Is a Photo Worth More Than a Life?
The door opened with a knock, and a voice came flying in with it.
"Pardon the interruption. This here's Na Seungchan's hospital room, ain't it?"
It was none other than Section Chief Baek Gyeongsin, the man Go Gi-jin had been waiting so anxiously for.
At the welcome sound of that voice, Go Gi-jin's head snapped around at once.
"Ah..."
He'd been about to call him Uncle, but he cut himself off immediately. If I call him Uncle in front of this bastard, we're definitely gonna have trouble! It was just a gut feeling—the kind that said this guy would raise hell claiming the Go father and son had leaned on their friendship with the investigating officer to strong-arm him into a one-sided settlement.
Having reached that conclusion, Go Gi-jin said,
"Officer, sir, you made it?"
"Officer, sir." A form of address Go Gi-jin had never once used with him. The moment those words popped out, Section Chief Baek—whose instincts were second to none—caught on at once.
Ah. So the settlement talks aren't going well.
And this guy's probably got something shady going on. That's why Gi-jin's being so careful not to give him anything to seize on.
Well then. I'd better play along.
"That I did. How's the settlement coming? Going well, is it?"
"Well, we've run into a bit of a problem, y'see."
"That so? What kind of problem?"
Section Chief Baek asked as he pulled Veterinarian Go Panseok—whom Go Gi-jin had been holding onto—over to the room's single chair and sat him down. He didn't really need to ask. The point was to give the agitated veterinarian a moment to cool his head.
But Section Chief Baek's efforts were wasted.
Go Panseok, who'd been forced into the chair, shot back to his feet, his face twisting.
"That bastard wants fifty million won! Does that even make a lick of sense?"
Just then, the man who'd been sitting up flung himself flat onto the bed and howled.
"Aigoo, aigoo, my arm, my arm!"
He bellowed at the top of his lungs, his face contorted as if the pain were unbearable. Anyone could see it was an act. The bone was broken, so of course it hurt—but this was the same man who'd been calmly, point by point, demanding a settlement just moments before.
Furious at the theatrics of the man sprawled across the bed, Veterinarian Go Panseok snapped at him.
"Eutta, if you're hurting that bad, how d'you manage to ask for money? What, your mouth ain't hurting so you can still run it, is that it?"
"What did you just say?"
The man bristled, and Go Gi-jin shot his father a look of pure exasperation. Then he turned back to the man.
"My father's in so much pain he ain't thinking straight. Just take it as an old man talking nonsense."
"Hurting? Over a little bandage on his hand? He's laying it on pretty thick."
The man sneered. The other party had shown up with nothing but a bandage wrapped around his hand and been the first to bring up a settlement. Naturally, that meant they were in the weaker position—that was why they were being so deferential. Or so the man thought.
"What'd you just say?"
Go Gi-jin, who'd been holding it in this whole time, finally snapped. The man immediately turned his gaze to Section Chief Baek.
"Look at this. From the looks of it, those two are father and son—isn't this a father-son extortion ring? First the father, now the son's trying to beat me up too."
"What?"
Veterinarian Go Panseok's eyes bulged as he glared at the man. Then he drew a deep breath and said,
"I won't give you a hundred won! Not a single won! And I'm suing you too. You just wait and see!"
There was a metallic edge to his voice—you could tell he wanted to shout but was holding back because they were in a hospital.
"Go ahead, do whatever you want. Let's see who comes out worse! Has the old man gone senile? Who's the one who used violence here?"
Go Gi-jin had been keeping a low profile even after that earlier unthinking outburst, worried that if this man refused to settle, his father might end up behind bars. But those words were more than he could take. His face flushed crimson as he exploded.
"Don't you think that's going too far? Senile?"
"He is senile—what else would you call it? A man who came here to settle, honestly!"
At that, Section Chief Baek stepped in from the side.
"Gentlemen, let's all calm down now."
As he spoke, he sat Veterinarian Go Panseok back down in the chair and eased Go Gi-jin back as well. Then he addressed the man sitting on the bed.
"Sir, just settle down. Better for everyone if we keep this friendly, ain't it? Let's work out a reasonable settlement. You mess this up, you'll have a criminal record too."
The mention of assault charges—a fine, or even jail time—made the man bristle.
"What are you talking about? I was the one who got hit. How does the person who got hit get charged with assault?"
"Then what's this hand, huh? How'd my father's hand get hurt, then?"
"Self-defense! Your father, or whoever he is, came at me and I was blocking him! Don't you know what self-defense is?"
"You said he hit you with a weapon? My father wasn't holding a thing!"
"That so? Then I'm claiming self-defense too! Self-defense!"
Go Gi-jin was talking back when Veterinarian Go Panseok opened his mouth at the same time. And the words that came out of Go Panseok's mouth were self-defense.
Go Gi-jin was stunned. The man was stunned. Section Chief Baek was stunned. No matter how you looked at it, what he'd done to this man was not self-defense. So they all stood there with their mouths hanging open, staring at Veterinarian Go Panseok, when he continued.
"Stopping you from going into that ranch! If that ain't self-defense, then what is it?"
"Has this old man actually lost his mind? Stopping me from going into some ranch is self-defense?"
"Some ranch? You little—do you have any idea how many of them live over there?"
Until now, Veterinarian Go Panseok had been angry, but he'd kept his voice low and even. Watching him suddenly pour out this pent-up fury, the man frowned.
"What's gotten into this old man all of a sudden?"
"What's gotten into me? I did it to protect my children. I stopped you to save my children! If that ain't self-defense, then what is it?"
The words made even less sense, leaving the man utterly bewildered. And the force behind them had him slightly cowed. So:
"What did I do wrong?"
The first polite words out of his mouth. Veterinarian Go Panseok's assault continued.
"What did you do wrong? Fine, I'll tell you. You nearly got every last cow over there killed. Because of you!"
At the mention of cattle nearly dying, the man's expression changed in an instant.
"Oh, for crying out loud. I was wondering what this was about. Cows? Did you just say cows?"
His face said he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He even let out a scoff as he asked again.
"That's right! The cattle! The cattle and the sheep over there!"
"This old man really has lost it. Sir, what do those cows have to do with me? Did I go into the ranch and trample them to death? Did I feed them something weird? I didn't even see your cows."
"What?"
"That's a really strange thing to say."
The man answered like that, then turned to look at Go Gi-jin.
"Hey. You should take your father to a hospital. There's clearly something wrong with his head. Ah, wait. Don't tell me you're going for diminished capacity..."
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? My father's perfectly fine!"
Go Gi-jin was glaring at the man, snorting through his nose, when a cell phone rang.
"Eume, that's mine. I'll step out for just a minute—y'all keep talking settlement."
With that, Section Chief Baek opened the door and hurried out.
A brief lull settled over the room, but the fire caught again almost immediately.
"Glad to hear he's fine. I thought maybe you were planning to get off on diminished capacity or something. Anyway, since the cop's gone, let me say it again. I'll settle for a hundred million won. You don't want this getting bigger either, right? If it blows up, you're the ones who'll take the hit."
He had Go Gi-jin completely figured out. For a moment, Go Gi-jin couldn't say a word. I don't care what happens to me. But if Hyung-nim takes a hit for this, then what? Su-ho hyung-nim too.
He understood why his father had punched this man. If Go Gi-jin had been standing there himself, he would have done the same. But how would this look to other people? It was a fact that his father had hit the man in front of them. He was in a cast, after all. What if a man in a cast claimed he'd been unilaterally beaten by a drunk old man? And then claimed they'd come to his hospital room and threatened him into a settlement?
Go Gi-jin looked back and forth between the man and his father. He didn't think this man could have hit his father. That tangle of worries was still crowding his head when the man pressed him.
"Hmm, and that old man of yours still seems to be working as a vet or whatever, right? If he's using violence, or if his mind's a little... off, that's going to make it hard to keep working, don't you think? Let's just settle. I mean, I'm even willing to give you a little discount..."
"I already told you! I won't give you a single won!"
Veterinarian Go Panseok's voice rang with that metallic edge, and the man snatched the words right up.
"Aigoo, his mind really is going, isn't it? Didn't he say a hundred won earlier? This is bad, this is really bad! No wonder he's saying I tried to kill his cows when I didn't do a thing. Delusional disorder, is it?"
The man seemed to think he had the upper hand completely, and he rattled off whatever came to mind without so much as a thought of filtering it. Go Gi-jin glared at him with eyes gone blood-red. He was so worked up that the capillaries in his eyes had burst. His breathing was heavy too—heavy enough that both Veterinarian Go Panseok sitting right beside him and the man himself could feel it.
Gulp. Go Gi-jin swallowed, then opened his mouth.
"What'd you just say? You bastard, what did you just say to my father?"
Until now, Go Gi-jin had kept a low profile—and even when his irritation showed, he'd quickly dropped back into deference. That same Go Gi-jin now took a step forward, the anger he'd been holding in finally bursting out.
At that moment, Veterinarian Go Panseok, who'd been sitting beside him, rose from his seat. He grabbed his son Go Gi-jin's hand tight and spoke.
"Delusional disorder? Fine. Maybe that's how it looks to you! I don't even care if you call it that. But you—you shouldn't have done what you did."
Veterinarian Go Panseok's voice was calm. That didn't mean the anger was gone. His hand, clamped tight around his son's to keep him from throwing a punch, was trembling. He was barely holding his rage in check.
"What did I do? What exactly did I do wrong?"
What a pair of weirdos! That was written all over the man's face—the look you give a father-son extortion ring. And he fully intended to let people know, on social media, the way everyone did these days. In fact, he was already letting them know. He'd had a livestream running since the moment the father and son walked in. Of course, the two of them had no idea.
"If you don't know, then listen. I'm telling you this because you go around ranches! Don't go to ranches from now on, you hear me?"
"I travel on my own two feet—and you're telling me where I can and can't go? Why do you care where I walk?"
The man, who mainly visited ranches and farms to stage pastoral scenes for his photos and videos, snorted.
"That's why I'm saying it. I told you yesterday too! Don't go around ranches! You go here, you go there, and if you end up spreading foot-and-mouth disease, you gonna take responsibility?"
"Why would I be responsible for foot-and-mouth? A veterinarian like you should be the one responsible. Give me a break!"
The words a veterinarian should be responsible left Go Panseok speechless. He was already drowning in a guilt beyond forgiveness, and this was gasoline flung onto that fire. So he just let out a long sigh—and Go Gi-jin snapped.
"How can you say something like that? Why should a veterinarian take the blame?"
"Huh? You... hmm, was it Dr. Go? Anyway, Dr. Go, that's a really strange thing to say. If veterinarians aren't responsible for foot-and-mouth, then who is? Us? The sheer lack of responsibility here! Then again, you people only care about money."
The accusation of having no sense of responsibility had already set his blood boiling, but the only care about money was what made Go Gi-jin explode.
"What did you just say? You think you can just say whatever comes out of your mouth? What do you know? What do you know about us veterinarians?"
Huff, huff! Go Gi-jin's already blood-red eyes went even redder as he gasped for breath, so red it looked as if blood might actually be running from them.
"Do you even know what foot-and-mouth is? Do you know why my father told you not to go into that ranch? Photos? What's so important about one lousy photo? Why do you have to take pictures at a ranch?"
"Well said. Yeah, it's just one lousy photo and then I'd leave—and you won't even allow that? How nice can the scenery possibly be that you hide it away like that? No, wait. All that talk about nice facilities and pretty views is a lie, isn't it? I bet it's actually filthy and—"
"Does that even make sense? We stopped you because if someone like you goes in where they shouldn't, disease can spread! You said yourself you've been going around ranches taking pictures! That's why we blocked you from going in! Because if something went wrong, our children could get culled! Because we might have to empty the whole ranch!"
Go Gi-jin spat the words out as if he were coughing up blood. Then he poured more out.
"You. Do you know what culling is? Do you know what it means to empty a ranch? It means killing every last cow over there. Killing them all!"
Go Gi-jin was gasping for breath. Veterinarian Go Panseok tightened his grip on his son's hand and clenched both sets of molars until they ached. His chest felt as if it were being torn apart. The culling sites had come flooding back.
That's when the man tossed out:
"A bit rich coming from people who kill them every day. It's not like you slaughter cows once or twice and that's it, right? And honestly, you eat beef too, so what's the big deal? Don't tell me you're gonna say you're vegan."
At the man's words, both Veterinarian Go Panseok and Go Gi-jin, who'd been holding it in until now, shouted at the same time.
"What?"
"What did you just say?"
The atmosphere made it abundantly clear they were ready to hit him at any second. The man honestly thought this was his chance. Time to pad that settlement real nice. The livestream was already running, and there were plenty of witnesses. There'd be no wriggling out of this one. So he needled them a little more.
"You're going to get compensated anyway, aren't you? What's all the fuss about? And honestly, how long do those ranch cows even live? They just die a little earlier. The way you're going on, you'd think you raise them with love and care for ten, twenty years. It's all just to make money."
"What!"
The Go father and son came a little closer. Just what he'd wanted. The man put on a terrified expression. One more hit and I'm set.
But what came flying at him wasn't a fist. It was words.
"That's right! Those kids don't live long. That's why they ought to live easy while they can. How long do they even get—why should they live it hard? Eat well while they're alive, not be in pain. That's what my father's been working from dawn till midnight to give them!"
"Gi-jin."
"Let go! I've got something to say!"
Go Gi-jin shook off his father's restraining hand and took another step toward the man. Then he went on.
"You said you travel, right?"
"S-so what?"
"My father's never once left this country in his whole life!"
The man's face said, So? What's that got to do with anything? Go Gi-jin fired back.
"Because the cattle might get sick. Because he might pick something up wherever he went and bring it back! He always said he'd love to see those Australian cattle ranches everyone talks about, but he's never gone, not once! He couldn't go. Because the cattle might get sick on his account!"
Overwhelmed by the force of Go Gi-jin's words, the man barely managed to swallow.
Go Gi-jin's cry sounded as if he might break down and weep at any second. The man stared at that face—a face on the verge of tears—unable even to turn his head away.