PHUW 109

The man dropped the knife and staggered, he collapsed on the ground. Jeong Mok did not miss the chance and, just in case, kicked him squarely in the jaw.

Thud!

His jaw shattered completely, his lower face twisted out of shape. Blood splattered up Jeong Mok’s shin. If by some miracle he survived, he would live on porridge alone.

“Aaagh! Get this dog off me!”

The one pinned under Gom-i screamed. Jeong Mok kicked the fallen sashimi knife deep into the thick grass and turned.

“Gom, stop.”

Grrr.

Gom-i bared his bloodied teeth at Jeong Mok, as if unwilling. The man beneath him was soaked in blood from his arms to his shoulders. He had no choice but to protect his throat with his arms. As Jeong Mok approached, Gom-i snapped at him too, too worked up to tell friend from foe.

Woof!

Jeong Mok shoved his left forearm between the dog’s terrifying teeth, then pushed back. In raw strength, he could not match Gom-i. But he was tall, and pressing down with his full weight from above forced the excited dog to stumble backward. In that moment Jeong Mok drove his bloodstained shoe into the back of the trembling kidnapper’s head.

Crack!

The sound of a watermelon splitting made even Gom-i flinch. Snarling, he released Jeong Mok’s wrapped arm and sprang back.

Thud, thud!

Jeong Mok kicked the man on the ground again and again. Gom-i drooped his ears and slunk back.

“Haa.”

Only after smashing both men’s heads to ruin did Jeong Mok calm down. Gom-i, already cowed, tucked his tail and whimpered.

He shoved off the shredded, blood-soaked jacket from his arm and let it drop, then threw open the flimsy door of the old shack patched with planks. Among heaps of moldy, dust-caked farm debris, Ahn Haeri lay collapsed.

“Haeri!”

He all but dove to the ground, hastily lifting his upper body into his arms. Haeri’s pale face held no trace of color. Gom-i came whimpering after, pressing his muzzle to lick his master’s cheek. The damp, hot tongue might as well have been air; Haeri’s head only sagged limply.

Jeong Mok felt his heart sinking.

“Haeri. Open your eyes. I’m here now. It’s alright. So open your eyes.”

With shaking hands, he tapped the white cheek. Instead of opening his eyes, Haeri’s head slid down along his arm, and with it, Jeong Mok’s heart rolled like brambles down a slope.

No matter how Gom-i rubbed his head and licked his eyes, nose, and mouth, Haeri did not respond.

No way. Impossible. Absolutely impossible. It must not be.

Jeong Mok pushed the whining dog aside and laid Haeri back down. Then he pressed his ear to his chest. Thump. He heard a pulse. He moved his ear to his nose. He was faintly breathing.

“Ha.”

Jeong Mok felt as though he had just lost ten, no, twenty-five years of his life.

With trembling hands, he fumbled over Haeri’s rigid body and finally noticed the tape wound around his wrists. There was no time to undo it carefully. He bit it and tore it open with his teeth. He did the same for his ankles.

He rubbed Haeri’s blue fingertips where blood had not flowed, while his other hand pulled his phone from his pocket. He called Chief Ahn.

–Where are you!

“Here, in an abandoned orchard in the hills. A small path that isn’t on the map. Ha. Send 119 first. I found Ahn Haeri. And the culprits too, but both… well, they’re like that.”

–Vice Chairman, are you unharmed?

“I’m fine. Haeri’s unconscious. Hurry… send people first.”

–There’s a paramedic on the security team. To pinpoint your exact location, we launched a drone. Signal us when you see it.

“A drone?”

Then he could not stay inside. Jeong Mok lifted Ahn Haeri and carried him out. He saw no drone and heard nothing either. But Gom-i did.

Woof.

Gom-i fixed his gaze on a certain direction along the path. He took a couple of steps forward, then turned back to look at Jeong Mok. Then he barked again. He had found something.

“Gom-i. Run.”

Jeong Mok pointed his chin toward the direction he indicated. Gom-i shot off like the wind. He was such a reliable dog.

“He just went down. Follow him.”

–Find the black dog on the camera. You’ll recognize him.

As soon as Jeong Mok reported, Chief Ahn gave instructions to someone else. Soon after, Gom-i’s barking echoed in the distance again and again.

About ten minutes later, the sound of a drone engine reached them. When Jeong Mok lifted his head, he saw a red light flashing high in the air.

The drone appeared first, then Gom-i, and close behind him the black SUV of the security team.

The vehicle stopped in front of the hut and the security team got out. One of them, certified as a paramedic, grabbed a medical kit and ran toward them.

After a quick check, he said Haeri didn’t seem in immediate danger, but the unconsciousness itself was a serious issue, and he needed to be taken to the hospital at once. On his orders, after securing the airway and fitting a cervical collar, Jeong Mok lifted and lowered Haeri as told.

The security team’s vehicle carrying both Ahn Haeri and Jeong Mok started down the hill. Gom-i was placed in the passenger seat. The guard at the wheel kept glancing anxiously at his side, but leaving Gom-i behind was unthinkable. If Haeri woke, the first one he would look for was Gom-i.

On the narrow road down, they passed the security vehicle carrying Chief Ahn. As soon as those inside saw the car descending in a rush, they reversed, and at the first space wide enough, they pulled aside.

More than the unconscious Haeri, or even the Vice Chairman whose piercing eyes were fixed on him, it was the loud barking of the massive black dog that pushed the driver at the wheel to reckless speeds beyond his limit.

They reached the ER, now as familiar as home, about twenty minutes later. The doctor and nurses on duty, forewarned, waited with a mobile bed ready. Only the guard with paramedic certification blurted out details in a rush. The on-duty medical staff was used to this by now, and Jeong Mok both kept silent.

They took CT scans of his head and his operated foot. There was some infection in the foot, but his brain was fine. As expected, the prepared operating table was handed over to another emergency case. But Haeri still did not regain consciousness. The department heads of psychiatry and neurosurgery, called in on their day off, reviewed the EEG and other data, and cautiously pointed to psychological shock rather than physical cause.

Psychological shock. That made sense. He had been kidnapped. And he had almost certainly witnessed Lee Ducheol being stabbed to death. He must have been terrified.

Haeri was moved to the VIP room, now as familiar as his own room. The dirty half-cast was removed, and his foot was bandaged. Yellow antibiotics flowed through the IV line into Haeri’s arm. His forehead was damp with cold sweat, and his hands and feet were cold. The room temperature was raised high.

Gom-i was once again sent to the animal hospital. His paw pads were torn and bleeding. The only one who could care for him was the vet director. Having been admitted once before, Gom-i this time accepted treatment and food without resistance, he was calm and obedient. He was praiseworthy, and at the same time, it made Jeong Mok feel sorry and grateful.

Jeong Mok stayed by Haeri’s side. Beneath Haeri’s thin eyelids, framed with long brown lashes, his eyes moved violently. According to the neurosurgery head, he was in REM sleep¹. He was dreaming.

No one knew what he was dreaming about, but it was clear it was not a good deeam. Haeri trembled in small convulsions and muttered incoherently. The words were slurred, but you could still hear the fear in his tone. His IV-laden hand clawed at the air twice, and his legs were shaking too. The nurse on duty came to check his vitals, she saw the scene, and remarked that he must be running in his dream.

Was he being chased? Most likely. That was why he had fled all the way to Jeong Mok’s construction site. Even that first day, Ahn Haeri had been desperate. And even now, he was still desperately running, alone.

Jeong Mok caught the hand that hovered in the air. Haeri’s cold fingers curled into his grasp like a startled mimosa. He clasped them carefully with both hands, raised them to his lips.

“Haeri, stay strong.”

He pressed his lips to the cold fingers and whispered.

“Come to me. I’m waiting here.”

So that Haeri, wandering in the dark, could run toward him, knowing he was here, waiting.

He kept calling Haeri, again and again, until his throat broke and tears ran down his face.

1. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is the stage of sleep where most dreams happen. Its name comes from how your eyes move behind your eyelids while you’re dreaming. During REM sleep, your brain activity looks very similar to brain activity while you’re awake. ↩︎