Once he'd made up his mind, the dark bars of the cage from his childhood really did disappear, and the enormous man no longer frightened him. Hae Dam looked straight at the man, who seemed beside himself with worry that Hae Dam might burst into tears at any moment.
"Like you said, I haven't done anything wrong. I've never met you or your younger brother before today. Your brother was the one who grabbed my arm and hurt me when I wasn't doing anything. So please don't talk to me like you're threatening me. It's a very violent way to behave, and besides..."
"……"
"It's really scary."
He added that last part with complete honesty.
Ji Seokwon closed his mouth, looking dumbfounded. The room fell silent.
But I said everything I wanted to say!
His voice had trembled, but he'd managed to get it all out. Maybe he should write in his praise journal for the first time in ages today. Hae Dam felt rather proud of himself.
"That's enough, Seokwon. I was the one who behaved rudely... Let me talk to him."
Ji Jeongwon, who had been sitting quietly on the opposite sofa watching everything unfold, finally spoke. His pale face was flushed. Even his normally calm voice had risen a pitch, and he was leaning so far forward that his entire upper body seemed to be reaching toward Hae Dam. He spoke a little faster than usual.
"Detective, I'm sorry about what happened earlier. Is your arm all right?"
"It's fine now, but it might ache tomorrow. Anyway, who are you? Why were you so surprised to see me? Have we met before?"
He was genuinely curious. No one had ever grabbed him with such desperation before, as though they'd just been reunited with a lover from a previous life.
There's no way I'd forget a face like that if I'd seen it even once. So that means the apartment owner knows me, but I don't know him. Does he know Hae Dam the animal detective? I am pretty famous, after all.
"...I recognized you because you're a famous detective. I've always wanted to meet you."
Aha. Just as I thought.
Hae Dam accepted the explanation immediately.
His face must have appeared somewhere online. There were so many detectives filming videos these days that it was impossible to keep himself out of every single one.
"Why did you want to meet me? Usually, when someone wants to see me, it's because they have an animal problem."
Ji Jeongwon thought for a moment before answering.
"There's an animal... I'm looking after. It goes out every day and comes back at night... I wanted to get your contact information in advance... in case it ever gets lost..."
Oh! He must be talking about me!
Hae Dam was a little touched to discover that the apartment owner worried about him that much.
"Oh, you mean that ferret?"
Hae Dam sulked inwardly at Ji Seokwon's question.
I'm not a ferret. I'm a weasel.
"...It's not a ferret. It's a weasel."
You knew!?
Hae Dam stared at him in surprise, and Ji Jeongwon modestly lowered his eyes. His cheeks were still flushed.
It was unexpected that he knew the difference. He had never once so much as mentioned the word weasel. Just yesterday, he'd been searching online for things like "Do ferrets normally enjoy going for walks?" and "Do ferrets ever ride on crows' backs?"
"Oh, it was a weasel? Aren't ferrets and weasels basically the same thing?"
"Apparently not..."
"Anyway, if you're that worried, just keep it as a pet. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is outside? Are you really going to let a precious pet wander around out there? Start raising it properly and become one of those... what do they call them? Pet parents. That's it. And instead of emigrating to some dangerous foreign country, you can stay right here in our safe homeland and spend your days living happily with your weasel. How does that sound? Hmm?"
Ji Seokwon seized the opportunity to make yet another attempt at talking his younger brother out of emigrating.
But then something strange happened.
At home, Ji Jeongwon always responded with a firm, "I'm emigrating. I'm not changing my mind. Stop it."
Today, however, he said nothing.
Noticing this, Ji Seokwon made an odd expression.
Hae Dam wondered what had gotten into him, too, but he couldn't afford to be held up here any longer.
"I'll give you my email address. Contact me if your weasel runs away."
Ji Jeongwon diligently wrote down the address as Hae Dam dictated it.
"Then may I go back to work now? Every second probably matters for Zahir right now."
"What's so important about Zahir?" Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Ji Seokwon asked irritably.
Who the hell is Zahir to take priority over my little brother?
"The missing parrot. I came here to find that parrot."
"Oh."
Right. The parrot's name. He'd forgotten.
Since the parrot really did take priority, Ji Seokwon promptly shut his mouth.
When Hae Dam stood, Ji Jeongwon rose with him. Ji Seokwon and Secretary Yoon followed suit.
Hae Dam glanced at them uneasily.
They're not planning to follow me, are they? I might have to transform into an animal. That would be a real problem.
"……"
The apartment owner keeps putting me in difficult situations. I thought he was a pretty decent person, but this is disappointing...
"Seokwon, let's wait here."
Ji Jeongwon dropped back onto the sofa.
For someone who had looked ready to follow Hae Dam into hell itself, he gave up remarkably quickly.
Ji Seokwon and Secretary Yoon sat down again as well, looking bewildered.
Relieved, Hae Dam hurried out.
For now, he pushed aside all the emotions stirred up by seeing the apartment owner again, including his happiness and curiosity.
What mattered now was finding the little parrot who must be shivering in the cold.
That was a matter of life and death.
While the other animal detectives searched the hotel's stairwells, maintenance rooms, basement, rooftop, and other interior spaces, Hae Dam headed outside.
Normally, the sensible thing would have been to ask hotel guests and employees whether they'd seen anything. Instead, Hae Dam made his way to a deserted flower bed.
He glanced around and soon spotted a cat.
There were always cats in places like this.
When Hae Dam beckoned, the cat approached. He crouched in front of it, took out his phone, and showed it a photograph.
"Have you seen a bird that looks like this?"
"It's a birrd."
"Yes, it's a bird. Have you seen it?"
"But why can you and I talk to each otherr, meow?"
"It's just how I'm made. If you answer my question, I'll give you this."
He shook a tube of squeezable cat treats, which he always carried with him.
"I haven't seen it. If I'd seen such a cute little birrd, I'd definitely rememberr."
It was a disappointing answer, but Hae Dam kept his promise and fed the cat an entire tube before leaving.
He questioned two more stray cats in another area and a mouse that happened to be passing by, but none of them had seen the bird.
Just in case, he searched every corner of the surrounding area, going as far as a point two crosswalks away from the hotel. Still, not a single animal had seen the parrot.
According to the other animal detectives, there had been no human sightings since the first day.
And the stray animals outside the hotel hadn't seen the parrot even on that first day.
In that case...
Hae Dam looked up at the sky.
Fweee!
He whistled.
A crow dozing on top of a utility pole startled awake and flew down.
"Yeah. Have you seen this small, cute bird?"
"Why are you speaking our language? You're a human."
"Some humans can speak animal languages. Just like not every crow in the world is black, there are all kinds of people."
"All crows are black, though."
"Not all of them. I've seen a white crow before."
"Really? The world's a big place."
"Exactly. So, have you seen this bird?"
"Why should I tell you?"
As though he'd expected that response, Hae Dam took some crow food out of his bag.
Most animals were like this.
Except for dogs, they all demanded something in return.
Dogs, on the other hand, tended to spot him from a distance and come running over with their tails wagging, even when he hadn't called them.
"I'll tell you! I'll tell you! I know! I love humans!"
Dogs really did love people.
It didn't matter what neighborhood he was in, when he encountered them, or under what circumstances. Dogs always seemed to love humans.
Some might be afraid of people, but none of them actually disliked them.
He found that endlessly fascinating.
Cats varied enormously from one individual to another, but crows demanded payment no matter where, when, or under what circumstances he encountered them.
That was why he always carried a bag of mealworms.
"I've seen this little bird!"
"You have? When? Where?"
Hae Dam immediately snapped to attention.
The crow told him what it had witnessed.
Hae Dam entered the hotel with a grim expression.
Ji Jeongwon, who had been waiting anxiously in the lobby directly opposite the main entrance, spotted him and sprang to his feet, hurrying after him.
But Hae Dam paid him no attention.
He headed straight for the staff office behind the front desk.
Ji Seokwon and Secretary Yoon were looking at a laptop together, both wearing serious expressions. They raised their heads when he entered.
The front desk manager, who had been working nearby, also turned toward him.
"I found Zahir."
"What?"
"I need the hotel's cooperation. One of your guests took him into their room."
"WHAT!?"
"There should be a male guest with short orange hair, around 190 centimeters tall, with a large belly and freckles on his face. He carries a blue duffel bag around every day. Oh, he speaks English. He looks Western. Which room is he staying in?"
"WHAAAT!?"
After Ji Seokwon's third consecutive outburst of "What!?", the front desk manager answered with an uncomfortable expression.
"We would certainly like to cooperate as much as possible in finding the parrot, but we cannot disclose our guests' information."
"That man kidnapped Prince Jawud's pet parrot. I'm certain of it."
"Even so, we..."
"We need to catch him immediately. If word gets out that we've identified the culprit, he might run away."
"But..."
"Wait, wait. Hold on a second."
Ji Seokwon waved a hand and stood up.