Silence flowed. Seeing the detective’s mind waver, Seungho approached and spoke to him quietly. He couldn’t hear well what they were discussing.
“Are you certain? Around when roughly…….”
“At the latest, it should come in within this week…….”
He could barely hear bits and pieces, so he couldn’t understand exactly. But whether he was eventually persuaded or not, the detective accepted Seonwoo’s request. The lawyer returned to the police station where Taejeong was, and the three of them headed to the hospital. The detective holding the steering wheel glanced at the rearview mirror.
“This might be a rude question, but what exactly is the relationship between your mother and that Vice Director?”
Seungho also seemed inwardly curious as he pretended not to while listening.
“I’ll ask when I meet her. I’m curious too.”
It was sincere. More than anyone, Seonwoo wanted to know the truth.
“Don’t worry. We’ll definitely be able to find your mother.”
Seungho patted Seonwoo’s shoulder. He added that the detective was here too, so it would be different from when they went in by themselves. In his own way, Seungho was trying to ease the atmosphere.
“…….”
“What?”
When Seonwoo stared blankly, Seungho tilted his head.
“Your faces are similar, but your personalities are completely different.”
He’d thought that from the first time they met. Understanding Seonwoo’s words belatedly, Seungho said with a laugh.
“No. You just don’t know. Taejeong is so delicate because he takes after me. When I was dating my wife, whenever I had to pick a gift, I always asked Taejeong. My wife’s reactions were always good too.”
Taejeong knew how to pick gifts for women? He couldn’t believe he had that kind of aesthetic sense. Wasn’t it just that the person who became his aunt appreciated the thoughtfulness and looked on it favorably? That possibility seemed more likely.
“…….”
Seonwoo fidgeted with the hydrocolloid bandage attached to the back of his hand. The comfort was appreciated, but reality was another problem. From his experience at the substation earlier, he’d realized something. Unlike the situation right before his eyes, the law was too far away.
No matter how he thought about it, if it came down to it, there was no method besides killing. Seonwoo thought carefully about the aftermath. His mother’s hospital bills—couldn’t they somehow be covered with Dad’s life insurance payout? Already his head was full of worst-case scenarios.
Misfortune no longer felt like coincidence. If an opportunity came to set everything right—no, he had to make it come. By any means necessary.
The hospital building appeared in the distance.
But as the car approached the main entrance, the speed decreased. The detective muttered to himself asking what that was and leaned in close.
For some reason, the hospital entrance was packed densely with vehicles. The car that had been moving slowly stopped. The three people got out of the car without anyone going first.
What filled the hospital entrance weren’t ordinary cars. They were police vans the size of cargo trucks. Several of them had flocked there.
“Did the warrant come through? Hasn’t the search started?”
Seungho asked in a voice mixed with anticipation. Seonwoo observed the detective’s reaction. The detective frowned and looked around before muttering.
“That’s the forensics team…….”
Among the mixed vehicles, there was one labeled ‘Scientific Investigation Unit.’
“……Wait here for a moment. I’ll go inside and check the situation. Make sure you keep that student from coming in.”
As soon as the detective finished speaking, he walked briskly into the hospital.
“…….”
“…….”
The atmosphere sank in an instant. Even Seungho, who had been keeping the mood up in the car until just moments ago, didn’t say anything. He gripped Seonwoo’s shoulder tightly, holding him back from rushing out.
The sound of police car engines rumbled lowly in the distance. All the parked cars had their engines running. The overlapping vibrations grated on his ears. It felt like it was flowing not just into his ears but throughout his entire body.
Seonwoo irritably swatted away Seungho’s hand. At that moment, he noticed something stuck to his collar. It was a remaining sticker that Seonwoo hadn’t discovered. The sticker, whose adhesive had worn out and was barely hanging on, soon dropped to the ground with a soft thud.
Everything felt like an ominous sign.
He shouldn’t just stand here stupidly like this. No one was blocking the entrance, yet he couldn’t enter the hospital. It was as if his body had realized first what his mind was trying not to notice. He couldn’t accept the unpleasant foreboding that clung to his entire body.
He didn’t know how much time had passed. The detective appeared beyond the glass door.
The detective walked with steady strides, not the quick pace from before. His hair was disheveled as if he’d been running for a while, and he was breathing heavily.
The detective started to habitually run his hand through his hair but stopped mid-motion and put his hand in his pocket instead. He was trying his best not to show his emotional turmoil.
“First of all……. I have something to tell you.”
The detective’s breathing was unstable as he uttered the words “first of all.” As if drawn in by it, Seonwoo’s breathing also became rough. An ominous premonition dominated his entire body.
“The Vice Director is dead. The exact cause of death and circumstances are currently under investigation. Both of you will need to be questioned as witnesses. It’s too hectic right now, so probably tomorrow or…….”
“What?”
Seungho asked back in surprise. His expression showed he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.
“He’s dead? My brother-in-law? How did it happen?”
“I can’t tell you anything yet. An autopsy will be conducted soon, but we won’t know anything until the results come out.”
“…….”
Seonwoo slowly exhaled. He had thought the words that would come from the detective’s mouth would be news that something had happened to his mother.
But the Vice Director died? Why? How? Then was everything resolved? Did it mean they were no longer held hostage with his mother and Taejeong was a free man?
No, could it be that there was a problem because of the injuries Taejeong inflicted? Then Taejeong might not face assault charges but murder charges instead.
Seonwoo’s insides were burning, yet there was one more thing he found strange. Why had the detective been watching him so carefully all this time?
“And…….”
The detective, who had been intentionally looking only at Seungho, finally looked at Seonwoo. He smacked his lips and unnecessarily turned his head once before returning to the original position. After choosing his words as carefully as possible, the detective opened his mouth.
“We found the student’s mother…….”
At that moment, it felt like something snapped in his head.
The detective was moving his mouth, but nothing could be heard. A voice of unknown origin whispered in his ear, creating an auditory hallucination saying, “I knew it.”
No matter what worst-case scenario one imagined, reality was always worse. Seonwoo’s thoughts stopped there. He didn’t hold onto his thoughts any longer. He knew that the moment he did, everything would crumble.
ლ
Mom was dead.
Mom, who had disappeared from the ward, had regained consciousness suddenly after being moved to the VIP room. She only blinked her eyes for a brief moment before closing them again as if falling back asleep. It was a deathbed rally. The nurse who witnessed Mom’s death testified to that.
The Vice Director had been there with her.
The Vice Director held Mom’s hand when she opened her eyes and called her name several times—Seonmin-ah, Seonmin-ah. However, Mom didn’t respond to his calls and passed away while staring at the ceiling without even recognizing who was beside her.
The Vice Director, still holding Mom’s hand, said nothing and then drove the nurses out without even declaring the death. When he didn’t come out of the room for a long time, the nurses, finding the situation suspicious, went in to find the Vice Director collapsed on the floor. Beside him were several syringes and vials scattered about.
Having heard all the circumstances from the detective, Seonwoo thought, what is all this bullshit?
His mind couldn’t accept it. Whether the Vice Director died or committed suicide, none of that mattered. Seonwoo couldn’t comprehend why his mother had to die, why he couldn’t be there with her—none of it made sense.
“Can you see her?”
The morgue was cold and dark. An employee asked Seonwoo, who had entered alone without a guardian.
“…….”
Seonwoo nodded while fixing his gaze on the outline visible beneath the white cloth. If he didn’t see it with his own eyes right now, whatever it was, it felt like his head would explode.
When the cloth was pulled back, Mom was there.
She looked exactly as she always had in the hospital room. Pale face, bloodless lips, eyelids without the slightest movement. This was now the image that remained more in Seonwoo’s memory than the time before the accident.
Seonwoo suddenly realized. I’ve been looking at Mom’s dead appearance all this time. That’s why her current appearance lying in the morgue wasn’t unfamiliar.
Strangely, no tears came out. Only cold sweat was flowing madly from every pore in his body. His face and clothes were gradually getting soaked.
Seonwoo didn’t cling to the corpse or collapse on the floor crying like other people did with their family members. He just stood there blankly. Then, when the white cloth was draped over Mom’s face again, Seonwoo grabbed the wall and vomited.
His memories after that were hazy.
He didn’t know how he got out of the morgue. The clothes dirtied with vomit had somehow been changed to mourning clothes. An armband was wrapped around his right arm. Seonwoo was standing in the middle of the funeral room.
In the place where a photo should have been on the altar, a memorial tablet stood instead. Chinese characters were written inside it. One of those characters was the same Chinese character as in Seonwoo’s name. He couldn’t help but recognize it as his mother’s name.
They said that even though Mom’s heart had already stopped, the Vice Director didn’t stop CPR for over an hour. So when the body was discovered, his dress shirt was soaked with sweat and his hair was disheveled in a wretched state.
For the first time, Seonwoo felt he understood the Vice Director’s feelings. He couldn’t accept Mom’s death.
Even seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn’t believe it. It was the same for Seonwoo. Even while looking at the funeral room with Mom’s name written on it, he couldn’t believe it.
“…….”
Seonwoo inhaled. Regret—no, anger—surged up.
The Vice Director’s cause of death was suicide. Acute shock from drug overdose. He would have died instantly without feeling any pain.
It shouldn’t have ended this easily. He shouldn’t have stopped Taejeong. He should have let him burn to death as he was. Back then, even if it caused a commotion, he should have somehow found Mom. Because he didn’t, he let the Vice Director guard Mom’s final moments.
Seonwoo tore at his hair until his knuckles turned white. He ground his teeth and then dug in his nails. Nail marks ran long vertically from his temple to his cheek.
