76.
Lee Jeongin sighed as he watched the melodrama unfolding before his eyes. He found his son pathetic, wailing while clinging to what was essentially a half-corpse. But soon that pathetic son would bring him a large sum of money.
The doctor who had been shaking his head repeatedly left the room. Watching him go, Jeongin was certain the doctor was hiding something. After the doctor left, only the nurse and Haseo remained. Despite being exhausted, Haseo continued to cry with wet eyes.
“Grandmother, Grandmother.”
Even the nurses, tired of his drawn-out crying, wore sympathetic expressions. It was indeed a pitiful sight, but Jeongin’s face remained impassive. There was no need to fake an expression since no one was looking at him anyway.
‘But is this really a commotion?’
Ryu Jiho had told him to take Haseo away during the commotion. But this hardly qualified as one. Although Haseo was distraught, Park Dongsu had already arrived and was standing behind Jeongin. He had no confidence in deceiving or overpowering Park Dongsu. How could someone who had never properly exercised push aside someone who did it for a living?
Given the situation, Jeongin was becoming increasingly anxious. Something needed to happen. Or maybe it didn’t matter. He had the drug Mr. Yoon had given him. If he slipped it into Haseo’s drink, that alone would earn him a substantial amount. The problem was escaping afterward.
Though he had nodded in agreement out of greed for money, now that the moment had arrived, he felt uneasy. His heart was racing, and sweat beaded on his forehead.
“Aah, AAAH!”
Just then, a scream erupted from Haseo. Haseo’s grandmother, Jeongin’s mother, had finally taken her last breath. Haseo clung to her, desperately trying to wake her up by massaging and rubbing her entire body.
“Mr. Lee Haseo.”
A nurse spoke with a pitying expression, but it seemed unlikely to get through to him. The nurses shook their heads sympathetically and left the room like the doctor had. Now only three people remained in the room.
“Ughh. Hnnng.”
As the two maintained their silence, the sound of crying seemed even louder.
‘The commotion, when is the commotion supposed to happen?’
Just as Jeongin was tensing up, a loud noise erupted from outside.
WAAAAAANG!
Jeongin had heard a similar sound before. Someone had pressed the fire alarm! Soon after the noisy warning sound, a voice came from the ceiling.
“The fire alarm is currently ringing. There is a risk of fire, so please follow the staff’s instructions and evacuate slowly. I repeat.”
The previously quiet hospital suddenly became bustling. Staff members rushed out to evacuate people, but since most were patients, the process wasn’t very fast. Nevertheless, amidst their best efforts, smoke began to leak from the room next to where they were. Park Dongsu, who noticed it first, opened the door to the smoking room without hesitation.
“There’s a fire here!”
At Park Dongsu’s shout, staff members rushed over with fire extinguishers. Could this be the commotion they had mentioned? As people scrambled to put out the fire, onlookers crowded in, and something felt off. Recognizing this, Jeongin moved quickly.
“Haseo, Haseo! There’s a fire. We need to evacuate quickly!”
He shook Haseo’s shoulder, urging him to get up quickly. But Haseo remained slumped and shook his head.
“I can’t go! How can I leave Grandmother?”
“Grandmother is dead!”
“She’s not dead!”
This frustrating kid! Meanwhile, the fire in the next room was being rapidly extinguished. Jeongin gritted his teeth and raised his palm.
Slap.
As he struck Haseo’s cheek with force, Haseo seemed to come to his senses, looking up at Jeongin with dazed eyes.
“You’ll die like this! Do you think Grandmother would want that?”
His son was a young man in his twenties, in his prime. Though he wasn’t large in stature due to poor health since childhood, Jeongin couldn’t easily drag him along either.
“Get up now!”
So Jeongin put on the facade of a concerned father.
“B-but.”
Haseo looked at his grandmother with lingering attachment.
“I’d rather stay with Grandmother…”
“How foolish. Are you trying to drive a nail through your grandmother’s heart?”
He blurted out whatever came to mind, but it seemed to reach Haseo. Wiping his tears with the back of his hand, Haseo stood up. Although he staggered, having used most of his energy crying, he moved as Jeongin led him.
As the two crossed the corridor, Park Dongsu, who was helping put out the fire, glanced at them. But it seemed he couldn’t immediately follow due to the wall of people. Jeongin took advantage of this to pull Haseo along. Despite thinking it might be impossible, strength surged from somewhere in this situation.
‘Money, my money!’
Jeongin led Haseo down, further down. Mixing in with the evacuating people, Haseo didn’t seem to sense anything strange.
‘Success! I’ve succeeded!’
All they needed to do now was reach the parking lot. But as soon as they exited onto the first floor, Haseo stopped in his tracks.
“G-go! What are you doing?”
“Park Dongsu hasn’t come out yet.”
“He was putting out the fire. He’ll be out soon after he finishes. He’s not someone who would die easily.”
“But it’s still a fire.”
Have you ever seen such a soft-hearted fellow? From observing them closely, Jeongin had come to understand the relationship between Choi Mujin and Haseo. They seemed to be lovers, but Mujin’s control was terrifying. The villa door could only be opened from the outside, and Haseo couldn’t go out properly except to visit his grandmother at the hospital. Combining this with what he had heard from Ryu Jiho and Mr. Yoon, he drew a conclusion.
Lee Haseo wasn’t staying with Choi Mujin out of pure love. He was enduring it to keep his grandmother hospitalized and to bear the enormous hospital bills. And yet, here he was, worried about one of Mujin’s subordinates.
‘The old lady raised him wrong.’
Jeongin unconsciously clicked his tongue. The boy’s heart was unnecessarily soft for a man.
“Then let’s wait at the parking lot over there. Okay?”
Haseo slowly turned to look at Jeongin’s anxious words.
“Why?”
Despite his face being red from crying, his eyes shone clearly. He had sensed something strange amidst his grief and had regained his senses.
“It’s safe here too.”
“Safe? What if a spark flies down here!”
“That doesn’t seem right.”
“How can you tell something like that by feeling?”
When Jeongin yelled, Haseo tilted his head.
“Father.”
And just as Haseo was about to speak again, a skinny man suddenly appeared from behind and pressed something like a handkerchief to Haseo’s mouth. Haseo tried to resist in panic, but soon his eyes closed, and his body collapsed.
“Where, where?”
Jeongin looked around in confusion and asked the man. The man mumbled and uttered a single word.
‘Toho.’
Only then did Jeongin feel somewhat relieved.
“I’ll help.”
Jeongin quickly approached Haseo and supported him. The man didn’t reject Jeongin’s help. The two moved to the parking lot and stood in front of a large black car.
“…The money?”
When Jeongin cautiously asked, the man opened the car door and handed him a paper bag from inside. When Jeongin looked inside, it was filled with 50,000 won bills. Given the amount, it was quite heavy.
“Heh heh.”
A grin escaped due to the weight. With this, he could flee to a foreign country and live a new life. He hadn’t adapted well in Korea anyway, so it would be similar wherever he went. As long as there was a place to gamble.
‘Yes, that’s right.’
But strangely, this wasn’t enough to satisfy him. Initially, Jeongin had received two proposals. One was to help with Haseo’s kidnapping, and the other was to drug either Choi Mujin or Haseo. At first, he thought it would be difficult to accomplish both, but now he wondered if it might be possible. Such thoughts began to emerge.
“May I see my son’s face one last time?”
“Three minutes.”
The man nodded as if annoyed, then turned his head and took out a cigarette. Three minutes was more than enough time. Jeongin approached Haseo, who was sprawled on the car seat, and opened his mouth. He poured the drug from the eye drop container directly into Haseo’s mouth and covered his nose.
“Mmph.”
He had seen somewhere that if you block someone’s nose, they’ll swallow what’s in their mouth. Haseo swallowed all of the small amount of liquid. Only after confirming this did Jeongin exit the car. He didn’t know what kind of drug it was.
‘At least it’s not a vitamin.’
It was probably what one would call a “bad drug.” Realizing this, his fingertips began to tremble slightly.
“T-then I’ll be going now.”
The man, who had almost finished his cigarette, gave a slight nod. And just as Jeongin was about to walk away, something struck his face.
“Agh, AAGH!”
Even in this situation, he gripped the paper bag tightly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
