Vol 3 Ch 9

Had anyone else said that, I might have taken it as a joke. But coming from him, it wasn’t. I etched every word he said deep into my bones. Now, I was completely certain. CEO Jang would be able to find my mother.

After opening and closing my mouth a few times like a fish gasping for air, I finally spoke,

 “…This is. What I mean is, I’ve done this to myself after being pushed to the edge.”

In a quiet voice, he repeated my words. Pushed to the edge.

 “What drove you there?”

 “…….”

He asked. I hesitated for a long time, even after I’d already started. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was right to reveal this now. The man simply waited silently, his sunken gaze fixed on me.

At last, my lips parted.

 “…I did something I can never undo.”

It wasn’t enough to bury it deep in my heart—I’d built a sturdy grave over it, too. That story, so suffocating that I sometimes wanted to dig it out with a spade and fling it away, began to surface before him.

“There were four of us living in that shack you visited, CEO. My father, my mother, my uncle… and me.”

CEO Jang closed and opened his eyelids slowly. His gaze, so dark it was impossible to measure its depth, locked onto me. My face wavered in his swamp-like pupils. Lowering my eyes, I avoided his damp stare.

“My father and uncle were men consumed by gambling and alcohol, utterly neglecting the house. At least my uncle was better—he came home so rarely you could count his visits on one hand each year.”

Stammering, I strung my words together bit by bit. Now, half-covered eyelids revealed his steady gaze on me. Under the concentrated intensity of his stare, it felt like I was under a magnifying glass collecting sunlight. My own eyes quivered nervously, half-hidden by my lashes.

“My father… came home often. Even though we barely made ends meet with the small amount my mother earned, he shamelessly took everything, down to the last coin in the house. Whenever my mother resisted, he’d beat her without fail. Whenever he returned, the villagers called it ‘Chicken Day’ at the shack.”

With no escape from his persistent gaze, my wandering eyes finally landed on the wall beyond CEO Jang’s shoulder.

 “They said my mother’s screams sounded like the cries of a slaughtered chicken.”

A massive shadow stretched across the wall behind him. I followed the prominent ridge of his nose, etched into the wall like a mountain peak. At the tip of the long, slender outline, it connected to his lips, which parted slightly before closing again. The ashen breath he exhaled seeped into my strung-tight ears.

“Still, once I grew up, the violence began to subside.”

 “…When exactly did you grow up?”

Exhaling again, his shadow on the wall exhaled along with him. Smoke ballooned from the end of the dark outline of his lips before dissipating.

“From high school onward. As a child, I was always small enough to sit in the front rows of class. But after that, I grew rapidly.”

With a cigarette between his lips, his murmur came out indistinct.

 “Sounds like you were just a kid then.”

“…Even so, as my father aged, his temper began to wane. His once booming voice was now hoarse and wheezing, unable to get past a second verse before breaking into coughs. Losing strength naturally reduced his violence. So, despite everything, my mother insisted we stick together as a family. …And we just… muddled along somehow.”

Muddled along, indeed.

 Too old to keep up with manual labor jobs, my father spent his time entirely on drinking and gambling. The gambling house was his home and workplace. A drunken, gambling-addicted old man like him must have been the perfect target for con artists running rigged games.

Initially, they must have deliberately lost to him. My father, blinded by greed, would’ve eagerly doubled down, thinking he was on a winning streak. The cons would’ve then pulled the rug out from under him, sending him into ruin in no time. Within a week, he’d accumulated nearly three thousand in debt.

The interest was a hundred thousand won every month. The debt collectors were relentless, ensuring the interest was paid on time. My mother and I, who were effectively paying off his debts, were their insurance.

“…Then one day, it happened. While I was unloading at work, the hospital called. They said my mother was in critical condition and I needed to come immediately.”

That day had been just as chilly as today.

 As usual, I’d been working to save for both my father’s gambling debts and my tuition for the next semester.

While placing heavy boxes onto a conveyor belt to load onto a truck, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Bzz, bzz. Bzz, bzz.

It wouldn’t stop ringing. Normally, one assumes the caller will give up eventually and try again later if they can’t reach you. But that day, it just wouldn’t let up.

I checked my phone only during my break. A slew of missed calls appeared on the screen. I ignored the unfamiliar numbers, assuming they were from debt collectors, and frowned as I called back the most recent record—my uncle.

Probably calling to ask for something again. I wanted nothing more than to ignore him, but doing so would only lead to trouble.

 “Hello?”

Noise buzzed on the other end before my uncle’s bitter voice came through.

-Where are you?

I sighed before answering.

“…I’m at work right now.”

-Hurry and come to Jeil Hospital.

I frowned deeply. Why the hospital all of a sudden? Did he drink and pass out somewhere? As I cursed him out internally, my uncle said something unexpected.

-I’m at the hospital because of your mother.

His words were slurred, and his tone was so flat that I couldn’t immediately understand what he meant. Dumbfounded, I asked back.

‘…What?’

-Your mother hit her head and is at the hospital. Stop talking and get here now!

He yelled and abruptly hung up.

By the time I came to my senses, I was already gasping for air, frantically navigating the chaotic emergency room. I darted through the wails and cries like a lunatic until I finally spotted my uncle’s flushed face near a bed. I hesitated briefly, then rushed over to him.

As I approached the bed, the face of the person lying down came into view. No matter how much I tried to deny it, the pale face belonged to my mother. She was lying there with her eyes closed, looking like a lifeless corpse.

“When I hurried to the hospital, I found my mom lying on a bed with a head injury. They said she had fallen down the stairs and hit her head on the floor.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw CEO Jang reaching for me. He grabbed my chin and fixed my gaze on him, as if to say he wouldn’t tolerate me looking away any longer. His patience seemed to have worn thin, despite having smoked just one cigarette.

As I sat there trembling, half out of my mind, a doctor in a white coat appeared behind me. I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and sprang to my feet to ask about my mother’s condition.

‘How is my mom doing right now?’

Instead of answering directly, the doctor said there was something I needed to hear. His expression was stiff like a statue, making it clear how serious the situation was. I felt a heavy weight drop in my chest.

In the consultation room, the doctor showed me a CT scan as I sat across from him.

He circled a part of the brain with a pen and explained that there was bleeding there. He said it seemed like she’d hit her head on something hard and that even if they performed surgery, the prognosis was likely poor. Clenching my fists tightly, I insisted on going through with the surgery no matter what. The doctor said he’d do his best.

…Then the hospital gave me the estimated surgery cost—close to 10 million won. No matter how much it cost, I was determined to have the surgery done.

The problem was, I didn’t have that kind of money back then.

‘…….’

In a hurry, I filed for a leave of absence from school and refunded my tuition. I gathered every penny I had in my bank account, but it still wasn’t enough. My uncle muttered that it was a lost cause and that I should just say my goodbyes, but when I glared at him sharply, he reluctantly pulled some crumpled bills out of his pocket and handed them to me. Fifty-six thousand won. That was his entire fortune.

I even sought help from relatives who were practically strangers. But all they offered were pitying looks and words of sympathy; none of them actually helped.

Throughout all of this, my so-called father was nowhere to be found. During the three days I struggled to make ends meet, I didn’t catch even a glimpse of his shadow.

“…We needed about 20 million won for the hospital and surgery fees, but my father didn’t even show his face.”

CEO Jang muttered in a low voice.

“Twenty million won.”

“…I scraped together money from here and there, even considering taking out a loan. But loans… they grow into mountains before you know it, so I tried my best to resolve it on my own. Eventually, I managed to cover the shortfall with help from a relative, and we were able to proceed with the surgery…”

As the surgery date drew closer, I visited relatives every day, knocking on their doors. I even tracked down distant family members. They threw money at me as if giving alms, telling me not to come back after taking it.

I explained all of this unnecessarily in detail, my breathing uneven between sentences. The man must’ve noticed because he tilted his chin slightly.

“My mom underwent surgery safely. But her prognosis wasn’t good, so she ended up being hospitalized long-term… I stayed by her side, taking care of her, nursing her.”

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my fingertips, like being stabbed with kindling. I bit down hard on my lower lip to stifle a groan. My hands instinctively reached for the bandage covering an old scar. My fingers compulsively scratched at the knot, and the man frowned deeply.

“…Taking care of her.”

The man suddenly grabbed both my wrists at once, binding them like a criminal restrained with rope. With my hands surrendered to him, I stammered as I continued.

“…One day, I went home. I assumed the house would be empty, but I heard a voice.”

As soon as I mentioned it, my body was dragged back to that day in a flash.

Drawn by the voice inside, I stepped through the doorway. My father’s booming voice echoed throughout the yard. A mix of anger over his absence at the hospital and an inexplicable unease churned in my chest. Slowly, I climbed the stairs. The closer I got to his voice, the more the unease grew in size.

“It was my father. He was on the phone with a loan shark.”

During the day, I stayed by my mom’s side, and at night, I went out to work. The ICU racked up a daily bill of 400,000 won, piling on like snow. Whenever I couldn’t be there, a kind woman named Kyunghee stayed by my mom’s side. She was truly a blessing.

One day, after I returned to the hospital after work, she said to me:

‘Sweetie.’

‘…….’

‘Go home and get cleaned up today. I’ll stay here at the hospital tonight.’

I glanced at my mom lying on the bed. My whole body was aching, and my eyes were dry from days without sleep.

‘…Thank you.’

I bowed deeply to her and headed home. Each step felt like a lead weight was tied to my feet. I was already so worn out. To keep going, I needed some rest.

It was the first time in two months that I returned home. As I weakly reached for the door, I noticed it was already half-open. Puzzled, I stopped in my tracks when I heard a voice from inside.

‘…Come on, damn it. Just wait a little longer!’

It was my father. I flinched, then my face hardened. That bastard. Fury boiled up inside me as I thought about how he’d never shown up at the hospital all this time. It enraged me that the first time he decided to appear was like this.

Stepping inside, I saw the door to the second floor ajar. My father’s shouts echoed from within.

‘Damn it! Who said I’m running off with the money!?’

Through the phone, I faintly heard the voice of what must’ve been a loan shark. Those bastards were vicious. Most of my father’s debts came from gambling, and I later learned that the loan sharks were con artists who set up games to trap people in debt.

‘I told you, I’ll pay it back!’

There was a loud crash, like he’d slammed his phone against the wall. After the noise, his voice rang out again, filled with rage.

‘…The damn thing has to be here somewhere.’

He was searching for something in the storage room, throwing things around in a mess. The sound of items toppling over reached me.

From the gap in the door, I could hear his muttering. Every word he spat out was venomous, dripping with malice.

I couldn’t yet make out what he was saying clearly, but for some reason, I felt I needed to silence my footsteps. Carefully, I climbed the stairs, trying to make no sound.

The muffled voice became clearer.

‘…What a stubborn woman.’

Something felt wrong. Our family rarely used the second floor. My mom, in particular, avoided it because of her weak legs.

Though, there was a time I’d seen her go up there when I was young. One night, she quietly got out of bed, took something from her vanity, and climbed the stairs. My father was nowhere to be seen that night, so I followed her outside, scared of the dark.

Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I asked her what she had just taken. She stroked my cheek and said:

‘Yeowon, don’t live like me.’

‘Like you…?’

What did it mean to live like her? I mumbled as I asked, but she just smiled and hugged me tightly. Then she warned me not to tell my father, her expression so serious that even as a child, I took her words to heart.