Shooting
A shocking truth had come to light. Harin did have a guy in her life, but he was nothing more than a one-sided, heartbreaking crush—an existence floating somewhere up in the clouds.
Without knowing any of that, every time the kid came home even a little late I’d treated her like some loose woman throwing her body around. No wonder she refused to give me the dad treatment. The reason she wanted to leave home had nothing to do with a boyfriend—it was one hundred percent my fault.
“Who the hell is he? No—how amazing does this guy have to be for Harin to like him?”
It wasn’t just because she was my daughter. Where else would you find a girl like Harin? Just how much of an alpha male did this bastard have to be to mess around without even realizing how she felt?
“I don’t know either. Kang Harin won’t tell me.”
“She’s probably embarrassed. If things were going well maybe, but since she’s the only one getting hurt, she doesn’t want to reveal it.”
The reason she’d kept the guy’s existence a complete secret was clear now too. Harin had simply been too ashamed of not being loved back by her crush to say a word.
“It’s better this way. Guys are nothing but a pain.”
Regardless of anything else, Kim Hyeonji was obliviously spewing her man-hating vibes. Yet for some reason, while I felt sorry for Harin, I also felt a little relieved.
In the end, I’d avoided the worst-case scenario I’d been imagining, right?
Of course that guy was using Harin’s pure affection to freeload cigarettes and cash. But if she ever got tired of the one-sided relationship, Harin might be the one to give up first.
“Whew… Well, thanks for telling me all this. In return, you can eat both chicken legs.”
“I already did.”
“…”
Common sense said that if two people ordered one chicken, you split the legs without anyone needing to say a word. Yet she’d silently polished off both legs and was still clutching a wing.
“So you don’t know who he is either? Where the hell am I supposed to ask…”
“Why are you trying to find out?”
“Why? Because that bastard is using Harin’s pure heart to fill his own belly. Actually, Harin’s dad happened to find a pack of cigarettes in her room. No matter how you looked at it they didn’t seem like hers, so he asked me to look into it.”
“Then whose are they?”
“Whose do you think? That bastard’s, right? Since Harin likes him, he’s using that pure heart to extort allowance money. Ever heard of him? He seemed like a guy who smokes the same Marlboro Reds as you.”
“Ah… that?”
“…?”
Ah… that? She said it like she knew something huge, and I was suddenly afraid to ask for the truth.
Somehow the moment I heard that answer, it felt like only how stupid I’d been this whole time would come spilling out.
“Those are mine. I lost them a while ago, and Kang Harin brought them back to me once.”
Without even being asked, Hyeonji answered and dumped my entire past month straight into the gutter. Wait—so those cigarettes had been yours all along?
“Hey! Why are you only telling me that now? Do you know what I did these past few days, risking my social life to figure that out—”
“You didn’t ask.”
“W-well, if you put it that way I’ve got nothing… Anyway, if you’d just told me more about Harin, none of this would’ve happened, right?”
“You lied first. Why blame me?”
“…”
This kid slept three hours straight at school and skipped class constantly, yet somehow she’d picked up “logical speaking.” Of course my own recklessness—barging into the school on pure delusion—was the root of everything.
Grrr… Just what had my past month even been for? What the hell had I put on a school uniform and infiltrated the school for, building relationships with Harin’s friends?
No. In the end, hearing the truth through Hyeonji only happened because of the decision I’d made that day. So let’s think positively.
I’d done my best in my own way, and finally reaped the fruit of it.
“So what do we do now?”
Hyeonji, her stomach starting to fill, asked while nursing her second can of beer. But what were we supposed to do?
“We’ve seen the flowers and had chicken and beer, so we should head home soon, right? You’d want to quietly wrap up your weekend evening alone too, wouldn’t you?”
“If I go home I have to see ‘that bitch.’ I’m going in late.”
“Uh… that’s your personal business, so I won’t stop you. Then I’ll slowly—”
“Is anyone home at your place?”
“…?”
Something ominous I couldn’t accept sat inside that question. Depending on how I answered, a red alert blared that she might invade my most private space.
“W-well, my aunt and her nephew, I guess. The house is small and packed with people, so my head’s already spinning.”
“Then you don’t want to go home either, right?”
“Not… really? I actually enjoy the noisiness. Even if you just twist your body a little and end up rubbing against each other, it deepens the family bonds, or something like that?”
“Tsk… Then go. I’ll drink alone here.”
“…”
That didn’t seem okay. First of all I didn’t know Hyeonji’s alcohol tolerance, and this place was swarming with young men and women heated up by the gentle spring breeze.
If I left a girl like Hyeonji—whose clothes were weird but whose looks alone were superior—alone here, what might happen? Even if she hated men, the chance she’d fall for an offer to drink together was high.
She acted reckless, but it had long been proven she was a bit dumb. Abandoning a kid whose drinking capacity hadn’t even been checked wasn’t something an “adult” should do.
“Haa… Fine. But promise you’ll go home when the sun sets.”
“Why the sudden change of heart?”
“I’m originally a guy with no principles, right? That’s why even after my older brother stole the girl I liked, I raised the white flag and went home after just eighteen days.”
“…”
With that simple yet solid answer, Hyeonji asked no more. Looking a bit triumphant, the corners of her mouth curled up like a large dog anticipating a snack.
In the end I literally “enjoyed” the cherry blossom festival with Hyeonji. We walked the flower path to aid digestion, watched a performance at Gate 7 of the National Assembly, and bought cotton candy to try.
Bang bang!
When we arrived at the shooting booth, Hyeonji fully ignited her competitive spirit. I didn’t know how much she’d already spent, but she was monopolizing one lane alone, shooting bullets while carefully avoiding only the dolls in the center.
“Haaam… Just give up. The way you’re shooting, even if you dump every bullet here you won’t hit that.”
“Shut up. You got one, didn’t you?”
Hyeonji glared at the cheap teddy bear in my hand. But comparing you and me was unfair.
Even if I was just a maritime service reservist, I’d received military training. Beyond that, the sea was still a place where pirates ran rampant, so gun maniac Park Changsu periodically made me do shooting practice.
“Just glaring with your eyes doesn’t make the bullets hit. Rather, except for the hand holding it, relax your strength and open your mouth. That way you match the air pressure outside and inside you.”
“I’ll smash your mouth… I’ll hit it my way.”
“First of all your grip posture is bad. Firmly pull the stock—”
Unable to take it anymore, I stood behind Hyeonji and kindly adjusted her posture. My fingertips touched her firm arm muscles, and at the same time a sharp scent wafted up from the top of her head.
Sniff sniff…
Without realizing it I closed my eyes and got intoxicated by that smell. Perhaps because she’d been wearing a hood for so long, the damp sweat and the shampoo scent from washing that morning created an exquisite synergy.
Haa… Nice. Come to think of it, this was exactly the real date I’d dreamed of with Sehee…
Shake shake!
What the hell was I thinking? The other person was a minor—even a senior at my daughter’s school.
Of course I admitted that coming this far with Hyeonji, we’d had a normal flower viewing without a single bit of trouble.
Like how she got angry saying who eats this crap but still nibbled and tore at the cotton candy I bought, or at the face-painting booth she declared absolutely no with a straight face but then obediently had Hachuping drawn on the back of her hand.
But Hyeonji was merely immersed in the flower viewing she’d postponed because of her estranged family relationships. I was only here as a guardian in place of her dad, and calling this a “date” or whatever was clearly disqualifying as an adult.
“S-sorry. It should be fine to shoot now.”
I hurriedly pulled away from her and shook my head vigorously to clear my mind. But Hyeonji stood frozen as if she hadn’t heard a thing.
“Aren’t you going to shoot?”
“…”
No answer. Completely frozen in the posture I’d made for her, not even making a small breathing sound.
“Aren’t you going to shoot the gun, Cheonji High School third-year Kim Hyeonji.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Suddenly what is—”
“Just call me Hyeonji.”
“Huh?”
Bang!
Leaving those words, Hyeonji quickly pulled the trigger. The bullet shot out as if it had been waiting and hit with a pang! the empty space of the tent far off the target.
“Hey, this isn’t my fault. I clearly adjusted your posture properly—”
Whip!
Hyeonji turned her body without a word and put down the gun. Then she glared at me as if to kill. You’re not mad because I touched your body without permission, are you?
Given her extreme man-hatred, it was possible. But I was only, as an “adult,” helping so you could shoot correctly…
“…?”
But what had she just said earlier? She usually hated being called by name familiarly, so why suddenly ask to change the title?
Tremble tremble… Hiss hiss…
Hyeonji still said nothing, her whole body shaking. It looked like she was very angry, but it was hard to pinpoint me as the target.
It seemed more like anger at herself. Like she’d faced some sudden emotional upheaval she couldn’t handle, and couldn’t admit it…
Slide…
So I handed her the teddy bear. I didn’t know why either. Maybe it was better never to know.
Then Hyeonji twitched her eyebrows and asked, with the will that she must hear the answer.
“Why this? You won it.”
“I’m giving it to you.”
“Don’t pity me.”
“I’m not pitying.”
“Then why give it?”
“I won it to give to you from the start.”
“So why?”
“That’s just… because I wanted to give it?”
“…”
I don’t know either so don’t ask more. But surprisingly, Hyeonji obediently took the teddy bear.
As if she had zero interest, she spat her characteristic “Tsk…” and hugged it with both arms, pulling it to her chest.
As expected… she could act delinquent, but she couldn’t act not cute.
Whoosh~
A yacht cut through the water, cruising the Han River. I thought I’d never board a boat again, but Hyeonji was staring this way too blatantly to just pass by.
Hyeonji stood on the deck with her eyes closed, arms spread like some Jesus, facing the reverse wind. Looks like she couldn’t easily abandon that bluffing.
“Hyeonji, you surprisingly like riding boats?”
“I used to ride often.”
“Well, with a dad like yours, having a yacht like this wouldn’t be strange.”
“…”
Only then did Hyeonji open her eyes and glance my way. But isn’t that practically what you said with your own mouth?
“I don’t ride anymore.”
“Because he’s taking someone other than you? But what does that person think of you? Does she pick on you like a seductress from a drama when Dad’s not around?”
“Who is she to pick on me? She acts close, but I know everything.”
“What’s this… Not acting close, but really wanting to get along with you?”
“I hate it. Absolutely never.”
“…”
She was thoroughly twisted. From the looks of it the stepmother seemed to be trying to get along in her own way, but Hyeonji had no intention of acknowledging her.
Well, wasn’t Harin the same? On the outside she acted cool, but inside she fretted about a stepmother coming in. With Hyeonji’s fiery personality, no need to look further.
“How about riding the yacht just the two of you with that person?”
“Are you crazy? Why would I ride a boat with ‘that bitch’?”
“Boats are originally like that, you know? Even with someone you don’t want to associate with, when house-sized waves crash and death beckons like a god, you end up cooperating without realizing.”
“Then I’ll just die.”
“It’s different when you’re actually in that situation. You don’t even need to ride together. When you’re hit by rain pouring like the ceiling’s open in a sea draped only in pitch-black darkness, you end up forgiving everything without realizing.”
Because I did. Behind me Park Changsu aiming a Walther PPK, in front a natural disaster humans can’t handle.
In that moment blocked front and back, I was looking for my brother without realizing. Begging a god I’d never believed in, saying he could take that Yu Jiyeon for all I care, just let me see him once.
“Have you ridden a boat?”
Only then did Hyeonji realize I was telling an “experience story.” I spilled advanced info again.
But it was fine now. Anyway, I answered while awkwardly rubbing the bridge of my nose.
“I said I left home for eighteen days, right? I had to make a living so I briefly boarded a fishing boat.”
“Then do you know how to drive a boat?”
“Small dinghies or yachts this size, I could do with my eyes closed.”
Hyeonji seemed a bit surprised I had an unexpected specialty. But it wasn’t an unexpected specialty—it was the only thing I knew how to do.
“I’ll do as you say.”
“Really? Why so quick to agree, unlike you?”
As always, it was just something I said as a meddling third-generation man. But this Hyeonji kid—was her mood pretty good today that she’d do it right away?
Of course it wasn’t free. Like confirming a fish swimming into the net on its own, she revealed her true intention with a fishy smile.
“Instead, you drive.”
“…”
So that meant we had to meet “again” next time?