CH 14.3

The time was past 5:25 in the morning. Kang Giha completed the 12-hour investigation. In the dark interrogation room, Detective Park and he faced each other alone.

“Well, since we know each other well you can just write it sincerely. Reports have been received, so we understand you couldn’t sit still.”

The detective laughed with his teeth showing. The gold watch he was wearing, his car, and even his children’s school expenses were Kang Giha’s contributions. This degree of convenience was of course natural, but they always twisted this degree of flattery. Kang Giha was returned the confiscated belongings and left the interrogation room. He left the remote control to his subordinate just in case anything happened. On the way to the exit, a picture of a wanted criminal on the wall caught his eye. There was also the 14-year-old Cocaine. Detective Park, who followed, said.

“Oh, he was famous for the Christmas murders 10 years ago. About 10 people in that poor village got their skulls ruptured by blunt blows, maybe? It was so bizarre and I was in charge of it, so I still remember it vividly.”

“How come so many people at once…”

“It must have been due to a grudge. I heard the rumor that their family’s mother was so dirty. She acted like some sort of pseudo-religious leader, deceiving the villagers and extorting money. On the day of the incident, the woman also died instantly from a skull rupture, and her junior high school son went missing. He was put on the list of suspects initially, but how could a middle school student have killed so many people at once? His brother was most likely, but his alibi was so solid that he was excluded from the list of suspects. I hope the statute of limitations passes quickly. It’s just a headache.”

Detective Park spat out phlegm and bit a cigarette. Kang Giha decided to take his chance.

“But I don’t understand how so many people died at once. You could run away when the killer is killing someone else.”

“It turned out that those people tested positive for drugs. Maybe that day they were doing meth as a group. That’s why they couldn’t run away.”

“I see. If there were eyewitnesses, the investigation would have progressed…”

Inwardly, Kang Giha sneered. The policeman wouldn’t even be able to dream of a 14-year-old kid screaming to others’ deaths. It was not surprising that the drug substances were found in the people, as it was well known from his father’s data that it happened to people who heard a healer’s song. Detective Park, however, said something unexpected.

“Anyway, it was Christmas, so it was busy, and I thought there were no witnesses, but a local resident saw someone popping out of the house.”

“Who is it?”

Kang Giha became nervous, wondering if that person might have witnessed himself or Imsoo. It would be difficult if he was caught up with accusations of being the murderer.

“The eyewitness said the boy had been screaming for a while, and then a man came out of the house? There was a street and it was so dark they couldn’t see his face, but his gait was strange… Anyway, after that, strange men came and went one after another. But why are you interested in an incident 10 years ago? From what you said earlier, you seem to know some things…”

Detective Park wiped his chin with a questionable look.

“Isn’t it famous since it was such a bizarre incident? And since Detective Park was in charge of it, I was interested. Anyway, I will be leaving.”

Kang Giha answered leisurely and left the police station.

The morning moon hung over the top of the mountain. Imsoo ran from somewhere. He quickly took out a cigarette and lit it. He was also investigated all night, so there were dark circles under his eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“They just wrote a few notes. By the way, I have to figure out which bastard keeps reporting it this time around.”

As Imsoo opened the door, Kang Giha sat down in the back seat and said.

“By the way, didn’t you notice anything off when you went to Cocaine’s house on Christmas Day 10 years ago?”

Imsoo sat at the steering wheel and recalled his memory. The memories of that day still lingered in shock and astonishment.

“When I heard from Yaba and went back to Cocaine’s house, all the lights were off. Inside the house, people were dead with their heads broken, and in the midst of it, Cocaine was dazed. It’s just like what I said back then.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. But why are you asking all of a sudden?”

Giha looked out the window without saying a word. Who the hell was the one who popped out then? Through the window that was scratched by rainwater, the edge of the village could be seen from afar. On that day ten years ago, two doctors who were trying to perform a castration operation in a warehouse now used for corporal punishment died of ruptured skulls. It was all the work of Cocaine. At that time, Imsoo lost one of his ears, and he almost went blind himself. The bodies of the doctors were buried in a nearby hillside.

There was still plenty of the statute of limitations left. That’s how much time left to restrain Cocaine. The car started off smoothly with the sound of starting engine. Imsoo spoke as he was leaving the police station parking lot.

“Sir, I have some bad news.”

———

“We were doing an inspection of the kids’ belongings… But the eunuch cubs turned against us and came at us… Hashish that bastard was trying to grab Moongchi by the throat. Moongchi is now in critical condition…”

“…”

“It must have been one of the eunuchs who contacted the police station! Take this opportunity to find out and pull the root out… !”

Large men are lined up by the door of the boss’s office. The longer Kang Giha’s silence grew, the more gibberish they spoke. Kang Giha leaned back on the back of the office sofa and fiddled with the remote control. The remote control is lined with small buttons. The number of Methadone who was unfairly blown off was number 5. Number 6 right next to it belonged to Yaba.

If his fingers slipped and pressed the wrong thing, that guy’s head might have been blown off. A chill spread down his back. It was an embarrassing fear in itself. Kang Giha put the remote control in his inner pocket. As soon as the hand came out of the inner pocket, the veins in Kang Giha’s eyes popped out.

“Therefore. You pressed the remote and the wrong guy’s head flew away?”

“Ha, but those bastards…”

Before he could finish his words, his jaw turned. Kang Giha punched his stomach and did a heavy blow to his knees without a break. The man staggered with a suffocating sound at the heavy punches. He pierced his fist into the other’s throat and broke his tooth. Kang Giha’s blood boiled out of control. He stepped on the man’s guts stretched out on the floor and hurled a piece of pottery to his head. Blood splattered along with the noisy fragments. Kang Giha stepped on the man’s sprawled arm with his shoe. The subordinate exclaimed.

“Ugh… ! I’m s- sorry… Arghh… !”

“I must have told you clearly, but don’t press it recklessly. The only time you need to press the remote is when they run to a place we can’t catch. If they’re within range, it’s your job to chase after them to the end. You were scared and pressed it because you barely got hit by a few cotton fists?!”

“Sorry, I’m sorry… Urgh… !!”

Kang Giha grabbed his subordinate’s hair and raised him up, and threw his fists at him. The underling who lost his teeth vomited blood and passed out. And Kang Giha moved to the next, and then another. For quite some time there were the sharp sounds of blunt fricatives and broken bones. By the time he cleared his mind, his office desk and sofa were a mess, and the sound of his subordinates’ groaning abounded. Kang Giha took a rough breath and smoked a cigarette. He said to Imsoo, who was standing still.

“Bury these bastards in the right place. Gather the rest of the bastards and tell them to prepare themselves.”

“Yes.”

“Singers…”

“I’ll do that on my own.”

Imsoo looked around the smashed expensive pottery and ragged men. And he gave a blunt gaze to the back of Kang Giha, who disappeared into the corner of the hallway.

———

It was chilly in the morning when the sun hadn’t yet risen. As if to prove the time of pleasure of the previous night, there were bottles of alcohol and vomit all over the street. Yaba’s unstable footsteps echoed through the alley. His whole body ached as if he had been beaten. Seeing that his own head had not yet been blown away, it seemed that the Giha had not been released.

From the moment he escaped from the dorm, he knew that there was only one place to return to. Whether he followed Methadone or went to hell on his own was one thing. A cold energy penetrated Yaba’s flesh. He borrowed Cha Yiseok’s shoes and wore them. He also took out 20,000 won from his wallet. The treacherous thing was well placed in the vegetable box in the refrigerator.

He almost took a taxi on the way home, but realizing how stupid he was, he boarded the bus. In a recession like these days, six out of ten were probably taxi robbers. They would make him pay 200 million won for the debt of the entertainment expenses. He had no family to help raise the money, and Cocaine or Giha would never help him. He would ask Cha Yiseok, but he didn’t even know his phone number, so it was impossible.

In the end, an angry taxi robber would chop up Yaba’s limbs and throw him in the trunk. He would then be buried in the wild after traveling around the country, and if lucky, he might be found by hikers. However, since his legs and fingers were cut and left in the trunk, he wouldn’t be able to close his eyes comfortably even in death. Buses also had the risk of pickpockets and accidents, but that was better than being mutilated and buried.

Eventually he arrived at the dorm. When he looked up on the third floor, the lights were off. The building with cracked walls and tangled high-voltage wires was dizzying once again. Escape itself was not difficult. The location tracking system was in the boss’s office, so the time when he was caught would be delayed. Cocaine must have noticed by now that Yaba had escaped. If he informed Kang Giha, Yaba could understand. He would have done it without hesitation.

Yaba pondered whether it would be better to die from a fall while climbing up there, or whether it would be better to get hit by one of the thugs while entering the front door. After much deliberation, he decided to take the risk of falling. He went up the stairs to the apartment, then stepped out of the window and climbed onto a handrail the size of his hand. His room was visible straight ahead.

One step at a time, he got closer to the window leading to the bathroom. He grabbed the window sill and kicked his legs up. He groaned and took a step forward and crumpled his gigantic body through the window. He lifted his toes and landed. The missing tile floor groaned. He thought about taking a shower while he was in the bathroom, but he just wanted to lie down, so he opened the door and went out.

At that moment, Yaba’s heart almost dropped. Because at dawn, in the blue-lit room, Cocaine was standing in front of the bathroom door. Cocaine opened and closed his mouth, as if in bewilderment. And then,

“Alright. Where have you been?”

A dark figure was sitting on Yaba’s bed and smoking. It was Kang Giha. He thought that Kang Giha was still being held at the police station because his head didn’t explode. The thoughts of why he didn’t press the remote control button, why he was here at this hour with a tired look on his face, were entangled in the bloody air. At that moment, Kang Giha got up and slowly narrowed the distance. Red cigarette light fell from the cigarette in the blueish darkness. Kang Giha’s eyes lit up and disappeared. Something dropped from Yaba. It was unknown whether it was his heart or his head