SBT - 2

02. The Same, and Not the Same

As the week flew by, the warmth turned into sweltering heat, and the discomfort index soared unbelievably.

Summer, after the monsoon, announced its arrival with a blaze of heat. Even in the evening, which should have been cool, it was so humid that tropical nights were clearly not far off.

“Officer Jung, I told you to go home, what are you doing?”

Yeon rested her chin on her hand, staring at the blinking cursor on the monitor. What that man had said, after he had come and gone, stories about Cha Yi-hwan circulated around the precinct for days.

The CEO of JS Financial Investment had come, they had caught a guy who had assaulted his employee, and he was surprisingly handsome – the kind of childish gossip that men would exchange.

“Officer Jung, what’s going to come out of staring like that? Is the computer going to talk to you?”

“Please don’t talk to me, Officer Lee.”

“Why, oh my, you startled me. When Officer Jung looks at me like that, I get scared. My heart’s racing.”

Officer Lee Chul-min dramatically patted his chest. Thirty-five years old, so there wasn’t that much age difference between them, yet he always had nagging words ready, like a hundred-year-old꼰대.

What had Officer Lee done when they responded to the assault report last time? What could he do with such a small heart, like a mouse’s pee? Every time he ran into her, he would pat his chest, whether seriously or jokingly. Yeon clicked her tongue and stood up from her seat.

“I’ll head home now.”

“If you don’t want to go home, how about having dinner with the guys... Hey, Officer Jung. Officer Jung!”

Tsk, tsk, honestly, what’s happening to the hierarchy in our police force? Officer Lee’s grumbling voice, clicking his tongue, echoed away.

Each step down the precinct stairs, after changing out of her uniform, brought an inexplicable unease, with no root or reason. No, actually, this feeling, whose identity she couldn’t grasp, had been gnawing at her all day, an unknown feeling.

To be more precise, it had been since she met Cha Yi-hwan last weekend.

“Yeon-ah!”

As soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs, Myung-hyun popped out from the driver’s seat of a car. The man, wearing clean shoes and buttoning his suit jacket, waved his hand.

Three days ago, Myung-hyun had left for Seoul with his supervising professor for a seminar. He had been busy for three days, so she naturally thought he would go straight home, but he had set his final destination as the precinct instead of his house. Knowing the reason, she didn’t ask further and headed towards where Myung-hyun was waiting.

“Were you waiting? You should have called.”

“I haven’t been in Seoul for long either.”

Myung-hyun, who had been drinking coffee all day to endure the boring seminar, had a faint coffee scent about him as he pushed up his glasses.

Shin Myung-hyun, six months ago, they had met as classmates at a university friend’s wedding. As weddings usually go, after the brief ten-minute ceremony ended and everyone gathered for a group photo, Myung-hyun had come and stood next to her.

Myung-hyun said he was pursuing a doctorate at their alma mater. He was in the midst of preparing to become a professor. The news from school, which she hadn’t heard in a long time, brought the somewhat awkward pair closer.

Yeon had been seeing him for six months, the man who had come and stood next to her amidst the crowd of people.

Like friends, like lovers, like a common movie subtitle, it might have been predictable, but she liked his comfort. Being with him made her feel at ease, a simple but difficult reason.

Maybe that’s why she sometimes forgot that it had only been six months since they became a couple. The time they had spent as friends or classmates felt much longer to her.

It had taken a long time for her to start dating again. Maybe she had closed the door to her heart, thinking that love was a truly futile emotion.

She had decided to take a step closer to Myung-hyun, who had struggled to open her heart even a little. Not just for Myung-hyun, but also to create a breathing hole for herself. But the relationship she had started again was clearly different from before.

Dating, now she didn’t cling to it anxiously or get easily hurt. She had realized that the more she relied and expected from the other person, the more she got hurt. There was a time when she foolishly thought love was everything. She didn’t regret those past days.

But she couldn’t deny that she had become much more indifferent to the emotion of love now. Maybe it was because, like everyone else, everything couldn’t be like the first time.

There were times when she and Myung-hyun fought because their dating styles didn’t match, but now she didn’t get carried away by every little thing. Hadn’t she been swayed as if she had given her whole life to love in the past, when she had overflowing energy and emotions? Everything made you mature as much as it hurt.

“I’m so tired I could die.”

Myung-hyun, wriggling his body and acting cute, drooped like a squid on her shoulder. It was his own way of joking, asking for some comfort.

“Were you very tired?”

“Yeah.”

Myung-hyun had the power to make people feel soft. He disarmed people with his unique sociability. Even when she was down, she would feel better along with him.

Myung-hyun said he liked her personality, which was careful and meticulous, unlike his own. It was like having a spokesperson by his side who unconditionally supported him. Of course, he might have just been thinking whatever he wanted.

“You... you’re not still angry, are you? If so, I can explain again. That girl is just a student I tutor, and somehow...”

Myung-hyun stammered awkwardly, then gripped the steering wheel tightly, saying he would explain again right away.

“Let’s stop now, talking about that.”

“...Okay. That’s a relief.”

As they left the precinct and stopped at a traffic light, Myung-hyun turned to look at her. His face was gaunt but had a happy smile. He looked relieved at her one word that it was okay, as if he had been reassured about their relationship once again.

“I was so bored I almost died.”

“I was wondering how you managed to last three days.”

“Nothing happened while I was gone, right?”

“Work is just work. But aren’t you tired?”

“I’m so tired I could die. I want to rest quickly.”

Myung-hyun made a left turn and naturally took her hand.

“But what happened at the precinct while I was gone?”

“Why suddenly?”

“You just seem a bit more tired than usual.”

It had been almost a week since she had seen Myung-hyun because he had been busy preparing for the seminar. As he asked that, Cha Yi-hwan came to her mind at the same time.

He was no one to her then or now, but as if to suppress her resolve to think that way, a strange sense of guilt always followed when she thought of Cha Yi-hwan. A guilt as if they had committed some wrong. It was all in the past anyway.

“No, not at all. Nothing happened.”

“Can I sleep over at your place tonight? Huh? Will you let me? I promise I’ll just sleep and snore. Huh?”

He cupped his cheeks with both hands, making a pitiful face as if he was really sleeping.

He smiled pleasantly and held her hand tightly.

Hearing Myung-hyun showering, Yeon swept up the scattered popcorn crumbs on the living room floor. It was a mess because they had spent the weekend sprawled on the sofa watching a movie and then fallen asleep.

Myung-hyun, wearing a random t-shirt from home, rummaged through the refrigerator while Yeon quickly finished showering and came out.

Even though he said he was tired, Myung-hyun, who was drinking beer, snuggled up close to Yeon as she came into the bedroom.

“Are you just going to sleep?”

“You have a seminar all day for three days, and don’t you have tutoring tomorrow? Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“That’s right. It’s killing me.”

Myung-hyun, looking dejected, back-hugged her, rubbing his cheek against her back. His hand, slowly creeping inside her t-shirt and hovering around her chest, was full of longing.

“Your birthday is in a few days, you can look forward to it. I’ll book a nice hotel for us.”

“Can I really look forward to it?”

“Of course. I plan on staying up all night. Heh. You’re really done for that day.”

Myung-hyun hugged Yeon tightly, making a determined promise.

“You’re sweet. I’ll look forward to it. Kiss.”

She placated his longing with a light peck, and he huffed like a beast that had been denied. Yeon smiled a little and got into bed.

“Stop right there!”

“Officer Lee, that way! Officer Jung, into the alley! Quick!”

Yeon ran as if her life depended on it, chasing after the man who was quickly moving away from her.

With each step of the relentless chase that made her heart feel like it would burst through her ribs, she pounded the ground and stubbornly sprinted like someone without limits.

The crowded evening was not a good environment for wrestling with a criminal. There was a risk of hostages, and if he hid in the crowd, they would have to navigate that first.

The man, pursued from all sides by the police who had come to assist the investigation, turned into a nearby food alley.

“Hey! Catch him!”

She was confident in her running. If she chased endlessly, the opponent would always tire first and slow down. The man, running through the maze-like alleys, came out into a wide intersection. The signs of the lined-up restaurants shone brightly.

The man, breathing heavily, finally pulled out a knife and swung it at her. The sharply honed blade repeatedly grazed past her as if it would pierce her throat. In the expected pattern, the only ones surprised were the citizens witnessing the sudden knife attack.

“I’m arresting you on charges of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. You have the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney...”

“Fuck, what are you talking about?”

“What am I talking about? I’m telling you in advance because I’m going to catch you. And don’t curse. Do you think no one else can do that?”

Already far away, people who had gathered in a circle around them were taking pictures without fear, despite the screams.

The police who had been chasing the man, scattered like fragments, also began to gather. Confronting a criminal in a crowded place was extremely dangerous, so a quick arrest was necessary.

She quickly snatched the wrist of the man wielding the knife, twisted it, and pressed down on his knuckles. The knife instantly fell from the grasp of the man holding the handle as if he were strangling someone.

She kicked out the man’s legs, causing his unbalanced body to fall forward. At that moment, the police who had been rushing towards him tackled him and put handcuffs on him.

The precinct police officers who had come to assist in apprehending this criminal, including her, clicked their tongues in amazement. Everyone was as soaked with sweat as she was.

Even a cornered mouse bites a cat. Catching a criminal struggling to survive required a lot of physical strength. Strictly speaking, for her, it was more about tenacity than physical strength.

“Phew, how many laps did I run around here trying to catch that bastard? Are you alright, Officer Jung?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and touched her waist. Phew, she exhaled a hot breath and turned her head, and among the people gathered to watch, she saw a familiar face.

A head taller than others, seemingly slender but with broad shoulders covered by a white shirt, hair neatly styled with pomade, a man standing in front of a Japanese restaurant as if he was there for a company dinner – it was Cha Yi-hwan.

Come to think of it, she had come near his company. Looking at his neat appearance, was he out for a meeting rather than a company dinner? When she turned her eyes slightly, she saw another man in a suit next to him. Were they together? Yeon unknowingly stopped looking at Yi-hwan and came to her senses.

She nodded her head in greeting, and he, raising his lips almost imperceptibly, returned the nod.

Deep eyes and a gaze that didn’t seem ordinary. Cha Yi-hwan stood there, his gaze full of her, holding her completely.

As the crowd that had been surrounding them began to disperse, he strode across towards her. Yeon was still busy catching her breath, which had risen to her throat. He held out a handkerchief to her.

“Ah, I’m alright.”

When she didn’t take it after staring at him for a long moment, he looked down at her, who was unguarded and relaxed now that the tension was gone, took her hand, opened it, and placed the handkerchief directly in her palm. With the sidelong glances of her fellow police officers, she missed the timing to refuse.

“Just wipe it.”

He pointed to his chin and forehead, as if her face was clearly a mess with sweat.

“I’m okay...”

“I told you not to say that...”

“Yes?”

“Never mind, just wipe it. Everyone’s looking.”

As she nervously crumpled the handkerchief she was holding and blinked, he added once more.

“There are dozens of eyes watching you and me, Officer Jung Yeon.”

Even while mentioning the dozens of eyes turning towards and away from them, his gaze had been fixed on her from the beginning. Yeon lifted the handkerchief and wiped the sweat flowing down her forehead.

The man’s appearance, more professionally neat than when she saw him at the precinct, was actually unfamiliar to her. Yeon was more used to him as the college senior who would stroll around the campus in a t-shirt and slacks, or even jeans, in comfortable clothes.

“What are you looking at? What, are you going to arrest me again?”

His uncouth nature, which had seemed almost barbaric, was still the same.

“I really feel like slapping handcuffs on you.”

“What?”

His raised eyebrow urged her to say it again, but Yeon pretended not to notice and quickly turned her head away.

She thought it was a relief. There was at least one familiar trace of him.

She had met him in a different place and at a different time than five years ago, but seeing his unchanged expression, Yeon unknowingly felt a sense of relief.