Why Did I Have to Be Born Their Child?
Why me, of all people.
"W-What's going on, sir?"
"……."
My parents were on their knees.
Faced with something that had never happened before, I couldn't help but ask in my confusion.
But Kang Hyeongman seemed just as flustered.
"Well…. Haa…."
He trailed off in a way that didn't suit him at all, then let out a heavy sigh as if the whole thing was too much to bear.
Taking that as their opening, my parents used their kneeling position as a springboard and lunged straight at me.
"Hic—! Yerin-aaaaah—!"
"C-CEO Kang…! Made us kneel…! And started saying all these scary things…! Hic…!"
"Would you two get out of the way already?!"
"Kyaaang—!"
Of course I shoved them aside. I trusted Kang Hyeongman far more than I trusted my own parents.
I knew he would never do something like this without a reason.
"Sir…, by any chance…."
"……."
"Did my parents cause another mess…?"
"……."
When Kang Hyeongman hesitated to answer, my parents cried out as if they were the ones being wronged.
"…Yerin, us causing another mess…."
"Anyone listening would think we're nothing but walking disasters…."
"Dad, Mom, just be quiet for once!"
"Our Yerin…, hic…."
"Our sweet little Yerin…, heeing…."
Watching them raise my blood pressure, Kang Hyeongman shot them one terrifying glare.
"Hieek!"
"S-Sorry…."
"Hoo…."
He let out another sigh and turned back to me.
"…Yerin. This isn't the place…, let's talk outside."
"…Yes."
At those words I left my clingy parents behind in the house and followed Kang Hyeongman out the door.
Tap, tap.
The moment we stepped outside, Kang Hyeongman pulled out a cigarette as if his mind was already a mess.
But right before he lit it—
"Ah."
He caught sight of me, flinched, and tucked the cigarette away again.
"Sorry. Almost made a mistake in front of a kid."
"No, sir. You can smoke."
"Forget it. Smoking in front of a brat just makes me feel worse. Cigarette smoke isn't exactly pleasant anyway."
I had been a smoker in my previous life, so I knew exactly how hard it was to stop right before lighting up.
Especially when your head was this scrambled—he must have been craving one desperately. Yet Kang Hyeongman still held back.
Once again…, his consideration stood out.
"Alright…, please tell me now. Why did you do that to my parents? What kind of mess did they cause this time?"
Why had someone like him lost his temper so completely today?
When I asked, Kang Hyeongman let out what must have been his umpteenth sigh of the day and slowly opened his mouth.
"To explain that…, I first need to tell you why I've been lending money to your family all this time."
"……!"
I couldn't help but flinch.
It was a question that had always nagged at me.
Credit delinquents…, lazy freeloaders who looked like human garbage no matter how you sliced it…, why on earth had Kang Hyeongman kept lending them money?
You'd be better off leaving fish with a cat. Why hand money to my parents of all people?
I waited, tense, for whatever he was about to say.
And the very first words out of his mouth were completely unexpected.
"There are two main reasons. The first…, is that your grandfather was my benefactor."
"…What?"
"When the son of the man who saved me asked to borrow money, it was hard to say no."
"…W-Wait a second."
What was he talking about?
"The grandfather I've never even met…, was your benefactor, sir?"
"That's right."
Kang Hyeongman nodded calmly at my flustered question.
Come to think of it, I had known him since I was very little.
Back then I just assumed Dad had borrowed money again…, but apparently the connection between our family and Kang Hyeongman ran deeper than I thought.
"When I was young. I had nothing in my hands and was living a dead-end life doing thug work. Your grandfather took me in and pulled me out of that trash existence. From then on I handled all his collection work."
"Collection…. Was my grandfather a gangster too?"
"Not quite a gangster…, just a moneylender. You know your family was rich up through your grandfather's generation, right?"
"…Yes, I heard we were a little well-off."
"A little well-off? No. Your grandfather was seriously rich. He had a lot of cash on hand…, and plenty of land."
…My grandfather had been that wealthy?
Even coming from Kang Hyeongman, I found it hard to believe.
They say a rich man stays rich for three years even after going broke…, and sure, a lot of time had passed, but how had a family that rich ended up this dirt-poor?
How rich could he have been, really? Sounds like he's exaggerating a bit.
But Kang Hyeongman's next words left my mouth hanging open.
"He owned a couple of buildings in Gangnam…, held a decent amount of big-corp bonds…, and had a lot of land in Gyeonggi Province."
"……What?"
"Ah, and before it was developed, he owned about ten thousand pyeong of land in Pangyo, I think?"
"…Whaaaaat?!"
If that was true, our family had been absurdly rich.
So with that much wealth, how were we this poor now?
I had heard that Dad had gambled away some of the fortune when he was young.
But there was no way mere gambling could have wiped out that much—
"Your dad burned through all of it gambling."
"……."
…My dad was the kind of man who could make the impossible happen.
"The time he dropped eight billion won on a five-high is still legendary in the houses…."
"…Good lord."
A thick wave of dizziness hit me.
If I could, I would have gone back and beaten the living daylights out of young Dad.
"Anyway, when your grandfather retired he left part of the business to me. That's how I got to where I am now…, and he was like a father to me."
"……."
So that was why he couldn't refuse when the family of his benefactor asked for money….
The boss values connections…. I guess that makes sense….
When I slowly nodded, Kang Hyeongman patted my head and said,
"Yerin. You look a lot like your grandfather. Maybe that's why I felt even more affection for you."
"Grandfather looked like me…?"
Dad and I looked very similar, but there was one huge difference.
Our impressions.
My face was expressionless and cold, while Dad had the soft, spoiled look of a rich young master.
But if Grandfather had looked like me, then….
…He must have been one scary-looking man.
I had never even seen a photo of him, yet somehow I could roughly picture his face.
But that's not the point right now.
I had started thinking about Grandfather and realized the conversation had drifted, so I spoke up again.
"…Yes, I understand what kind of connection you had with my grandfather, sir. And I understand why you've been lending money to our family all this time. But what does any of that have to do with today?"
"……."
"Please just tell me. Why did you get so furious today? What kind of mess did my parents cause?"
Kang Hyeongman wiped a hand down his face and answered.
"…To explain that, I need to move on to the second reason I kept lending money to your family."
The second reason….
Right. He had said there were two reasons he lent us money.
"As you know…, your dad has borrowed money from me more times than I can count. And most of those times…. I just gave up on ever getting it back."
"…What?"
"…Back then I thought that was how I repaid your grandfather's kindness."
Come to think of it, every time Dad borrowed from Kang Hyeongman when I was little, he always said the same thing.
Don't worry! I've got a way to pay it all back! No problem this time either!
…I had just assumed he somehow managed to pay it off. He simply never paid it back…?
Where exactly had my dad's conscience gone….
"The amounts he wanted kept growing even though he never intended to repay any of it…, so eventually I started refusing. And then…, your dad started looking elsewhere."
"Elsewhere…."
My voice trembled as I asked. Kang Hyeongman answered with heavy eyes.
"To be honest, even I—who lend money at high interest—don't think what I do is particularly honorable. But in this world there are thugs who make me look like a saint."
"Thugs like…."
"The kind who ignore the law, force debtors to give up their bodies, or torment the remaining family until their whole lives are ruined."
"……."
It was the sort of thing you only saw in movies. I couldn't close my mouth.
"Your dad was about to borrow from those kinds of people, so I lent him two hundred million. But those damn bastards…."
Kang Hyeongman's fists clenched tight as if the memory still made his teeth grind.
"…This time they went sniffing around those same bastards again. Luckily I dragged them out right before they signed and stopped the contract."
"……."
When I just stared blankly, Kang Hyeongman frowned.
"Those meticulous thugs wouldn't have failed to dig into your family. They know you're doing well on TV right now…, and they were planning to use your parents as leverage to blackmail you."
"……."
"If you get mixed up with those kinds of people, life gets exhausting. No—beyond exhausting. You sink straight into the mud."
"…Haha."
…So that was it.
While I was busy filming My Idol Academia, another shackle had almost been locked around my ankle without me even knowing.
…All because of my parents.
I had thought nothing they did could surprise me anymore after everything they'd pulled so far….
But my parents were people who far exceeded even my imagination.
The shock left me unsteady for a moment. Kang Hyeongman supported me and asked,
"You probably can't stand looking at your parents' faces right now."
"……."
"I'll book you a hotel like last time. Stay there tonight. I'll grab whatever you need from the house."
"…I appreciate the offer, but I'll pack my things myself and come right back out."
"…Yerin."
"I need to say a few words to them too. …Sir, just wait a moment. I'll be right out."
"……."
When I spoke firmly, Kang Hyeongman nodded and let me go.
I walked straight back into the house.
"Yerin! Ha Yerin!"
"Our daughter!"
The second I stepped inside, my parents greeted me like I was their savior.
"O-Our girl! CEO Kang didn't do anything weird to you, did he?"
"You must be exhausted from filming. Mom will lay out the blankets so hurry and—"
They put on a warm act and tried to fuss over me.
But….
"…I heard you tried to borrow money again."
My heart toward the two of them had already gone ice-cold long ago.
The moment I brought up the money, their faces twitched and they forced out awkward laughs.
"Ah…, haha, Yerin, about that…."
"…You promised you wouldn't borrow any more money."
"W-We did."
"…So why were you trying to borrow this time?"
When I asked with a straight face, Dad stammered. Mom stepped in as if to help.
"W-We wanted to live like actual people, Yerin."
"…Like people?"
"W-We can't just keep freeloading forever. So…, Dad and I were going to try a little business of our own…. That's why we needed startup money."
"…Lies."
How many times had I fallen for that exact lie?
This time will be different. Next time we'll change.
Mom and Dad had said those words countless times, yet nothing had ever changed.
People don't change easily. If you said it was hard to rewrite the temperament you were born with, I could at least understand that much.
But….
"…If you cared about me even a little, you shouldn't have done it."
"…Yerin."
"If you thought of me as your child even a little, then even if you couldn't support me from behind, you should have at least stopped blocking the road ahead of me…!"
This was something they should never have done if they had thought of me even a little…, if they had rooted for me even a little.
"Haa…."
I didn't bother holding back the sigh that burst out.
I had been about to pack underwear, outer clothes, toothbrush, socks and leave, but I couldn't do it that way.
"…I'm leaving this house as of today, so don't come looking for me for a while. …Actually, it'd be better if you never came looking at all."
"Yerin—!"
"What are you talking about! Where do you think you're going if you leave…!"
"Why me…!!"
In my previous life I had been an orphan.
I had been so desperately lonely…, that even as I was dying I had longed for the existence called family.
When I was reborn in Ha Yerin's body.
The moment I learned I had parents, I had flailed with that tiny body in pure joy.
I had thought the two of them were a gift and a blessing from God.
But….
"…Why did I have to be born as their child, of all people?"
Today finally convinced me that their existence was a curse upon me.
I kicked the door open and walked out of the house.