Geun-yeong, who had to stand up unsteadily due to the force pulling him up, lowered his head. He couldn’t answer the man’s question, which was more of a bark. Whether he had wanted to die, whether he didn’t want to die, how he felt now—no thoughts came to mind. To be precise, he didn’t care if he died or lived. He didn’t want to make any choice. It was bothersome.
Kyung Jiho pulled the silent young man who was only staring at the floor, took a towel roughly from the rack, and wrapped it around his bare waist. While holding the towel around his waist, he reached out to open the storage cabinet. He pulled out another towel, flapping it open with a sound, and covered his head. He dried his hair and wiped his upper body. While creating friction heat by rubbing his body with the towel, he asked:
“Why are you like this? Is it because of the news?”
The man’s voice, who felt sorry for yelling earlier, was low and careful.
Kyung Jiho, who hadn’t known about the sexual assault issue, had warned Geun-yeong about the situation when he told him to create a scenario—how the case would spread through reporters waiting 24 hours at the government building. Nevertheless, Geun-yeong chose the second option. He said it didn’t matter if it became public. Eventually, everything happened as predicted, and Kyung Jiho, who had pressured him to choose the second option, had to feel deep guilt. In fact, even now, it was very painful to face him. He felt terribly sorry for the young man.
But this was a problem he had frequently encountered during his years as a detective. Among the criminals he had to arrest, there were some he really didn’t want to apprehend. There were cases where an entire family was ruined after the head of the household was arrested. He had especially seen many cases like this, where a normal life was completely changed 180 degrees when the victim’s situation was reported in the media. That’s how Kyung Jiho had lived—hurting others and being hurt himself because of it. He had been living with the misconception that he had overcome the accumulated wounds that had made him dull. Living that way, he tried to overcome this situation with his own methods too. Even though he felt guilt stabbing his chest frequently right now, he decided to wait and see. Thinking that someday, it would be okay.
Above all, his guilt was a secondary issue right now. The problem was this guy under the towel, who kept getting colder no matter how much he rubbed and coaxed.
Of course, it would be difficult. It was a situation that couldn’t help but be difficult. But he thought the guy would know how to endure with his mouth shut. Since he escaped because he didn’t want to die, prepared for the news to spread, he thought he would try to live somehow.
But now, he was acting as if he didn’t care at all about dying right away. He couldn’t understand it. What on earth was the problem? What had broken his will? He was curious and frustrated.
“You knew this would happen. You said you wanted to live even if it meant giving up college, giving up friends, giving up everything, and that’s why you escaped. Right?”
Kyung Jiho couldn’t forget the face, expression, and eyes of the guy in the video he had to watch. He was pleading to the camera that he wanted to live. He was saying he was doing this because he wanted to live, so please save him.
The man stopped rubbing his body with the towel and firmly gripped his shoulders, which seemed too thin. He had become much thinner than when they first met. He knew the reason. Since returning to this house, the guy had almost stopped eating. When he reluctantly scolded him, he pretended to eat, but then rushed to the bathroom and vomited everything. He couldn’t be angry at someone who was throwing up food that wouldn’t go down, so while patting his back, he had to beat his own chest inside.
But he couldn’t stay by his side constantly either. The sentencing, which he thought would end with one trial, was postponed due to a ridiculous claim. He had to investigate whether there had been some kind of request to the judge. For that reason, whenever he left the house, the guy didn’t eat anything while alone. The rice in the rice cooker, which he habitually kept full, never decreased.
He thought he might be gripping his shoulders too painfully. He let go and dropped his hands. The guy with his head down still gave no answer. Now, no sound was beginning to come out of his mouth, which hadn’t taken in anything since he stopped eating.
Why on earth was he acting like this?
Not knowing the reason meant not knowing the solution, and the man’s insides were burning black with worry.
* * *
[“What is the cause of Munchausen syndrome?”]
Separated by a news logo, two people sitting on opposite sides of an oval table were having a discussion about a case that had become a social issue. To the anchor’s prepared question, a psychiatrist who often appeared on TV as a consultant on mental illness-related crime issues gave a prepared answer.
[“There may be congenital causes, but it can also develop from acquired factors, such as psychological wounds inflicted in situations where one does not receive attention from parents or close people around them.”]
[“If it’s a situation of not receiving attention, there could also be experiences from orphanage life, right?”]
[“Yes. We should never generalize, but there is a possibility.”]
It was an answer that cleverly avoided potential backlash from specific social groups with opposing views. After following the script by saying “I see” and pausing for a beat, the anchor moved on to the next question.
[“The term Munchausen syndrome might sound unfamiliar to many people. What’s the difference between this and what we commonly call pathological lying?”]
[“In the case of pathological lying, they often tell obviously false lies that anyone can easily distinguish. In contrast, with Munchausen syndrome, the lies are so elaborate that even family members or close acquaintances might not notice after observing for months or even years. Because of this, patients with Munchausen syndrome often have genius-level memory. They can accurately remember even trivial things they said years ago, allowing them to easily avoid inconsistencies.”]
The anchor nodded emphatically two or three times, as if representing the viewers’ reactions. Looking at his notes, he asked again:
[“Professor Ha, who is the faculty advisor for the victim Ji, has testified that Ji had an innate exceptional memory and was the top student in his department for five years. These testimonies seem to lend credibility to Ji’s potential mental illness. What do you think, Doctor?”]
The guest panelist on the news couldn’t answer the question. There was no other reason than the fact that a man who had just opened the front door turned off the TV.
“Why are you watching that nonsense so seriously?”
The man who had been sitting against the living room wall watching TV raised his head and looked up. Then he lowered his eyes again. He turned his head. Now he was looking at the TV, which was just black.
“I’m a bit confused.”
“About what?”
“I wonder if that’s what I did.”
His lips were smiling. But there was no emotion in his empty eyes. With such a face, he was evaluating the victim Ji Geun-yeong who was being discussed by the people talking on TV.
Jiho sat down next to Geun-yeong and said stiffly:
“Don’t talk nonsense. It’s not you. You know it’s not you. What’s there to be confused about?”
“I guess so.”
Still seeming unconvinced, Geun-yeong laughed meaninglessly again. Only with his mouth. Looking at that face, Kyung Jiho somehow felt scared. He was afraid and worried that this guy might really be going crazy.
“Ji Geun-yeong, get a grip. We need to make sure that bastard gets properly punished, don’t we?”
“Punishment?”
Geun-yeong couldn’t immediately recall who that bastard was and why he should be punished. Like an old fluorescent light, his mind flickered before belatedly remembering which bastard was to be punished and for what reason.
“Ah…”
“Fuck, what kind of ‘Ah’ are you saying, man!”
Kyung Jiho was angry that Ji Geun-yeong was spacing out, and he yelled again. And immediately regretted it.
* * *
[“After the first trial, the focus of the case has shifted to whether the victim has a mental illness. The defendant Ji claimed that he did not reveal the fact that the victim was suffering from Munchausen syndrome out of concern that the victim would face disadvantages in society, and for that reason, he helped the victim pretend to have diabetes. In particular, he claimed that getting the victim Ji admitted to medical school was also because he thought studying about diseases would help treat the condition-“]
He was driving almost half-unconsciously. Having traveled this road for years, his hands automatically turned on the signal and steered the wheel. In the midst of this, Kyung Jiho realized that what he had been listening to blankly was the result of the first trial, and he turned off the radio.
The judge in charge accepted the defense attorney’s forced argument that the defendant had been coerced into making false statements due to a situation created by an undercover police officer who had concealed the victim’s identity. For that reason, the judge spouted nonsense about concerns for the defendant’s psychological burden and disallowed the presence of the police officer who had participated in the investigation. So Kyung Jiho wasn’t even able to enter the courtroom. After the trial, the prosecutor, whom he knew well from having worked together several times during the prosecution process, told him something that was outrageous.
That there seemed to have been some request to the judge. That throughout the trial, completely absurd claims were accepted. That in a state where all kinds of clear evidence had been presented, what was this sudden accusation of mental illness? Even if a cornered bastard might struggle to survive, it made no sense that such an illogical, forced scenario was being taken so seriously.
Then he kicked the floor and cursed roughly.
‘This world is fucked, shit!’
After hearing about the bribery allegations and investigating, he found that Ji Seokhun’s father, Ji Jeongcheol, was the personal physician of a retired High Court Chief Justice and they were still very close. And the current presiding judge at Seoul Central District Court had been promoted through the former High Court Chief Justice’s line. It seemed likely that strings had been pulled all the way down to the judge in charge.
Haa…
He thought that with that kind of background, even barking like a dog would be effective. Both Kyung Jiho who reported the findings and the prosecutor who heard it were momentarily speechless.
Above all, the media, who likely hadn’t received any special requests, was deliberately focusing only on the sensational aspects. There was no other reason. They knew that news that was like candy was what sold best, so it was simply to attract public attention and increase viewership. Just for that kind of reason, they were sprinkling salt on the guy’s already wide-open wounds. It was cruel.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
