#92
“I mean you look like you’d be affectionate, but you’re actually quite indifferent. Even if your father is gruff, you could take better care of him.”
Is that as easy as you make it sound? Ho-woo raised one eyebrow skeptically. His slightly protruding lip clearly showed his discomfort.
“It’s fine if we’re doing well even without contact.”
“Right, they say no news is good news. As long as there’s no contact about bad things, it should be fine.”
Ho-woo tried to ignore the twinge of conscience from having recently caused not-so-good contact.
The two went down to the parking lot, checked if they had forgotten anything, and left the apartment. Fortunately, the weekend roads were quiet, so they had plenty of time even after stopping at the flower shop Do-hyun had found and making an expensive bouquet with flowers Ho-woo didn’t know the names of.
The employee seemed to have explained various things, but honestly, it didn’t really sink in. The flower shop owner, who had eagerly explained the names and meanings of the flowers in great detail, handed his business card to Do-hyun, not Ho-woo, before they left the shop.
Do-hyun is definitely good-looking, isn’t he?
Though not as much as Oh-yul.
Thinking that Do-hyun would have jumped for joy if he’d heard that, Ho-woo stared at his profile and chuckled.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Wondering if you’ll contact him. You’re popular, Kim Do-hyun.”
“You’re just realizing that now?”
This glib way of answering was part of Do-hyun’s charm. He was always confident and bold. Without Do-hyun, Ho-woo’s school life might have been much gloomier.
For a small child who had lost all memories at 10 years old, nothing could be as cruel as peers of the same age.
Come to think of it, besides Do-hyun, there was another kid back then…
Though they weren’t in the same school and didn’t meet often, they occasionally ran into each other on the way home.
The gaze of that child sitting on the playground swing was so intense that Ho-woo had approached him. Unlike the cheerful Do-hyun, that child was a good listener.
In a way, it must have been difficult for a child of that age to calmly listen to others. It would be nice if Ho-woo could remember the face, but he couldn’t recall the face or appearance at all. If he had met that child with Do-hyun, he would have remembered, but strangely, he never encountered that child when he was with Do-hyun.
The only thing he remembered was…
That the child had beautiful eyes.
Lost in thought for a moment, Ho-woo adjusted his clothes again as he saw the familiar place outside the window and grabbed the bouquet from the back seat.
“Your father?”
“He’s probably already there.”
Ho-woo moved slowly. Inside the building, the expressions of people gathered to commemorate the dead varied. Some wailed in sorrow, some tried to suppress it, some looked calm, and some even smiled. In a world where they had to get used to death, people accustomed to long-settled peace missed the dead in their own ways.
The shelves stacked in layers, slightly away from the building entrance, were filled with white porcelain urns. Ho-woo spotted a familiar back staring intently at one spot at the edge of those shelves.
“Father.”
At this not-so-loud call, the middle-aged man glanced back at the two. His expression was as impassive as Ho-woo’s. The man, who had let go of hatred and sorrow eroded by time, didn’t show tears even in the face of death.
“You’re here.”
Do-hyun bowed his head in greeting to this gruff greeting and response. Lee Ho-yeon, Ho-woo’s father, scanned their surroundings and asked again.
“That friend?”
“Who… Oh, he couldn’t make it due to scheduling conflicts.”
Though he hadn’t actually asked, Oh-yul seemed busy lately, so it wasn’t a lie. Only Do-hyun, who didn’t understand, looked puzzled and ended up observing a moment of silence for commemoration.
“I bought some flowers…”
Ho-woo trailed off uncertainly after noticing other columbarium niches filled with white chrysanthemums. Unlike the other niches, a bouquet of unfamiliar flowers was placed in the empty space without even a photo.
After standing blankly for a while looking at the scene, the man spoke abruptly.
“Nothing unusual happening these days?”
Ho-woo was about to answer casually to this annual passing inquiry. If only Ho-yeon’s next words hadn’t followed.
“If anything happens, tell me right away.”
Ho-yeon’s gaze fell on Ho-woo. He read deep worry and concern in his gruff father’s expression.
“Nothing’s wrong. Don’t worry.”
Though he answered calmly, he felt bitter inside. The fact he couldn’t bring himself to tell his father weighed on Ho-woo as guilt. He tried to force a smile, but unsure if he was smiling properly, Ho-woo simply lowered his head instead.
The middle-aged man didn’t seem to believe his son’s words not to worry, but he opened and closed his mouth before pressing his lips tightly shut. Unable to utter a single word he wanted to say, he frowned deeply with a pale face and let out a deep sigh.
“…Alright then, that’s fine.”
He stared blankly at his grown-up son. He was so small before, but now he had grown so much. Time flows like water, and that Esper had come to claim the price of the past promise.
‘Did I do the right thing?’
Ho-yeon constantly worried whether he had made the wrong choice. The first year after losing Yeo Na-kyung was painful, the second year was full of hatred. After the unresolvable hatred passed, the third year was busy pulling himself together. While he was struggling with his emotions, young Ho-woo was suffocating in that emotional swamp.
Ho-yeon regretted that he should have taken care of Ho-woo, who was only seven years old, first. If he could turn back time, that’s what he should have done.
But time passed doesn’t return, and the small child left broken and neglected showed no improvement despite belated treatment. Ho-woo, who had closed his mouth and lost expression, turned away from the world.
Ho-yeon desperately wished. Please, anyone, help.
‘Let’s make a deal.’
On a day of thunderstorms and heavy rain, it came.
Eyes mixed with purple and blue, looking at him while tapping on the window. The image etched clearly in his mind with a flash of light still haunted Ho-yeon like a nightmare.
Should I not have accepted that offer no matter how hard it was?
The guilt based on such a premise still tormented Ho-yeon. He felt sorry to look at his son’s face. He had mortgaged Ho-woo’s future to buy the present.
The small monster set a condition in exchange for erasing all of Ho-woo’s memories before the age of 10. It declared that it was temporarily entrusting Ho-woo because it didn’t have the power to protect him yet, but when the time came, it would come to reclaim him. Moreover, Ho-yeon was even restricted from revealing anything about the deal conditions to Ho-woo.
He had no choice but to accept that offer. At least Ho-yeon was able to add his own condition to the promise with that devil.
The condition was that if Ho-woo didn’t want to go with him when he came to take Ho-woo later, he wouldn’t force it, and the monster readily accepted. The curved eyes in the darkness were full of confidence. The purple eyes, now devoid of blue light, gleamed.
Thinking about it now, it was just a promise. If he didn’t keep the promise, Ho-yeon had no way to enforce it. He could only hope that he would keep his promise.
If he keeps the promise, all choices are up to Ho-woo, the person concerned. However, Ho-yeon was skeptical.
He wanted to have hope, but the small monster threw an arrogant gaze disguised as politeness. It took a long time to drive out Kim Dong-cheol and turn this city itself into a prison. As long as Ho-woo is in this city, that man will never give up. In such a situation, even if Ho-woo refuses, will he really back down quietly?
‘Probably not.’
He waited 21 years for this moment, so he’ll stick around for years, trying to occupy Ho-woo’s side somehow.
Ho-yeon stared blankly at Ho-woo. Although he couldn’t be overly affectionate to his son, he wasn’t completely indifferent either, so he vaguely knew how Ho-woo’s relationships had ended so far.
He also guessed whose work it was.
Would Oh-yul give up if Ho-woo luckily caught one of the few chances in a year to go to another city? Ho-yeon seriously considered. Should he consistently try these few chances a year to immigrate to another city?
But the end of that consideration was ‘No.’
‘No matter what we do, we can’t escape.’
The helplessness of knowing he was sending his child into danger but being unable to do anything made him feel even more miserable. Ho-yeon had been tormented by guilt his entire life since then, thinking that things might have been different if he had paid a little more attention, if he hadn’t let those three years slip by like that.
Now all he could do was support Ho-woo’s choices.
That was all.
“Ho-woo.”
“Yes?”
Startled by the soft call, unlike his usual gruff voice, Ho-woo, who had been staring blankly at the columbarium niche, turned to look at him in surprise. His round eyes trembled nervously.
“Let’s go eat now. You too, Do-hyun.”
Ho-yeon lightly patted his son’s shoulder and turned to leave.
Ho-woo’s strange gaze followed his back.
