THE TRUTH MANSION'S
Chapter 4's

        Jin-kyeong shook his head, but the old man kept the bottle open. A small television set on the desk ran apartment ads, dish soap ads, vitamin ads and movie trailers, followed by the latest news. Jin-kyeong sits on the table and sips her juice. It was warm and sour, but he didn't know if it was because the juice was stale or if it tasted like that. The old man sat on the chair that shook him forward and backward, chugging the juice as if he were chugging a refreshing liquor.

        The old man never drank water from a public tap. His refrigerator was always full of bottled mineral water and he also used expensive mineral water for cooking. One summer, he looks at Jin-kyeong, who drinks water straight from the tap, with a look of pity. One day, the man turns off the tap while Jin-kyeong is drinking, and says something strange.

            “You know why Mansion people die so easily? Why are so many babies born sick? You think it's all because they can't go to the hospital?”

        On the television screen, a female news anchor conveyed the news of the accident with a gentle smile on her lips.

            “A body was found in a parked car in the park driveway and police have started an investigation. At ten o'clock last night, the body was found by a Citizen who was strolling in a public park at Cheongsa-ro 3-gil near the Saha Mansion. The man then reported to the police. The woman's body was identified as a pediatrician in her mid-thirties and initials S. The woman was reported missing by her family after not returning home for two days. In a press conference, police confirmed that the car belonged to the victim and that the victim was sexually assaulted before being killed.”

        Jin-kyeong drops the bottle of juice she holds onto the table so quickly and violently that the juice spouts onto the old man's table. Su. Su is dead. Su is dead and Do-kyeong has not been seen for the past few days. Jin-kyeong has to find Do-kyeong, but he has absolutely no idea how he should look for someone who has no cell phone, no friends, no friends, and I haven't had any work lately other than drawing. Jin-kyeong stands up, deciding to go to the park herself.

            “Where are you going?” ask the old man.

            Jin-kyeong stops for a moment, then steps back to the door.

        This was the first time the old man had shouted so loudly. All this time, he had always been indifferent. He lives and works as a building supervisor at the Saha Mansion. He always looked down on the residents of Saha Mansion even though they were the ones who paid him. As if he was thinking, I'm different from you, I have nothing to do with you, I'm not interested in you guys. However, this old man is now galloping closer and gripping Jin-kyeong's arm.

            "Don't go."

        Jin-kyeong looks at the man's eyes straight. His brown eyes looked younger than before. Circumstances around them were dark, but the man's pupils were not enlarged, Benak Jin-kyeong was flooded with questions as he stared at the old pupils which reminded him of his old age and age circle, which he was in, but he didn't voice it.

            “Jin-kyeong, I don't know what happened, but doing something while being panicked won't help at all,” the old man said, it's as if you can read Jin-kyeong's way of thinking.

        Jin-kyeong can feel the power in the man's grip. That said, the man had crossed the border more than ten years ago. His life before arriving at the Mansion must have been as horrible as Jin-kyeong's. Does that guy have a family? There was something in those old eyes that was not visible in the eyes of those who were young.

The old man distanced his big hand from Jin-kyeong's arm and said, “Thank you for the juice.”