ch 266
Became a Swordsmanship Instructor at the Academy
Chapter 266
In the past, I didn't reveal my mother's affair to my father.
There was a part of me that hoped my father wouldn't get hurt, but honestly, more than that, I was afraid of what my father might do.
I had thought I could persuade my mother in the first place.
But now I know that's impossible.
I heard that my parents divorced not long after I left home.
Even during the divorce, she showed her pathetic side to the very end, saying she wouldn't divorce unless she got half of what little wealth they had....
"Min-chan, how did you...."
...I didn't say anything, but I had thought that maybe my father knew too, but this is unexpected.
If he had known, considering my father's usual personality, he would never have stayed still.
I calmly told him all the facts.
Starting from what I heard from my younger sibling, to the recent contacts and visits from the affair partner's children.
My father just listened silently.
I thought he might go right away and do something to the affair partner, but after hearing the whole story, my father said it was between my mother and him so he would handle it, and went into the factory.
What does he mean he'll handle it?
A sense of futility and irritation washed over me at this failure too.
Coming here, I think I wanted my father to cause a ruckus at least once, even if it wasn't the right answer.
Until now, I had sympathized with the affair partner's children and their family, thinking they were fellow victims, but shouldn't they suffer as much as I did?
Why do I have to suffer alone and run away?
When I arrived home, it was already well past midnight, but I couldn't sleep at all.
Right. If my father is going to be so passive, then I'll do it.
My family was destroyed because of my mother's affair.
The responsibility lies entirely with my mother and the affair partner, never with me.
If they destroyed someone else's family, then their family should be destroyed too.
Even if it's not the right answer.
***
Early dawn preparations were all finished.
I drove the rented car for about 20 minutes and arrived in front of a large factory.
Though it wasn't even 6 o'clock in the early morning, since shift change was approaching, countless people in company work uniforms were coming and going.
This is exactly the affair partner's workplace.
I parked the car roughly nearby and took out the things I had prepared.
The protest picket I had made with hardboard overnight to hang around my neck, and a thousand flyers printed at a print shop.
These are my weapons.
[Do you want to destroy other people's families and still shamelessly go to work?]
[Kim Chul-su, a perverted character- who abandoned his own children and keeps pestering a married woman]
I made it with all sorts of provocative phrases, digging through the company website for department, position, and name, and even getting photos from the affair partner's children's SNS.
When making the flyers, even the print shop owner hesitated, saying making something like this could result in legal punishment.
Right. I'll definitely be sued for defamation.
This is a country where you get punished even for stating facts.
But it doesn't matter.
Even if I do nothing like this, my life is ruined anyway.
I had been preparing ambitiously and my writing was going well, but I couldn't write properly after my parents' incident broke out.
I couldn't even write proper notices because of the affair partner's family and children who kept visiting, and I had to flee overseas.
Even after returning, these memories kept lingering so I couldn't write properly.
My life is completely ruined like this, so shouldn't I be able to do at least this much?
To ruin someone else's life, you have to risk your own life.
I hung the picket around my neck and stood in front of the factory main gate.
I started distributing flyers to people who were glancing at me from around.
"Is this really true?"
"I didn't think Kim Chul-su was that kind of person."
"Didn't they say he has three children?"
I thought maybe I wouldn't get any attention at all or the security guards would come and drag me away, but surprisingly, people showed a lot of interest and the security guards didn't approach recklessly either.
After about an hour, a police car came.
"Um... sir, I understand you're wronged, but you can't do this here...."
"One-person protests are not subject to the Assembly and Demonstration Act."
"This is clearly in front of a company, so doing this is obstruction of business...."
"It's not obstruction of business. I didn't block or interfere with the company employees' commute."
"Still, doing this in front of the company with photos showing everyone's faces is defamation."
"I understand defamation is a crime that requires a complaint. Has a lawsuit been filed? If that's why you're arresting me, I'll stop."
Since I had naturally expected police intervention, I continued distributing flyers while giving the prepared answers.
"Illegal littering...."
"If discarded flyers are the problem, I'll pick them all up later."
After about 30 minutes like that, the affair partner finally appeared with a pale face.
"Hey, Min-chan, what are you doing right now? Why in front of the company...!"
"Your children and family even came to our house and even went to grandmother's house causing all sorts of commotion, but I should just sit still and watch?"
"Hey, you're speaking informally to me right now...."
"If you want to hear respectful language, you should act in a way that deserves respectful language. No wait, a horny dog is speaking human language."
I ignored him and continued distributing flyers.
As more and more people gathered, his face turned bright red and he jumped around, shouting at the nearby police asking what they were doing and to arrest me.
We confronted each other a bit more, but eventually the protest was stopped and I went to the police station for questioning.
"Sir, I understand the situation, but doing this still constitutes defamation. It's not for public interest reasons either, so punishment will be hard to avoid. Even now, if you apologize...."
"I won't apologize. I'll pay the fine or go to prison."
The flustered police officer tried to calm me down, but I had no intention of stopping.
"I have no intention of running away, my address is accurate, and I'll fully cooperate with the police in future investigations."
Before staging the protest, I went to a lawyer's office for consultation.
Even if I couldn't avoid defamation by stating facts, if I cooperated with the investigation and accepted punishment, I wouldn't be detained.
The next day and the day after, I continued protesting.
In the middle, a reporter came for an interview - not from a major newspaper, but still - and an article appeared in the local paper.
My mother kept contacting me, but I ignored her and continued protesting.
The funny thing was the affair partner's children and family.
They came to me begging me to stop the protest.
They had been dying to devour me, saying they had to prevent their father from meeting her.
Those who had been visiting my house and constantly shouting and being high-handed over the phone were now bowing and begging to me, saying their father might get fired from the company.
The affair partner apparently said he would divorce several times at home.
Saying he would give up everything he had.
I had also told my mother once that if she was prepared to never see me again for the rest of her life, she should divorce and go to a foreign country or wherever.
But I thought that family was refusing to divorce to the end because they wanted to protect their family somehow, but looking at it, that wasn't it at all.
They didn't say it directly, but what they wanted seemed to be the affair partner's money.
When I had them investigated with the intention of completely destroying that family too, that family was also quite a sight.
They had three daughters - the eldest had graduated from university over two years ago but was unemployed, not even doing part-time work, the second daughter was into a cult religion, and the youngest was twenty but had gotten pregnant after causing trouble with someone the same age.
If the affair partner divorced and stopped supporting them financially, they would collapse immediately, which is why they opposed it so much.
It was so ugly, dirty, and disgusting.
They hate the father but like the father's money?
How is that possible?
When I cut off my parents and left home, I solved everything by myself.
I didn't even have money to rent a room immediately, so I even used private loans to get a tiny studio apartment.
When writing didn't immediately generate income, I wore 30,000 won safety shoes and work clothes that cost 10,000 won total for top and bottom, and went to the labor office at 5 AM.
I earned money like that to pay off debts, and after work, I dragged my tired body to write for the future.
The same when I fled and went on a working holiday.
At that time, depression had exploded and I felt like I might commit suicide, so I deliberately overworked myself, but I lived really fiercely, working to death with no tourist travel at all unlike others.
It was never easy and really hard, but I hated bowing to my parents and begging more than death.
Two weeks have passed since the day I first protested.
A week ago, I thought I would return to the beginning again, but surprisingly, this time I didn't go back.
And this morning, I got a call from the reporter I had interviewed with.
He said he heard from an acquaintance at the company where the affair partner works that the affair partner was fired from the company.
The surrounding scenery began to change gradually, and I could tell that I had overcome the Trial of Origin.
I realized belatedly.
The task that the Trial of Origin gave me wasn't about how to persuade my mother and protect the family.
The affair had already happened, and the destruction of the family couldn't be prevented no matter what.
However, the problem was my mindset in dealing with such a crisis.
The weakness of trying to bear it alone, then failing to do so and living by running away and avoiding.
My family wasn't my mother, father, and sister in the first place.
My master, Se-jin, Luciel, and Eunseo are my family.
So where I should be isn't here.
***
As soon as I opened my eyes, I could see the clock hanging on the wall in front.
[08:00]
I usually wake up by 7 o'clock at the latest, but it's only an hour later, yet I feel like I slept a bit more soundly for the first time in a while.
I took a day off for the first time in a really long time after working without weekends, so I closed my eyes again thinking I'd sleep a bit more, but I couldn't fall asleep.
Eventually, I got up.
I washed briefly and came out to the living room to open the refrigerator.
I took out bottled water and gulped it down, and now my mind became clearer.
I took a day off for the first time in a while, but it was semi-forced because other staff members said I don't rest too much and begged me to please rest, so I don't have any special plans.
Brother still hasn't returned, and sister Luciel also went into seclusion after coming out once last time, saying she needed to do research again.
I should just go to work... no wait. Since it's a rare holiday, I should at least visit home once.
I changed clothes and used teleportation magic to come to my family home.
"Mom? Dad?"
Somehow I don't feel any presence of people in the house.
"Mom? Dad?"
I thought they wouldn't go to work since it's the weekend so they'd be sleeping, but did they go out?
It's a bit early to go out though. Wait, don't tell me again....
I used teleportation magic to come to the National Cemetery.
Among the victims of the Demon King's advent incident a year ago, my sister is also included.
The ones who fought the Demon King were me, sister Se-jin, Ji-sung, and Do-hyun, but she was included in the personnel waiting on the outskirts.
After sister, Ji-sung, and Do-hyun died, the Demon King who released the barrier killed all the personnel on the outskirts....
I wondered if they had come here, but I didn't see my parents... Father and mother holding chrysanthemums were visible as if they had just arrived.
It's been over a year already, but both of them seem unable to shake off the sadness of losing sister.
If I hadn't buried myself in work either... no, even despite that, I still haven't forgotten.
How could I forget?
As much as my parents... no, maybe even more than my parents, it was my sister who loved and cherished me the most.
It hurts my heart to see my parents putting down chrysanthemums and crying quietly.
If I kept watching, I felt like I would cry too, so I returned home.
Should I tell them even now?
I didn't tell my parents that brother left for the Trial of Origin to save everyone.
Brother discouraged me, saying it might give false hope if something went wrong by any chance.
He said with a smile that he'd be back soon anyway, so couldn't we tell them then, but brother hasn't returned.
Of course, I believe in brother.
So I thought it would be right to tell them even now, but at that moment, blue light began to burst out in the living room.
At first I thought it was sister Luciel, but it's not.
The internal energy is the same, but the scent, feeling, atmosphere, everything is completely different.
"I'm a little late, right? Sorry."
I ran and hugged him, and he caught me in his arms and whispered in my ear.
"I'm back."
Brother has returned.