World Chapter 4.2

How am I supposed to explain that……?

I looked at Hanse with a blank expression. No matter what I tried to say, the words wouldn’t come out.

Is that what they call gwijup?

The souls of those who died unjustly called to me, and I tumbled through a fantasy created by ghosts. Hyungjo’s soul was also summoned in his dream. To their twenties…….

It was a story no one would believe. Hanse was Hyungjo’s son. As he said, Hyungjo had loved me, and if he had loved me, his son had the right to know the truth.

I looked at Hyungjo’s son. Though somewhat rougher and harsher than Hyungjo, he looked exactly like Hyungjo, as if Hyungjo himself were standing before me.

“Tell me the truth. I need to know what my father was hiding.”

At his interrogation, I hesitated and stammered.

“W-we loved each other.”

“That’s disgusting, so there’s no need to emphasize it. It’s because I don’t understand the contents of the notebook. Meeting in a dream, what does that mean?”

“You won’t believe me even if I tell you.”

“That’s for me to judge.”

“No, you won’t believe it.”

“Why do you keep speaking informally?”

“I spoke informally to your father, so should I use honorifics with you?”

“What?”

He raised his hand as if to smack me on the head, but when passing students started whispering and glancing over, he let out a dry cough and lowered his hand. He spoke while pretending to touch the scratch on the bridge of his nose to cover it.

“Follow me.”

I followed behind Hanse as he walked ahead. My bag and report were being held hostage by him, so I had no choice.

He personally opened the car door and motioned for me to sit in the passenger seat. Wary of him, I clutched the notebook tightly and got into the car.

“Put on your seatbelt.”

He said as he started the car as soon as he got into the driver’s seat. He seemed to think I might run away again if he kept the car parked.

It was an unsophisticated thing, but I had rarely ever been in a passenger car. When I fumbled and couldn’t fasten my seatbelt, he looked at me as if I were pathetic, stretched out his long arm, and fastened the seatbelt next to me.

His expressionless, cold face was so exactly like Hyungjo’s that, I’m sorry to say to Hyungjo, my heart fluttered a little.

I didn’t care if it was gwijup. I just wished I could meet him, even in a dream. Unbeknownst to Hanse, I furtively wiped away the tears that had leaked out.

The car we were in left the school’s main gate and drove for a good while before entering a four-lane road.

“I have to go back soon. I’d appreciate it if you’d tell me quickly.”

“…….”

I let his words flow past my ears and stared blankly at the streets.

There were so many people. So many people, it was unimaginable in my hometown. And because there were so many people, people were lonely. It was an irony.

Perhaps because there were too many people, they always walked fast, as if being chased.

The world that Taewan hyung truly feared. A world that had lost its essence, compromising with capitalism and being dragged along by it.

What happened to Taewan hyung…….

“Are you listening to me?”

“There’s something I want to look into. You said you’re a prosecutor, right?”

“What?”

“There’s something I want to find out. Help me out.”

“……Hah, this is truly unbelievable. Just how do you think I feel? I went to the wake and there’s a guy genuinely grieving in front of my father’s portrait, so I’m thinking he must be my father’s student, our father must have been a great teacher, feeling all proud, and then that punk suddenly says he loves my father. As if that’s not enough, my own father writes in a notebook that he loves some guy named Jung Hyunwoo. It’s a good thing my sensible mother said it’s wrong to read someone else’s diary, even a dead person’s, and gave me the notebook to dispose of. I hate my father. Because he didn’t love my mother.”

“We met before that.”

“……What?”

He, who had been driving while looking straight ahead, turned to look at me. His brow was furrowed menacingly.

“Before Hyungjo married your mother……, it was before the marriage.”

I painfully recalled his words about having a fiancée. He had said he would break up with her. Being dragged through dreams, Hyungjo himself hadn’t been able to distinguish which was reality and which was fantasy.

“What on earth does that mean. Speak in a way I can understand.”

“You won’t understand anyway. Hyungjo probably loved your mother. And he took responsibility. They were together until the end……, they grew old together.”

“What?”

Screech!

He suddenly stopped the car in the middle of the road and glared at me.

It felt as if Hyungjo’s beautiful eyes were glaring at me, and my heart grew heavy. The blaring sound of horns could be heard sporadically from all over.

Hanse paid no mind to such sounds. He continued to glare at me. I subtly avoided his eyes, which looked like they would strike my neck at any moment, and said.

“They’re honking behind us.”

“Who the hell are you to talk about my mother. Are you daring to mock my mother, who loved an empty shell for nearly thirty years?”

“It’s not mockery. Hyungjo never mocked anyone. I’m……, I’m not mocking her either. I was just envious……, envious of the person who spent her life with Hyungjo……. That’s all.”

“…….”

He started the car again.

Envious……. That’s right. Hyungjo and I had loved each other for only a short time, just a few months.

What would have become of us if we’d had that eternity of time Hyungjo leaped over, all that long time? The fire might have burned out as quickly as it had flared up. It was a time that was beautiful because it was short.

Hyungjo’s wife spent long years with Hyungjo and grew old with him. They took responsibility for each other for a long time and grew old together.

Growing old together.

Far from growing old together, I had never even met Hyungjo in reality.

He, who had only been driving while looking ahead, asked in a much lower tone.

“What is it you want to look into?”

“Hyungjo’s friends.”

“……I’d appreciate it if you’d stop saying ‘Hyungjo’. It’s seriously unpleasant to hear. I don’t know what my father was thinking, putting up with your informal speech.”

Well, it’s because we were the same age. Me and the Hyungjo who returned to the 80s were the same age.

Gwijup…….

The more I thought about it, the more unfamiliar and strange the word was.

It was obvious Hanse wouldn’t understand the communion of souls, so I corrected my word choice.

On second thought, Hanse was quite impressive for putting up with and dealing with someone like me.

A young punk casually calling his father by his first name was the kind of disrespect I would never have tolerated if I were in his shoes.

On top of that, hearing things like we were in love……. He must have felt a surge of emotion thinking of his mother more than once or twice. I felt a complex mix of gratitude and apology toward him for willingly handing over the notebook.

“They’re the professor’s friends. The professor asked me to look into them.”

“Did you sleep with my father?”

“…….”

“I’m asking if you had sex with my father.”

“…….”

“My father, and you……, you’re disgusting.”

“We didn’t sleep together.”

“……What? But you clearly.”

He flinched and turned to look at me.

“Nothing like that happened, so don’t worry. We never even met.”

He was staring intently at me, but I pretended not to notice.

We stood under the same sky, in the same space. That was all.

Foolishly, I had turned my back on Hyungjo, who was extending his life even while in a coma as his heart was rotting away.

Because I was scared he wouldn’t love me, that he wouldn’t remember me.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Hyungjo…….

It was when the car was approaching an intersection. Hanse’s cell phone rang loudly. He answered the call.

“Yeah, right. ……What?! Those bastards! Mobilize them with full gear. I’m on my way. For anyone who resists, fire without question. Don’t shoot at people, shoot at the ground. Then they won’t be able to make a peep. Okay.”

As soon as he ended the call, he jerked the steering wheel sharply, even though it wasn’t a U-turn zone. The oncoming cars came to a screeching halt, screech, screeeech, and soon a cacophony of protesting horns erupted, so loud it hurt my ears. When the road didn’t clear quickly, he opened the dashboard in front of me, took out a red emergency light, and attached it to the roof of the car. As the emergency light flashed anxiously, the cars moved out of the way on their own.

“Where are you going?”

“Just sit still.”

He slammed on the accelerator.

The car raced forward at a terrifying speed.

It wasn’t just the speed; he ran red lights, swerved the wheel, dangerously overtook other cars, and ignored the lanes. It was reckless, erratic driving. Unaccustomed to this, I unconsciously gripped the seatbelt with both hands.

The car drove for quite a while before stopping in an alley of an entertainment district, where the lights had not yet come on.

Without a single word, he got out of the car and ran off toward the other end of the alley.

“What the……, Kim Hyungjo, your son is completely insane.”

Staring at his receding back in disbelief, I grabbed my bag and got out of the car. Now that I had my notebook, it seemed best to make a quick getaway.

I paused as I was about to close the car door.

“That idiot.”

I slung my bag over my shoulder and picked up the object lying grotesquely on the car floor. I sighed and slammed the car door shut with a loud bang.

It was pitch-black. A chilling silence hung over the unlit entertainment establishment. I walked cautiously down the dark corridor.

Suddenly, the loud sound of a window shattering came from inside. I tensed up without realizing it, crouching down in the darkness.

As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could make out my surroundings. I looked down into the slightly brighter hall.

I was somewhere on the second floor, and down in the first-floor hall, men were tangled up in a brawl.

Hyungjo’s son, Hanse, was in the middle of it, fighting with them.

I looked down at what I was holding in my hand. It was the gun he had pointed at my forehead at the funeral home. That clumsy son of Hyungjo’s, after blabbering on about being fully armed or whatever, had gone and dropped his gun in the car.

A scene I had only ever seen in movies was unfolding before my eyes. A movie is a movie, but reality is reality. I had never even been in a fistfight, let alone a gang war, and my heart shriveled with fear. If I were down there, I probably would have been trampled into a dried fish fillet by the gangsters’ brutal feet.

With a roar of Waaaaah, the gangsters swarmed in. They charged menacingly, each holding things like baseball bats, wooden planks, and broken beer bottles. I caught sight of Hanse faltering. It seemed the backup he mentioned hadn’t arrived yet.

Curses, screams, Hanse’s urgent shouts of something.

It was chaos unlike any other. A pandemonium that would never stop unless someone ended it. My legs were trembling. Shaking uncontrollably, I gripped the gun.

Just don’t shoot at people.

I raised my arm into the air and pulled the trigger with my finger. The gun was heavy and hard. A chill emanated from the cold metal. Click, click. No matter how many times I pulled the trigger, there was no response. Bewildered, I carefully lowered the heavy gun and examined it closely. The pitch-black body and magazine gleamed.

Do I have to release this thing here?

I switched off the safety and aimed the gun at an empty wall. It was so heavy I had to support it with both hands. Clenching my teeth, I pulled the trigger.

Bang—!

The recoil was immense. A spark flew from the muzzle, and my body was thrown backward. With a crashing sound, one of the electric lights burst.

The noisy pandemonium fell silent in an instant, as if doused with cold water.

“……Aigoo, my back.”

Rubbing my back where I’d hit it falling, I crawled on all fours and picked up the gun I had dropped. My ears were ringing from the gunshot.

Vaguely sensing the chilling silence, I grabbed the railing and stood up. The men, frozen in their fighting stances, were all looking up at me in unison.

Hanse’s face, beyond pale, had turned a shade of blue as he stared at me, aghast. I pointed the gun towards them and said.

“Kim Hyungjo’s son, you left this behind.”

They still didn’t move. It was because my hand was trembling violently as I aimed the gun at the first-floor hall. Every time I shook, their faces grew a little paler.

“Y-You guys, don’t move. Kim Hyungjo’s son, come get this…”

My voice trembled along with my hands. Swallowing dryly, I gestured with my eyes, urging Hanse to come and get it. Only then did Hanse, with a dazed look, stare at me blankly before letting go of someone’s collar and coming up the left staircase.

“Lower the gun! Don’t move! I said don’t move!”

My trembling hand wouldn’t obey me. As I shook, the muzzle also trembled, continuously changing its target. Every time I moved, the men scrambled in a herd to get out of the gun’s path.

Keeping his eyes fixed on me, Hanse held his hands out in front of him.

“Calm down and put the gun down.”

He slowly climbed the stairs and approached me cautiously.

“Kim Hyungjo’s son, are you an idiot? How could you leave this behind?”

My words were firm enough, but my body trembled shamelessly. The chilling sensation of having destroyed something at my fingertips still lingered, sending shivers through my entire body.

Hanse approached with careful steps and hesitated in front of me.

“Put the gun down. It’s all live ammunition. Take your finger off the trigger. I said, take it off.”

“I’m telling you to take it because I can’t!”

“Point it that way. If you can’t take your finger off, at least point it that way!”

I did as he said, turning the gun. Trembling, I moved the muzzle to another part of the hall. The men scrambled to one side to get away.

Hanse carefully came closer and wrapped his hand over mine, which was gripping the gun.

“Ah.”

Only then did a sense of relief wash over me, as if my heart had dropped back into place. I quickly let go of the gun as if I had touched something disgusting. At the same time, the gun slipped past Hanse’s and my hands and fell to the floor.

Sparks flew again. Bang—! A tremendous explosion and vibration were felt. When I came to my senses, Hanse’s chest was covering me. Fortunately, the live round hadn’t hit anyone and had just pierced a hole somewhere in the floor.

Pinned beneath his weight, I looked up at him. His startled eyes scanned me over to see if I was okay, and after confirming that I was fine, he yelled at a volume loud enough to burst my eardrums.

“You crazy bastard! What do you think you’re doing bringing that in here!”

“…You idiot, who told you to leave it behind?”

I muttered while still pinned under him. Hanse ground his teeth and helped me up. My body was still trembling faintly. Hanse picked up the gun from the floor. He aimed the muzzle at the gangsters.

“If you don’t want a hole in your body, get against one wall. Both hands on top of your head and face the wall. If there’s no space, just stand facing the back of the person in front of you. Hey you, I said face the back of the person in front of you and put both hands on your head. Hey, who told you to raise your hands? Put both hands on your head, on top of your own head!”

The thugs grumbled and muttered as they did what he said.

Just as the detectives approached to cuff them, a chorus of Waaaaah was heard as the police stormed in. Hanse let out a low curse at the backup that had appeared so late.

“Prosecutor, don’t you know that firearm incidents are reported to the higher-ups? You’re already on their bad side as it is, Prosecutor. What’s with that kid?”

I was sitting in an ambulance, getting a cut on the back of my hand treated. There was a buzz of activity around me. The day had already turned to dusk, and the lights of the entertainment district were coming on one by one, brightening the area.

It must have been a big incident, as three ambulances were parked in the narrow alley. The flashing lights of the ambulances were even more dazzling than the glittering bar signs, blurring my vision.

It was noisy all around, but I could still hear the conversation between Hanse and his subordinate.

Following the man’s finger pointing at me, Hanse, who was puffing on a cigarette, turned his gaze. Our eyes met. I avoided his gaze, subtly lowering my eyes. Hanse let out a puff of cigarette smoke like a sigh and replied.

“A younger sibling I know.”

A younger sibling I know…?

His father’s lover from a dream. And the lunatic who claims to love him.

Well, that’s probably what he’s thinking…

“Ouch.”

I winced and looked up at the paramedic at the rough touch of a cotton swab scraping away a scab.

Maintaining a blank expression, she agitated the wound with a stinging touch, then applied ointment, placed gauze on top, and put on a bandage.

As soon as the treatment was over, I snatched my hand away from hers as if in defiance. The paramedic paid no mind and slapped my back sharply. She probably thought I was one of the gangsters. At her gesture to scram, I staggered to my feet and picked up my bag.

Hanse threw his cigarette into the gutter and walked over to me.

His face was bruised, and there were bloodstains on his collar. My brow furrowed, as it felt like it was Hyungjo’s face that was hurt.

“Wait, I’ll take you home.”

The man who had been watching me and Hanse suspiciously approached, retorting, “What did you say?” Hanse waved his hand dismissively and patted the man on the shoulder as if annoyed.