PAHO 4

Gong Myeongho, an agent from the security team who was in his first year with the company, had a rugged, gangster-like appearance but was surprisingly good with children. Pulling out an unusual item from his resume—that he had once been a children’s musical actor—he naturally piqued Haejin’s curiosity and even showed him musical videos on his own phone.

Haejin, who had been glaring at the two agents, clinging tightly to Nam Gyeonhwa for fear they might drag his brother away and harm him, gradually let down his guard. By the time they arrived in the city, he was even initiating conversation with Gong Myeongho.

“He said he even did a signing event wearing a dinosaur costume in the middle of summer. Just hearing about it sounds like you’d get a heat rash all over, but that bastard says it’s a fond memory. He’s a real weirdo, I tell you.”

Min Chanyoung, watching the two sitting across from them, chuckled. The face munching on french fries was as relaxed as if they were exchanging trivial daily conversation.

Min Chanyoung, having cleanly finished off a hamburger and chicken nuggets, unwrapped a second hamburger. In contrast, Nam Gyeonhwa was watching Min Chanyoung without having taken even a single sip of his drink.

Of all the many seats available, Min Chanyoung had deliberately seated Haejin and Gong Myeongho at a table two spaces away. At first glance, it seemed like a considerate gesture to allow him to watch Haejin from a diagonal angle, but it was also a subtle threat that he could use him as a hostage at any time if things went south.

“Well, anyway. Have you been well? I really never expected to see you here. Let’s see, I haven’t seen you since I was discharged and went to Seoul, so has it been about ten years?”

Min Chanyoung said, stroking his chin as he counted the years. Instead of agreeing with the reminiscence, Nam Gyeonhwa retorted bluntly.

“What is it you wish to say?”

“Hey now, we haven’t even properly exchanged greetings yet, and you want to get straight to business?”

“You must be busy, so I don’t think you need to waste your time on me.”

Min Chanyoung smacked his lips as if embarrassed, then brushed the salt from his hands and rummaged through his briefcase. The tablet computer he took out contained a single video.

“Here, you see the recording date? As you can see, it’s a video filmed with an internal security camera during the Lunar New Year holiday.”

The video, which appeared to be from a security camera recorded at night, was of a quality that barely allowed one to identify the surroundings. Someone was captured moving in a space piled high with all sorts of large-scale waste. Min Chanyoung skillfully adjusted the screen and zoomed in on the figure in that scene.

“The tech team identified all the footage recorded over six months and came up with a rough profile. After some follow-up investigation, we found out it was you, Nam Gyeonhwa.”

Although it was difficult to identify who it was with the black raincoat and mask, Min Chanyoung was convinced without a shadow of a doubt that the person in the video was Nam Gyeonhwa. Seeing such a confident attitude, it seemed the visit to Jo Yongsik last time was no simple coincidence either.

Having come face to face with the security team leader as a suspect of illegal trespassing, it seemed it would be difficult to deny it. However, if he tried to counter with arguments about the law, it would be Nam Gyeonhwa himself who would be at a disadvantage.

“Would a settlement be difficult?”

“A settlement?”

“Seeing as the security team came directly instead of the police, I thought you would want the items returned. The parts taken from the disposal site have already been sold and converted to cash, and are no longer in my possession. So it would be impossible to return them as they were. But if a settlement is possible, I would like to return at least a portion of it in money.”

He spoke as if he were calm, but his mind was racing. If the company started talking about damages and inflated the amount of loss, it could be in the hundreds of millions, not just tens of millions of won. So, for now, his only option was to hope for as much leniency as possible. Min Chanyoung stroked his chin and hummed.

“Hmm, actually, the higher-ups are taking this matter quite seriously. They see it as a security threat, and since the items came from private property, even if it is waste, they seem to consider it theft.”

“……”

“Well, I’m just doing what I’m told, so I don’t really know. To be honest, I also feel like the company is blowing this out of proportion. But what can I do? If they tell me to jump, I jump.”

Min Chanyoung, who had gulped down his coke, continued.

“Anyway, you? What happened? The mercenary group?”

“…I quit.”

“You did? When?”

“It must have been about, seven, eight years ago.”

“Seven, eight years… so not long after I was discharged. Why did you quit?”

Nam Gyeonhwa did not answer. At the momentary darkening of his expression, Min Chanyoung narrowed his eyes. It was a completely different reaction from his consistently silent attitude. After staring at Nam Gyeonhwa for a moment, he finally shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, it’s funny for me to ask why you quit when I was discharged because it was too hard myself. Well, the Yanggang region was a pretty tough place. Constantly getting into arguments with the public security, and the food at the cafeteria was disgustingly bad.”

At that moment, the sound of laughter came from across the way. Haejin was chattering away, looking up at Gong Myeongho, finding something incredibly funny. Min Chanyoung, who had glanced over, pointed to Haejin sitting at the table with his chin.

“Is that your son?”

“…He’s my brother.”

“Brother? Weren’t you from an orphanage?”

“…He’s a relative of Father Nam, but he has nowhere else to go, so I’m taking care of him.”

At the mention of Father Nam, Min Chanyoung let out a sound of understanding, “Ah.” Just as Nam Gyeonhwa was about to ask about his somewhat complicated and subtle expression, Haejin got down from his seat and clung to Nam Gyeonhwa.

“Hyung-ah.”

“Huh?”

“I need to take my medicine.”

“Oh, right. I almost forgot.”

Nam Gyeonhwa hurriedly rummaged through his bag and took out a medicine pouch. Although the number of pills he took at one time seemed to be six or seven, Haejin swallowed them in one gulp as if he were used to it. Min Chanyoung, who had been watching Nam Gyeonhwa, busy taking care of everything from the water to the medicine, as if observing him, carefully opened his mouth.

“About that settlement we talked about earlier.”

At those words, Nam Gyeonhwa lifted his head and looked at Min Chanyoung. Min Chanyoung looked around and continued in a small voice.

“You, are you interested in taking on a request?”

Min Chanyoung, sitting in the passenger seat, watched the two as if monitoring them through the front windshield.

Nam Gyeonhwa, who had adamantly refused the offer of a ride home, immediately took Haejin and got out of the car as soon as they arrived at the hospital. Just before he got out, Min Chanyoung handed him a business card with his personal number on it. His expression as he reluctantly accepted it, being told to think it over and contact him, was heavy.

The car, with its engine running, slowly pulled out of the parking lot. As they passed by the motorcycle, Nam Gyeonhwa’s gaze, as he was putting the helmet on Haejin, briefly met theirs, but they soon moved away from each other.

“Thanks for your hard work with the kid.”

Min Chanyoung took a container of gum from the glove box and offered some consolation to Gong Myeongho. Gong Myeongho laughed with a deflating sound.

“He was well-behaved, though.”

“The little brat?”

“Both of them. Honestly, I thought they’d raise hell. But they were more compliant than I thought, so I was a bit surprised.”

“He’s learned that it’s better to play along than to make a scene and escalate things. Clever, if you want to call it that.”

“Come to think of it, you said that man was someone you trained when you were at the mercenary company in Yanggang, right?”

“To be precise, as a drill instructor for about three years. Still, among all the guys I’ve seen so far, he adapted quickly and his training performance was excellent. If he had citizenship, he would have easily enlisted formally and entered the Capital Defense Command.”

“His looks are pretty and feminine, so that’s unexpected. Why would he work as a mercenary with a face like that? If it were me, I would have become a celebrity.”

“Hey, don’t you know that these days you need a lot of money to be a celebrity? And the public is so particular about one’s background. That actor who won the lead actor award at the Cheongsong Film Festival this time. His father’s hometown is in Hamgyongnam-do or something, so he had to go on hiatus, didn’t he?”

Min Chanyoung, who had lightly reprimanded him, took out an electronic cigarette from his pocket. Gong Myeongho, who was driving, glanced sideways as a sweet scent quickly filled the car.

“So, do you think he’ll contact you?”

“He will.”

“What will you do if he doesn’t?”

“I’m saying he will because there’s no way he won’t. He’s just as desperate as we are.”

Min Chanyoung blew out a long stream of vapor and rolled down the car window. Watching the landscape change distractedly in time with the speed of the moving car, he chewed on his cigarette.

Back then, Nam Gyeonhwa was one of the most tenacious people in the mercenary group. The story of how he, despite being beaten for three hours by a senior from the Marine Corps who was known to be an expert in hand-to-hand combat, tenaciously clung on and eventually forced him to surrender was a tale that was told time and again during new recruit training.

That was why it was all the more unbelievable when he heard that Nam Gyeonhwa was from the orphanage run by Father Nam Gijun. Speaking of Father Nam Gijun, his was a name Min Chanyoung had often heard during his time as a mercenary in Yanggang. Despite being a military chaplain, he advocated for anti-war and equal peace, making him a figure who was not particularly welcomed not only by the divisions on the front line but also by the private mercenary groups.

The last news he had heard was an obituary. The Yanggang Orphanage fire. There were dozens of fatalities, and the fact that the cause of the fire was Father Nam Gijun, who had attempted self-immolation, was revealed, making it an incident that was featured prominently on the pages of Japanese and Russian media at the time.

As Min Chanyoung remembered, Nam Gyeonhwa had relied on Father Nam Gijun as if he were his own foster father. He had even taken the priest’s surname, so that said it all. Even so, the fact that he was taking care of a relative’s child, with whom he didn’t share a single drop of blood, as if he were his own brother, was a part that was difficult for him to understand.

“Anyway, there are still two more names on the list. Are you going to visit them as well?”

Min Chanyoung, who had been contemplating, finally closed the cap of his electronic cigarette and answered.

“No, let’s go to Seoul.”

“What? Right now?”

“Yes, right now.”

Even driving nonstop from South Jeolla to Seoul would take at least eight hours. Seeing Min Chanyoung lean back deeply into the car seat instead of answering, Gong Myeongho chewed the gum in his mouth with a loud snap instead of sighing.