"It's a Swiss bank account under a false name, registered to a company that was dissolved three years ago. The security key is at his house, on the lower right corner of a picture frame in the living room. It looks like a magnet holding the frame in place, but it's actually an old-fashioned security token. Press a pin into the tiny opening, and the cover will pop open to reveal a number. You have to enter it within thirty seconds."
Jeongwon went on to explain exactly how much money was in the account, who the accomplices were, and when the embezzlement had begun.
He described everything in meticulous detail, as though he were simply reciting something he had just seen and heard….
"Thanks, Dungdung. Go on ahead. Your big brother will take care of this and come right up. Secretary Yoon, take Dungdung to the restaurant."
"Yes, sir."
Seokwon left with murder in his eyes, while Jeongwon accompanied Secretary Yoon upstairs to the restaurant.
Located directly beneath the top-floor suites, the restaurant offered a magnificent view. Its finest private dining room occupied a prime spot overlooking both the Han River and Mount Nam.
The restaurant manager personally came out to open the door, and a senior staff member took Jeongwon's coat. When asked whether he would like it placed in the garment-care cabinet, Jeongwon shook his head.
"I'll eat when my brother and sister arrive. Just bring me a cup of hot tea, please."
"Certainly, sir. In that case, may I suggest our Grand Bloom Private Botanical No. 5 Chamomile—"
At that moment, Secretary Yoon found himself thinking something he hadn't intended to.
What's so grand about it? And what's with the private botanical nonsense? It's just chamomile. All this ridiculously overblown luxury marketing…. Oh, damn.
Secretary Yoon squeezed his eyes shut.
"Yes, that will be fine."
Jeongwon answered calmly and took his seat.
"That thought… wasn't directed at you, Jeongwon."
Jeongwon smiled at Secretary Yoon's words.
"Then who was it directed at? My sister, who owns this hotel?"
"That's not what I meant…."
Secretary Yoon looked thoroughly uncomfortable.
Jeongwon is wonderful in every other respect, but he has this terrible habit of putting people on the spot…. Ah, damn it. This is driving me crazy.
Jeongwon simply stared at him without saying a word.
Secretary Yoon's complexion went from red to purple, then pale, then practically black.
After watching his eyes dart nervously for a moment, Jeongwon finally spoke.
"I'm joking. Go get some rest. I'll rest too."
"Yes, sir. I'll be right outside, so please call if you need anything."
Secretary Yoon hurried out.
Jeongwon was alone.
He did nothing but gaze out the window.
The chamomile tea arrived shortly afterward. He took a single sip, set the cup down, and never touched it again.
He had embarrassed Secretary Yoon, but the truth was that Jeongwon had been thinking exactly the same thing.
Ridiculously overblown luxury marketing.
It was just chamomile.
Jeongwon was a psychic.
He could hear people's thoughts.
And he couldn't stop.
Whether he wanted to or not, he had to listen to that second voice.
His entire life, he had been tossed this way and that by waves he had no power to hold back.
He didn't know whether he had been able to hear thoughts from birth. He couldn't remember much of his infancy. But his parents and older siblings had all told him, "You were never an ordinary child. Even as a baby, you were different from the others."
So Jeongwon assumed it must have been true.
At first, his family couldn't believe that their precious, beloved youngest child was a psychic.
They thought he was hearing voices that weren't there. They sought treatment through modern medicine, consulted shamans, and even visited Catholic priests.
Nothing helped.
Eventually, they had no choice but to accept it.
The youngest child of the Ji family was the only psychic in the world.
The Ji family was extraordinarily powerful by any ordinary measure, but having a psychic in the family was an entirely different matter. The whole world would come after him.
And so, apart from his family and a handful of their most trusted confidants, no one was allowed to know about Jeongwon's abilities.
When he was little, he had struggled to distinguish between things he was supposed to hear and things he wasn't supposed to hear but heard anyway.
He would say things he shouldn't have, alienating his classmates. Even when he finally managed to open his heart to someone, he would end up hurting them.
It happened over and over.
Gradually, he spoke less and less, withdrawing further and further from the world.
After their parents died, his youngest older sister, Ji Se Ri, was the first to suggest that he might be able to use his powers to help with the family business.
For the first time, he felt he could breathe a little easier.
At least there was somewhere he didn't have to ignore the things that came to him unbidden, the thoughts he was never supposed to hear.
From then on, he occasionally used his abilities to help with the family's businesses.
Just as he had today.
It was the one advantage of his powers.
Which meant that everything else about them was a disadvantage.
He had always been lonely.
All his life, he had believed he was the only psychic in the world.
To be the only one was to be isolated.
At least, that was what it meant to Jeongwon.
Every person was different. No two people in the world were exactly alike.
But there were people who resembled one another.
Sooner or later, among all the flowers blooming across this vast meadow, people found flowers that looked like themselves and settled among them.
Just as a mountain where pine trees took root would soon become covered in pines, and a flower bed where azaleas bloomed would fill with azaleas.
But there were no other flowers in Jeongwon's world.
Not a single blade of grass grew across that endless white expanse of snow.
He had accepted this as the natural order of things.
He believed there could be no one else like him in that vast, snow-covered wilderness.
He believed he was destined to live his entire life alone, lonely forever, until the day he died.
That was why he had decided to leave.
To go somewhere everyone was isolated.
Somewhere everyone was lonely.
Somewhere he could walk and walk without ever encountering another person….
And then.
How could he possibly know I'm that adorable little weasel? It's not like there's any way he could figure it out.
That peculiar weasel, the one that rode on crows' backs to travel up and down a thirty-story building….
What? Why is he looking at me? He can't have recognized me.
…had appeared before him as a human.
I'm a human right now, not a weasel. What's going on?
The little white weasel Nuteori had deposited in front of him was a psychic.
Jeongwon had finally found one.
A psychic who wasn't himself.
The other man's powers seemed to work differently from his own. Rather than hearing human thoughts, he could hear animals' thoughts, and he could change between animal and human forms.
Apparently, he had even been an animal originally.
He had died once, then been reborn as a human.
It was an extraordinarily strange story, almost impossible to believe.
But Jeongwon had encountered far too many people who thought he was strange.
He had therefore made a point of never judging another being as strange so casually.
Still, he couldn't help finding it fascinating.
The weasel he had known for three whole months was actually a human.
And a psychic.
There was another one.
He wasn't a lone wildflower after all.
Another being existed.
Here, in this snow-covered wilderness.
The realization was intoxicating.
He was overjoyed.
Exhilarated.
If I finish work quickly, I can get back to the apartment tonight. I'll play with the apartment owner's fingers, run through the tunnel for a while, and then sleep in bed with him tonight. He isn't going to start bad-mouthing the detective he met today without realizing it's me, is he?
That night, Hae Dam really did play with Jeongwon's fingers, run through his tunnel, and sleep beside him in bed.
Naturally, when Hae Dam was in weasel form, Jeongwon couldn't hear his thoughts at all.
As the little weasel wriggled into a comfortable position and curled up beside him on the bed, Jeongwon didn't say anything nasty about the animal detective he had met that afternoon.
Instead, he told him this.
"Today I met a detective who finds lost animals. He seemed like such a kind, lovely person. I'd really like to get to know him better, but I'm not very good at making friends…. Do you think we'll get along? I hope we can become friends someday…."
The weasel gazed up at him with enormous, glistening eyes.
"Squeee!"
It sounded almost as though he were answering, Yes! You'll definitely become friends!
A week had passed since then, but Jeongwon still hadn't managed to get any closer to Hae Dam.
In fact, he hadn't even seen him again.
Hae Dam was terribly busy.
Anyone could tell how packed his schedule was just by watching the little weasel come and go.
Every night, the tiny creature returned utterly exhausted. He would gnaw away at a ginseng root while enjoying being petted, make one mad dash through his tunnel, and then collapse into sleep.
He seemed to feel a solemn obligation to use the tunnel at least once a day, no matter how tired he was.
Sometimes he would leave as soon as the sun rose and not return until the following day.
On those occasions, Jeongwon spent the entire day looking out toward the terrace like a houseplant waiting for sunlight.
By the time sunset approached, he could no longer bear it and sent a message.
Hello. This is Ji Jeongwon. We met during the case involving Zahir the parrot. The weasel I'm looking after didn't come home last night, and I'm worried about him. Would you be able to come by?
A reply arrived an hour later.
Don't worry! He's probably just busy with a lot of things. I'm sure he'll come home today!
Hae Dam kept his promise.
That evening, Jeongwon heard a crow cawing outside and went to greet his little visitor.
There, sprawled across the crow's back, was the weasel, fast asleep with his mouth hanging open.
The crow seemed to be jerking its head at Jeongwon, telling him to hurry up and take the little creature off its back….
The weasel was small enough to fit in one hand, but Jeongwon carefully cradled him in both as he carried him back into the living room.
The rich scent of ginseng filled the air.
The weasel's pink nose twitched, and he struggled to lift his heavy eyelids.
"Squeee…."
I need to eat…. But I'm so sleepy….
Strangely enough, Jeongwon could tell exactly what he was feeling.