Chapter 349: Family Affairs (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 349: Family Affairs (2)
My sister died in an accident. It was a traffic accident caused by a car swerving onto the sidewalk; she passed away at the scene before an ambulance could even be called.
However, my sister’s belongings were found scattered away from where the accident occurred.
The CCTV footage from the scene showed a massive vehicle about to plow into a child waiting for the walk signal behind the safety line.
My sister, who had been standing nearby, threw down her bag and phone and sprinted toward the child. The detective pressed the pause button just as she pulled the child into her arms and turned her back to the car. That was the last image I saw of my sister.
My sister, who might not have died otherwise, left this world, and the child, who might have lost their life, survived by a miracle. We, the families of both, first met in the white hallway where life and death were decided, and reunited at the place where we truly said our final goodbyes.
What was I supposed to say in that moment?
The two people bowed deeply before me as I stood there, unable to find my voice. Their shoulders trembled so precariously that it was painful just to watch, and I was forced to look away.
‘We are so sorry.’
People who had done nothing wrong were apologizing. But what I had lost was too great to simply wave off their apologies.
‘We should have brought the child, but they were so traumatized that we couldn't bring ourselves to make them come.’
To a child waiting quietly for the signal, nothing could be as sudden or dangerous as a mid-sized car hurtling toward them without slowing down.
They might have been held in the warm embrace of family before, but it must have been their first time being held by a stranger whose heart had stopped beating.
Amidst the screams of pedestrians and the wailing of sirens, who could possibly remain unscathed?
‘We’re sorry, we’re so sorry...’
These people, who had received help but couldn't say thank you, who were grief-stricken but couldn't cry in front of me, and who could do nothing to soothe my sorrow, kept apologizing without ever straightening their backs.
I looked back and forth between the two of them and the ceiling of the funeral parlor.
Thinking of the sister I knew, there was only one thing I could say.
‘Is the child... okay?’
The moment I asked, the sensation of floating in a void vanished.
I had finally accepted it. That my sister had already crossed the point of no return.
And that all those left behind could do was take care of what remained.
The child’s mother collapsed. The veins on the father’s hand turned a bruised purple as he clenched his fist.
I struggled not to cry. I held back my tears, letting out only ragged, heavy breaths.
The moment I let my sister go from my heart was agonizingly lonely.
When you spend your time repeatedly sitting and standing in a cramped space, you lose all track of time.
During that interval, my phone rang several times. Some calls were regarding the accident settlement, while others were meaningless calls from work.
I answered some and ignored others. From a certain point, after expressing my intent not to settle with the perpetrator, I sat before my sister’s portrait, cut off from the outside world.
Aside from Deputy Head An and a few college friends who had heard the news, all the mourners were my sister’s acquaintances. Even though they had lost a friend so suddenly at such a young age, they all tried their best to look after me.
Perhaps that was why, despite the agony, I didn't feel wounded. I was sad, but not miserable. It was so hard I could barely breathe, but it wasn't enough to kill me.
At least, not until those people set foot inside.
‘Who is that standing next to the money box? Shouldn't someone tell them that the funeral director is responsible for this, or that only relatives should be doing it?’
I stood up unsteadily at the sound of that familiar voice. A group of people was gathered at the entrance of the funeral parlor.
Sensing danger instinctively, one of my sister’s classmates blocked the condolence money box with their body. A middle-aged man grabbed a thin woman by the shoulder.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’
At my words, everyone’s eyes turned toward me.
‘Do you have any sense at all? How could you be so reckless as to leave such a large sum of money with a stranger?’
It was my mother’s voice, heard for the first time in years. Eyes I hadn't looked into for even longer pierced my heart like awls.
I felt like I was going to vomit.
The moment they arrived, they tried to open the condolence money box. A scuffle almost broke out over the impropriety of doing such a thing before the funeral was even over, but I stopped it.
They were people I expected nothing from anyway. I just wanted to send my sister off quietly.
My sister had tried to fulfill her minimum duties simply because she was their child. If they had come here under the pretext that they were the ones who gave birth to and raised her, I felt I had no right to stop them.
‘Is this all the mourners she got for someone who was supposed to be working in society?’
‘Wait. Let me see the guestbook.’
The conversation they had while checking the incoming condolence money and their deep sighs leaked out clearly to the front.
‘Pathetic girl. If she’d thought about all the money her parents spent on her, she should have at least gotten married before she went.’
‘If she were the kind of girl who had enough sense to think about things like that, would she have gone so early? Leaving before your parents without even fulfilling your duties—if that’s not being an unfilial child, I don't know what is.’
I desperately wanted to ask the funeral director to turn the portrait around. I didn't want her to see this.
I wanted her to leave on her long journey without a heavy heart, thinking, At least the people I considered family came to see me at the end.
Or maybe, I was just exhausted.
‘Kim Hyo-il.’
My father called my name. When I just sat there looking up at him, he threw the guestbook at my head.
‘Where did you hide the money?’
‘What are you doing right now?!’
A few of my sister’s friends, who hadn't dared to intervene in a family matter, stepped in front of my father.
‘I knew it the moment you left the money box with a stranger, you little bastard. You were planning to use that person as an excuse later, weren't you? Saying you think some stranger made off with it in the middle?’
‘Do you think everyone in the world is like you?’
‘What?’
‘Just stop. You’re going to take all the condolence money anyway. I won't stop you, so don't make a scene.’
I spoke in a low voice, afraid my sister might hear. But my father’s voice only grew louder.
The image of my sister’s friend, who had tearfully told me there would be many expenses after the funeral, flickered before my eyes. My ears felt muffled.
‘There’s no point in raising children. One leaves without even doing her basic duty, and the other throws away the name I gave him to live however he wants.’
Even as the insults carved into my body like a chisel, I felt nothing. My head was just blank.
‘A grown man moping around without any backbone. Only the useless one is left, of course.’
‘I told you to stop. Just stay quiet until the funeral is over. If you have something to say, say it then...’
‘Is that why you didn't answer the calls about the settlement and kept dragging your feet?’
Something that had been filling my head washed away like sand at that one word.
‘Settlement?’
‘Since you were acting like this, they finally called us.’
The calls I had stopped answering at some point belatedly came to mind. Why hadn't I noticed sooner that the barrage of contacts had been cut in half?
‘Don't tell me... you settled?’
My voice trembled. My vision was so blurred that I had to lean against the wall to stand up.
Clutching my throbbing head, I forced my eyes open to see my father’s nonchalant face.
‘He was truly repentant. And seeing how he compensated us quite generously...’
One of my sister’s friends standing between my father and me covered her mouth. The surroundings were so silent that not even the sound of breathing could be heard.
‘The living have to keep on living.’
Why did those words sound like a story being told in a completely different world?
‘...You settled.’
‘If you had just communicated properly from the start—’
‘What kind of communication do you have with a bastard who’s worse than a beast? How does a human talk to livestock? Do you speak the same language because you’re on the same level, Father?’
‘What did you just say?’
‘You’re the one who should think about what you just said. Is settling with the man who killed your daughter something a human being would say?’
Even as I called her his daughter, a surge of nausea rose within me. I was dizzy. I couldn't focus my eyes.
‘Money? I’m sure he gave you a lot. Would a bastard driving a sedan while drunk in broad daylight be short on cash? And you just snatched it up happily?’
‘You think I liked taking it? What good does it do anyone if that man goes to jail! The living have to live!’
‘If you can't survive without the price of your daughter's life, then you should just die too!’
People scrambled to pull my father and me apart. I shook off the hands holding me and screamed desperately.
‘If you were so worried about the wedding and funeral gifts you never got to recoup, one of you should have gone first! Then the one left behind would have lived just fine! Why do you come looking for the children you abandoned?’
I didn't even expect them to feel a pang of conscience.
But not this. You shouldn't insult a person like this.
‘Where else would you find a child who did everything she was supposed to do despite growing up with as little as my sister did? Can you really put your hand on your heart and say you raised her? Do you want to show such an ugly side of yourselves until the very end?’
Even if they grabbed the condolence money before the funeral was over, even if they cursed her for leaving without fulfilling her duties as a child.
‘No matter how much of a failure of a human being you are... how could you settle before even sending her off!’
Even if they had never once held her in their hearts.
‘The funeral procession hasn't even started... how is selling your child so easy for you...?’
You shouldn't have done this.
“...Hyung.”
You shouldn't have trampled on her final moments.
“...I-wol Hyung!”
You could do it to me, but you shouldn't have done it to her.
“Hyung, wake up!”
My body was shaken violently. With a breath that felt like a heave, I woke from the dream.
The first thing I saw upon waking was Jeong Seong-bin’s pale face. He let out a sigh of relief, saying he had woken me up because he thought I was having sleep paralysis.
My entire body was drenched in cold sweat. My breathing was shallow, and my hands were shaking. My head spun, so I pressed my hand to my forehead and closed my eyes.
“Should I get you some water?”
“No, I’m okay. ...Thanks for waking me up.”
Could there be anything more horrific than having that dream over and over?
It was hard to keep my eyes open. I was so dizzy I felt like I might faint.
“...Hyung.”
Jeong Seong-bin’s voice reached my ringing ears. When I managed to open my eyes, he, who hadn't been able to leave my side, spoke.
“Your parents... could you please not meet them?”
‘Don't ever let them take it... keep it safe and use it when you need it.’
‘Don't answer if the company calls.’
A profound kindness choked me. I answered as I walked deeper into the quagmire.
“Sorry. I can't do that.”