The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

ii.

"there isn't enough of anything

as long as we live. But at intervals

a sweetness appears and, given a chance

prevails."

― Raymond Carver, Ultramarine: Poems

--

Hyunwoo's mattress ended up arriving Saturday night, which meant he got two decent nights of sleep before patrolling quadrant four on Monday.

Quadrant four was much the same as quadrant three. There was the same pervasive sense of the area being run-down, but quadrant four appeared to be more residential, whereas quadrant three was more commercial. It meant that there were less businesses for him to check in with, so he decided to park and take a walk around the area on foot instead. Maybe he'd meet some residents and introduce himself, although he thought that might seem weird. He wasn't sure; he'd make it up on the go.

He'd been walking for several blocks when he came upon the Walour Motel. He briefly considered walking a block out of his way to avoid it, given what Jooheon had told him, but he changed his mind when he saw some activity in the parking lot.

He drew closer but didn't enter the property, just smiling softly as he watched a young boy kick one of the empty cans, two other boys cheering as he sent it skidding across the parking lot.

"Mine's furthest! I win!" he declared quickly over the protests of one of the other boys who claimed that his attempt didn't count.

They bickered for a few more seconds before falling eerily silent, and Hyunwoo realized abruptly that they'd spotted him. No point watching from afar now.

"Hi," he said, approaching the fence but still not crossing over onto their property. He had no way of confirming his suspicions, but he felt that stepping into their world would seem invasive. So he stayed outside the fence but waved through the chain link.

Already, he heard small footsteps fading, and a few other kids who must've been nearby faded into the background, leaving only the three he'd first seen.

"Who're you?" the winner of the can game asked, squinting at him with open hostility.

Hyunwoo put on what he hoped was a nice smile. He was a little nervous, to be honest. He wasn't great with kids. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that they just didn't like him. "I'm Officer Hyunwoo. I'm new here."

"We don't talk to cops," the boy said, crossing his arms, and the other two kids looked at him as though taking cues before crossing their arms as well.

"We don't talk to cops," one of the others repeated, and the third kid nodded.

"We don't have to talk," Hyunwoo said, stalling. Of all the locals he'd met so far, they were the most open with their distrust of him, and he was trying to figure out how to work his way around that. "I just wanted to say hi."

"Hi," one of the younger two boys said. His hair was a soft light brown that matched a pair of eyes that held noticeably less hostility than the other boy, and there were red patches of skin at his elbows. He scratched at one of them absently before the oldest boy – Hyunwoo thought he was the oldest since he seemed to be in command – smacked his hand away from his arm.

"Don't scratch, you'll make it worse."

"Sorry."

"Yeah." The oldest one continued to glare at Hyunwoo, who cleared his throat.

"What are your names?" Hyunwoo asked. He was trying to remember how to make small talk, and he wasn't sure he was doing it right. Normally, in his old precinct, the parents would accompany their kids, and he'd just keep up a conversation with them. Was kid small talk even the same as adult small talk? No one had trained him for this.