Double Junk - 132

In the past, life was fun, but since I was born, I thought I should live well. Even if it’s a vulgar life, I should live trudging along. Since I don’t want to suffer, I shouldn’t die either. You saw how horrific and painful it is to die in a traffic accident, so I thought I should delay that suffering as much as possible. But now, I don’t even have that lukewarm desire anymore.

Ajin spoke in a depressing way as he sighed deeply. The spring breeze grazed his cheek.

“……”

Flower Lady didn’t respond at all. She just looked at Ajin with distorted eyes.

Ajin snickered as if he expected that and turned his head back outside. Flower Lady secretly squeezed his hand tightly.

And the next day, when Ajin woke up late in the morning, Flower Lady was cleaning the room. She even had on the work pants she usually wore for kitchen chores.

This was the first time Flower Lady did anything since returning to this house at Ajin’s insistence. She had always acted like someone who could leave this house anytime, like someone who wanted to leave.

As Ajin slowly blinked his eyes looking at Flower Lady, she tapped his calf and nagged at him.

“What are you blankly staring at? Go wash your face and come back. Don’t just stay looking like a dog that rolled in poop.”

“……….”

Ajin didn’t respond. This exceedingly ordinary scene and situation didn’t feel real. He felt like he still hadn’t woken up from sleep. Then Flower Lady folded the mop and snapped at him sharply.

“Ah, hurry up!”

“……Okay.”

Ajin reluctantly got up his heavy body. And he dragged his feet out of the room. Flower Lady sighed repeatedly while watching his back.

After that day, Flower Lady became very diligent and moved around busily. Even when Ajin disliked it, she took him for walks around the yard and personally cooked meals for them to eat together. When Ajin protested asking why she bothered when food just came anyway, she cursed him out harshly.

One day, a young puppy was somehow wandering around the yard. Ajin and Flower Lady sat huddled together all day watching that puppy. When it rained, they watched the rain, and they went around looking at flowers here and there around the house.

In the midst of this, Seokju still came and left a small basket on the porch every day. Ajin pretended not to notice, but Flower Lady rummaged around eating whatever was edible. Ajin got upset telling her not to eat it, but she didn’t listen at all.

Ajin easily realized that Flower Lady was constantly trying hard. It must be to somehow erase the idea of death that came out of his mouth. She seemed worried that he might actually follow her in dying.

But strangely, the more Flower Lady tried, the deeper Ajin sank into the abyss.

A life where he had to make an effort to live. A life where he had to find a reason to live. An imperfect life where not a single thing was complete – not his body with a disabled leg, not his shattered soul. A life that would be imperfect forever going forward.

How could he not want to give up a life like that?

“I feel like I’m possessed by a ghost.”

Ajin muttered in a flat voice.

“You are possessed by a ghost. When you suddenly get thoughts you’ve never had before, it means a wicked ghost has latched onto you.”

Flower Lady stroked Ajin’s cold knees as she spoke.

“When you suddenly get lazy, eat a lot, eat little, or get sleepy – it’s all because of ghosts.”

“……….”

“None of it is because of you. So don’t blame yourself, and don’t be defeated. Don’t let those wretches defeat you, Ajin.”

“Why?”

“…….”

“Do I have to win? Those ghosts probably latch onto me because they’re pitiful and need something too. What if I share some of my spirit with them?”

Ajin waved his hand in the air as if trying to touch a ghost.

“…….”

Flower Lady silently stared at Ajin’s profile as he muttered those words. Then she lightly stroked his wrist. She felt the soiled bandage. The bandage that hadn’t been changed for several days had already become old. Flower Lady suppressed a sigh inwardly.

“Why don’t you take the medicine you got from the hospital?”

“It doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m all better.”

“You’re not better when your bandage looks like this. At least change the bandage. And apply some ointment too.”

“It’s fine.”

Ajin pulled his hand away from Flower Lady’s grip. Then he bent over awkwardly and let out a long sigh, as if expelling the things inside him – his soul, his idle thoughts, or whatever.

“Then I won’t take medicine either,” Flower Lady stated firmly. At that, Ajin slightly raised the corner of his mouth.

“…Looks like a ghost has possessed the ajumma too.”

After saying that, Ajin chuckled and laughed, but didn’t say anything more. Yet he didn’t nag even a syllable of the usual “But you still need to take medicine” or “But you still need to sleep.”

The corners of Flower Lady’s eyes reddened as if scratched by fingernails.

*

“Hyungnim. A body was found under a Han River bridge, missing the right arm and ear.”

Seokju’s fountain pen, which had been moving leisurely, abruptly stopped. He just looked up ahead. Myeongjin, who had been sitting askew in the chair in front of the desk, straightened his posture and continued speaking.

“It seems it was originally floating in the water and drifted ashore. The body was wearing a dress shirt and suit pants, but the face was so bloated from the water that it was completely unrecognizable. Not just the face, the body was also bloated, and flesh tore off and got mangled when they pulled it out.”

“So. Is it Park Ki-heon?”

“They say it’s very rare for unidentified bodies to be fully dressed like that. But this one was wearing a suit, and was missing an arm, so the police apparently contacted Park Ki-heon’s family.”

“……”

“Of course, we also got a call to go take a look. But what are we going to see? They said it was bloated up like dumplings boiled yesterday.”

“……’

“Anyway, this morning Park Ki-heon’s wife went to the police station to identify the body and came out……”

“Came out……”

“Yeah. It was Park Ki-heon.”

At those words, Seokju took a deep breath. He put down his fountain pen and sank deeply into his chair. Myeongjin scratched his chin as he continued explaining.

“I don’t know how she recognized him, but well, she’s his wife you know. Maybe the ankles looked the same, or the vertical wrinkles on the chin were the same, or he was wearing his wedding ring on his left hand……”

“…….”

“That ajumma told her sons to go take a good look, but they said she looked about to be turned over from crying so hard. And she actually did faint at one point. Then when they thought she’d go straight home, she went into a cafe near the police station, ordered coffee, and just bawled again. She probably couldn’t cry in front of her kids at home. It’s not something a son can sit and watch his mom do as she cries ‘Your dad is gone.'”

Seokju picked up the pack of cigarettes on the desk. Myeongjin quickly took out a lighter from his pocket. Seokju waved his hand dismissively and lit the cigarette himself. Then he exhaled a long stream of smoke and asked,

“What about the funeral? Will they cremate him?”

“No. If they were in a hurry to cremate him, I’d think this bastard made a body similar to his and ran off. According to the ajumma, the Park family has a separate burial mountain in their genealogy records. He’ll be buried there.”

“…….”

“There won’t be a separate funeral ceremony. Since he died in a rather unsavory way, and with the Junghopa disbanded, no one will come pay respects for fear of getting caught in any trouble…”

“…I see.”

Seokju raked a hand through his hair. While Park Ki-heon’s death was certainly good news, he felt strangely uncomfortable for some reason.

His death wasn’t tragic enough, that’s why Seokju felt that way. It was satisfying that Park Ki-heon died falling into the water while running away missing an arm, but Seokju disliked that there were people who would mourn his death, hold his funeral, bury him, and miss him.

Even though it wasn’t his responsibility, even though he was the one who ordered Park’s family to be spared, he still felt that way.

Seokju took a deep drag of his cigarette. The cigarette became extremely short in an instant. As he exhaled smoke through his nostrils,

Ring ring –

The telephone rang, shaking the president’s office. Seokju picked up the receiver and brought it to his ear.

“Yes.”

-……

There was no response on the other end. Seokju furrowed his brow. No one would prank call this expensive line, and no organization would pull a stunt like this either. Unless it was one of Park Ki-heon’s remaining rats trying to threaten him? As he was thinking that, an unexpected voice came from the other side.

-It’s me… Flower Lady.

Seokju’s back immediately straightened.

“Has something happened to Ajin?”

-No, not that. But it seems like something will happen soon.

“What do you mean by that?”

-Uh, our Ajin is… Please save him. Do whatever it takes, please… save the kid…

At “please save him”, Seokju abruptly stood up from his seat. The cigarette with only the butt left dropped and scattered ashes everywhere.

*

Ajin was sitting in the central garden in the middle of the house. The place with the shade of the large mugunghwa tree and the pond with aimlessly circling carp was perfect for wasting time.

Ajin lay on his side on a bench, slowly blinking his eyes. Around this time, Flower Lady would usually come running and slap his back, dragging him to eat lunch. But it was quiet today. Was she eating alone because she didn’t want to see him picking at his food? If Flower Lady at least ate something, that was fortunate – that’s what he was thinking.

Then the sound of heavy footsteps approached. It wasn’t Flower Lady’s footsteps. The stride was much bigger, heavier, and faster. Ajin’s eyes coolly narrowed at the creaking sound on the wooden floor, as if memories he had tried not to dredge up were resurfacing.

Even clearly hearing those footsteps, Ajin didn’t move an inch. This was free time. The time when Seokju wasn’t home. The time when even the house staff lazed around not doing anything. The time Ajin was alone in the courtyard.

Then, as the footsteps drew even closer, a shadow loomed over Ajin’s face. Ajin just rolled his eyes to look at the owner of the shadow.

Seokju was standing there.