.”
The detective who took his seat turned on the computer first. The monitor light reflected on the detective’s face.
“I heard that the one who hit his father from behind and attempted arson did it all alone. Why don’t you start by telling us why you were there together? That, the person who’s the aunt will be next.”
“……”
Seonwoo looked back. The hallway outside the office was quiet. He couldn’t hear any sign of anyone approaching.
“Isn’t he coming this way?”
When Seonwoo asked, the detective stopped typing and looked at him with sharp eyes, giving a warning.
“Let’s start by answering the question I just asked.”
Both he and Taejeong’s aunt were here, but only Taejeong had been dragged somewhere else. Seonwoo, guessing the reason, began to pour out his words.
Starting with why Taejeong’s shoulder ended up that way and the meaningless results despite taking him to the hospital, and how the housekeeper and tutor all turned a blind eye as if they had conspired together. So he testified that Taejeong was a thoroughly isolated victim of domestic violence.
The detective was listening with an expression that made it unclear whether he believed or doubted Seonwoo’s words. Without any interjections, he kept his mouth shut with his arms crossed.
When the long story ended, Taejeong’s aunt had her face buried in her palms.
“Yes. We’ll hear up to here for now.”
The detective rubbed his eyes as if tired. The sun was already rising outside the window. It was because the investigation had taken longer than expected.
As the detective’s questions led to one thing after another, Seonwoo spoke without hiding anything—from the circumstances of how he came to live at the Vice Director’s house after having an accident, to the suspicion that all of this was the Vice Director’s doing.
During the investigation, they contacted the ward and confirmed there was nothing wrong with his mother, and the detective informed him that a full investigation would proceed once the Vice Director woke up.
Seonwoo was allowed to go home for now, confirmed by his aunt’s testimony that they had been together continuously, emergency room treatment records, and footage from the CCTV in front of the house. It was thanks to his alibi being proven for the assault and attempted arson.
However, Seonwoo had no intention of going back. Morning had broken, but there was no sign of Taejeong’s investigation ending.
When Seonwoo sat blankly in the hallway, a detective who couldn’t bear to watch guided him to the break area. Taejeong’s aunt said she’d just show her face and returned home before her two daughters woke up.
Before leaving, the aunt wiped the blood on Seonwoo’s hands, got him a Job’s tears tea from the vending machine, and pressed it into his hand. She left words to contact her immediately through the detective if anything happened, but Seonwoo didn’t pay attention.
Left alone, Seonwoo placed the paper cup on the table. Around the time the Job’s tears tea cooled, the detective who had been in charge of Seonwoo’s investigation appeared. Holding the same kind of paper cup in his hand, he told Seonwoo what he was curious about.
“First, he confessed to everything. It seems like he’s trying to take it all on himself, so it’ll take a long time.”
“What about what I said? There’s CCTV at the hospital and surgery records and things like that.”
“That’s circumstantial evidence for domestic violence, it’s separate from the current case, so it’s not much help. Especially this arson thing is really troublesome.”
It was an unsatisfying conversation. However, one thing was certain—unlike himself, Taejeong’s investigation couldn’t end easily.
Time flowed slowly. Even after the detective left, Seonwoo didn’t budge from his chair. Unlike the inside of the police station bustling from early morning, the place where Seonwoo was seemed somehow detached.
Morning had completely broken, but Seonwoo showed no signs of sleepiness. Hunger was the same. His torn hand, his toes with broken nails—none of it bothered him. It was as if all the sensations in his body were completely blocked.
How long had he been like that? He could see detectives passing by in the distance down the hallway, chatting noisily. When he looked at the clock on the wall, it was 10 AM.
That’s when it happened. The sound of shoes running noisily could be heard. The sound getting closer echoed throughout the entire hallway. Other noises didn’t even enter his ears, but that he heard clearly.
The moment Seonwoo turned his head, he saw someone running with large strides. It was Seungho.
Even from a distance, his appearance was terrible. Both eyes were bloodshot and stained red, his hair was disheveled and flying all over the place. The top buttons of his shirt were undone, and there were wrinkles in the chest area that rose and fell sharply from being out of breath.
The area under his eyes was also darkly shadowed, making it obvious he had gotten off a plane without sleeping a wink all night and headed straight to the police station. Looking like that, he resembled Taejeong even more, making it feel real that they were family who shared the same blood.
Seungho didn’t even notice Seonwoo in the distance and ran straight into the detective division office. Shortly after, the sound of arguing could be heard from inside. Seonwoo also headed there.
“No, I’m telling you I’m the guardian! The kid has been receiving questioning alone for hours now, they say! Does it make sense that I can’t even see his face? Shouldn’t I at least check on the kid’s condition!”
An angry shouting voice leaked out to the hallway. Seungho was yelling at the top of his lungs until his voice cracked.
“His shoulder is injured too, shouldn’t you send him to the hospital first? I get it, investigation and all that, but if a person is injured, you can do it while getting examined and treated first!”
Seungho was in a state of losing his mind at the news that Taejeong had injured his shoulder. Whether he hadn’t heard the rest of the story that the injury had been a while ago and surgery had already been completed, or whether he had no capacity to listen, was unknown.
Whether Seungho raged or not, the detectives weren’t particularly moved. As if this wasn’t the first or second time, they calmed him down with familiarity. One person didn’t even get up from his seat and just waved his hand.
“Yes, yes. First, calm down. If you make a fuss like this, there won’t be anything good for you as the guardian or for the kid. Got it? There’s also the friend who came together over there. Why don’t you talk with that friend first?”
At those words, Seungho’s gaze whirled around. He immediately recognized Seonwoo standing at the office entrance and opened his eyes wide.
“You……!”
Seungho approached as if running. It was almost to the level of stamping the floor with his shoe heels. As soon as Seungho came close, he grabbed Seonwoo’s shoulders.
“Are you okay? You’re not hurt anywhere?”
An urgent voice poured into his ears. With his eyes, he scanned Seonwoo’s entire body, thoroughly searching for any injured places. Seonwoo was silent for a moment at the sensation of his body being shaken this way and that, then nodded.
Then Seungho pulled Seonwoo into his arms as if choked up. From Seungho’s embrace came a smell mixed with sweat and fatigue. He endlessly stroked Seonwoo’s back, repeating only those words—that it was a relief, really a relief.
“……But doesn’t he look familiar? Why does he look so familiar?”
A faint voice was heard from behind. When Seonwoo turned his head, he saw the detectives watching this side, nudging each other with their elbows and whispering.
“He was on that show about raising kids, wasn’t he? A swimming athlete, was it?”
“Oh, right, that’s right. My wife had it on, so I saw it a few times too.”
“Wow. My daughter sang and sang about how handsome he was and loved it so much…… He really is handsome.”
“Yujin likes him? Then ask him for an autograph.”
“There you go again, overdoing it. What, we met somewhere nice so get an autograph?”
The detectives immediately recognized who Seungho was. To Seonwoo he was just Taejeong’s family, but to others he was a celebrity they recognized just by looking at his face. The curious gazes were unpleasant, so Seonwoo pulled away from Seungho’s embrace.
Seungho seemed to have calmed down a bit thanks to meeting Seonwoo. However, when he heard from the detective about Seonwoo’s testimony—that is, about everything Taejeong had been subjected to until now—he couldn’t handle the various emotions boiling up inside.
“Detective. Even if it’s just for a moment, please, can’t I at least confirm his face? I’ll just check on the kid’s condition.”
Seungho, who had been dry-washing his face countless times, said desperately.
“I’ll ask once, but don’t expect too much.”
The detective who had been troubled finally entered the interrogation room. However, the detective who came out in less than a few minutes slowly shook his head.
“What’s the problem? Do I need to prove with documents that I’m a blood relative? Whatever it is, if you tell me, somehow……”
“No. It’s not like that.”
As the agitated Seungho spoke faster, the detective waved his hand.
“I think you’re misunderstanding, we’re not blocking it, he himself refused.”
“……”
“Right now he completely shut his mouth when he found out his uncle came, so we’re troubled too, you know? Can’t you contact his mother’s side?”
“……”
Seungho had no answer. His shoulders rose and fell slowly. He was taking deep breaths.
“……Then what can I do right now?”
“You have no choice but to wait. Until the investigation ends.”
“……”
Seungho had an expression of being at a loss for words. Seonwoo’s feelings were similar. Not knowing what Taejeong was thinking, he wanted to go into the interrogation room right away and demand answers.
“……I understand. Just a moment.”
Seungho suddenly asked for understanding and took out his cell phone. His fingers searched for something without rest, then he moved locations and even made a call somewhere. Seonwoo was just watching, not knowing why he was doing that, but the detective seemed to have roughly guessed and let out a deep sigh.
