World Chapter 5.5

Hanse silently looked at my reddened eyes. His distant gaze made my heart ache for no reason.

He frowned. He deliberately looked away and started the car.

Hanse didn’t even ask what had happened with Heo Seok and gripped the steering wheel like a man whose life depended on driving.

I didn’t want to let him hear the recording. I pressed the button to stop recording and looked ahead.

The car had already arrived at the Central District Prosecutors’ Office.

As soon as Hanse sat down at his desk, he slammed a file down with a thud. At his violent action, everyone in the office, including me, held their breath and watched him cautiously.

Hanse roughly flipped through the file and threw things down. Every time he made a loud noise, I flinched for no reason.

He didn’t ask to listen to the recorder. He seethed, chewing on his lip as if swallowing his anger. Not wanting to get on his raw nerves, I sat next to him as quietly as possible.

Hanse caught his breath for a long time before speaking.

“Section Chief, please give me the file on the Lee Taewan and Ji Sungjoon investigation. Was there anything strange?”

“In a case like this, are there ever just one or two strange things? It’s common for someone to go out after receiving a phone call and be found the next day as a drowned body in the waters off Incheon, and everyone just hushes it up, fabricates evidence, manipulates the media. It’s a frustrating situation only for the families. Some families even pretend they never had a child for fear of being branded as communists.”

“Didn’t you say Ji Sungjoon had no record of subversive group activities? Please check on that.”

“That’s right. Ji Sungjoon’s record was clean, but I’ll look into it again. But why the sudden interest?”

“It’s about Assemblyman Heo Seok. I’m thinking of digging into him.”

“Whaat?!”

The shocked gazes of everyone in the office focused on Hanse all at once.

As if expecting such a dramatic reaction, Hanse grinned, his eyes twinkling.

“Wait, Prosecutor, who did you just say you were going to dig into?”

Lee Jaeho, as if dumbfounded, raised his voice and demanded to know. Hanse, who had been at a loss, filled with his own rage, now seemed to have his boiling anger somewhat soothed by the dramatic reaction, and he looked at Lee Jaeho leisurely as he replied.

“Heo Seok.”

Lee Jaeho laughed. It was a laugh that said, has he lost his mind, what nonsense is he spouting. He chuckled to himself for a while, but when Hanse’s expression didn’t change, he wiped the smile from his face, turned serious, and asked.

“Why?”

Hanse leaned his upper body forward as if telling a very important secret. As Lee Jaeho leaned in, he said quietly, and firmly.

“Because he’s a bad guy.”

Section Chief Kim’s face, and the faces of the other investigators who heard this, crumpled. I stared blankly at Hanse.

“A bad guy? The world is full of bad guys. But Prosecutor, Heo Seok is not one of them. Does he lack money? Does he lack power? And it’s a reputation he built for himself since he was young. How famous was he during the student movement? It’s not like he cheated or harmed anyone, and his family was rich and powerful to begin with, with connections in both the business and political worlds. In short, he’s not someone you should mess with. You know that well. And look at the timing. Why would you stir things up now? What are you going to do if Heo Seok suddenly becomes president?”

Section Chief Kim said, as if reasoning with a child. His tone was like, we’re busy as hell, stop talking nonsense.

Hanse was looking elsewhere, playing dumb. His expression was as if he couldn’t hear a thing. I quietly mulled over what Section Chief Kim had said.

Someone you shouldn’t mess with. The person standing at the pinnacle of capitalism that Taewan used to talk about.

With a bourgeois mentality……, an arrogant person who naturally assumes he is superior to others from birth.

I quietly spoke to Taewan.

That I find you foolish…….

That you should have confessed your love to Ji Sungjoon instead of choosing the movement, that you achieved neither. That besides me, there is no one in this world who remembers you. Why this fact is so sad and painful, every time I think of it, my heart aches with a pricking pain and a corner of my chest feels heavy.

Section Chief Kim continued to speak. It was as if he was scolding the hot-tempered Hanse.

“Honestly, it’s a bit much for me to say this, but……, this is the Organized Crime Investigation Division. Assemblyman Heo is someone you, Prosecutor, can’t even dare to touch. You’d need a special prosecutor’s team and a chief prosecutor to even make it look plausible, and do you think the media would stay quiet? If you mess with him in the wrong way, you’ll be buried, Prosecutor. You’ll get forcibly transferred and tour the remote corners of the country, and when you take off your robes after about ten years, don’t even expect a scout from a law firm. It’ll be hard even to open your own practice. No, it won’t stop there. It’s the end of your life, you understand?”

As he said ‘end of your life’, Section Chief Kim drew a finger across his throat with a swish.

There was nothing funny about it, but Hanse burst into hearty, cheerful laughter at his words.

“Hahahaha.”

“What’s wrong with you. Really, what’s wrong. Please. Please don’t do anything.”

Section Chief Kim pleaded earnestly, as if his insides were burning, begging him not to go any crazier.

“Because he’s a bad guy. You know that well, Section Chief, don’t you? Have you ever seen me bite a good guy?”

“He may not be a good guy, but he’s not a bad guy either. He was born holding wealth and power in both hands and a golden spoon in his mouth, so of course it’s annoying. Do we arrest people just because they’re annoying? And do you know this? That Assemblyman Heo passed the administrative exam at the top of his class? That’s what you call untouchable.”

“So please proceed without anyone knowing.”

“Proceed? What are we proceeding with?”

“Oh, you have Ji Sungjoon’s address, right? Give me that.”

“It was somewhere in Jeonnam……, where is that thing.”

Section Chief Kim rummaged through a complicated pile of files for a long time, then found a memo and handed it to Hanse.

Hanse took the memo and stood up. He picked up his suit jacket and said to me, who was sitting there looking glum.

“Let’s go.”

Lee Jaeho urgently asked Hanse, who was about to go out.

“Are you really going to proceed with this?”

“I’m going on a business trip for a bit. Please contact me immediately if there are any changes.”

Hanse didn’t answer Lee Jaeho’s question, just smiled and left the office. Following behind him, I asked.

“Where are we going?”

“Here.”

Hanse held out the memo with Ji Sungjoon’s address on it to me. I looked at him as if to ask what he was going to do, but he didn’t answer.

The car drove for a long time before stopping at a highway rest area. I really had to pee. I ran to the restroom, relieved myself refreshingly, and came out. Hanse was standing under a tacky rest stop sign, wearing sunglasses and looking up at the sky.

It was out of place. He also looked rough and messy, having unbuttoned his shirt because of the heat. He looked like a work-worn cop I had once seen in a movie.

“All done? I’m hungry, let’s get something to eat.”

We went into the rest stop cafeteria and ordered udon. The highway rest stop on a weekday in the off-season was deserted.

The employees inside the fly-infested rest stop glanced at us, their only customers. The blatant stares bothered me.

It wasn’t particularly directed at me, but at Hanse, but the person in question seemed either obtuse or just didn’t care at all. He, like Hyungjo, had a striking appearance. A handsome face, a tall and lean build, a frame like an athlete.

We took our udon and went out to a vacant table outside. My face hurt, so I ate slowly. Hanse, who had finished his portion long ago and was waiting for me to finish, suddenly held out his hand.

“Whaat?”

I looked up at him. With his eyes hidden by black sunglasses, I couldn’t tell what expression he was making at all.

“The recorder.”

“Ah……”

I handed him the recorder I had hidden under my clothes. He pressed the play button on the metal-colored, micro-recorder. At the sound of Heo Seok’s voice, I unconsciously frowned.

‘Thwack, thwack.’

The cracking sound of him hitting me was stark.

I was grimacing with all my might, but it was impossible to read any expression on Hanse’s face, hidden by the sunglasses. Because I had only stopped the recording long after I had left the building, panting, a meaningless ambient noise continued for a long time.

Stopping the playback, Hanse turned his eyes to me without a word.

I couldn’t read his eyes beyond the sunglasses, and I felt like I was being watched.

I looked back at him uncomfortably. Hanse, who had been sitting there like a still life for a long time, suddenly shot up and bought several cold drinks.

“Let’s get going.”

I followed him back to the car.

“I’m going to go smoke a cigarette.”

I first got into the passenger seat and nodded. Hanse placed a bag of drinks on my lap.

“I’m not thirsty.”

“…….”

He rummaged through the bag, pulled out a cold can of soda, and pressed it against my cheek. Ugh, I flinched for a moment.

“Hold it on the other side, too. Sorry for giving it to you late.”

“……It’s fine now.”

Holding one red soda can in each hand, I brought them to my cheeks. My cheeks, which had been burning up with heat, felt cool.

The hot summer sun was blazing. The inside of the car, where the air conditioner had been running, was cool.

Hanse closed the car door and stood at a distance. I had recently learned that he had a habit of smoking when he got angry. I quietly watched him as he tried his best to cool down.

The car drove for a long time. We took the highway, then a national road, and following the navigation, we arrived at Sungjoon’s hometown only when it was completely dark.

It was a very quiet village located at the end of the peninsula, in South Jeolla Province.

“I’m hungry…….”

“…….”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“I’m looking for a restaurant right now. Stop nagging me.”

Forgetting the purpose of our trip, we wandered around looking for a restaurant. The village was so remote that there wasn’t a single place that could be called a restaurant, and the one small convenience store we finally found had its door locked, the owner nowhere to be seen.

“Hah, do we have to go back to the city?”

It was tiring to turn back, and we were too hungry, exhausted, and drained to just sit down.

Every time I whined that I was hungry, Hanse would scowl. While we were bickering, an old man walked over. Thinking he might be the store owner, I shot up and ran to him.

“Excuse me, are you the owner of this store?”

“What’re you folks doin’ in front of here?”

“We’ve been waiting for so long, grandpa!”

“What’re ya waitin’ for me for?”

“Because I’m hungry!”

I was literally on the verge of starvation. This feeling of my stomach sticking to my back wasn’t unfamiliar.

I was always in this state when I lived with them in that house. My memory of living in that house remained as this hunger.

Rubbing my empty stomach, I whined to the old man that I was starving to death.

The kind-hearted old country man, while grumbling that we were being noisy, took us to his house. Sensing the disruption caused by strangers, a small dog barked fiercely at us.

No matter how much the old man yelled at it to be quiet, the dog circled us, baring its sharp teeth and growling.

It bared its fangs particularly at Hanse more than me, and the sight of Hanse looking so flustered by a puppy that was no bigger than a fist was quite a spectacle.

It was so funny that I giggled, saying it was his punishment for picking on me, and Hanse shot me a glare.

In the countryside house on a summer night, the old man lived with his son and daughter-in-law, and a pair of siblings who looked very healthy with their sun-tanned faces.

“Who are they?”

“Brought ’em ’cause they were cryin’ ’bout being hungry. Go get ’em some food.”

“Dad, really, what do we have to eat in our house? What are we gonna do if you just bring people over like this?”

The middle-aged man, who seemed to be his son, turned his eyes toward us. His gaze, as he scanned us warily, was kind. The face of a farmer, from which you could almost see dirt falling off, that was it.

The fine wrinkles were deeply etched, making him look just like Mr. Kim from my hometown. I suddenly felt at ease.

As I sat on the wide wooden porch, the children peeked their heads out of their room, looking back and forth between Hanse and me.

“Sir, we’re starving to death. We’ll pay for the meal, so could you please give us some food? We skipped dinner and feel like we’re going to collapse.”

As I spoke, pretending to collapse from hunger, the man replied with a vexed expression.

“What’s all this about payin’ for food! Just eat and go. If we’re gonna give it, we just give it, what’s with takin’ money for food. Hey, honey!”

From the kitchen, a voice replied, “What is it?” and the man shouted for her to bring out a warm meal. The sounds they made and the countryside scenery couldn’t have been more comforting. It felt like I had come to my hometown. I beckoned to the children with my hand. The siblings, who had been wary of us, quickly pulled their heads back into the room.

“Did you come from Seoul?”

The old man asked nonchalantly, shooing away a fly with a fan. Just as I was about to answer, Hanse suddenly came over and asked.

“Grandpa, do you happen to know someone named Ji Sungjoon? He’s from this town and went to Seoul to study.”

“Who’s that?”

The middle-aged man, who had been trimming the day’s harvest at a distance, pretending not to listen to our conversation, answered instead.

“Ah, I think he’s talkin’ about that drunkard’s son from the village down there. That son of his, didn’t he brag like crazy that he was attendin’ a university in Seoul. Said he was a painter.”

“That’s right. Do you happen to know him?”

At the man’s response, the old man, as if he finally remembered, opened his mouth with an “Ah.”

“Ah, that place. Of course, I know it. Didn’t that family fall to pieces? The son went missing, and the wife went crazy and hung herself. That wife was a very refined lady who had moved here from Seoul, too. After what happened to her son, she went half-mad. It’s been a few years now, that was. Probably more than thirty years ago, I’d say?”

“Then now……”

“That’s right. The father lives alone, but he’s not in his right mind. He drinks every day and ends up passed out in a rice paddy ditch……. The villagers take turns looking after him, but it’s very different from havin’ family livin’ with you. But why are you lookin’ for him?”

Listening to the old man’s answer, I looked back at Hanse. His expression had also hardened. My heart sank heavily.

Hanse and I ate the meal the lady served us without a single word. Despite the heaviness in my chest, as if it were filled with lead, the rice was miserably delicious. Every time I scooped rice onto my spoon and put it in my mouth, every time the savory taste of the rice grains crumbled and sweetly moistened my tongue, an inexplicable sorrow welled up inside me.

A sense of defiance surged, and I ate even more diligently. For Sungjoon-hyung’s sake, at this very moment, I wanted to eat better and live better than anyone else. The old man, not knowing the circumstances, complimented me on how well I was eating, saying I had a hearty appetite.

By the time we finished our meal, it was already past ten o’clock. As we looked at the time with a troubled expression, the kind-hearted man offered us a place to stay. He said there were no inns nearby, so we should stay the night if we had nowhere else to go, and offered a kindness that was hard to refuse, saying his wife had already prepared the bedding.

After being dragged around all day and worn out, I wanted to wash up quickly and rest. I washed up roughly at the tap in the yard and went into the room, flopping down.

I lay down, covered with a thin blanket, and closed my eyes. The faint smell of earth emanated from the low-ceilinged room.

Earthen walls, an earthen yard, the smell of green grass……. I inhaled the scent until my chest swelled. It was a comfort like being at home in my hometown.

I opened my eyes at the sight of a shadow flickering and blurring my vision. Hanse, having washed up and come in, was standing awkwardly, his head bowed under the low ceiling. It looked like the top of his head would touch the ceiling if he stood up straight.

I rolled over to make room for him, telling him to lie down. Hanse, saying it was still too small, kicked me into the corner. I rolled and rolled until I hit the wall, then rolled back and jabbed my elbow into Hanse’s side. He asked me mockingly, watching me playing well on my own.

“Did you always play like this?”

“Like what.”

“With your father.”

“I play like this because he’s my brother. Don’t you know the professor? We studied and played.”

“By the way, what are you going to do, skipping school like this? Are you okay?”

“It didn’t suit my aptitude anyway.”

“…….”

Lying on my stomach with my chin on a pillow, I looked at Hanse.

Hyungjo’s son, Hyungjo’s face, Hyungjo’s eyes.

Meeting my serious gaze, Hanse suddenly looked around and asked.

“Why are you staring at me so creepily? Is a ghost talking to you? Can you see ghosts?”

“Don’t call him a ghost.”

“…….”

We lay in the silent room, listening to the sounds of the stillness.

The low chirping of insects, the sound of a dog barking, and in response to that bark, the sound of another dog barking at a different pitch, heard from a distance. The conversation of the dogs, exchanging signals among themselves, felt faint and distant.