Chapter 350: Family Affairs (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 350: Family Affairs (3)
On the way to work, Jeong Seong-bin gave me a ride in his car. After sending Park Ju-woo off in Manager Chan-yeong’s car, he sat silently in the seat next to me.
I wondered if the commute had ever been this quiet. Choi Je-ho, sitting in the passenger seat, had his eyes closed, but he wasn't wearing earphones. No radio, not even a common song—the interior of the car was deathly still.
“Are you that worried?”
At the sound of my voice breaking the silence, Jeong Seong-bin turned his head toward me.
“If you’re so distracted that you don't think you can practice, you might as well stand guard with Choi Je-ho.”
“Pardon?”
He seemed so desperate to follow me that I’d set the stage as a joke, but the kid looked incredibly flustered.
“If you think I’m talking nonsense, just splash some cold water on me. I heard they replaced the water purifier in the pantry with an ice-dispensing one.”
Feeling a bit guilty for startling him so early in the morning, I added some idle chatter. However, the tension on Jeong Seong-bin’s face showed no signs of easing.
“Understood.”
“Huh?”
The guy had reached a point where he was taking my jokes as gospel.
“I’ll stand by the door with Je-ho Hyung, one on each side. Is that okay, Je-ho Hyung?”
“Do whatever you want.”
“What do you mean, ‘do whatever you want’?!”
I barked at them, and Choi Je-ho glanced at me through the side-view mirror.
“Wasn't this conversation settled last time?”
“Sigh…”
There was no getting through to them. My chest felt tight for an entirely different reason.
Glancing over, I saw that Jeong Seong-bin’s expression had softened considerably. That, in itself, was unsettling in its own way.
Feeling like I might get indigestion, I skipped lunch following breakfast. Even though it had been nearly eighteen hours since I last ate, I wasn't hungry. My mouth felt bone-dry, so I did nothing but gulp down water.
When 1:50 PM arrived, I stopped what I was doing and grabbed my file box. As I stepped out of the vocal practice room, I saw Choi Je-ho and Jeong Seong-bin standing outside the door.
“Are you really going?”
Neither of them gave a proper answer. Choi Je-ho simply jerked his chin, signaling for me to lead the way.
In the meeting room, Ju-gyeong was waiting for me.
“Do you need anything? Do your parents drink coffee?”
“Could I just have a glass of water? As for my parents… you don’t need to prepare anything for them. It’ll take them a while to get here.”
“It’s almost two, though?”
“They aren't the type of people to show up on time.”
These were people who had been late to their own child’s funeral. Unless it was something beneficial for them, there was no way they’d arrive on schedule.
Only after Ju-gyeong brought the water and left was I finally able to lean back against the chair. A faint, persistent headache continued to nag at me. I found myself repeatedly locking and unlocking the latch on the file box for no reason.
‘I wonder when they’ll show up.’
Twenty minutes late would be average. If they called to talk over the phone instead, that would be serious. The worst-case scenario would be them standing me up entirely. As my expectations bottomed out, I found myself praying they would just show up, even if they were late. In this relationship, I was always the one in the weaker position.
Feeling stifled, I tilted my head back and exhaled. Above the opaque privacy film covering the glass walls, I could see two round crowns of heads. For anyone else, even the tips of their hair would have been hidden at that height.
‘That’s not what we agreed on. They said they’d stand on either side of the door.’
The sight of Choi Je-ho and Jeong Seong-bin stuck to the wall side-by-side was quite amusing. Looking at them made a small laugh escape me.
It was then. I heard a commotion from the end of the hallway where the elevator was. The silhouettes of several adults blurred behind the film, pointing at the entrance of the meeting room or looking around.
2:00 PM. It was the exact time we had agreed upon.
The meaning behind such a punctual arrival was clear.
They were desperate to meet me, but they wanted to maintain the upper hand without appearing hasty. What did this indicate?
‘They must have come prepared to fleece me for everything I’m worth.’
I anticipated a difficult fight. I tightened my grip on my interlaced fingers.
The meeting room door opened. Manager Chan-yeong guided the group in. Two people, dressed respectably, stepped inside.
“Two coffees, please.”
My mother pulled out a chair, making her desire to be served blatantly obvious.
“You don’t have to bring them.”
At my words, both the manager and my mother looked at me.
“I’m not in the mood for a coffee shower.”
“Is that the first thing you say to your parents instead of a greeting? I can tell exactly how you’ve been living since you left.”
Even as she scolded me, my mother was busy shooting looks at the manager. We had such a hard time raising a kid like this; you must have suffered a lot too… Her ulterior motives were transparent.
However, this was UA. The company had chosen this location not to entertain the parents of their idol, but for the sake of my mental health. The people here knew there was a reason for every action and statement I made.
Above all, everyone at UA…
“I’ll leave you to it.”
…would never bring coffee in front of me.
My mother’s eyebrows shot up as she read the displeasure on the manager’s face. Before she could even complain, the manager told me to call if I needed anything and closed the meeting room door as he left.
“Rude little bastard.”
My father’s greeting was even more aggressive than my mother’s. His way of speaking hadn't changed a bit.
“Just tell me why you wanted to see me. You didn't come because you were curious about how I’m doing.”
“Is there any parent who wouldn't point it out when their child acts like this?”
“Whether a child you threw away acts properly or not… isn't that none of your business?”
“Is that any way to talk to your parents?”
If we were going to argue, I had plenty to say. I wanted to ask if my behavior bothered them when they hadn't even valued my life. I wanted to ask why they didn't lecture me about being disrespectful for not calling them personally when my head was split open.
But I endured. I had no desire to let the conversation drag on through a petty squabble.
When I stopped responding, my father sat down as well. A horrific silence filled the room.
Since I remained quiet, the party with something to say reacted first.
“I saw you were filming commercials.”
“…”
“I heard you’re doing a drama, too?”
Their eyes blatantly scanned my attire.
“You’re not hurting for money, are you?”
“I am.”
The answer came instantly.
“Maybe it’s because I grew up with nothing, but I find myself desperate for every penny.”
“What did you ever lack while growing up?”
“I told you everything before.”
Both of their faces turned red. They seemed to realize that the ‘before’ I was referring to was the point when I had extorted 15 million won from them.
Whether it was a blessing or a curse, my records from that time were similar both before and after my regression—except for the lack of evidence that the scars on my back had been treated. I had spent all night reading them, fearing I might make a slip of tongue, but the contents were mostly the same.
However, their reaction to my words meant…
That my hypothesis was correct. My suspicion that the source of the money I thought my sister had left behind was actually these people.
“If you’re going to be this calculating with your parents while taking their money, you should have been prepared to pay back the cost of raising you.”
“The cost of raising me? How much did that cost?”
“It costs hundreds of millions to raise a child. Everyone’s like that these days.”
“Ha.”
The delusion that they belonged to the category of ordinary people, and the arrogance to believe they had fulfilled their duties as much as any other guardian.
How did these two manage to find spouses exactly like themselves? Why, instead of having a selfish child who took after them, did they have someone like my sister, who gave them more ‘basic filial piety’ than they ever deserved for so long?
“I didn't realize you’d invested so much in me. And here I thought the reason you only gave me 15 million was because you’d factored those costs in.”
“How can you say that after taking over ten million won?”
“That was the price for turning someone’s back into a rag. You suggested that amount because you thought you were getting off cheap for what you did, so why are you acting like you were being incredibly generous with the settlement money because you guessed how much I’d be earning?”
A hollow laugh escaped me. My mind was racing.
The word ‘settlement’ was painful every time it crossed my lips. Whether legally or personally, I never wanted to hear the word settlement again in anything involving them. One such experience was more than enough.
I steadied my dizzy heart and took a slow, deep breath. I, too, had something I needed to get out of this conversation.
“Fine, let’s say you came here because you want to collect every cent for giving birth to me and raising me.”
I swallowed hard and carefully voiced the words.
“How much did you get from my sister under that pretext? It’s unfair if I’m the only one paying when we were born to the same people.”
The word ‘sister’ finally came out of my mouth in its entirety. For the first time since returning to the past.
‘My sister didn't disappear.’
It had been unclear whether my sister existed in the past where I lived as Kim Han, but this made it certain. My sister definitely existed.
The relief of having avoided the worst-case scenario pushed back the nausea rising from this repulsive situation.
But the joy didn't last long.
“…How did you know you had a sister?”
Because my mother, her face turning pale, showed a reaction I hadn't expected at all.
“…What?”
“Did you hire someone to follow us? That’s illegal. Can a celebrity even do that? Aren't you worried about what we’ll say about you to the public?”
The gears in my head screeched to a halt. It felt as if my mind was clogged with sand and dust, refusing to turn.
“You were planning to blackmail us so you wouldn't have to give the money back from the start. How chilling. There’s a limit to how much you can act so despicably.”
“Calm down. Is it just a day or two that this bastard has acted however the hell he wants? It’s all a trick. The statute of limitations expired years ago; does he think he can even report us?”
The two of them chattered away right in front of me. I was the only one who couldn't snap out of it. Only me.
‘We couldn't sleep because it was so cold, and you kicked us out, saying you were fed up. Don't you remember? It was the middle of winter.’
‘I don't remember a thing.’
‘Wow, I’m the only one who loses out then. How can you forget that when you even got frostbite?’
There were times we had conversations like that. And after that…
‘The things Mom said come to me even in my dreams.’
‘Like what?’
‘It’s always the same. They say the eldest daughter is the family’s greatest asset, so when are you going to start contributing? If you aren't going to make a fortune, just find a man with a decent job and get married. Ah, the words that appear in my dreams the most are these.’
I had made up my mind to be cruel and abandon you, so I went all the way to the front of the facility.
But I don't know what came over me; I just brought you back. Since then, I haven't been able to live because of the money and stress it took to raise you.
“Did you abandon her?”
I regret not leaving you there.
A warning bell rang. My vision was dyed white.
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[SYSTEM] A work directive from the ‘Person in Charge’ has arrived.
▶ Assistant Manager Kim, we’ve decided to discontinue one of our existing welfare programs. Just so you know.
[SYSTEM] Some correction effects based on performance are being removed.
▷ The ‘Negative Emotion Perception’ adjustment function, granted for achieving ‘Attendance Management’ excellence, has expired.
+
I was merely following the letters with my eyes; I couldn't understand a single thing it said. Because something like this wasn't what was important.
“Did you abandon my sister?”
Something inside me snapped.