Chapter 18: 18

“You can try it.”

Kang Il-hyun handed Ja-kyung the cigarette he was smoking. Ja-kyung remained silent. Maybe he noticed. If so, how far was it? His gaze was concentrated on the cigarette Il-hyun was holding, yet a million thoughts raced through his mind. Nothing could be decided now. He briefly smiled and declined his offer.

“I have bad lungs…”

“Lie.”

Kang Il-hyun smiled and retrieved the cigarette, rubbing it in the ashtray to put it out as Ja-kyung coughed and dispersed the flying smoke with his palms. He folded his arms against the sofa and stared intently at Ja-kyung. Ja-kyung coughed again, covering his mouth with the back of his palm and examining Kang Il-hyun’s eyes. 

“Are you going to tell Grandpa?”

Il-hyun didn’t answer. Ja-kyug made a troubled expression.

“Don’t tell him. If he knows that I have a tattoo, he will scold me….”

His voice cracked like a child being scolded by his parents. He poured alcohol into the glass next to him after filling it with ice. The brown liquid was half-filled in the transparent glass. Ja-kyung looked at him uneasily, waiting for him to say anything. He took a sip without saying anything.

“What’s the big deal?”

“You know… What kind of person he is.”

“Well, the old man is old-fashioned.”

The sound of the ice moving within the glass was quite loud. Ja-kyung nodded with a gloomy expression on his face.

“That’s right… Too overprotective… So sometimes… It’s suffocating….”

Kang Il-hyun was silent as he shook the glass in his hand.

“It was fun to come here and hang out with my peers… It’s a refreshing break. In fact, in Hong Kong… I can’t even imagine…”

Ja-kyung lowered his brows and made a sad expression. He licked his lips several times and sighed as he played Zhang Yi An. When a person was in a crisis, the acting comes naturally. That’s why survival instincts were frightening. Wang Han found it difficult to teach him before.

“Because that’s how my father died… I know Grandpa cares more. But I’m an adult now. And then When the director stated that he had surreptitiously assigned someone on me… That’s why I became even angrier… It doesn’t seem too different from living in Hong Kong. It suffocating…”

His eyes were red and he stooped to speak. Il-hyun emptied all the remaining alcohol, and Ja-kyung waited for a while before continuing.

“The director must have felt the same way my grandfather did… It was unwise of me to be angry… I’m sorry.”

He bit his lower lip and lowered his eyes with an apologetic expression.  He was as silent as a dead man. When he looked up, he noticed Il-hyun checking something on his phone. He was doing something else while making people nervous. Il-hyun looked at Ja-kyung while touching his phone.

“I’m sorry. It’s an important call.”

“Yes…”

“Let’s stop here. Sleep well.”

Il-hyun stood up and make a call somewhere. While talking about a deal, he went into the bedroom and disappeared. Ja-kyung, who had been left alone, peered around the closed room with a bewildered expression. What. He made the atmosphere strange a while ago. Ja-kyung even tried to shed tears.

He got out of his seat and stared at the spot where Il-hyun had disappeared. His legs were slightly relaxed without him noticing it. When he left, the head butler approached him and asked if he wanted to eat snacks.

“No. It’s okay.”

“Why. You are still old enough to eat snacks.”

That age has long passed. He didn’t try to deceive her, but he awkwardly smiled and declined her offer. He was reminded of Wang Han’s grandmother when he looked at her. Ja-kyung moved to China to live with Wang Han’s family, where he met Wang Han’s grandma for the first time.

Even though it had been a long time since she died, the figure sitting in the small yard knitting was unforgettable. She was concerned about Ja-kyung and offered many helpful words. She also instilled in Ja-kyung the values of doing good and living. He had no idea that doing good would be killing people.

Ja-kyung, who had walked to the second floor, entered the bathroom and sighed with relief. It was the only place in the house where he could comfortably spend time. He recalled the situation he had just a little while ago. Kang Il-hyun’s words, actions, and facial expressions.

Ja-kyung wondered when did Il-hyun see the tattoo. It was probably then when the shirt he was wearing in the basement got messed up. Perhaps he saw something else. Il-hyun looked at him suspiciously one day, then looked at him like a close sibling the next, and Ja-kyung couldn’t get a clue.

He took off his glasses and turned on the water in the sink to wash his face.  He leaned against the sink and looked at himself in the mirror. As the water dripped down, there was a lingering feeling of tension on his face. He put his hand in his pants pocket to take out his phone and sat down in the bathtub.

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A long time after the signal passed, Wang Han’s voice was heard.

[What are you doing at this hour?]

“I called because I have something to ask.”

[What’s wrong with your voice? What’s going on?]

“Please find out who commissioned this work.”

Wang Han remained silent, as though he was confused. If a request comes in through an intermediary like Dmitry rather than a direct request, he should never ask or wonder about the client. Even if it was not specifically stated in the contract, it was an implicit rule in this industry. Ja-kyung has never broken it while on the task.

Wang Han’s voice was very nervous as he thought something was wrong.

[What happened?]

“No, not yet.”

[What do you mean not yet? And there’s no way Dmitry would tell you that.]

“If you tell me, I’ll give you the advance payment back and I’ll let you go.”

[Ja-kyung.]

“I’m serious.”

Wang Han did not ask any further questions. He was also uneasy from the start, so he assumed there was a motive for Ja-kyung to do this. However, starting a job and quitting in the middle was risky. When the rumors spread, there was a price to be paid in terms of customer confidentiality, whether it was money or body.

[Okay. All I have to do is find out the commissioner.]

“Please. I’m hanging up.”

After hanging up, Ja-kyung put the phone in his pocket and looked at himself in the mirror.

[You speak politely, but your eyes behind the glasses are so arrogant.]

His lips tightened. It sounds ridiculous, but at that moment, he was wondering if Kang Il-hyun was the client. It would be unexpected if others heard it. There were a lot of people who were commissioning to kill themselves.

However, it was not without reason. Shortly after starting this job, he was commissioned by a famous Russian dancer who had an affair with a politician’s wife. The man, who believed he couldn’t have the woman completely, became depressed and eventually requested Ja-kyung to kill him.

The day the woman and her husband came to see a performance, he asked to be brutally killed in front of the crowd.  He wanted to make the woman feel guilty for the rest of her life. No, even if she didn’t feel guilty, he wanted her to remember him forever. Eventually, the dancer died, and it was reported in the media for a while.

Following that, the woman also appeared frequently in the media. Despite the man’s wishes, the woman was smiling and looked to be happy. He previously stated that this was the happiest time of his life, and he hopes that it continues to remain so.

However, Kang Il-hyun was never the type of person who would live in someone’s memory or lay down his life for revenge. He wasn’t sure if it was to threaten or take someone’s life as collateral. He rubbed his wet face with his hands. He wished he could cut through Kang Il-hyun’s head and read his mind.

***

After getting out of the bathroom, Il-hyun brushed his wet hair and changed into a pair of comfortable pants. Then he went into the living room to feed and view the pet sharks in the aquarium. He proudly smiled for a while because he liked how its sharp teeth gnawed at food. He then walked to the refrigerator, pulled out two cans of beer, and returned to the bedroom.

He sat on the couch, opened a beer, and used the remote control to turn on the tv. The screen changes from advertisement to CCTV video when the button was pressed. The video displayed dozens of footage from inside and around the house. A video of Zhang Yi An’s bedroom appears as he pressed the button again.

Zhang Yi An was lying on his bed, moving his body and changing his posture as he was unable to sleep. Il-hyun drank beer while keeping his gaze fixed on the screen. He even laughed once in a while, as if watching a tv show.

Zhang Yi An, who had been tossing and turning, got up from his bed. Il-hyun thought he needed to use the restrooms, but then he took off his shirt. He knew by touching it, that Zhang Yi An’s body was stronger than he thought, and there was no flab. He licked his bottom lip with his tongue after he found a tattoo on his right shoulder.

“It was a snake.”

He saw it in the basement, but it wasn’t until now that he confirmed the exact shape. He takes off his shirt and pants, then lays down on a pair of panties. It was unfortunate that the skin color was not revealed due to the night vision function.

Yi An couldn’t sleep even after taking off his clothes and tossing and turning. He covered his body with a blanket and kicked it again. Until yesterday he was still conscious of the CCTV and was careful, but now he was not afraid of being caught by the CCTV.

Then, at some point, his movements decreased, and he coiled up like a fetus and went asleep. Il-hyun crumpled up the empty beer, grabbed the remote, and turned off the tv. After the other lights were turned off, there was only one light remaining in the room.

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