Shadows in Seoul

Park, is Kim Gi-chul, patient in room 317, being discharged today?”

Nurse Park, who was sitting at the nurse’s desk checking charts, looked up with a dazed expression.

“I haven’t heard anything about that. Why all of a sudden?”

The nursing assistant tilted their head.

“Well, I was doing rounds and the patient was packing his things.”

Nurse Park clicked her tongue.

“I guess he’s saying he’s going to be discharged again.”

Sure enough, as soon as the caregiver, who had been away for a moment as if she had gone to the bathroom, entered the ward, she let out a scream-like sound.

Nurse Park sighed and lowered her head again to stare at the monitor.

The nursing assistant, who had been listening to the commotion, also shook her head and shifted her gaze.

Her eyes fell on a box of drinks placed on the desk shelf.

The weather was very humid because the sun came out right after the rain.

It was a nursing home where they couldn’t easily lower the air conditioning temperature because it was hot, so she was already thirsty.

The nursing assistant glanced at the box and opened her mouth.

“Did someone bring a gift?”

It was something she said because protectors who came to see the patient often put drink boxes in the nurse’s office, although not as much as before.

Nurse Park sighed as she watched the nursing assistant reaching out his hand while chattering.

“I’m going to throw that away.”

The outstretched hand flinched.

“Why? It looks fine, it’s a waste.”

Nurse Park scoffed at the word ‘waste’.

“It’s past the expiration date.”

“What?”

The nursing assistant frowned and took out a bottle from the box.

The numbers attached to the neck of the beverage bottle told him that the date was long overdue, as Nurse Park said.

It was okay for a day or two, but it was uncomfortable to eat something that was a month old.

The nursing assistant narrowed his eyes because he couldn’t quench the thirst he had already felt.

“Who put something like this here?”

“Who else would it be?”

Nurse Park answered right away without even turning her head from the monitor.

The nursing assistant turned his body as he suddenly came to mind.

His gaze reached the ward, which was a little far from the desk and somehow dark as if it was shaded.

“Room 307?”

“Yes. Kim Yeo-ryeong’s son-in-law came.”

The nursing assistant clicked his tongue at the familiar name.

“Oh my. It’s not like the hospital is a food waste container.”

“I know.”

Everyone was annoyed by the son-in-law who brought spoiled food or expired food once a week and pretended to be generous by throwing it away. They wished he wouldn’t bring anything at all.

“Just in case, I checked it as soon as I received it, but it was as expected. I guess it’s better to give it to us than to feed it to the elder.”

It was fortunate that it was a patient who couldn’t eat food, so they had a tube connected through her nose.

“No, aren’t our mouths mouths too? He’s really going too far. What if we drank it without seeing it and had a problem?”

The nursing assistant’s lips jutted out.

Anyway, it was their job to clean up the box that came to the nurse’s desk.

When she thought about having to open each of the undrinkable beverage bottles, throw away the contents, and separate them for recycling, she couldn’t bear to say the swear words that were soaring to her throat.

“He looks like a catfish.”

The nursing assistant, who spit out the words that eventually came out of her mouth, turned around and looked at room 307 with sharp eyes.

It wasn’t the same as a regular hospital just because it was a nursing hospital, but it was the same in that it gathered patients with similar symptoms.

The 3rd floor ward was full of patients who couldn’t move easily and were lying on their beds all day long.

Among them, there were several patients lying down without consciousness.

The patient in the bed closest to the hallway out of the five beds in room 307 was also in a similar condition.

“Mother-in-law, I’m here.”

Go Beom-woo greeted nonchalantly, drew back the curtains, and entered.

Only the rough breathing depending on the wheezing respirator could be heard, and the thin body lying on the bed did not respond at all.

The blankets that the caregivers working in each room had turned over and wiped their bodies to prevent bedsores and covered them with were well covered to her shoulders without flowing down.

Go Beom-woo smiled with his particularly thick lower lip and held up the bag in his hand.

Then, he nonchalantly threw it on the bed. It wasn’t heavy, but Kim Yeo-ryeong, who was lying down, didn’t move at all, even though she would feel the weight.

“Mother-in-law, I brought you chicken.”

Go Beom-woo whispered and spoke.

There was no sign of her, as if she was asleep, so he reached out his hand, just in case.

He smiled as if sighing after confirming that a very weak breath was wrapping around his finger.

He opened the bag rustling and took out the box.

When he opened the folded part, he saw a pile of chicken bones stacked on top of each other.

It was literally garbage with no meat attached.

Go Beom-woo put on the plastic gloves he had brought.

“They say this is the most popular these days.”

He rubbed the cartilage at the end of the bone and the sinews that seemed to be left tough, and took his finger to Kim Yeo-ryeong’s lips.

“It smells delicious, right? Eat a lot.”

He smiled and spoke kindly to Kim Yeo-ryeong, who was lying down.

The black liquid transferred from the chicken bones in the box gathered on his fingertips and was absorbed as it was into Kim Yeo-ryeong’s mouth.

Go Beom-woo, who confirmed that, smiled and shook his body.

“These days, that person is getting busier, so don’t be too sad that he can’t come often.

I’ll bring you a lot of delicious things next time.”

He whispered very kindly, rummaging through the half-melted chicken bones.

“Live a long life. Mother-in-law. That way I can bring you more delicious things.”

After finishing the last work, he roughly cleaned up and got up.

Go Beom-woo opened the door.

There was a sound of sparks flying, but it was unrelated to him. He turned around and walked down the hallway, chuckling.

‘Yeo-ryeong.’

A hand came out from above Kim Yeo-ryeong’s head, from the darkness.

The hand, which had stroked the air without even touching the skin because electricity had sparked, soon disappeared around Kim Yeo-ryeong.

Go Beom-woo took the elevator down and looked around the lobby.

There were a lot of old people in wheelchairs being pushed out by caregivers to bask in the sun. He spit out what had come up in his throat violently on the floor.

The gazes around him were sharp at the foamy phlegm, but Go Beom-woo puffed out his breath as if it was no big deal.

He went out to the parking lot and stood in front of an old sedan with scratches here and there.

“When I finish the next one, I’ll definitely get a new car with a classy look.”

It was a childish voice for what he was saying to himself.

However, Go Beom-woo boasted as if he liked the bluff he had spouted, and got in the car as it was.

“Here it is.”

Kang Hae-soo pointed to the stairs inside the aluminum door.

It was a place where he had been going back and forth like a rat going in and out of a haystack, and had even gone up with a sleeping bag and set up camp for four days.

“Are you sure they’re open?”

“Yes.”

Kang Hae-soo smiled as if he understood Lee Seon’s feelings and moved his feet first.

It was a place that even he, who was familiar with it, doubted was a place where people lived, so it was natural that it was even more unpleasant for someone who was coming for the first time.

Lee Seon and Theodore’s gazes looked up at the steps that were perfect for falling down.

It seemed that no sunlight was coming in, and the area beyond the entrance was dark even though it was the brightest time of day.

Here?

Lee Seon rubbed his arms as if laying down the hairs that had stood on end with a chill. His gaze scanned the entrance of the building as if checking it.

Of course, the phrase “Anyone who crosses this place should give up hope” was not engraved.

But it was clear that it was a place where people should not set foot.

“Let’s go in.”

Kang Hae-soo urged him on, not knowing his feelings.

Lee Seon glanced at Theodore to check the anxiety that his premonition was telling him.

Theodore, as a matter of course, followed after Kang Hae-soo, who had entered first and been swallowed by the darkness inside the building.

Lee Seon didn’t even have a choice.

He stretched out his leg, making the sign of the cross as if relying on the belief he had once desperately wanted.

The end of his shoe caught on the edge of the uneven stairs twice and staggered, but he was able to climb up to the 2nd floor safely anyway.

What was there was a door with a simple company name “Lawyer Hyun Si-woo” written on a transparent sticker partition.

Kang Hae-soo opened the door.

Theodore stopped walking and then moved again at the sight of the office that was visible as soon as the door opened.

Lee Seon, who couldn’t see in front because of his big body, entered last and opened his mouth wide.

It was strange not to be surprised by the penguin dolls with yellow beaks that were densely packed in every place his eyes reached.

From penguins as tall as people to small penguins that seemed to be worn on fingers. All kinds of penguins greeted them with their bodies touching each other.

“Lawyer Hyun.”

Kang Hae-soo casually passed through the scenery of the office and stuck his head into the multipurpose room inside and looked for the owner of the office.

A man came out from inside at his call.

It was a man with an impressive yellow rubber band that tied up his hair, which seemed to have naturally grown longer because he didn’t have time to get a haircut, an unshaven chin, and haggard eyes.

His eyes, which had been crumpled as soon as he saw them, as if he wasn’t happy with the visit, soon straightened out as if nothing had happened.

“This is Lawyer Hyun Si-woo, who I was talking about.”

Kang Hae-soo smiled stiffly as he looked at Lawyer Hyun.

“The people who came with me are guests from England.”

“…Are they the people looking for the Baegaksan Sanshin Shrine? Tsk.”

Lawyer Hyun clicked his tongue and looked at Theodore and Lee Seon with bloodshot eyes. Then, he averted his gaze as if he was not interested.

“I didn’t think you’d really come.”

“Hey! You said they had to be in Korea!”

Kang Hae-soo whispered softly and poked his university colleague hard in the side.

Lawyer Hyun only frowned, without even thinking of immediately lowering the tie he had thrown over his shoulder.

Still, he had come this far, so he thought he should treat his guests, so he grabbed a penguin doll lying on the sofa and hugged it to his side.

It didn’t suit him. Even though it seemed very comfortable and stable.

“Please sit down.”

Lawyer Hyun, who had removed the doll to make room, gestured towards the empty sofa.

Then, Kang Hae-soo quickly took out a cushion and threw it on the seats where Theodore and Lee Seon would sit.

Lawyer Hyun sat down casually on the one-person sofa with a noticeable dent.

“If you don’t mind, is there a reason why you are looking for the Baegaksan Sanshin Shrine?”

Without even offering a water cup that he might have offered as a formality, he immediately asked a question with a rather stiff English pronunciation.

Theodore smiled at the attitude that clearly showed that he wanted to finish the work quickly and send them out.

If it was something he had to do anyway, it was good for him to finish it quickly too.

“I’m sure I’ve already told you. Is it so important that you’re asking again now?”

Lawyer Hyun’s eyebrows twitched at the fluent Korean that came out of his mouth, but he soon let out a short sigh.

“Unfortunately, I’m not the one who makes the decision.

I’m just simply conveying it to the person who knows about the Sanshin Shrine.

Now that you’ve come this far, I’m just confirming it again as a formality.”

Theodore narrowed his eyes at those words.

According to Kang Hae-soo, he worked with a real estate agent, but Lawyer Hyun’s attitude was that he was just doing what he was told from above.

Whether he was a partner or a subordinate, it didn’t matter as long as he did his job.

Theodore repeated the words he had said when he entrusted this job.

“My great-grandfather left an item at the Baegaksan Sanshin Shrine a long time ago. I have to find it.”

Lawyer Hyun looked straight at Theodore.

“When was that?”

“Well. It was the year after the war started in Europe, so was it around 1915?”

Lawyer Hyun stared intently, as if he felt something suspicious even though it was a smooth lie.

Then, he rolled his eyes towards Kang Hae-soo, scratched his head, and opened his mouth.

“I’ll contact him one last time, but if he refuses, there’s no way I can help you.”

Theodore shrugged as if that was enough.

Lawyer Hyun soon moved his fingers to send a short message somewhere.