99
A considerable amount of time had passed since Yeon Ji-ho returned to this world. Today, as he struggled to open his eyes in bed, Ji-ho lay still, staring at the ceiling of his room. The pattern of the old wooden ceiling was familiar.
Normally, if it were Ji-ho before he knew Set, he would have had no thoughts at all. However, having once fully embraced Set’s warmth, Ji-ho curled up his body at the cold touch of the dawn air on his arms. He still didn’t want to do anything.
He knew he had to eat. Since he had barely managed a spoonful at dinner last night due to morning sickness before giving up, he absolutely had to eat breakfast today. If only for the baby’s sake.
“Haa…”
Ji-ho struggled to get up. As he pushed his feet into the slippers under the bed and stood up, his legs wobbled slightly. It was because he hadn’t been eating properly, leaving his whole body weak.
Heading to the kitchen, Ji-ho lifted the lid of the pot on the gas stove to check its contents, then listlessly turned on the heat. The menu was egg soup, but even that wasn’t made by Ji-ho; it was food that Soo-cheol had cooked and Seon-rok had brought over.
For other small household chores, he tended to call someone once in a while to take care of them. As Seon-rok had said, it was impossible for the current Ji-ho to handle all the housework alone. Even though he was diligently taking iron supplements, he often experienced blackouts.
“…What should I do today?”
After finishing his meal, Ji-ho sat at the dining table, blankly staring at the large window in the living room. Perhaps because it was mid-autumn, red and yellow leaves were falling in droves from the trees outside.
Recently, this was all Ji-ho did. Sitting blankly all day, just looking outside.
Ji-ho carefully placed his hand on his now noticeably protruding belly and gently touched it. Perhaps because he wasn’t particularly plump to begin with, his belly seemed to stand out a bit more. Ji-ho slightly lowered his head and whispered softly to his belly,
“I’m sorry… Daddy can’t eat much.”
Ji-ho still hadn’t found a food that could help with his morning sickness. While egg dishes went down somewhat, even those would make him rush to the bathroom if he ate a little too much, as the unique fishy taste of eggs would suddenly rise up.
He had heard that pregnant women would wake up their husbands in the middle of the night, craving certain foods, but Ji-ho didn’t even have that. At night, he often lay awake until dawn, worried about putting pressure on his belly.
His belly was growing, his cheeks were hollow, and his ribs were showing. As a result, Ji-ho gradually looked in the mirror less and less.
But he could endure all of that somehow. If only Ji-ho himself could just bear it.
What he couldn’t endure was…
Knock knock.
Ji-ho’s shoulders, which had been hunched as he looked down at his belly, flinched. Then they began to tremble uncontrollably. He already knew who that knock belonged to.
Ji-ho painfully swallowed and raised his head. He saw the face of a man smiling at him from beyond the large window.
Gritting his teeth, Ji-ho went over and fully drew the double curtains hanging on the window. With the man’s face no longer visible, he could finally breathe, though his heart was still pounding fiercely.
“Please, please, please…”
Even then, Ji-ho couldn’t rest comfortably on the sofa but paced back and forth in the middle of the living room. He was biting his nails, unaware that his fingers were bleeding from the unconscious action.
However, his steps suddenly stopped. A familiar sound reached his ears.
Beep.
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
Ji-ho’s eyes squeezed shut. His heart was pounding as if it would burst, and fear filled his face.
Beeeeeep…
The error sound of the door lock when the password was wrong reached his ears. Just as Ji-ho was letting out a low sigh of relief, that terrible sound came again.
Beep.
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
Beeeeeep…
The process of touching the door lock, entering the password, and getting it wrong was repeated at least five or six times. Finally, a loud warning sound indicating that the door lock couldn’t be used unless opened from inside due to too many incorrect attempts rang out. Only then did it become quiet outside.
Ji-ho sat with his hands covering his ears until those sounds stopped repeating. This had been happening every single day without fail.
One day, he had been so exhausted that he reported the man to the police. However, the police said that since he hadn’t actually entered the house, there wasn’t much they could do immediately, only promising to patrol the area more diligently. Of course, Hadad was never once spotted by the police.
Another time, Ji-ho had gotten the contact information for a private security company from Seon-rok and had them stationed densely around the pension. Then Hadad…
‘Ji-ho, if you keep doing this, I won’t use gentle methods anymore.’
When Ji-ho had gone out briefly and come back, Hadad was sitting on the sofa. As Ji-ho collapsed to the floor in shock, Hadad approached, helped him up, and said,
‘Don’t provoke me too much.’
That’s when it started. When Ji-ho gave up on stopping Hadad from barging into his house at will. All he could do was change the house password periodically and draw the curtains so the inside couldn’t be seen.
But Hadad was someone who could break down the front door and enter the house anytime he wanted. He just chose not to. And all of this situation was turning into stress for Ji-ho.
Some days, Ji-ho wondered if Hadad was doing this to drive him to death. The way he kept pressing passwords he knew he couldn’t guess, and how he kept circling around instead of just using force to intimidate Ji-ho and come inside.
He wanted to ask outright what Hadad wanted from him. But he also had a conflicting desire to not get involved with that man anymore.
“…”
As everything became quiet, Ji-ho slowly opened his eyes, which had been shut tight as he crouched. Only after confirming that there was nothing in his darkened house did he manage to exhale heavily.
That’s when it happened.
Knock knock. Knock knock knock.
At that sound, Ji-ho was gripped by fear first. He certainly hadn’t been that kind of person before, but at some point, someone visiting his house had started to feel like terror. It was all a habit created by Hadad.
“Ji-ho, Ji-ho!”
At the sound of Seon-rok’s voice from outside, Ji-ho turned his head slightly, trembling. Clenching his fist tightly, Ji-ho slowly stood up and went outside.
Click, clack. Clack. Click.
Ji-ho unlocked the four locks one by one. Only after pressing the button on the final door lock could he open the front door.
“Ji-ho, you…!”
Seon-rok’s eyes widened like saucers when he saw Ji-ho’s pale, ashen face. Seon-rok peeked inside, hardly believing what he was seeing, but the interior was pitch dark. It was no different from when Ji-ho had lived as a hikikomori after losing his parents.
Seon-rok, his lips pressed into a thin line, went inside past Ji-ho. Then, he grabbed a roomy cardigan suitable for a pregnant person from inside and draped it over Ji-ho’s shoulders, saying,
“Ji-ho, this can’t go on anymore. Let’s get you hospitalized.”
“…”
“I know you’re still waiting for Set. But this isn’t right. Let’s get you hospitalized, get pheromone therapy, make sure you’re eating properly, okay?”
“Uncle Seon-rok.”
Ji-ho’s dry lips moved as he called out to Seon-rok. At that call, Seon-rok, who was bending down to help Ji-ho put on his shoes, looked up.
“I…”
“Yes, Ji-ho?”
“I… want to live…”
Please save me.
At those words, Seon-rok’s eyes turned red. He knew better than anyone that those pleas for help weren’t actually for Ji-ho himself. They both already knew that at this rate, the baby in his belly couldn’t be saved.
“Ji-ho, if you get hospitalized.”
“…”
“I’ll drag Set here by the collar if I have to, okay? Ji-ho. Let’s get you hospitalized.”
In fact, Ji-ho had been advised to be hospitalized for quite some time. But despite that, Ji-ho hadn’t left his house. Or rather, he couldn’t leave.
Because Set had fallen into the wardrobe in his house.
Ji-ho had been guarding the house, thinking that Set might suddenly fall again into his wardrobe like last time. He did this even though he could have left at any time to escape from Hadad.
But that expectation wasn’t fulfilled as days passed, then weeks. Every night when Ji-ho lay in bed, he would stare blankly at the wardrobe next to him, spending the night like that.
“The baby must be cold too. Wrap your clothes tightly, and, yes, come out carefully.”
On an autumn day when leaves were falling, Ji-ho left his house like that. Leaving the wardrobe door open for Set, whom he had been waiting for so desperately.
