chapter 4

The escape was prepared more meticulously than I had expected. Everything proceeded avoiding people we knew directly.

The vehicle that took us to Seoul was a one-ton truck on the verge of being scrapped, procured from someone the surfing shop owner knew. The plan was that we would park the truck at a prearranged location in Seoul, and the owner of the vehicle, who would follow us on an express bus, would then retrieve it.

After that, a senior colleague who had been Yeehan’s squad leader in the military introduced us to a private investigation agency. We only stayed in a motel for the first two days; the agency helped us secure a room right away.

Although we left a letter containing a resolute implication that if they tried to find us before we contacted them, we would resort to more drastic measures, even self-harm, we couldn’t ignore the possibility that they would still inquire about our whereabouts at Morae House. In fact, it was highly likely.

To prepare for that, we needed the help of professionals like the private investigation agency to cover our tracks as much as possible.

The head of the agency, who was said to be a hometown friend of Yeehan’s former squad leader, didn’t seem like someone who did that kind of work, at least not at first glance. Judging by appearance alone, the surfing shop owner looked much more like a “private investigation agency head.”

“Don’t touch the money in the account. We’ll take care of that as is. We can just… launder it a few times and take it out. We’ll give you cash equivalent to the deposit amount, so only use cash, no matter what. You wouldn’t use credit cards, right? These days, even regular people watch so many movies that they know that much.”

While complaining that it’s been harder to work lately because of customers who act like experts after watching a few movies and try to tell him what to do, the agency head took out the cash equivalent to the savings that Yeehan and Morae had accumulated from the safe and placed it on the table.

The money that Yeehan had saved by not spending or buying anything for about a year after graduating high school and before enlisting, combined with the allowance Morae had saved from relatives since childhood, was quite a large sum.

“What? Does it seem like less when you see it in person? Should I make you feel bad and count it out in ten-thousand-won bills?”

The agency head smirked at us, who were sitting stiffly, still tense. Even though he was wearing a neat suit like an office worker and had his hair neatly styled, at times like that, he seemed like someone who worked in the underworld.

“Just kidding, just kidding. Fifty-thousand-won bills are easier to store.”

But without hiding it deep in a drawer or under the floorboards, the money went straight into securing a room.

It was a lot of money for us, but the only kind of house we could get in Seoul with that money was a basement or rooftop room. Basement and rooftop rooms were about the same in that they were hot in the summer and cold in the winter, but we agreed that a rooftop room was better because we could at least see the sun.

It was far from the subway station, and we had to go up a rather steep set of stairs to get to the bus stop, but we were relieved by the agency head’s words that we could live here for at least a year or two without being discovered.

The assurance that this escape wouldn’t end as a trivial act of rebellion.

For now, that was enough.

Because we didn’t have any extra money, the only things filling the small one-room rooftop apartment were a modular box for clothes, blankets, and a few essential kitchen utensils. Morae said that it was nice because it made the room look bigger.

It had already been about three weeks since we moved in.

Whether it was because the meticulous preparations had paid off, daily life was settling down without any signs of threat so far. Before a week had passed since we moved, I started working part-time at a moving company, and Morae and Yeehan, the two of them, already had jobs lined up.

‘Something Happened in Bali.’

Located deep in a residential area instead of an expensive downtown area, the cafe evoked a free and relaxed tropical beach, just like its name. The shop owner’s former squad leader, who had introduced us to the private investigation agency, was the owner of the cafe, Yeehan was a cooking assistant, and Morae was in charge of the hall.

After finishing the dinner service, the owner would share the leftover ingredients for the day, and then Yeehan would practice cooking the cafe’s menu at home.

Sitting on the wooden platform that had been on the edge of the roof since we moved in, drinking a can of beer with the food Yeehan made, and talking about what happened that day was one of our daily routines these days.

We were young, more than just young, and we didn’t care about the noise of the newlyweds downstairs who fought like a war almost every day, or the poor rooftop room that was sure to become like a steam room in the middle of summer.

Even though the process of climbing the 62 steps was difficult, the night view of Seoul from here was not cold or arrogant. It looked like the lights of squid fishing boats far out at sea, and it reminded me of ‘The Starry Night Over the Rhone.’

A sense of freedom as if liberated from something, vague worries, a strange excitement in my heart, and a feeling of being chased. Those were the days when such things intertwined within me and quietly swayed.

“So, who was that person?”

Morae asked, showing interest in my story about what happened today.

“She’s my mom’s friend’s younger sister… She was my art teacher for a while when I was little.”

Subtle expressions appeared on their faces at the mention of someone related to my parents, but they soon disappeared.

“But you met again like that? That’s amazing. If you send it in as a story on the radio, you’ll get a gift certificate.”

Morae said, gathering the last bite of nasi goreng left on her plate with a spoon. Despite Morae’s efforts to lighten the mood, Yeehan’s expression was still slightly stiff.

“She said she heard about our family from my aunt.”

“…Really?”

Only then did Yeehan relax his face and take a sip of beer.

“She said she had been working in Hong Kong and came to Korea about four years ago. She’s working at a private gallery now.”

“A gallery? If she was teaching you art and is now working at a gallery, she must have been in the art world all along?”

Morae, who was chewing the last bite of nasi goreng diligently, said after swallowing the food in her mouth.

“I guess so. She said she has three exhibition schedules in a row right now, so she doesn’t have time to take care of her house. When I went to help her move, her house was really a mess.”

I answered, lightly spinning the beer can with about a third of its contents left in my hand. I drank a little more beer than usual today. Maybe that’s why I felt a slight heat on my cheeks even though the wind was pleasant.

“Are you going to do it?”

It was Morae’s question, as if she wanted me to accept Ms. Han’s offer.

“I don’t know yet.”

This was Yeehan’s words, worried that it would stir up past wounds.

But it wasn’t hard or anything to see Ms. Han’s face. Rather, the honest emotion that came to mind as soon as I recognized Ms. Han was joy. Ms. Han’s face was not connected to painful memories.

“Seo Yeehyeon is practically a god at organizing. It’s not like she knows your situation and is deliberately taking care of you, but she happened to need someone and suggested it because you were the right person, so if you’re worried about causing trouble, don’t worry about it. That’s more rude to her. Just do what your heart tells you.”

Morae, who had completely finished her meal, said that and then took a refreshing gulp of the beer she had been saving.

“Yeah, I should.”

That’s how I answered, but it wasn’t easy to pinpoint where my heart was heading.

“Morae and I are working, and we’re not in a hurry for money for the time being, so think about it comfortably and decide.”

“Okay.”

The shop owner seemed to be a little more cautious than Morae. Because there are many ways people react to and deal with wounds…

The next day, I had to go to Gwangjin-gu by 7 o’clock. It was time to wrap things up for tomorrow. I had to fall into a deep sleep before the newlyweds downstairs started shouting and fighting.

If you open the flimsy front door that seems like it would fall off if a reasonably strong adult male shook it hard a few times (even if it doesn’t actually happen, at least it looks like it), you’ll find a narrow kitchen space where about two people can lie down side by side, and beyond the sliding door that can be opened on both sides is the room.

The head of the private investigation agency, who showed us this room on behalf of the landlord who had returned to his hometown and was now living somewhere in Jeolla-do, emphasized that it was “a separate one-room apartment.”

Morae and Yeehan were beyond the door, and I was in the kitchen. That’s how we spread out our mats.

The two of them strongly opposed, saying that it wasn’t like there was no room in the room, and that I was trying to make them trash, but I just wanted to protect them to that extent.

Even if they don’t act like lovers in front of me, I knew that their comfortable appearance like friends wasn’t the whole of their relationship.

“Yeehyeon , let’s just sleep together in the room. I’m cool, you know?”

Morae, leaning against the frame of the open sliding door, looking at me spreading out my bedding in the kitchen, threw the same line again today.

I sat on the soft new mat, hugged the pillow, and looked up at her with a slightly playful expression on purpose.

“Sis.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m cool too. I’m just going to sleep here.”

Morae chuckled. Then she smiled warmly with affectionate eyes. And with the greeting, “Have a good dream, cool Seo Yeehyeon ,” she disappeared beyond the door.

However, we couldn’t continue to live like this with just one door between us. It’s okay now because it’s a warm season, but even if autumn comes, cold air will seep in through the flimsy front door. I didn’t want the two of them to keep feeling sorry for me and worrying about me.

I know that their escape is not just a love affair, but a kind of struggle to live their own lives, but I still didn’t like that they couldn’t even freely share skinship even after seizing the freedom they had worked so hard to obtain and the opportunity to love to their heart’s content.

I had followed their suggestions up to this point, but I had to come up with my own measures for my future life.

Lying on my back with my fingers interlaced behind my head, I could hear Yeehan and Morae talking quietly from beyond the sliding door, where opaque glass was fitted into each of the chocolate-like square frames. I couldn’t understand the contents.

I told them that I didn’t know what to do with their questions, but I was clearly aware that it wasn’t the time to be picky about this or that. If it was a job that made money, I had to do something first.

Even when I lay down to sleep, even when I closed my eyes, the fact that I couldn’t hear the sound of the waves made me realize that we, that I, had come a long way.

---