VDN Ch 72
by STAR“Uh…I thought so.”
Nam-woon quickly replied like water from a faucet, and Seo-oh, whose ears turned red, pursed his lips and said firmly,
“Don’t ask about the other people. From now on.”
“Why?”
“It’s annoying.”
With those words, Seo-oh headed to the bathroom. Nam-woon hit his forehead several times, regretting the word “pretty” he had casually uttered. Then he stood in front of the sink to finish trimming the cucumbers. He had already cut two incorrectly. To avoid angering Seo-oh further, he picked up all the badly chopped cucumbers and ate them.
***
“Huff, huff…”
In a pitch-dark alley with no streetlights, a man hid between piles of filthy trash, holding his breath.
“Hey, did you find him?”
Voices searching for someone and rapid footsteps echoed through the quiet alley. As the sounds faded, the man cautiously rose and peeked outside the building.
After confirming no one was there, he quickly moved in the opposite direction of his escape. He slipped into an old public phone booth he had noticed earlier and frantically looked around. Fortunately, there were no suspicious signs yet. He picked up the receiver and dialed eleven digits without hesitation. A click signaled the connection.
“Detective Jang, this is Kwon Sang-moon.”
The man nodded anxiously and replied,
“Yes, yes. I understand. Yes? Code…?”
The image of Se-han drinking a beverage flashed through the man’s mind as he hesitated for a moment. He opened his mouth,
“Dal-kong.”
He continued.
“Yes, yes. No, he’s someone who worked here. Trustworthy. No, not directly under Chairman Seok. The ones surveilling me here are all subcontractors… Yes. Got it.”
After ending the brief conversation, he hesitated before picking up the receiver again. He quickly dialed a number. A different tension filled his chest, and his heart pounded wildly.
– Hello?
“Seo-oh, it’s Dad.”
The man swallowed his rising tears and barely opened his mouth. The longing for his son’s voice, which he hadn’t heard in a long time, surged like a wave. From the other side of the receiver, he heard rustling sounds followed by the sound of a door opening.
Click
After a moment, the other party asked quietly in disbelief.
– D…Dad?
“Yes, Seo-oh.”
Seo-oh fell silent, then cried out again “Dad!” before shouting urgently.
– Where are you right now! What happened to you during all this time!
In response to Seo-oh’s desperate cry, Kwon Sang-moon took a deep breath and said, “Seo-oh, listen carefully.”
“I’m going to the club this Saturday.”
– What?
***
Nam-woon glanced at Seo-oh. He’d been blankly folding the same towel for twenty minutes.
It must be because of the phone call that he got earlier.
A call from an unknown number. The moment Seo-oh answered, his face visibly stiffened. Without a word, he stood and went outside. Nam-woon put earphones in Se-han’s ears, who was playing a game on his phone, and slightly opened the door.
“Where are you now!”
It was a desperate voice he had never heard before from Seo-oh. Nam-woon was certain it was Kwon Sang-moon. Finally, he had contacted Seo-oh. As he listened to Seo-oh’s anxious and excited voice, there was a sudden silence. It seemed the call had been abruptly cut off.
Nam-woon quietly closed the door and waited for Seo-oh to come in. Nam-woon quietly shut the door and waited for Seo-oh to return. Much later, he entered the room and remained in that dazed state.
Nam-woon’s gaze fixed on the phone Seo-oh had set aside.
“Se-han, let me see the phone for a second.”
Nam-woon took his own phone from Se-han’s hands and pretended to text as if handling important business. He placed Seo-oh’s phone in Se-han’s now-empty hands. Seeing this, Seo-oh reached toward Se-han.
“Se-han, give me my phone.”
“Huh? Then what do I play with?”
Se-han pouted his lips and looked at his Hyungs. At that earnest gaze, Nam-woon said to Seo-oh from the side,
“Kwon Seo-oh, let Se-han borrow your phone for a bit. I’ll give it back in five minutes.”
Then Seo-oh told Se-han that if a call comes, he must give it to him right away, and then he started folding towels again. Se-han nodded and quickly entered the six-digit password. He couldn’t forget his Hyung’s phone password because it was his own birthday.
“Ugh, why won’t the Wi-Fi work? Se-han, I swear I’ll only use it for one minute.”
Nam-woon took Seo-oh’s phone from Se-han’s hands and swiftly opened the maps app. Let’s see… the last place Seo-oh searched was…
[Pera]
Pera? Was Kwon Seo-oh going to Pera too? This time, he checked the missed calls log. The number was clearly from a payphone. Definitely Kwon Sang-moon.
Just then.
“Hyung, you’re not going anywhere tomorrow night, right?”
Startled by Seo-oh’s sudden question, Nam-woon returned the phone to Se-han and replied,
“I’ve got plans tomorrow.”
“Oh? Where?”
“I have work. … There’s a place Deok-chil and I want to check out for a bit.”
He vaguely explained, but for some reason, Seo-oh didn’t ask for details and just let it go. Seo-oh then looked at Se-han.
“Se-han, are you going to Min-chan’s house tomorrow?”
“Hmm? Not tomorrow.”
Seo-oh frowned, clearly worried about leaving Se-han alone while he searched for his father. Seeing his darkened expression, Nam-woon spoke up.
“Se-han, I’m sorry, but could you stay at Min-chan’s just for tomorrow night?”
Se-han’s eyes widened at that.
“But last time, you said I shouldn’t sleep over at Min-chan’s, Hyung!”
Ah, I did say that. Se-han’s memory was scarily sharp. At that moment, Se-han, who had been looking at them alternately, suddenly asked meaningfully,
“Are you two going somewhere together tomorrow?”
“No.”
“No?”
Seo-oh and Nam-woon answered at the same time. But Se-han, with wide eyes, stared at Nam-woon, saying, “Hmm….” Why is he looking at me like that? Feeling something was amiss, he brushed his cheeks. Then, suddenly, an unexpected question came.
“Wooni, do you like Hyung a lot?”
“What?”
At those words, Seo-oh whipped his head around in surprise ….It’s probably nothing. There’s no need to be unnecessarily surprised by a child’s thoughtless question. Nam-woon just smiled and playfully responded,
“I like you more, Se-han.”
“Really?”
Seo-oh cut in, staring at Nam-woon with a dissatisfied glare.
“Nooo, Wooni Hyung, that’s not what I meant.”
Se-han shook his head left and right, then glanced at Nam-woon and sighed softly. The child, who had been pondering something with pursed lips, soon nodded.
“Okay. I’ll sleep over at Auntie Soon-i’s house tomorrow.”
Something felt off. What is he thinking with that little head of his?
“Are you sure, Se-han?”
When Seo-oh asked, Se-han nodded.
“Yeah! I’m going to ask Mrs. Soon-i if we can watch “Passionate Love” together. It ended right when the secret was revealed!”
“Passionate Love” was a recent melodramatic drama that Auntie Soon-i was hooked on. It was about the protagonist who falls in love with the son of her enemy, and it had been the most popular drama with the highest viewership ratings since its broadcast. Suddenly, Se-han got up, picked up his small pillow from the blanket, and put it down next to the window.
“I’ll sleep here tonight!”
“Why not the middle?”
When just Seo-oh and Se-han slept together, Se-han’s sleeping place was next to the window. But after Nam-woon came, he moved to the middle. Se-han said in a mature tone, imitating Min-chan,
“I’ll give it up to Hyung Woon. I’ll be in third grade next year, after all.”
“…….”
Why do I have such an uneasy feeling about this?
Seo-oh said that the window side was colder and bugs might come out, so he had to sleep in the middle. Unable to resist his older brother’s firm attitude, Se-han reluctantly nodded and fell back into the game, engrossed in his phone. Nam-woon asked casually, looking at Seo-oh,
“So what’s happening tomorrow? Who was on the phone earlier?”
All his attention was on Seo-oh’s lips. If Seo-oh said that it was a call from his dad, I’ll insist on going with him. We’ll find Kwon Sang-moon at that club first and then…
“Just a friend”
“Huh?”
At the unexpected words, Nam-woon looked at Seo-oh. Seo-oh, who had just finished folding the towel, wore a stiff expression as he spoke again.
“It was a friend calling.”