Chapter 48
“Sorry. You’ve been wearing such a heavy expression all day. Just trying to change your face a bit.”
What could I say to that? I was muttering to myself when Jang Jae-gyeong apologized and patted my head again. The light touch of his hand made me feel strange. It wasn’t like he was treating me as a person, but more like… petting an animal.
“So what’s that person’s talent?”
I smoothed my hair, which was a mess thanks to Jang Jae-gyeong, and softened my expression. If I kept being grumpy, I might not be able to hear what I needed to hear. It would be better to gather information before leaving the village.
“Running his mouth.”
“What?”
“Conning people, I mean.”
“Hmm… that’s… quite a talent.”
My energy drained away, perhaps because my expectations and curiosity about this person had been so high. But unlike my dejection, Jang Jae-gyeong nodded with a serious face.
“It’s impressive. He’s quite good at instigating people. I heard he used to be some kind of cult leader before?”
Cult leader… I couldn’t help thinking of Kim Doyun. Since Kim Doyun had stayed in the village to meet this person… I think it’s unavoidable that I’d become suspicious. Surely not… but could it possibly be related to some cult?
“People like that are scary.”
“Pardon?”
“If someone sweet-talks you, makes you depend on them, pushes you into a difficult situation, and then pretends to save you—how would you feel, Seongho?”
Jang Jae-gyeong pointed to the dense forest. Was this about that person? I thought carefully about his question. If I had to walk through that forest alone, could I refuse a hand extended to me? Even if that hand was full of malice, it seemed absolutely impossible. Seeing me shudder, Jang Jae-gyeong laughed.
“Anyway, this person now, he was probably just like everyone else in this village at first… but he found good backing.”
“Backing?”
“The other person, I mean.”
“Oh.”
The first person who gathered people and made it possible for them to survive… The more I heard, the stranger it seemed. He sounded like an impressive person, but I hadn’t seen anyone like that in this village. Besides, if such a person existed, people like Son Byung-chul, Han Jong-wook, and Hwang Jang-ju wouldn’t be able to run around doing as they pleased…
“Then where is this other person?”
“Gone.”
“What?”
“Left this village some time ago, I think? Disappeared before I arrived here.”
“Why did they leave?”
“Who knows? I don’t. Son Byung-chul didn’t seem to know either.”
That made it even stranger. To create a relatively safe place and then vanish suddenly. With people who looked up to them, with food, with everything needed to survive—why would that person leave?
Even without deep thought, there were many plausible reasons. Looking for family, trying to get help… But I couldn’t shake this uneasy feeling. Maybe it was just because the village itself was so strange.
Then I suddenly remembered the story about “that person”… the pervert pig who was preventing those girls from coming out. I worried I might be prying too much, but fortunately, he didn’t seem bothered.
“I have another question.”
“What is it?”
“Why can’t the people in that house come out?”
“Hmm, think about it. He’s a man with a lot of greed, enough to have been a cult leader. And there are young women in this village. How do you think he’d behave?”
My face immediately crumpled. He thinks of such things looking at those young children? One of them seemed about my age, but still, this was wrong. Jang Jae-gyeong was right—he was a perverted pig. Being a cult leader wasn’t enough, he had to think about children like that… My face grew increasingly wrinkled, but I couldn’t straighten my expression. Then Jang Jae-gyeong pinched and pulled my cheek.
“Don’t worry too much. Son Byung-chul is keeping him in check.”
“Son Byung-chul?”
But my face scrunched up even more. How could Son Byung-chul’s name and “don’t worry” be used in the same sentence? Come to think of it, most of Jang Jae-gyeong’s fights were with Han Jong-wook, and he didn’t seem to have any friction with Son Byung-chul. I even remembered seeing them talking. As I looked at Jang Jae-gyeong suspiciously, the force pulling my cheek grew stronger.
“Ow.”
“Your eyes are disrespectful.”
“But you said Son Byung-chul…”
“You heard it yourself, that Son Byung-chul hates that pig.”
“I did hear that…”
I was nodding when my cheek stretched even more, making me uncomfortable. As I frowned, Jang Jae-gyeong released my cheek with a smile. He watched me for a long time as I rubbed my freed cheek, then slowly explained his reasoning.
“Son Byung-chul is the only one allowed to enter that house. I’m not sure what was discussed, but… I heard something about allowing only one person to come and go under the pretext of protection. That ended up being Son Byung-chul. Most people with guns follow Son Byung-chul’s orders.”
“That’s complete nonsense. They could just guard from outside.”
“Yes, it’s nonsense. But Son Byung-chul and the pig don’t get along, right? Even with Son Byung-chul’s influence, more than half the villagers are blindly devoted to that person. So Son Byung-chul can’t stay in that house for long either. Son Byung-chul goes in to check on them under the guise of protection, and the pig watches to make sure Son Byung-chul doesn’t stay too long, afraid he might take what the pig has his eye on. That’s why nobody can touch that house.”
The more I heard, the worse I felt. The behavior of these two men in this situation made me sick. Instead of trying to survive together, what were they doing with these women? I suddenly thought of the child who had been endlessly worrying about her parents. Seeing how concerned she was about her mother and father, I thought her parents must be in this village too, but why couldn’t they save their child? Or perhaps… because the village was in this state, they couldn’t save her?
With complicated feelings welling up, I stared at the house where the girls were. The steady rain had subsided considerably, and the gunshots that had occasionally ripped through the air and the cries of monsters were no longer heard.
Would it be safe to go out now? As I was thinking about Kim Doyun, I spotted someone moving hastily from a corner. The person hurrying along, almost at a half-run, was the auntie. Like I had done, she knocked on the door and stared at it endlessly.
After a moment, a small hand poked out from the slightly opened door and embraced her waist. A low, small hand. It seemed to be a child.
When the child was looking for her parents, I remembered the day the woman had knocked on the door, and I wondered if… The woman, who was carefully looking around, disappeared inside the house. My mood sank even further.
* * *
With Jang Jae-gyeong’s help, I came down from the two-story house. Jang Jae-gyeong urged me to stay longer, saying only an hour had passed, but I wanted to find Kim Doyun and was too anxious to wait.
After looking around outside briefly, Jang Jae-gyeong reluctantly followed me. It would be difficult to find Kim Doyun, who had disappeared somewhere… I thought about returning to the house where I had been staying. If I waited there, wouldn’t Kim Doyun come back looking for me?
But the journey wasn’t easy. As I was walking carefully after leaving the two-story house, I saw Son Byung-chul and two other men up ahead. Like Son Byung-chul, the other two men had shotguns slung over their backs.
“Ah, here you are. Found you.”
“…Me?”
Son Byung-chul was nodding, then looked beside me and made a displeased face. Jang Jae-gyeong, unconcerned by Son Byung-chul’s expression, touched his waist and tilted his head. Of course, Jang Jae-gyeong had a knife and a gun at his waist. The men must have seen it as a threat because they raised their shotguns and took position.
Afraid a fight might break out, I grabbed Jang Jae-gyeong’s arm tightly. But Jang Jae-gyeong, oblivious to my concern, gently patted the back of my hand and then drew his knife. From any perspective, he was clearly provoking the men.
“What good does it do us to be like this amongst ourselves?”
The tense atmosphere subsided as Son Byung-chul intervened. With one gesture from Son Byung-chul, the men slung their shotguns over their backs, their faces full of discontent. Jang Jae-gyeong… didn’t listen. His knife was still lightly dancing in his hand. As the men, once again enraged, were about to grab their shotguns, I hurriedly spoke.
“Why were you looking for me?”
“Ah, yes. I have some business with you.”
Of course he would. Why else would he look for me? I looked at Son Byung-chul with eyes demanding an explanation, but he didn’t readily open his mouth. He was staring at Jang Jae-gyeong with a troubled face for quite some time. It seemed like something difficult to say in front of Jang Jae-gyeong. But I had no intention of leaving Jang Jae-gyeong’s side. Who knows what would happen if I did.
“…What did you do with your shotgun?”
After I held onto Jang Jae-gyeong’s arm for quite some time, Son Byung-chul finally spoke. It was a question I had expected him to ask eventually, so I felt somewhat relieved. If he had approached me while I was holding the shotgun, I would have been tense, racking my brain to avoid having it taken away, but fortunately, it wasn’t in my hands now. It was fortunate that Kim Doyun had taken it and run.
“Doyun-ssi is holding it for now.”
“Is that so? How touching.”
After making this unnecessary comment, Son Byung-chul’s face fell into thought again. But after Son Byung-chul inquired about the shotgun’s whereabouts, the atmosphere on both sides became noisy. The men began persistently questioning Son Byung-chul about his reasons.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
