Chapter 008
Men Who Deserve to Die —
“Is He Dead?”
The mask was pushing me out of the world.
Live with dignity and courage.
After meeting Jeong Jung-seong, I felt like having a drink.
It was infuriating and angering to see bad people living better lives than everyone else.
The woman who ran the convenience store greeted me with a bright smile.
“Good work, young man.”
“Yes.”
I went inside and picked out two bottles of soju, two cans of beer, and some snacks.
“Oh, right. A detective came to your house, didn’t he? He came here and asked me all sorts of questions. Apparently, some high school students were assaulted in an empty house.”
“Yes.”
“There’s no way your uncle would do something like that.”
“……”
“I’ll take ten thousand won off your bill. That young lady came by this morning and paid it.”
“Yes.”
I paid and headed outside.
As I started up the hill, I heard an unfamiliar form of address from behind me.
“Oppa!”
I turned around. It was the woman who had paid for my beer.
“I paid you back this morning.”
“I heard.”
She approached me.
“I heard you live at the top of the hill, Oppa.”
“I’m not your oppa. And I don’t appreciate you speaking informally to me.”
“You speak informally to me, too. We’re around the same age, so it’s better if we just relax around each other.”
I ignored her and continued uphill.
Footsteps followed me.
Why on earth was she doing this?
I turned around and asked,
“Why are you following me?”
“I was hoping you’d treat me to a cup of coffee.”
“Why?”
“Just because.”
I had no idea why she was so interested in me.
“I’ll just have coffee and leave.”
“You want to come inside my house?”
“The air is nice up at the top, isn’t it? I live at the top of the neighboring alley, but it’s close to the incinerator, so the air there is terrible.”
She certainly wasn’t an ordinary woman.
We had only met a few times, yet she wanted to visit the home of a man who lived alone.
“Relax. I’m not going to eat you.”
I gave up arguing.
She didn’t seem like someone who would harm me, and since we were neighbors, offering her a cup of coffee wasn’t a big deal.
“You’re having coffee and then leaving. That’s it.”
“Got it. I’ll enjoy it with the fresh air. I have to go to work soon, anyway.”
Was she working at a bar, as the convenience store owner had suggested?
With that heavy, provocative makeup and the fact that she worked at night, it seemed likely.
I took the lead and strode uphill.
She followed without difficulty.
“What do you do for a living, Oppa?”
“Do you live alone?”
“Why did you move to a place like this?”
“Why aren’t you answering me?”
She was practically a walking question mark.
I didn’t answer a single question.
“This is exhausting. I guess I don’t need to exercise anymore.”
I opened the old front gate.
She followed me into the yard and immediately began making a fuss.
“You have so much exercise equipment! No wonder you’re in such good shape. Oh! You even have a vegetable garden. Those cherry tomatoes look so ripe!”
She picked a cherry tomato and popped it into her mouth.
It would be best to make her coffee and send her on her way as quickly as possible.
I opened the front door, went inside, and prepared the coffee.
Through the window, I could see her sitting on the wooden platform in the yard, gazing up at the sky.
The water bubbled as it boiled.
I mixed the coffee and carried it out to her.
“Aren’t you having any, Oppa?”
“Please drink it quickly and leave.”
“You have no warmth in you at all.”
I had read somewhere that women who worked in bars often had complicated stories behind them. Her eyes looked sad.
That hint of sadness was part of the reason I had offered her coffee.
“You make good coffee.”
“It’s instant coffee.”
“The secret to good instant coffee is getting the amount of water right. You could even work at a traditional coffee shop.”
How noisy.
I wished she would leave already.
“That was a funny joke, but you didn’t laugh.”
“Please finish your coffee and go.”
“My name is So Yeon-hwa. My age is a secret.”
I stayed silent, figuring that if I started a conversation, she would only stay longer.
“Maybe it’s because a lonely shadow is clinging to you. You’re no fun at all.”
What on earth was she talking about?
How long had she even known me to judge me like that?
“If you’ve finished your coffee, please leave.”
“Fine. Now that I know where you live, can I come visit from time to time?”
“No.”
“How coldhearted. Anyway, thanks for the coffee.”
So Yeon-hwa stood up, then studied me intently.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I don’t know, either. There’s something strange about it, but I feel drawn to you. I’ll get going.”
She gave me a bright smile and left.
What did she mean, she felt drawn to me?
There was definitely something wrong with that woman.
I would have to be careful.
* * *
Jo Tae-su approached the woman who was closing up the convenience store.
“Is your uncle at home?”
“You’re back again. He went up the hill a little while ago. But why are you looking for my uncle? He would never hit anyone.”
“There’s something I forgot to ask him earlier. Thank you.”
Team Leader Jo Tae-su headed up the hill with Detective Kang.
“Team Leader, I’m out of breath every time we climb this place.”
“That’s what makes humanity remarkable. Before the redevelopment announcement, people lived packed together in these cramped neighborhoods.”
“But the kids say the man wasn’t Kang Ma-ru.”
“It doesn’t make sense that nobody heard the screams on such a quiet night. They’re hiding something.”
Jo Tae-su trusted his instincts.
Years of police work had honed his animalistic intuition, and it was often right.
Something about Kang Ma-ru bothered him, like a bone stuck in his throat.
“You think he might be an accomplice, right, Team Leader?”
“That’s the most likely possibility at the moment, but he could also have been in disguise.”
“Should we investigate him more thoroughly?”
“We’re not at that stage yet. After talking to him today, I should have a better feeling for the situation.”
Jo Tae-su saw a woman coming out through the open gate of Kang Ma-ru’s house.
She gave him a quick once-over before heading downhill.
“She looks like the woman who was with them that night.”
“She might be.”
Jo Tae-su narrowed his eyes.
The sounds of passionate cries he had heard that night came to mind, and when he matched them with the woman’s face, he felt something strange.
Jo Tae-su knocked on the open gate and called out,
“Mr. Kang Ma-ru, this is Detective Jo Tae-su from Magang Police Station. May we come in for a moment?”
“Come in.”
As they entered through the gate, Kang Ma-ru approached them.
“I already answered all your questions last time. What brings you back?”
“I thought you might have remembered something new. I’m sorry to bother you, but this is part of our job.”
“Ask your questions quickly. I’m tired.”
Jo Tae-su looked around the yard.
“You have quite a lot of exercise equipment. Have you opened a gym?”
“I work in cleaning, so maintaining my physical fitness is important.”
“May I ask why you moved to a neighborhood scheduled for redevelopment? They’ll start tearing it down next year.”
“That’s a personal question. I don’t have to answer it, do I?”
“Of course not.”
Jo Tae-su glanced around the house before speaking again.
“Would it be possible to come inside and have a cup of coffee? It may be spring, but the evenings are still chilly.”
“I’m sorry. I’m extremely tired right now.”
“My apologies for imposing. May I ask you one more question?”
“Go ahead.”
“Are you seeing anyone?”
“No.”
“Then we’ll be going.”
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
Jo Tae-su gave a slight bow and left through the gate with Detective Kang.
After walking downhill for about a minute, Jo Tae-su spoke.
“He seems like a different person from just a few days ago.”
“How so?”
“How should I put it? His dead-fish eyes have turned into shark eyes. He feels powerful now.”
“Maybe he was just tired when we first met him. Cleaning work is exhausting, isn’t it?”
“That’s true.”
Jo Tae-su wondered whether he was making a mistake.
In an investigation, getting fixated on one theory too early could lead you further away from the truth.
“There’s something chilling about him.”
“He’s big and has a cold expression. That’s probably why you feel that way. He doesn’t look anything like the suspect.”
Jo Tae-su nodded, but he still couldn’t shake the uneasy chill running down his back.
* * *
I had made extensive preparations.
I bought large quantities of secondhand clothes, shoes, and bags in Dongmyo, and I strengthened my physical stamina through exercise.
I also purchased wigs, fake beards, sunglasses, makeup, and masks to use as disguises.
When I wore the mask, not only did my physical abilities improve, but my intelligence did as well.
That was why I had been reading so many books, too.
Now it was time to deliver retribution.
10:00 p.m. — Hamyang-dong Intersection
The area was lined with bars and room salons.
This was where Hyeok-su worked.
I sat by the window of a gukbap restaurant and watched the street outside.
“You fucking bastard! Watch where you’re going!”
“You crazy son of a bitch! You got eyes in your head or not?”
The drunken shouting made the streets noisy.
Hyeok-su should have appeared by now, but I still couldn’t see him.
Had something gone wrong?
“Sir, you can’t sit here for too long.”
I had arrived at nine. I had already been there for an hour.
“Give me another bowl of gukbap.”
About thirty minutes passed while I picked at my food.
Then I spotted Hyeok-su on my right.
He was being dragged along by his hair, limping as he went, with three thugs surrounding him.
They must have been the men he had told me about.
As they passed in front of the gukbap restaurant, I could hear their voices clearly.
“You little fucking runt! Who do you think you are, acting all tough? Didn’t I tell you never to come back to our territory?”
“This bastard needs his belly skin peeled off before he learns to listen. We’re going to teach him a proper lesson today.”
They dragged Hyeok-su into an alley between two motels.
Maybe it was the tension, but I suddenly needed to take a piss.
I hurriedly paid the bill, went to the restroom behind the building, relieved myself, and put on my sunglasses and mask.
When I stepped outside, two women smoking cigarettes looked at me.
Of course they found me strange. Who wore sunglasses at night?
“Mister, what’s in that bag?”
“Is that a turtle backpack? It’s cute.”
The bag contained the new clothes and shoes I had bought.
I ignored them, circled around the building, and headed into the alley where Hyeok-su had been dragged.
Curses rang out from ahead and to my left.
When I entered the space between the two motels, I saw a small parking lot. The three thugs and Hyeok-su were there.
“I told you that if I caught you in my sight again, you’d be finished, didn’t I? Today, you’re fucking dead!”
One of them slapped Hyeok-su viciously across the face.
An unbearable surge of rage rose within me.
“Hey!”
The three men turned around.
“What the hell? Are you friends with the cripple?”
“Is this guy crazy? He’s wearing sunglasses and a mask at night.”
I approached them slowly.
“You wanna die, you little shit? Where the hell did you leave your fear?”
The man’s eyes gleamed like those of a wildcat.
He approached me, stepping within striking distance.
“Who the hell are you? Do you even know who we—”
My straight punch landed squarely on his philtrum, sending him sprawling backward.
He jumped back to his feet, glaring furiously as he threw a punch.
But a rookie like him was no match for me.
I slipped slightly to the side and drove a right hook into his intercostal region.
Crack, crack!
The sensation of bones crushing beneath my fist was exhilarating.
“You son of a bitch!”
Another man charged at me, but my fist was faster.
SMACK!
My powerful punch caved in his cheekbone. His head snapped sideways, and he collapsed limply to the ground.
As he crawled away, I launched a soccer kick at his jaw. His eyes rolled back, and bloody foam poured from his mouth.
“You’re fucking dead today!”
The last remaining thug pulled a sashimi knife from his waistband and approached me.
“Who sent you?”
He glared at me, his eyes flashing.
He was probably trying to intimidate me with his murderous intent, but he was so frightened that the blade trembled in his hand.
“You fucking bastard! Answer me! Who sent you? Was it the Yeopo Gang?”
I scratched my eyebrow and let out a deep sigh.
As I lowered my head slightly, the knife thrust toward my neck.
I bent at the waist to evade the blade, then struck his ankle with a spinning kick. As he lost his balance, I drove a left hook into his abdomen.
When he doubled over from the impact, an uppercut shattered his jaw.
The critical hit landed perfectly, and he staggered, unable to keep his balance.
I slipped my arm beneath his shoulder and threw him over my back.
Was it the power of my rage?
An inhuman strength surged through me.
His body traced an arc through the air before crashing onto the ground.
A strangled “Urk!” escaped his mouth. His eyes widened, his mouth hung open, and then he stopped moving.
Is he dead?
[Revenge successful.
Revenge Credits: 3]
