Chapter 96
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 96
The next day, as Dokyun was packing his things after the ancestral rites, his mother watched him and spoke.
“You didn’t forget anything, did you?”
“No, I think I got everything.”
“Let me see.”
Dokyun let out a soft chuckle as he watched his mother check his luggage more diligently than he had.
“Anyone would think I’m never coming back. If I forget something, I can just come get it next time.”
“You should try visiting more often before you say things like that. A boy who doesn’t even show his face unless it’s a holiday.”
He flinched.
Dokyun’s body tensed at her chiding words.
She had a point.
It wasn’t that far, yet he never thought to visit unless it was a holiday. Wasn’t that just like him?
At a loss for words, his lips pursed. Just then, Eun-seol, who had been stroking Bborongi beside them, spoke up. Her tone was painstakingly gentle, though it sounded awkward no matter how he heard it.
“Don’t you worry, I’ll take good care of Dokyun.”
“Oh, yes, dear. Please look after our son. I’m always so worried about whether he’s eating properly…”
As she said this, she shot him a glare, making Dokyun flinch again. Eun-seol let out a small laugh at the sight. A short while later, having finished packing, Dokyun and Eun-seol went outside and loaded the luggage into the trunk.
“Well, we’ll really be going now. Call me if anything happens.”
“Oh, please. What’s going to happen in this backwater town? You’re the one who needs to keep in touch.”
Her words were nagging, even as he was leaving, but Dokyun could sense the worry underneath and let out a small laugh.
“You’re ridiculous… Hurry up and go. The traffic will get bad if you leave any later.”
Another scolding. Dokyun nodded, said goodbye to his father, and got into the car.
“Dad, I’m heading out.”
“Alright, drive safe.”
“Okay.”
Once in the car, Dokyun started the engine and glanced at his parents in the side mirror.
The weather was cold, and they could have just gone inside, but his parents stood there, watching until his car turned the corner and disappeared down the alley.
*
The drive back took about three hours—definitely faster than the trip there. After arriving home and unpacking, Dokyun stretched wide and spoke to Eun-seol.
“Ugh… You worked hard. There’s really no place like home.”
He wondered how this house, where he’d lived for a little over two months, could feel more comfortable than the family home he’d lived in his entire life. He glanced at Eun-seol, who was sitting on the sofa with her eyes closed, and chuckled.
“Are you sleeping?”
“…I’m not.”
The reply came a beat too late. Was she that tired? She seemed to have been dozing off the entire way here, and her voice was still laced with fatigue.
“You must be tired from driving.”
“Not at all. The traffic wasn’t even that bad…”
As he was speaking, Dokyun noticed something off about Eun-seol’s slumped posture. A look of concern crossed his face as he asked her, “Are you not feeling well? Does your leg hurt?”
“…”
Silence was the only answer. As the worry on Dokyun’s face deepened, Eun-seol glanced at him and finally spoke.
“I was thinking.”
“About what?”
“Go Eun-ah.”
The name came out of nowhere. Dokyun let out a soft “Ah,” his expression hardening.
Come to think of it, it was almost time to take the cast off. And when the cast came off, Eun-ah would return.
Dokyun recalled what Eun-ah had been like just before her leg was injured. A month ago, her condition had been far from stable. She had started to perceive the gap between her delusions and reality, leading to long periods of being dazed, and there were moments when she had shown clear signs of anxiety.
A silence stretched as he mulled over the thought. Eun-seol glanced at him and spoke again.
“…I’m worried. This is the first time Go Eun-ah has been dormant for this long.”
“…Never?”
“Never. She’s never been this seriously injured before.”
Her words brought back a question that had crossed Dokyun’s mind before. He opened his mouth to ask, “The temporal gap. Is that what you’re worried about?”
Since he had started to seriously intervene, Eun-ah had become much more aware of the passage of time. She had looked forward to Christmas and New Year’s Day, and she had even made plans, marking down places she wanted to go throughout the year.
At the time, he thought he was doing it for her sake, but…
“Yes. A month and a half isn’t a short period. Half a season has just vanished. She’s going to feel that gap.”
Her answer made Dokyun realize that his choice had been a dangerous one.
“…”
Had his judgment been too hasty?
A belated thought occurred to him: it was possible that Go Eun-chae, feeling rushed by his actions, was the one who had put her leg in this state.
Perhaps Go Eun-chae, who hadn’t been fully separated from the system yet, had deliberately orchestrated this situation to shake Eun-ah, to shatter her mind once more.
Impulsive and self-destructive. Greedy and uncompromising.
But that didn’t mean Go Eun-chae was stupid.
Go Eun-chae was relentless and merciless. In other words, she would stop at nothing.
If the core personality, Eun-ah, was shaken, even Eun-seol would have trouble maintaining control.
As his thoughts raced, something else occurred to him.
“By any chance, when Eun-ji appeared at my parents’ house… was it because there was a problem?”
He had been so flustered at the time that he’d brushed it off as nothing, but looking back, Eun-seol’s demeanor when she returned after Eun-ji fell asleep had been different from usual.
He had to assume the worst. If Eun-ji’s appearance was truly a sign of a problem with control, he would have to change his approach for dealing with Eun-ah when she returned.
Dokyun’s gaze fixed on Eun-seol. She met his eyes for a moment before closing hers again and replying, “It wasn’t a major problem. It’s something I can handle if I just focus more.”
“Are you sure you’re okay? If it’s something dangerous…”
“I’m fine.”
The same answer came again.
Dokyun bit his lip, then spoke once more.
“…If a problem does come up, please tell me. Two heads are better than one, aren’t they?”
“Fine.”
Dokyun watched Eun-seol give a small nod. A thick layer of fatigue clung to her. She kept saying everything was getting better, but the exhaustion on her face only seemed to deepen with each passing day.
*
The cast came off a week later.
Back at home, Dokyun watched Eun-seol walk on her own two feet.
“Can you walk okay? Does anywhere feel uncomfortable?”
“If it did, I would have kept the cast on longer.”
Dokyun narrowed his eyes at her reply and studied her gait.
She looks fine, but…
She was the type of person who never let on unless it was something major, so he couldn’t help but worry that she was pushing herself too hard.
As Dokyun stared at her, Eun-seol turned her head and shot him a low growl.
“What are you staring at?”
“…Nothing.”
His expression immediately turned polite. He may have dealt with Geun-tae, but the fear ingrained in his body still kept him from challenging that look.
A long sigh escaped him. Dokyun lifted his head and started toward the kitchen.
“I’ll go make some dinner. Just wait.”
“No, I’m cooking today.”
“Huh?”
The words were unexpected.
As Dokyun tilted his head in confusion, Eun-seol glanced at the dazed man before walking past him.
“There’s something I want to eat.”
No way.
“…Cilantro kalguksu?”
Please say no. He asked the question with all his heart, but she just shook her head.
“No, so don’t worry and just sit down. You’ve been feeding me for a month straight. I should treat you at least once before I go.”
You really don’t have to.
Couldn’t she please just let him do it? He looked at her pleadingly, but she walked coolly into the kitchen, showing no intention of changing her mind.
Looking back, he had been the one cooking for the entire month they had lived together, so she hadn’t once eaten a meal to her own taste.
For Dokyun, it had been a truly fortunate and happy state of affairs.
Is she doing this on purpose?
His eyes narrowed. Suspicion bloomed, and unpleasant possibilities came to mind.
Was she holding a grudge because he hadn’t once cooked a meal to her liking for the past month? Was she trying to eat everything she wanted before she had to “go”?
His own line of rational deduction continued.
What could it be? What kind of monster was she about to create?
Dokyun felt his heart begin to pound with an unconscious fear, his anxiety deepening.
The smell wafting from the kitchen wasn’t grotesque. The ingredients he could glimpse looked perfectly normal.
And that made him even more anxious.
A conviction, close to certainty, had already taken root deep in his heart: there was no way a normal meal would emerge from that kitchen. This certainty only amplified his dread.
The longer she cooked, the more ingredients she brought out, and the more his anxiety swelled.
An hour or so passed.
“Come on. It’s ready.”
The words struck Dokyun’s ears like a death sentence from an executioner.
His body, slow to process the words, gave a belated shudder. Dokyun slowly rose to his feet and approached the dining table. Eun-seol, already seated, spoke.
“I think I made a bit too much… Well, eat it all.”
Eat it all. It was a command.
Dokyun looked down at the dishes on the table.
They were dishes he had never seen before in his life.
His gaze fell upon a greenish fish.
“…What is this?”
“Steamed Cilantro Salmon.”
A dish he’d never heard of. But the combination of ingredients revealed in the name was all too explicit.
Next, Dokyun’s eyes moved to the plate beside it.
“…And this?”
“Hot Tomato Salad.”
Why was there a ‘hot’ in tomato salad? And why was steam rising from the tomatoes?
As he pondered this, his gaze shifted to the large bowl that appeared to be today’s main dish.
It was a red soup that gave off a sharp, spicy scent. Floating on top was a blanket of tiny green leaves.
“What… is this?”
“Malatang.”
That’s Malatang? he thought, his eyes wide with disbelief.
“…I tried topping it with some mint.”
The explanation followed a moment later.
His jaw dropped open on its own. As Dokyun stood there, unable to even think of sitting down, Eun-seol issued another command.
“Sit.”
Her tone was imperious. It only reinforced Dokyun’s suspicion that she had made this food on purpose.
Suddenly, a thick sense of injustice welled up in a corner of Dokyun’s heart.
Had he been a bad cook? No. Had he failed to provide meals on time? That wasn’t it either. He had simply stuck to standard dishes.
Alright, he admitted it. She had dropped hints from time to time. She had even slyly shown him cooking videos, asking what he thought of certain dishes.
…He had ignored them. He had ignored them because he didn’t have the courage to eat that kind of food himself. But was that such a crime? He had never once served her something inedible.
They were common ingredients and common dishes that were perfectly edible, even if they weren’t to her taste.
Dokyun glared at Eun-seol. She was staring back at him intensely, apparently unwilling to pick up her spoon until he was seated.
His body trembled.
Dokyun staggered to his seat.
You cruel person…!
He hated her so much for forcing him to sit at this table. The smell stinging his nose was definitely a sign that something was wrong.
But he couldn’t resist. Her glare was too terrifying.
“Th-Thank you for the food…”
“Good.”
With that, she picked up her spoon. She began to eat with a look of genuine pleasure.
Dokyun’s gaze returned to the dishes.
In that moment, he had a realization.
What he had put off and delayed had finally come back to him as karma. If he had just catered to her tastes once in a while, this wouldn’t have happened. His own selfishness had created this situation.
Dokyun squeezed his eyes shut as he picked up his spoon. The mushy texture of the flaking salmon flesh sent a shiver down his spine. Now, he had to put it in his mouth.
Fear rose again. Followed by despair.
It was time to clear his karmic debt.