Chapter 31 – Confusing Reencounters

Shownu's point of view

There were three officers and they got off the gigantic car, their heavy boots crushing the slush below with a disgusting sound. Their black uniforms and helmets covered all of their individual traits except the height differences. They looked like clones.

“Hey! What are you selling there?”, one of the black-clothed men barked with a heavy Chinese accent and I tried not to huff. How much I hated this procedure, they'd been doing it for five years straight and they'd always find a reason to start an argument with us.

My uncle made an expansive gesture towards the tables we had arranged as some sort of display with a seemingly casual smile. “Practically everything, but today's deal are shoes. Want some? Those army boots really don't look comfortable to me.”

The second officer raised his helmet's ventail to eye the display and let out a snort seconds later. “You call this a shoe and sell it in winter? They won't last more than a few days. Pathetic.”

“Don't mind them, they don't know quality”, the first officer interfered again, an evil laugh sounding and echoing from the houses' walls. He then took out the rifle from behind his back and gave it a few soft pats. “There's nothing you're hiding from us, right? You'd know better than that.”

I clenched my fists by my sides and forced myself to keep calm when an innocently smiling Jooheon exited the shop with a bottle of water in his hand. “Hey, I'd like to buy this pl-” He stopped in surprise, acting to his full potential when he looked at the officers. “Is there, I mean, i-is there anything wrong?” The fact that he was out meant they had finished arranging the cellar and I relaxed a little.

The first officer turned towards Jooheon whose eyes lit up at the sight of the rifle. “Oh, is that a real one? I've heard about that model at university! Oh my God, this is so interesting!” He put the bottle down on the table and walked up to the officer without fear, inspecting the rifle. “Is it loaded? What would happen if you pulled here?”

He reached out for a weird lever but the officer quickly took a step back and slapped Jooheon's cheek in one swift move. “Hands off, peasant.”

I clenched my teeth and looked at the third officer that hadn't talked so far. The three of them had never been here before, but I could tell the quiet one was a newbie anyway. He observed the scene through his slightly see-through ventail but didn't do anything else. Like every by-stander.

Jooheon wasn't fazed by his reddening cheek and just smiled back with a shrug. “Sorry, my parents work for the military forces, so I'm quite interested in that kind of stuff!” He then turned around to wink at me and my uncle. “So, that water bottle it is, please.”

“We'll have a look around the store first”, the second officer to speak interrupted us and pushed me aside to get to the door, followed by the other loud one and they methodically strode through the store, even went into the cellar, but I knew better than to panic at that moment.

Jooheon leaned towards me after making sure the quiet officer who had stayed behind wouldn't hear them. “Where's Hyungwon? He was at the backroom before...”

I swallowed. “Maybe they didn't see him? They're just here to drag us anyway-”

We quickly took a step back when the officers returned, all three of them lining up in front of the tables again. “Looks like you're lucky”, the first said to my uncle, now looking extremely bored and slightly disappointed. “You know your limits.”

“I don't know what limits you mean, but it's good to hear, I guess”, my uncle retorted in absolute innocence and we bowed.

“Can I finally buy my water now?”, Jooheon asked once more and the second officer waved his hand.

“Whatever.” He then nodded his head towards the store. “There was someone else in there, he looked a little lost in the hair dye department.”

I exchanged a quick glance with Jooheon. “Ah, I'll go help him, you finish up here”, I said to my uncle and turned around when I heard steps on the inside and Hyungwon came out of the store. “Hello, I was told you had difficulties with-” I froze, my throat turning dry when I made eye contact with him.

His pupils were dilated and I knew this was bad. Bad as in apocalyptically bad. “Where's my Lee?”, he uttered, causing the officers to slow down and turn around again. Lee wasn't a Korean first name, even they knew that.

I cocked my head to the side with a smile. “Excuse me, there's nobody like that here, why don't you go in first, maybe we can clear this up.”

“No, I'm sure there is, there is, you don't remember him? What a friend you are! I'll just ask over there. Hey, you!” Hyungwon pushed me and Jooheon aside and walked up to the three officers, but we couldn't pull him back now or our little act of being customer and shop assistant would have been uncovered. Panic started to build up inside of me and I swallowed.

The one who had spoken the most before said something to the second in Chinese. “Yeah, I am talking to you, alright?”, Hyungwon said somehow replying to him and before he could get too close to the loud ones, the third officer who hadn't said a thing yet took a step forward and grabbed him by the arm to have him stop. I might have imagined it, but I felt like that one officer was somewhat surprised. I could tell because he raised his ventail and his confused eyes became visible.

“You look like, uhm, turtle?” He probably didn't study his Korean well, I thought, mistaking some vocable for 'turtle'. Stupid soldiers.

Hyungwon furrowed his brows and lowered his head a little to meet the slightly shorter male at eye level, a smile spreading on his face. “Your eyes remind me of someone I liked.” The smile turned into a disappointed expression. “I don't like him anymore. But still I must keep being happy, right?”

“What's he saying, babbling nothing but nonsense?”, Jooheon growled next to me but I bit my lip to keep observing the scene in silence.

“I' found something to make me happy, let me share with you!” Hyungwon put one hand into his hoodie's pocket to pull the thing I wished he didn't have out. A blue flower. And not just any flower, much to my dismay. He put it into the chest pocket of the officer who was unable to say anything. “There, isn't that flower beautiful? I just need to look at it and I feel better, but the way it smells is much nicer! And it tastes just like it smells, would you have guessed that?”

The first officer crossed his arms. “Why would you eat flowers, peasant?”

Jooheon couldn't stand by any longer and walked up to Hyungwon to pull him away from the three officers, one of which still didn't move, two of which seemed to exchange a glance through their helmets. “I don't know who you are, but it's really rude to just talk to random people like they're your friends”, Jooheon explained, the strain in his voice only audible to me. “And you can't eat flowers, they might be poisonous.”

“I just wanted to be nice though! Everybody deserves happiness! And this flower makes everything go away.”

“Sure, but this is just a flower, what good can it do?”

“Hey, you know it's great, don't deny it, it makes you happy too! Speaking of happiness, where is my Lee?”

Jooheon shot the officers an apologetic glance before bowing his head. “Sorry to hold you up, please go your way, he just seems to be out of his mind.”

“I didn't see any flowers in that store though”, the first officer stated and turned towards my uncle who could only shrug.

“I don't sell them here, he must have brought it along.”

The uniformed man grunted and stepped up to Jooheon and Hyungwon. “Other than that: sounds like he's using surnames to me, he must really be out of his mind to dare doing so.” Jooheon laughed it off in a practiced manner – he knew how to maintain a certain image when it got serious and I couldn't wish for a better best friend at that moment.

“Sometimes, Malee is a Korean nickname, didn't you know? It's no big deal, my aunt kept calling me that. It got to the point where the whole school would think Malee was my full first name, so they didn't know my real one, isn't that funny? And then, when the principal wanted to hand out some certificates, you know what they had written on mine? Right, they-”

“Whatever! Just go tell that to someone else and don't waste my time”, the officer barked in reply, threatening to hit Jooheon once more and turning to leave with a hiss.

My friend made sure they had left, standing in silence for a good twenty seconds, before releasing the back of Hyungwon's sweater just to grab him by the collar a moment later. “What have you done?!”

“I've been looking for Lee!”

“You know he's with the other dealers right now!”

“But not where exactly!”, the other whined in reply, “Those three there might have known where-”

He didn't get to finish that sentence since Jooheon hauled off and let his fist collide with the other's cheek. I didn't need to check to know that he had lost consciousness and all I could do was sink down on my knees and bury my head between them with a desperate sigh.

“This didn't just happen, did it?”

________________

It remained silent for a few seconds after Shownu had finished his short story and I held onto the nearest shelf with my head shaking. “No. This can't have happened.”

“You think I would joke around with that?”, the leader retorted with a deep sigh. “It did. All we can do now is wait and hope.”

My nails scratched the wood when I nervously clenched and unclenched my fist. “But hey, he didn't say a thing about drugs, there are many people who lost their mind since the Chinese invaded Korea, maybe they'll just let it go. I mean, they think we're stupid anyway.”

“They didn't seem to be convinced, they might look into it. Wait”, Jooheon slammed his palm down on the table with a growl. “Are you defending him?”

I swallowed, eyes darting around the room. “It's just that he doesn't know how to control himself while he's high and-”

“That is the ing problem that started all this, Minhyuk!”, he hollered, standing up so quickly his chair was knocked over. “Nothing would have happened if he had just stayed behind in this very room and not given in!”

“Then it must be my fault!”, I retorted in an equally