Kyung Jiho spoke to the team leader who was contemplating what to do. He said he would take the guy to his house. He would keep him there and get the victim’s statement.
Ah, thank you, the team leader nodded emphatically and said he would mark him as working in the field for two days, so keep a close eye on the unstable guy.
Kyung Jiho, who was already planning to take a couple of days off, nodded while being careful not to let his satisfied expression show.
On the way home. While driving on Olympic Boulevard, Geun-yeong kept his gaze out the car window. He looked at the black river. He just looked, without any thoughts, without any emotions. The river was no longer frightening. But it wasn’t beautiful either. It was just water that was black in color.
The moment he realized he liked him, he simultaneously understood that he couldn’t like that man. The rope he had grabbed anew after letting go of the old, faded one turned out not to reach the sky after all. There was nothing left to hold onto and endure. He had no fear of death, nor any desire for life. Geun-yeong was now much more dangerous than he had been before meeting the man, when he was dependent on just a single fairy tale book.
The man who was driving occasionally followed the gaze of the guy who remained silent throughout. He tried to understand what the guy was thinking by looking at what he was looking at.
But he couldn’t figure it out at all.
Kyung Jiho thought the reason the guy was acting like a hollow log was due to the shock from the traumatic truth and the rapidly changed situation. He thought it would get better with time. He desperately wanted it to be so.
He missed the gaze that used to follow him. He wanted to see again how the guy would startle with his whole body like a deer with rabbit eyes. He wanted to see the serious face when he neatly wrapped his rice wraps. He also wanted to see that face when he pressed his lips together, raising the corners of his mouth while listening intently to what he said. He missed the guy’s voice, how he would avoid eye contact but eventually say what he wanted to say. He wished the guy would get better soon.
Kyung Jiho put more strength into his foot on the accelerator. Even though it wouldn’t make time go faster, he hurried on the way home. He did so knowing it was pointless. It was all he could do at the moment.
* * *
[A star doctor known as a diabetes specialist, Mr. Ji, has been indicted on charges of special intimidation and assault. The prosecution, who indicted Mr. Ji, revealed that the 6-year-old child he diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and adopted 18 years ago did not actually have diabetes, and that he had used insulin as a weapon, which could potentially be life-threatening, to commit habitual assault since childhood. Additionally, the prosecution took a firm stance, stating that if the victim’s testimony that insulin was injected to induce hypoglycemic shock is proven true, attempted murder charges would be added as well.]
On a weekday morning, there was only one patient waiting inside the quiet clinic. The man with a temporary gauze flapping on his wounded chin was focused on the TV news with his arms crossed.
[Meanwhile, when asked whether sexual assault was included in the abuse inflicted since childhood, the prosecution took an ambiguous stance, declining to answer and stating that they would not disclose this to the media for the sake of victim protection, which has led to a flood of speculative articles. If, as speculated by major media outlets, sexual assault continued from the victim’s minor years, charges of special rape and child/adolescent rape would be added, and in that case, crime experts predict the prison term would become even heavier.]
“What the hell? Damn? Saying they won’t disclose it for victim protection basically means it’s true. This is just, Panggu, this is the end of the world. The end of the world. Ugh. Creepy. Hey! Why are you changing it! I was watching! …sir.”
The man who had to attach a servile honorific after speaking rudely had to close his mouth, suppressed by the aura emanating from the pink giant of a man who was glaring at him while holding the remote control. Then he began to moan, clutching his torn chin that he hadn’t cared about until now, saying “ouch, ouch.”
Bong Tae-gu didn’t care whether the man who had torn his chin not from a punch in a drunken fight but from tripping over a rock and falling face-first, was moaning or not. He picked up his phone again to continue writing the message he had been composing.
[Come out when you feel better. I’m keeping your spot open. Dr. Baek is waiting too.]
After pressing the send button and dropping his hand holding the phone onto the desk with a thud, the man had to sigh deeply. The news that he had suffered terrible abuse and sexual assault from his adoptive father had hit the broadcast news. He would have to give up his school, the people he knew before, all his friends. He told him to come out when he felt better, but he wondered if that would ever be possible.
In truth, he wanted to visit him. He wanted to see his face and comfort him. He called Detective Kyung and said he would visit with Professor Baek Moonjong, but the response that came after a long while was a rejection. Detective Kyung sighed deeply and said that it would be difficult to see him right now, that he was sorry, that Geun-yeong had said so.
Sorry? For what?
Even in this situation, he could easily imagine the guy who would speak so politely. That made it all the more heartbreaking.
Nurse Bong picked up the phone he had put down again.
He still wanted to make him feel better. He wanted to let the guy who spoke properly and politely, who neatly wrapped his rice wraps, who seemed to be holding everything in by himself even in this situation instead of being rough, know that a friend who didn’t care at all about such matters was waiting for him.
[Geun-yeong, Fighting♡]
So he kept sending messages.
* * *
[Currently detained and indicted, Mr. Ji had previously denied all charges during police questioning. While there is clear physical evidence of intimidation and assault, Mr. Ji, who has hired an attorney, dismissed all allegations, saying he would reveal everything through his attorney. A representative from the law firm representing Mr. Ji stated that the victim adopted by Mr. Ji had mental issues, and that a significant portion of the charges against Mr. Ji occurred during the process of treating and resolving the victim’s psychiatric problems.]
It was a day with severe fine dust. Despite being midday, the sky was hazily overcast, and the house with its curtains undrawn was as dark as late evening.
With the bathroom door wide open, the man lying in the half-filled bathtub listening to the TV sound had no particular expression on his face. With an emotionless face, he was thinking, did I have psychiatric problems?
He could also hear the sound of his phone vibrating on the table. It would either be Detective Kyung asking about his meals, or a message of encouragement from Nurse Bong.
Meals were irrelevant in this situation. So he hadn’t eaten anything from morning until now. And as for encouragement, he didn’t really want any. He wondered what was the point of unnecessarily trying to be strong. There was nothing to do anyway. So he didn’t check the messages.
To ensure there was no way to escape, he had sex in front of cameras that everyone, including Detective Kyung, would see. But now that man seemed to be looking for a way out. He was looking for that escape route in his own mind. It would be natural to be angry, but somehow he felt nothing. Whatever. It didn’t matter.
Watching the shadows change on the unlit bathroom ceiling, Geun-yeong raised one hand and lowered it. He spread his knees. Reaching his arm further, he touched below his genitals.
The man who had looked at, touched, and probed this place with his bare eyes had said it had become tattered. That it had become a useless rag. Geun-yeong felt around with his fingertips and then pushed a little inside. It really did seem tattered. It felt like a limp rag torn from overuse. If it felt like this, it must look even more hideous to see. It must be nauseatingly disgusting.
In fact, he was curious if it was really as much of a mess as it felt to his fingers. He was curious, but he didn’t have the courage to look at it in a mirror. The feeling on his hand was disgusting enough; there was no need to confirm it visually and intensify his self-loathing. He was already sufficiently disgusted with himself from time to time, unbearably so.
His phone was vibrating again on the table. He wasn’t curious about it.
* * *
[This afternoon at two o’clock, the first trial was held based on the content of CCTV installed in the victim’s room. When asked about the reason for installing CCTV, Mr. Ji answered that it was for the protection of the victim who had mental issues, but completely denied the fact of sexual assault since the victim’s minor years. He also claimed that the relationship was consensual, initiated by the victim who had dependent tendencies. The court seemed to lend weight to the defendant’s argument, stating that reasonable doubt was possible regarding whether the relationship was consensual, as the victim did not show any signs of refusal or resistance in the video evidence presented by the prosecution, according to one observer who watched the trial.]
In the dark living room, there was only the TV with its volume turned up.
[The prosecution expressed incomprehension that the defendant’s claim of being forced to make false statements by police who approached under false identities was accepted, and particularly that the court, which took a firm stance on recorded statements throughout the trial, focused only on the video rather than the recorded content of the CCTV, and thus important statements captured in the video were not accepted, expressing discomfort about the delayed sentencing.]
Like public opinion swayed by reports from powerful institutions, the TV shadow on the floor constantly changed its form.
[On the other hand, the defense attorney claimed that the victim suffered from ‘Munchausen syndrome,’ where despite having no physical abnormalities, they lied about being ill or self-harmed just to get attention. They mentioned that all the current circumstances were also created according to the victim’s plan, and if this fact is proven, they are looking at a situation of counter-suing for false accusation or defamation, adding that they would detail this in the second trial, showing confidence in winning-]
The man who opened the front door and entered turned off the TV that was talking to itself first. To a man who was encountering situations three steps ahead of the news that was three steps behind, it was nothing more than noise, neither more nor less.
It was an inescapable situation. The cub placed in a sealed tank began to put on a show for the spectators. He had started a media play riddled with lies. The purpose of the show started by the man who had already lost everything was only one. Ji Geun-yeong. It was to drag that guy into the sealed tank.
He’s not a water ghost. Damn it.
After finishing the first trial, which had many suspicious aspects regarding the judge’s attitude, the man had to meet with the prosecutor in charge. When he returned to the room to check on the person he had to leave alone briefly, he found no one there. Standing in front of the bathroom, he put his hands on his waist.
“Fuck…”
Swallowing the curse deep in his throat, he entered the bathroom.
He grabbed the arm of the guy who had been staring blankly at the ceiling and was now turning his head. As expected, the water was cold, and his lips, still covered with black scabs that hadn’t fallen off, were blue. The arm grasped in his hand was ice cold.
This wasn’t the first time. That’s why Kyung Jiho was even more angry.
“You bastard, are you trying to die? Didn’t you escape after all that suffering because you didn’t want to die? Huh!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
