Sung Jae’s grandpa has always told him that he was the best little detective in the whole world. Sung Jae thought so too, because his father was the best detective after all (At least he thought) and although nobody really understood that he was trying to solve crimes and save people from bad, Sung Jae was always committed to do his job as the best detective and do well for the others. He was sad that nobody understood him though, they would always think that Sung Jae was trying to cause trouble.  One day he was staying over at his friend’s place, and the friend was sad because his pet hamster had gone missing. Sung Jae got into his detective mode and began to look for evidence and asked everyone in the house where they had last seen it, and according to his speculation, the hamster had walked into his friend’s bathroom while he was asleep and had accidentally slipped into the toilet. In hopes that he’d somehow save his life, Sung Jae had called the fire brigade like his father had told him in his stories. They couldn’t find the hamster though, but for some reason his friend’s parents banned Sung Jae from coming to their place again. Sung Jae was deeply upset. He didn’t understand why people were being cruel to him although he was helping them to find their pet. After they had gone home that day, however, his father was being cruel to him too, and yelled at him telling him that he shouldn’t call the fire brigade unless there was something really wrong. Apparently the friend’s parents have been given something called penalty. Sung Jae didn’t understand much about penalties and stuff, all he wanted to do was give his best service as a detective. There was something that his father has always told him; “If you’re given something to do, do it in the best way that you can”. So that was what he was doing, trying to be the best little detective so that he could be better when he’s grown up.

Sung Gyu, however, was convinced otherwise. There had been myriad moments where he had observed his child’s behavior and wondered if Sung Jae really was a problem child. It wasn’t that Sung Jae was terribly misbehaving or anything. What his mother said was that Sung Jae only had a world of his own. She thinks that Sung Jae was behaving like any eight year old boy would, but being a father, a single father at that, Sung Gyu couldn’t help but worry about Sung Jae and his somewhat perturbing behavior.

Sung Gyu and his mother once again got into this particular topic one day when the parents had invited Sung Gyu and his son out for a cup of coffee. However, having a cup of coffee hadn’t been their only intention to meet the two, and upon meeting them only did he learn about the much fleeting news he would have rather avoided.

Sung Gyu stared at the item in his hands, utmost horror inflicted in his eyes. His mind was rushing back through the memories he had buried deep, deep inside him since he didn’t want them to haunt his entire life; and then, sending his efforts to naught, the past was all about to repeat itself.

“No. No Omma, Sung Jae and I are not going” Sung Gyu said, and if anyone was listening closely to him, they could have easily caught the quiver in his voice.

“But Sung Gyu ah…they invited all of us! Besides the girl will be anticipating you!” His mother dragged on, not once buying any of Sung Gyu’s excuses. “You two were friends since kids, Sung Gyu-ah! She will be crushed if you won’t be there!”

“But-but...” Sung Gyu stuttered, trying to form another lame excuse. “Omma…you have got to understand me! This-this is going to harm the national security!”

“National security?” Sung Gyu’s mother echoed incredulously. “How could it be a threat to the national security?”

“It will be!” Sung Gyu echoed, almost in tears. He had had his dignity harmed enough times already by getting into this trap that he wasn’t sure if he had a single ounce left of his self-esteem. “Omma, you don’t understand! I can’t possibly bring Sung Jae unless you want them to put curfew around the city and get the US army involved or something”

Sung Gyu’s mother on the other hand looked like she’d lose it any second from now.  She was sure she and her husband had given Sung Gyu proper education and consistent knowledge on societal momentums; and now his behavior towards something so simple was strictly irrational.

“Sung Gyu…listen, it’s just a wedding” She said, trying to be as patient as possible. “There’s nothing that could possibly go wrong with you two going to a wedding that would attract the US army’s attention”

“But Sung Jae is not up to attend weddings or parties or any sort of social events” Sung Gyu announced sternly. “Because we really don’t want him to blow up an entire hotel complex”

“Yah he won’t do that!” She said, slapping on Sung Gyu’s hand. “How could you say such cruel things? He’s just a child!”

“Omma, you don’t know what that kid is capable of!”

Sung gyu’s mother suddenly stopped at that point, drew in a long breath through her teeth and glanced at Sung Jae who was sitting on another table with his grandfather, eating a chocolate parfait. By the first glance, anyone would think that Sung Jae was one adorable little child. He looked adorable too, dangling his chubby feet as he the chocolate off his spoon. Sung Gyu almost stood up to go and squeeze the gorgeous little thing in his arms until, well, until he looked up at his grandfather with the eyes of a little devil, lips pursed, and pushed the glass to the middle of the table. “There are nuts in it, I hate nuts”

Sung gyu’s father looked like a peasant serving for his lord and with shaky hands he took the glass towards him. “Do you want Harabeoji to remove the nuts?”

“No” Sung Jae said, still inflicting that particular horrendous aura of his. “I want something without nuts”

Sung Gyu who was watching the entire ordeal pursed his lips and let out a sigh, shaking his head.

“Omma, he’s Hitler at one point, and then Mussolini, then both, and then suddenly a cute fluffy Teletubby…is it humanly possible even?”

“Sung Gyu, he’s just exploring his childhood!” His mother said, sounding awfully too much like a child specialist of some sort. “He is like any other child of his age!”

“But any other child of his age won’t do that!” Sung Gyu exclaimed, suddenly getting a panic attack. Since grandpa had refused to buy a parfait without nuts for him, little Sung Jae was rebelling. He was carrying the glass in his hands towards a bin twice as big as his height, possibly to tell the damn thing goodbye. “, what is he doing?”

“He’s just-!”

“He’s not bloody exploring his childhood Omma!” Sung Gyu screamed, hurrying off to his boy and not giving a crap about all the spectators around him. He managed to get hold of the boy just before he could stash the glass into the bin, and of course, at that very moment Sung Gyu couldn’t help but wish he’d melt into a lump and disappear when he could feel all the eyes in the shop blatantly watching his every move. He could almost make out the kind of things the people would say next. They would call Sung Jae a brat, a badly brought up child, an annoying little kid who need a good beating and all sorts of things that Sung Jae really wasn’t. Sung Gyu couldn’t say anything either; being a young, single father, he was always utterly defenseless. And it wasn’t like the things those people saying weren’t entirely true, but they were true to some extent. Sung Jae’s behavior should garner some serious attention, and maybe he did need the help of a child specialist but Sung Gyu always refused to believe so. Just like any father would, he was in the thorough belief of things turning out to be perfectly fine when Sung Jae would grow up with time. Nevertheless he couldn’t tolerate the cruel things people said about Sung Jae in any possible way. He’d take it alright if all the insults were directed to him, but he wouldn’t bare it up if they were directed to his precious child.

“What are you doing Sung Jae?” Sung Gyu asked, turning the child to face him. “You’re being a bad, bad boy right now, do you understand?”

“But appa…” The child mumbled and his father was at disbelief, witnessing the boy’s three-hundred-and-sixty degree change of attitudes. Sung Gyu had noticed this myriad times. One of his co-workers, Lee Sung Yeol who had three young siblings was harboring the idea of the possibility of Sung Jae having some sort of a personality disorder; and though Sung Gyu literally ripped the man’s head off for telling him that, later on that day, Sung Gyu himself was wondering the prospect of it.

“No Sung Jae” Sung Gyu said and ran his fingers through his hair. “Sung Jae, we’re going home”

Sung Gyu hated it when Sung Jae would pull one terrible stunt and he’d have to walk away from his parents. It had happened a few times before when his parents had taken them out for coffee and to fancy restaurants and family outings; there had been a few times that Sung Gyu had had to hear bad things from his younger sister herself because her three year old twins were brought up so well. Sung Gyu would often pull out his card of ‘Sung Jae growing up without a mother’ whenever this would happen, but frankly he was getting tired of doing it. Sung Jae needed serious discipline, and maybe the time for it was not long.

“I’ll think about it” Sung Gyu said to his mother, picking up the wedding invitation from the table where he had left it before, while carrying his son in his other hand.

“Don’t worry, son. You two will be fine…” His mother said, getting up on her feet. She had come across this kind of situations numerous times, and though she wished she could do something to hold her son back, she tried her best to be understandable. Sung Gyu was doing a tough job, being a father and raising a son on his own, and despite all the slight glitches then and there, all that both she and Sung Gyu’s father could do was be nothing but supportive. So she simply leaned over and kissed the two boys on their cheeks. “Call me when you get home, okay? Drive safely, son, the roads are slippery these days”

Sung Gyu only hummed in reply, still not having gotten over his frustration and bid his parents good bye and stomped out of the place, feeling his ears burn in anger and embarrassment. It wasn’t like he had any kind of resentment towards his child, Sung Gyu loved Sung Jae beyond words, and not even his unnerving behavior would change that, Sung Gyu was frankly angry at himself, at his ex-girlfriend and the rest of the world. It was a difficult task indeed, raising a child who hadn’t had a single opportunity to feel the warmth of his mother; and it was getting even more difficult when he hadn’t any idea if Sung Jae’s behavior was natural, and if not, how he should deal with it. He hated to give the boy any harsh discipline. Sung Jae might be eight, but he was still a little baby in Sung Gyu’s eyes. He just couldn’t ever bring himself to yell harshly at him, not even if he really had to, and even if he did, it would haunt him for a life time. Maybe Sung Gyu had pampered him too much, giving him attention more than necessary, but he didn’t know how to not to. And then, to add to all these worries, there was the wedding reception both him and the boy were invited to.

Sung Jae had never been comfortable within large crowds. Sung Gyu thought that it could be because of a slight case of anxiety since Sung Jae normally hung around a small circle of people, but there were the moments that things went a little beyond of merely being anxious. It was like Sung Jae was trying to get people’s attention. It was understandable, given that Sung Gyu was often distracted by family and friends in most of the social events they attend together and also given that his father was the only person Sung Jae was familiar with, but when the child would do the kind of things which gravely implied that he was indeed a problem child, Sung Gyu would be left scarcely a hopeless single father.

This was the reason why Sung Gyu would avoid having to attend social events with Sung Jae at all costs. He didn’t want his son to be looked down at, based on how he behaved, and also he always thought he should wait for the time until Sung Jae will be ready to act like a normal child within a crowd.

However, after they had gone home, Sung Gyu carried Sung Jae to the kitchen, sat him down on a chair and sat before him.

“Sung Jae, you’re behaving terribly and I hate to do it but you really need to be disciplined”

Sung Jae seemed slightly perturbed, eyes down casted and all, yet he wasn’t the one to fall.

“But appa, Harabeoji-!”

“No buts Sung Jae!” Sung Gyu said quite harshly. “Harabeoji and Halmeoni were being nice enough to take us out for coffee, and is that how you treat them? You don’t say bad things about what you get, you thank them and accept what they bought for you! That’s what you do!”

“B-But appa-!”

“No buts!” Sung Gyu yelled, and Sung Jae looked definitely thrown by it. He took a deep, patient breath in an effort to take his anger under control and continued. “Look, Sung Jae. You are doing really terrible things. Maybe they look right for you, but they aren’t. Many of the things you do are very, very wrong; they harm and annoy other people, they make me very angry and I’m being very patient to not to beat you…but if I could, I will beat you until you cry; that’s what I will do if you don’t listen and behave well. Now don’t make me tell you this again, alright?”

Sung Jae bit his lip, cheeks turning red and eyes becoming watery, and in a slow movement he nodded the slightest and let out a small sob. Sung Gyu wasn’t having slightest of regrets; in fact, he had no idea of other ways to fix things other than talk about it to Sung Jae himself. The child was eight already, and he was in an age where he’d understand things as simple as that, so even when Sung Jae fell into a series of sobs, Sung Gyu didn’t go into comforting him. This wasn’t the first time but such things really needed to stop.

Sung Gyu pushed back the chair a little too roughly and climbed up on his feet.

“Now Sung Jae you go to your room and think about all the bad things you’ve done and see if they are right…, don’t make me angry again”

Sung Gyu needn’t say anymore for the mere roughness of his tone had coaxed the child enough to stride away to his room and softly close the door behind him. Sung Jae wouldn’t usually close the door unless he really needed to, and at that moment Sung Gyu knew that his words had really hit him. Sung Gyu didn’t feel equally well afterwards. He just sat back in the kitchen, staring at his open palm and just thinking. It was almost certain to him that it wouldn’t do any good if he only spoke and tried to change the boy’s behavior. At this point, Sung Jae really needed help. He looked at the wedding invitation thrown on the table and heaved a sigh. It would be better if I speak to someone knowledgeable, he thought, pulled out his phone and dialed the number of a co-worker from the station.

“Hyung!” Sung Yeol’s voice echoed from the other end. Sung Yeol was a cheery young detective who had apparently joined the firm due to his undying desire to become something close to a detective. He enjoyed chattering away and wasting his time rather than being engaged in actual detective work, and together with his partner Kim Myung Soo, what Sung Yeol did at the firm half of the time was keeping the spirits up of the older and fairly frustrated young investigators. And also buying them coffee when necessary.

“Sung Yeol” Sung Gyu addressed in an undertone, his palm pressed flat onto his cheek. “Where are you?”

Since it was a Saturday, Sung Gyu knew it was a lame question to ask him; and knowing the man, Sung Gyu was bracing himself for an even worse comeback.

“Um…let me guess” He said thoughtfully on the other end and made a strange, throaty sound. “I’m not at home; I’m at an army base, planting land mines”

Sung Gyu sighed loudly, though there was a slightest smile curling on his lips. “Whatever, is your mother around?”

“Yeah, she plowing the ground for them mines”

This time Sung Gyu really laughed and asked for Sung Yeol’s mother once more.

Sung Yeol’s mother was a plump, stubby little woman with a constant smile pasted on her face which was eerily uncanny to that of his son and also had been Sung Gyu’s savior in the mammy department when his mother wasn’t available. After having reared four sons, two of whom were fully grown and two were still in their younger days, Sung Yeol’s mother was a treasure of knowledge in raising kids; her knowledge on children varied from raising the quiet introverted kind (Sung Yeol’s second younger brother) to the geeky taking-over-the-world kind (Sung Yeol’s youngest brother) and the loud annoying kind (Sung Yeol himself) Sung Gyu always believed that his son had to belong to one of the four kinds (since there were four, just how many other varieties could there be? He thought) and of course, Sung Yeol’s mother always had the best advice.

He waited patiently as the muffled hustle and bustle carried on before Missus Lee finally picked up.

“Hey! Sung Gyu-ah” Greeted her merry voice with excitement underlying in her voice. Another thing about Sung Yeol’s mother; she was almost always excited about almost everything, which was nice in a feeble kind of a way, not that Sung Gyu did mind, really.

“Hello, Missus Lee! How have you been? How’s the season doing to you?” Sung Gyu greeted back, trying to be polite as he attempted to match his tone with hers.

“Oh! It’s been wonderful! The boy’s been giving me trouble-yah! Lee Soo Yeol! I told you to not to play with vinegar! (Laughter) See? (Laughter again) So Sung Gyu, how have you been?”

Sung Gyu liked it how she never tried to get straight into child-rearing businesses although Sung Gyu was calling her up only when he’d had come across something beyond usual regarding Sung Jae. He had wondered if it were inconvenient to her too, what with her four undergrown sons and their waywardness in the house and such, but she never complained; she’d always help Sung Gyu through, regardless of time and place and circumstances. So for a moment, they talked about kids and their jobs and their lives and such before Sung Gyu ventured the conversation into the reason why he had really rung her up. He recited to her what happened at the café that day and his concerns, to which she listened attentively, responding once in a while with a hum, or a brief comment. From that point onwards, the conversation went on like this;

Sung Gyu: And Missus Lee, I am really worried with letting Sung Jae attend any kind of social events…I don’t know whether its normal or if it was something to be worried about, nevertheless I hate it when things go wrong and he still gets all the blame.

Missus Lee: Ah, I see…it’s quite understandable with your circumstances and all. I’m no specialist but I think Sung Jae just do things on impulse, he has his own mind, you know. And since he’s in a critical age, I think he’s feeling a little lonely.

Sung Gyu: Lonely? Do you think it might be that he’s feeling lonely or out of place since he grew up alone?

Missus Lee: Hm, that could be it. He’s still eight. You can’t expect all eight year olds to sit in his chair and behave like a grown man. He has his own ways of thinking. If you take today’s incident; while you think it’s a waste to throw food and also unacceptable in a place like that, he wouldn’t think that way. Sung Jae would think that the food is no use since he wouldn’t eat it, and where do the useless things go?

Sung Gyu: Dustbin?

Missus Lee: Exactly! That’s how little minds work, Sung Gyu-ah. You just need to give him more attention and understand him. And as for his bad social behavior, I think it would be nice if he had a good companion to share his time with. You’re there, but he’d need someone…less intimidating. Like a good friend?

Sung Gyu: A friend? He has quite a few at school…

Missus Lee: Not exactly that, someone who’d be around him all the time, like a neighbor or a cousin? Oh! You said that you got a new baby sitter?

Sung Gyu: Yeah? What about her?

Missus Lee: Since she’s a girl, you can bring her alone when you attend those events, don’t you think? So she’d keep him in company? If she’s young and energetic, that is…if she’s old and…

Sung Gyu: She’s young, alright. Maybe that would work…

Missus Lee: You should try, Sung Gyu-ah, it wouldn’t hurt trying…

The conversation rolled on, thus, once again with the casual comings and exchanges, and by the time he ended it, Sung Gyu was feeling fairly satisfied. At that point he was almost convinced that Sung Jae’s current condition was nothing but completely natural, and something that he would so effortlessly overcome one day. He was also wondering if he was too harsh towards the child if it being natural really was the case, therefore he walked into Sung Jae’s room, only to find him bundled inside the comforter, sleeping soundly through the cold autumn ambiance. Sung Gyu heaved a heavy long sigh and perched down on the side of the bed, staring longingly at the sleeping child, at how his chest raised and fell in rhythm and how his eye lashes rested on the mushy fair mounds of his cheeks. If Sung Gyu had known that raising a son on his own would be so difficult, he could have sworn he wouldn’t have brought his ungrateful girlfriend to his house the first place, or not allow his parents to watch that sitcom of theirs. In the course of this thought, however, Sung Gyu came into a new resolve. He knew that Jung Eunji was all but competent despite her so-called two years of babysitting experience, nevertheless Sung Jae seemed to be keen of her as well. Jung Eunji was easy; all he had to do was mention the fancy weddings and expensive venues, she’d be simply lured into it, Eunji was like that.

So the next day after Eunji had carried the laundry downstairs, washed three days’ worth of dishes, cleaned the bedrooms and vacuumed the carpets, she was idly sitting in her car, windows rolled down, enjoying a heap of stray chips found in the Kim’s refrigerator while the autumn wind gushed through her hair when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She was currently having her time off, the drive-break, she’d call it (She had all kinds of breaks, which she had invented since she’d come to work at the Kims, which was also quite an achievement in her opinion) and she didn’t necessarily enjoy entertaining any sort of phone call when she was indulging it. She was all about to hang up, muttering a string of swear words through her full mouth when she noticed the caller ID.

“Holy !” She exclaimed, almost dropping her phone. It was her boss, whose number she saved as ‘Gyumpa’ which was quite a fancy name for a boring little underage grandfather; and this particular person wouldn’t call unless he really needed to, and receiving a message right after the call which was never picked up was definitely a first.

“He’s possessed!” Eunji mused, staring down at the screen, mouth agape with half munched potato chips almost falling out. “He’s definitely possessed”

*

Despite being completely unconvinced by the message she received from her boss not so long ago, Eunji found herself sitting at a small café of some sort, the scent of ground coffee beans wafting around and tingling her senses. If not for the odds, the place was pretty endearing. It was spacious inside with not many customers around; the waiters were pretty friendly too, and spoke so softly that she almost ordered herself something before she was reminded that she could have easily bought something off her boss; she was still pre-occupied by this thought that she didn’t even see when the said boss ventured open the glass paneled doors and walked himself in.

When Eunji did notice him, nonetheless, the first thing she thought about was how he looked so provocative while he was at work. With the serious demeanor which wasn’t anything close to that one boring old man appearance he almost constantly sported while lazing at home, Kim Sung Gyu looked and felt so out of this world. It occurred to her, seeing him still in his beige suit that he had come straight from work. What interested her more at that time wasn’t knowing the exact reason why he had called her out; instead she was busy searching for the holsters around his waist, and also wondering if she stood a chance to hold the gun in her hands.

Her hopes coming to a naught, however, Sung Gyu approached the table in haste without a sign of the holster on his waist. He didn’t look like Kim-Sung-Gyu the detective at that time either. Eunji would be more cordial and believe that he looked more like a fox shot in the guts after he had swallowed a hare in whole or something. She was fairly disappointed as her boss took a seat in front of her.

“Thank you for coming Miss Jung” He was saying quite breathlessly which threw Eunji off guard the slightest. “I came around since I had a free time slot, I have something urgent to discuss”

“Urgent?” Eunji echoed, surprised herself. Sung Gyu didn’t say anything at that point but simply dipped his hand in his pocket and produced what seemed to her a pearl white envelop which Sung Gyu threw across the table so that it would reach her. She took it carefully in her hands and assessed it whilst a frown.

“Wait…a wedding invitation?” Eunji narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to a side. “You getting married, boss?”

Sung Gyu sighed, not being up to dealing with any kind of nonsense. “It’s a cousin’s wedding…you’re invited since Sung Jae and I have to be there… you’re coming too”

“Really?” Eunji said, and immediately regretted, squealing so loud. “I am?”

She was already imagining what she should be wear and the jewelries and shoes that would be necessary, growing excited already. It had been years since she last attended a wedding and she was definitely looking forward to another; but to her utter disdain ,maybe because he noticed that Eunji is really enjoying herself, Sung Gyu said; “You’re going to keep Sung Jae in company, not idling around, Eunji-Ssi”

“Of course!” Eunji said, overlooking the fact that she had already made a mental picture of herself looming around in a big hotel with all smiles. But still she was slightly offended too. “What did you expect? That baby sitters are there to eat and sleep every second of the day?”

“That wasn’t what-!” Sung Gyu began, frustrated but Eunji cut him off.

“Okay, forget it, I’ll just come”

“You’re not given a choice anyway” Sung Gyu said, giving Eunji a smug smile. “You’re the baby sitter after all”

*

Part two coming up!