Chapter 20

On the fifth morning since his trip to Mangcheon, Mu-yeong was at the office. Lee Ho-joon was out dispatching a courier delivery, and Kim Sang-beom was just stepping through the doorway. It was a face Mu-yeong hadn’t seen in quite a while.

“Boss, you’re here?” Mu-yeong greeted, hopping to his feet.

As Mu-yeong sprang up to greet him, Sang-beom waved a broad hand to motion him back down. Mu-yeong checked the message log with Han Seo-yoon displayed on his phone. The most recently sent message read as follows.

—Section Chief, I should arrive in front of your residence within ten minutes.

Those ten minutes had elapsed precisely now. Mu-yeong patiently waited an additional five minutes before dialing Han Seo-yoon. Clearing his throat a few times, he unleashed the booming vocal projection honed through years of shouting orders in crowded restaurants.

“Seo-yoon-ssi! Good morning!”

Through the line, Han Seo-yoon’s voice crackled, ―”…Yes, Seo Mu-yeong-ssi. I’m currently driving—”

“Right now! I have something urgent to report! But I’m not sure if it’s okay to tell you directly, Seo-yoon-ssi! The person the Section Chief asked me to look into! I found where she is!”

—”What the… Does your voice have to pierce straight through the receiver? …The person?”

After Han Seo-yoon muttered in bewilderment, Choi Yook’s voice broke in over the receiver, demanding the phone. Seo-yoon handed the device over without a second’s hesitation. Dialing down his volume, Mu-yeong offered a bright, cheerful greeting.

“Section Chief, how have you been keeping?” Mu-yeong asked brightly.

—”Not particularly. Your investigation was so damn sluggish that I was getting a headache deciding whether I needed to grab you by the throat and shake you.”

“…”

—”Judging by the sound of your voice, you seem to have been keeping plenty peaceful and sound.”

“Oh, come now, of course not.” Mu-yeong chuckled playfully. “Do you know how hard I’ve been running around on my feet?”

Smoothing over the tension, Mu-yeong adopted his most endearing tone. “Having only a name to go on took a little longer than usual,” he explained with a docile smile. “Still, I tracked down her full identity as well as where she’s living.”

Mu-yeong checked his monitor. The file received from his broker the previous night was open before his eyes.

“She is seventy-eight years old,” Mu-yeong reported. “She worked as a librarian at Mangcheon Middle School for thirty-five years before retiring, and by all accounts, she had a remarkably prickly disposition.”

Her former colleagues shared a nearly identical impression of her: a rigid stickler for rules, a perfectionist. The sort of person so sharp you felt you’d get pricked just brushing past her, someone you actively steered clear of. Naturally, even after retiring, not a single person remained in touch with her.

The students’ recollections were just as consistent: You couldn’t even breathe in the library; how does it make sense that she wouldn’t let us take a sip of water; I got kicked out because my page turns were too loud… In other words, though perhaps not true of him today, Yoon Hee-sook would have been the absolute polar opposite of the young Seo Mu-yeong.

“Afterward, she worked at a small community library,” Mu-yeong said. “Her husband passed away five years ago, and she has two daughters. Right now, she’s admitted to a nursing home in Mangcheon. Should I head down there alone, or…?”

—”We go together,” Choi Yook answered without missing a beat. “Clear your schedule for about three or four days out.”

“Understood,” Mu-yeong replied. “But Section Chief?”

Mu-yeong feigned utmost caution before venturing his next words. “Could you perhaps give me your direct phone number? When we drove down to Mangcheon last time, I called Seo-yoon-ssi, but he didn’t pick up several times. I was worried he might have mistaken the location. I wouldn’t want to cause any inconvenience if I fail to attend to you properly.”

It was Mu-yeong who had meekly swallowed the sabotage they dished out, and it was entirely up to Mu-yeong how he chose to turn that sabotage to his advantage. When he laced his tone with sorrowful regret, Choi Yook let out a dry scoff.

—”Fine. I’ll read it off, so write it down.”

“Yes, sir!” Mu-yeong chimed eagerly.

—”Just make sure you take good care of my number, Seo Mu-yeong-ssi.” Choi Yook exhaled a faint, scoffing breath over the line. “Not only are you incapable of looking after your own face, but you claim you get hit by cars at the drop of a hat. I genuinely worry whether a blank sheet of paper for a brain and a scrap of paper for a carcass can properly keep someone else’s number safe.”

“Well, I…” Mu-yeong stammered softly.

—”Besides, I only have one pair of eardrums. If they rupture from listening to you screeching like that first thing in the morning, I might have to tear yours off and paste them on instead.”

“…”

When only dead air answered, Choi Yook’s voice cut in over the line, ―”You heard me, didn’t you?”

“Yes, of course,” Mu-yeong said in a subdued murmur. “Is this volume better? Could you give me the number now?”

Beaming brightly, Mu-yeong saved Choi Yook’s number. Even if Choi Yook saw right through his scheming and sought to humiliate him, pride was an inexhaustible resource for someone like Mu-yeong. Even if this wasn’t a line he could play tricks with, being able to reach him directly without any intermediaries was more than enough.

“I’ll see you then, Sec—”

The call clicked dead before he could even finish the word see. Setting his phone down, Mu-yeong began tapping away at the keyboard. At the clattering keystrokes, Kim Sang-beom swiveled his desk chair around.

“How’s the job coming along?”

Sang-beom grunted gruffly. Mu-yeong straightened his posture, making a conscious effort to meet his boss’s eyes—even though he already knew full well that doing so was impossible.

“It’s going smoothly so far,” Mu-yeong replied. “Nothing dangerous, either.”

Sang-beom gave a dry chuckle. “Right, brimming with passion. Plenty of lung power, too.”

Digging into his ear with a pinky finger, Sang-beom shook his hand dismissively.

Sang-beom spoke up, his voice dropping slightly. “By the way, Mu-yeong-ah.”

“Yes, Boss?” Mu-yeong asked, turning his head.

Sang-beom leaned in, demanding bluntly, “Did you borrow money from those loan sharks?”

The unexpected question left Mu-yeong blinking in wide-eyed astonishment. When no reply came, Sang-beom leaned forward to clarify his suspicion.

“Think about it. You’ve never been caught or cornered by anyone in your life. Yet you couldn’t shake them off from day one, and you’ve been dragging this out for so long. There’s got to be another reason, hasn’t there?”

It was an eerily accurate deduction. Yet because he wasn’t in debt as his boss assumed, Mu-yeong merely offered a faint, sheepish grin.

“No, it’s nothing financial,” Mu-yeong assured him. “Why would I ever borrow from a place like that? Especially when you give me such generous bonuses, Boss.”

“Is that so?” Sang-beom’s thick brows furrowed in quiet contemplation.

Sang-beom slowly swiveled his chair back. He toyed with an electronic cigarette, turning the device between his thick fingers.

“Remember that time you went to the golf course in Goyang?” Sang-beom asked.

“Ah, yes,” Mu-yeong recalled. “The client who suspected something going on between her husband and his younger brother…”

Mu-yeong scrambled to dredge up the memory at the abrupt change of topic. Sang-beom gave a slow nod.

“She asked us to destroy all the evidence,” the director stated bluntly.

“Pardon? Why?” Mu-yeong asked, blinking in confusion.

“Her husband got down on his knees, weeping and begging for a divorce,” Sang-beom explained. “But she swore she’d never grant him one over her dead body, so she had no use for proof in court. Said she’d rather have all three of them rot in misery than watch the two of them be happy together. Cried her eyes out while saying it.”

“Still…” Mu-yeong murmured, at a loss for words, before trailing off into silence. Sang-beom exhaled a heavy sigh.

“Yeah, plenty could be said about that,” Sang-beom went on. “She could just let go and be done with it, but she’s determined to hold on even as her palms burn to blisters. Still, if that’s how the human heart works, who am I to bark at her for being foolish? It’s not like I know the full story or every hidden wound in her past.”

That subdued baritone pierced right through Mu-yeong. He brought up that case just to tell me this. Mu-yeong couldn’t utter a single syllable. It felt as though everything from his tongue down to his throat had seized up completely.

He had never imagined his fixation on Yeongchwi Moneylending would be exposed like this. Flustered as he was, part of him felt it was for the best. There was no telling when Choi Yook might try to blackmail him using Kim Sang-beom as leverage again.

“I got caught by Section Chief Choi while tailing the youngest son of that family.”

A guilty prickle tightened across Mu-yeong’s chest as he forced the words out.

“The kid really did me wrong in the past,” Mu-yeong rattled off in a rush. “I was trying to dig up some dirt on him, but once I got caught, I claimed I was stalking him because I had an unrequited crush. For the record, he’s a guy. And yes, it’s true that I’m into men. But I don’t like you or Ho-joon that way, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

Having blurted it all out in a single breath, his head spun dizzyingly. What will he say now?

Mu-yeong squeezed his interlaced fingers tight. Sang-beom’s blunt, unreadable gaze was fixed on the potted orchid sitting alongside his president nameplate. Between the glossy leaves, a yellowish phalaenopsis was unfurling its buds. Staring intently at the orchid, Sang-beom knitted his brows.

Sang-beom frowned as he pieced it together. “The youngest son of that family… isn’t that the guy who appears in dramas? Choi Sijin.”

“You know him too, Boss?” Mu-yeong asked softly.

“He’s on the posters for the café across from our office,” Sang-beom muttered. “Handsome lad, seems everyone dotes on him.”

A brief lull fell between them. Lowering his head, Mu-yeong pressed his toes firmly into the floor.

“Are you going to fire me?” Mu-yeong blurted out, unable to bear the silence.

“Why would I do that?” Sang-beom scoffed.

“Well, Choi Sijin looks kind, cute, and completely harmless,” Mu-yeong mumbled, “while I look suspicious, bizarre, and like an accident waiting to happen.”

“What the hell is cute about a grown-ass punk?” Sang-beom barked in disgust.

“Still, you know what I mean.” Mu-yeong fidgeted under his stare.

In all honesty, Mu-yeong didn’t believe he could win a popularity contest against Choi Sijin. Even after working in this office for three whole years, he felt that way. After all, he had attended high school for three years without making a single friend, while Choi Sijin had turned the entire student body into his personal fan club.

Getting thrown out on the street would be… really tough. Still, hearing bizarre rumors come straight from his own mouth was far better than having them leak from Choi Yook’s lips. Mu-yeong scuffed his sneakers against the linoleum, making squeaking noises. Suddenly, Sang-beom strode over and rapped him sharply on the head with his knuckles.

“Ouch…?” Mu-yeong winced, rubbing his crown.

Having never anticipated a physical blow, Mu-yeong took the strike full-on. He had seen Ho-joon get clobbered at the drop of a hat, but being on the receiving end of his boss’s knuckles was a first, leaving him completely bewildered. As he stared blankly with his mouth half-open, Sang-beom crossed his beefy arms.

Sang-beom gave a heavy shrug. “Right, Mu-yeong-ah. Who doesn’t know you’re an odd duck? Hell, I barely even remember how I hired you in the first place.”

“…” Mu-yeong stood in contrite silence.

“Even so,” Sang-beom added, his voice steadying, “I’ve watched you for years.”

Sang-beom grunted, his gruff features softening a fraction. “Ever since you came in, the office has been spotless, business has been booming, and Ho-joon has brightened up a lot. If I’m buying meat for anyone, it’s you, not that damn Choi Sijin, you idiot.”

Mu-yeong looked up at him in dazed disbelief. Sang-beom probably had no idea what expression was on his face right now.

He was grateful the man couldn’t tell. The stinging pang in his chest had turned into a burning warmth. Not just his neck, but his entire face felt as if doused in steaming water. Mu-yeong wrung his clasped hands until his knuckles turned bone-white.

“…Thank you,” Mu-yeong whispered, his voice trembling faintly.

Sang-beom scoffed at the display. “Thank me for what? You should’ve just taken out a debt instead. Then I could give you a bonus for Children’s Day.”

At words tossed out like a weary sigh, Mu-yeong couldn’t help a small laugh. Sang-beom slipped into a lightweight windbreaker hanging on the wall and picked up a hiking backpack. He seemed poised to leave immediately. Mu-yeong rose from his seat.

Mu-yeong asked as he watched him pack, “Are you going on a long business trip this time?”

“Yeah, about a week,” Sang-beom replied. “Heading down to Busan.”

Sang-beom pocketed his car keys and waved a dismissive hand. It was his customary farewell, no different from any other day.

Only after he stepped out could Mu-yeong finally catch his breath. Taking several deep breaths in and out, the heat rushing to his face seemed to cool slightly. Mu-yeong threw open the stiff window. Right below, Kim Sang-beom was emerging from the building.

“Have a safe trip, Boss!” Mu-yeong called out from above.

Mu-yeong leaned out the window and shouted down into the morning air. Glancing up, Sang-beom cracked a smirk and waved him back inside. He couldn’t bring himself to pull back right away. Sang-beom looked back once more, but naturally, he failed to spot Mu-yeong. And so, without looking back again, he climbed into his car without lingering.

Watching the car shrink into the distance, Mu-yeong dug through his backpack for wet wipes. Walking over to Kim Sang-beom’s desk, he polished the jet-black president nameplate until it gleamed. The mother-of-pearl tiger inlay adorning the plate caught the morning sunlight, sparkling with radiant brilliance.