The Congressman Bows Low

Cha Jae-rim was suspended from his position.

It was a precautionary measure to prevent a civil servant suspected of misconduct from performing related duties.

Cha Jae-rim showed no reaction to this.

He also did not react to the news that a disciplinary committee was being set up.

And so the weekend arrived.

Cha Jae-rim headed for the mountains early in the morning.

He went to Bukhansan.

He started out on a well-maintained hiking trail and then gradually began to stray from the path.

A friendly hiker gave him a well-intentioned warning.

“Hey, you shouldn’t go that way. There’s no path there.”

“Oh, it’s okay. I know my way around.”

“…Alright. Be careful.”

Chae Jae-rim smiled, bowed politely, and ventured deeper into the increasingly deserted area.

Crunching dry leaves underfoot in the crisp autumn air, he strayed off the hiking trail.

Just then, his cell phone rang.

Cha Jae-rim answered the phone, and Reporter Han Ho of the Far Eastern Economic Daily spoke.

“Are you ready to die?”

“Oh, yes. I’ll be dead soon.”

“Good. Die well. And be on time. Don’t stray too far from the hiking trail. It’ll arouse suspicion.”

“I understand.”

“You’ll hear footsteps in a few minutes. Be hanging by then.”

“Autumn is nice. You can hear the footsteps clearly.”

“We’ll see about that. Pretend not to know them when that happens.”

“Yes, sir.”

Disconnecting the call, Cha Jae-rim removed his backpack, revealing a sturdy rope within.

He tied it to a sturdy branch and made a noose just big enough for his face.

Rustle.

He heard footsteps.

At that moment, Cha Jae-rim stepped on a large stone and stood up. And he put his neck in the noose.

Seeing this, Goo Young-jin said cautiously,

[You’re not supposed to die, you’re just supposed to pretend to die.]

“Do you think I’m an idiot?”

[You look like you’re really going to die.]

“Should I try dying for real? Maybe I’ll become a ghost like you, old man.”

[Don’t even joke about that…]

Cha Jae-rim chuckled and just stood there blankly with the noose around his neck.

While he was hanging there with his head in the noose, yawning languidly…

He heard human voices.

“Oh my god! What is that! What is that over there!”

It was the man that Reporter Han Ho had hired in advance.

He ran towards them, pretending to be scared out of his wits.

His loud cries attracted the attention of the other hikers passing by.

He shouted to the hikers,

“There’s a man trying to kill himself here! Come and help!”

As heartless as the world had become after the IMF crisis, and as common as suicide had become, the world was not yet so devoid of humanity that people would turn away when someone was dying.

The hikers threw down their backpacks and rushed over.

In no time at all, Cha Jae-rim was surrounded by people.

They worked together to free Cha Jae-rim from the noose.

“Gasp, gasp…”

Cha Jae-rim pretended to be gasping for breath as he was held in the people’s arms, away from the noose.

The hikers surrounded him where he lay and checked on his condition.

“Are you okay?”

“…Yes.”

Cha Jae-rim replied in a weak voice.

Goo Young-jin’s heart ached as he watched this.

He thought of the last moments of his own life.

‘If someone had saved me like this when I was dying, would I have kept on living?’

The hikers clicked their tongues in disapproval after confirming that Cha Jae-rim was unharmed.

“Why are you trying to die? You’re young and have your whole life ahead of you.”

“…”

“Don’t die, live. Huh? Look, I also got laid off from my company at the start of the year, and I’m hiking to clear my mind.”

“…Yes.”

The man that Reporter Han Ho had hired recited the lines he had been given.

“Why on earth did you try to die? At an age when you’re young enough to chew on iron.”

The hikers also nodded in agreement, curious.

“Right. There have been a few people who jumped into the Han River after getting laid off from their companies, but those guys were having trouble finding new jobs.”

“You can get another job, even if you get laid off! Why are you trying to die? Why?”

At that, Cha Jae-rim opened his lips with a gloomy expression.

“I, I’m a civil servant.”

“What? Why would someone with the most stable job in these times try to die!”

“There are circumstances.”

Cha Jae-rim recited slowly.

“My superiors have been embezzling money.”

“Embezzlement? What embezzlement!”

“While I was working, I confirmed that my superiors had been pocketing the nation’s money for a long time.”

“What? Pocketing the nation’s money? The people have to worry about dinner when they eat breakfast, and those bastards have been lining their pockets with tax money and living it up?”

The hikers were furious.

“But when a large-scale audit was secretly announced, they tried to make me the scapegoat.”

“Those bastards!”

“As a low-ranking employee, I had no means of resistance. I had no choice but to die.”

“Usually, that’s how it is… but even so! Dying like this…”

The hikers could not contain their sadness and anger.

The man that the reporter had hired played his part.

“I guess I’ll have to report this to the police. And tip off a reporter while at it.”

“Yeah, those bastards should be shamed all over the media!”

“As it happens, I know someone at the Far Eastern Economic Daily. I’ll tip them off. If you get a request for an interview later, please tell them what happened today.”

“Don’t worry about it! We can’t go out there and demonstrate, but we can do that much!”

Cha Jae-rim bowed his head to them, choking back tears.

“Thank you, everyone…”

The housewives in their colorful hiking outfits felt their heartsstrings tugged as they watched the handsome young man cry.

While Cha Jae-rim was sobbing like that, Reporter Han Ho’s interview was already underway.

He met a city government official in the Chinese restaurant of the hotel attached to the Far Eastern Economic Daily building.

He was a ‘follower’ of the mayor, deeply involved in the political world, and assumed an important role upon the mayor’s election.

Civil servants are divided into ‘lifers’ and ‘follower.’

A lifer is someone who has always been a civil servant.

A follower is someone who was not originally a civil servant, but became one for some reason.

Usually, a follower is someone who revolves around a person in power like a satellite revolves around a planet.

The mayor’s follower promptly responded to Reporter Han Ho’s weekend call because he sensed something suspicious.

As he ate his sea cucumber dish, the follower asked Reporter Han,

“You usually like to drink after dark, why are we eating lunch so early today? And on a weekend, too.”

“I have a present for you, hyung.”

The follower opened his eyes wide as he chewed his sea cucumber.

“A present?”

“It’s fresh news. This morning, a ninth-grade civil servant in his twenties from Seongbuk District Office tried to kill himself on Bukhansan, but was narrowly saved.”

“What? Suicide?”

Reporter Han Ho nodded.

“He was spotted by a passing hiker and barely escaped with his life. He was lucky.”

“He was lucky. But.”

It was nothing but a minor news story.

The follower did not seem very interested.

“It’s not that unusual for a young man trying to commit suicide, right?”

The follower grumbled that there were only bamboo shoots in his sea cucumber dish, and replied dismissively,

“On the contrary, young people die more easily over nothing. Their minds are unstable. Do you think everyone is Werther just because they’re young?”

“Is that so.”

The follower laughed flatly.

“Yeah. He was probably trying to die over something trivial.”

“We should at least show some compassion. Don’t you feel sorry for the kid?”

The follower tilted his head as if he was displeased.

“Why are you telling me this now? Because a civil servant from our district died and then came back to life. So what, we saved a valuable human resource?”

“That’s not wrong either.”

At that, the follower’s face hardened.

“Is that what you brought me as a present?”

“Ah, but listen to the story properly.”

“Go on.”

As he did so, the follower’s attention was focused on finding the sea cucumber hidden among the bamboo shoots.

“Apparently, the guy was trying to expose corruption in the District Office before committing suicide.”

“What?”

“He worked in the Finance Department, and the two section managers there apparently colluded with a contractor and embezzled taxes for several years.”

“Hmm, really?”

Only then did the follower stop looking for the hidden sea cucumber and look into Reporter Han Ho’s eyes.

“If we put this together well, it could be a scandal that Mayor will naturally draw his sword over. We could nip it in the bud so that others can’t gossip about it.”

“That’s true. It’s possible.”

“The amount of money they embezzled was a little over a 100 million won. I don’t think any followers were involved.”

“Right. At most, it would be the Finance Department Head. That’s usually the case.”

Reporter Han Ho nodded.

“So there’s no need to worry about drawing our sword and cutting down our own side. Let’s cook this.”

“Is it okay to eat it? Will there be any problems?”

“I’ve checked everything. It’s a hundred percent fact.”

The follower put his chopsticks down with a thud.

“Okay. I’ll report it to Mayor.”

“Oh, hyung, you’re so cool.”

“Write the article. But keep it to yourself until you hear from me.”

“Don’t give my scandal to someone else, hyung. I’ll be really disappointed.”

“The scandal itself isn’t a big deal. I’m going to trust you to write it because you’re a good cook. Don’t worry. I’ll contact you before sunset.”

“I look forward to it.”

Reporter Han Ho bowed his head politely to the follower and saw him off, and then ate all the sea cucumbers hidden among the bamboo shoots.

The reply came sooner than expected.

As Reporter Han Ho was sipping on the plum tea that had been served for dessert, he received a call from the Mayor’s follower.

“I got the old man’s approval. Go ahead.”

“Understood.”

Reporter Han Ho finished off the plum tea he had been sipping in one gulp.

*

Cha Jae-rim cooperated with the police investigation.

There was no need to hide anything anymore.

He had to gather all the firepower he had and explode it all at once.

He couldn’t just set off a small explosion, he had to set off a huge, deafening explosion.

He reported everything to the police.

The middle-aged policeman scratched his head and organized Cha Jae-rim’s story.

“Um… so you’re saying you tried to commit suicide to expose internal corruption?”

“Yes.”

Cha Jae-rim nodded.

The policeman had intended to humor the young man who had tried to commit suicide and send him on his way.

It was a nice, sunny weekend.

On days like this, it was best to get things done quickly and take a nap or have a few drinks.

But when this guy came in and started spouting this headache-inducing story, the policeman got a little annoyed.

“To be honest, does that make sense? Even if you’re an apostle of justice, exposing corruption by throwing your own life away…”

“After a few decades of police work, you must know that there are a lot of people who don’t make sense, right?”

“Well, that’s true. But most of the people who don’t make sense are bad people.”

Cha Jae-rim replied flatly,

“Anyway, I would appreciate it if you would handle this case properly.”

“Hmm, well, I’ll accept your report at least.”

The policeman’s response was lukewarm.

It didn’t matter how he reacted, it was fine.

This was just a formality anyway.

No matter how much he had agreed with Reporter Han Ho in advance, there were procedures to follow.

In order to write an article, you needed a source.

The police were usually the most credible source.

The policeman scratched his head irritably and said,

“Alright. That’s all well and good, but why did you have to come to the police with this?”

“What?”

Up until now, Cha Jae-rim had just let it slide, but there was no way he could not be taken aback by that question.