You-jeong Jeong - The Good Son

‘And you didn’t see your mother leave either?’ Choi asked Hae-jin.

‘No.’

‘Why not?’

Hae-jin began to flush, uncomfortable under my gaze. I didn’t look away so that he wouldn’t change his mind and say something incriminating. ‘I slept over at a friend’s studio in Sangam-dong the night before.’

‘So your friend was there too.’

‘No, he doesn’t live there. I was there alone.’

‘So you weren’t home when either your aunt or your mother disappeared from this flat?’

Hae-jin was about to say something but stopped. His face and even his ears were red. Choi observed his discomfort. The other detective was standing by the key cabinet again, pretending to look at its contents.

‘So nobody sees your mother leave the house,’ Choi summarised. ‘The older brother is out and the younger one is asleep in his room. That afternoon, someone who claims to be Kim Ji-won files a false robbery report. The next day her sister files a missing persons report, then she visits this flat and falls out of touch with everyone. The older brother is not home, but the younger one is. Did I get that right?’

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘So you’re here because nobody knows where Mother or Auntie is?’ Hae-jin asked.

‘You must have heard about the murder two nights ago?’ The other detective came to stand next to Choi.

Neither of us answered.

‘And around the same time, two women who live nearby, sisters at that, disappear, one after the other. Doesn’t that mean it could somehow be linked with the murder? I’d like to ask you something,’ the detective said, looking first at Hae-jin and then at me. ‘I’d like to take a look in your mother’s room. In your presence, of course.’

I almost staggered. I couldn’t breathe. Hae-jin was the last person to have gone in her room. There was no way he took the time to straighten things up before running upstairs. Auntie’s belongings would be spilling out of the suitcase, the blankets and sheets would be flung off the bed, the bloody mattress would be peeking out.

‘Why?’ Hae-jin asked.

‘A living space tells you a lot about a person,’ Choi explained. ‘It could be helpful in figuring out this situation. Whether there is something going on, or if she really has gone on a retreat like you say.’

Hae-jin stared at Choi. His face was getting redder. I felt like I was suffocating, as though I was hanging from a noose on a tree. Hae-jin held all the power. Even if I said no, if Hae-jin said go ahead, they would go right ahead.

‘Mother’s not going to be happy about this when she finds out,’ Hae-jin said.

Choi looked disappointed.

‘If something has happened to your mother—’ the other detective began.

Hae-jin cut him off brusquely. ‘Go and get a search warrant first.’

‘Okay—’ Choi said, but was himself cut off by his radio, instructing them to report back to the station for an emergency. The detectives looked at each other, then around the room. ‘We will, but don’t even think about going anywhere, the two of you. We won’t be long.’

They walked out quickly and I could hear their radios on the other side of the door.

‘Put your coat on and then come back down,’ Hae-jin ordered. He was sitting at the island.

I looked back at him on my way out of the kitchen.

‘We have to go to the station so you can confess.’

Was I hearing him correctly? The detectives had left not even five minutes ago. Confess? So he hadn’t chosen me over the police after all. Or had he changed his mind?

‘You mean it?’

‘I just didn’t want you to be arrested here and dragged out,’ Hae-jin said. He had a pained expression on his face.

‘You really mean it?’ I asked again.

‘Wear something warm. It’s cold out.’

It’s cold out. Was he being serious? I nodded and looked down at my feet. I suddenly remembered the U-shaped cliff. How I used to think, each time I woke from the dream, that if I could go back, I would make sure that pebble never hit me. But now I understood. Life meant living through cycles of similar events. My variation this time might be that I needed to make a slingshot first.

‘Okay.’

Hae-jin opened his mouth but closed it without saying anything. He looked like he wanted to punch me again. I knew he wouldn’t, though; he had settled on a course of action.

‘I want to eat something first. I’m hungry.’ I went back into the kitchen, took out the cake, found a fork and started to eat while leaning against the sink. I chewed carefully and slowly, calming myself down. I didn’t need bravery, nor did I need to make a decision right now; I just needed some more time. And luck. I saw Mother’s kitchen knives to the right of the sink. I knew Hae-jin was distracted.

Hae-jin spoke in disbelief from somewhere behind me. ‘How can you eat right now?’

I wanted to tell him about a concept I’d heard about a long time ago: that like other creatures, mankind had survived because it could adapt to various situations. Look at me , I thought, I’m adapting shockingly well to the idea of betraying you. I put down the cake and the fork and pulled out the car key from my pocket. I placed it on the island.

‘What’s this?’ Hae-jin looked down at the key. He knew what it was; he’d driven the car countless times.

‘You drive.’

He took the key and stood up, his face cold and expressionless. The Hae-jin I knew, whose face was so transparent, was no longer in front of me. It was as if our years of friendship and decade of living as brothers had vanished. All the trust, consideration, understanding, sympathy we’d shared, all our brotherly love.

‘It’s snowing outside. Get your parka,’ he ordered, sliding the car key into his pocket. The other pocket contained something long and bulky. Was it my razor?

‘It won’t be cold in the car,’ I said. I turned to walk to the front door.

Hae-jin followed me, also not stopping to get a coat. In just a sweater and jeans, he shoved his bare feet into his shoes. He couldn’t let me flee, so he was going to shiver in the cold with me. I put on the trainers I’d worn two nights ago. They were still damp and caked with mud. My feet were cold.

Hello began barking as soon as we left the flat. It sounded like he was in the hallway; he must be going out. I pressed the lift call button and stood with my hands behind my back, pushing my right hand into my left sleeve and grabbing my wrist. Hae-jin was pulling the backs of his trainers over his heels.

The lift arrived. I stepped in first, my hands still behind my back. I moved awkwardly and leant against the left wall so that the CCTV wouldn’t catch my back. Hae-jin followed me in and pressed the button for the car park. He stood next to me. The lift stopped at the seventh floor. The door opened and Hello, held in his red-lipsticked owner’s arms, got in. The owner looked over at us with a smile, which quickly stiffened as she took in my swollen, bloodied face. She glanced at Hae-jin, who tensed. I sensed that he was about to reflexively say, Oh, I didn’t do this to him , before realising a second later that in fact he had.

Hello’s owner turned to face the door, looking down, and I could tell she was uncomfortable. Hello seemed to sense something too; he began to bark loudly over his owner’s shoulder, growing more and more insistent. By the time we got to the car park, his barking was so loud inside the lift that my brain felt like it was going to explode in my skull. The moment the doors slid open, Hello’s owner shot out and disappeared through the emergency exit.

‘Come on,’ Hae-jin said.

I didn’t move. He dragged me out by my arm. When he let go in front of the emergency exit, I stopped.