Chapter 18
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 18: Regret (2)
"The real culprit seems to be the younger sister. The police see it that way too."
"Then why did he turn himself in?"
"Wouldn't it be because he hated seeing his sister's life ruined? Even if she doesn't get punished because she's a middle schooler, the moment she kills her parents, that's the end."
Rumors spreading throughout the neighborhood is an inevitable occurrence.
Even if an abused child kills accidentally, parricide is parricide.
Even if she tries to do something in the future, the tag of a murderer will absolutely never fall off.
Ha-rin ruffled her hair roughly.
"...Fuck."
There was nothing that didn't go her way in her life until now.
However, this case was too big.
A person died.
Even if the power of a chaebol is mighty, there are things that can be covered and things that cannot.
"Isn't this too much no matter what? Why is Do-hyun's life only like that?"
Ha-rin couldn't understand.
Father could be trash.
Mother could leave home.
Sister could get depression.
Criminal record could happen.
But with a trash father, a mother who left home, and a sister with depression, getting a criminal record for parricide and perjury shouldn't happen.
"It doesn't make sense!"
Tears welling up in her eyes was a natural sequence.
Do-hyun was pitiful. Too much.
"Can't I be of help somehow?"
"Milady, about that..."
The attendant hesitated, then suddenly stepped aside.
The person standing in that spot was Baek Ha-woon.
Ha-rin's father.
"Just what are you doing going around."
"A, Appa?"
Baek Ha-woon, who heard the full story from the attendant, sighed deeply.
"So that student killed his parents, and you are looking for a way to cover it up."
"Yeah, so that's why, by any chance...!"
"Take your hands off this matter."
Ha-rin asked back.
"What?"
"I said take your hands off. Covering up murder crosses the line too much. I've been turning a blind eye to your reckless behavior, but I cannot overlook this."
"No...! Dad listen, do you know how unfair Do-hyun's situation is?"
Ha-rin argued passionately about how unfortunate a life Do-hyun was living, but.
"That is that guy's destiny."
Baek Ha-woon was firm.
"...If you don't help, I'll leave the house."
"As if you would."
"And I'll cause an accident driving drunk without a license and make headlines on the 9 o'clock news."
"...Threats won't work on what can't be done."
Ha-rin rolled her brain diligently, but.
Changing Baek Ha-woon's mind seemed distant.
Damn it, do I have to use that method in the end?
It's something Ha-rin hates doing more than anything, but if it's for Do-hyun, she had to do it.
After steeling her heart, she opened her mouth.
"Then I'll study."
"...What?"
"I said I'll study and go to university! In Seoul!"
Words that she would study on her own came out of Ha-rin's mouth, who had built a wall against studying all her life.
Clang, the sound of a teacup breaking rang in the house.
The attendant dropped the teacup she was bringing from her hand.
Ha-rin's mother who was eavesdropping fainted, and the parrot they raised couldn't stop hiccupping.
Likewise, Ha-woon was also trembling all over as if he got goosebumps.
"...You will study?"
"6 hours a day from today! Until the CSAT, I won't skip even once, and I'll quit all games I play. Still no?"
To say she would spend a vicious high school senior exam life when she can't even do arithmetic properly.
It was a story that made no sense, as much as the sun rising not from the east or west, but from the south.
"Just what kind of existence is that man to you, that you intend to go that far."
Ha-rin pursed her lips for a moment and said.
"...Friend."
For a daughter who saw schoolmates as lackeys all her life to use the word friend.
As expected, a father seems to be an existence that cannot win against a daughter.
Ha-woon raised the white flag.
"...Understood."
"You'll help?"
"Instead, you study quietly."
Ha-rin screamed kyaak and hugged her father.
"As expected of Dad, Dad is the best!"
"Ahem, ahem."
Ha-woon was inwardly happy.
Things didn't proceed smoothly.
Because the fact of the crime already spread to the whole school and the whole neighborhood.
"That house's son, well, they say he killed his own father!"
"They say Seo Do-hyun in the next class stabbed his dad with a knife?"
"...Ugh, like father like son as expected."
It was also rumored together how terrible a man Do-hyun's father was, but.
"With that much, isn't it served him right even if he dies?"
"No matter what, killing crosses the line."
Reality was cold.
"Hey, heard your lackey is going to prison?"
"Shut up a bit."
The thought of beating up the bitches scratching from the side with money was like a chimney (strong desire), but.
Ha-rin stayed quiet.
Because if she went wild, things would get worse.
Do-hyun was naturally expelled.
His seat became an empty seat, and that would be the same fate for Do-hyun's sister as well.
Because the real culprit is the sister in the end.
But.
"Covering up the matter completely is impossible. Still, we can prevent that student's sister from being indicted."
"...How much is the sentence coming out?"
"It's parricide. Since it's a violent crime, minimum 7 years, but since he is a minor and if the child abuse charge is recognized as you said, it will be reduced significantly. If it goes well, 2 to 3 years."
With that much, she can wait.
Rather than the sister's life being ruined, it was better for Do-hyun to go to prison and come back.
Since she can feed and support him.
Baek Ha-rin listening to tutoring from a top-tier instructor diligently as promised.
Meanwhile, Do-hyun's case continued to proceed.
The attendant conveyed to Ha-rin.
"Milady, I think you can go for visitation once around tomorrow."
Ha-rin's eyes, which were suffering from doing homework, rapidly became lively.
"Really?"
It's Do-hyun she sees after a long time.
"What do I wear? How is this? Is the color too bright?"
Expensive clothes and full makeup.
She decorated herself with the prettiest appearance possible, paying attention to even every single accessory.
"...Are you going to meet a boyfriend or something?"
Even the attendant saw this level of dressing up for the first time.
First visitation.
Thinking she should go see him often even if he goes to prison, Ha-rin's visitation to meet Do-hyun.
"...Are you okay?"
With one word extended without thinking, it ended in the worst way.
"That's why I repeatedly said not to pity me at least..."
"...Sniff."
"Milady, are you crying?"
It was the first time she heard such harsh words.
Do-hyun poured out all the ill feelings he had accumulated in his life towards Ha-rin.
And that became a huge wound to Ha-rin who had lived as a precious jade leaf until now.
Bad guy, how can you not know how much I'm suffering for you.
However, on one hand, this thought also occurred.
"Did I... Was I too severe? I was too trashy. Right?"
Things she did to Do-hyun meanwhile flashed by like a lantern.
Treating him lowly, ignoring him, making him a clown.
"Of course there was no way Do-hyun would view me favorably."
It's a relationship that started as a toy from the beginning.
Ha-rin thought Do-hyun's feelings towards her would be nothing but inferiority complex and disgust.
"If I had treated him a bit more kindly, would something have changed?"
"...Milady."
Ha-rin, who buried her face in the handkerchief the attendant handed over, lifted her head only after a long time passed.
That beautiful face was ruined as much as it could be.
"...Let's go. It's tutoring time soon."
"It would be better to rest from tutoring today."
"No. Because it's a promise with Dad."
Like that, years passed.
After effort, Ha-rin succeeded in advancing to a university in Seoul, although not a good university.
They say Do-hyun was imprisoned in a juvenile detention center.
During that time, she couldn't even go for visitation.
Even on the day Do-hyun was released, she couldn't even think of visiting.
Because she has no qualification to see his face.
"Milady, may I speak honestly? If you go find him and reveal everything you did from behind meanwhile, that student will crawl on his own?"
"Rather, wouldn't it only buy repulsion that I did it out of sympathy?"
"Oh frustrating."
Even if the attendant hit her chest as if frustrated, the guilt grew to the point where she couldn't visit.
"No, he did it for money so what's so severe about that. Even I do that much clown act if given a bonus. Just give me 100,000 won. I'll make a six-line poem with Director Baek Ha-woon."
"Do-hyun is a baby, has many wounds. Should have embraced him. How much of a wound was the work I ordered to that hard child?"
"Kuaaaaaak!"
In that process, the attendant eventually submitted a resignation letter, but.
"You can't because you are too capable."
"From today on I will treat you rudely until I get fired."
Naturally, it was rejected.
"...Wonder what Do-hyun is doing for a living these days."
2 years, 3 years, 4 years...
Even as time passed, Do-hyun's anecdote didn't disappear from her head.
"Please forget it slowly. There are many other men in the world."
"...There is no man like Do-hyun."
"Hmm is it to that extent."
The attendant watching from the side couldn't understand, but.
In the life of a chaebol growing in a greenhouse and flowing only smoothly, Do-hyun's existence took a place as the most intense memory.
At first, it was a faint favorable feeling.
Just a heart wanting to cheer for a boy living hard even though he is younger than her.
But after faint lingering attachment and regret fermented by time, the feelings towards Do-hyun grew irreversibly large.
If she went to see his face earlier as the attendant said.
Or if she said openly that she took care of him a bit from behind, it wasn't a feeling that would become this sticky.
However, Ha-rin was young, and a clumsy human.
"Don't be frustrating in the corner of the room like that and go meet him a bit or something!"
"How can I do that!"
"Bitch!"
"...I deserve to be cursed at."
An immature chaebol 3rd generation who didn't even know how to apologize to a person she was hated by.
The 1 year with Do-hyun, who stood at the opposite point from her in every aspect, changed the person called Baek Ha-rin significantly.
"A, Agassi (Young Miss)!"
One day, a cafe clerk spilled iced americano on Ha-rin's clothes.
If it was usual Ha-rin, she would have gotten angry and tried to slap the cheek first, but.
"S, sorry... what to do!"
"It's okay, are you hurt anywhere?"
Conversely, she treated them generously.
Even when a department store clerk makes a mistake.
"Sorry! We trained the employee wrongly. To not know a VVIP customer, how..."
"Can happen. Are there one or two customers in the department store?"
Passed without much trouble.
"...Milady. You went beyond Iron to Bronze." (Note: Gaming rank metaphor)
"Whatever."
Ha-rin, who learned consideration thanks to Do-hyun, never treated others lowly even once since that day.
Donating part of the received pocket money to society is a bonus too.
"Lived diligently so I should play slowly now."
"Still, you aren't a person to go Silver."
Just the fact that controversial things disappeared, Baek Ha-woon and the attendant were deeply impressed.
Still only thinking of getting a free ride in life as a chaebol granddaughter, but at least things that would harm the group disappeared, right?
However, Grandfather, Baekseong Group Chairman's thought was different.
"At least get married."
If useless, make a connection with the son of a National Assembly member in the next neighborhood at least.
Around the time talk about matchmaking came and went.
Only then did Ha-rin make up her mind.
"I have to meet Do-hyun."
"Fi... finally!"
"Thinking about it, I didn't apologize."
"You are really stubborn. How do you groan alone for 6 years? I thought I would die of frustration."
Ha-rin who hasn't said a word of sorry after doing severe things meanwhile.
That kept weighing on her mind.
She hesitated to visit because of guilt, but.
As the urging for matchmaking continued, she had no choice but to make a decision.
Chairman Baek is stubborn.
Marriage with an unknown man was a future that would inevitably come.
But what if she goes all the way with another man before that?
If she drops the product value of herself, the marriage matter will be nullified too.
Well, if Do-hyun says he still hates to even see her face, it can't be helped, but.
'I am confident in my face...!'
Breasts are big too.
If I go with a physical attack, somehow!
However, Ha-rin didn't know.
"You can't find him?"
"...That is correct."
"No, how can you not find one man?"
"Damn it... I am also humiliated right now."
That Do-hyun left for the virtual world because of Rice-Eating, and didn't roam outside the house.
Even if the attendant twisted her whole body, she couldn't find even his traces.
There was a method to track by residence at least, but.
The place Do-hyun stays was a worn-out illegal structure built secretly in a remote corner.
Actually, Do-hyun's neighbors except Yoon-seo were mostly people hiding to avoid someone's pursuit.
Do-hyun just liked it because the rent was cheap.
Ha-rin muttered anxiously.
"Don't tell me, d... dead."
"That's not it. He is still alive on the computer network. Not processed as missing either."
Phew, she sighed in relief.
Just being alive and breathing somewhere properly was a huge relief.
"For now keep looking. I'll try to avoid the matchmaking somehow."
Ha-rin took out her phone USIM and fled overseas to buy time.
And returning home around the time she thought they would have found him after about a month.
The story after that is present continuous.
-You cannot use the Baek surname from now on.
The cutting off by the Baek family.
"...Whew."
Although she lost everything as a chaebol now.
"Still met again. Apologized too."
Just by reuniting with Do-hyun, Ha-rin was happier than anyone.
"...Sniff."
Below the floor of the bed she sleeps in now, that kid is sleeping.
Overwhelmed with emotion by that fact, she buried her face in the pillow.
Suddenly remembered her reality.
Time limit is 1 year.
If she returns to Baekseong Group after 1 year, forced marriage awaits.
That was a future that would come even if she succeeded by effort.
Rotten or not, she is a granddaughter. Ha-rin also knows Chairman Baek's personality well.
A Chairman who does everything for the company's profit.
There was no way he wouldn't use herself, the prettiest among the children.
But now another method appeared.
"...1 year is a sufficient time."
Time remains even after making a baby.
"...Should attack tomorrow."
Ha-rin's face detached from the pillow was stained with regret, obsession, and lingering attachment accumulated for 6 years.
What? Already have a female friend in a 'some' relationship?
Originally, the legal wife is the one who gives birth to a child first.