Page 46

Detective Hae read the file he’d taken from the officer’s desk. His square jaw and salt-and-pepper hair reminded Jihoon of the distinguished actors in the period dramas Jihoon’s halmeoni liked. He imagined the man wearing the large robes of a noble, yelling about the honor of the country.

“So you broke a window, and you’ve decided the best response is to be rude to a police officer?”

“It wasn’t an active decision,” Jihoon said. The detective frowned and he added, “Sir.”

“Do you realize you’re in a fair bit of trouble?” Detective Hae glanced down at a paper in his hand. “Ahn Jihoon.”

Jihoon turned to his manners. “I understand, sir.”

“The store owner also says you weren’t alone.”

Jihoon nodded; something about this detective made it infinitely harder to lie. “No, sir. But I’ve confessed.”

“Yes, you are the one who’s confessed.” Detective Hae said this in a way that made Jihoon think the man saw right through him. “The store owner wanted to press charges.” The detective spoke in a lecturing tone. Jihoon bristled at it, but kept his head bowed in respect. “However, your halmeoni was able to change his mind.”

For the first time, Jihoon felt fear. His eyes darted around the police station, looking for his halmeoni with more apprehension than he’d felt at the previous officer’s harsh interrogation.

The detective let out a chuckle, which brought Jihoon’s eyes flying back to the man.

“It’s good to see you respect her. Your halmeoni is quite a woman. It’s a pity her reputation might be tarnished by this.”

Now tendrils of guilt curled through Jihoon. This wouldn’t affect the restaurant, would it?

Then he processed the rest of the detective’s words. “You know my halmeoni?”

“I met her on my first case here. She strikes me as a good and strong woman who doesn’t accept foolish behavior. I feel like any punishment your halmeoni will give is worse than what we could. Since there aren’t any official charges, when she gets here you’re free to leave.”

Jihoon nodded and watched the door, trying not to fidget.

His phone beeped and he jumped in his seat before he glanced down at the message from Somin:I heard you’re at the police station. What’s going on?

Jihoon hesitated before typing back. He usually told Somin everything, but this time he couldn’t. If she knew he’d taken thefall for Miyoung, she’d have questions he couldn’t answer. It felt strange lying to someone who knew he wet the bed until he was seven.

Don’t worry, he typed back.

She replied so quickly, he wondered if she’d pre-typed her message:Why won’t you tell me? Are you mad at me? Have I done something wrong?

Guilt spread through his chest.

Don’t worry, he typed again.

The message bubble floated on his screen so long he wondered what kind of book Somin could be typing. Then it disappeared. No reply.

Detective Hae closed a file with a slap and threw it on top of a dozen others. The precarious stack toppled over. Jihoon bent to pick the papers up when the wordsanimal attackcaught his eye. The folder was thick, stuffed with dozens of reports, maps, and photographs. The top report looked like a witness account.

Two salarymen out for drinks. Stumbling drunk. One of them decided to hop the wall around the forest and got dragged away by something.

Jihoon’s mind raced as he remembered an overheard conversation the morning after he’d first met Miyoung. A detective talking to Halmeoni about an animal attack.

“That’s not for you to read.” Detective Hae held out his hand for the file.

Jihoon handed over the stack. “I remember you now. You came by the restaurant to warn us about the animal attacks. Did they find out what did it?”

“I can’t answer questions about an ongoing investigation.”

Jihoon nodded. He didn’t need more answers.Ongoingmeant that they hadn’t found the culprit.

“Ahn Jihoon!”