A Somewhat Unusual Lawyer - Chapter 9

The grandmother, having rummaged through the room, slowly returned to the living room tightly grasping an old mobile phone.
Her slightly trembling fingertips swiped the screen a few times, and presently, she held out a text message to Inspector Jang Joo-young.

“Here, here it is.”

[Room 304, Lucky 2 Dollar Gosiwon, 12 Jimang-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul]

Jang Joo-young silently scanned the address.
He took a picture of the screen with his mobile phone camera and immediately nodded toward Nam Da-reum.
The grandmother carefully put the phone back in her embrace and began to ramble on about information that hadn’t even been asked for.

“Actually, that Jae-soo guy never tells us his address. Maybe because he grew up without a mother and father, he doesn’t show affection. Even we didn’t know where he lived until recently.”

At that sound, Jin Pil-seong crossed his arms and spoke as if wondering.

“Huh? Then how did you know this address, Grandma?”

The grandmother deeply bowed her head for a moment, as if catching her breath.
A deep sigh seemed to sink all the way down to her waist.

“The gosiwon owner called me, I don’t know how he found my number. He said the rent was a year overdue, and he hadn’t seen him in a long while, asking if he was going to clear out his belongings. You don’t know how my heart sank when I heard that.”

The grandmother pressed her forehead firmly for a moment, as if a headache were washing over her.

“I told him I’d pay the rent, so I got the address. I told him I’d pay it, so please don’t kick our boy out. Actually, Jae-soo provided the 500 million won deposit for this house, you know? That’s why we hurriedly decided to move. If he asks for it back, we have to return it anytime… This old woman didn’t even know the child was struggling and just lived comfortably in a nice house. I’m crazy. I am.”

At that moment, the grandmother’s words cut off abruptly as if sliced by a knife.
As if she had mistakenly let slip a sentence she shouldn’t have spoken out loud.
Her pupils shook rapidly from side to side.
Jin Pil-seong and Jang Joo-young simply nodded, assuming it was just the exhausting circumstances of the grandparents, but only Nam Da-reum sharply caught the change in her expression and her choice of words.

‘He was dismissed, yet he still possessed a large sum of 500 million won?’

The 500 million won Han Jae-soo received.
That money cannot be explained unless it was a payoff.

‘A payoff for what. The price of silencing Prosecutor Go Kang-hyun? Or the payoff for erasing the truth Go Kang-hyun was chasing? What on earth did a third-year prosecutor touch for a massive sum of 500 million won to move?’

Questions bit the tails of questions and snowballed.
And before he knew it, only one conclusion remained in Nam Da-reum’s head.
This tangled skein of thread will not unravel unless he meets Han Jae-soo directly.
Meanwhile, the grandmother clasped Inspector Jang Joo-young’s hands together and pleaded earnestly.

“Our Jae-soo… please look favorably upon him. He lost his parents early and grew up roughly under grandparents who had nothing, but he originally isn’t a truly bad kid. If you just guide him properly once, he will be able to live like a human being again. Detective, I am begging you.”

Nam Da-reum lifted his gaze and looked at the grandmother.
The name of her crime was still wavering like a snake above her forehead.
There was no need to think complicatedly anymore.
It doesn’t matter if her outward appearance seems good, or if her tone contains heartbreaking twists and turns.
Right now, there was only one important fact.
This old woman clearly knows ‘what’ Han Jae-soo committed.
And the weight of that crime is not hidden by any tearful appeals.

“Thank you! We will contact you separately!”

Jang Joo-young left a polite bow toward the grandmother and left the house.
The three men stopped walking on one side of the emergency stairs in the hallway.
Jang Joo-young muttered in a low voice.

“This, gives me a really bad feeling.”

Jin Pil-seong, who was going down the stairs ahead, grumbled as he adjusted his jumper.

“Ah, then let’s just go right now.”

As if their minds were connected, Jin Pil-seong added one more remark.

“Isn’t it the rule that in this kind of investigation, you have to strike while the iron is hot? To just go back to Lawyer Nam’s house like this and sit around chewing on cold chicken, doesn’t it feel too uncomfortable on the back of your head. What do you want to do, Lawyer Nam?”

From Nam Da-reum’s perspective, it was rather better.
He quietly nodded.

“Sounds good. Let’s go now.”

After turning through complex alleys a few times, an old 5-story brick building appeared.

[Lucky 2 Dollar Gosiwon]

The signboard hanging precariously on the exterior wall of the building was already half-peeled, so only the word ‘Lucky’ could barely be read.
Jin Pil-seong brushed his hands and said.

“…It’s only ‘Lucky’ in name, why is it so ominous.”

Every time the wind blew through the alley, the iron signboard above the gosiwon’s entrance clattered with an unpleasant sound.

“This is the place.”

Jang Joo-young stepped inside first.
In the narrow hallway, the stale smell of cigarette smoke, naphthalene, and the smell of someone cooking ramen were dizzyingly mixed.
A man in his 50s, sitting at a small counter too crude to be called a front desk, raised his head with a sleazy gaze.

“What brings you here? We don’t have any rooms right now.”

Jang Joo-young took out and showed his police officer ID and asked point-blank.

“Room 304, is Mr. Han Jae-soo here?”

When the name Han Jae-soo came out, the gosiwon owner’s eyebrows twitched.
And he asked back in an extremely strange tone.

“Mr. Han Jae-soo? …Why? Is that person dead?”

It was a nonsensical remark.
At the unexpected reaction, Jin Pil-seong suddenly shouted.

“Excuse me?? What are you saying right now? We’re asking if he’s here, why are you asking if he died.”

Jang Joo-young’s eyes also narrowed sharply.
However, Nam Da-reum caught the subtle nuance contained in the owner’s words.
He strode forward, glaring into the owner’s eyes, and asked.

“Why do you think he would be dead? Was there some problem regarding his personal safety recently?”

When he questioned persistently, the gosiwon owner waved his hands dismissively and grumbled.

“Noo, a guy who’s a year behind on his rent hasn’t shown his nose, and then burly detectives come looking for him. I just asked wondering if he committed suicide or something.”

Jin Pil-seong heavily scrunched his brow.

“Ah, boss! How can you speak like that. About a living person.”

The owner leaned back, making his chair creak, and rubbed his nose.

“Ah, geez. I just meant the expression was like that, why are you getting all serious. So what about Han Jae-soo? I haven’t seen his face recently, and it’s been a long time since contact was cut off. He keeps falling behind on rent. I just said it because it wouldn’t be strange if he died today or tomorrow. I didn’t mean anything special by it.”

Jin Pil-seong clicked his tongue.

“Wow. Even still, that’s just.”

The gosiwon owner rubbed his eyes and said.

“Ah, well whatever. I was planning to pick the lock, go in, and clear all his belongings out once midnight passes today anyway.”

Jang Joo-young looked back at Nam Da-reum and asked back briefly.

“Forced opening, would there be any legal problems?”

Nam Da-reum nodded and answered.

“This place… is a gosiwon registered as an accommodation business, so it’s a place that doesn’t receive protection under the Housing Lease Protection Act. Accommodation business regulations apply here, so if they don’t follow the usage rules set by the owner, a forced eviction measure is possible. Especially since it’s a one-year delinquency, it becomes a justifiable reason.”

When Da-reum’s explanation ended, the gosiwon owner giggled and grabbed his bundle of keys.

“Phew~ That takes a load off my mind. While we’re on the subject, wanna go check it out? Since the detective gentlemen came looking for him, the timing is perfect. What do you say, I’ll unlock the door, will you take his belongings? Looking closely, it seems you came to investigate something.”

Jin Pil-seong checked Jang Joo-young’s expression and chimed in.

“What do you think. Since we’re here, wouldn’t it be better to take a look.”

Jang Joo-young, who deliberated for a moment, made a decision.

“Then, let’s go check it out once.”

The gosiwon owner brushed his palms and stood up from his seat.
Then he passed through the narrow door and came out of the booth.
For some reason, he had a relieved face.

“Then follow me. I was wondering what to do while putting this off and off… this is great.”

The three men followed the owner toward the end of the narrow, dark hallway.
The passageway was full of moisture, and an old exhaust fan on the ceiling was spinning with a squeaking sound.
Arriving in front of Room 304, ‘Unpaid Notice’ and ‘Eviction Warning’ stickers in red letters were plastered in layers.
Jin Pil-seong blew a low whistle.

“Wow… At this level, it’s true the boss endured a lot too.”

The gosiwon owner grabbed the doorknob with a displeased face.

“Tell me about it. I’m a good person, so I let it slide a few times… I swear, if you show them goodwill, they think you’re a pushover.”

He fumbled through his bundle of keys, picked one out, and inserted it into the lock.
When the owner inserted and turned the key, the door pushed inward with a click sound.
Creaaak.
From inside the room, instead of a musty smell, the scent of air freshener wafted out subtly.

“…?”

Jin Pil-seong sniffed his nose and stepped into the room.

“Wow… I thought it would reek of a bachelor’s smell, but it’s way cleaner than I thought?”

When they turned on the fluorescent light, an unrealistically tidy room was revealed.
The blanket on the bed was folded with sharp angles like in a military barracks, and the desk was completely empty without a single speck of dust or a single cup.

“What the… his belongings, is this all?”

Jin Pil-seong scanned the inside of the room once and looked back at the gosiwon owner.
Even Jang Joo-young questioned again.

“Han Jae-soo. Did he not have many belongings when he moved in?”

The gosiwon owner shrugged his shoulders.

“He just brought one suitcase from the beginning, and asked me to hold onto it, so I put it in the rooftop storage room. No, but he seems to be a very clean person. I was worried it would be a trash can when I opened the door.”

The gosiwon owner looked around the room as if amazed.
Jang Joo-young urged the gosiwon owner.

“The suitcase, can we see it now?”
“You can see it~ But the storage room key is at the front desk. I’ll go get it. Detectives, take a look around here a bit more, and wait up on the stairs. I’ll bring it right up.”

The owner hurriedly went out into the hallway.
Nam Da-reum finally stepped into the room.
A space that was rather bizarre because it was too clean.
Air mixed with the smell of detergent and artificial fragrance.
The traces of life were perfectly removed.
Nam Da-reum suddenly recalled the crime scene of Prosecutor Go Kang-hyun.
A crime scene where not a single drop of blood or a single fingerprint was seen.

‘…Is this person the type who pathologically hates leaving traces?’

In an instant, his own crime scene overlapped.
The only stain he couldn’t perfectly process.
The opponent he couldn’t perfectly kill.
A case that ended in failure, unable to kill or finish cleaning up the crime scene.
He had a faint premonition that perhaps in his head, the name ‘Nam Da-reum’ would remain like an inerasable stain.

“Lawyer Nam, do you see anything?”

Jin Pil-seong asked, but Nam Da-reum only gave a short shake of his head.

“Not yet. Let’s check the suitcase first. If those really are all his belongings… I don’t think there’s much we can gain from here.”

Jang Joo-young glanced to check his watch and gave instructions.

“Pil-seong, you meticulously collect photographic evidence here. Lawyer Nam, let’s go up to the rooftop together.”

Da-reum scanned the interior one last time as he left the room.
An ominous premonition crept up his spine.
Jang Joo-young, who came out to the hallway, called out to the owner downward.
No answer returned from below the stairs.
Jang Joo-young narrowed his brows and looked at Da-reum.

“I’ll go down and bring the boss. Lawyer Nam, you stay at the rooftop entrance first. I’ll follow right behind.”

Once the roles were decided, the two naturally scattered.
Nam Da-reum moved his steps toward the stairs.
Every time he climbed the stairs, the sensor light installed on the ceiling repeatedly turned on and off slowly.
The timing of the light turning on kept missing strangely.
Clack, clack.
The sound of his shoe heels echoing as they hit the stair wall even made him feel the illusion that someone was following right behind him.
Upon reaching the 5th floor, the iron door leading to the rooftop entered his vision.
There was one sensor light hanging on the ceiling, but this time it didn’t turn on.

“…Is it broken.”

Nam Da-reum stopped for a moment and looked up.
Only the faint reflected light coming up from the lower floor barely revealed the outline of the stairs.
At that moment when darkness was swallowing the corner next to the iron door whole.
A damp breathing sound was heard from beneath the dead light.
Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine.
He waved his hand in the air a few times, but the sensor light ultimately didn’t turn on.
Instead, a faint silhouette quietly revealed itself in the darkness.
Short-cropped hair, a posture that wasn’t leaning.
A sense of balance that felt strange even though the tension was released from the shoulders.
Nam Da-reum quietly let out a voice toward the darkness.

“By any chance… are you Mr. Han Jae-soo.”