Cherry is teeming with people even today. Cherry is the name of a speakeasy bar tucked away in an alley. The term "speakeasy bar" here refers to a bar that's not open to the public and doesn't even advertise itself. In other words, it's a secretive bar, accessible only to passersby who stop by and take a quick look. Despite being a speakeasy, Cherry is packed with people because it's a mecca for pick-up artists. Pick-up artists aren't the artists we're familiar with, but rather people who target specific individuals for relationships or financial gain. Pick-up artists often visit Cherry and order cherry-themed cocktails and desserts.
“One Singapore Sling.”
“Oh, I’ll have a Hemingway Daiquiri.”
Then, the waiting waiters come out and match you with a partner. "Matching you with a partner" here doesn't mean connecting pick-up artists, but rather, simply bringing someone from among the unsuspecting bargoers. In other words, it seems most accurate to view this as a space where sexual assault and rape occur without warning. In these illegal bars, there's always at least one famous person. They're known to everyone without needing to be spoken out, and the bar tacitly treats them as VIPs. That person is Kim Chang-ho, a 10-year friend of Cherry's owner and the younger brother of Kim Chang-hoon, the head of the violent crimes unit. Kim Chang-ho always enters the bar around 6 p.m. and orders a cherry. Then, the waiters bring a woman they've already scouted out to him. And then, Kim Chang-ho's entertainment begins. Kim Chang-ho would make women drink until they were drunk, saying that the scent of cherries goes well with alcohol. When he felt that the women were too drunk, he would leave the bar and head to a motel. Kim Chang-ho seemed to feel better only after doing this at least three times, so he would always do it three times before he had a pleasant drink and went home.
And there's someone watching him. That's none other than Detective Yoo Ki-hyun of the Violent Crimes Unit. Ki-hyun knows that Kim Chang-ho's older brother is his own shooter, Kim Chang-hoon. However, the reason Ki-hyun can't let go of his attachment to Kim Chang-ho is because his younger sister was among Kim Chang-ho's victims. So, risking being caught by his shooter, he spends his free time every day lurking in front of Cherry. Just then, Ki-hyun receives a tip: those around Kim Chang-ho don't know he's working as a pick-up artist. So Ki-hyun decides to send the photos he's taken while undercover and the recordings he's collected while transporting Kim Chang-ho's victims to the hospital to those around Kim Chang-ho. After 12 days undercover, he enters Cherry for the first time.
“Would you like to order, sir?”
“Oh, do you have any fruit here?”
“As for fruit, as you can see below, we have oranges, melons, strawberries, cherries, grapes, and more. Which one would you like?”
“Then, please bring me some cherries.”
Kihyun didn't order cherries unknowingly. He knew what was included with the cherries. He ordered them anyway. He had a favor to ask of the woman who was supposed to accompany him. He had planned to ask her to bring Kim Chang-ho's cell phone. However, contrary to his plan, the only person who showed up with the cherries was the very young-looking waiter who had just taken his order. A look of bewilderment spread across Kihyun's face at the unexpected turn of events, and the waiter stared at him for a moment before speaking.
"Is this your first time here? I wonder if you knew what would happen if you ordered this. Don't stay here for nothing and get dragged away by the pickup trucks. Get out quickly."
“I did tell you to do it on purpose, so please do it according to the original procedure.”
“Aren’t you a police officer? Is it okay for police to go around doing things like this?”
The waiter already knew Kihyun's identity, so Kihyun stared at the waiter with a bewildered expression before grabbing the waiter's wrist and leaving the bar.
"Oh, it hurts. Excuse me, officer. You know one of these guys, and you don't. You can't touch the waiters in this bar. Violently or otherwise. If you keep doing this, don't get caught and go back."
“How did you know I was a police officer?”
“Well, there is a way to do everything.”
"Um, okay. Well, that aside, you look pretty young. How old are you? Are you old enough to work at a bar?"
The waiter looked embarrassed at Kihyun's last words, staring off into space. He quickly regained his composure and avoided answering. Then, a bright idea struck him. With a cheerful expression and voice, he called out to Kihyun, waving his hand as if to tell him to follow him. Kihyun followed the waiter to a small rooftop room. The room, barely large enough for four people, was closer than he'd expected to the bar. Inside, it was strewn with hacking and wiretapping devices, papers with Kim Chang-ho's information written on them, and photographs. Kihyun looked at the waiter with wide eyes, and the waiter, seeing Kihyun's surprise, smiled proudly and said.
"You're investigating Mr. Kim Chang-ho, right? I'll help you, so please cooperate with me. What do you think?"
Kihyun didn't answer the waiter right away, but instead examined the papers on the floor one by one and paid his bill. Kihyun roughly estimated the waiter's age: at least 18, at most 21. Someone so young was working at the bar, and he was even investigating Kim Chang-ho on his own. He hesitated, wondering if he could take responsibility if he joined forces with this waiter and got involved in something even more serious. But then the thought struck him that Kim Chang-ho was creating victims like his sister, even at this very moment. He accepted the waiter's offer.
"Well, since we're partners now, I guess we should at least introduce ourselves, right? My name is Seong Ha-kyung. Please take care of me from now on."
“Oh, this is Yoo Ki-hyun. Please take good care of me too.”
In an instant, Kihyun and Hakyung became business partners. The information Hakyung had been researching was of great help to Kihyun, and even after they began working together, Hakyung continued to work at the bar, gathering new information every day and sharing it with Kihyun. It was a month since Hakyung and Kihyun started working together. Hakyung was hesitating next to Kihyun, watching him closely to see if he had something to say. Kihyun noticed and smiled cutely at Hakyung's nonchalant attitude, and spoke first.
“What do you have to say?”“Yes. If you’re a police officer, you have a gun, right?”
“Yeah. Right? But why is that?”
“Excuse me, could you lend me that? I’m thinking about doing something.”
Where did the timid Ha-kyung, who had been debating whether to speak or not, go? Instead, a confident man stood before Ki-hyun, asking to borrow his gun. Ki-hyun, perhaps shocked by the request, or perhaps angry, stared blankly at Ha-kyung for a moment. Ha-kyung, suddenly speechless, rolled her eyes and pretended not to hear anything before starting to make excuses.
“No, I’m not trying to write badly, I’m just trying to do something with Kim Chang-ho.”
"What? If you're hiding it from me, that doesn't seem like a good thing."
Ha-kyung, sweating profusely under Ki-hyun's constant interrogation, finally confessed the truth: that she was planning to play Russian roulette with Kim Chang-ho. Ha-kyung tried to persuade Ki-hyun, saying that since Kim Chang-ho was gambling while picking her up, he would definitely agree to the offer. However, Ki-hyun's hardened expression showed no sign of softening, and Ha-kyung pleaded with him with the most pitiful and sorrowful expression she could muster. She assured him that nothing would be dangerous. Kim Chang-ho would die, not her. Ki-hyun, however, demanded to know for sure and firmly refused, saying that if it was later revealed that the gun was a police one, he would be dead. Ha-kyung, visibly upset, slammed the rooftop door and left. She didn't return even after dawn. Kihyun knew that Ha-kyung had nowhere to sleep except the attic, so he started to get more and more worried, and it was more than four hours after Ha-kyung left that he went out to look for her.
Kihyun wandered around the neighborhood, and found Ha-kyung in a corner of a bar, a crowded area. The bar was chaotic, so he went in and bumped into Ha-kyung. Ha-kyung was playing Russian roulette with Kim Chang-ho in the middle of the crowd. Amidst the heated atmosphere and the war of nerves between the two, Kihyun was the only one feeling a pang of anxiety. He wondered where he'd gotten the gun, but Ha-kyung held it, pointed at his own head. Ha-kyung pulled the trigger, and with a click, the revolver spun. Then, the reloaded gun was in Kim Chang-ho's hand. When Kim Chang-ho pulled the trigger, the same click was heard. And so, it was Ha-kyung's turn again. It was already her 25th pull. Ha-kyung, confident she'd dodge this time, pulled the trigger lightly.
But this time, with a bang, the bullet that had passed through Ha-kyung's head spurted out and rolled to the floor. Ki-hyun couldn't look at Ha-kyung, who was bleeding, and clenched his fists, trembling. Kim Chang-ho, as if celebrating his victory, shot himself in the head six times with his unloaded gun. On the sixth shot, the bullet that had passed through Kim Chang-ho's head fell to the floor with a bang. Everyone in the bar stirred, looking at the scene where Ha-kyung and Kim Chang-ho were dead and taking pictures. Ki-hyun's teeth trembled as he watched the people taking pictures as if it were a spectacle, not being shocked by the deaths. Soon, Ki-hyun shouted, "Police!" and pushed the people away from the bodies, then called for assistance from the police station.
-
With the case settled, Kihyun sat in his room for a week, completely lost in thought. Then, when the police station asked what to do with Ha-kyung's body, he came to his senses and began preparing for her funeral. After holding Ha-kyung's funeral, which no one showed up for, Kihyun visited Ha-kyung's grave every day. Today, the weather was nice, today, I came because I wasn't feeling well, today, I came because the weather was bad, today..., today..., today. At Ha-kyung's grave, Kihyun would recount everything that had happened to him that day, chatting as if he were a friend standing next to him. Today, for the first time, Kihyun sat down in front of Ha-kyung's grave and cried. Why did he do it? Did he really have to do it? There must have been other options besides taking his life, so why did it have to be that way? Blaming Ha-kyung, he cried until his tears dried and no longer flowed. He then abruptly got up from his seat and headed to Ha-kyung's attic.
Kihyun arrived at Hakyung's attic and began organizing her belongings, one by one. He gathered all of her belongings, from her computer to her clothes, shoes, hats... After tidying up the room, he went into the bathroom and pulled out a towel. Something that looked like a letter fell out of the towel, and the words "To Kihyun hyung" were crookedly written on the edge.
{If you saw this letter, I would probably be dead, right? Oh, what a shame, I didn't want to die... Hyung. Kihyun hyung. You were waiting for me to call you hyung, right? I'm sorry. I could only convey it through writing. I couldn't help playing Russian roulette. I really wanted to kill Kim Chang-ho. I'm sorry. I'm such a bad guy that I only had these bad thoughts and in the end, this is how it turned out. But I won't say I regret it. Because it was my choice, because it was my decision alone. Thank you for being with me all this time. Because you're my real brother. Maybe it's cringey because you seem to care for me more than my own brother, but still, I love you. I'm sorry.
- Seong Ha-kyung.
Perhaps he cried while writing, but the smudged handwriting here and there, the wrinkled paper, and the title of “hyung” that Kihyun had so desperately wanted made Kihyun hug the letter tightly and burst into tears right there. He thought he would never cry again after crying so much earlier, but tears streamed down his face like a flood. Even though it was only a short time, the two of them had shared so much affection, and all that affection returned as sadness and tore at Kihyun’s heart. Kihyun folded the letter, which was crumpled as if he had used too much strength in his hands, and put it in the inside pocket of his coat along with the envelope. And so, the precious letter that had arrived with Ha-kyung’s death slowly faded in Kihyun’s pocket.