Crack.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ji Seokwon snapped the man's wrist.
The man screamed and sobbed in agony.
Hae Dam jumped in surprise.
"Did you actually break it? Aren't you supposed to stop just before it breaks?"
"No, I'm fucking pissed off. Not three hundred million, not three billion, but thirty measly million won. Fuck."
"Aaaaagh!"
Just then, a bloodcurdling scream erupted from the other side of the room.
The kidnapper, who had been trapped in Ji Jeongwon's headlock, was slumped over with his head hanging limply.
"He was trying to escape..."
Noticing everyone looking at him, Ji Jeongwon offered the explanation shyly and dusted off his hands.
Thud.
The kidnapper collapsed to the floor.
He was still breathing.
For a moment, silence settled over the room.
Is this family some kind of gangster organization?
Hae Dam wondered.
"We're not gangsters."
Ji Jeongwon suddenly rushed to explain.
"We run a welfare foundation, and we make a lot of charitable donations. Starting next year, we're planning to establish a separate animal welfare division to support projects like protecting abandoned animals and preserving migratory bird habitats. I'm only explaining because I thought you might have gotten the wrong impression from what you just saw. We're not bad people."
As far as Ji Seokwon knew, their brother Ji Myeongwon, who ran the welfare foundation, had no such plans.
"Still, we went too far, didn't we? I'm sorry if we frightened you..."
"Oh, no! It's really fine. Actually, I wouldn't mind even if you were gangsters. I don't care if bad people get hurt or die anyway. As long as no animals get hurt!"
"That's a relief."
Shouldn't that be the opposite of a relief?
Ji Seokwon's muttered remark was heard only by Secretary Yoon, who had briefly withdrawn from the fighting and had now returned.
Perhaps because of everything he'd endured over the past few days, Zahir looked even smaller than he had in the photographs and videos.
His cage was a crude affair without so much as a perch, and the little bird was trembling in a corner with his back pressed against the bars.
He looked as though he wouldn't budge until someone brought his owner to him or took him back to his owner.
Actually, will he even recognize his owner? He's a birdbrain, after all.
While Ji Seokwon was thinking this, Hae Dam bent forward until his eyes were level with the bird's.
"Don't be scared. We're here to rescue you. We're going to take you back to your family."
At Hae Dam's gentle whisper, the bird, who had been hiding his beak against his chest, cautiously raised his head.
"Peep."
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Peep..."
"If you're this easily frightened, why did you fly away?"
"Chirrr."
"Oh, there was a big bird outside the window, and it scared you. But you should have trusted your owner. Your owner was partly to blame for what happened, but so were you. You need to think about what you did."
Hae Dam spoke with surprising firmness, and the parrot lowered his head as though thoroughly chastened.
Plenty of people talked to animals as though they were having conversations, so there was nothing particularly strange about the scene.
Still, Ji Seokwon found it rather ridiculous that the young detective was maintaining his act so faithfully in front of a client, and a mocking smile appeared on his face.
The smile vanished from Ji Seokwon's face.
"You're not seriously planning to scold Prince Jawud, are you? Don't even think about it. He's our client's client. Do you understand? Three hundred billion won. Three. Hundred. Billion."
"I'll just give him a warning. What if this happens again?"
"Not even a warning! The only person in the world who gets to lecture an oil prince is the oil prince's mother. After this whole fucking disaster, I'm sure he'll be more careful without us nagging him."
"Apparently, Zahir has gotten lost like this before, even back home. I'm sure there was a huge fuss that time, too, but he still got lost again. The fact that his wings haven't been clipped tells me everything I need to know. We need to make sure his owner changes his ways this time."
"You naive little brat. Do you know who the one person in this world is who never has to change his behavior? An oil prince. That's who."
"Whether he's an oil prince or an oil emperor, if he's taken an animal into his family, then he needs to change."
"You little punk. You just have to argue with everything I say, don't you? Why, I ought to—"
Ji Seokwon raised his fist.
Normally, when a large man assumed such a threatening posture, the person facing him would at least gasp in surprise or shrink back in fear.
Hae Dam, however, boldly rose onto his tiptoes and held his head high.
"I don't want to argue with someone older than me, either. But a little one's life is at stake. I can't back down when it comes to that. There might not be a next time."
His round eyes narrowed into what he clearly intended to be a fierce glare.
He pressed his small, delicately shaped lips tightly together, biting down so hard that they quickly turned red.
His cheeks were so pale and soft-looking that Ji Seokwon found himself wondering whether this boy really could be the same age as Dungdung.
"Seokwon, stop."
Ji Jeongwon stepped between them.
Privately relieved, Ji Seokwon backed away, telling himself he was only holding back for the sake of his youngest brother.
It took him another moment to realize something.
Ji Jeongwon hadn't said, "Both of you, stop."
He'd said, "Seokwon, stop."
"Don't worry. I won't put you in a difficult position," Hae Dam said.
"I've been self-employed in this line of work for eight years now. Of course I know how to cushion my words so that my client's client doesn't get offended. And besides, I think..."
"...You think?"
"Never mind. It's nothing."
"What is it? Tell me. I'd like to hear what you think, Detective."
In a gentle voice, almost as though coaxing a small child, Ji Jeongwon encouraged him to finish his interrupted sentence.
Ji Seokwon noticed something strange again.
His younger brother had never been the sort of person who cared about the words someone else had chosen not to say.
"I don't think this prince is the kind of collector people usually imagine. If I'm right, he won't be offended by a little advice."
Ji Seokwon snorted.
"And what makes you say that? Do you have any idea how unreasonable rich people can be? Those bastards might cancel a business deal because a single loose thread on someone else's clothes offends them. Not even their own clothes. Someone else's."
"Excuse me, mister."
"Mis—"
"I'm not talking about how rich people treat their business partners. I'm talking about family. Someone they treasure and love dearly. Someone who's spent an entire lifetime with them."
"……"
"When powerful or wealthy people keep parrots, they usually choose rare ones. They might show off their wealth with a palm cockatoo or flaunt their power with a red-vented cockatoo. But Zahir is a Pacific parrotlet. Pacific Parrotlet. That's not a rare species. Quite the opposite, actually. It's one of the most ordinary kinds. Which means the prince isn't keeping him as some symbolic possession to show off his status."
"……"
"He keeps this bird simply because he loves him. Because he loves Zahir, and that's all... He's treasured him so carefully that even after more than twenty years, his feathers are still this beautiful. That's why I don't think he'll be offended. If anything, he'll take the advice to heart. Because it's advice meant to help his family."
"Peep." Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
The parrot chirped at precisely the right moment.
It sounded so much like he was declaring, That's right! I'm loved! that Ji Seokwon found himself unable to respond.
Since there had just been a violent confrontation in the guest room, they decided to deliver the parrot personally to Prince Jawud's suite for the sake of his security.
Hae Dam took the lead, carrying the cage covered with black cloth in his arms.
As they rode the elevator toward the top floor, which Prince Jawud had rented in its entirety, Ji Seokwon found himself wondering something.
Could he really be talking to animals?
Most people would dismiss the possibility as absurd.
They wouldn't even consider it.
In this modern world, in an age governed by science, such a thing was unquestionably impossible.
But Ji Seokwon was different.
And so were the other members of the Ji family.
Because they knew that there were things in this world that were real.
But still... Talking to animals?
Surely not.
Surely, surely not.
No, even so... Animals? Isn't that taking things a little too far?
If he genuinely believes he can talk to animals, then he's just mentally ill... Ah, fuck. Damn it, not again!
Thoughts were impossible to control.
Words could be swallowed before they left one's mouth, but stopping a thought before it occurred was another matter entirely.
Ji Seokwon had spent twenty-three years practicing mental discipline in an effort to gain even the slightest control over his unruly, free-flowing thoughts.
He'd tried copying out the Bible, memorizing the eighty thousand Buddhist scriptures, playing Go, practicing yoga, reciting poetry...
But nothing had ever succeeded in damming the relentless stream of his consciousness.
"……"
Ji Jeongwon, who was standing ahead of him, turned around.
Ji Seokwon went deathly pale.
He shook his head frantically from side to side, desperately trying to convey that he hadn't meant it that way.
Ji Jeongwon turned away again, seemingly uninterested.
It happened so often that his younger brother wasn't hurt by it.
And somehow, that indifferent reaction only made Ji Seokwon feel worse.
["Zahir! Oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you so much!"]
Prince Jawud, who had been anxiously awaiting news, dropped to his knees and began praying to God the moment he saw the sky-blue parrot.
He seemed utterly unconcerned with maintaining his dignity or authority. Tears streamed freely down his face.
Perhaps the parrot had inherited his owner's tendency to cry, because he, too, began chirping tearfully before flying straight into Jawud's arms.
Hae Dam didn't understand a word of the language spoken in Saudi Arabia.
But he could understand the little parrot who had spent all twenty years of his life there.
And because of that, he knew what Prince Jawud was murmuring.
I'm sorry I kept you confined to such a small world for twenty years.
I only wanted to show you.
The endless ocean. Cities blanketed in white snow.
The vast world you could never see from home.
All the things you've never had the chance to see...