Chapter 58
From next week, Hyeon-woo would only go to the tutoring center. The cafe had closed temporarily with a sign saying “Preparing for Remodeling.” The situation was developing more seriously than expected.
As Hyeon-woo approached the tutoring center, he saw one of his students getting out of a black car. It was the same car that had been following him a few days ago on his way to the center.
Ah. So that’s why.
It seemed his path had overlapped with one of the student’s parents.
“Teacher~!”
Ji-hye, who spotted Hyeon-woo from afar, came running with adorable little steps. The car disappeared.
“Ji-hye, you’re lucky~ Your parents dropped you off?”
Ji-hye shook her head at Hyeon-woo’s words.
“No. It wasn’t my parents.”
“Huh? Then who brought you here? An aunt? An uncle?”
“Umm~ None of those.”
“…Then who was it?”
“A super! Super handsome oppa! This tall!”
Ji-hye stood on her tiptoes and stretched her hand high. Hyeon-woo’s face hardened as he bent down to meet Ji-hye’s eye level and spoke sternly.
“Ji-hye, you shouldn’t ride in strangers’ cars.”
“He’s not a stranger. I’ve seen him before. He even bought treats for Ji-eun and Gyu-ri unnie!”
“…What?”
Alarmed, Hyeon-woo turned his head towards where the car had been, but it was already gone. He entered the tutoring center and reported what he had seen and heard to the director. The director’s expression also turned serious as she listened to Hyeon-woo’s story.
They repeatedly warned the children. Even if it’s someone they’ve seen before, they shouldn’t follow them carelessly. They should never get into a car unless their parents are with them.
Something didn’t feel right.
The black car. The eerie feeling he had when he first saw that car began to creep up again. His instinct had been correct. It wasn’t just paranoia.
What if there’s a kidnapping? There aren’t even any CCTVs around here.
Hyeon-woo bit his lower lip.
His mood, which had started to sink, plummeted to rock bottom after returning home. His heart was pounding furiously. Red foreclosure stickers were plastered all over valuable appliances and furniture, including the TV, sofa, and refrigerator.
The landlady was crying while hugging Yejun.
“Sob, what are we going to do now, what should we do, Yejun! Sob sob.”
“Waaah, Mom, Mom…!”
The cafe owner had vanished.
With the primary debtor gone, numerous collection notices and lawsuits were sent to this place where the joint guarantee had been made. The doorbell rang day and night. Menacing thugs frequently visited and threatened the mother and son.
Crash!
Furnishings shattered with a loud noise.
“Fuck! Give us the money, huh?! Give back the money you borrowed right now!”
Clang! Crack!
Household items were smashed to pieces by the iron pipes they wielded.
“It felt good when you borrowed it, right? How are you going to pay it back? Huh?!”
“…Please, if you could just wait a little, just a little longer…! She will surely return-”
“Damn it! You stupid woman! Return my ass, don’t you know that bitch ran off with your money? You should sell this house to pay us back, right?! Bring the house deed right now! Go and search for it!”
“No! No! Not the house, anything but the house…!”
The landlady, who had been prostrating herself and begging, fainted on the spot.
“Mom! Wake up! Uugh…”
Yejun, who was holding his collapsed mother and wailing, turned on his mobile phone and dialed 119. Hyeon-woo stepped in to stop the loan shark from grabbing Yejun’s hair.
“Stop it!”
“…Who are you? Fuck off, this has nothing to do with you! Unless you want to get beaten up.”
“Someone has collapsed!”
“Hey, who the hell are you?!”
The loan shark, who had been frowning at the sudden intervention of an outsider not related to the debtor’s family, suddenly began to look Hyeon-woo up and down. Hyeon-woo felt a chill as the gaze scrutinized him as if grading meat quality. The corners of the loan shark’s mouth curled up viciously.
“Are you an omega?”
“……”
“Heh, looks like you are. Will you pay instead? With what? Your body?”
“……”
“I wonder how great your body is?”
After that, Hyeon-woo was also included in their targets. The hair on his head stood on end at the impure gazes directed at him. However, Hyeon-woo didn’t yield to this and steadfastly shielded the two, enduring all sorts of humiliation from those who came to cause trouble each time.
The seized items went to auction, and forced execution of the house, which had been collateral, was scheduled. The landlady fainted several times a day, and each time, Yejun took care of his mother and headed to the hospital.
Today too, Hyeon-woo was left alone in the empty house.
Feeling like he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep easily, he sat up, pulling off the blanket and hugging his knees. The sound of drizzling rain and cars running on wet asphalt occasionally flowed in from beyond the window. And so, Hyeon-woo was gradually consumed by the pitch-black darkness.
They were a mother and son who had lived more diligently than anyone. The world was too cruel to the weak. The bare face of the reality he faced was too frightening. In a world that’s already harsh and barren for living alone, is it okay for me to have a child? Can I raise a child on my own? Can I protect the child with my own strength?
Ding dong-.
In the midst of these thoughts, the doorbell rang.
It was past midnight.
It’s those people again. Coming in with their shoes on, breaking and smashing things as they please.
He lay down and pulled the blanket over his head. But the doorbell kept ringing incessantly.
Ding dong-.
Ding dong-.
Finally, Hyeon-woo threw off the blanket and headed to the front door. Even in that short moment, the doorbell rang frantically, unable to wait.
“Just a moment!”
Hyeon-woo shouted irritably, and only then did the sound stop.
What on earth did they want at this hour? The gangsters who came knocking at all hours and raising their voices were causing no small inconvenience to the neighbors as well.
Hyeon-woo unlocked and opened the door irritably. The enclosed stairwell was dark and eerie with even the sensor light out. He narrowed his eyes and peered outside, but it was difficult to make out anything even an inch ahead.
“What is it?”
He shouted into the darkness, but there was no answer. Only Hyeon-woo’s voice echoed faintly. There was no sense of a person’s presence. An inexplicable fear suddenly washed over him, causing his shoulders to tremble slightly. Just as he was about to hurriedly close the front door.
Thunk- A loafer blocked the closing gap of the door.
The loafer, which had only been visible as a black outline, became clearer under the moonlight seeping into the house as the dark clouds cleared.
It was a familiar loafer.
“……!”
Hyeon-woo’s eyes widened as he recognized it. His hand holding the doorknob began to tremble. It was the handmade loafer he had personally chosen as a birthday gift for Tae-geon.
His heart felt like it was about to jump out of his mouth. Hyeon-woo froze on the spot, forgetting even to breathe. The doorknob of the front door, which began to open again, slowly slipped from Hyeon-woo’s hand.
“I missed you.”
An arm reaching out from the darkness pulled Hyeon-woo into an embrace. Then, a nose buried into Hyeon-woo’s neck, taking a deep breath.
Tears flowed ceaselessly from Hyeon-woo’s eyes, which began to tremble.
“Hyeon-woo.”
It was Tae-geon.
*
“…H-how… how… how…”
Hyeon-woo, held in Tae-geon’s arms, kept repeating the same word while his whole body trembled like an aspen leaf. Tae-geon, caressing Hyeon-woo with loving touches, whispered low into his ear.
“You shouldn’t carelessly sign surgery consent forms, Hyeon-woo.”
Then he planted a quick kiss on the crown of Hyeon-woo’s head. A chill ran down his spine. Every sensation originating from Tae-geon felt terrible and unpleasant.
“Let’s go back.”
“…No.”
Even while trembling incessantly, Hyeon-woo replied firmly.
“I don’t want to go.”
At those words, Tae-geon pulled Hyeon-woo away from his embrace. Hyeon-woo’s face, which he looked into, was a mess, completely wet with tears. Tae-geon furrowed his brow.
“Why don’t you want to.”
“……”
“…It’s too cold here.”
“……”
“The hospital is far too.”
Tae-geon’s gaze briefly turned to Hyeon-woo’s belly.
“It’s not good for you, or for the baby in your womb.”
Hyeon-woo’s heart dropped to the floor. It felt like all the blood had drained from his body.
…He knew. He came knowing everything. Even the fact that I’m pregnant.
Tae-geon’s meticulousness gave him chills.
“It’s my child. Stay with me.”
“……”
“Let’s go back.”
Go back? After I left that house with such feelings… You’re telling me to go back?
Why. Why should I do that?
Hyeon-woo’s fingertips grew cold.
“…Your child?”
With a twisted smile, Hyeon-woo looked up at Tae-geon with wide eyes and sneered as if amused.
“Who says so?”
“……”
“Who on earth says the child in my womb is yours.”
In that moment, Tae-geon’s eyes turned pitch black. The eerie aura emanating from his entire body made all the hair on Hyeon-woo’s body stand on end. But undeterred by this, Hyeon-woo continued his next words clearly and articulately.
“Don’t misunderstand.”
“……”
“It’s not your child, go back. Don’t come looking for me ever again. Please, lose interest in me.”
