Chapter 1.6
The door opened and the sound of footsteps stopped nearby for a while. Then, the door on the other side opened and there was a sound of water. When the consciousness that had been rising subsided again, there was a sound of a cloth rustling. Again, the footsteps stopped nearby. My consciousness repeatedly came in and out.
All the noises disappeared with the door being closed. There were sounds of footsteps running in a hurry and rustling sounds somewhere, but there was no sound that annoyed my ears. Absurdly, a complete silence pulled me by the hair.
As I opened my eyes wide, the ceiling with sunlight permeating through the blinds entered my sight. Unlike my throbbing face, my body felt refreshed. I didn’t know how long it had been since I slept this well. However, I strangely felt angry because I slept like a log.
When the view that couldn’t be in my life filled my eyes, I slowly thought about what happened yesterday. Was the door sound earlier, a sound of the entrance door getting closed? I put my feet on the floor. The floor that was not cold convinced me of the reality. I got up and walked to the man’s bedroom.
The door was left open, and I could see all the inside without needing to act cautiously. When I entered the room, the first thing I saw was the big bed. There was a gray blanket disheveled there. Next to it was a small drawer and such, and one wall was filled with a built-in closet.
The closet was open. The same black suit jackets, pants, and white shirts were lined up. As I took a look slightly, all of them were from the same brand. There was also no big difference in their design. There were also casual clothes, but they were only comfortable clothes for home wear. I touched the neat neckties, then I opened a drawer.
There were only three watches. All of them looked expensive, but I didn’t know whether they were real or fake. In the first place, I didn’t even know if they were branded items or not. Once I closed the drawer, I saw a door inside the room. When I opened the door, there was a small hallway with a mirror and there was another door inside. It was a bathroom, and there was a bathtub here.
There was nothing to see inside the man’s bedroom. It was a space that only functioned as a bedroom and dressing room. Walking out of the room, I opened the door in the other direction. It was a room with half of its sides filled with bookshelves. There was a big round chair that looked very comfortable under the window. If I sat there, I felt like my body would get buried.
This was the only place arranged warmly in this cold yet deserted place. I didn’t want to enter it, so I quickly walked out.
Next was the second floor. I slowly walked up the stairs, but there was really nothing there. I sat on the sofa after coming down from taking a look at an exceptionally dark place.
Nothing to do. There was also nothing that I must do. The man left without saying anything to me. Where did he go? Work? Is he really a prosecutor? If the man had actually read the books filling the bookshelf in that room, he might really be a prosecutor.
Spending time doing nothing like this was comfortable, but also uncomfortable. Somehow, the sun had already risen more and its light pushed through the blinds. Last night…… I thought the window was opened. I got up and opened the blinds. The scenery I saw from the high floor in the morning was abnormally dazzling.
Looking up from the bottom was breathless. Stairs that seemed endless, slopes-like alleys that require climbing up, and houses that were no different from tightly attached shacks.
Looking down from the top made my heart empty. It felt like everything filled it wholly and then was pushed away in an instant. I closed the blind again because my head turned blank. I laid down on the sofa and put the blanket over my body. A strange feeling hit my eyelids.
When I woke up again, a familiar hunger visited me back. I folded the blanket and went to the kitchen, then I saw a card with a memo on it on top of the dining table.
[Use this.]
It seemed like it was written hastily, but it was not hard to read it. It was a normal credit card, but I laughed because this was ridiculous. Why did he leave a card when he doesn’t know what I want? If the man was a real prosecutor, I could get in trouble if I used this recklessly.
While hitting the table with the edge of the card, my attention turned to the clothes I had taken off. I took out the business card I put in my pants pocket. Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Criminal Division 3. Now that I looked at it, the number part was sticking out.
If I wanted to know if this was true, I just needed to go and see. As I had made up my decision, the next was easy. After taking a shower and wearing my clothes, I took the card.
Before I left, I put my hand inside the jacket’s inner pocket and took out the envelope of money I put there. I had an ominous feeling about bringing this to the prosecutors’ office. If I wanted to hide this outside, I had to find a good spot, as I looked around for a few days. Thus, for now, I had to hide this in the man’s house…
The kitchen was likely the place in this house that wasn’t touched by the man. When I opened the cupboard, there were bowls and cups, all of which were plastic. I thought he would open this place often, so I looked at the drawer below. Kitchen supplies that were not opened or looked new were piled up. As I hid the envelope underneath it, it was so perfect. I closed the drawer and went outside.
The subway station and bus stops were close, but the problem was, I didn’t know the location of the prosecutors’ office. Because I had no mobile phone, let alone a smartphone that had a lot of features, I couldn’t search it up. When I put my hand in the pocket, it grazed against the card. I grabbed a taxi after thinking for a while.
“Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.”
When I said the destination, the driver sent me a look through the mirror. I ignored him and looked outside the window. The taxi soon departed.
I memorized the route while looking outside. The taxi stopped earlier than I thought. After paying with the card the man left, I got out of the taxi.
The entrance was large, and the way inside was long. I was feeling uneasy as I was about to step in, but I had to be confident, even if there was something I felt guilty about. Remembering that I didn’t come here because of crime, I slowly took a step ahead.
There were a lot of monotone buildings with the same shape inside. I didn’t know where I should go, but for now, I headed to the place with many people coming. As I got closer to the building, there was a sign. I felt like I had come to the right place, but I hesitated to come inside. It was because I saw a metal detector beyond the entrance.
I wasn’t on the wanted list, nor did I have anything dangerous, but I didn’t want to get scanned. Something that you try to hide is bound to be more obvious than something you have. It was awful thinking that I would get inspected under that machine—although it was impossible for that machine to find out that I lived by stealing people’s wallets.
Is there no other entrance? Even if there is, it will be the same. My hands felt enervated. My nails grazed against the business card.
I felt like the building was glaring at me. I tried to brace myself against the unknown pressure while staring at the entrance where people walked in and out. Then,
“Do you have business here?”
As I quickly turned my head at the voice that was clinging to my ears, the man stood a few steps away and was looking at me. The man with finely brushed hair, and a properly worn tie. Even though he was properly dressed, somehow he was disharmonious.
The man glanced at the watch on his wrist, then tilted his head and smiled.
“Did you come to see me?”