Back Then, Back Then, Back Then (6)
A major hospital.
My father had undergone emergency surgery in the countryside. He had barely made it within the golden hour, and the operation was a success.
He had since been transferred to Seoul and was now stabilizing in the intensive care unit.
Today was Sunday. I had been tending to the aquarium where my bipha fish swam when I received a sobbing call from my mother in the morning.
Yesterday, around the time I sent that text—no, right when I was at the Lamb Skewer Restaurant—assailants had ambushed my father and the others while they were tending to my grandfather's grave.
My father was stabbed while trying to hold them off.
Fortunately, the attackers were all arrested. Even in the rugged mountains, thanks to the emergency first aid administered by those around him, he managed to reach the local medical center's emergency room despite severe blood loss and ruptured organs. By some miracle, he survived.
Through it all...
He had begged everyone not to tell me about his condition first. Even as his consciousness faded, he had sent that text message just so I wouldn't worry.
I could do nothing but hold my mother as she wept, trying my best to comfort her.
"Hae-in... yesterday, your father tried to save us... Those people had weapons... *sob*..."
"Father was just... helping people, just like Grandfather did. Don't worry, Mom. The culprits were all caught, and thankfully, his life isn't in..."
I couldn't finish the sentence.
The conversation I overheard yesterday at the Lamb Skewer Restaurant between Lee Ga-rang's parents, Lee Yul and Lee Hyuk, suddenly flashed through my mind.
The elders...
It's not a verified deduction yet, but...
Cultists were involved, but...
Since the hierarchy isn't fully established, another faction within the organization might have acted independently...
Is their chain of command that fractured?
In the ICU waiting room, looking through the glass window, the sight of Chief Prosecutor Oh Hae-su—my father, now so gaunt and hooked up to a ventilator—felt utterly foreign.
The father who had always guided my path...
He would wake up and hold my mother and me again. He would overcome this.
"Hae-in, take your mother and go... We'll stay by your father's side."
My relatives, who had been watching over him, asked me to take my mother home so she could rest after staying up all night.
She was completely exhausted. Nodding, I supported her weight and led her to the hospital's rooftop garden, helping her sit down on a comfortable bench.
Perhaps eased by the garden's lush, forest-like scenery, she leaned against me and finally drifted off to sleep.
Holding her gently, I made a silent vow.
To those who had hurt my father and mother...
I would never forgive them.
Now, it wasn't just about me, but the people I cared about...
"Sigh..."
I looked up. The sky seemed so pale.
Yet it was also indifferently, peacefully blue.
My world had burned to ashes, yet the sky remained so clear.
The harsh trials continued.
Once my mother had calmed down, I helped her back to the ICU. The doctor was waiting for us, and he delivered the blunt, unvarnished truth to my mother, my relatives, and me.
While his life was no longer in danger, it could take a year or more before he would open his eyes again.
My mother nearly collapsed. My relatives and I could only hold her up to keep her from crumbling.
The long consultation ended, and my father was officially admitted for long-term hospitalization.
Despite their busy schedules, investigators and junior prosecutors from my father's office came to visit.
After expressing my gratitude, I cautiously brought up the Baekyeom Sect and Yu Min-su's parents...
"I really shouldn't be telling you this, but even before the Chief collapsed, he was extremely worried about your safety. It goes against protocol, but I'll let you in on what's happening. Keep this between us..."
He hesitated, pausing for a moment, before leaning in close to whisper in my ear so no one else could hear.
"Early this morning... Yu Min-su's parents... they died in a fire, covered in severe burns. The culprit turned himself in. He claimed he manipulated a mentally unstable couple to blackmail you for money. But early this morning, when Min-su's parents came to their senses and resisted, he lost his temper, poured alcohol over them, and lit it with a lighter... That's his statement, at least. We still need to verify the facts, but..."
"What...? They're dead? And by fire?"
"The police should have contacted Yu Min-su and his relatives by now. The suspect likely fabricated the Baekyeom Sect connection after researching your family background. For now, you don't need to worry about your safety."
Patting my shoulder, they offered words of comfort and encouragement to my mother and relatives, wishing my father a swift recovery before rushing back to their duties.
Dead...?
And they claim the Baekyeom Sect was a fabrication... Was the cult still hiding its true strength, or had their attempt at a resurgence simply gone unnoticed?
So, on the surface, someone had simply manipulated parents driven to the brink by their child's school violence issue, using my family's background to extort money.
Did Yu Min-su's parents really have no connection to the Baekyeom Sect?
Or were they punished because they dared to scribble over the canvas that the counselor 'Yangchigi' was painting?
I tried calling Yu Min-su, but he didn't answer.
Right now... I didn't need to be told to know how shattered his world must be.
I wanted to go to him, but I had my own family to protect and stand by. I couldn't leave them right now.
"Hae-in, my son... Come here."
My mother looked as if she was about to burst into tears again. I held her close, my eyes fixed on my father's reflection in the glass of the ICU window.
Whatever it took... please come back to us.
Lee Ga-rang knew she should be worried about her father, but she couldn't help but feel a chill at the creepy smile that kept threatening to break across his face.
"Ga-rang, it's just that the stocks I bought are shooting up! Just because I got beaten up doesn't mean I have to look miserable all day. If you keep frowning like that, you'll get wrinkles!"
"How can you say that right now...? After everything..."
Even in pain, her father stared at his phone and laughed. Ga-rang felt a shiver run down her spine.
Her father's current state of mind... was deeply unsettling.
He had been beaten black and blue by a boy far younger than him—a boy she had once held dear. Yet he was acting so incredibly cheerful.
She wondered if he had been beaten so badly that he had lost his mind... No.
Ever since the day she accidentally discovered the secret that her mother and father were biological siblings, they had always reacted to serious situations with this bizarre, flippant attitude. Something was deeply wrong.
Her mother didn't even look like she had been touched. The medical staff had quietly told her that apart from her father, neither her mother nor the restaurant employee had a single bruise.
Just as the embers of doubt began to spark in Ga-rang's mind—
"Ga-rang, come here for a second."
Lee Hyuk, now looking solemn, waved his hand gently, beckoning his daughter over.
His soft gesture swept away the tension in the room.
In the end, the tiny spark of doubt in Ga-rang's heart was snuffed out by that gentle breeze, and she let herself be pulled into her father's embrace.
"Your mother and I... we have things from our childhood that are hard to talk about. I only acted cheerful because I didn't want our secret to weigh on you, Ga-rang. I didn't realize it would make you worry instead."
Hearing this, Ga-rang could only hug her father back and pat his shoulder, thinking it had all just been a misunderstanding.
She couldn't see the look of sheer disgust on Lee Hyuk's face, however.
*Slide.*
The hospital room door slid open unexpectedly.
It was Cha Sang-hui and Gong Na-rin, carrying get-well gifts they had bought yesterday.
What the two girls witnessed...
Was a man hugging his daughter while wearing an expression of absolute contempt.
Gong Na-rin dropped the gift she was holding, while Cha Sang-hui's crimson eyes widened as she froze in shock.
Lee Hyuk wanted to sigh. Oblivious to it all, Ga-rang pulled away and ran to her friends.
"What's wrong, guys? Why do you look like that...?"
Lee Hyuk was quick to intervene, his tone turning serious.
"Girls... you came to visit! Ah, that look just now... I wasn't looking at my daughter like that. I was just thinking about that bastard Oh Hae-in. I wanted to forgive him, but I got so angry thinking about how he beat me up that I couldn't help but scowl. And then you two walked in. It was just a coincidence... Please don't misunderstand."
He claimed he had just lost his temper for a split second thinking about the beating he took from Oh Hae-in, pleading with them not to get the wrong idea.
After all, what kind of parent would look at their own child with such disgust?
The girls concluded that it must have been a misunderstanding—that they had simply opened the door at the exact moment he scowled in anger at the memory of being brutally beaten. For now, at least.
"What? You were angry about getting beaten up, but you were going to forgive him?"
"...Because Hae-in is already destined to spend the rest of his life paying for what he did, sweetheart."
Lee Hyuk's face instantly shifted back to a warm, benevolent smile. The visit proceeded in a seemingly warm atmosphere, though a tiny ember of doubt had been left behind.
"Ga-rang, your mother is coming to watch over me after work, so why don't you head out with your friends? Na-rin, Sang-hui! Thank you for the gifts. You girls run along now."
"Dad? You're still hurt..."
"The doctor said I'll be fine in no time. Go on, off you go."
After accepting the gifts, Lee Hyuk practically ushered his daughter and her friends out of the room.
Despite his injuries, he insisted on standing up to see them off, leaving Ga-rang and her friends with no choice but to say their goodbyes and leave.
Only after checking the door and making sure they were completely gone...
...did the warm smile vanish from Lee Hyuk's face. Reverting to his cold, expressionless self, he began staring intently at his phone, his fingers scrolling across the screen.
"The elders who acted on their own, and the kids who made those useless videos... they've all been disposed of. Ah, there's still one left."
His finger stopped on Yu Min-su's name. Lee Hyuk pressed the call button.
"It's me. Looks like we missed one. Go clean it up."
With those final words, Lee Hyuk hung up the phone.