Chapter 24: Rambo, Confirmed

A cat with yellowish-brown stripes, busily tearing at a head stuck in a standard garbage bag with its teeth, moved its body.

Mu-yun, who had been staring blankly at the strangely familiar bag, soon clapped his hands with all his might.

“You can’t eat that!

It’s chicken bones!”

Clap!

At the loud clap, the stray cat puffed up its tail and quickly darted away.

It had torn into it so frantically that half of the tightly tied chicken bones inside seemed to have spilled out.

Wondering if that was why the smell was so bad, Mu-yun hurriedly ran over and checked the bag.

Although startled and running away, the cat didn’t go far and looked back, its regret dripping from its gaze.

Tae-i saw that and laughed.

“They say making eye contact with a cat is like cursing at them.

Was that little guy cursing at you?”

“If someone came and flipped my table while I was trying to eat, I’d curse at them too.”

Mu-yun answered that and looked inside the torn garbage bag.

Even if he tried to fix it properly, the ragged parts didn’t seem like they would hold.

“By the way, you said you don’t eat sweet things, so why are there so many jelly wrappers?”

At Tae-i’s voice from above his head, Mu-yun turned and looked up.

“Because someone ate a whole lot of them at my place!”

Whether eating, drinking, or while making plans to find Rambo, it was as if Won Tae-i had set up a shop in his pocket.

Every time Mu-yun emptied the trash after Tae-i left, all sorts of snack and jelly wrappers came pouring out.

Tae-i cleared his throat and averted his gaze.

Smiling while looking at the distant mountains as if embarrassed, he looked somewhat detestable to Mu-yun.

“Should I get you some gloves?”

He needed to clean it up somehow, so Mu-yun nodded.

Tae-i returned to the car, opened the trunk, and came back holding a handful of something.

Taking the cotton work gloves, Mu-yun took out the bag with the chicken bones, tied it up again, put it back inside, and thinly taped over the torn part.

“But even if you do this, won’t it just come and tear it open again?”

It seemed it would be the same as long as he couldn’t dispose of the chicken bones inside.

Tae-i turned his head, looked at the spot where the cat had been until recently, and sighed.

Then he sprayed something from a small spray bottle around the torn bag.

The smell of the sprayed liquid hit his nose instantly.

Mu-yun’s nose twitched, and he winced.

“Is that insecticide?

Even so, using bug spray is a bit…”

Tae-i chuckled as if to say ‘what are you talking about.’

“It’s water boiled with lemon, orange, and tangerine peels.

I heard cats don’t like citrus scents, so I often spray it on bags before putting them out when I don’t have the right timing.

Though I’m careful not to spray it where Kkammi is, just in case.”

“Is that so?”

He didn’t know if it would work, but at least if the cat didn’t come near and swallow the chicken bones, it would be a relief.

It was almost time for bag collection anyway, so it just needed to stay intact for an hour at most.

“I hope it doesn’t tear it open.”

“It’ll be fine.”

Tae-i added that so far, the cats had instinctively avoided it.

Just in case, he sprayed not only the torn part but also the top.

Mu-yun tied the loose knot tightly again and placed it on top of the pile of garbage bags.

“I’ll have to wash up as soon as I go up.”

There was no food waste, but touching the garbage bag still felt dirty.

Mu-yun took off the gloves, neatly rolled them so the inside was facing out, and put them in his pocket.

“Let’s go.”

After tidying up the bags and coming upstairs, his fatigue seemed to have reached its peak.

Mu-yun immediately opened his front door.

Tae-i followed him in as if it were natural.

“Why are you following me in?”

“To wash my hands because the stuff I sprayed got on them?”

Tae-i proudly raised both hands to show him.

“By the way, Officer So.

Are you going to sleep after lunch?”

“No.

I’m just going to sleep.

If I eat and then sleep, my digestion is bad.”

“Is that so?”

Leaning against the door frame, watching Tae-i, who more familiarly entered the bathroom before the homeowner and washed his hands, Mu-yun let out a hollow laugh.

“Why?”

At the sudden laugh, Tae-i tilted his head.

Mu-yun opened his mouth as if sighing.

“When we first greeted each other, I thought, ‘I’ll really be strangers with the person next door until I move out.’

Now I wonder how it ended up like this.”

Tae-i smiled brightly.

“You’re insulting me right now, aren’t you.”

“You know it.”

Mu-yun nodded vigorously, then flinched and ducked.

Without even thinking of drying his soaking wet hands, Tae-i approached and shook them all over Mu-yun.

“Hey!

Dry them and come out!”

Shouting like a scream, Mu-yun urgently dodged.

Tae-i strode over, grabbed Mu-yun, trapped him in his arms, and rubbed his wet hands all over his back.

Letting out a pained groan, Mu-yun tried to break free, but only after drying his hands to his satisfaction did Tae-i laugh and release his arms.

“You crazy bastard.”

Mu-yun gritted his teeth and swore.

Tae-i’s mouth corners went up again.

“Mu-yun hyung.

Want another hug?”

“Get lost, man.”

Tae-i saw Mu-yun growling, let out a giggle, then obediently went out to the entrance and put on his shoes.

Watching him, Mu-yun narrowed his eyes.

Tae-i met his gaze with a smiling face.

“Then get some good rest.”

As Tae-i, greeting peacefully as if nothing had happened, disappeared behind the door, Mu-yun let out a deep sigh and squatted down on the spot.

***

April 6th

As soon as he opened his eyes, Mu-yun collapsed back onto the bed.

No matter how much he had slept, his body felt heavy rather than refreshed.

A sigh escaped on its own.

Instead of lifting his head, he rolled over and headed from the edge of the bed to the floor.

Just before falling, he barely managed to get his legs out from under the blanket and avoided tumbling down.

His legs, standing on the floor, felt unnaturally heavy.

Mu-yun rested his hands on his knees, waited for a while, then moved.

He left the bedroom and entered the kitchen opposite.

His hand pulled a bottle of cold water from the refrigerator.

He unscrewed the cap and gulped it down.

His esophagus cooled, and only then did his mind slowly return.

Having quenched his thirst, Mu-yun sat on the carpet instead of the living room sofa.

Sitting with his legs apart, he began to gently stretch his body.

He stretched his calves and hamstrings, and loosened his stiff back and neck muscles.

It seemed he needed to start exercising again, which he had put off for weeks without finding the time.

He also needed to look into the fitness center he had promised to join after the first chaotic month of his probation.

He should have looked into it long ago, but he hadn’t expected to face a challenge like this life-or-death task just one month after his appointment.

“I couldn’t even finish reading the papers.”

He had printed out various investigative techniques and papers related to criminal cases, thinking he might read them, but they were still on the shelf, collecting dust without him even reading the titles.

That wasn’t all.

The plan to drive along the road that led straight to the east coast after just one tunnel and go for a drive to the beach was also still abandoned somewhere in a pit in his head.

These were wishes so faded now that he thought, ‘Ah, there was something like that.’

His head was foggy.

Mu-yun smoothly swept back his falling hair with his fingers.

The hair catching on his fingertips was thick.

“I need to get my hair cut too.”

He said that every time he touched his hair, but he still hadn’t been to a salon.

His hair grew thick enough to be unruly after a month, so he should go to a salon regularly to cut it, but that was also a bit of a bother.

Various tasks came to mind but quickly disappeared.

Maybe it was because, starting this week, he didn’t have to go out looking for Rambo whenever he had time.

He had received a call from the police box chief early in the morning.

‘We got word.

Among the identification chips found in the animals, there’s one that matches Rambo.’

Comparing the chip implanted during neutering surgery, the identification number from the chip found in the pit in the field matched, he said.

Because it was an animal, the autopsy schedule was delayed, and the results had just come out.

The police box chief, having said that, added,

‘You’ve been poking around everywhere, so be careful not to confuse the investigation.

Rest as much as possible on your days off.’

It was advice from the police box chief, so it was hard to ignore.

He couldn’t retrace the moment he chased the culprit, nor could he go ask the relevant people questions.

There was nothing he could do.

So Mu-yun, probationary patrol officer at Seoheung Police Box—what he could do was not investigation.

He just needed to do what he could do, so why did his chest feel so tight?

Sitting blankly in a daze, Mu-yun lifted his head.

A sound of a front door opening came from nearby.

He could also hear Kkammi’s slightly rough breathing.

“Is he going for a walk?”

Checking the clock, it was well past evening.

Thinking that, he suddenly felt hungry.

Just as he was wondering what to eat, the intercom rang.

Mu-yun tilted his head and immediately went to the front door.

Tae-i was standing outside the security grille.

He unfastened the latch and opened the locked door.

“Woof!”

Kkammi barked low and wagged his tail.

“Hey.

Kkammi came?”

Mu-yun glanced at Tae-i once, then bent down, stroked Kkammi’s cheeks and forehead, and smiled brightly.

Kkammi’s tail wagged even more vigorously, as if his mood had improved.

“Why are you here?”

Tae-i snorted as if dumbfounded.

“At least pretend to be half as happy to see me.”

“I asked why you’re here.”

“Have you eaten?”

The blunt voice asked about his meal status.

Mu-yun shook his head.

“Not yet.

I was about to eat.”

At that, Tae-i looked pleased.

“Want to eat kimchi fried rice?

I was organizing frozen rice and ended up frying too much.”

There was nothing bad about it.

Mu-yun, who was about to get a meal without lifting a finger, nodded eagerly.

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