“There’s no new news to speak of… The situation is still a bit ambiguous. As hyung knows, most of the people who worked with ahjussi are hard to trace.”
“Yeah.”
“That bastard President Choi is hiding really well, like a damn rat. Looks like he’s still moving around regions frequently these days. The last sighting was in Hoeju, but I couldn’t find out where he’s staying.”
President Choi was the third culprit I suspected of conspiring with Dad in Kwon Yujin’s kidnapping.
The court had determined that Dad and one other accomplice—a total of two people—had planned the kidnapping in advance and sentenced them guilty. That accomplice was someone who had worked as a driver at Kwon Yujin’s house, in a position where he knew all the family’s movements and daily patterns. If he put his mind to it, kidnapping a ten-year-old child in the process was entirely possible.
That driver was also currently serving time, just like Dad.
However, I judged that there might have been a third accomplice besides the driver. That person was President Choi.
“Yeah.”
“But even if we find President Choi, will you be able to report it? It’s already been 14 years, so the evidence will be ambiguous too, right?”
“That’s true.”
“And, the kid ahjussi kidnapped was from a pretty wealthy family, right? If a family like that couldn’t find him, I’m asking if it’s even possible for you to report him just because you tracked down his whereabouts.”
Noh Seungmin’s words were also true. I nodded in agreement.
“Still, I want to find him before the statute of limitations runs out. I’ll think about what comes after once I find him.”
I held out the envelope I’d withdrawn from the bank earlier to Noh Seungmin.
“Here.”
Seeing it, Noh Seungmin opened the envelope and checked the amount. Several months’ worth of my salary was in there.
“Whew. You didn’t need to give this much.”
Despite his words, the corners of his mouth were turned up.
“You went all the way down to Hoeju.”
“That’s true.”
Noh Seungmin didn’t refuse twice and put the envelope in his pocket. Then he asked me.
“Haven’t you heard any news about ahjussi?”
“…Dad…”
I closed my mouth for a moment before continuing.
“I haven’t seen him in a long time, so I don’t know.”
“You still don’t visit him at all these days?”
“No.”
“Hyung, you’re really ruthless.”
“I think I’d go at least once out of curiosity,” Noh Seungmin added with a snicker. As he said, aside from when I visited right after Dad was first arrested 14 years ago, I had never gone to see him again even once.
As mentioned earlier, Noh Seungmin was from the same neighborhood as me. We both grew up in similar environments, but unlike me who dropped out of middle school, he at least graduated high school.
Thanks to his much better family situation, he often brought me food and medicine when I was frequently starving. With nowhere to rely on, the only person I could trust with finding people right now was Noh Seungmin, who I had a childhood connection with.
I believed that people like Dad should pay for their crimes in prison as long as possible without parole. With Noh Seungmin’s help a few years ago, I was able to find someone who had been victimized by Dad in the past and lead to additional charges.
Separate from the kidnapping case, finding Dad’s past crimes before the statute of limitations ran out and leading them to additional charges wasn’t easy. Once, I was lucky enough to succeed in increasing Dad’s sentence, but there had been no results since then.
“Ahjussi still doesn’t know that hyung cooperated with the additional prosecution, right?”
“He probably doesn’t.”
“He’ll go crazy when he finds out later. Even I’d be too scared to do something like that.”
“I don’t care if he knows.”
“I don’t know if hyung is strong-willed or just thoughtless. Hah. Anyway, is ahjumma doing well? Didn’t you say she contacted you once before?”
“It’s been a long time since I contacted Mom too. She has a family, so I think it would be awkward. I should get going.”
Somehow feeling like the conversation would drag on if I stayed, I got up from my seat. Noh Seungmin looked up at me regretfully.
“Already? At least have breakfast before you go.”
“I have to go to work. If I’m late, the director won’t call me for the next job.”
“Then it can’t be helped. See you next time.”
“Take care.”
***
Saturday.
Unlike last time, this meeting with Kwon Yujin didn’t require a hospital examination.
Since I hadn’t scheduled any work either, I chose the most decent clothes I owned. There was hardly any pilling and no worn spots. There were no food stains either, so I was very pleased with it.
Standing in front of the door, I habitually inspected my appearance strictly before putting on my mask and hat.
As soon as I left the house, I saw a shiny black car parked in the narrow alley in front of the villa. Getting closer, I saw a familiar man in the driver’s seat. Chief Secretary Kim Jaewon, who didn’t hide his dislike of me.
“Please get in.”
The man rolled down the window and spoke to me. I nodded and opened the car door. Kwon Yujin was already sitting in the back seat. I sat next to him.
“What are we doing today?”
I asked as soon as I got in the car. Kwon Yujin looked more tired than last time.
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Then let’s eat.”
I brought up the meal we hadn’t had last week again. Then Kwon Yujin’s gaze, which had been looking out the window with a bored expression, turned toward me. After looking me up and down once, he opened his mouth.
“What is that outfit?”
“What about it?”
“Even if you wear it, where did you get such crap…”
At Kwon Yujin’s disgusted reaction, I quickly became discouraged, unlike when I had confidently left the house.
Seeing me like that, Kwon Yujin seemed to think about something for a moment before speaking to the man in the driver’s seat.
“Chief Secretary Kim. Contact the department store. Tell them we’re coming now.”
“Understood.”
“Why. Are we going to the department store to eat?”
“No. To buy clothes.”
“Do you need clothes?”
“Not me. You.”
“I don’t need any. I have lots of clothes.”
To show that my clothes were fine, I grabbed the collar and shook it. I’d bought it a little over 10 years ago, but it wasn’t dirty and there were no torn parts—a very, very nice outfit. According to the underground shopping mall clothing store owner at the time, it was the most trendy one. So Kwon Yujin’s words sounded even more absurd.
At my clothing pride, Kwon Yujin let out a short, irritated sigh.
“It’s an imitation.”
“Who is Imtaeseon?”
At my question, one of Kwon Yujin’s eyebrows rose slightly before returning to its place.
“…Never mind.”
I thought today we’d finally eat, but instead, it looked like we’d be buying clothes without even the chance. Who on earth is Imtaeseon? What does that have to do with buying new clothes? There were many difficult things about Kwon Yujin’s words.
After arriving at the department store, Kwon Yujin and I entered a quiet room instead of going to the sales floor. The only person around was a single employee.
When Kwon Yujin gave some instructions, the employee asked me for my size and then endlessly brought in clothes from somewhere.
I was very flustered, as if I had been dropped alone into another world that had suddenly unfolded. Everything was unfamiliar.
The employee kept recommending new clothes to me. I tried them on in bewilderment because Kwon Yujin told me to, but I couldn’t understand why I had to.
Why did Kwon Yujin bring me to a place like this? Were my clothes really that strange?
“These casual looks suit you well. If you could take off your hat, I could coordinate the details better for you…”
After changing into the third outfit and coming out, the employee glanced at me. At the same time, my patience reached its limit.
This was really meaningless. First of all, I didn’t need new clothes, and since I wasn’t sticking close to Kwon Yujin, it wasn’t helping him either.
More than anything, it was suffocating to take off and put on clothes in an enclosed space. To me, they all looked the same. Furthermore, it wasn’t like my playing dress-up here would improve Kwon Yujin’s condition.
I approached Kwon Yujin, who had been sitting on the sofa reading a magazine and hadn’t looked my way even once since entering this place.
“Let’s go eat now. It’s too suffocating here.”
Kwon Yujin finally raised his head. Through the limited view due to my mask and hat, I could see him sizing me up as if gauging me.
“Alright.”
Surprisingly, this time he readily accepted my request. Fortunately, he seemed to like the outfit I was wearing now.
“Then we’ll send the clothes you saw today to your home. Could you please write down the address where you’ll receive them?”
The employee smiled brightly and held out a pen and paper to me.
