Episode 3. the only trace
Beside the checkout counter, fresh rainwater from the countryside stood leaning against the glass door.
“Either eating meat from Nam, or raising and eating meat! What kind of meddling is a country boy!”
“You look more like a country boy.”
“If you’re going to show up in two years and say bullsh*t like that, get out of here.”
“Chiyoung-ah, I have a request for you.”
“Are you crazy? Why are you calling me by name?”
The man’s name was Gong Chi-young.
Gong Chi-young sincerely frowned and glared at Kang-soo.
“Please check something.”
“If that’s the case, go to the agency. There are many around here.”
“Is it like this?”
In response to that question, Gong Chi-young pierced the steak with a fork and ate it.
“What am I Mmm, it tastes good.”
“March 2, 2012, in the Lefontsea region of northwestern France.”
Gong Chi-young, who was chewing the meat for a moment, hardens.
“I do not remember? Someone was distracted by the connected camera for security reasons.”
“what! what! It’s been several years already, but what! whatever!”
“What if the person who almost died thanks to a glance at that time knew about it even now?”
“Ouch! Chet-! What is your request!”
Swoop-
Kangsu held out a note.
[Lawyer Song Tae-joon, Haesong Law Firm]
[Jin Soo-hyeok]
“Find someone named Jin Soo-hyeok who is related to this person.”
“Looking for people? Did you come here to ask me, who was the former head of the information analysis team at Egisto, a leading European security company?”
“I see. In such a great place, you lost your eyes while on duty, paid operating expenses, and even illegally renovated the office, and you were fired.”
“shut up-!”
Gong Chi-yeong jumped up from her seat and went to the back where the kitchen was. It was followed by rivers.
Gong Chi-yeong approached the wall in the corner and put her hand under the middle shelf of the next bookcase.
Click! Swoouuugh-!
As the button was pressed, the wall pushed aside, revealing a secret space.
“Are you here too?”
“It’s my heart!”
“Do you know the landlord? You did the same there, so do you want to get kicked out here as well?”
“Shut up and sit down unless you want to implant with keycaps.”
In the secret space, a large computer body and monitors filled the entire wall.
In front of him, Gong Chi-young sat down and turned the system on.
Tadadada- tadadada- tatak!
The screen changes rapidly as the search begins.
It didn’t take long. After being reduced to a few pieces of information, Gong Chi-yeong turned his head.
“Jin Soo-hyeok, who is related to the law firm Haesong, is the second and youngest of the three siblings of the Jinyeon Group. And there are only co-representatives of JIN Entertainment, BG, a security company, and Jinyeon Construction?”
River water was also what I searched for in internet cafes in the city.
“Are there any other Jin Soo-hyuks?”
“doesn’t exist. But why are you looking for this person?”
Gong Chi-young drank the champagne along the side with a question.
“My father.”
“Um-uh? Woo woo woo! Kuck!”
At that moment, Kang-soo turned Gong Chi-yeong’s chin with the palm of his hand, changing the direction of the champagne.
“You crazy bastard! Your jaw is back!”
“Better than getting hit in the face by being unsanitary.”
“Ah, you idiot! I almost lived on porridge for the rest of my life.”
“More than that, is it really only Jin Soo-hyuk?”
“No more. We are in the same class at Seoul National University, and there is also a picture taken together at the Jinyeon Group founding party. But are you really the father? You have a different last name! And your father died!”
Gong Chi-young remembered what he had heard before.
“My last name is after my mother’s last name. I said that because I didn’t have to explain death. Because now, for the first time, I know that a father exists.”
“How did you think?”
What should I explain?
Living in 2022 and then returning to the past?
‘Whoever thinks it’s crazy.’
Kangsu shook his head slightly and said.
“What happened? Anyway, if he’s really the only one, I have no choice but to check it myself.”
“Check what?”
“There is such a thing. Oh, check out the other ones too. About Mercenary Camp Savnak.”
“Mercenary camp? If that’s the case, then you’re in Nightwing…”
“Shut up and find out more. From 2007 to now.”
“wait.”
Gong Chi-young turned the chair again and tapped on the keyboard. As before, the screen changed, and the information applied to the filter appeared one by one.
“There’s nothing snagged on my line, right? If it was there, it would have disappeared right away. Don’t you know that better than anyone?”
“know. But I’m not feeling well.”
“It’s nothing to worry about. So, is the request over? Are there any more?”
“Not once. I just have to go.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen your face, haven’t you had a drink?”
“Do it later. I’m in a bit of a hurry.”
Kangsu said that and tried to get up.
Seeing that, Gong Chi-yeong starts talking just in case.
“Are you going to visit your father yourself? for a moment! Are you a third-generation conglomerate then? Give me some money!”
“It’s not certain yet. And I’m not interested in chaebol. I’ve only heard that Jin Soo-hyeok is my father. I’ll have to check that out for sure. That’s why I’m going to start by looking for someone named Song Tae-joon in Haesong.”
“Sheesh! What did you work so hard on? But like that?”
Gong Chi-young’s eyes scanned Kang-soo’s whole body.
“What am I?”
“Isn’t it a bit like a short-sleeved T-shirt like a Green Mothers Association vest? Besides, why are your pants so colorful?”
I bought it roughly at a market in the city and wore it, so I couldn’t help it.
“I’m going to go buy one and wear it.”
“Be sure to do that.”
* * *
After leaving Gong Chi-young’s Internet cafe, Kang-soo stopped by a clothing store.
From nob le mt l dot com
Now, he arrived at the Haesong office of the law firm in a light suit.
While Kang-soo was sitting for a while, Song Tae-joon came in.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Song Tae-joon, Haesong’s lawyer.”
“I am Han River.”
‘You don’t know me?’
Apparently Song Tae-joon had come up to the mountain to deliver the will.
I don’t know if I like suits under mountaineering clothes, but…
It wasn’t even that the will was opened. If that were the case, he would have known the name or face of Kangsu in advance.
But now the reaction was completely unknown.
“You have booked a legal consultation, what is it about?”
“There is a house my mother left behind, but it hasn’t been used for a long time. However, while I was away for a long time, it was said that redevelopment was planned. Because I never gave permission.”
It was an excuse that made it look suspicious.
In response, Kang-soo presented the building ledger and family relationship certificate that he had separated in advance.
Inside, the name of the previous owner’s mother, ‘Han Jin-hye’, was also written.
“Hmm… Even if the owner is certain, if the majority of the reconstruction has already been approved, we cannot raise an objection.”
Song Tae-joon had no other reaction even after reading the document.
“is that so?”
“You seem to be against reconstruction.”
“Because it’s the house where my deceased mother lived until the end.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Consultation did not take long.
After calculating the consultation fee, Kangsu came out. Then, he glanced at the floor where Haesong’s office was located and muttered.
“Isn’t it before the will has been entrusted?”
There was only one possibility.
If so, it was difficult to confirm Kang-soo’s paternity.
There was one way I could think of.
“It shouldn’t be difficult to get hair or nails.”
However, it could be a bit noisy.
Besides, I didn’t feel the need to prove the existence of a father.
Kang-soo was just thinking of finding Savnak who killed him and making him the same.
“I have to find it first and organize it before I die later.”
However, even after investigating through Gong Chi-young, the existence of the mercenary camp ‘Savnak’ was still erased.
“At that time, if there was a way to find me, it must have been through lawyer Song Tae-joon or Jin Soo-hyeok.”
There was no transferred address or cell phone.
It left no traces until it entered the mountain.
Still, Song Tae-joon came to Kang-soo.
It seemed to mean that there was a trace left somewhere, or that someone had tracked the precipitation from the beginning.
Kangsu took a taxi and headed to Daejo-dong, Eunpyeong-gu.
After a while, they arrived at their mother’s house, which Song Tae-joon used as an excuse.
[Dongwoon Villa A01]
It was not above ground, but half underground.
Kang-soo, who went down there, saw a heap of mail piled up in front of the front door.
Most of them were advertisement flyers.
Kang-soo, who took it with him, opened the door and entered the house for the first time in two years.
Being a semi-underground, the musty smell stung my nose.
“Has it been too long since you came?”
After putting the mail on the desk, Kangsu opened the window that touched the ceiling.
A little sunlight came in, revealing the house, which was covered with dust.
“Mom, did I come too late?”
Kang-su’s mother passed away from cancer when he was in his second year of high school. A portrait of her mother was placed on a shelf in the living room.
Except for occasional visits, the last time I came home was before enlisting as a noncommissioned officer. That’s already 18 years, no, 11 years ago now.
“huh······?”
Kang-soo, who recalled memories with his mother for a while, found a familiar handwriting among the mail that came in earlier.
When I took out the letter, it had my mother’s name written on it.
[To my beloved son, Kangsu]
[Kangsu’s mother Han Jin-hye…]
Kang-soo frowns at the words written on the envelope.
“When did you send this letter? 2002?”
The date stamped was December 2002.
Around the end of the second year of high school… And it was in November 2002 that my mother passed away.
After that, I came home from time to time, but I couldn’t find it because I didn’t check the mail properly.
For some reason, it seemed that the letter had arrived late.
I even enlisted right away without attending my high school graduation ceremony…
Kangsu immediately opened the letter.
“My Kang-soo, I’m so sorry mom.”
The letter that started with those words went on for a long time.
I hope that Kangsu will not be lonely.
He said that he would get married later when he grew up, but it was a pity that he couldn’t see his daughter-in-law.
“mom······.”
While worrying for a long time, Kang-soo’s gaze stopped at one of the contents.
“Was it the soldier who went with Kangsu? I still remember. My mother asked me to go, but my Kang-soo grumbled that I couldn’t walk well…”
Mt. Byeongmu was now a forest where Kangsu lived.
My mother liked the scenery there so much that she buried the urn under a giant tree near the house and lived there.
The place was mentioned in the letter.
“Could someone find this letter and track me down?”
There are plenty of possibilities.
Precipitation is the only trace that has gone unnoticed. Originally, even in the future, Kang-soo lived only in the mountains and never came home.
If Jin Soo-hyeok, who was presumed to be the father, found the present letter, it could have been that he knew of Kang-soo’s existence, found it, and left a will.
“Then, being my real father becomes important.”
Before returning, it was necessary to confirm whether Jin Soo-hyeok really matched the Jin Soo-hyeok he had just found.
Like Jin Soo-hyeok, Savnak could have followed the letter.
For now, it may be that the first traces you found have been removed.
But Kang-soo had no intention of ending it.
“It might be better to go simple than to make unnecessary movements.”
Returning life of a retired S-class mercenary