It was well past ten at night when I got home after my father’s funeral. Even after I reached the front door, I couldn’t bring myself to enter the code for a long time. My phone was piled up with unread messages, and in my hands I was holding a paper bag containing my father’s belongings.
I cried for three days, greeted people, and cried again. But when the coffin went into the crematorium, not even tears came out. Standing there blankly, I was told by relatives to go home and rest for now.
If I went home now, it would really be over. No more visitors, no more things to do. Only the fact that my father was dead would be left.
My hands slipped on the keypad several times as I entered the code. After getting it wrong five or six times, the front door finally opened.
The lights were on. It was definitely the living room light I had turned off before leaving.
“……Anyone there?”
Even through the dazed haze from crying so much, something felt wrong. Of course there was no reply. I looked inside without closing the door. At first, I thought one of my relatives had arrived ahead of me. Rubbing one eye with one hand, I looked at the living room, and the wooden floor that was always neatly mopped was filthy with all kinds of footprints.
Before the chill could even rise, a sharp thud响?
The paper bag slipped from my hand from sheer panic. The wristwatch, photos, and all sorts of odds and ends inside spilled noisily onto the floor.
Thud, thud.
Footsteps sounded from inside the living room, and soon a man walked out.
He looked younger than me. He was dressed in black, but he wasn’t wearing a hat or a mask. For an intruder, his face looked oddly calm. But that didn’t change the fact that there was a stranger inside my house.
The man looked down at me, then raised his wrist to check the time.
“You’re later than I expected.”
His low voice froze my body. I thought I should scream, but my mouth wouldn’t move. Even while my mind told me I had to run, my feet stayed stuck inside the entryway.
“…Who are you?”
My voice trembled. The man’s gaze fell to the belongings scattered on the floor.
“There was a key among the things you received today, wasn’t there.”
The man didn’t answer me. I was so on edge that I could no longer even hear his voice properly. Slowly backing away, I moved at the same time he did, closing in on me.
Still, the distance was about five or six steps. This was the only chance! I turned and hurriedly tried to open the door, but before I could even grab the handle, my wrist was twisted and my back slammed into the door. The back of my head rang dully too.
“Ah…!!”
I was in too much pain to get the word out properly. The man grabbed both my wrists behind my back. The more I struggled, the more my arms were twisted.
“Let go, please.”
“Where’s the key?”
“I don’t know what key you mean.”
“You would’ve received it at the funeral today.”
The man’s voice came closer and closer. From behind me, past my ear, to the side of my face. I couldn’t control my body’s violent trembling, so I squeezed my eyes shut.
“There isn’t one! Nothing like that!”
“Don’t lie.”
“Seriously, I really don’t have it.”
The man’s hand started searching over my body. I could tell at once it wasn’t groping me in a sexual way. He checked my pockets, looked behind my neck to see if I was wearing it as a necklace. Even the shirt pocket, every corner. No matter how hard I strained, he didn’t stop.
Realizing it wasn’t there, the man tied both my hands behind my back with one hand and shoved me against the front door. My cheek was pressed flat against it. Keeping me pinned with one hand, he kicked away the box on the floor.
One by one, the documents and photos were cleared away, and the white envelope at the very bottom was revealed.
It was the envelope my father’s lawyer had called me in privately to hand over. Inside, I had found a small key and a single note.
If I ever give you a key, don’t hand it over to anyone.
There was no one left to ask what that meant. The man picked up the envelope. I reflexively reached out, only to be slammed back against the door again.
“……!”
“Looks like this is it.”
The man tore the envelope open roughly with one hand and took out the key. It was an antique silver key. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to hide my unsteady gaze. I have to think. A way not to hand over that key. And a way to survive. Steeling my shaking body, I opened my mouth.
“…Take the key.”
“…….”
“But remember this.”
I didn’t even know what was coming out of my mouth. As if my head were spinning, I just blurted out whatever came.
“There’s a password.”
“…….”
“An eight-digit password that only I know.”
“…….”
“…The safe password.”
Click.
Something cold and heavy touched the side of my neck. Cold sweat ran down my forehead and neck, and it seemed to drip onto that icy object. I knew it instinctively. It was a gun barrel. This man had a gun. No, he was aiming it. At me.
“If you kill me now, you’ll never find out.”
“…….”
“If it’s eight digits, even a private investigator won’t take the job.”
My voice cracked. I was so terrified I wanted to collapse right then and there. The man gave no reaction at all. As I forced the trembling in my whole body to stop by tensing every muscle, the presence of him moved to my side. He was only turning his face to look at me from beside me.
If he finds out I’m lying now, I’m dead for sure. I stared back at the man without flinching. If I look away here, he’ll know I’m lying.
I couldn’t even breathe. If I breathed out or in, I felt like he’d see through the lie. The man looked at me with cold eyes, then straightened his upper body. It must have only been a few seconds, but my chest, held tight by my breath, hurt as if it might burst.
Whatever he was doing, the man didn’t move for a while, then lowered the gun. As the cold muzzle disappeared, sweat began to run again over the place it had been. Then I heard a voice from behind him. The man made a phone call.
“This is Lee Woojin.”
“…….”
“The target has been secured, and part of the item has also been secured.”
I couldn’t hear what the person on the other end of the call said. The man named Lee Woojin gave only the essentials in a few short words, then hung up. Soon after, he loosened the hand that had been pressing me down.
I collapsed to the spot. My legs had given out, and I could hardly stand. Trembling, I turned my head and saw the man put the gun inside his jacket, then pick up my phone from the floor. Then, still wearing his shoes, he strode over to the living room sofa and sat down. Looking at me, still slumped in the entryway, he spoke.
“That was good improvisation, but you’d better start talking soon.”
“…….”
“It doesn’t matter. Passwords and all that.”
I couldn’t answer. What did that mean? Did he mean he didn’t need the password? Then was his goal just murder? I thought I might cry and bit down hard on my lower lip.
Woojin, looking down at me from a distance, flipped over the photo of my father on the table. If his words were true, then maybe his goal was to get the key and kill me, regardless of the password. Since it seemed like he had an accomplice, he might already know there isn’t one.
When the next call rings, I’ll die. Because he’ll find out that all he needs is the key.
I’ve never heard of any password. To begin with, it doesn’t even exist. I didn’t know what kind of key my father left me, or what was inside it or behind it at all. I had to find out the password that didn’t exist inside it.
