Once he had showered, Yong Kyu rummaged through the refrigerator and ate what he found. He set his dirty laundry basket out in the hall and came back in and looked in the closet where he found a set of clean clothes neatly folded with a bill on top. The phone rang again. Yong Kyu slowly lifted up the receiver.
“Ahn Yong Kyu, is that you?” It was the voice of the staff sergeant.
“It’s me. What’s up?”
“Military life is tough, eh? Any idea what time it is? Hurry up and get your ass over here. We’ve got a problem.”
“Why are you getting all worked up on a Sunday? Call the PX boys.”
“No, the captain’s away at headquarters. He’ll be back tomorrow evening. I’m over at the CID office. We’ve got a problem.”
“What kind of problem? You’ve made a mess again.”
“Hell, I’m crying tears of blood. Come on, you bastard, some of our boys had their goods confiscated for no reason, and I can’t speak the damn language.”
“All right, I’m on my way.”
When Yong Kyu arrived at the office, the staff sergeant was sitting there simmering in his own sweat. Miss Hoa was not in. On the captain’s desk was nothing but an ashtray heaped with butts from the cigarettes he had been chain-smoking.
“I don’t get it. Today when the chief went off to headquarters he told me to man the office, you know. So I came in here, leaving the grunt sprawled in dreamland after a night on the town. And then, just a little while ago, some American boys come in here babbling away about God knows what. I guess they came to get me, but then they left and brought back two of our guys, kids who’d been on combat duty and are fixing to head home soon. One of the two had a television and the other a tape recorder they’d bought, but the PX guard caught them, I think. Black something or other, the boys said they were told. So I asked that guy Lukas who speaks Korean, and he said the goods were all going to be confiscated. Look, honestly, you know what kind of money that is, right?”
“Yeah, I know. I’ll handle it. Who’s in charge of the American boys?”
“The marine sergeant. You know, the fat one with the bulging eyes.”
Leaving the main building, Yong Kyu passed the radio room and walked over to the investigation office in a barracks next to a flower garden. As he entered, an American sergeant with a short crew cut dressed in a crisp uniform was leafing through some documents at his desk. Yong Kyu saluted, and the sergeant gestured with his chin towards a chair.
“Have a seat.”
“I heard there was some problem with two of our men, so I came to see you.”
“Ah, that case, you mean? We’ve put them in a cell since there was nobody to take custody. I’ve just received the report, would you care to look it over?”
Yong Kyu picked up the report. The ink was not even dry. One man was a marine corporal, the other a private. Both were assigned to a bottom-level combat infantry squad, and after a tough month in the field they were on special leave for a little R & R. They had access to a PX at brigade headquarters, but they were not allowed to use the American PXs and downtown Da Nang was off-limits. They had gone to the marine PX near the rec center and made black market purchases.
The report was simple enough: Two Korean marines in possession of a TV and a stereo tape recorder were stopped by a PX security guard. They were unable to produce ration cards, so the goods were confiscated and the two soldiers detained. The price of the TV was eighty dollars and the tape deck was one hundred twenty. Those were duty-free prices, naturally. The TV was a National and the tape recorder an Akai.
“According to this report, there was no evidence that they bought the stuff on the black market,” Yong Kyu said.
“They had no ration cards. Unless they stole them, there was no other way for such items to come into their possession under the circumstances.”
“As I understand it, in a black market deal, both the seller and the buyer are guilty of an infraction. In fact, the seller is the worse offender. No black market is possible without a seller, is it?”
“They confessed buying on the black market. Lukas got their signatures here.”
“But there’s no signature of the seller. No signed statement of an eyewitness, either. The sentry merely stopped them at a checkpoint. So, this is not a black market case, it’s one that falls within our disciplinary jurisdiction. We’ll handle it as a matter of entering an off-limits area or as an unauthorized use of leave. The money they paid for the goods must be returned in the amounts shown in the report.”
The sergeant shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. They made signed confessions and the chief has approved our action already. Now all you need to do is take over custody of the two recruits.”
“That’s not right. It’s just arrogance. Even if they were stopped within your compound, it is our matter to deal with. And our soldiers were using our money when they bought the goods.”
“It’s the practice of the American forces to consider all events occurring in our compounds as falling under the jurisdiction of the American forces.”
“All right, but you can still return the money.”
“It doesn’t work that way. Since it’s been approved, the goods will go back where they were before sale.”
“And what happens to their money, then? The money that’s gone into the PX, does it go to your government or to the marines?”
“Watch what you say, sergeant, keep in mind this is a military investigation office of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”
“Fine. I’ll also make a separate investigation of the case and send up my own report.”
“Suit yourself. But sergeant, you can’t challenge the authority of the American forces. This case was handled by the book and it’s been closed. Don’t try to second guess us.”
“I’m not trying to challenge it, but to rectify it.”
Yong Kyu emerged from the investigation office and went back into the main building. Then he headed down the stairs to the basement where a uniformed MP was sitting at a desk. Thanks to the ventilation system, the basement was cool inside. He spoke to the MP and then went inside and further down, finding the two soldiers crouching behind bars in the corner of a cell. He opened the doghouse with the key given him by the MP.
“Come on out here.”
They awkwardly saluted, holding their pants up with the other hand.
“Personal effects in custody?”
“Yes, sir. Our watches, wallets, cigarettes. .”
“I see. Follow me.”
He gave the American MP a signed paper to acknowledge transfer of custody and received the box containing their personal effects. The two soldiers rethreaded their shoelaces, put their belts back on and took back their helmets. Yong Kyu led them to the CID office. The staff sergeant, lounging in the captain’s chair with his legs up on the desk, quickly put his feet on the floor.
“Hey, did they agree to give the money back, or what?”
From his attitude, right away Yong Kyu sensed that the sergeant had made a deal of some kind with the soldiers.
“Give me a hundred.”
Yong Kyu held out his hand. The team leader rolled his eyes with surprise.
“Now, now, what a thing to say to a poor man like me. Ask Pointer to pitch in, man. You guys are like family, huh?”
“They refused to cough up the money. Shit, these boys are screwed, so we’re going to make up their loss with a hundred from you and a hundred from me.”
Stunned, the staff sergeant stared back at Yong Kyu with his mouth hanging open.