The Sun to my Moon

Chapter 15: Information

"You're officer Bang, right?" Dal-geon asked. He nodded to the other men in turn. "And your compatriots here are officers Park, Kim, Lim, and Kang, if I'm not mistaken. My name is Cha Dal-geon. I work with the NIS."

The man looked taken aback. "How'd you know our names?"

"By paying attention," he said, deciding not to point out that they each had name tags affixed to the front of their uniforms. "I'm very good at paying attention. In fact, I'm so good at paying attention, that I bet you that I can predict the future."

Bang laughed outright. "Yeah, right."

"A skeptic, huh? Then you won't have a problem agreeing to the terms."

"What are the terms?"

"If you win the bet, I give you a hundred dollars and I go away. You never see me again. But if I win the bet, you deal me in for one hand."

"What's the bet then? What kind of prediction are you going to make?"

Dal-geon paused dramatically. "I predict... that in about a minute and a half, Kim is going to punch Park in the nose."

Bang stared at him, then broke into a grin. "You're on," he said confidently.

"Wonderful," he said. "Shall we shake on it?"

"Sure." Bang extended his hand. They shook hands, and when they let go, Bang cackled in a self-satisfied manner that was completely unbecoming to a man. "You sucker. What kind of fool bet was that? Why would Kim hit Park? Dude's his best friend!"

"Is he? My mistake. I just assumed that when officer Kim would find out officer Park was sleeping with his girlfriend behind his back, his first reaction would be to sock him one to the nose. But I see now that's just foolish supposition on my part."

"What?" Kim demanded. "Who says Sunny is sleeping around with Park?"

"My dear man," Dal-geon said. "No one had to say it. It's perfectly obvious. Look at his face. Guilt and betrayal are written all over it."

Kim turned to Park, enraged. "Is this true? You slept with Sunny?"

Park leaned away from Kim, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. "No way, man. I wouldn't do that to you."

"Liar," Dal-geon said cheerfully. "Look at the way his forehead is getting all wrinkly. I bet that's been his tell since he was eight years old, back when you guys first became friends in grade school. You recognize that look, don't you officer Kim? It's the same one he used when he lied to the principal for you to keep you out of trouble when you were kids."

Kim flicked his eyes to the wrinkly forehead and swore.

Park abandoned all pretence. "It was only a couple of times," he said urgently. "Just when you were out of town visiting your dad and she was lonely."

Kim stood up, hauled Park to his feet, and punched him square in the nose. Park went down without a sound. A moment later, he pulled himself together and got to his feet, clutching his bleeding and possibly broken nose. Shooting resentful looks at both Kim and Dal-geon, he headed for the door, muttering under his breath.

"I recommend a bag of ice on the back of your neck," Dal-geon called after him. "It works wonders. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

Kim scowled and massaged his knuckles. The rest of them just stared at Cha Dal-geon.

"Look at that," Dal-geon said smoothly. "You guys seem to have an empty chair at the table. That's fortuitous, isn't it?" He took the seat vacated by Park and looked around the table. "Whose deal is it?"