NOVEL NEXT Ch126 - A Childhood Name
Pyo Ji-ae. 27 years old. Unemployed.
She had once prepared for employment, but when things didn’t go as planned, she gave up and is now nurturing her dream of becoming a content creator. Until she finds a suitable concept, she plans to work part-time, learn about life, and continue saving money. Yeona was a child she met during her part-time job.
“…She said she was making a video. She had already talked to the parents of the child, and they were going to watch it together. She said they had to see if the child would follow the abductor or resist strongly, so it had to be acted out realistically, not like a game.”
Pyo Ji-ae no longer made excuses and revealed everything about that day.
“I thought it was a good theme since I also dream of being a video creator. It’s content that raises awareness about how well children follow strangers and how trusting they can be. I thought everyone should be alert, so I acted as realistically as possible.”
“But in reality, the child’s parents knew nothing about it. There was chaos after the child went missing in front of the academy. Didn’t you know?”
The police officer asked sharply.
“I did hear a boy calling ‘Lee Yeona!’ loudly while leaving the filming location after parting with the girl. But I thought that was part of the script.”
“Didn’t you think something was strange at all?”
“I didn’t notice anything unusual that day. A few days later, after I lost contact with the director, I started to feel something was off. But since I received the payment in cash, I didn’t raise any issues.”
“Did you meet the director in person?”
“Of course. He was there on the day of the shoot. He stayed far away so as not to be seen by the child, pointing the camera in our direction.”
“Could you give us the director’s contact information?”
“However, as I mentioned, that number is gone…”
Pyo Ji-ae replied uncertainly, showing the contact she had searched for on her phone. The screen displayed “Director” without a name.
“It doesn’t have a name.”
“Yes, I forgot the name. I communicated with him via email and phone.”
The police officer called the number Pyo Ji-ae provided.
[The number you are trying to call does not exist. Please check and call again.]
As Pyo Ji-ae said, the automated message confirmed it was a non-existent number. The police officer said,
“It says the number doesn’t exist. But there should be a record of your calls.”
“I only communicated through messenger…”
“Then we just need to check the messenger records.”
“Actually, I changed my phone in the meantime…”
It was a statement that couldn’t prove anything.
“But I still have the email that the director originally sent me!”
Pyo Ji-ae grabbed her phone again and opened her email. After rummaging through her inbox for a while, she found an email and handed it over.
“This is that person’s email address.”
It was an email sent on May 12.
The sender introduced himself as the representative of a small content production company. He explained the purpose of the video shoot on May 13 and asked if she would be available.
“Who would refuse to earn 200,000 won for just acting realistically for about ten minutes? Plus, the purpose was really good.”
After reading the email carefully twice, the police officer sighed deeply.
To think that someone had manipulated her into believing that the whole situation was just a setup for a kidnapping act…
“By the way, why did you leave in the middle of your job as a Go tournament supervisor today? According to the child and her father, it looked like you ran away after discovering the child.”
“On that day, I had a terrible stomachache. So, I went home. I didn’t even know the child was there.”
Pyo Ji-ae seemed very embarrassed to share such details, her face flushing red.
“Then why did you deny the crime in front of your house?”
“I don’t think it was a crime, but the police seemed to think it was! It’s so unfair!”
“…”
“I really feel wronged. I just acted for a good cause; it wasn’t intentional…”
The police officer also looked troubled by Pyo Ji-ae’s plea.
***
After work, Seung-kyu rushed home upon receiving a call from Jin-seo.
“What’s going on?”
As he opened the front door and hurried into the living room, he was met by Jin-seo, who was lying exhausted on the sofa, and Do-bin and Do-yoon, who were quietly watching TV in front of her.
“Look at the kids.”
Jin-seo replied weakly to her husband’s question. At that moment, Do-yoon got up and waddled over.
“Dad!”
Seung-kyu’s mouth dropped open at the sight of Do-yoon.
Where did his pretty princess with the perfect bangs go?
“What happened to your hair?”
Seeing his only daughter’s chewed-up bangs made him feel as if the sky was falling.
“Oppa cut it for me.”
Do-yoon, still not grasping the situation, smiled innocently as she confessed.
“Park Do-bin, come here!”
Seung-kyu raised his voice. Do-bin, who had been observing from in front of the TV, moved forward cautiously at Seung-kyu’s command.
“Park Do-bin, why did you do that?”
“Do-yoon’s hair looked hot.”
“So you cut it so she wouldn’t be hot?”
“Yeah. Do-yoon liked it.”
“Park Do-yoon, do you like your hair?”
“Yeah!”
The clueless second child answered cheerfully.
Jin-seo, lying against the wall and sounding utterly defeated, said to Seung-kyu,
“Keep listening. What else did he say?”
“What else?”
“He said Do-yoon’s hair was practice.”
Seung-kyu sighed at Jin-seo’s words and turned to Do-bin again.
“So you practiced on Do-yoon’s hair because you want to be a hairstylist?”
“I practiced well so I could cut Ye-na’s bangs too.”
That was the truth. Seung-kyu shouted again.
“Hey!”
“I didn’t do anything!”
Do-bin raised his voice in protest.
“Why are you getting mad when I didn’t even do anything?”
“Either way, you messed up your sister’s hair!”
Seung-kyu could only imagine the horror of Do-bin turning Ye-na’s bangs into a buzz cut. He felt as if Ji-heon might challenge him to a death match over this. Maybe he should be grateful that it only happened to his sister.
“Just thinking like that is wrong, you got it?”
Seung-kyu sternly lectured Do-bin, ensuring he understood.
“You can’t mess with other people’s hair. Understood? And that includes your own hair!”
Do-bin pouted, sulking, and answered softly,
“Okay.”
After Seung-kyu admonished Do-bin, Jin-seo finally got up from her seat. However, she already looked exhausted.
“Honey, should we take the kids out for dinner?”
Seung-kyu cautiously asked as he followed Jin-seo. She turned around and called out to him.
“Honey.”
“Yeah.”
“When Do-bin was born, you cut the umbilical cord, right?”
Jin-seo’s sudden question made Seung-kyu blink in surprise before he answered blankly.
“Yeah.”
“Think carefully. Is that face really his face back then?”
“…It should be. Why?”
“Think it over. You don’t even know where it might have changed.”
“…”
“Do you have a picture from that time?”
“…There should be one somewhere?”
“Look for it. We need to confirm. He might not even be my son.”
Seung-kyu stared blankly at Jin-seo’s receding figure. The content sounded like a joke, but her expression showed no hint of a smile, leaving him unsure if she was serious or not.
***
While Pyo Ji-ae was being investigated by the police as a suspect, Ji-heon and Jeong-o returned to the office to finish their work. When they returned to the police station after 7 PM, Pyo Ji-ae had already left.
Bae-il, who had returned from being out in the field during the evening, explained the situation to them.
“According to criminal law, it would fall under the crime of abducting a minor. Since the victim acted under the suspect’s inducement, we would consider it a completed crime rather than an attempted one. Although the suspect claims she was acting under duress, it’s likely she will be punished as an accomplice along with the person who induced her.”
“Since the crime of abducting a minor is established, won’t she be detained?”
“She was deemed not to pose a flight risk, so she was sent home.”
“But isn’t there a possibility she might run away? I heard she had already packed her travel bag.”
Jeong-o asked again, citing what he had heard from Ji-heon. Bae-il answered fluidly in response to Jeong-o’s question.
“She claims it’s just a light domestic trip. We have her contact information, and she has promised to cooperate with the investigation, so there’s no need to worry. In cases of similar crimes, when the harm is minimal, investigations have been conducted without detention, and this case falls into the category of the least harmful among similar crimes.”
In any case, the child was safely back in her parents’ arms, and since she wasn’t injured, it seemed the victim’s side needed to calm down their anger as well.
After hearing Bae-il’s response, Jeong-o looked at Ji-heon. His expression had been poor earlier in the day, and it was still the same now. Jeong-o thought that perhaps Ji-heon was suppressing his rising anger.
“If the suspect’s claims are true, finding the person who induced her to commit the crime is a top priority. I don’t know how we’ll catch them, but… there must be a way. Please trust the police.”
“Okay. I will. Thank you.”
In the end, Jeong-o nodded in response to Bae-il’s explanation.
“Then goodbye.”
Although he looked very businesslike, almost as if he were the same person who had handed over a gift on moving day, his attitude was polite and devoid of any unnecessary embellishments.
Jeong-o bid farewell to Bae-il and left the police station with Ji-heon. Noticing that Ji-heon was moving slower than usual, Jeong-o paused for a moment before matching his pace.
A short while later, as Ji-heon got into the car and prepared to start the engine, he quietly called out to Jeong-o.
“Jeong-o.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you remember the faces of your friends from the second grade of elementary school?”
It was an unexpected question, and Jeong-o tilted his head in confusion.
“There are a few friends I went to middle school with from elementary school. I can picture them well.”
“No. I mean friends you haven’t seen since the second grade of elementary school.”
“I don’t think I have any friends like that. I can’t recall anyone at all.”
Ji-heon nodded silently and started the car. Jeong-o thought his demeanor was strange.
After arriving at the apartment, Ji-heon made an excuse about having work to do and sent Jeong-o home first.
Jeong-o felt frustrated. If he didn’t relieve this pent-up feeling, he felt he would be caught up in absurd thoughts for days.
Although he couldn’t be certain it was a memory from 24 years ago, Officer Kwon Bae-il resembled a friend he had briefly hung out with in the second grade.
And there was the signature on the Go board he had seen as a child…
After contemplating, Ji-heon contacted the counselor to whom he had assigned the investigation into Kim Jin-gu.
[Yes, sir.]
“Could you look into the identity of a police officer? I don’t need anything else, just check if there are any records of name changes. How long will it take?”
[It can take one or two hours at the fastest.]
The counselor readily answered Ji-heon’s request. Ji-heon provided the counselor with Kwon Bae-il’s name and department before hanging up.
Then, after a painfully long hour of waiting, he received a response.
***
Ji-heon headed straight to the Gwangjin Police Station.
Since it was already late at night, he didn’t expect Bae-il to be there. He simply thought that if Bae-il was at his post and he could meet him, he wanted to do so today.
However, Ji-heon hesitated in front of the detective division. Was it right to dig up a past the other party might not want to revisit? Would he be causing trouble?
As Ji-heon was contemplating, a police officer emerged through the entrance of the detective division.
“Who are you looking for?”
The officer asked upon seeing Ji-heon.
“Uh, I came to see Officer Kwon Bae-il.”
Ji-heon’s voice was uncertain, which wasn’t typical of him.
“Please wait a moment.”
The officer went back inside and called out Bae-il’s name loudly. It seemed Bae-il was indeed present.
A short while later, Ji-heon saw Bae-il walking out.
Standing a few steps away from the entrance, Ji-heon noticed Bae-il’s eyes widen as he looked outside. Although Bae-il recognized Ji-heon, he moved slowly, as if weighed down by sandbags.
Finally, the door opened.
“Officer.”
“Yeah, Mr. Yena. What brings you here…?”
“Do you happen to know someone named Yoo Su-il?”
Ji-heon asked directly, in line with his personality, while Bae-il responded to him in a formal manner.
Bae-il’s pupils flickered as if losing balance at the mention of the name. That reaction gave Ji-heon a sense of certainty. He had already heard Bae-il’s old name long ago, so he no longer needed to confirm it, but he wanted to hear it from a friend.
If his friend said he didn’t know, Ji-heon promised himself he wouldn’t bring up that name again.
A long silence followed. Bae-il’s answer came much later.
“That was my name when I was a kid.”
Ji-heon’s tense expression relaxed with a deep sigh. Tears welled in his eyes as he spoke in a trembling voice.
“Su-il.”
“……”
“Don’t you remember me? The Go talent class at ○○ Elementary School.”
Bae-il didn’t seem to share the emotional turmoil that Ji-heon was experiencing. However, on the other hand, it felt as if more thoughts and considerations were flowing somewhere in his mind.
After another long pause, Bae-il finally responded.
“I remember.”
“……”
“Hey, Ji-heon. It’s been a while.”
His answer was very dry, but Ji-heon could see a faint smile on Bae-il’s face.