Chapter 2: The Firefighter Next Door

“First time seeing a fire station?”

His senior officer, Sergeant Park, asked playfully, but Mu-yun just smiled awkwardly and avoided answering.

“You haven’t greeted the people at the safety center yet, have you, Officer So?”

Sergeant Lee asked, seeing his reaction.

Mu-yun, who had been blinking, nodded quietly.

“That’s right.

Officer So did his practicum at the police box.”

Sergeant Park chimed in from the side instead.

Listening to them, memories began to surface in Mu-yun’s mind one by one.

Even though less than a month had passed since he finished his practicum at the district police station, the memories were strangely hazy, as if they belonged to someone else.

It felt as if all his past memories were covered with a dark cloth, and only when someone asked if something existed did he pull back the cloth and think, ‘Ah, yes, that did happen.’

“Go and greet them while you’re at it.

You’ll have a lot of dealings with them while working with us, so it’s good to get familiar with their faces.”

At his senior’s words, Mu-yun answered that he understood.

It wasn’t wrong.

Living in this world, you end up bumping into all kinds of people, and the police box and the 119 Safety Center were often dispatched together to the same places for different reasons.

If they were located right across the street from each other, the chances were even higher.

After the shift change, Mu-yun changed into plain clothes, greeted his senior colleagues, and picked up the box of rice cakes the chief had entrusted to him.

It wasn’t out of his way anyway, since his house was behind the fire station.

He just had to cross the crosswalk at the Jeongsan-ro three-way intersection in front of the police box to reach the fire station, so he waited for the signal to change.

His gaze turned toward the fire station building again.

It had ‘Seoheung Fire Station’ written in large yellow letters, and below that, the name ‘Seoheung 119 Safety Center’ was visible.

It was strange how unfamiliar the building looked, even though it was several times larger than the small police box and he was seeing it for the first time.

But then again, strange things had been happening more than once or twice today.

‘Am I really possessed by something?’

Mu-yun recalled the abandoned motel he had entered during patrol and shivered.

The back of his neck felt cold.

His body felt chilly, as if he were about to catch a cold.

He would be off duty after work, and he had the next day off as well, so he could rest for two days.

Mu-yun forcibly shook off the unease in his head.

When he heard the signal indicating the green pedestrian light had turned on, he checked his surroundings again and stepped forward.

Passing by the large, red, shiny vehicles parked inside the garage, he reached the safety center attached to the lower left side of the building in just a few steps.

It had been the same when he first entered the police box after receiving his assignment, but government offices, aside from the local community service center, were strangely difficult to open the door to.

Only after taking a deep breath in and out did Mu-yun pull the door open.

“Hello.”

Only one person inside the office looked up.

“Hello.”

Their eyes met, and Mu-yun bowed his head again.

“What brings you here?”

“Ah!

Yes, well.

I work at the police box across the way.

Our chief told me to deliver this.”

Mu-yun held up the bundle in his hand, and the firefighter strode over.

“An errand for Lieutenant Jo?”

“Yes.”

Only then did their faces relax, and they exchanged greetings again.

After bowing three times, Mu-yun handed over the bundle.

Watching the firefighter open it on the spot, Mu-yun waited for the right moment to say when he would leave, unsure of the timing.

“Rice cakes.

Looks like the missus finally passed her license exam, huh?”

At the firefighter’s offhand remark, Mu-yun smiled faintly.

He didn’t know the details, but the story of her seven attempts at the driver’s license exam seemed to have gained quite a bit of fame.

“Tell her we’ll enjoy them.

By the way, I haven’t seen your face before.

Are you new?”

“Probationary Officer So Mu-yun.

I was assigned to Seoheung Police Box a week ago—”

Just as he was about to say ‘assigned,’ an ear-splitting dispatch alarm rang out.

Startled, Mu-yun looked up.

Heavy footsteps echoed throughout the entire building.

It wasn’t just coming from upstairs.

People who had been inside the office came running out, faces grim, and strode quickly toward where Mu-yun was standing.

Mu-yun hurriedly twisted his body out of the way, flustered.

He tried his best to zigzag out of the way, but the corridor was narrow.

At the end of the line of firefighters charging toward the alarm, a large figure brushed past Mu-yun, bumping into him.

As if it were useless to hunch his shoulders as much as he could.

“Ugh!

Sorry.”

Even though it wasn’t really his fault, Mu-yun apologized first and looked up.

But the person he bumped into didn’t even grunt, just pushed him aside as if he were in the way and ran outside.

“Won Tae-i, don’t run!”

“Sorry!”

The annoying back of his head disappeared toward the garage, and within seconds—as if preparations were already complete—a pump truck drove straight out of the garage.

Mu-yun, who had frozen in place after being shoved aside, finally let out a hollow breath.

Recalling the face that had shown no trace of apology even though their eyes had clearly met, his brow furrowed deeply.

That didn’t last long either.

Left alone, Mu-yun looked at the now-empty office and stood with his mouth agape.

He saw the box of rice cakes, left behind just like him.

He tidied up the box so the rice cakes wouldn’t go stale, then left the safety center.

“Did you deliver it?”

“Yes.

But they left for a dispatch right away, leaving it there.”

Having returned to the police box, Mu-yun reported the situation as it was to the chief.

Lieutenant Jo smiled with an expression that said ‘it is what it is.’

“They must have gone out while eating.

Got it.

Good work.”

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“Bye, Officer So!”

After greeting his colleagues from Team 3 again, Mu-yun stood in front of the crosswalk at the Jeongsan-ro three-way intersection to cross the road, just like before.

In the meantime, whether the incident had been resolved, he saw a pump truck emerge from an alley two blocks away.

That large, dark-built firefighter who had bumped into him earlier would probably be on that truck too.

Mu-yun tilted his head.

Strangely, he couldn’t remember the face well.

Even though it didn’t seem like the kind of face that would be easily forgotten.

Mu-yun, who usually remembered people’s faces quite well, soon frowned.

‘Did I forget it because he was such an ass?’

That must be it.

Just how bad must that first impression have been for his brain to throw it out entirely?

Watching the approaching fire truck, Mu-yun crossed the road on the green light.

***

March 6th

“Uwaaaah—.”

A low groan escaped.

Mu-yun suppressed the urge to tear his hair out and tried hard to maintain his composure.

But that didn’t solve the problem.

He looked around the room.

The old 24-pyeong tenement house, with two rooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a narrow balcony, was more than spacious enough for one person to live in.

“So why isn’t it organized?”

Mu-yun looked at his haphazardly shoved-in luggage and felt dejected.

It had been like this for a whole week.

He needed to find something to change into, and he also needed to find his shampoo.

His hair, washed with bar soap, was so stiff it was practically standing on end.

Because of his thick hair, so dense he couldn’t even see his own crown, he looked even more unkempt.

Mu-yun rubbed his spiky hair roughly with his hand and then lowered the top box labeled ‘clothes’ from the pile in front of the wardrobe.

He tore off the tape and checked inside, finding socks and underwear.

He had been worried he might have to go to the supermarket in front of his house to buy some because he didn’t even have a change of underwear right away, so he gratefully grabbed a pair of briefs.

The same went for socks.

He laid out the ones with holes and mismatched pairs to check them, but then his mind wandered again.

Holding a strange pair of socks—both white with the same pattern, but one with a bluish tint and the other with a pinkish tint—he stared at them seriously, then flinched at a sound from outside.

He fell backward, lying on the floor, and craned his neck toward the front door above his head.

“Are they home?”

After muttering to himself, he hurried to stand in front of the front door.

Then he opened the top box from the pile stacked in front of the door.

He had been meaning to deliver it for days, but there was still one housewarming gift left.

He had thought about just leaving it in front of the door like he did for the others, but since it was the house directly across from his, he wanted to see their face at least once, so he had put it off.

His neighbor, who was as irregular with their hours as he was with his four-shift rotation, was someone he kept trying to run into but kept missing.

It seemed he had finally gotten the timing right today.

Mu-yun hurried outside.

As he opened the front door, he saw the number plate reading ‘303’ right in front of him.

After clearing his throat with a fake cough, he pressed the doorbell of the house in front.

[Yes.]

It was a low, deep voice, almost threatening.

“Hello.

I’m the person who moved in next door.”

Mu-yun spoke timidly but calmly, stating his identity.

[Just a moment.]

Holding the paper bag with the gift so it wouldn’t get crushed, he stepped slightly to the side in front of the door.

There was a presence behind the front door.

“Wait a moment.”

Wondering if that was directed at him, Mu-yun blinked, and then the door opened.

There was the characteristic clanking sound of the auxiliary lock being undone, followed by the sound of another lock being released.

Through the slightly opened gap, tinged with wariness, the neighbor he had so much trouble encountering finally showed his face.

Mu-yun’s breath stopped for a moment.

“Hello….”

A hollow greeting came out along with a breath.

It was a firefighter.

That unlucky bastard from yesterday.

The neighbor also paused, as if he recognized Mu-yun’s face.

Recognition flickered across his questioning features, then he quickly returned to a stoic expression.

Mu-yun looked at the face he had encountered somewhere else yesterday—not here—and forced the corners of his mouth upward.

As the chief had said, it wasn’t like they would never see each other again, and on top of being neighbors, when he went to work, this person worked across the street.

He held out the box of chocolate cookies in his hand.

“A housewarming gift.

Please take care of me in the future.”

The firefighter’s face was indifferent.

There was no sign of welcome, making the outstretched hand feel pointless.

“No.”

Mu-yun, about to ask what exactly ‘no’ meant, tilted his head, and the low voice came again.

“It’s fine, then.”

The firefighter bowed his head from a spot slightly higher than Mu-yun’s gaze and closed the door as it was.

The corners of Mu-yun’s mouth, which had been stretched wide in a smile, fell flat.

He took a big step back, then turned around and pressed the password for his own front door.

And as if diving inside the door that opened instantly, he threw the gift he was holding back into its place.

Then he burst out laughing.

After laughing for a good long while, Mu-yun ran his fingers through his hair.

“Where did I put the salt?”

He needed to unpack all his moving boxes today, find the spice container, and sprinkle some salt.

Being friendly?

Not a chance!

The best course of action was to avoid meeting him as much as possible.

Mu-yun went back into his room and stood in front of the mountain of moving boxes.