Two in the Morning
It could just as easily have been an ordinary company dinner. That possibility seemed entirely plausible.
True, the upscale eel restaurant earlier had been a private-room place — but nothing improper could have happened there. That would have been difficult, if not impossible. The large karaoke club they'd just walked into, however, was a different story entirely.
Six middle-aged men. Two pretty women. It was the kind of atmosphere that could turn strange in a heartbeat — the kind of situation where drunken men could start making advances without anyone batting an eye.
Those were the thoughts running through Yoo Kang-soo's mind as he kept watch from a position with a clear view of the entrance, beneath a massive sign that read Rose Room Club. He'd even gone around the back of the building, just in case there was a rear exit, but there didn't appear to be one. Given that the place was underground, putting in extra doors would have been difficult anyway.
Time passed. Nine o'clock came and went, then ten. Customers kept filing into the karaoke club and filing back out.
Then it happened. A man and a woman emerged from the entrance, and Kang-soo recognized the man's face immediately. He was the middle-aged man who'd been driving the silver sedan that had picked his wife up near her office earlier.
The woman beside him looked like the other woman who'd been with his wife. But that wasn't the issue right now. The face was definitely the same — and yet her clothes were completely different from before.
Wondering if she might be a hostess, or perhaps just a similar-looking stranger, Kang-soo moved a little closer to get a better look at her face. But it seemed certain. He was sure because of the watch on her wrist — it was the same one she'd been wearing earlier. It wasn't the kind of band women commonly wore. It had a thin white leather strap, which made it stand out all the more.
And it wasn't just the watch. There was something else. The handbag slung over her shoulder was unmistakably the same white bag the woman standing next to his wife had been carrying. In addition to the handbag, she was holding a large shopping bag in one hand.
Earlier, that woman had been standing right beside his wife, dressed neatly in a two-piece suit. Not now. Now she had her arm linked through the arm of the man who'd driven the silver sedan.
Kang-soo couldn't help but be stunned. The woman was quite a beauty — more so than he'd expected. But she looked a bit older. She definitely appeared older than his forty-one-year-old wife. Hye-in had such a youthful, age-defying face that it was easy to forget, but Kang-soo knew well that women around her age actually looked considerably older. There were quite a few female employees in their early forties at the insurance company office, around the same age as his wife.
In any case, this woman seemed older than Hye-in. Definitely in her forties. Not in her fifties, he didn't think — and not in her thirties either. Despite her pretty features, there were quite a few wrinkles visible beneath her eyes.
Her makeup had changed, too. It wasn't the understated, barely-there makeup he'd seen at first. Now her lips were painted dark, her eye makeup done so heavily it was obvious — like a bar girl. And her shoes as well. She'd switched into high heels. Where on earth had she changed her clothes? He couldn't make sense of it.
The man and woman walked into a building, and Kang-soo looked at the exterior from the street and couldn't help but be shocked. It was that building. The one he'd searched for on the internet maps and examined in detail. It was unmistakably the same place — the massive commercial building in the entertainment district that his wife had mentioned, where she'd said she'd had a meal and gone to a karaoke room. The very building that had motels occupying its upper floors.
The pair went inside, and Kang-soo quickly followed them in to see if they got on the elevator. But they weren't the only ones boarding. Quite a few other people piled in as well. The commercial building was fairly large in scale, with several oversized elevators in operation, and the car seemed to stop at nearly every floor. There was no way of knowing whether the pair had gone to the karaoke floor or up to the motel floors above.
That's when Kang-soo snapped back to his senses. The person he was supposed to be watching was his wife, Ji Hye-in — not some other woman. If she'd come out of that place in the meantime, it would be a disaster of the highest order.
Realizing he couldn't let that happen, he sprinted back to the front of the karaoke club. His heart was pounding like mad. It felt like the first all-out sprint he'd done in a very long time. He took up a position in the doorway of a nearby building that offered a clear view of the club's entrance, and resumed his watch.
Time kept flowing, and eleven o'clock came and went. The company dinner had started a little after five. From the upscale eel restaurant it had continued on to this karaoke club in the entertainment district — and as far as he could tell, his wife still hadn't come out.
Kang-soo found himself torn over whether he should wait only until midnight. If she'd come out during that brief moment he'd been gone, then everything he was doing right now was a complete waste. He couldn't just wait indefinitely with no time limit. That's why midnight had crossed his mind as a cutoff.
Around eleven-thirty, a group of men came pouring out. Five of them, with a woman trailing behind at the very back. Up front, he could see Ko Dong-seok. He'd taken off his suit jacket and was holding it in his hand, the top two buttons of his dress shirt undone. A few of the other men had taken off their jackets as well.
The men had been blocking his view of the woman at the rear. As they kept moving, he finally got a clear look at her. She was carrying a large shopping bag in her hand. And looking at the handbag slung over her shoulder — it was his wife.
Just like that other woman earlier, it was the bag he noticed first. Because everything else had changed. Her hairstyle. Her clothes. Even her shoes.
Kang-soo couldn't believe his own eyes. Nobody would believe him if he tried to tell them. He raised his phone, zoomed in as far as it would go, and started taking pictures of his wife. That outfit. He couldn't believe it.
The five men and his wife walked down the entertainment district street. Four of the men headed toward the public parking lot where they'd left their cars earlier, waving and exchanging goodbyes. Only one of the men and his wife said their farewells and split off from the group. They didn't go toward the parking lot. They were walking toward that large commercial building from before.
They went inside. Kang-soo chased after them, but with several large elevators in operation, they'd already gotten on and gone up. The car stopped at the third floor. Then the fourth. And then it went higher still, stopping at the floor marked with the motel sign.
Kang-soo's face went slack with disbelief. What on earth was going on? He couldn't even begin to guess.
He hadn't planned on going home tonight anyway. He'd already told his wife that he'd be back from his business trip the next day — Friday afternoon. He was going to have to stay at some motel tonight regardless, and now he found himself wondering whether he should go up to one of the motels on the upper floors of that very building.
Midnight came and went. He stood a short distance outside, watching the first-floor corridor of the commercial building where several large elevators were in operation.
All sorts of thoughts ran through his head. This isn't just a simple affair.What exactly is this sub lifestyle? If he committed murder, his son Pil-jun would have to live the rest of his life labeled as a killer's child. No matter what, he had to endure. Patience, three times over. With all these thoughts swirling, Kang-soo stood there shifting restlessly from foot to foot.
Around two in the morning, a woman stepped out of the elevator. Even at that hour, pairs of men and women kept getting on — probably because the motels occupied the upper floors of the commercial building.