As soon as the Vice Director regained consciousness, he filed charges against Taejeong. On the grounds of assault and attempted arson.
Seungho seemed to be grinding his teeth at the Vice Director’s wickedness in filing charges against his own child. In the middle of speaking, he repeatedly took breaths, trying to control his emotions.
“Anyone can file charges. For now it’s just the filing stage, and we have a lawyer on our side too, so nothing has been decided yet.”
The aunt added. To Seonwoo it was no different from wordplay, but Seungho reflexively nodded his head in agreement.
“Right. You’re right. Nothing has been decided. I need to pull myself together…….”
After dry-washing his face, Seungho looked at Seonwoo.
“For now, we’ve gotten a lawyer for Taejeong and soon…. No, never mind that. Anyway, let’s solve your mother’s problem first. Investigation or whatever, let’s at least get your mother to a different hospital. Can you go to the hospital right now?”
There was no reason to hesitate. Seonwoo immediately nodded and answered.
“Let’s go right now.”
Seungho said he couldn’t hold the steering wheel in his current state and called a taxi.
His mind must have been anxious because he urged the taxi driver several times during the trip. While asking if they couldn’t go just a bit faster, Seonwoo kept his mouth quietly shut.
However, the moment they arrived at the hospital, the two’s positions completely changed.
“Where did she go, I’m asking!”
Seonwoo, who had stormed into the nurse’s station, raised his voice. Behind him, Seungho couldn’t even stop him and was clutching his head.
“It happened so suddenly that we also don’t know the exact circumstances…….”
“A patient who was here disappeared and you don’t know? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Young man. Even if you do this here, there’s nothing we can do to help. First, please calm down…….”
When he entered the hospital room, his mother wasn’t there. The machines that had occupied the space were also gone.
Calmly, maintaining rationality, asking nicely—it was impossible. From the moment he saw the empty bed, Seonwoo wasn’t in his right mind.
“Where did you take her!”
His flailing arm struck an acrylic information sign as he shouted. The heavy sign fell to the floor and shattered with a sharp sound. Screams erupted from the surroundings and transparent fragments scattered on the floor. A startled Seungho hurriedly stopped Seonwoo.
“Stop, stop! Calm down! Okay? If you do this, we won’t be able to find your mother!”
Even as Seungho grabbed his arms from behind and the nurses tried to stop him, Seonwoo continued to rampage. In a hoarse voice, he only repeated asking where they took his mother.
As the loud noises continued, other patients came out into the hallway and peered around. People murmuring about why he was acting like that and people startled by the shouting emerged.
“…….”
Then suddenly, as if a switch had been turned off, Seonwoo abruptly stopped his actions and, leaving Seungho behind, began walking somewhere. He intended to go directly to the Vice Director’s office. If he couldn’t get a clue there either, he planned to search the entire hospital to find his mother.
While Seungho was handling the aftermath, Seonwoo had already reached the end of the hallway. As he was about to exit the ward entrance, two security guards wearing black vests blocked Seonwoo.
“Yes. We found him.”
One spoke into the radio. The other blocked the path, obstructing Seonwoo’s view. Seeing that situation, Seungho ran over in alarm. He hid Seonwoo behind him and urgently defended.
“Wait a moment. Just listen to this. A patient who was hospitalized here until yesterday suddenly disappeared, you see? When we ask where she went, they won’t answer, so the kid got excited for a moment…….”
“Let’s talk outside first. You’re a threat to other patients.”
The security guards explained in a uniform tone as if reciting a manual. They didn’t treat Seonwoo threateningly or restrain him, but firmly pushed his back to make him walk forcibly.
Without even a chance to resist, he was dragged to the first-floor lobby. However, the security guards didn’t guide the two to a space where they could have a conversation. As they took them outside the main entrance, Seungho blocked them.
“Weren’t you helping us? A patient disappeared overnight, I’m telling you? Shouldn’t the hospital take responsibility and provide guidance?”
“That’s not our job, so we can’t give you an answer. A report was filed for property damage, so the police will be here soon. You can discuss what you mentioned at the police station.”
The security guards only gave machine-like answers. When they finally drove Seonwoo outside the hospital, the atmosphere became hostile as if a confrontation would break out at any moment. Even when Seonwoo tried to enter the hospital again, they extended their hands to block him.
As a commotion broke out at the main entrance and people’s attention became focused, a police car appeared.
“We came in response to a report. Please explain what the situation is.”
The two police officers who got out of the car requested an explanation from the security guards. As if they’d finally met someone they could communicate with, one guard quickly explained the situation.
“This student damaged property in the ward and caused a disturbance. When we checked the computer system, he was a patient refusing psychiatric ward admission. He was a threat to other patients, so we reported immediately.”
Then the police officers nodded as if they understood right away. Their expressions showed they just needed to take him in without further investigation.
“No, that’s not it.”
Seonwoo shook his head at the approaching police.
“Yes, yes. Get in first. We’ll listen to your story at the precinct.”
“I said it’s not like that.”
Seonwoo realized he’d fallen into a trap and began to resist. His mother was in there. The Vice Director had hidden her. Let him go see the CCTV. Even as he shouted this, the police didn’t listen.
They just grabbed Seonwoo’s shoulders from both sides and took him to the police car. Seungho intervened between them. His expression was as confused as Seonwoo’s, but he held onto his rationality and said.
“Wait a moment. This student isn’t a patient, he’s a guardian. His mother, who was perfectly fine until yesterday, suddenly disappeared, so this is happening. Instead of doing this, if you could go inside with us and help us find her…….”
“What is your relationship to each other?”
“That’s…….”
A nephew’s friend? A kid living in the same house as his nephew? However he explained it, it sounded suspicious.
While Seungho couldn’t answer, Seonwoo was put in the police car. The door was already closed, so he couldn’t get out on his own. Seungho requested to ride along, but the police explained it was impossible unless he was a guardian.
In the end, Seungho was left alone in front of the hospital entrance. He remained standing there vacantly without budging until the police car carrying Seonwoo disappeared from view.
ლ
The fluorescent lights on the police substation ceiling were excessively bright.
So the face of Seonwoo sitting directly under the fluorescent light was rather cast in shadow. It made his features stand out more, giving off a gloomy air as if his entire face was darkly sunken.
Identity verification, fingerprint check—the procedures flowed mechanically. The police officer sitting in front of Seonwoo tapped the keyboard and asked indifferently.
“You don’t have a guardian we can contact?”
“…….”
Seonwoo had said the whole way to the substation that his mother was at that hospital. Which floor the ward was on, where in the hallway the room was, what the familiar nurse looked like. He’d said everything, but no one listened.
Seonwoo realized that no matter what he said from this position, no one would believe him. So he shut his mouth. No matter what the police in front of him chattered about, he showed no reaction.
With his gaze cast downward, external noise gradually grew distant from his ears. Seonwoo, who had burrowed into his inner self, suddenly had this thought.
It might have been better to have become an accomplice with Taejeong back then. Even if he couldn’t get out into the world for the rest of his life to pay for the crime, at least his mother wouldn’t have been held hostage in the Vice Director’s grasp.
Perhaps it wasn’t too late even now. It was something he’d steeled himself for from the beginning anyway, without dirtying anyone else’s hands. The emotions he’d felt when he tried to swing the nameplate at the Vice Director still remained inside Seonwoo even now.
How should he do it? First, get out of here, somehow track down the Vice Director, and this time, by what method…….
Just as Seonwoo was falling into thought, the substation door opened roughly. The person who opened the door instantly approached and firmly grabbed Seonwoo’s shoulder.
“Are you okay? Nothing happened, right?”
“…….”
It was a voice that awakened his locked-away consciousness. It was none other than Seungho. Following behind, the detective in charge and a woman in a suit entered.
“Yes. Thank you for your hard work.”
The detective, who immediately presented his detective ID, said.
“This student is both a victim and an important witness in a case we’re handling. We’ve already verified his identity. We need to take him for the investigation, so we ask for your cooperation.”
“You can talk to me about the property damage report.”
The woman who added next handed over her lawyer’s business card. In an instant, the police officers exchanged glances with each other.
“Uh…….”
They’d been treating him with half-formed prejudice after just hearing the explanation that he was a patient refusing psychiatric ward admission, but suddenly people who appeared to be guardians came rushing in, leaving them with an awkward expression.
A moment later, a middle-aged police officer walked out from the inner office. The police officer who appeared to be the chief quickly grasped the situation and cooperated with the investigation.
After the depressingly simple procedures ended, Seonwoo could exit the substation freely with both hands and feet. The time Seonwoo had been left alone at the substation without a guardian was about an hour.
In the meantime, Seungho had contacted the detective in charge and brought a lawyer all the way here. Seonwoo thought that without these people, he would have been helplessly victimized by the Vice Director.
During that hour, among the various emotions Seonwoo felt inside the substation, the greatest was powerlessness. It was the feeling of no one believing his words and just repeatedly kicking at empty air.
Taejeong must have experienced this his entire life. It wasn’t something a human should do.
Upon exiting the substation, the detective habitually took out a cigarette but then put it back when he saw Seonwoo. Even knowing he was twenty, in the detective’s eyes he still looked like a kid.
“Please go back to the hospital.”
When Seonwoo asked, the detective shook his head as if this had been expected.
“I understand your feelings, but forced search is impossible without a warrant. Moreover, if we mess with a large hospital like that, it really becomes a headache.”
“Can’t we at least check the CCTV? I need to know if my mother is safe.”
“…….”
