Unpleasant Memories
"I was a little late because I was cross-checking the materials you gave me, Mr. Eunho."
"So you didn't trust me, then?"
"A journalist can't publish something that hasn't been verified."
Now that was a real journalist. Jeong Hyeseon was a better reporter than I'd given her credit for.
"While I was verifying the facts, I tailed the kids for a bit — and wouldn't you know it, they walked right into an adult entertainment establishment. Students going into a hostess bar. That smelled like a story, so I called a contact of mine in Busan. It's a rough place for a woman to walk into alone. So I was waiting for my contact when..."
She'd been waiting for her contact when a commotion broke out. The moment she saw people bolting out of the establishment like they were fleeing for their lives, her reporter's instincts kicked in. She went inside, followed the screams echoing through the halls, and found the kids collapsed inside a private room.
"I knew right away. Someone was there. Someone was deliberately punishing those bastards."
"...And then?"
"And then I ran the story. This whole mess only happened because the law failed to do its job. When a victim becomes the perpetrator, it's just too unfair."
Jeong Hyeseon had framed the article so the spotlight wouldn't fall on whoever had punished those little shits. But that was only the beginning.
First: a group sexual assault by reckless middle schoolers, covered up with money and power.
Second, third, fourth, fifth: ongoing school violence with a rotating cast of victims.
Two of them had even attempted to take their own lives.
As the endless stream of atrocities came to light, public opinion began to shift. A national petition went up. Small protests formed outside the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency and the courthouse, demanding a proper investigation and a proper verdict.
Thanks to all of that, not a single person cared about — or felt sorry for — whatever those little bastards had suffered.
But I had no intention of stopping there.
I don't usually think much of them, but for occasions like this, the cyber wreckers come in handy. I handed over every scrap of information on those little shits — names, ages, schools, addresses, and even the personal details of the families they'd been counting on.
At first, they held out. But as public outrage grew fiercer by the day, the parents started issuing statements.
The city councilman was first. He held a press conference, poured out a father's anguish for the cameras, and put on a show of urging the police and prosecutors to conduct a fair investigation. He'd let go of his son's hand to save his own seat.
Of course, the other parents did the same. They released their sons' hands and scrambled to protect everything they'd built for themselves.
But the cop dad didn't even have the power to keep his own position. He was dismissed and arrested in the same breath. The one who'd likely done the dirtiest work of all was forced to face his crimes in the ugliest way possible.
"That should about cover it. They'll be wearing a label they can never peel off for the rest of their lives."
I'd done everything I could. No — I'd done far more than I'd ever planned. So maybe it was time I headed back to Seoul.
I opened the hospital room door to say my goodbyes — and the timing could not have been worse.
"Those bastards will never hurt you again...! You never have to see them again...! So... so... don't you worry anymore, sweetheart..."
"Hic! Hhk...! Okay... hic... hhk... hic..."
The mother clutched her son's hand with trembling fingers, and the son turned his head so no one would see his quivering lips — both of them sobbing freely. Han Iseul, who couldn't bear to watch her mother and younger brother, had turned away as well, tears streaming down her face.
"Hic... hhk..."
"......"
Yeah. This was not the moment for a farewell. I slipped quietly out of the room and started down the hallway, drafting a text to Han Iseul as I walked.
"Oppa!"
"Jesus—! Don't you have school?"
"I already finished all my classes."
Seeing her at the hospital nearly every day, I'd gotten pretty close with Lee Min-ju. Though anyone with eyes could tell she was into someone, she kept insisting to the bitter end that she wasn't.
"If he's not even your boyfriend, why do you come every single day?"
"I-I've told you a million times, I'm just visiting a friend!"
"Sure, sure."
"I'm serious!!"
"Sure, sure."
"You little—!!!"
"Though, didn't you bring some pretty stiff competition with you?"
"Huh?? What are you talking about??"
"Your friend next to you is prettier than you."
"You little—!! I know that, okay?! And Serin didn't come to visit Ichan, she—"
What?
For a moment, Lee Min-ju's noisy voice seemed to cut out entirely. My head went blank. That name — Serin. That expression. Those eyes. They weren't unfamiliar. And yet I felt no warmth at all. Just a deep, crawling unpleasantness.
Why? Why was I feeling this way about a kid I'd never met?
"Eunho... oppa...?"
"......"
What? She knows my name? How?
"Do you know me?"
"I-I've... seen you once before... when I was little... at Grandma's funeral..."
"......"
Ah. Now I remembered. The little kid who'd kept staring at me from behind her mother's back. The daughter of the woman who'd married the man who called himself my father. Strictly speaking, that made her my half-sister.
"Serin?"
"O-oh, Mom...!"
"Your dad's room is over here."
"Ah... well....."
"......"
She looked back and forth between me and the woman behind her, flustered. The woman who'd just stepped out of a hospital room. Time had passed, but she looked exactly the same as she had back then — clear enough to make that foul memory rise up in vivid detail.
"Hm? Are you Serin's friend?"
"Hello. I'm Lee Min-ju."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Serin's mom. Ah... then this gentleman is....."
"Mom, that's...!"
"......"
I walked right past them. I had no interest. Whether the man who called himself my father was in that room or not, it had nothing to do with me.
And yet... why? It clearly shouldn't have anything to do with me, and yet—
"Fuck. This feels like shit...!"
My plan to head back to Seoul fell apart. The second I left the hospital, I found the nearest bar and drank myself stupid.
"Ugh...! My head...!! Why the hell did I let that bastard get to me...!!"
I'd thought I'd forgotten it all. I'd thought even the resentment and the rage had faded away. Just someone who had never existed in my life. Someone I'd walk right past without recognizing if we ever crossed paths again. I'd thought it was a connection that meant absolutely nothing — so why was there still something left for the man who called himself my father?
"...Where even is this?"
It wasn't the bar I'd been drinking at. It wasn't a hotel, and it didn't feel like a motel either. Just an ordinary house. An old country home, maybe? The kind of place I'd lived in with my grandmother when I was little....
"......"
"......"
The second I threw off the blanket and sat up, I forgot how to breathe. What? What the hell was going on?? What on earth had happened that Han Iseul was lying next to me?!
"Mmm....!"
"Mmph!!!"
I clamped a hand over my mouth and carefully watched Han Iseul as she shifted in her sleep. Then I lifted one hand from my mouth and gently peeled back the blanket covering her.
"Hoooo....."
She was fully clothed. So was I. At least I hadn't done anything disgusting while blackout drunk....
But then why the hell was I here with Han Iseul in the first place!! Remember. Remember...! Remem—
"......"
"......"
My brain short-circuited. Because my eyes had met Han Iseul's.
"Good morning...?"
"Ah... yeah. You too, Iseul... sleep well...?"
"Yes...."
The awkwardness was going to kill me. Han Iseul sat up, her face flushed red. Nothing actually happened, right??
"Um... where are we...?"
"You don't remember...?"
"Haha... I'm not usually the type to black out like that.... I just can't seem to recall....."
"......"
"D-did I do something I shouldn't have?!"
"Something you shouldn't have? What do you...."
"......"
"Ah, no! Nothing happened between us!!"
Bang!!
The sudden sound of a door flying open snapped my head around. An old woman. Some grandmother was glaring at me with a kitchen knife in her hand.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!!"
"How much did you drink to be raising hell first thing in the morning? If you're up, get your ass out here and eat!"
"U-um... who might you be...?"
"Crazy bastard."
"......"
"She's my grandmother... my maternal grandmother...."
Maternal grandmother? Then this place was—
I threw off the blanket, shot to my feet, and bowed at the waist.
"Good morning! My name is Yoo Eunho!"
"Good morning, my ass. The bastard who barged into someone else's house at the crack of dawn and started screaming his head off...!"
"Ah, well...!"
"Get out here and eat!"
"Ah! Yes!!"
I scrambled after the grandmother as she stomped away, then sat down in front of a round, low dining table I hadn't seen in years. Side dishes that looked homemade down to the last grain of salt, old dishware worn smooth by time. It felt so much like being a kid again that it was almost comforting — except I was terrified.
Could you maybe put the kitchen knife down now that you're done with it...?
"What d'you do for a livin'?"
"Pardon..?"
"Your job! You workin' or not?"
"Ah... well. For now I'm taking it easy... I left my company not too long ago..."
"Aigoo..."
"G-Grandma!"
"Hush! Keep eatin'!"
"Stop it...! And put that knife down already..!!"
"Oh my? Would you look at that. Shared one blanket and she's already takin' his side?"
"Grandma!!!"
"......"
There was nothing I could do. I just sat there quietly, eating when told to eat, answering when told to answer.
"So when's the wedding?"
"Pardon..?"
"Grandma..! Please put the knife down already..!!"
"I'm gonna peel you an apple! An apple! Don't you eat apples?!"
"N-no, I do! I eat them!"
"See! He eats 'em!"
"Honestly...! And I'm not like that with Eunho oppa..!"
"Oppa..?"
"You share a blanket with a man you're nothin' to? Aigoo~ look at my luck. How'd I end up with a granddaughter like this.."
"You're the one who told me to keep an eye on him..! You said he gets all needy when he drinks...!!"
"Listen to her, listen to her, now she's blamin' her grandma. I told you to look after him! Did I tell you to crawl under the same blanket?!"
"No, I wasn't trying to sleep there..! I just dozed off without realizing..."
"You little girl..! You little girl..! Don't you know your body's precious! Crawlin' into a man's blanket like a thievin' cat — what were you thinkin'!!"
"Aaah!! That hurts!!! And I didn't crawl in!!"
"Then I suppose your dead grandpa tucked you in?"
"That's.... I'm not really sure....."
"Khh!! Kh-hup!! Khh! Kh-eup..!!"
"You're gonna choke your man to death! Go fetch some water!"
"Honestly...! Just a second!"
"No, I'm fi— khh!!!"
I choked. Hard. I ended up in the ER with purple lips, an IV drip in my arm, lying flat on a hospital bed.
"Ah...."
"I'm so sorry... My grandmother isn't usually like that.... Well, okay, she is usually like that... I mean....."
"It's fine. It reminded me of my own grandmother, so it was nice, actually."
"But why did you choke...?"
"That was..."
I rolled over, dodging the question. Han Iseul kept defending her grandmother for a while longer, then got a call from her mother and headed upstairs to Han Ichan's room for the shift change.
"......"
Left alone, a hollow feeling settled over me. But hollow was better. Better than talking to someone I didn't want to talk to.
"How did you know I was here?"
"Ichan's mother told me."
"......"
The woman who'd come to find me while I lay there on an IV drip was the woman of the man who called himself my father. Why had she come looking for me? For what?
"Say what you came to say and leave."
"I'm sorry... I felt I should start with an apology..."
"No. Don't apologize."
"Pardon..?"
"There's no reason I should be receiving an apology from you."
"But....!"
"Your business."
"...Alright. Then I'll just say what I came for. Right now, Taekyeong is... very sick..."
"And?"
"Pardon??"
"Did you come here to ask me to donate an organ or something?"
"No! Absolutely not!"
"Then what? Why did you come looking for me?!"
My words came out sharper than I meant them to. Looking at it objectively, this woman hadn't done anything wrong. And I still seemed to be carrying a whole lot of leftover feelings about the man who called himself my father.
"Hoo... I'm sorry."
"It's alright... I understand... And the reason I came to find you, Eunho, is... I thought you should at least say hello to your father.."
"Say hello? Unnecessary. And I don't have a father."
"He's going to die. They say there isn't much time left... He might not... make it through this month.... Hic..."
"......"
He was dying? That bastard? So what? What the hell did she want me to do about it? After all this time — what the hell was I supposed to do now!!