The Stench of Cigarettes
It was nothing like the bras married women typically wore. No — it wasn't even the kind Ji Hye-in herself usually put on. The shape was entirely different. The sort of thing you'd expect to see on a woman who worked in a bar.
She didn't turn her back. Right there in front of Yoo Kang-soo, she was working that skin-tight ultra-mini leather skirt down over her hips. It clung so fiercely it barely budged. She yanked harder, pulling with everything she had, and finally wrenched it free.
Then the pantyhose — black mesh, a loud and gaudy pattern — those came down too. Underneath, a flesh-colored thong that matched the bra. It was so small her pubic hair spilled out around the fabric, completely exposed.
"What the hell are you doing? Putting on a strip show right in front of me? Is this how you stripped for those men? Is that the sub life Yeom Seong-bong was talking about?"
At Kang-soo's words, tears welled in Ji Hye-in's eyes. She came to him and threw herself into his arms, wrapping both of hers around him and holding on tight.
"I'm sorry. But why would you call it whoring? I'm not like that. Women who dress sexy aren't all whores. Please don't say that. Please..."
She clung to him with a desperate strength and would not let go. For a moment, looking at his wife in nothing but that barely-there strapless bra and thong, a strange surge of lust seemed to rise in him. Then the nauseating stench of cigarettes hit, and he gave her a light shove.
"Why does the cigarette smell reek like that? Are there still idiots out there smoking indoors these days? Go wash up. That cigarette smell is disgusting."
He pushed her away as he said it. Ji Hye-in's face flushed red. She went into the bathroom without another word.
Kang-soo threw the window wide open to air out the room, switched off the lights, and lay down on the bed. A short while later, the silhouette of Ji Hye-in climbing onto the bed came into view — not a stitch on her body. She seemed to curl into his arms, lingered there a moment, then appeared to drift off first. Kang-soo let out a long sigh and followed her into sleep.
Manager Lee, a fellow investigator and a former cop, came over to Kang-soo's desk.
"Kang-soo. Let's grab lunch. Sundae gukbap's on me."
The two of them headed to a sundae-gukbap restaurant near the office and ordered extra-large bowls of the blood sausage and rice soup.
"What's your afternoon look like? How about we order just one bottle of soju — split it half and half?"
"Whatever you say, hyung."
Kang-soo said it with a smile. Manager Lee was in his early sixties, a good deal older than he was. The older man added a plate of sliced boiled pork head to the order, along with a bottle of soju.
Manager Lee had the same investigator's job. He had an easygoing look about him — a man who'd spent more than twenty-five years as a cop before leaving the force under a cloud, and who'd been working insurance ever since. He had about two years more experience at this particular work than Kang-soo did.
Where Kang-soo took whatever landed on his desk, Manager Lee mostly handled the problem clients the company specifically assigned him. The rough cases — the gangster types, the thugs, the hoodlums — tended to go to Kang-soo, who was relatively young and had plenty of experience dealing with people like that. The other investigators quietly steered clear of those files. Manager Lee, for his part, specialized in a different breed of nightmare: not the gangsters, but the chronic complainers, the ones from the bottom rungs of society, the weak who threatened to kill themselves or put on a show of self-harm at the drop of a hat.
In the end, both Kang-soo and Manager Lee lasted as long as they did because they took the cases everyone else avoided. Kang-soo didn't pick and choose. If the company sent him, he went — whether it was a gangster, a grandmother out in the countryside, or a village chief up some mountain valley. He got on the road and he got it done.
"Ahh... that's good..."
Kang-soo shuddered as the midday shot of soju went down.
"Hey, Kang-soo. You know what's even better? Knock back a shot of soju, then rinse with half a glass of beer before you even touch the food. And do it in the middle of the day."
Manager Lee grinned and ordered a bottle of beer. Kang-soo had been sitting on a low, sour mood over the whole business with Ji Hye-in, but a drink in the middle of the day seemed to loosen something in him. He did as Manager Lee said — another shot of soju, then half a glass of beer as a rinse before the food, all of it in broad daylight — and it felt fantastic.
"Ah, hyung. This is really something."
Kang-soo burst into a hearty laugh. The two of them talked through the cases they were each working while they ate. Kang-soo had always been a big eater who loved his food and would put away just about anything. Manager Lee, a former violent crimes detective, was built much the same way — a heavy drinker who never turned down a glass.
"Hey, Kang-soo. I only heard about it a few days ago. I was out on assignment, that's why. Word is you went after Managing Director Park?"
"Ah, no. It's embarrassing."
"Seems like everyone who knows, knows. Whole office is keeping it hush-hush, though. Heard you made a big show of saying you'd storm the president's office."
"Come on. I've got a kid to raise — you think I'd actually do that? I handled something on the outside, nothing to do with company business, and I guess someone put in a word with the Managing Director about it. I just snapped in the moment. Honestly, I regret it. I could've handled it more smoothly with words. Ah, well..."
Kang-soo reached to pour himself another glass and found the bottle empty. They'd agreed to split just one bottle for a midday drink, and it had vanished in no time.
"Hey, Kang-soo. Let's just drink. What's life for, anyway?"
"One more bottle of soju over here."
Manager Lee put in the order in a hurry. Kang-soo downed another glass, savoring it, and opened his mouth again.
"Haa. That's nice. Really nice. They say daytime drinking makes a man forget even his own father... Well, I never knew mine anyway. Damn. Haa..."
Drinking really was all about the atmosphere, Kang-soo thought, and let out another hearty laugh. Manager Lee watched him for a moment, reading the mood, then spoke carefully.
"Kang-soo. I heard you said you'd dig up everything on Managing Director Park and take him down. You actually going to do that?"
"Hyung. Even a nobody like me has a kid and a family. They say if you hurt someone, it doesn't come back to you — it comes back to your children and your grandchildren twenty, thirty years down the line. I'm not that ruthless. What's the point of digging up dirt? I'm busy enough just scraping by. I was just so bitter I wanted to put a scare in him, that's all. If I'd made enough money, I'd have quit on the spot... but I can't, can I? I've already given up on staying here. The contract's legally guaranteed through the end of the year, so I'll finish that out, then move to either J Insurance or Y Insurance. The pay'll be less, but they said they'd take me if I wanted to come. This job's brutal — not just anyone can do it."
"I see. Must've been hard on you too."
"But hey. I heard this from a military acquaintance of mine. Said he knows you well. About fifteen years ago, out on the western front — some guy shot nine people and was holding hostages. And you went in there yourself with a rifle, got into a brutal firefight, and caught him with your own hands. That true?"
"I'm a former cop myself, but I've never actually been in a firefight. Twenty-five years in violent crimes, and not once. Weren't you scared?"
"Of course I was scared. I was terrified. I was in my early thirties. But the hostages were kids — privates who'd only been assigned to their unit a month or two, still wet behind the ears. The entire military police force was deployed. Our Provost Marshal told me if we didn't take him down, we were all finished, and he told me to take point because I had the experience. First thing that came to mind was my boy's mother. My son was only three or four then..."