Pil-sun seemed to welcome his suggestion; blushing, she muttered something that Deok-gi didn’t catch. It sounded like a thank you.
Parking his bicycle at the door, Byeong-hwa walked in and called out loudly, “I am so honored that you’ve come to grace our store with your presence!” He looked very clean-cut in his Western suit and overcoat.
“I see that you’ve abandoned a respectful form of speech, now that you’re dressed as a gentleman.”
“That’ll change if you’ve come here to buy something.”
“Then give me one-jeon worth of edamame beans,” Deok-gi said as he took out his wallet.
“Thank you, sir, but we don’t carry goods handled by tiny stores.”
“By the way, a stranger came by a while ago. He was as rude as a police inspector. I have a feeling he’ll come again.”
Before Pil-sun had a chance to go into details, Byeong-hwa cut her short. “That’s all right. Don’t worry about it.”
“Did you run into him on your way back?”
“No, I didn’t, but it’ll be all right.” Byeong-hwa managed a feeble smile but seemed perturbed.
Lightheartedly, Deok-gi said, “He threatened to come back and beat you up and said that you opened the business with money from a Japanese detective or something.”
Byeong-hwa smiled and said, “Bull’s-eye!” Taking Deok-gi inside, he led him to a back room with an ondol floor. Pil-sun’s mother’s face lit up at the sight of Deok-gi. She scrambled to her feet, put down her sewing, and offered him a bow of condolence before taking her leave.
Why had Pil-sun’s family moved here? Deok-gi wondered. Byeong-hwa was acting like the family’s son-in-law.
“Where did you hear that rumor?” Byeong-hwa broached the subject after Pil-sun’s mother left.
“So it’s true?” Deok-gi asked with ill-concealed surprise.
“Far from it. But some people actually seem to think it is. I’ve just been to the prison, and the fellow I went to see already knew that I’d started this business.”
“But Byeong-hwa, wasn’t it wrong of you to drop your friends? You should have sought their understanding.”
“How can I expect them to understand? And anyway, the ones that go around speaking ill of me without any grounds aren’t even of my own group. They’re just a bunch of blackmailers.”
“Then what about your group?”
“There aren’t many left, but the few that remain are saying nothing in my defense. They’re passive, no one’s said a word to me. For all I know, they’re pleased to hear others bad-mouth me. Maybe they’re cheering them on.”
“Then why did you distance yourself from them all of a sudden? It’s no surprise they suspect that policemen are helping you out.”
“I don’t care whether they suspect me or come and beat me up. Look, let’s change the subject. I need to ask you a favor.”
“What sort of favor?”
“I’ve already spent almost a thousand won since I started this business. It took only four hundred to acquire the store, but there wasn’t any inventory to speak of, so we had to put in some five or six hundred to stock the shelves. ”
Deok-gi debated whether he should hear him out or cut him short. “Where did the money come from?” he finally demanded.
“That doesn’t matter. I told everyone it came from you. If something happens and you’re questioned, or if they bring us face-to-face, just tell them you lent me a thousand because I had renounced my ideology and wanted to start a business. Tell them that you took it from your grandfather’s money before he died and gave it to me at the hospital.”
Deok-gi let out a belly laugh. “No problem. I’ll give you as much as you need if we’re talking about make-believe money, but where did that thousand actually come from that you have to be so circuitous?”
“If I could tell you that, why would I ask for such a stupid favor?”
“Is it true that it came from inspectors?”
“Are you crazy? Is that what you think?” Byeong-hwa jumped up. “Why don’t you just leave?”
“You’re dismissing your guest? Come on, let’s talk a little more.”
“They’ll come again, and it wouldn’t be good for them to see you here.”
“All the more reason I should stay.”
“You think so? A cowardly bourgeois gentleman like you giving me a hand? You’d have a hard time staying in one piece if they got their hands on you.” Byeong-hwa went to his room, took off his Western jacket, and threw on a store uniform.
“Do you think the bourgeois have tofu for flesh and knitting needles for bones? Maybe you’re looking to get involved in a gang fight.” Smiling, Deok-gi put on his shoes and walked back into the store.
“To take on a gang and take care of business,” Byeong-hwa said with a carefree laugh.
Deok-gi lingered, not having the heart to simply walk away. As he took a closer look around the store, the door to the shop creaked open. The young man who had been there earlier beckoned Byeong-hwa with a tilt of his head. As if he had been waiting for him, Byeong-hwa followed him out, saying to Deok-gi, “Go home. I’ll see you in a day or two.” Noticing muddy footprints on the floor, Byeong-hwa called out to Pil-sun, “What is this mud doing here? Sweep it up, will you?”
Outside, the ground had already started to freeze over, though it had thawed during the day. Byeong-hwa and his visitor walked side by side toward the streetcar terminus, bathed in a slant of sunshine. Pil-sun and Deok-gi followed Byeong-hwa’s lonely back until he and the visitor disappeared past the terminus. Deok-gi told Pil-sun he’d be back soon and ran after them. She was afraid that Deok-gi might get involved in something dangerous, but she couldn’t bring herself to discourage him.
As they reached Chuseongmun, Byeong-hwa turned around and saw Deok-gi following them. At first he stopped short and waved him away. From a distance, Pil-sun saw Deok-gi run toward the two men as Byeong-hwa stood waiting for his friend to catch up. They spoke briefly, and Deok-gi returned to the store.
“What did he say?” cried Pil-sun, who, with her mother, had watched the scene unfold.
“He says he’s going to a friend’s house at 110 Samcheong-dong through Chuseongmun. He says we shouldn’t worry, that he’ll be back in an hour. I didn’t think I could do anything, even if I went along. Besides, I need to get home.” Deok-gi knew that his family was waiting for him to oversee the evening mourning ritual. Missing one might not be a great offense, but it wouldn’t have been proper to leave it to the women when the ceremony marking the first fortnight after his grandfather’s death had not yet been held. Still, it was not easy to leave Pil-sun and her mother.
“Of course. I’m sure he’ll be all right,” Pil-sun’s mother tried to assure him. She abruptly turned to Pil-sun. “Where did your father go? Why isn’t he home yet?”
“When your father returns,” Deok-gi advised Pil-sun, “tell him to go to Samcheong-dong to check on Byeong-hwa. I’ll come back again right after the ritual.” Deok-gi made a phone call to his house before leaving.
The electric lights came on after Pil-sun waited on a flurry of customers. Still no sign of Byeong-hwa, and her father hadn’t yet returned. Once dinner was out of the way, her mother came out to the store again. Neither of them could do anything but worry about the men. Their mouths were dry.
From the store’s glass door, Pil-sun frequently looked out in the direction Byeong-hwa had taken; Chuseongmun was bathed in hazy thirteenth-day moonlight. Her heart sank whenever a dark shadow approached, and her face lit up whenever she caught sight of a man in a passing streetcar who looked like Byeong-hwa, but it was never him. Deok-gi managed to phone around six o’clock. Hearing that they still had no news of Byeong-hwa, Deok-gi said that it would be a good idea to send someone to find him and that he would stop by after dinner.