Read Online The Shadow of Arms by Hwang Sok-Yong - Free Book Online Page B

fifteen go to? You couldn’t have bought them with a ration card. Must have been an American PX soldier. What’s his name?”
    â€œI don’t know his name, sir. I just made friends with him a few days ago. He’s black and fat, works at Warehouse No. 2 . . .”
    â€œYou mean the black guy with the yellowish brown face?”
    The soldier nodded and Kang turned to Yong Kyu and said, “Good timing. Remember: a fat man called Park.”
    Kang asked the soldier again, “You haven’t reported it to the Americans, have you?”
    â€œI only told them it was goods I was ordered to pick up.”
    â€œSo you’re to keep it and share the profit between the two of you, bastard. . . . Then those guys took a total of one hundred fifty dollars from you, right?”
    The soldier nodded. A sixty-dollar investment turned into a hundred fifty in a few minutes, the goods have a new owner and ninety dollars is left as sheer profit. Blue Jacket Kang talked over the situation again with the American sergeant and the Vietnamese police. The policeman, obviously agitated, spoke loud and fast.
    â€œNo way you’ll ever see your principal again. The smokes will all be confiscated by the American soldiers and the Vietnamese is arguing that he should not be shorted a penny out of his hundred fifty dollars. If you’re willing to forget about the money they said they wouldn’t make a case out of it.”
    â€œI’ll give up the money, sir.”
    â€œYou idiot,” Kang spat out. “Who said you could give it up? Whoever’s money it was, it’s blood money. You’ve seen them, haven’t you? We’ll also have to recover the expenditures. Do you have the shipping documents with you?”
    â€œNo, sir.”
    â€œWell, you do have your ID, right?”
    The soldier took out his ID and held it up. Blue Jacket Kang took it and went over to them. After a lengthy debate they left the office together. Yong Kyu remained seated on a hard metal chair. The shrewd-eyed soldier in the neat uniform tried to strike up a conversation.
    â€œYou must be new here?”
    Yong Kyu only looked at him blankly. Definitely a city bastard. His longish hair falling on his neck gave him a certain charm. Fair complexion, hands long and soft.
    â€œFriends? We’ve got nothing to lose.”
    Yong Kyu took a cigarette and put it between his lips. The soldier offered him a light, and Yong Kyu glared at him for a minute before letting him light his cigarette.
    â€œEven back home I heard how good Da Nang is.”
    Even after accepting the light, Yong Kyu kept examining him without a word. Not a speck of dust on his boots. Only then did Corporal Ahn remember that he was in civilian clothes. Kang returned with the head American guard. He summoned Yong Kyu and introduced him to a thin American technical sergeant. After that they all went outside. In front of the main gate, Kang took out the PX soldier’s ID card.
    â€œYou said for sure that you would give up the cost price, didn’t you?”
    The soldier hesitated.
    â€œLook bastard, why you keep changing your mind like a little girl, huh? Did you say so, or didn’t you?”
    â€œThe truth is, it wasn’t my money, sir.”
    Blue Jacket Kang waved the ID right in front of his nose and said, “Shall I draw up the papers and send you with this to the stockade or would you prefer to take it?”
    This time the soldier did not hesitate and hastily snatched his ID, saying, “All right.”
    â€œWhere are you sleeping?”
    â€œAt the recreation center, sir.”
    â€œYou think that’s a private hotel for bastards like you, eh? Get lost,” Kang muttered, pushing the soldier’s chest, who seemed somehow reluctant to depart. The soldier turned away.
    Kang spoke again. “One of these days we should raid that rec center and comb through the place. Looks like it’s crawling with