Track 12. The Masquerade is over
Kyung Jiho heard the breathing becoming ragged on the other end of the receiver.
It would be a lie to say he could understand how the guy was feeling right now. He couldn’t possibly gauge the extent of his shock.
If possible, he wanted to tell him in person. He wanted to speak slowly while considering the guy’s feelings. This was the kind of thing that would be enough to make a normal person collapse from shock. He wanted to speak in a situation where he could support the guy’s body if he collapsed. If possible, that’s what he would have preferred. But he couldn’t. Now that he knew the truth, every hour, every minute was urgent. It was a matter that couldn’t be delayed.
“Ji Geun-yeong, listen carefully. You can, unconditionally, get out of that house. I’ll help you get out. It’s not difficult. But about the method, it’s not me but you who has to make the choice.”
It was quiet on the other end of the line. Not even breathing could be heard. It was frustrating not being able to see the guy’s situation. He wondered if he might have grabbed scissors or a knife and rushed off somewhere. That’s what he would have done if it were him. Of course, that guy didn’t seem like the type to do that. But you never know. It was the kind of situation where it wouldn’t be strange at all if someone who didn’t seem the type went crazy and lashed out.
“Ji Geun-yeong. If you’re okay, if you’re listening to what I’m saying, just tap the desk once.”
After about three seconds of silence, there was a sound: tap. It was small and trembling, but he had tapped the desk.
“Good. Well done.”
He genuinely praised the guy who was trying his best to stay calm. Kyung Jiho wondered what he was doing right now. Where he was taking the call while avoiding the cameras. If he was sitting at a desk or table, or lying on the bed with a blanket over his head, or crouching hidden on the floor. He wondered what exactly the guy was tapping with his finger.
Above all, he wanted to see what face, what expression he was making. He wanted to hold the shoulders of the guy who was barely keeping himself from falling apart. He wanted to help him endure. He wanted to help him hold on. If someone needed to embrace him so that he could endure and hold on, if it didn’t matter who it was, he wanted to be the one to embrace the guy.
Kyung Jiho looked beyond the plate glass window. Glaring at the buildings visible beyond the wall that was hiding humans who were glossy on the outside but rotting inside, he said:
“If you want to rip out whatever’s attached to your stomach right now and leave immediately, I can help you do that. That’s also an option.”
All Ji Geun-yeong had to do was walk out on his own two feet and file a complaint. There was a victim, a witness, and evidence. The substance analysis of the contents of the syringe and the recording he’d made when they met last time would be enough to indict Ji Seokhun.
“But if we do that, we might not be able to properly punish Ji Seokhun. It creates a loophole for him to escape.”
If Ji Seokhun received a complaint for abuse and assault charges, eliminated all the evidence piled up in his house, and then denied the criminal allegations to the end, the trial could drag on. He might consistently deny everything and even try to paint Ji Geun-yeong as someone with pseudologia fantastica or paranoid delusions. He might even counter-sue for false accusations or defamation. He probably would. Just from what he’d done so far, it was clear enough what kind of garbage human being Ji Geun-yeong was up against.
“The trial would drag on, and I can’t guarantee a definite win. If Ji Seokhun happens to know someone in the prosecution, it would become even more drawn out. If a higher-up in the prosecution who received his request orders a dismissal, the case would be closed before it even begins.”
Kyung Jiho concentrated on the sounds coming through the receiver. There were irregular noises, definitely not loud, but they weren’t sounds from which he could predict or imagine anything. What he wanted to hear right now was the guy’s current state of mind expressed in his own voice, but he couldn’t even hear his breathing.
He tried to think about how the guy listening to his words might feel. Having lived for a full 18 years—in a manner of speaking, worse than Pavlov’s dog—how would he feel hearing that the person who had made him that way might not be properly punished? He thought about it.
If it were him, he probably couldn’t have just sat there breathing. He would have gone mad. He would have snapped and grabbed Ji Seokhun by the throat and gone berserk.
While understanding the guy’s feelings, which were enough to drive him insane, there was a reason he was telling him about such a worthless situation. It was to prevent that from happening. It was to ensure that bastard would be properly punished. It was to persuade the guy to prevent that outcome.
“Of course, there’s another way. With this method, we can catch Ji Seokhun without any loopholes and make sure he’s punished for certain.”
Tap.
Even before the echo of Kyung Jiho’s last words had faded, there was a hurried tapping sound. It meant he wanted punishment. Deep anger could be felt in that sound. Kyung Jiho felt sorry that he could only describe Ji Geun-yeong’s current emotions as “deep anger.” Even that expression seemed too light. So, he proposed the second option, which was definitely not an easy one.
“If you’re okay with it, if you can endure just a little longer, don’t remove the device right now. There are surveillance cameras in your room, right? Make sure they capture Ji Seokhun personally replacing the insulin. And if you create a situation where you’re being assaulted by that bastard and report it, we can make an emergency arrest without a complaint. Then he’ll be detained immediately without any chance to destroy evidence. With that level of evidence, he couldn’t escape even if the Prosecutor General personally intervened.”
Tap.
It was more urgent than before. It meant he would do it that way. But Kyung Jiho didn’t immediately agree. Having left the decision to the guy, there was something he needed to explain clearly.
“But, Ji Geun-yeong. In the case of an emergency arrest, we can’t keep the reporters hanging around the police station away. It means it will spread throughout society. Ji Seokhun’s downfall is a given, of course, but you might also have to give up on university.”
Just saying the words “give up on university” made Kyung Jiho’s insides burn.
Fuck, with just one year left.
It was such a waste. That made him angry. Keeping in check the emotions that felt like they might spill over in curses, he continued with what he needed to tell the guy.
“Of course, you’re the victim, but there are prejudices about people who have been victimized for a long time. That’s the kind of world we live in. It will follow you like a tag wherever you go. Even if you try to complete your studies and get a job at a hospital in the future, it won’t be easy. You need to be prepared for that.”
This was also why he hadn’t immediately requested an internal investigation when he found out the insulin was actually saline solution, and instead sought to contact Ji Geun-yeong first. He thought it was a decision Ji Geun-yeong had to make.
Right now, Kyung Jiho thought it was fortunate that he didn’t know Ji Geun-yeong well. He thought it was fortunate that because he didn’t know everything about the guy, he was leaving the decision to him instead of making it for him. He might have made a cowardly choice. He probably would have.
“What do you want to do?”
He had explained all the options. Kyung Jiho waited for a moment. And inwardly, he expected the guy to choose option 2. Because he was the kind of guy who didn’t care about university, home, clothes, and was okay as long as there was a cucumber with his rice. And even if he chose option 1, he was waiting with the thought that he wouldn’t blame the guy.
Tap.
There was one tap. And then,
Tap.
There was a second tap. There was no sense of hesitation at all. The guy had decisively chosen option 2.
The guy wanted Ji Seokhun to be properly punished, even if it meant giving up everything he had. Kyung Jiho smiled faintly. He liked the guy’s choice. Though they’d only known each other for a few days, it seemed he had sized him up correctly.
“I understand your decision.”
When he answered like this, Kyung Jiho thought he had a complete grasp of Ji Geun-yeong’s current situation. He thought it was just a vicious fraud that abused authority and knowledge, an unbelievable human experiment, and within that, violent obsession and surveillance.
Even knowing only that much, his anger was unspeakable. He wasn’t even a dog bought with money, and it was quite difficult to suppress the urge to drag out and beat the guy who had done such things to a human being. Even now, having barely calmed down and explaining the options to Ji Geun-yeong, he couldn’t be perfectly cool-headed. He knew that the power of his words was biased to one side and was subtly pressuring Ji Geun-yeong’s choice.
“Call when the situation is ready.”
Kyung Jiho didn’t know. He didn’t know what Ji Geun-yeong was going through with Ji Seokhun. He didn’t know what kind of situation the “prepared situation” he had told Ji Geun-yeong about, asked him to create, would be.
“I’ll be waiting, making sure that if you call from that phone, it will definitely come to me.”
If he had properly known Ji Geun-yeong’s situation, Kyung Jiho would have chosen the first option. Regardless of complaints or whatever, he would have rushed in and pulled the guy out immediately. After getting Ji Geun-yeong out, he would have pursued it by any means necessary. He would have chosen the direction of a protracted battle that could take ten or twenty years, rather than the method that was only easy and certain for himself—arresting at the scene. He would have rather done that.
“You’re braver than I thought.”
He didn’t know it was a matter of life and death for the guy. He thought it was just a matter of having courage or not. So Kyung Jiho made the rash mistake of praising the courage of the guy who had lived because he couldn’t die and had to run away because he couldn’t bring himself to kill.
The current Kyung Jiho didn’t know that he would deeply regret having rashly left the choice to the guy himself.
* * *
Jiho returned straight to the office and headed directly to the team leader like a racehorse with blinders on. Seeing the guy approaching combatively with eyes like knives, the team leader unconsciously had to inch his chair back.
Having crossed the large office in just five or six steps, the man slammed both hands down on the team leader’s desk with a bang and said:
“Hyung!”
Under normal circumstances, he would have called him “Team Leader,” but right now was the time to call him “hyung.” This meant: I need to ask a favor that ignores established procedures, so please accept it unconditionally for the sake of your junior colleague who’s worked with you for a long time.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
