FC 08

Chapter 8

Ji-won stood trembling, staring at the house that had been completely ransacked.

The thugs, who had been quiet for a while, had come back to cause trouble, as if they had decided it was time to stretch their muscles.

[Baby, come when we’re asking nicely. You know your old man is still alive because of me, right?]

The reason they had been quiet was because one of the real powers within that filthy organization had taken an interest in Ji-won.

Gong Ji-tae.

While the others had insisted that they should sell Tae-sik’s organs or send Su-ho off to some island and squeeze money out of them first, that bastard had arbitrarily declared himself their shield.

The persuasion and threats had continued for years: if only Ji-won would become his woman, everything would end peacefully. He had even found Tae-sik’s family three times after they fled back to Seoul, thinking that no one would look for them there.

Even though they repaid only a small amount of money every month, Gong Ji-tae continued to salivate over Ji-won, displaying a filthy amount of patience.

[Fuck, where do you keep running off to? Didn’t I tell you you’re still in the palm of my hand? Nice place you’ve moved into. I won’t touch the money you need for rent, so let’s stop dragging this out. Hmm?]

Terrified of retaliation, Ji-won couldn’t do anything.

The fear that she would be finished if even the obsession directed at her disappeared tightened around her throat.

Sometimes, weakness raised its head, whispering that she only needed to sacrifice herself.

‘No. Why should you? You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re already trying hard enough.’

Every time, she would clutch her clothes and grit her teeth just as she did today.

I’ll endure until I can’t anymore. Even if our whole family has to live in a tent in front of the police station, I’ll report them…

But then—

What if something really happened to Tae-sik and Su-ho?

It was harder than usual to reject the dark temptation. The hell unfolding before her eyes felt especially frightening.

Was it because she had reunited with Sung-hyun?

The strength that had tightly wrapped around her burst and festering wounds began to waver.

Memories of a time when she had been happy despite having nothing, a past in which she had at least possessed hope, came flooding back. She lowered her chin.

She had been exhausted.

She had been exhausted long ago.

No matter how much strength she summoned, she was already tired.

“What kind of fucking bowls are all stainless steel? There’s no satisfaction in breaking them.”

“Hey, ma’am. You replaced all the cups too? Damn, you really know how to play your little tricks. Guess you’ve got enough money to buy stainless steel now?”

“What a shitty household. Looks like our boss isn’t leaving them alone because he’s worried about Brother Gyeong-cheol. He’s just not bothering because there’s nothing fun here.”

“Hey, hey. I guess it’s finally getting through to you. Old man! You know how worried our boss is that his father-in-law might get hurt, right? Let’s just hand over your daughter already. He told us to come and talk nicely, so we’ll stop here for today, okay? You understand?”

Even Gong Ji-tae, who called himself their shield, occasionally vented his frustration like this.

The more Ji-won resisted, the more frequently these visits became.

Just as she leaned against the rusty gate, desperately holding back her tears, Yeong-ja suddenly began beating one of the thugs with her thin arms.

“You bastards! Why do you keep putting someone else’s precious daughter in your filthy mouths?! Even if they bury me alive, I won’t give you a single strand of my daughter’s hair! You sons of bitches—!”

“Is this old woman crazy?!”

Yeong-ja was shoved and fell hard.

“Honey!”

“Mom!”

Ji-won rushed inside and, together with Tae-sik, caught Yeong-ja.

That was when the terrified Su-ho pulled out a kitchen knife.

“I-I-I’ll kill you all! You fucking bastards!!”

The hand gripping the knife trembled violently.

Naturally, the threat didn’t work.

“Hey, hey. The kid might hurt his hand. Take it away.”

“Well, look at our Su-ho. He’s all grown up. Even knows how to play with toys.”

“Ugh!”

A thug struck Su-ho in the solar plexus. Su-ho dropped the knife and rolled across the floor.

“Su-ho!”

Tears burst across Ji-won’s face.

Hawk—ptoo!

Yellow phlegm ran down Tae-sik’s forehead.

“Our sister-in-law’s coming home late. Now that she’s unemployed, running around all over the place is going to upset our boss. Let’s be careful, okay?”

At the word unemployed, Yeong-ja and Tae-sik’s eyes widened.

Ji-won wiped away her tears and glared at the thug.

“Listen while we’re asking nicely. How many years has it been? It’s about time he changed his mind, you fucking bitch.”

“You want us to go through your mother, father, and little brother before you finally come to your senses? He’ll even wipe out your debt. If it were me, I’d say, ‘I’ll suck you dry, oppa!’ and run straight over.”

Ji-won didn’t blink.

Another glob of phlegm flew through the air.

This time, it landed on the back of her hand.

“Don’t forget. If you let go of Brother Ji-tae’s hand, every single one of you dies. Got it?”

The thugs kicked the bedroom door before pulling out cigarettes and lighting them.

The acrid smoke stabbed at their noses.

“This Sunday. The boss wants to see you. Answer your phone. It’s your last chance, so if you want to live, don’t try anything stupid.”

The footprints stamped across the floor overlapped one another.

After confirming that the thugs had all left, Ji-won immediately stood and checked on Yeong-ja and Su-ho.

“The salary is higher than at the kindergarten. The only problem is that they sometimes call me in without notice, and it’s far away. It’s dangerous at night too… They provide room and board, so there’s no reason for me to make the difficult commute.”

As she rattled off the explanation, Ji-won watched Yeong-ja’s reaction carefully.

She had lied and said she had gotten a job at a 24-hour child welfare center.

She had considered telling the truth, but she didn’t think her mother would approve of her living at her workplace.

“Did you leave the kindergarten because of those bastards?”

Fortunately, Yeong-ja wasn’t clear-headed enough to dig into the holes in her flimsy lie.

Ji-won had worried that she might ask for the address.

“Yes. That’s what happened.”

“…You worked hard. You must have had a difficult time there.”

Her daughter had just resigned, and yet she had immediately found another job. Yeong-ja seemed too heartbroken to question anything else.

Perhaps she had hurt her back during the earlier incident. When Yeong-ja bent down to pick up a cup, she suddenly winced.

Ji-won quickly gathered up the scattered household items.

“Mom, I’ll do it. Go inside and lie down.”

“I’m fine. We need to clean this up quickly.”

While mother and daughter pushed each other aside, each insisting on doing the work, the two men in the room couldn’t recover from their emotions.

Su-ho sobbed loudly.

“How long are we going to live like this?! What the hell is this?!”

Beside his despairing son, Tae-sik could do nothing but drink.

I’m the sinner.

He hung his head low, and the one thing he finally managed to say was—

“Ji-won, do you really have to do that job while living away from home?”

The words made Yeong-ja pound her bruised chest.

“Do you think she’s doing that because she wants to?! Because of who do you think our Ji-won has to—”

“Mom! You’ll hurt your back even more! Sit down!”

Yeong-ja, who had been about to rush over and overturn the drinking table, grabbed her lower back and groaned.

Just as Ji-won’s heart was collapsing, Su-ho punched the wall and cried even harder.

“If Dad had just lived properly! If he hadn’t been scammed!! All of us would be—sob…”

“Seong Su-ho.”

Suppressing her anger, Ji-won dragged Su-ho into the small room.

Su-ho roughly yanked his wrist out of her grasp and breathed heavily like a child.

“Are you out of your mind? If I’m not here anymore, then you’re the one who’s going to have to take care of Mom—… Ha…”

Her insides burned black with frustration.

Su-ho had never been good at studying, but he loved sports. He had kept up with taekwondo, which he had learned as a child, but after only six months of working as an instructor, he had gone down another path.

Since then, he had drifted from one job to another, never managing to stick with anything for long.

“There’s no point blaming Dad. What about you? How well are you living? Do you even know it’s been more than three months since you’ve contributed to the living expenses? Instead of wasting time complaining about your life, work hard. There are people who have it worse than us—”

“Who has it worse than us?!”

With bloodshot eyes, Su-ho spewed out the words without thinking.

“Can’t you just marry that bastard?! If you just close your eyes and sacrifice yourself, our family—”

Slap!

Ji-won immediately slapped Su-ho across the face.

Tears that never seemed to dry streamed down her cheeks.

If you just sacrifice yourself.

The words struck deep into her heart.

Because Su-ho had said aloud the truth she had spent so long avoiding.

“……..Seong Ji-won.”

Only belatedly realizing what he had said, Su-ho regretted the words he’d spat out in anger.

Instead of rubbing his stinging cheek, he cautiously called her name.

But Ji-won didn’t answer.

She pulled clothes out of the plastic wardrobe.

Then she took out an old suitcase she hadn’t used in a long time.

As she opened the zipper, a hollow laugh escaped her.

A travel suitcase that had always been nothing more than an escape bag for her.

“Hey… Seong Ji-won.”

Without looking at Su-ho even once, she continued packing.

Then her pocket vibrated.

Sleep there and come tomorrow. Take your time packing.

It was an unsaved number, but Ji-won could almost hear Sung-hyun’s voice.

All the strength suddenly drained from her body.

She stopped moving and stared blankly into space.

Living like this, when even getting through one day is a struggle…

For a brief moment, she had allowed herself to hope.

She had gotten excited over reuniting with her first love.

Unable to shake off a dream she had never even properly dared to dream, Ji-won buried her face against her knees.

“Ria, why are you already up?”

7:20 AM.

Sung-hyun glanced at the clock in surprise.

Ria, the schedule-conscious child, had come downstairs at 7:20 instead of waking at eight.

“Is it bad if I wake up early?”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“I can wash my face and get dressed by myself, so don’t worry.”

First thing in the morning, his impudent niece received the same half-hearted response Sung-hyun always gave her.

“Yeah, okay.”

Ji-won hadn’t arrived yet.

Mrs. Park wasn’t there either.

Finding himself alone with Ria, Sung-hyun felt strangely awkward.

Just as his brain seemed to buffer while he wondered what he was supposed to do first, Ria flopped down onto the sofa.

“Why are you working here? Aren’t you going inside?”

Apparently, she didn’t like seeing her uncle, who was usually glued to his study, working in the sitting room.

Sung-hyun lowered the tablet in his hand and scoffed.

For him to stop working because of this little brat.

If Min-seok saw this, he’d probably be shocked.

His now-idle eyes fell on Ria’s wildly tousled hair.

“Want me to tie your hair?”

Ria had washed her face and dressed herself, but her hair was a complete mess.

Perhaps noticing the teasing expression on his face, Ria pursed her lips primly.

“Do you even know how?”

“Give me the hair tie.”

Ria glanced at her uncle, who called a hair tie a “string,” and shook her head vigorously.

Even so, she scurried upstairs and brought one down.

It was as though she was challenging him to try.

As if this is difficult.

Sung-hyun took the hair tie from Ria and clumsily gathered her little head of hair.

“Ow!”

He had never handled anything this delicate before.

His niece’s soft hair was unlike anything he had ever dealt with.

Sung-hyun flinched and stopped.

Then he gathered Ria’s hair again.

“Ouch!!”

It wasn’t as easy as he had imagined.

He removed both hands from the child’s head and stared blankly at the hair tie.

Ria snorted in the most arrogant way he had ever heard.

She scratched her head roughly.

“Give it to me! I’ll ask that person to tie it.”

Quickly acknowledging that this was beyond his abilities, Sung-hyun obediently handed the hair tie back.

“Not ‘that person.’ Teacher.”

He glanced wistfully at the back of her small, watermelon-shaped head.

Ria narrowed her eyes into little triangles.

“She’s not someone who teaches studying.”

Sung-hyun picked up the empty mug.

“She used to be a kindergarten teacher. Don’t be rude.”

“Then why doesn’t she go to kindergarten and work at Uncle’s house instead? Because you pay her a lot?”

…She’s my niece, but seriously.

It would be nice if she were just a little clever.

She’s too clever. That’s the problem.

Sung-hyun stood to refill his coffee and quickly pinched Ria’s cheek before letting go.

“Don’t like calling her Teacher? Then call her unni.”

“Why did you pinch me?!”

“Something was stuck there, so I removed it.”

“Hmph!”

“Hmph.”

As expected, Ria puffed out her cheeks.

Pretending not to notice, Sung-hyun headed toward the kitchen.

That was when hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from the distant hallway.

“Haa… haa… I’m sorry! I’m so late, right? Is Ria awake?”

It was Ji-won.

Sung-hyun stopped dead.

He stared at the woman who was struggling to catch her breath.

Something somewhere around his ribs suddenly melted.

So resentment wasn’t the only thing he felt.

He was bad at recognizing his own emotions, but whenever he saw Seong Ji-won, he would get angry and then feel sorry for her.

Even when he tried to stop caring, he couldn’t.

That was the problem.

If he let go of his reason, he felt as though he’d immediately reach out and touch that harmless face.

What do I want to do with you?

What happens after I dig into your past?

Should I continue the little game of fire we never finished?

Yeah.

That wouldn’t be so bad either.

Ji-won.

“Why? You couldn’t have been any later.”

“I’m ten minutes early for eight…”

Just as he was giving her a reproachful remark he didn’t actually mean, his phone rang.

Sung-hyun didn’t take his eyes off Ji-won as he tapped his earbud.

“I’m listening.”

Min-seok’s voice came through.

Even while listening to him, Sung-hyun’s gaze remained fixed on Ji-won.

“I’ve finished the investigation you ordered, Vice President.”

“Are you going to drink more coffee? Give it to me. I’ll bring it over.”

Embarrassed, Ji-won tried to take the cup.

Sung-hyun raised it out of her reach.

Then, leisurely catching her flailing wrist, he spoke in an even voice.

“Report.”