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“That’s an odd look on your face,” Jules notes.
“I was thinking about whether I was strong enough to choke someone to death.”
“Nah. You’re pretty puny. You’re better off with a knife. Or poison. I think poison is the easiest way to murder a person. You can buy herbal cures at any pharmacy, plus there’s a lot of off-market, unregulated supplements made out of faux-Eastern medicine available.”
“You’ve given this a lot of thought.”
“Flying is boring.”
“You have had the same three roommates since arriving in Seoul until I subleased the room, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Just checking.” Because you don’t come off as someone easy to live with. I knock on the door before Jules can expound on the myriad ways to kill someone. After a few moments, there’s some shuffling inside and a familiar face pokes out.
I pull out the photos and shove them toward the landlady. “Ask her if she knows these women.”
Jules asks the question in Korean and the landlady shakes her head. “She says—”
“I can read the body language,” I interrupt. “Ask her if my father was from here. No. Ask her how long he lived here.”
“She says he moved here two years ago. Before that he lived in another district.”
“Do you know where that is?”
Jules sighs. “It’s southwest of the city. Kind of far away.”
“Good thing we’re cabbing it.”
I ask Jules to translate a few more questions such as if his landlady knew where Lee Jonghyung was born or whether he had any friends or coworkers.
“She doesn’t know anything. We’re better off going to the other district and showing his picture around there,” Jules informs me. We start to leave but the landlady lets out a spew of Korean, which I can’t follow. Jules replies and the two have a long conversation during which my anxiety starts ratcheting up. Finally, the conversation is over and the landlady retreats inside.
“What was that all about?”
“She says that there’s a woman at the sauna down the street that knows, or knew, your dad and that we should talk to her.”
“What else did she say?” Because the conversation had gone on for longer than that.
Jules sighs. “No offense, Hara, but your old man was kind of irresponsible. He didn’t have a job but was able to pay rent here because he got money from women. She didn’t like him much but a renter is a renter. Five women in the space of a few weeks? That seems like a lot.”
“I know this.” It hasn’t escaped me that Lee Jonghyung was a dickhead, but I’m not going to dwell on it. That seems extra pointless.
“But what if this is the information you’re going to find? That your dad is a lowlife and your mom was a druggie or something. Isn’t it better to know nothing?”
“It’s too late for that.” The veil of ignorance has been pierced and I won’t ever know peace until I chase down every last lead.
Jules finds the woman at the sauna, which is not a wooden room heated to 130 degrees but more like a giant yoga room with mats on the floor. People inside are all wearing the same T-shirt and shorts, and many have towels wrapped around their heads with Princess Leia–like towel doughnuts above their ears. I stare at one of them for far too long, wondering how they manage to contort a towel into that shape. Jules has to physically drag me away from my inspection to the front counter. After we exchange greetings, Jules shows the photos, which prompts the sauna woman to reach over the counter and grab my chin. The woman jerks my face from one side to the other. I stand like a mannequin and allow myself to be inspected. My heart races and the palms of my hands grow sweaty. Is this my grandmother? Because she’s too old to be my mother . . . isn’t she? Or did this woman get pregnant by a young man who wanted nothing to do with me afterward and so the woman gave me up for adoption out of shame?
It’s another scenario I hadn’t considered.
“What’s she saying?”
“Kim Eunshil is her daughter,” Jules replies in a hushed voice.
Kim Eunshil? That was the woman in the third picture wearing the faded yellow turtleneck tucked into a pair of straight-leg jeans. “Is she my grandmother?”
“She doesn’t know. She says her daughter has never been pregnant. She’s never married. She did know of some, well, not very nice men who dated her daughter, but as far as she knows the girl never had a baby.”
“If she was away from home for even six months, it could have happened.” I’m not letting this go. I have a real lead here. “Please ask her if I can see her daughter. Please.” I’m ready to get on my knees.
“Yeah. Yeah. I’m asking.” Jules engages the woman, who finally releases me. I rub my sore jaw. That woman’s fingers were tight.
