83.
When Choi Mujin went out, someone else would be in the house. Sometimes it was the large-built Park Dongsu, and other times it was the woman named Seo Miso. But today, there was no one.
“They’re both busy, so you’ll have to be alone for half a day. Is that okay?”
“Huh? Oh. Sure, that’s fine. I’m a grown adult.”
At this incredibly convenient timing, Haseo couldn’t help but feel suspicious.
“Make sure to eat properly, don’t work too much in the garden. And keep your phone with you just in case—call me if anything happens.”
“I will.”
Haseo quickly nodded. And when Choi Mujin, dressed in a black suit, left the house, he was left alone. Was he really alone? Just to be sure, he lingered around the house for a while, but no one came.
‘Now’s my chance!’
The thought briefly crossed his mind that this opportunity might be a trap. He also wondered why Choi Mujin would set a trap for him, but the uneasiness that had settled in a corner of his heart for some time wouldn’t disappear. Haseo changed his clothes and put on a windbreaker with a hood. Then, recalling the path that Jisu often mentioned, he fumbled his way down.
It would be easier to take the path made by cars, but somehow he didn’t feel like it. Going down the mountain wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t impossible either. Whenever he wanted to sit down from exhaustion, he thought that even Jisu took this path, which helped him get back up. How far had he come down?
At some point, the bushes and trees disappeared. The ground also became flatter, making it easier to walk.
“Hah.”
From here, it would take about 30 more minutes of walking to reach the village.
‘Next time, I should absolutely tell Jisu not to walk here.’
What was a child’s stamina? How could he possibly come here so frequently? Haseo persistently walked until he reached the entrance of the small village. Was it coincidence? Just then, Jisu, who had been loitering at the village entrance, spotted him and opened his eyes wide in surprise.
“Hyung?”
“Hi.”
When Haseo weakly waved his hand, Jisu came running over in a hurry.
“What brings you here, hyung? Are you okay? I heard you were sick?”
“I’m fine with this much.”
Though his heart was constricted from being out of breath, he tried hard to expand his chest. He didn’t want to give the impression that he lost to a child in terms of stamina.
“By the way, that old man…”
“Which old man?”
“The old man who came to pick you up last time. Can I meet him?”
“The old man? So you really do know each other. He said he wasn’t an old man, but something seemed strange. Are you close?”
“No, not really.”
Without asking further, Jisu led Haseo to the front of the pawnshop owner’s house. Then he said he had to go to his academy and quickly ran off.
“You could have just told me the location.”
He was truly a kind and nice child. Haseo looked at the small house in front of him. The brick house visible beyond the wall, which was higher than those of other houses, looked almost like a small castle. It gave an impression of wanting to hide something rather than being open. As he approached the gate in the wall and pressed the bell, a gruff voice was heard from inside.
─ Who is it?
Haseo took a deep breath and said,
“It’s me, Haseo. Lee Haseo.”
Then the voice on the other side paused for a moment. The front door opened, and the sound of slippers dragging could be heard. When the gate opened, the face revealed was still familiar.
“Come in.”
“Yes.”
Haseo followed the old man and sat on a wooden platform in front of the house.
“Your face is pale. Wait a moment.”
He went inside and came out with cold water and a large straw hat. He put the water down in front and placed the hat firmly on Haseo’s head.
“Grandpa.”
“Yes, yes. I know. I know.”
The old man sat across from him and took a sip of the water he had brought for himself.
“You want to ask why I’m here, right? This is my hometown. After closing the pawnshop, I thought a lot about what to do, and since I’m getting old, I decided to spend my final days in my hometown.”
Haseo narrowed his eyes and glared at the old man.
“That’s not what I was curious about.”
“Logically speaking, would you be curious about that?”
“You’re using honorifics well now. You didn’t at first.”
The old man sighed and looked directly at Haseo.
“Alright, what do you want to ask?”
There was so much he wanted to ask.
“My family story. Do you know it?”
“I do know. Because you told me.”
“Can you tell me again?”
“Why, why do you want to know that again? There probably weren’t many good things.”
“That’s for me to judge.”
The old man laughed softly. But that laughter was truly strange. It didn’t seem like he was laughing out of joy, but rather it felt like the laughter of someone who had given up on something.
“Do you know why I don’t let you into my house?”
“How would I know that?”
“Right now, my house has everything from CCTVs to listening devices. Many are installed.”
“What?”
Why would he have such things installed in his house? CCTV could be installed out of concern for thieves, but the listening devices didn’t make sense.
“I didn’t install them. Someone else did.”
“Someone else?”
“Someone who wants to know your every move. But Haseo. Do you really need to know the truth? It might be much better to live as you are now. I hear the person beside you treats you well.”
“How do you know that?”
“There are ways to know everything. Everything.”
Haseo lightly tapped the wooden platform with his finger.
“Tell me.”
The old man’s eyes sank deeply. He looked at Haseo, who was sitting with his back straight, and slowly opened his mouth. From his lips flowed Haseo’s past. The process of how the initially defiant boy gradually changed. And how he came to know about the boy’s family situation, and so on.
“You said your grandmother was your only family.”
Upon hearing the word grandmother, his heart churned again, and his head began to ache as if it was about to split.
“But your grandmother was sick. One day she collapsed and couldn’t get up. Luckily, she was taken to the hospital by ambulance, but they said she wouldn’t wake up again. But Haseo, you couldn’t give up.”
“…I chose life support.”
Now he remembered. Haseo pressed his suddenly hot eyes firmly with his hand as he listened to the continuing words.
“That’s right. But you know. I know because I’ve been in and out of hospitals because of my child too. The money needed for life support is not small. At least, it wasn’t an amount you could handle. Your body was weak, your home was poor. You said that even when you tried to work in construction to somehow save her, you would end up bedridden for more than a week.”
“Yes, so I chose to take jobs that required less physical strength, and I chose to scam others.”
Everything was Haseo’s choice. If his grandmother woke up, she might even slap his back. Still, Haseo couldn’t let her go. He wanted her to wake up and scold him for doing bad things. Because she was his only family. Because he had never had anything else.
“Although I’m stuck in this rural village, I still know quite a few people in Seoul. And rumors, no matter how much you try to hide them, will eventually spread. Director Choi of Isaac Finance has a lover.”
Haseo’s heart began to beat rapidly.
“I heard that lover is you. So I looked into it more.”
The old man had no family. Having lost his entire family to a drunk driver, Haseo was someone for whom he held a certain affection. Although he had closed the pawnshop and fled due to Choi Mujin’s threats, he later had such thoughts. What was there to fear for an old man who didn’t have many days left to live anyway?
“That’s how I came to know about your grandmother.”
“My grandmother…”
“She died. I heard she died on the day there was a fire at the hospital where she was admitted.”
Haseo finally couldn’t hold back and let his tears fall.
“Grandmother, grandmother…”
His grandmother had died, yet Haseo had no memory of attending her funeral. Or did he even attend the funeral?
The memories around that time were jumbled. So as he listened to the old man’s words, some parts gradually surfaced.
“Father. My father took me away.”
At first, he followed without suspicion, but things grew increasingly strange. And it ended with him losing consciousness. When he woke up again, he wasn’t in his right mind. And Haseo had been in such a state once more—when he ate the cookies he had received from Sion, who wanted to trap Choi Mujin.
Only this time, his condition was more serious than before.
“How, how could I forget my grandmother?”
The only person who gave love to Haseo. He had forgotten her for a while. He couldn’t respond properly even when hearing stories about her.
“Haseo.”
“I shouldn’t have done that!”
“Haseo. Calm down. Calm down!”
Haseo cried out, then bent down and pressed his forehead against the wooden platform. The old man sighed deeply at the continuous sobs.
“Grandmother, grandmother!”
The old man, who had tried to comfort Haseo somehow, decided to just let him cry more. He’s human too, he’ll get tired after crying. In his current state, no words seemed like they would get through. The old man searched his pockets and took out a cigarette. Then he slowly burned the cigarette, taking one breath at a time, waiting for Haseo to come to his senses.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
