Midday Guest Chapter 20

He gave a vague excuse and walked away with thumping steps. Cha Seokjoo watched Yiwon drift away diagonally and let out a chuckle. He then wrapped his arm around Yiwon’s shoulders.

“Aren’t you going to walk straight?”

At the distance that had closed in an instant, Yiwon hurriedly pulled his head back and looked up at Cha Seokjoo. Flustered, Yiwon gave an irrelevant answer.

“What… are you doing?”

“The parking lot is this way.”

Cha Seokjoo stopped in front of a black sedan in the outdoor parking lot. It was that very car that had been parked in front of the tea house.

Ma Haeyoung, who was waiting in the driver’s seat, jumped up and came outside. Even when he approached Yiwon, saying, “I’ll handle this, Director,” Cha Seokjoo didn’t budge.

“Get in.”

“…Am I getting in too?”

Am I going to be buried in the back mountain like this? As Yiwon hesitated, Cha Seokjoo spoke with a sharp voice.

“I hate getting hit by rain. Get in, quickly.”

Cha Seokjoo pushed Yiwon’s back with his hand. Losing his balance in an instant, Yiwon scrambled into the back seat as if crawling on all fours. As he slid in and sat in the inner seat, Cha Seokjoo got in after him.

And so, he ended up sitting side-by-side with Cha Seokjoo in the back seat. His heart pounded as if it would explode. Should I just get out if I get the chance? Just in case, he stealthily pulled the door handle of the back seat. It only made a click sound and wouldn’t budge.

The door was locked.

In that moment, a chilling sensation ran down his spine. The air inside the car, where cool air conditioning was flowing, felt cold all of a sudden.

With a natural movement, he turned to look at Cha Seokjoo. He was staring at the door handle Yiwon was holding with a cool gaze.

“What.”

“…Ah, it’s nothing.”

Yiwon abandoned the door handle and placed his hands on his knees.

He had gotten in without much thought because Cha Seokjoo hadn’t shown any great signs of displeasure, but now his chest felt tight. To the point where he couldn’t breathe properly.

“We are departing.”

Ma Haeyoung, having confirmed that the two were seated, drove out of the police station. Cha Seokjoo sat in his seat and brushed off the rainwater from his clothes.

“I don’t know who’s to blame for all this trouble.”

His voice sounded more like a complaint than anger. Thinking that nothing dire was going to happen immediately, Yiwon gathered his courage and decided to take a moment to make an excuse.

“…Detective Kwon Changil requested the guest ledger, so I had no choice.”

“I’m especially disappointed about that part.”

“I gave you an alibi, didn’t I?”

“Giving the disease and then the medicine? And I was the one who requested that first anyway.”

Those pitch-black pupils watched Yiwon. Whether he was joking or looking into something, he reached out his hand.

“What is this on your face?”

This time, I might really get hit.

At that thought, Yiwon’s shoulders rose high. In the moment he shrunk back and pulled away, Cha Seokjoo pulled something off Yiwon’s forehead.

When he rubbed the same spot, a piece of tissue came away. It seemed it had stuck there while he was wiping off rainwater with the tissue Detective Kwon Changil had given him.

“Why are you so surprised? I was just trying to take it off because it looked like something was stuck there.”

“…Ah.”

“Good grief.”

The atmosphere changed with a smirk that leaked out as if he found it absurd. After that, silence followed.

Yiwon rolled the tissue that had come off his fingertips into a ball. Since there seemed to be nowhere to throw it away in Cha Seokjoo’s car, he put it in his pocket and leaned his body against the seat.

Looking back at him, the man was making an unreadable expression.

“…Fine.”

Cha Seokjoo, muttering to himself, leaned deep into the seat.

The sound of rain falling rang out fiercely. The speed of the wipers sweeping away the rainwater felt fast enough to be dizzying. While quietly following the movement with his eyes, Cha Seokjoo opened his lips.

“Why did Kwon Changil call you?”

Cha Seokjoo called the detective’s name quite casually. Hearing it, Yiwon even ruminated on Detective Kwon Changil’s name again, feeling confused as if they were close acquaintances.

“He took a statement.”

“What statement.”

“The mill owner—it wasn’t suicide.”

“How do you know that?”

Cha Seokjoo sent him an interested look.

“Someone cleaned up the mill and left. The owner has a certain way of arranging items, and the culprit didn’t seem to grasp that.”

“Is your dream to be a detective?”

“It was when I was young.”

On the day he saw debt collectors come and turn the house into a mess while harassing his parents, Yiwon had thought he should become a detective when he grew up. He wasn’t one now, though.

“You have a talent for it. So. You found a point of interest too?”

“I have a hunch… but I didn’t tell the detective.”

“Kwon Changil would grab the back of his neck if he heard that. Why didn’t you tell him?”

“Because it’s a guess. If the detective finds clues, he’ll figure it out. If he doesn’t say anything, it means I was wrong… so there was simply no need to tell him.”

Cha Seokjoo asked back slowly.

“Interesting. So, what do you think the cause of the mill owner’s death was?”

“Mobile games.”

By then, Ma Haeyoung, who had been silently holding the steering wheel, was waiting for Yiwon’s explanation to continue through the rearview mirror.

“Games?”

“I saw him receiving cash services from a mobile poker game.”

“Illegal loans, then.”

It was only after saying that much that he realized his mistake. He had spoken too much about something he didn’t even know was true or not. From then on, Yiwon kept his lips pressed together and didn’t share any more stories. For a small, weak nation, the way to survive was through good politics.

“Do the village people play a lot of poker?”

“…I don’t know much about that.”

“A guy who was chatting away just a moment ago suddenly doesn’t know?”

“I really don’t know.”

“I’m confused whether you have no fear, or if you do.”

Cha Seokjoo turned his body toward Yiwon and stared at him openly. He couldn’t meet his eyes, yet he couldn’t keep looking away either. His face grew red at the blatant gaze.

“…It’s not that I have none.”

Cha Seokjoo let out a chuckle at the quietly followed sound.

“Haeyoung.”

“Yes, Director.”

“Contact Seungkwon and tell him to look into what he just said.”

“Understood.”

Before they knew it, the car was in front of Haeundang. It had taken thirty minutes by bus, but on the way back, it was a ten-minute trip.

“Get out.”

“… .”

Did I speak too bluntly? Worried that he had drawn too clear a line, Yiwon asked Cha Seokjoo.

“Aren’t you going in?”

“I’m going to work.”

“At this time of night?”

“Yeah. Thanks to you, I remembered something I have to do. I’m busy, so get out quickly.”

Yiwon blinked. He unfastened his seatbelt with slow movements and stepped outside. Even though he took out and opened his umbrella, the car remained in the same spot.

Hesitating, Yiwon knocked on the back seat window.

Slid, the back seat window went down.

“What.”

“About me handing over the guest ledger to the detective.”

Cha Seokjoo watched Yiwon with an expressionless face. As if telling him to go ahead and continue. Yiwon pulled his heavy lips apart and finally managed to continue.

“…I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“I know.”

He then laughed, saying, “If it had been a planned act, you wouldn’t have been able to walk back on your two feet.” The followed explanation sounded so sincere that goosebumps rose on Yiwon’s limbs.

Cha Seokjoo tilted his head and looked at Yiwon. Suddenly, his complexion had changed. Having completely erased his expression in the darkness, he gestured with his finger toward Yiwon.

“Come closer.”

Yiwon approached slowly. Cha Seokjoo didn’t yell or use his fists, but for some reason, he was scarier than Kim Sunwoo.

“I’ll let it slide once.”

“… .”

“But I won’t overlook it a second time.”

“… .”

“Got it?”

His lips wouldn’t move. Instead of answering with a sound, Yiwon nodded his head. As he took a step back, Cha Seokjoo gave a smirk and gestured toward Haeundang with his chin.

“Go. Close the door well and sleep.”

“… .”

“Did you not hear me?”

“…I heard you.”

“I’m off.”

Those black pupils watched Yiwon. Tilting his head as he scanned the surroundings once, he was hidden and disappeared by the back seat window rolling back up.

Patter, patter. Summer rain poured down heavily over the umbrella of the lone Yiwon.

Cha Seokjoo had driven down the highway from Seoul to Yonggung-ri and engaged in an unscheduled police investigation. It was bothersome enough just traveling between the Cheongun Construction headquarters and the site, but to have annoying business like this stick to him as well. He was feeling strangely out of sorts.

“Where shall I take you?”

“Go to the office.”

After taking a few breaths of the Yonggung-ri countryside air, he was back downtown. Ma Haeyoung stopped the car in front of an old building located on a corner downtown. Cha Seokjoo got out of the car immediately.

“Good evening, Director!”

“Yeah, hey.”

Late at night, the employees who were smoking on the street recognized Cha Seokjoo and bowed their waists. When the employees scrambled to put out their cigarettes, Cha Seokjoo waved his hand.

“It’s fine. Smoke and rest comfortably.”

“Thank you, Director!”

“Take it easy.”

“Sorry, I will correct it!”

“You’re doing it more.”

Leaving the bulky employees behind, he entered the building. He climbed the old terrazzo stairs in silence. Ma Haeyoung, following behind, sped up and opened the iron door on the second floor. With a creak, a sound that scraped the ears, the interior was revealed.