PAHO 18

Tap water came pouring down over his head. Na Taebeom grabbed the nape of Nam Gyeonhwa, who was struggling while gripping the sink with both hands, and pulled him up. Thanks to the repeated dousings, his water-soaked face was pitifully pale.

“It seems they’ve decided to change their approach.”

Na Taebeom languidly whispered as he brushed away the strands of hair and lint that were messily stuck to the cheeks and forehead of Nam Gyeonhwa, who was busy coughing.

“Sending in a tough little mutt instead of a prostitute they didn’t even give a damn about. Thanks to that, I’ve relieved a whole lot of stress. Maybe I should send a thank you message.”

His vision swam at the hand patting his cheek. Nam Gyeonhwa, who had been holding on by a thread, glanced sideways and the cell phone lying on the floor came into view. He couldn’t tell how much time had passed since the call ended. An hour or two? Or maybe more. It was possible that more than a day had passed.

Even if he was lucky enough to overpower Na Taebeom, there were operatives posted by Gil Useong outside the door. Judging by their attitude, it was clear they wouldn’t let him go willingly, so he had no choice but to create a situation in his favor.

Taking a deep breath, Nam Gyeonhwa suddenly wrapped his hands around Na Taebeom’s neck and his legs around his waist.

“What the fuck!”

Nam Gyeonhwa, shifting his weight onto the off-balance Na Taebeom’s body and knocking him over, pressed down hard on his neck with his forearm and at the same time, shoved a jackknife in front of his face.

“Stay still. Before I make you a one-eyed cripple.”

“Ha, look at this?”

Na Taebeom, who looked up at the knife glinting right above his pupil, spoke as if he was dumbfounded. To show the security camera that this was no half-hearted threat, Nam Gyeonhwa deliberately laid the blade flat and pressed it steadily below his eye.

Ever since returning from Seoul, he had always kept a jackknife wrapped in foil hidden between his ankles, just in case. It seemed they had been somewhat careless with the body search, thanks to him deliberately feigning defenselessness and inducing their complacency during the attack.

The murmuring sounds of several voices seemed to leak in from outside the heavy door. They must have seen the weapon in his hand on the security camera, so they would soon choose to either mediate or subdue him.

“Ha, no wonder. Compared to last time, I was thinking you weren’t putting up much of a fight. You were carrying a knife, is that it?”

Na Taebeom snickered. It was a perilous situation where the slightest movement of his hand could cause the blade to graze his eye, yet his expression was rather excited.

“Ah, you’re so fucking fun.”

With a mischievous laugh, a sharp gaze looked up at Nam Gyeonhwa. Nam Gyeonhwa, who was warily watching him while biting his lip hard, suddenly felt a thick, heavy sensation beneath his groin. It hadn’t particularly bothered him just a moment ago, but when he slightly lifted and lowered his body, a blunt, hard mass touched his bottom.

Don’t tell me this bastard is hard right now.

“How can a guy with a dick be this light. You’re not even heavy when you move.”

Unlike Nam Gyeonhwa, who frowned in bewilderment, Na Taebeom nonchalantly blew on the knife blade. He was an incredible madman, to say the least. But at the same time, Nam Gyeonhwa couldn’t let his guard down out of fear that he might charge at him like a wildfire at any moment.

He maintained the force in his arm under his neck and readjusted his grip on the knife. From the skin cut by the sharp, gleaming blade, a thin trickle of blood flowed down his cheek to below his ear.

Click. He heard the sound of the doorknob turning. The moment his cold eyes confirmed the open doorway, the first thing that came into Nam Gyeonhwa’s sight was a familiar face.

“Hy-Hyung-ah…”

Seeing Haejin whimpering among the armed guards, Nam Gyeonhwa felt his heart drop.

Na Taebeom, who grabbed the frozen Nam Gyeonhwa’s wrist and sat up, grinned.

“The kid is looking for his hyung-ah.”

The outcome had been decided in that moment.

There was a time when Nam Gyeonhwa hated falling asleep with a passion. In the dead of night, when he closed his eyes, the seeping, pitch-black darkness would become a monster and crawl around his bedside. Just when he thought he had grown accustomed to the presence of that darkness, scenes he wanted to forget would keep crawling out like insects.

The bloody corpse of Father Nam Gijun, who had died a violent death; the cathedral covered in ash and fire.

The layered fear transformed into guilt and became the stubborn residue of insomnia. From the moment he became Nam Haejin’s guardian, his nerves were on edge at every breath, and after many years of this, his body became one that could rarely sleep peacefully.

Nam Gyeonhwa, who was quietly staring at the dripping IV fluid, placed a hand on his forehead. He was so tired he wanted to collapse and sleep right away, but sleep wouldn’t come. It hadn’t even been three days since he’d had the cast removed from his right arm, and lying in a hospital bed for the same reason brought on a whirlwind of complex emotions.

Right after leaving the underground interrogation room, Nam Gyeonhwa was taken to a nearby medical center. He was momentarily dazed, high on narcotic painkillers, and when he finally regained consciousness, he was wearing a patient’s gown that faintly smelled of disinfectant instead of his sweat-soaked clothes, and his whole body bore traces of treatment.

And all of this had been ordered directly by Na Taebeom.

What in the world is he thinking. It was then, as he was sighing and rubbing his heavy forehead with his hand. At the sound of the bedside curtain being pulled back, he turned his head to see Haejin, holding tightly onto the hand of a young man in a doctor’s gown, timidly peering inside. The moment his eyes met Nam Gyeonhwa’s, Haejin, who had been welling up, sniffled and trotted over.

“Hyung-ah!”

His eyes welled with tears as soon as he saw his face. When Nam Gyeonhwa, who had turned his body, held out both hands, the hesitant Haejin soon threw himself into his arms.

“Hy-Hyung-ah, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I, I was going to hide somewhere, but there was no place to hide where I was, so I couldn’t.”

Nam Gyeonhwa patted the back of the young voice that began with an apology.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No. I’m not hurt at all.”

“Then that’s fine. If you were safe, then you did well. Hyung always says, right? No matter what happens, just don’t get hurt.”

“But, because of me, hyung-ah, you got hurt.”

“It doesn’t hurt at all. Besides, if hyung was badly hurt, the doctor wouldn’t have brought Haejin here.”

Nam Gyeonhwa, having made that excuse, gestured with his eyes to the doctor standing in front of him. The doctor, who put on a very gentle smile, lowered his body to meet Haejin’s eye level.

“Now, the doctor will make sure our Haejin’s hyung gets all better, so let’s stop crying now, okay? If you keep crying, you’ll get a fever and be sick.”

“Okay.”

Haejin, who reluctantly nodded and answered at the gentle explanation, rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Could you take this child to my office for a bit?”

When he stopped a passing employee and asked them to take Haejin, the employee nodded and left with Haejin. The doctor, after confirming the sound of the elevator door closing, let out a long sigh and turned back to Nam Gyeonhwa. The face that had been smiling brightly just a moment ago was now coldly composed.

“…You don’t have to be so guarded. I’m just going to check on your condition for a moment.”

He, who had smiled awkwardly, took a pen out of his gown pocket and picked up the chart hanging at the foot of the bed.

“You’re Mr. Nam Gyeonhwa, correct?”

“…Yes.”

“Looking at the rough estimate, it seems you have signs of a recently healed fracture in your right arm. It looks like you were hospitalized not long ago, and injuring the same place again in succession can cause permanent problems.”

“Yes, I’m aware.”

“And a person who is aware uses his body so roughly. Well, seeing as I know who beat you up, I’ll just say you’re lucky to have only injured your arm a little.”

The doctor, who clicked his pen, took out a stethoscope and lightly placed it on his chest. Seeing Nam Gyeonhwa reflexively lean back, he smiled sheepishly.

“I’ll do it over your clothes. It won’t take more than a few tens of seconds.”

At the attempt to ease his tension, Nam Gyeonhwa finally sat up straight. As Nam Gyeonhwa took a deep breath, the name tag on the left side of the doctor’s gown came into his view. Without any mention of his department within the hospital or any other text, the name tag simply had the three characters of the name Yeo Eunjae embroidered in colored thread.

“The child, are you sure he’s not hurt anywhere?”

“Ah, yes, yes, not a single scratch. He was just a little scared, so he had a slight fever, but all we did was give him a fever reducer and let him sleep for a bit. He seems to have a lot of hospital experience, he told me in advance about any medications he shouldn’t take.”

He was bound to have a lot of hospital experience. Since he was just learning to walk, he had frequented the local health subcenter as if it were his own home, so what more could be said?

Lest the silence drag on, Yeo Eunjae quickly checked the bed and IV status first, then clicked the end of the pen in his hand.

“Hmm, your arm, as well as the bruises on your side and back are severe, so you should refrain from any strenuous outdoor activities or exercise for at least three weeks. Ideally, resting for two months is best, but even if I say this, the people in this sector rarely seem to follow the doctor’s orders.”

“I understand what you’re saying.”

“Yes, well, that’s that, and, hmm, I don’t like to deliver this kind of news, but I think it’s better that I do, the commander of the special police unit outside was looking for you, patient.”

“…”

“I’ve blocked him from getting near the hospital room for now, so if you want to pretend you don’t know and get some rest, go ahead, but if you’re really impatient and feel you have to go see what’s going on, just go straight down the right-hand corridor. Got it?”

Yeo Eunjae, who gestured to the right with a quick glance, was about to turn when he spoke as if he had forgotten something.

“Dinner is served at six o’clock, so don’t go too far.”

Nam Gyeonhwa, who watched Yeo Eunjae’s shadow disappear to the opposite side after he left the curtained-off area, threw back the blanket and got down from the bed. He looked for the sneakers he had been wearing, but the only footwear in sight was a single cloth indoor slipper.