Lee Young-jin’s eyes blinked widely. Park Eun-young’s expression didn’t change. She continued in a subdued voice, her gaze sunken.
“Don’t think he cares about you. He’s not who you think he is.”
“That’s…”
“I heard from Jung-hoon. You’ve been together since you were young?”
“Yes, that’s right. Teacher helped me go to high school and even after that, took care of me so I could live, a good…”
“A truly good adult wouldn’t give a kid like you this kind of job to make a living; they would have helped you graduate from school.”
Park Eun-young sneered.
Lee Young-jin couldn’t respond, simply because he couldn’t understand her words. Not ‘this kind of job’ but ‘school’. Lee Young-jin tried to find any context that might be hidden between the lines but failed. Therefore, he kept his lips tightly sealed, not even letting out a breath.
“I’m not saying I’m a good adult. We’re all the same bastards. Me, Jung-hoon, and that bastard teacher.”
A self-deprecating smile briefly crossed her lips and then disappeared.
“So don’t trust Teacher too much and take care of your own future. You got that? Jung-hoon never trusted Teacher either.”
“But, teacher and uncle have been together since…”
“Yeah, yeah. They’ve worked together for twenty years. What’s the use of that?”
She picked up a can of soda and brought it back to her lips. Her throat gulped. The can dropped from her lips, and she shrugged her shoulders while holding the can in one hand.
“That’s all I have to say. Got anything else you want to ask?”
Lee Young-jin stared at her silently. His black eyes were so clear, it seemed like he had no thoughts at all.
After a moment, he slowly opened his mouth.
“Why do they run a witness protection program?”
“To try and save my own life.”
“From whom?”
“Well, who could it be?”
She grinned.
A sly and ambiguous smile appeared and disappeared around the eyes of the slippery Omega.
“Anyway, don’t get involved anymore. Don’t come looking for me either.”
Then, she narrowed one eye suspiciously and asked.
“Did… Teacher tell you to find me?”
Lee Young-jin was about to lie and say no, but he missed the timing. Park Eun-young noticed the lie before he could actually speak it out. She cursed softly and suddenly stood up from the sofa, leaning on it with one hand.
“Fuck. Then you came here because…”
“No!”
Lee Young-jin interrupted her somewhat desperately.
“No. That’s not it… The reason I came here, nobody knows.”
Park Eun-young looked down at him with a twisted face. Her entire body was tensely strained, and every muscle seemed ready to spring into action.
Lee Young-jin raised his chin, his pale face stained with anger and fear.
“Really. Nobody knows. Not the police, not Teacher, not Detective Oh Kyung-won who’s watching sister.”
“Ha…”
Park Eun-young sighed deeply. Her chest rose and fell a couple of times before calming down.
“You even found out about Oh Kyung-won. Well, with your skills, it’s not strange. So, did you really come here just because of Jung-hoon?”
Lee Young-jin nodded.
Park Eun-young crossed her arms and quickly circled the narrow living room a few times. When her walking stopped, her face was calm again.
“Jung-hoon talked a lot about you when we were escaping from Shanghai.”
“Uncle Jung-hoon?”
“Yes. He said it was pitiful, you were a good kid, not meant for this kind of work.”
At that, Lee Young-jin dropped his head. His gaze wandered near the foot of the sofa. He clasped his hands tightly to hide the trembling, but the cold sweat on his pale temples couldn’t be concealed.
“It’s up to you to find out what really happened to Jung-hoon. Whether he’s moved from Shanghai to somewhere else, or returned to Korea… nobody knows. If you’re lucky, he might have fled to Guangzhou or Beijing.”
She deliberately didn’t mention the opposite possibility. But Lee Young-jin understood well enough.
Lee Young-jin nodded and slowly got up from the sofa.
His knees and toes didn’t seem to hold strength well. It felt as if his body had suddenly turned into a lead weight, but he managed to bear it.
“Got it. …Thank you, sister.”
Park Eun-young didn’t respond.
Leaving Park Eun-young’s house and walking two blocks back to the car, raindrops fell. It was exactly in between snow and rain. The melting semi-liquid crystal dropped on Lee Young-jin’s white and round forehead and ran down between his eyebrows. Lee Young-jin wiped it off with his sleeve and got into the car.
He mechanically started the car, shifted gears, and pressed the accelerator.
There wasn’t much time left until the CCTV would start working again. He had to leave this place by then.
The car jolted significantly. Instead of the accelerator, he had pressed the reverse pedal. The rear bumper barely scraped the right wall. Lee Young-jin turned the steering wheel, but to the right instead of the left. The side of the car scraped against the wall.
“Haa. Haa.”
Lee Young-jin took a deep breath.
And pressed his forehead against the steering wheel he was holding.
His back and shoulders heaved a few times before settling down.
‘I have to return to Seoul.’
He thought, taking shallow breaths.
‘To return to Seoul and…’
Park Eun-young’s sharp question spun around in his head. ‘Did Teacher ask you to find me?’ The answer to why he participated in the witness protection program. ‘To try and save my own life.’ From whom? ‘Well. Who could it be?’
“Ah.”
Lee Young-jin barely lifted his head. His gaze automatically turned to the digital clock. The numbers flashing in the black LCD had just changed from 10:00 to 10:01. The CCTV was back in operation. Lee Young-jin forced strength into his trembling hands and tightly gripped the steering wheel. This time, he correctly pressed the intended pedal with the tip of his foot.
The car slowly exited the narrow alley.
The CCTV, now restored to its vision above the streetlights, stared blankly at its tail.
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