After Story 198

-I looked into it and she supposedly notified her agency yesterday that she is not extending her contract, despite being near the end of it.

“Is it possible to know the reason why?”

Na Baekhoon, who was on the other side of the phone, responded immediately.

-Because it’s no fun, or so she put it.

“I’m not sure if she’s fed up or just got bored of it, but I guess I won’t have to worry about her in the future.”

-Yes. That woman does not enjoy undertaking suffering. She’s good at impulsively throwing herself forward, but there’s no ‘what’s after that.’ She was someone who could only start well.

Maru smiled and spoke,

“Thank you for looking into it. That takes care of one worry for me.”

-This much is nothing. Moreover, my life has been really enjoyable recently thanks to you so I wish I could help you more. I am really enjoying Case Number 0. I don’t remember the last time I kept up with a Korean drama.

“Was it to your liking?”

-It is not entirely to my taste, but the actors in it are so splendid that the drama is worth watching based on that alone. Mr. Hw.a.n.g Hojoon was decent too. Though, he doesn’t have the beauty that I pursue.

Maru readjusted his phone and flipped over a book. His wife, who came to the living room with a tray, stared at him. She seemed to be asking if the phone call was going to take long.

He responded by shaking his head.

-But you seem to watch out for her quite a lot. Jung Dawoon, she’s a worthless person, so it should be okay to just ignore her.

“A rock outside your awareness is more dangerous than the rock you can see. You see, I’ve tripped over them a few times, so I’m keeping them in my awareness as much as possible.”

-That sounds plausible too. I shall tell you about her from time to time so that she doesn’t become a rock that trips you over.

“Please.”

He hung up and then got down from the sofa. Haneul picked up a kiwi slice with a fork and gave it to him.

“What was the call about to make you smile so happily?”

“A pain in the head has finally been taken care of.”

“Really?”

“You wanna know what it is?”

“No. Whenever you laugh deviously like that and say that it’s a pain in the head, it is never something interesting. Also, if you’re going as far as describing it as a pain in the head, I don’t think I need to know about it. I’m sure you’ve taken care of it well.”

“What are you going to do if it turns out I am hiding a huge accident?”

“You still don’t know me after living with me for so long? Do you think I would miss a hint like that?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Have I ever not noticed when you came home after being fired? How about the day you got scammed out of the deposit money? I asked you first when you had to sell your factory because you couldn’t pay back the debt, didn’t I? If there was a problem.”

“I can deceive G.o.d, but probably not you.”

“Exactly.”

Maru received the fruit his wife gave to him and put it in his mouth. It was just as she said. The problem with Jung Dawoon was nothing more than a ‘pain in the head.’ Unless she charged at him holding a knife or in a car, Jung Dawoon was only as significant to him as bread crumbs.

Even then, he should no longer have to worry about it. The fact that she quit being an actress meant that she was wrapping up her personal relations.h.i.+ps.

He did have an inkling when he made the call yesterday that she was running away since she could not win. Such was the ending for most people who tried to live an easy life.

“Here.”

Haneul gave him a bundle of papers. It was packed tightly with photos and writing.

“The company decided to release a male perfume this time. It’s targeted at males who like to groom themselves. We already have the women down, so it’s about time we expand and target men too.”

It was a well-made advertis.e.m.e.nt design plan. Maru scanned it quickly and asked,

“You want to use me as the model?”

“You don’t exactly have the fair boy image. I was thinking about faces that stimulate masculinity within men, and I thought you were the best candidate.”

“Are you sure you won’t get sued for misappropriate business practice?” he smiled as he asked.

“How can it be misappropriated when it produces profit?”

“How are you going to overcome the criticism that you’re giving your family work?”

“You were purely decided based on your traits, so there is no problem. Also, how many people even know that we’re family?”

“Most importantly, can you pay me my rates?”

“You don’t know, huh? Compared to the models we are using now… you’re still B-tier in the advertis.e.m.e.nt industry, sweetie.”

“I know, I just wanted to play hard-to-get.”

Maru returned the advertis.e.m.e.nt plan.

“You’ll probably get contacted in about two days. Yeonjoo will be the one going there to sign the contract, so treat her well.”

“Of course, she’s the advertiser.”

Maru ate some fruit as he browed the channels. He saw Case Number 0 on the top right of the screen where ads were playing. Back when episode 1 was airing, the drama didn’t manage to sell any ads, so there was only a promotion of the news agency, but now, there was everything, ranging from cosmetics to cars.

“Right. Did you make a subscription account?” Haneul turned her head and asked.

“No, that didn’t even cross my mind.”

“I guess there’s no helping it. Buying a house directly is much faster than getting one through a subscription account. Let’s go look at houses together sometime next week. I want to go to Daechi-dong for the sake of good schools.”

“You want to have Gaeul study?”

“Not exactly. I want to open all possibilities for her. I want her to enjoy all the things I can do for her.”

He nodded before asking back, “But has Gaeul ever liked studying?”

She fell into thought before laughing.

“She took after her parents so she never did. But you never know what will happen in this life.”

“I think I know.”

Haneul put her head on her hands and muttered — that maybe she should focus on the view instead of academics.

“Think about it after you give birth. We’re still by ourselves for now.”

Maru picked up a strawberry with the fork and gave it to Haneul.

Seeing his wife nibble away at the strawberry with her incisors, he then looked at the TV. The ad was ending, and the last episode of the drama was starting.

* * *

Junmin put on his gla.s.ses and watched the TV. Although he started watching the drama as a form of monitoring the work that had two actors belonging to his agency, he started watching it for pure enjoyment after some time.

He ignored the two Golden Retrievers rus.h.i.+ng to him to go for a walk, the Welsh Corgi asking him to play with a drool-drenched ball, and the Border Collie that kept looking for his attention at his feet and focused on the TV.

“Stop bothering your dad and all of you come here.”

His wife took the dogs to the 2nd floor. Thanks to that, the living room became quiet. He picked up the pu’er tea he had brewed. When he took a sip, Maru appeared.

-I’m going to tell Yoon Hojung.

The conflict and tension had all reached their peak. The main character had to make a decision in the face of a problem that the law could not solve. Either wait or clash up front.

Episodes 8 and 9 were purely used to show the change in the protagonist’s psychology. The drama which rushed so fast that not a single moment was wasted until episode 7 unexpectedly ended up controlling the speed prior to the ending.

While it might be a composition that might suddenly break the tension and make things boring, the production crew used a clever way to solve this problem. They decided to show the characters’ psychology in depth since the progress had slowed down. The drama that proceeded with just the emotions exposed on the surface had portrayed their minds.

Maru took the overwhelming majority of that inner portrayal. The director put the detective and the murderer to the side after having them lead the first 7 episodes of the drama and placed the main protagonist, Ahn Changsik, in the center.

They reconfirmed why the college student Ahn Changsik had to be the main character, not the detective Lee Daecheol, and why the ability to see murder counts and the habit of observation were important in the drama, albeit late into the story.

Comparing Case Number 0 to running, it would be a 100m sprint. In truth, the story had already reached its conclusion at the beginning of episode 8. With the goal line right in front of them, the camera gave up on framing the track and the runner, and instead, focused on the runner’s bloodshot eyes, tensed muscles, and violent breathing.

Ahn Changsik, who had been in a pa.s.sive situation this whole time relative to the case, had received all the production’s attention. A college student no different from everyone else had experienced a special event known as murder and had undergone a change while facing a murderer.

That process was packed fully into episodes 8 and 9.

This was also proof that the producer had faith in the actor’s skills. If the story slows down, the viewers were bound to feel frustrated. A moment of vexation would mean changing the channel.

However, this drama undertook that risk and took on the challenge.

And, according to Junmin’s judgment, the challenge was very successful.

-Five people, isn’t it?

-Changsik, what are you saying?

-You know very well what I’m saying.

Maru said as he opened his hand to reveal a silver cross. This was the first time Ganghwan lost his composure in the drama.

-You must’ve thought that you were perfect. I’m sure you had a lot of pride as well. You killed five people and got away with it. Heck, you didn’t just get away with it, you have a job as a detective so no one suspects a thing. I’m sure everything was easy for you. I’m sure you thought that the world would go the way you want it to.

-Changsik, I don’t get what you’re saying at all. Let’s calm down first and talk over it.

-I’m sure you’re thinking that I must’ve deduced it from the five trophies in your drawer. No, that wasn’t the only clue, was it? You’re smart. What do my current actions signify?

-Stop it. I’m not sure what you’re misunderstanding, but it’s not fun.

-I don’t think that’s right. I’m sure you like this situation. You enjoy this kind of thrill, don’t you? Murder is one thing, but you get excited over a perfect criminal act itself. That’s why you don’t reveal yourself despite being a serial killer. Normally, the likes of you are bound to make others know that you did it. Why do I know this? You didn’t forget, did you? You told me all this. It was you.

-When did I ever say such a thing?

-You kept showing it to me in secret. You were teasing me. I mean, the little brother of the woman you killed was right in front of you. That little brother acted so friendly to you without knowing anything, so how thrilling must have that felt? The living proof of your perfect crime was right in front of you, wasn’t it? Little by little, you tossed me some evidence and became more thrilled… Not knowing how that would come back to you.

The location on the screen was where Ahn Changsik’s sister was murdered.

An alley without a single CCTV. A place without human presence. It was not a coincidence that Changsik led Yoon Hojung to such a place. Throughout the entire drama, it showed that the most splendid ability that Ahn Changsik had was his ability to a.n.a.lyze others.

He observed his target’s habits and made them his own to understand their thought process.

Any viewer who watched episodes 8 and 9 must have noticed early on that Changsik was imitating a certain habit that Yoon Hojung had.

The drama kept showing the youth becoming synchronized with the murderer.

Ahn Changsik came to the judgment that Yoon Hojung must have done something in this place, and that it would’ve been easy to do so.

Though, of course, he did not yet know that his sister died here.

Two people stood in the alley pervaded by darkness. A murderer against an ordinary college student. The two were still very different people, but their eyes looked similar.

The camera shot Yoon Hojung’s fingers. He was rubbing his thumb and index finger together. Anyone who watched the drama would know what this action, which seemed to be a form of pondering, indicated.

Having become Yoon Hojung’s eyes, the camera looked at the surroundings.

This was a perfect place where he already committed murder once. He must have a.s.sured himself that there was no other place he could wrap this up perfectly.

-Do you know what this place is?

Yoon Hojung spoke and rushed in. The camera switched. Junmin thought that the confrontation would continue a little longer, but it did not. The distance between the two shrank rapidly, and the sound of a knife digging into flesh could be heard through the speaker.

Just as Changsik’s eyes distorted in pain and he was about to scream, Hojung leisurely blocked his mouth.

-Shh, this is my first time killing a man too. But it doesn’t feel half-bad, eh? Don’t worry. It only takes a moment. Strange, isn’t it? It’s just a hole that is a few centimeters deep, but a human cannot stand up. That’s the downside of muscles. It’s really st.u.r.dy when the cells are grouped together, but the moment they are broken apart, everything falls apart with it. Don’t tense up. It’ll just hurt more.

Hojung whispered that into Changsik’s ears.

Junmin looked at Ganghwan’s act and felt both impressed and worried.

If he does so well in acting as a murderer, he would not be able to get any ads for a while. The acting skills of and the number of ads weren’t always directly proportional.

Changsik’s body collapsed. Just then, a faint smile crept onto the face distorted in pain.

-Getting caught in the act… supposedly makes it possible to be prosecuted for all the past crimes, huh?

Just as Changsik said so, a car quickly drove into the alley.

At the same time, the screen turned into a flashback to the call that Changsik made at the beginning of episode 10.

-Detective. Please come to the place I tell you to by ten o’clock.

-You aren’t going to Yoon Hojung, are you?

-I’m not going to do something so dangerous. I promised you, didn’t I? Instead, you have to come, okay? I have something important to tell you.

Getting out of the car, Daecheol looked at the two people lit up by the car headlights. At the same time, the screen blacked out after a scream-like sound.

-Changsik. Hey, Ahn Changsik!