AUTHOR'S NOTE: Good news! So I said originally that this story would be 22 chapters + an epilogue for 23 total, but having re-read and edited a bit to make it flow better it turns out it's actually 23 + an epilogue. Soooo...extra chapter :D

Anyway, 90 Upvotes and 140 Comments? Ridiculous. You guys are amazing <3

Enjoy this one! :)

PS.  Go check out my blog post with some of my thoughts on this story and upcoming writing stuff :)

3

Good Cop, No Cop

She could barely breathe when she came up out of the water and she was cold enough to feel it in her bones. He had not moved. He sat there as if condemned to die about ten feet from her and he seemed not to understand that she had ascended at all. That perhaps he thought he was still alone, sat with his legs out in front of him, gasping for air, drenched and steaming. Like something excavated from a bog. Or another time entirely. She turned about. Irene was there swimming after her, appearing and disappearing in the darkness like a spectre. She looked back at the man in the white suit and made to draw the Glock from her holster and realised only then that it was still on the boat and the boat was moving away still.

‘.’

He turned and looked at her. There was no surprise or astonishment or fear on his small face. He just looked so very tired. A cold wind blew. The citylights called to them. She stood a moment unsure of what to do, as if perhaps he might climb to his feet and turn and run but he did not. He just sat there heaving like a degenerate and watching her with no real urgency or even interest. The water dripping from him, his suit ruined, his hair a mess against his face. Pale to sickness. She could see the tattoo of the white lotus on the side of his neck from there and it was very prominent.

‘You’re Kim Taeho?’ she said. He just looked at her. Then he nodded slowly. As if in acknowledgement of some coming fate. Behind her she heard Irene pulling herself up the ladder and then she was there, just behind, soaked to the bone and looking ever the delectable specimen she was. Her hair matted in her face and her eyes, sweating and gasping for air and running with riverwater and smelling of it and it didn’t matter because she was wearing a white shirt and Seulgi could see her bra – that same black bra – so clearly through it, and it was impossible to look away. Irene gathered her breath. She smiled an exhausted smile. That same glint returning to her gaze.

‘Eyes front, soldier.’

Seulgi coughed into her hand.

‘That him?’ Irene said.

‘That’s him.’

‘We got him.’

‘Yeah. We got him.’

‘! He’s running.’

Seulgi turned. He was still sat there, still heaving. Irene laughed. ‘Got ya,’ she said. ‘You good?’

‘Not really.’

‘Why the did you jump?’

‘Are you serious?’ Seulgi said.

‘What?’

‘He was getting away.’

Irene was quiet a moment. Then she said, ‘What about that other guy? The shooter. The one that was after him.’

‘What about him?’

‘Well, how about you start with literally anything, you know?’ She paused to catch her breath and adjust the collar of her shirt and wipe the water from her brow. Seulgi eyed her timidly. ‘Who was he?’ she said. ‘And why was he there? And what did he want? And for what reason?’

‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know, and I don’t know. Respectively.’

'What happened?'

'I shot at him. I missed. We had a fight. I hit him with a fish.'

'You hit him with a fish?'

'Yeah.'

'What fish?'

'What? Seulgi said.

'What fish was it?'

'A cod, I think.'

‘Oh, sweet. Did he hit you?’

'With the fish?'

Irene shook her head.

‘You mean did he shoot me?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well, seeing as I’m still alive.’

‘Look at you,’ Irene said with a faint smirk. ‘Getting cocky all of a sudden. Maybe I should dip you in water more often. Maybe it’ll do you some good. I think I like you better when you’re wet, you know?’

Seulgi turned away, blushing. To look at those eyes there, to look at any part of her – that was something she knew she wouldn’t be able to recover from. It was so unfair. How she looked good in anything, anything at all. Any state, any position. She would look good in a trashbag. She would look good with nothing on. She did look good with nothing on. .

She looked at Kim Taeho. He appeared not to care for them at all.

‘This guy,’ Irene said. ‘This other guy. He was shooting at that guy?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Did he hit him?’

‘Does it look like he hit him?

‘I don’t know. I don’t know what gunshot victims look like.’

‘Well,’ Seulgi said, ‘not like that.’

‘What’s wrong with him?’

‘Are you serious?’

Irene shrugged.

‘He’s just tired.’

‘Well. He’s not the only one. , I need to do more cardio. I really thought I was fitter than this. Guess the drinking really takes it out on you, know what I mean? God, my liver must look like a ing raisin. You know, I read in this magazine once that the best thing for improving your physical endurance was daily . Or even twice daily. So...I mean.’

Seulgi ignored her.

‘So what now, partner? We arrest him?’

‘No.’

‘No?’

‘This is illegal,’ Seulgi said.

‘What is?’

‘Are you serious? Everything we’ve done tonight has been illegal. Every little thing. Stowing away on the boat. Discharging a firearm in a public place. Assault. And what’s about to be a kidnapping. I should’ve reported all of this a long time ago.’

Irene was quiet a moment. Only the lapping sound of the steady water and the man breathing behind them. Then she said, ‘You can add Ruining a Party to that list, by the way. Did you know they were giving away all that food for free? All of it. Not even taste teasers or whatever. You could just have it all. Crazy. Or at least most of it. I don't know about the party sausages. I could eat my own body weight in party sausages if I was allowed. If you hadn’t gone and started firing off your gun like a mad woman, you know? Also, it’s technically not stowing away. Since, you know, we weren’t in boxes or anything. We were just guests. I don’t know what the technical term for that is, if it’s even a law. Maybe breaking and entering? Except we didn’t break into anywhere, so…’

‘Would you shut up for just a minute? Please.’

Irene held up her hands. Seulgi watched her. She was ethereal there in the moonlight, even out of breath and making no sense and taking absolutely nothing seriously. Seulgi turned back to the man. He had not moved. She went over to him and Irene followed and they stood looking down into his tired and windbitten face and he up at them with defeated eyes. As if he had already resigned himself to some destiny or another. In the way that men with nothing else to live for often do. ‘You the guy?’ Irene said.

He looked at her and spat on the ground and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘Are you Kim Taeho?’ Seulgi said.

‘Yeah,’ he said. Voice barely there. ‘I’m Kim Taeho.’

‘You wanted to meet us tonight.’

‘That’s me. Decided on a pretty ing bad time to meet me, didn’t you?’

‘Cookie,’ Irene said. They both looked at her.

‘Bit late for that?’ she said. ‘Hey, at least you started shouting Ronald Reagan. I got a good kick out of that, you know?’

‘What is she talking about?’ Taeho said.

Seulgi shot him an apologetic look. ‘Ignore her. How did you find us?’

‘Find you?’

‘The letter. How did you find where we were staying?’

‘Joy told me you were onto me.’

‘Joy? .’

He shrugged and pulled himself to his feet. They thought he might run again but he did not. He looked incapable of even moving. ‘She told me you were looking for me. Told me she’d given you my details. A description.'

‘What have you done to her?’

‘What? Nothing. Why would I hurt her? I’m coming to you to talk. Why would I meet you otherwise?’

‘You could’ve put us in barrels,’ Irene said.

‘What?’

‘Ignore her,’ said Seulgi. ‘How did you find what hotel we were in?’

‘I tracked you down.’

‘You tracked us down. What does that mean?’

‘It’s a lot easier than you would think. You’re not hard to find.’

‘Using your gang connections?’

He laughed dryly. Wiped his mouth again and said, ‘No. On my own. Like I said, it’s not hard to find you. We're in the age of technology. Everything leaves a fingerprint. Where you live. What department you work for. What your name is. Where you checked in, what time. You even used your real name and everything. Brilliant undercover work.’

‘We’re not undercover.’

‘Well,’ he said. ‘You’re in a lot of , then.’

‘What did you come to tell us?’

‘A lot. All of it.’

‘Well?’

He looked about. The cooling of the night. The wind blowing in their sodden clothes. ‘Is there somewhere we can go?’ he said. ‘That’s not on this ing pier.’

‘Back to our hotel.’

‘It’s not safe there. Won’t be now. If I can find you, others can.’

‘Others? Who else is looking for us?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe no one yet. Maybe they haven’t figured out you’re onto their trail. But maybe they have. You want to risk that? And they're sure as after me.’

‘We don’t have anywhere else to go.’

‘And we’ve got Peach Schnapps,’ Irene said. He looked at her quietly. Then he looked at Seulgi for a long time and nodded and said, ‘Whatever. Take me wherever. Just get me out of this cold, detective.’

They led him back to where the Testarossa was parked and he stopped and laughed and turned to them.

‘This yours?’

‘So what?’ Seulgi said.

‘You sure you’re not in on this yourself?’

Irene held up her hands as to say: That’s exactly what I asked!

‘We can’t take it anyway,’ said Seulgi.

‘Why not?’

‘It’s, uh. It’s only got two seats. Unless you want to fit in the trunk.’

‘Would I?’

‘Fit in the trunk?’

‘Yeah.’

‘No. Not comfortably.’

‘Then why ask?’

Seulgi shrugged. ‘It’s a five-minute walk that way.’

‘Well,’ he said. ‘I guess we’re walking.’

When they came to the big glass vestibule of the Park Hyatt on the corner it was sometime after midnight. They stood there a minute in silence. The cars passing piecemeal behind them. ‘,’ Seulgi said. They looked at her.

‘What?’ Taeho said.

‘I checked us out of the hotel this evening.’

‘What? Are you serious? And you forgot?’

‘We’ll just have to get another room for the night.’

‘Look at us,’ Irene said. ‘I mean, look at you two. I still look great. But the point remains. Also, I lost my phone.’

Seulgi ignored her. They went through into the lobby, leaking water out of their inflated clothes like swampcreatures steaming and stinking in the dim light. The maxibar seemed to be calling to them. They were playing electronic music over the speakers by the bar and it was about half full with people laughing over whiskey glasses and tumblers.

‘That’s Daft Punk,’ Irene said.

‘I know.’

They went on up to the counter with Seulgi at the lead. The receptionist eyed them like prisoners of war. Seulgi smiled. ‘One room for the night, please,’ she said.

‘Will that be for the three of you?’

‘Uh, yes.’

She tapped something into the computer. There was an awful silence between them. Seulgi stood awkwardly, Taeho behind her, Irene with her arms resting against the varnished walnut countertop playing with one of the customary ballpoint pens. ‘We’ve been for a swim,’ she said with a false smile. ‘Thought we’d get a bit of late-night cardio in.’

‘Uh huh,’ the receptionist said without looking at her.

‘It was very cold.’

When she was finished she handed Seulgi a room key and a small passcard.

‘That’ll be one hundred and thirty-thousand won.’

‘Uh.’

‘Are you paying by cash or by card?’

They looked at one another. ‘By cash,’ Seulgi said. She took a wet and crumpled wad of bills from her jacket pocket and slapped them on the counter and smiled again and disappeared along the stairwell and up to the third floor, room 24. Irene laughing behind her. She opened the door and stepped in and so did the other two and Irene was still laughing, even as the door closed and locked and left them alone in the quiet and the dim of the night. ‘Did that actually work?’ Irene said. ‘Did you really just pay with wet money? I didn’t think you could do that. According to the law, I mean. I didn't think aqua-bucks were legal tender.’

‘Sit here,’ Seulgi said to Taeho. He sat on the edge of the bed, heavy and cumbersome in his clothes, while Irene and Seulgi stood in the doorway watching him. ‘I’ll be right back,’ Seulgi said. While she was gone in the kitchen Irene folded her arms and leant against the jamb and tilted her head at him. He looked at her.

‘You’re Kim Taeho?’ she said.

‘Yeah.’

‘Where’s your moustache?’

‘It’s right here,’ he said, touching it. ‘On my face.’

‘I thought it’d be bigger.’

‘What?’

‘Never mind. You got something to tell us?’

‘Who are you?’

‘I’m Detective Bae. Of the, uh, Busan Police Department.’

‘The Busan Police Department.’

‘You got a problem with that, punk?’

‘What?’

Seulgi came back in with a carvingknife in her hand. ‘Whoa,’ Irene said. ‘What the is that for? You chopping up some birds or something?’

‘In case he decides to move.’

‘You’re gonna stab him to death? You want me to get the chainsaw too?’

Seulgi didn’t reply.

‘Why don’t you just point your gun at him?’ Irene said.

‘I left it on the boat.’

‘Brilliant.’

‘I’m not going to move,’ Taeho said, eyeing them both.

‘We need you to tell us everything you know,’ Seulgi said. ‘Everything.’

‘Are we going to be staying here all night?’

‘Where else would we go?’

‘I told you, it’s not safe.’

They said nothing. He looked at them and with a sigh he continued. ‘Everything?’ he said.

‘Everything. Start from the beginning.’

‘Or wherever’s best,’ Irene said. ‘Wherever’s least boring. You want a drink?’

‘No,’ he said.

‘Sure? We’ve got Peach Schnapps.’

He shook his head.

‘Go on,’ said Seulgi.

‘I was in prison for fourteen months for armed robbery. I bet you know that already.’

Seulgi nodded.

‘Yeah. Well. I didn’t think it’d be like it was, I’ll tell you that. I didn’t think they had prison gangs in Korea, you know? I don’t know why, I just didn’t. But they do. They’re all in one. It’s protection, mostly. You run with a crew, they watch your back, you do stuff for them. Racketeering – that’s what it is in the outside world. But in there it’s just payment for services, you know? So, I got caught up with a couple gang guys in there. Didn’t even realise it at first. I thought they were just looking out for me. Then I find out they’re White Lotus guys. I find out it runs deep. I know nothing about the White Lotus Gang before prison. Now I know everything.

‘They’re bigger than any other gang that I can think of in Korea. The biggest. They run these circuits all over the country, at every level. Probably up to some government , but they don’t tell us about that. It’s not what you think. Not what you see in the movies. At the bottom level, yeah, it’s gang violence in prisons. It’s street thugs with no prospects. But above that it’s mafia . International operations. Money laundering, heroin, you name it. So, I get involved with these White Lotus guys, and I get initiated – that’s this tattoo. And then before I know it I’m one of them. Didn’t even hit me I was in a gang now and I would be for the rest of my life. Crazy .

‘But their initiation is always something you got to do on the outside. You get me? Me and these other two guys – guys that came in a couple months before me – we were all put together by the higher-ups. We had to be initiated. And they gave us two initiations. The first was to go and rob this grocery store. Didn’t mean nothing. Was just a grocery store.’

‘A CU,’ Seulgi said.

‘Yeah. That’s right.’

‘And you got away in a black Hyundai.’

He nodded. ‘That was the first one. Easy enough. Basic crime . Then they tell us we’ve got to get The Cube and we start laughing and . You know? Then we realised they were serious and we weren’t laughing no more. They wanted us to properly get it. So it was me and Taeyang and Joonyoung.’

‘That’s Kim Taeyang and Jang Joonyoung?’ Seulgi said.

‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘That’s them. I guess they figured since Taeyang had done six years for theft and Joonyoung used to work as a security guard that we had that down. I guess I was the muscle or something. So they put us up to it. They told us that there was one day a year where everything’s in maintenance and , and that was our day.’

‘Why you?’ Irene said. ‘I mean, no offense. But I’ve seen career crooks in my time, and you guys don’t strike me as the type. Experience or not.’

‘Because they don’t need career crooks. That’s not how the White Lotus operates. You think the top guys – the suits, the mob guys – you think they’ve got big white tattoos on their necks, too? They don’t. The cops and the press think the White Lotus is just some low-level prison gang. The guys really pulling the strings – the ones with their hands in everyone’s pockets – they’ve got nothing linking them to anything, you know? This is how they do it. How they do all their crime. They get the lowest of the low, the criminals, people like me, and they make them carry out all this crazy . Because if they get caught – so what? They’re just another group of dumb thugs trying to steal something, or shoot up some H, or whatever. But if they get away with it? That’s another big take for the gang, and then they just make the goons disappear before they can talk. That’s what they did to Taeyang and Joonyoung. That’s what they were going to do to me.’

‘They were going to kill you?’ Seulgi said.

‘Sure. The moment we got that painting we knew we were ed. We were too risky to let live. What if we said something? Even the most basic of info. Names, faces. You know how much that painting’s worth?’

‘Two hundred billion won.’

Irene made a whistling noise.

‘Right,’ Taeho said. ‘That’s real money. Real . So we grab it, we get out, we hand it over. We wait a day and then they kill us.’

‘Why wouldn’t they kill you on the spot?’

‘I don’t know. I wasn’t there.’

‘You mean, you didn’t hand it over yourself?’

Taeho shook his head. ‘I got out of there as soon as we knew we were in the clear. Taeyang and Joonyoung handed it over, as far as I know. And who knows. Maybe they wanted it to look like a random killing. I don’t know. I wasn’t there.’

‘This is some Godfather ,’ Irene said. ‘Some real Don Corleone type .’

‘So what about the painting?’ Seulgi said. ‘Where’s it going?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You don’t know?’

Taeho shook his head again. He sat back and wiped the sweat from his eyes. ‘We never meet with the people that decide this. We’re not that high up. We’re the foot soldiers, you know? The cannon fodder. For the police or whatever, like I’ve said. We don’t get any say in any of this . All I know is this: we had to report to this guy. I don’t even know his name. None of us did. We just met with him in these locations he’d text us and that was it.’

‘Do you have the phone?’

‘No. And we always used burner phones. So did they. They all did. For safety. Or even payphones, the ones that are still around.’

‘What did this guy look like?’

‘He was about six foot. Had long dark hair in a ponytail. Always wore it in a ponytail, every time I met him. He had a long face, kinda wiry looking. And he had a big scar down the right side of his face.’

‘A scar down the right side of his face.’

‘Uh huh.’

‘You’re not ing us about are you?’

‘No. He really did.’

‘What about his moustache?’ Irene said.

‘What?’

‘Ignore her,’ said Seulgi. ‘This guy – when you met with him, where was it?’

‘All different places. Sometimes on the docks, sometimes in random alleys, or in clubs. We never knew much. The only way we ever found out was the rumours and . People passing it around. Kinda like school.’

‘Yeah,’ Irene said. ‘I remember that from school too. Being in the playground, playing hopscotch, talking about kissing boys. Executing people hitman-style. Dumping people’s bodies in acid. You know, the usual.’

‘We don’t ing put people in acid.’

‘What?’

‘That’s the Mexicans.’

‘Just the Mexicans?’

‘What?’ Taeho said.

‘You sure about that? Sounds an awful lot like you’re stereotyping the Mexican cartels there, don’t ya think? You’re being a bit presumptive.’

‘What the fu-’

‘Who’s to say the New York mafia don’t do the same? Or I bet the Kray Twins dropped a couple people in acid back in their time. Or the Yakuza. They’re known for all sorts of crazy , you know? I mean, hey. I’m just saying.’

‘Is she being serious?’

‘Ignore her,’ Seulgi said. ‘Please. Continue.’

He looked at them both for a minute and then he ran a hand through his hair and continued. ‘We’d hear all sorts of rumours,’ he said. ‘And they always turned out to be true. Or mostly always, at least. About who’s done what and where. About what was going to happen. Who was going to get offed. Who was going to be doing what money run or drug run on what day. Who was going to go shake who up for protection money. like that.’

‘And?’

‘And we heard about the painting. Of course we did. You can’t stop rumours about something that ing important spreading, no matter what you do.’

‘And?’

He eyed them a minute. Then he said, ‘Look. I don’t know if any of it’s true. Like I said, not every rumour was.’

‘But you said most of them were.’

‘Sure. But maybe not this one.’

‘We need anything,’ Seulgi said. ‘Anything at all.’

‘. Alright. So. Apparently, it’s going to all go down on Tuesday. That’s what I’ve heard. I don’t know if any of it’s true or not, like I said. But that’s what all the boys were saying.’

‘This Tuesday?’

‘They said four Tuesdays away.’

‘Wait,’ Irene said. ‘Four Tuesdays away? What?’

‘That’s what they said.’

‘When did you talk to them?’

‘Three Tuesdays ago. Or three Saturdays.’

‘Wouldn’t it be two Saturdays? If it’s the Saturday after the Tuesday.’

‘It was the Saturday before the Tuesday.’

‘I’m so confused,’ Irene said.

‘Look,’ said Taeho. ‘It’s this Tuesday, alright? Three days from now. Whatever. That’s when they’re getting rid of it.’

‘Who are they selling it to?’ Seulgi said.

‘Some big businessman. I don’t know where from. I heard Swiss and South African.’

‘Could be both,’ Irene said. ‘Or neither.’

‘Well, yeah.’

‘Could be from Wakanda.’

‘What?’

‘I’m just saying.’

‘Am I supposed to be listening to her or something?’ he said, turning to Seulgi. ‘Is that part of the interrogation?’

‘Just keep ignoring her,’ Seulgi said. ‘She’s not a detective.’

‘She said she was with the Busan Police Department.’

‘She’s not.’

‘Well.’

He looked at her. She motioned for him to continue.

‘It’s on Tuesday,’ he said. ‘That’s what we all heard through the grapevine. To be sold to a foreign businessman. I don’t know what country and I don’t give a . Just that they’re trading it off for diamonds or something.’

‘Diamonds.’

‘Conflict diamonds. I don’t know. Some like that. They’re illegal in Korea. And worth a fortune now.’

‘They’re trading them for the painting?’

‘Sure.’

‘Then this businessman’s just going to take the painting and stash it away?’

‘I guess,’ he said. ‘I don’t know. I’m not going to be there, so I don’t care.’

‘How will we find this place?’

‘Look. I’ve already told you enough.’

‘The rest,’ Seulgi said, ‘and you’re safe then.’

‘I’m not safe already?’

‘We can take you into Witness Protection. If you give us everything else.’

He looked at her. Then he sighed and said, ‘There’s this club in Gangnam. Crisis.’

‘Nice place,’ Irene said.

‘What, you been there before?’

And with a smirk: ‘Yeah. Couple times.’

‘Right. Yeah. It’s this top club in Gangnam. Where all the shadiest goes down because nobody pays attention. They gather there three times a week.’

‘Who do?’

‘Some of the White Lotus guys.’

‘What days?’ Seulgi said.

‘Monday, Wednesday, Friday.’

‘Well,’ Irene said. ‘That’s convenient.’

He ignored her. ‘The guy I talked about – the guy with the ponytail – he’ll be there. He’s the go-between for the big-shots. He’s the guy that does all the groundwork and sorts all the out for the deals. Basically he’s the one that tells all the footsoldiers where they’re going and when. You’ll find him there. I ing guarantee it.’

‘And then what?’

‘Well. He’ll know.’

‘About the deal?’

‘About the deal.’

‘And he’ll tell us?’

‘What? . I don’t know. I’m not a ing mindreader. Ask him yourself.’

Seulgi and Irene looked at one another. Taeho just sat there. Seulgi turned back to him and said, ‘This guy. Ponytail, six foot. Scar on the…’

‘Right side of his face. Big one, eye to mouth. Can’t miss it.’

‘Right.’

‘You gonna write this in your little notepad?’ Irene said.

‘I lost it.’

‘Bless.’

Seulgi turned back to Taeho. He was rubbing his hair. ‘Why are you telling us all this?’ Seulgi said.

‘Yeah,’ said Irene. ‘Sounds awfully like a set-up to me.’

‘Oh, sure,’ Taeho said. ‘I guess I just decided to hide myself away on a private yacht party and then get shot at, and then swim across a ing river, and then get interrogated by a knife-wielding lunatic as part of a set-up. And a fake cop, too.’

‘That’s what the Yakuza would’ve done.’

‘It’s not a ing set-up. I just want out.’

‘You want out,’ Seulgi said.

‘That’s right.’

‘Why? You got family?’

‘What? No. None of that . I just don’t want to be involved anymore. I want gone.’

‘You know they’re going to looking for you for the rest of your life, don’t you?’

‘I’d rather have that than knowing they’d kill me the moment I next turned up. Look at Joonyoung. Look at Taeyang. Dead. That’d be me too. There’s no bargaining with them. They’re gang members, not court judges. At least I’ve got more of a chance in Witness Protection.’

Not much, Seulgi wanted to say, only she didn’t. She handed the knife to Irene and Irene took it carefully. ‘You want me to carve up dinner, sweetie?’ she said. ‘We having chicken?’

‘Just stay here.’

‘What? Are you going somewhere?’

Seulgi looked about. The cold and the quiet. Something about that room didn’t feel quite right. ‘I’m going to check us out,’ she said. ‘Actually. Never mind. You can come with me. Both of you.’

‘No thanks,’ Irene said.

‘Why not?’

‘Did you not see the signs in the lobby? No drinking in the hallways. I want to at least finish this bottle of Peach Schnapps before we leave. And yeah – why are we leaving anyway?’

 ‘Because he’s right. It’s not safe here. If they’re not after us, they’ll be after him. And they’ll find him.’

‘Thanks,’ Taeho said. ‘Very reassuring.’

‘It’s true. You know it’s true. The best you can hope for now is that we get you out of here and to the nearest station and they agree to take you in.’

‘And then?’ Irene said. ‘What about us? Do I have to remind you that you said this was all illegal? You didn’t tell anyone. Not even your husband.’

‘She’s married?’ Taeho said.

‘Yeah. Lost her weddingband on the boat. Such a shame.’

‘I see.’

‘Will you be serious?’ Seulgi said. ‘This is our lives on the line.’

‘Well,’ said Irene. ‘It’s his life. But, yeah. I can’t believe we missed the end of the party. I was talking to some guy and he said they have fireworks and everything at the end. To celebrate, you know.’

‘It’s true,’ Taeho said. ‘I mean, apparently. That’s what they were saying. They hand out champagne to everyone as well.’

‘They said it was an annual event.’

‘And they give out all the leftover food and .’

‘Even the party sausages?’

‘Sure.’

‘,’ Irene said. ‘Well. You know what?’

‘What?’ said Taeho.

‘There’s always next year.’