ch 264
Became a Swordsmanship Instructor at the Academy
Chapter 264
When I came to my senses, I found myself in a strange... no, though it's strange, it's not an unknown place.
I had been here before.
However, the timing seems completely different.
Snow is falling heavily outside the window.
Looking around, I found my phone.
[2016. 12. 28. 19:50]
If it's 2016, that's about a year from when I came before... no, since it's almost 2017 now, it's roughly 2 years later.
Is this the right time?
Lumiel had warned me, and I had experienced it once before, albeit at the lowest difficulty, so I had roughly guessed what kind of trauma would await me, but it seems to be a slightly earlier time than I thought.
Just as I was thinking about taking a look around the house, my phone started vibrating.
It was an unknown number, but I answered it anyway.
"Hello?"
— Older brother, it's me.
It was my younger brother Si-woo.
I thought I'd never see him again, but hearing his voice made me incredibly happy.
At this time, my brother should be in the military.
Shortly before I died, soldiers were allowed to use phones freely, but that wouldn't be the case at this time, so how did he contact me?
"How did you call? Aren't you at the base?"
—The platoon leader lent me his phone.
"The platoon leader? What's wrong?"
—Older brother, you didn't know at all?
The moment I heard my brother's worried voice, I remembered.
Right. It was such an old memory that I wanted to erase, I had completely forgotten about it, but this time period was definitely the beginning.
—Older brother?
"Yeah. Yeah, go on."
—I think Mom is having an affair.
After I answered that I was listening, my brother began to slowly tell the story in a tearful voice.
A call came to my brother's base, and it was from his friend. That friend told him that his father and his mother were having an affair.
It's really disgusting to hear again.
It wasn't just a day or two meeting, they had been seeing each other for at least 3 years.
In our house, neither Father, nor my brother, nor I, nor my sister knew anything about it.
But the people in the affair partner's house knew to some extent.
They said that before, they had been caught by that family and had begged for forgiveness.
Then when they were caught meeting again, that side notified us saying we should also know.
—Didn't they contact you, Older brother?
"No."
—They were asking around and said they would call you and Older sister too, and that they would even visit the house...
My brother's voice, which was always cheerful and playful, trembles considerably.
It's betrayal, but what I learned later was that they didn't speak kindly to my brother.
The affair partner's family suddenly called and made a huge fuss over the phone, saying that Lee Si-woo's mother was screwing around with their dad, exposing everything and demanding that my brother be charged.
Fortunately, the duty soldier who answered the phone at the time happened to be my brother's colleague and was a tight-lipped kid, so there were no rumors, but it was naturally reported to the officers and he was classified as a soldier of interest for a while...
"Si-woo, I'll handle this matter, so you just focus on your military life. You don't have much time left until discharge anyway."
—Ah... okay.
I hung up the phone.
Actually, I had said the same thing before, but I ultimately couldn't solve it.
Not long after hanging up, my phone started vibrating again.
This time it wasn't an unknown number.
I thought about not answering, but I pressed the call button anyway.
—Hey, Lee Min-chan. Did you also get a call from those people?
It was my selfish older sister Lee Se-ra, who only knows herself.
This definitely happened in the past, but I had declared disconnection over the phone in the previous trial.
Hmm, it seems the trials aren't connected to each other.
"The affair? I heard about it from Si-woo."
—Why are you so calm? Don't tell me you knew about it?
Moisture is dripping from her voice.
When I said I was also very surprised, she started pouring out complaints.
She said the child of the affair partner called and cursed terribly, asking if she didn't know better as a child, and said they couldn't properly watch their parents and would even visit her company.
She cried and complained about how she could live with her face held up till now, how she could get married, and now her life seemed ruined. I listened silently without saying a word.
In the past, I had listened to these complaints and sympathized with and comforted my sister.
I had comforted her saying I would solve it somehow so don't worry, but now I don't feel anything like that at all.
Despite not having a comfortable situation at all, she received all the support to the point of never having a part-time job while attending school, yet she never paid any attention to the house, and now what...
In the first place, my sister never suffered any damage until the end.
Although the affair partner's child was quite extreme, my sister's company was in Seoul and this place was in the provinces.
They came to bother me dozens of times, but there was never an incident of them visiting my sister.
My sister never came down during this time period and provided no assistance.
After all the incidents ended, even though I cut off contact with my parents, my sister didn't.
Of course, my brother was the same, but Si-woo didn't have the ability to be independent.
The person called my sister and just whined and did nothing.
Running around here and there trying to solve it somehow, suffering and being harassed by that family was entirely my share.
"You usually had no interest in the house. Your life won't be ruined, so stop it appropriately, I'm hanging up."
—Hey! Lee Min-chan, what are you saying in such a way...
I just hung up.
She wouldn't be of any help in this matter anyway.
Just as I was thinking about what to do, I heard the sound of the door lock opening and headed toward the entrance.
"Lee Min-chan, what call were you on for so long? I called you to help carry the luggage, but you kept being on a call."
It was Mother.
Come to think of it, at this time it was only Mother and I in the house.
At that time, the company Father worked for was quite far away, so he lived in company housing and only came home on weekends.
"What are you doing? Come and help carry the luggage."
"Si-woo contacted me a little while ago, and he said Mom is having an affair?"
THUD!
She dropped the shopping basket and her expression instantly hardened, it seems the affair partner hasn't talked to her yet.
"Min-chan, that's..."
What excuse was she going to make?
"That's what?"
"Uh... Mom will tell you everything. Let's go inside and talk first."
She looked around and hurriedly closed the front door.
So we came to the living room together and the excuses began.
It started with lamentations about how incompetent Father was.
Right. I couldn't help but agree with this if nothing else.
This person called our Father was someone who lacked responsibility somewhat.
He hadn't worked since around the time I entered high school. Even though there were three children in the house.
Of course, it wasn't like that from the beginning.
I also knew that finding a new job at a late age wasn't easy, and during the time when jobs weren't easy to find, he had shown efforts by going out for day labor for about a month or two.
But gradually, the days when he didn't go to work increased, and there were countless times when he got drunk and committed violence or I had to go find him sleeping on the street.
Eventually, he even lost the house.
During that time, it was Mother who supported the family.
I also quit school and did various part-time jobs to contribute, but the actual head of the family was Mother.
She suffered so much to go from a housewife to a daycare center director.
That's why I respected, liked, and loved Mother.
The betrayal was really great because I had trusted her so much, but I wanted to be on Mother's side no matter what happened.
I thought that was family and the duty of a child. Even if the whole world pointed fingers, family is supposed to embrace you.
Mother's continuing story wasn't at a level I couldn't understand at all.
Father was too incompetent and she was lonely, so she briefly met someone.
She said she won't meet him anymore.
She said let's stop meeting, but the other person keeps chasing after her. Now that we know too, there won't be such things, that we should not worry.
In the past, I believed Mother and thought reporting to the police would be useless, so I directly met a lawyer and even paid expensive consultation fees to go through injunction lawsuit procedures.
But Mother's story was all lies.
Within less than a week, the affair partner's children barged into our house.
They were also courteous at first and told me the conversation they had with Mother a week ago.
They said she promised not to meet with their father anymore and would cut ties if they met again, so they believed her.
I sent them back, but they came back late at night and caused a commotion.
The affair partner's children said their father wasn't answering calls and seemed to be meeting with mother again.
Although there was precedent, wasn't it too suspicious? I called saying I believed our Mother, but it didn't connect.
I was wrong.
Outside, the affair partner's children were making a commotion, the phone didn't connect, and there were no replies to texts.
Even when I sent a text saying I would file a missing person report with the police, there was no answer. When I actually went to the police station and took photos to send, only then did I she reply...
So I canceled the report, and after it was confirmed that the two were together, we had a fight grabbing each other's hair.
We barely broke it up and agreed that they really wouldn't meet anymore and were about to part when the affair partner called me aside saying he could talk for a moment.
He said he really loved our Mother and wanted to run away with her to live together.
He spouted the ridiculous nonsense of asking if I could understand.
I think that was the first time I thought about wanting to kill someone.
‘You still haven't come to your senses. The order is wrong between our Mother and that side. If Mom divorced and that side also divorced and then they met each other, I wouldn't oppose it. But both have families, and after seeing the sight of grabbing each other's hair and fighting today, you can still say such things?’
I don't remember exactly, but I think I said something like this.
Of course, it wasn't put into action, but thinking about it now, that would have been better.
From that day on, the affair partner's children contacted me and visited me at all hours.
At first, I thought they were also victims and understood them, and I also tried to somehow change Mother's heart, but Mother continued to betray my trust.
And the affair partner's children also began to go too far.
Eventually, when I got tired and tried to give up on Mother, they started thinking I was helping with the affair.
It was absurd.
I was worried about affecting my brother who went to the military,
I was concerned about my sister who cried saying her life seemed ruined, so I tried to handle everything alone, but it was too much.
I really felt like I would go crazy like this, so I eventually left home to survive.
I left home and changed my number, but somehow they found out and kept contacting me.
Even when I said I had already cut ties, they didn't believe me, so I eventually applied for a working holiday and even went abroad.
This is the reason I lived disconnected from my family for life, and the reason I vowed not to attend even the funeral if they died.
"So Min-chan, don't worry too much."
Looking at Mother lying while knowing everything, I feel like I'm going to retch.
How can she lie to her own child like this without changing her expression at all?
No, she must have originally been that kind of person.
"Shall we die together?"
"Mi... Min-chan, what are you saying? Dying, now really..."
"It's all lies."
"No, really trust Mom. I won't meet him anymore, so don't say such things."
After saying that, she goes into the main room and closes the door.
I don't actually intend to die together.
Dying together with Mother wouldn't be a way to overcome trauma.
I came to my room, put on my coat, and left the house.
I don't want to be in the same space as that human called Mother.
I ran the bank app to check, and while there wasn't much money, it wasn't completely gone like last time.
I guess this was when I was writing a bit.
As I sighed, white breath spread out among the falling white snow.
It's not a trauma I didn't expect at all, but actually facing it again feels utterly overwhelming.
Can I solve this situation?
I have no idea how to overcome it.
But I have to.
I made a promise with the kids.
More than anything, if I can just revive Se-jin, if I can meet Master again, I could even sell my soul to the devil.