Chapter 60
Chapter 60
Jae-gyu clicked his tongue briefly after ending the call. Bom took the phone Jae-gyu handed her and checked the call log. It was indeed Choi Yi-jun.
"Did you just talk to Yi-jun?"
Jae-gyu picked up the pants strewn on the floor and headed to the bathroom, saying, "His sister ran away from home. I'll quickly wash up, then we'll go together by car."
For a moment, Bom thought she'd misheard and froze.
"...Choi Se-jin? Se-jin ran away?"
Bom's face quickly turned ashen. What should she do? Her mind went blank, and she couldn't speak. Jae-gyu glanced at Bom and reassured her, saying it was alright.
"She seems to have left early this morning and hasn't come home yet."
"Maybe she's just out playing and will come home late. But Se-jin's family has a curfew, she said." Se-jin's words, that she'd never broken curfew, came back to her. She wasn't the type of kid to just disappear without a word.
"Yi-jun is already on his way to the police station. We can meet there, but while I'm washing up, could you call Han-gyeol and ask him?"
"Ah, Han-gyeol!"
Jae-gyu nodded and went into the bathroom. Her hands trembled as she searched for Han-gyeol in her contacts.
A student running away from home – she'd only ever heard about it in Homeroom Teacher Training, never actually experienced it. In a situation like this, no manual came to mind.
The dial tone rang for a long, long time. Her heart felt like it was burning.
-Teacher?
The voice was incredibly welcome. Bom didn't beat around the bush and immediately asked what she wanted to know.
"Han-gyeol, are you with Se-jin? Where are you right now?"
-Huh? Teacher, did something happen to Se-jin?
⋆★⋆
The car, speeding down a dark road, was silent. Bom adjusted the clothes she'd hastily thrown on and said anxiously,
"How much further do we have to go?"
Jae-gyu glanced at Bom and, with one hand, fastened the undone buttons of her cardigan, which she hadn't had time to fix.
"We're here. We were supposed to meet here."
Jae-gyu parked the car in front of a secluded Abandoned House near the school and made a call. It was creepy enough during the day, but at night, it looked exactly like a Ghost Ship. Why would kids be in a place like this?
"Yeah. I'm here, in front."
As soon as the call ended, two people emerged from the Abandoned House and opened the car's back door.
"Oh, hello, CEO."
The person who got in with Han-gyeol was Dong-pyo. Bom was momentarily puzzled by the pair, then observed Han-gyeol.
Han-gyeol, looking disheveled and messy, seemed extremely anxious. He was clutching his phone, repeatedly pressing the call button, making it impossible for her to speak to him.
"Oh Dong-pyo, was it? Are you coming with us too?"
Dong-pyo, who had been looking around the car with a serious expression, shook his head.
"My house is right next to the police station, so I'm going to get off and go home. It's a shame, but I can't help it. My family's rules are strict."
"......"
Regardless, they were departing in this state. Jae-gyu immediately stepped on the accelerator.
"Dong-pyo."
Bom spoke to Dong-pyo, who was sitting in the back. Han-gyeol seemed unstable, so she decided to get information from Dong-pyo.
"But why were you and Han-gyeol in there?"
"To feed Kaosun."
Dong-pyo continued to elaborate without being asked.
Apparently, a cat with chaos-patterned fur lived in the Abandoned House, and it had injured its leg while pregnant. Dong-pyo sometimes went to check on it and feed it, but it had become strangely obese. So he'd staked out the place and found Han-gyeol going in.
"This late at night? Your family must be worried."
"They know. She's about to give birth, so he checks on her once in the morning and once at night."
Hearing the story, Bom let out a sigh of relief. Nothing had happened at the Abandoned House. Now, if only they could find Se-jin...
"Teacher. You're going to the police station to find Choi Se-jin, right? Se-jin's family must have already filed a missing person report, so will there be anything for you to do there?"
Dong-pyo seemed to know even this kind of protocol. Jae-gyu, who had been silently driving, opened his mouth.
"Well, not necessarily."
Jae-gyu's words were as follows: Since Se-jin's father was the local county chief, they wouldn't investigate lightly. But he had a feeling that they, as her family, might actually not know much about Se-jin.
"So it's better to meet at the police station where her family is. Listen to what the Homeroom Teacher says, listen to what her boyfriend and friends say. We need to put all that together and track her down, don't we?"
Streetlights gradually appeared, and sparkling sign lights popped up one by one. Entering the town, Jae-gyu turned right at the intersection and arrived at a somewhat sizable police station.
Dong-pyo, who had said he needed to go home, followed them out upon arrival, saying he'd just observe the situation for a moment.
It was Bom's first time at a police station. She felt overwhelmed by the atmosphere, but decided to focus on looking after Han-gyeol and Dong-pyo beside Jae-gyu.
Entering the lobby, there was a waiting area, and below the sign for "Civil Affairs Office," she saw a small window like a counter.
She followed Jae-gyu's advice that there was no need to register for a visitor's pass and it was better to wait there.
Leaving Jae-gyu to busy himself alone, Bom went to Han-gyeol's side.
"Han-gyeol, are you okay?"
He didn't look okay at all. Han-gyeol clutched his phone as if to crush it, repeatedly swallowing deep sighs. Bom wrapped both her hands around Han-gyeol's.
"When Se-jin's family comes out, you need to organize and convey any information that might help the situation. You can do that, right?"
"...Yes."
She stroked the back of Han-gyeol's hand. Even in midsummer, his hand was like ice, completely devoid of warmth.
How long did they wait? The automatic doors leading into the police station opened, and Yi-jun, along with his parents, appeared with Jae-gyu.
Bom approached first and greeted them.
"Uh, hello. I'm Yoon Bom, Se-jin's Homeroom Teacher. What happened to Se-jin..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Se-jin's parents' eyes flashed, and the atmosphere quickly turned hostile. Se-jin's well-built father was the first to shout.
"You, the so-called Homeroom Teacher, didn't even notice anything strange about the kid?"
Bom froze on the spot at the sudden insult. Se-jin's tall, thin mother also shrieked in agreement.
"When we asked to meet you, you kept putting us off, making us wonder how important you were, but you're nothing special. What were you so busy doing that you couldn't bother? We'll find Se-jin ourselves, so stay out of it."
Bom clutched her pounding chest and managed to open her mouth.
"I'm her Homeroom Teacher, so I need to know about Se-jin's situation. If you could tell me..."
"I said! Stay out of it!"
Se-jin's mother shoved Bom. At the same time, Jae-gyu pulled Bom aside, and Yi-jun grabbed his mother's hand.
"What are you doing, Mother?"
Han-gyeol and Dong-pyo also stood in front of Bom, forming a shield.
'They're so agitated, this must be the first time Se-jin has done something like this.'
Bom's shoved shoulder ached, but it wasn't very painful, nor was she embarrassed by the situation.
Just as Bom was about to try persuading them again, Jae-gyu stepped forward to defuse the situation.
"We're people who rushed out in the middle of the night to help find the student. Would you care to look at the Homeroom Teacher's feet?"
Everyone looked at Bom's feet. Bom also looked down at her own feet.
"......"
She had worn the slippers she kept in the corner of her entryway, but she hadn't realized when they had gotten into such a state.
The ivory slippers were tattered rags, diligently chewed and gnawed by Bom-sik.
"What are you doing to someone who rushed all the way from Cheongseol-eup, wearing these, to help find a student?"
The atmosphere became solemn at Jae-gyu's dignified reprimand. 'If he knew my shoes were like this, he should have told me earlier.' Bom resented Jae-gyu inwardly.
"I got a bit carried away, Teacher."
Se-jin's father quietly offered an apology. Just then, a police officer, drawn out by the commotion from the Civil Affairs Information Desk, merely gave them a look to quiet down and went back inside. Everyone gathered closely on the waiting room chairs.
Yi-jun began to brief them.
"Se-jin left home around seven in the morning. I drove her to town and dropped her off north of Rodeo, where the cram school district is."
"Cram school at that hour?"
In response to Jae-gyu's question, Yi-jun said that Se-jin always studied in the cram school's self-study room in the mornings. Classes started at 1 PM, but when they called the cram school, she hadn't attended.
"She was in contact with me until noon."
Han-gyeol testified. Se-jin's father, who had been silently listening, narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Han-gyeol.
"Are you Se-jin's friend?"
Bom was nodding from behind, but unexpectedly, Han-gyeol spoke boldly.
"Se-jin and I are dating."
At these words, Se-jin's parents' eyes widened. Before they could retort, Han-gyeol continued, his expression pained.
"Ever since her math score dropped due to a marking error, Se-jin often said she wanted to die. I kept trying to comfort her, but I heard her family told her not to sleep if she wanted to make up for that score. Did you know Se-jin threw up everything she ate due to stress?"
The couple, who had been simmering with displeasure at Han-gyeol, turned pale at his subsequent words about Se-jin.
"She stopped contacting me after noon, but I waited because cram school classes go until six. After that, I felt uneasy with a bad premonition, and then I found out when the teacher called. Ha, her phone's off now, so..."
Han-gyeol, unable to continue, swept his hand over his face, looking utterly distressed.
"Yi-jun. What did the police say?"
"They've filed the report, entered it into the police profiling system, and issued a search warrant. They said they'll search until she's found, so waiting is the answer, I know it's the answer, but..."
Yi-jun had diligently followed the runaway report procedure, and all that was left was to wait for the missing person to return home. But his expression clearly showed his anxiety.
"What 'answer'? We need to search everywhere and find her."
Jae-gyu said that and got everyone to their feet. Se-jin's pattern wasn't difficult to discern.
She only went between home and cram school. But what if she wasn't at either place?
"Excuse me."
Dong-pyo, who had been observing the situation from the corner, slowly stood up.
"Actually, I saw Choi Se-jin earlier today at Rodeo."
Everyone held their breath at Dong-pyo's words. The time was past noon, and he testified that she had come down from the north side of Rodeo, where the cram school district was.
"She disappeared to the east of Rodeo."
Jae-gyu tilted his head, muttering.
"There's nothing but the train station in that direction."