Winter Preparations — 11
"For a public official to sit on his hands knowing that security CCTV footage of the hit-and-run had been erased — that itself is a crime."
Na Jeong-hwan drove the point home once more: Kim Seong-hoon wasn't merely a bystander, he was an accomplice.
"And on top of that, you kept burying civil complaints to whitewash your family's corruption, and even dug into Kim Yun-ho's private records with the intent to harass him. And after all that, you still think you deserve to keep your seat? That kind of thinking is rotten to the core."
Kim Seong-hoon simply trembled, unable to offer even the ghost of an excuse.
The right to remain silent, then. One wrong word begging for leniency, and it seemed he feared his sins would only grow heavier.
Perhaps because that look struck him as so irresponsible and shameless, Na Jeong-hwan's resolve hardened — no mercy this time.
He pressed the intercom, and his secretary stepped in. In a voice gone low and cold, Na Jeong-hwan gave the order.
"Effective this very moment, remove Team Leader Kim from all duties."
"I'm sorry — yes, sir."
"Have the audit team chief come up. Investigate Team Leader Kim on suspicion of privately accessing and leaking personal information. The moment evidence surfaces, refer it straight to the police — and it needs to be bundled with the hit-and-run that killed Hwang Sun-ja twelve years ago and investigated together."
"G-Governor... no, hyung-nim..."
Only then did Kim Seong-hoon grab at Na Jeong-hwan's trouser leg, sobbing as if ready to cling to it for dear life.
"Hyung-nim?"
Na Jeong-hwan's voice shook with the sting of betrayal from a subordinate he'd trusted — a junior from his own high school days.
"You used your position as a public servant to pile up wealth for your family and live like a king, with no regard for what was right or wrong? You let the old folks die and hounded the young ones out of the village — who exactly is going to be left?"
He let out a long sigh and struck his own chest.
"I'm terrified. I can't sleep at night thinking Pyeongcheon County's population will shrink even further and turn into a graveyard! That's why I can't stand people like you, playing petty tyrant over your little patch of rice paddies. Hand over your phone."
"M-my phone? Why?"
"Because I don't intend to give you time to call your biological father and your brother and destroy the evidence."
In the end, Kim Seong-hoon was dragged off for questioning by the audit team the moment they arrived, his phone confiscated. The phone, I was told, would later be submitted as evidence in the police investigation — and since Kim Seong-hoon's brother was a police officer, Na Jeong-hwan would see to it that a discreet internal probe started on that end as well.
"I'm sorry, Yun-ho. I've shown you an ugly sight, and I don't know what to say."
"Not at all, Governor."
Honestly, I was marvelling at Na Jeong-hwan's decisiveness.
A stranger he'd only met today — me — versus his high school junior, Kim Seong-hoon. Both of us telling very different stories, and reaching an objective verdict between them was no easy task. Blood runs thick, after all.
Yet Na Jeong-hwan set aside every personal feeling and did precisely what a county governor was supposed to do.
"Thanks to you, Governor, I feel certain now that I could live here for the rest of my life without a single regret. Please see this through to the end."
"Of course. Truth be told, I'm overjoyed that someone of your caliber chose to settle in Pyeongcheon County. Let's put our heads together and make it a place worth living in."
Na Jeong-hwan extended his hand and clasped both of mine warmly.
"Now then, here's the thing. We're planning to publicize successful cases of people relocating to Pyeongcheon County through a variety of channels."
It seemed this was the real reason he'd called for me.
"Would you be willing to become the face of our county's relocation success story, Kim Yun-ho?"
If I agreed, he'd arrange for me to personally experience various rural relocation programs, and — above all — I'd receive support for growing and distributing Pyeongcheon County's local specialties.
It'd definitely help with business... but wouldn't it turn into a hassle?
The moment I hesitated, Na Jeong-hwan dangled the bait.
"To mark Citizens' Day this year, we've received all sorts of sponsorships, and I'm authorized to lend you every single item free of charge. Well — 'lend' in name only. You're welcome to keep the lot."
A big-screen TV, a washing machine, a refrigerator — state-of-the-art appliances, plus dishes, pots, even a cast-iron cauldron. I'd been planning to buy all new ones once the renovation wrapped up, and now they were going to fall into my lap for free.
I snapped the bait right up.
"As I said before, my wish is for people to move into our village and make it a wonderful place to live — so I'll gladly serve as your promotional ambassador."
Mom, I think I'm about to become famous.
Right up until that moment, I'd assumed I might get a brief spot on local television. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd become a household name who'd turn the whole country upside down.
Come to think of it, maybe that's exactly why I jumped in and accepted the ambassador gig without a second thought?
"Why the hell is this bastard not answering one way or the other?"
Once the first wave of agony had passed, Kim Yong-gu downed a glass of water and checked his phone. He'd blustered about driving that Yun-ho bastard out of the village, yet not a word had come from Kim Seong-hoon.
"Aigo, my head."
It had hurt like he was dying, and now it had subsided — for the moment. When the next wave would come crashing in, there was no telling.
"Mother of—!"
He needed to eat something, anything, and make it to the toilet first.
Gritting his teeth against his trembling legs, Kim Yong-gu pushed himself upright.
"Is nobody home?"
Had they all gone out to escape him after he'd snapped at everyone about the pain?
He pushed open the door to step out — and a kitchen spread out before him, one that looked uncannily like the house of his childhood.
What the...?
Kim Yong-gu twisted around to stare at the room he'd just been lying in.
It wasn't the master bedroom of his brand-new two-story house. It was a shabby room in some rural farmhouse, the ceiling sagging low.
"What kind of nonsense is this?"
Every instinct screamed that he had to get out of here fast. He hurried for the kitchen, but the threshold was absurdly high — and on closer look, it wasn't the threshold at all. His own legs had simply grown short.
"Oh, damn it! Another nightmare, huh."
Reduced to a little boy, Kim Yong-gu hopped about swearing at the top of his lungs.
"That bastard put a curse on me, I know he did! Damn it, do a ritual, write a charm, something — how am I supposed to survive this!"
He'd almost have preferred the physical pain. At least pain ended. Once the nightmares started, he was condemned to wallow in terror too horrible to describe.
His mother and father — already buried in the ground, long since bleached to bone — had appeared and beaten his shins bloody. A cat the size of a tiger had chased him until he plunged into a swamp seething with leeches.
The leeches had torn at living flesh and sucked his blood, worming in through his nose and mouth to invade his very guts. The pain had been so vivid it was hard to believe it was only a dream.
So what's this nightmare going to be, then?
Clutching the doorframe, Kim Yong-gu hauled himself over the threshold and staggered down into the kitchen.
Tap-tap-tap — an old woman was tending a fire in the stove. Sensing his presence, she turned to look at him.
Why is that old hag alive?
Hwang Sun-ja, wife of the former village head of Ugok 1-ri. After her motorcycle accident, they said her mind had gone a little soft and the son living in Seoul had taken her away. Then a few years later she'd died, and her ashes were buried in the family burial ground — so why on earth was she in his dream?
He had no desire to share a room with a dead woman and made for the kitchen door —
Hissssssss.
A boa constrictor thicker than a grown man's forearm blocked his path, flicking its coal-black tongue.
"Ughk!"
Kim Yong-gu tumbled backward in shock.
The snake coiled around him, cinching him tighter and tighter.
"AAAAAAGH!"
As the serpent constricted, it felt as though his bones would crack alive and his organs would sever. Burst capillaries turned his vision red, and blood came gushing up out of his nose and mouth.
Even being crushed alive under a freight truck couldn't possibly hurt more than this.
Hissssssss.
The boa squeezed harder, and Kim Yong-gu screamed himself hoarse.
"Aigo, I'm dying! Save me! Save me, please! Grandma, save me!"
"How does it taste?"
Hwang Sun-ja lifted a fire poker out of the blazing stove, flames roaring along its length.
"Shall I let you sample something hot as well?"
As she approached, the serpent constricted with all its might.
Crack. Crrrack!
The moment his mouth flew open at the agony of breaking bones, she shoved the burning poker inside, as if she'd been waiting for exactly that.
Sssssssizzle!
As the flesh of his mouth seared away, he couldn't even manage a scream — he simply flailed, limbs jerking in mute convulsion.
"Father? Father! Damn it, what are we going to do, he wet the bed in his sleep!"
At the sound of his eldest son Kim Seong-gyun's voice, Kim Yong-gu's eyes snapped open — and tears streamed down his face.
Barely clawing his way out of the nightmare, he threw himself at Kim Seong-gyun.
"Save me. Go bring that bastard — no... bring him, quickly."
"Him? The doctor?"
"No, no! Kim Yun-ho. The owner of the abandoned house in Ugok 1-ri. Go get him, right now."
Kim Yun-ho had said it, after all. Mistreat him, and he'd only suffer worse.
"If you mistreat me, your symptoms will only keep getting worse. Are you quite sure about that?"
Back then, he'd taken it as an empty bluff. It hadn't been.
"Go! Quickly! He's the only one who can cure me. Please... sob — before it hits again... save your father."
Feels like the village has gotten a lot livelier?
When I got back from meeting the governor, several cars were parked in front of the village head's house.
"Whose birthday is it?"
I stopped the car and craned my neck to look, and Mrs. Han Su-ja spotted me and came running over, arms full of lunchboxes.
"I was just about to ask why you weren't here yet."
"You were waiting for me?"
"That's right. Tomorrow's kimchi-making day, so I won't be able to look after Grandma Mak-sun."
Mrs. Han Su-ja's younger sister, Han Mija, was due to move up here with her family in a few days. Until then, the arrangement was that Mrs. Han Su-ja would look after Grandma Mak-sun in exchange for the caregiving fee I paid her.
But today, asking for a one-time exception, she'd come out to explain.
"My son and daughter, the daughter-in-law, the son-in-law, even the grandkids — they've all come down. Once we start mixing the kimchi tomorrow, then eat lunch, and see everyone off, my head's going to be spinning until they leave."
"You work too hard — what are we going to do with you?"
"Ha! I just supervise. My daughter and son do all the actual work, so it's nothing."
"So you don't put the daughter-in-law and son-in-law to work, I see?"
On TV dramas, the wicked mothers-in-law always dump the hardest jobs on their daughters-in-law. That was why I'd asked — and Mrs. Han Su-ja waved her hands as if the very idea horrified her.
"If I tried that these days, I'd never see my son's face again, would I? Besides, I'm a mother with a daughter of my own — I can't stand watching a mother-in-law grind her daughter-in-law down either."
"Our Women's Association President truly is a wonderful mother-in-law."
"Hahaha, well, I do my best."
She said she wanted to be remembered fondly by her children. So that when she closed her eyes for the last time, they'd grieve and think, if only she could have lived one more day — or something like that.
Grandma, please stop living already. Why must you live so long? — she'd sooner die than hear words like that. Not hearing them was her one wish, apparently.
That can actually be someone's wish?
It meant, I supposed, that she never wanted to be a burden to her children — not even at the very end.
"Don't you worry about Grandma Mak-sun. I'll take good care of her for the next two days."
"Just make sure she eats her meals, that's all. She keeps herself busy and sleeps just fine on her own — no hard labor involved."
One of the lunchboxes, she said, was meant for Grandma Mak-sun and me to share — two portions' worth.
"Then please, take this."
I held out the meat I'd bought from the butcher.
"Oh my, isn't this a whole slab of pork belly?"
"Yes, ma'am. I bought plenty because I was going to ask you to make boiled pork slices for dinner tonight. But then, I do have these lunchboxes already."
I owed the village head and his wife so much that if I'd known their children were coming, I'd have bought even more. Still, it was no small amount — enough for everyone to have at least a few slices.
"We already bought ours, dear. I'll boil this up nice and bring it over tomorrow with the fresh kimchi."
"Oh no, please — you already have so many mouths to feed as it is."
"We'll just toss this pork belly into the cauldron while the rest of the meat's boiling. Done."
Just then, the sound of elementary schoolers bickering drifted out from the back of the yard, and Mrs. Han Su-ja waved me off hurriedly.
Apparently she had to go break up a fight between her grandsons — an extremely busy woman.
Laughing, I pulled away with the window still down, and the night wind rushed into the car.
"The air's already so cold it stings my nose."
At my house, the work of preserving the original rafters was taking time, so the plaster would need about five more days to cure. Grandma Mak-sun's house, by contrast, had finished its wallpapering and she'd already moved in.
What a blessing that she'd get to spend the winter warm and comfortable in her new home before the weather turned any crueler.
"Grandma! Grandma Mak-sun!"
I passed through the freshly painted blue gate and stepped briskly into her yard.