Landing in Your Inbox

85 - rebel / choice

March 22, 2021 7:30 AM
Incheon Airport Expressway

Kim Ju-meok arrived at Pyo Chi-su's apartment with two bags filled with meat, fruits, vegetables and assorted groceries. There was even a penned note from Yoon Seri.

Get well soon! She wrote on a piece of yellow square stationery as though she and Chi-su were buddies in school. Ju-meok expected him to look at the bags smugly and say something like, 'The viper sheds her fangs after all.' or 'Now that woman realizes she needs me. Pah!'

But instead Pyo Chi-su eyed the bags nervously and just vaguely pointed at a spot on the kitchen counter where Ju-meok could deposit it.

In the car going to the airport, Captain Pyo was tight-lipped as he scanned his phone. Ju-meok was not used to driving in relative peace, not having to close the radio or listen to Chi-su's long commentary on every single news that was coming out like he was planning to run for office. The silence was...unsettling.

Ju-meok extended his neck to see what Chi-su was browsing on his phone and caught a photo of Seri in the middle of scrolling. "Are you still on that? I told you, you're not going to find articles about the ambush. The police are protecting Seri's identity, as with ours. You won't find any updates about that. Be honest with me, Captain Pyo. Are you traumatized?"

"Ju-meok." Chi-su's face stiffened into lines of utmost seriousness. "You're well connected with inside gossip in our little community, right?"

"Captain Pyo, what are you trying to say? I'm a gossipmonger?" Ju-meok frowned.

"I'm not saying that. But...I heard something."

Ju-meok eyebrows raised in suspicion. "Okay?"

"In Seri's opening party..." Chi-su spoke gradually. "There was...a person..."

"Go on?"

"They were talking about that woman."

"How many people are we talking about? You said there's one, now there's two or three?" Ju-meok waited but Chi-su was busy watching the former's expression. "Besides, isn't that normal? It's Seri's event after all."

"No, no." Chi-su shook his head as though annoyed that Ju-meok wouldn't get it. "This other person...knew something about us."

"You mean us pilots?" Ju-meok started to lower down the volume of the radio.

"That's right...They knew Captain Lee. But everyone does at this point, correct? I mean, he was on the news and is radio famous and soon he'll be on nytube, too..."

"Wait wait..." Ju-meok had to hear Chi-su's dodgy story just when he hadn't had his coffee yet. "So these people in Seri's opening party, knew something about Seri and us and Captain Lee? Who are these people? What did they look like?"

"I don't know." Chi-su's answer was lightning quick. "I just overheard it and I was drinking..."

"And you didn't tell us??" Ju-meok exclaimed.

"It-It's not as though I wouldn't!" Chi-su stammered. "I would have but then those thugs came."

Ju-meok's forehead furrow deepened, "Do you remember exactly what they said about Seri and us? How did they know we're related?"

"Well..." Chi-su's eyes rolled away. "This person knew we were pilots and this person knew who Captain Lee was and..."

Ju-meok interjected,"Did they know about Seri and Captain Lee?"

"That part..." Chi-su's eyes squinted tight, as though making an effort to fish information from his alcohol-addled memory. "I'm a little...hazy about the details...But as nothing made it to the news and it's been 3 days, we shouldn't have anything to worry about, right?" He straightened up. "Otherwise, it would have made it out!"