It’s Not Just My Fault This Time Either
I’d always assumed the matter was finished. Bae Deuro was already locked up in the detention center, waiting for his trial.
Even in the community, people who had trained as lawyers or worked in the legal world had said the sentence would likely be around ten years.
Of course I knew Korean judges often shaved a little off the prosecutor’s suggested punishment.
The country had a system where if you admitted your guilt, showed genuine remorse, and submitted a written statement of apology to the judge, the sentence was reduced.
Still, even the best reduction was probably only about fifty percent.
Five years. That much time and I’d be dead before he ever got out. It didn’t matter to me.
So I figured I would never have to face him again.
I didn’t expect his mother to show up at my door.
“…Whoever you are, you seem to have come to the wrong place.”
I didn’t want to get dragged into this again.
I tried to deny it.
Bae Deuro had denied his own crimes, so maybe it was okay for me to do the same.
I hadn’t done anything wrong.
“No, this is the right place. When our son was charged with stalking, he spray-painted hateful words here and tried to intimidate the child who lives here…”
But the woman standing before me already knew everything.
My breath caught in my throat.
The security guard must have let her in. She spoke so politely he had no choice.
He’d probably followed her up the stairs anyway, just in case she tried anything.
I still didn’t want to face her.
“I know my son didn’t apologize to the student. But he only became like this because of me, so I decided I had to apologize on his behalf. I’m sorry to come like this, but the police wouldn’t give me any contact information. I had no choice but to find you myself.”
Bae Deuro’s mother had clearly planned the visit carefully.
She hadn’t used any illegal means to find my address.
She’d simply looked at her son’s phone and tracked it here.
A person who operated within the law to get exactly what she wanted.
I felt a strange kind of boldness in the way she was ready to apologize for her son’s sins.
Like she didn’t care whether I accepted the apology or not.
But what difference would it make?
She was just doing this to ease her own conscience.
Did I really have to accept it?
It was a purely personal matter.
I hung up the intercom.
I wasn’t going to make any deal with Bae Deuro.
Whether his mother came or not, it was none of my business.
I turned back to the monitor and faced the viewers who always brought me happiness.
Then I heard the intercom again. It must have been louder this time, so the sound reached my room.
“I understand it must be very painful for you. But as your mother, I had to come and apologize on my son’s behalf. I’ll wait outside. Whenever you’re ready, please let me know.”
It seemed the viewers could hear it too, because the chat exploded.
- Tti-hwak-jjit: Who’s outside? - SilverPantea: Apologizing on behalf of her son…? Did the mom of that Shinseoul University dropout come? - RexiaQueen: Oh shit, mom, I thought it was a pad-rip - SilverPantea: lol lol lol lio-optimization brain - Starfall: How many pad-ripping matches were there that even mentioning parents makes you sound like you’re doing a pad-rip lol
I just wanted to ignore it all, eat the chicken I’d heated, and play.
But now I couldn’t swallow the chicken, and the sound of the door made it impossible to concentrate on the game.
I finally complained to the viewers.
“…As you said, the mother of the man who came here recently and beat me and got arrested actually showed up. I thought I’d never have to see her again… but I didn’t expect this either.”
- Tti-hwak-jjit: What, he came to blackmail us into making a deal? - SilverPantea: From the way she’s talking, it doesn’t seem like she’s some crazy family… - Tti-hwak-jjit: Yeah, from the SNS I checked, it’s clearly a perfect family. Perfectly devout Christian family, everyone’s an elite… - Tti-hwak-jjit: But aren’t these elite people who believe they’re above the law even scarier? - RexiaQueen: Me too, scary… Just take the settlement money and end it already?
Viewers were worrying about me.
But after seeing their concern, something unreasonable rose in me.
A Top-Sin-Byeongja like me knew that no matter how absurd the situation, you had to step up if you were going to fight.
Just a minute ago I’d only wanted to avoid her, to hide.
Yet here I was, talking to the viewers.
Perhaps it wasn’t so bad to meet her directly.
There was no reason for me to accept her apology.
She said she came as a mother to apologize.
She just wanted to ease her own conscience.
The settlement money was none of my business.
With the money she was already offering, I could eat chicken, pizza, or burgers for the rest of my life.
But the real reason I was going out was because the security guard was watching from behind. I wanted him to have a little more time.
If Bae Deuro’s mother ever got bad ideas, she could even end up in jail with her son.
That was why.
If things went wrong and she stabbed me to death, well…
It would be better than the viewers slowly losing interest and leaving me to suffer.
Better to die while I still had a good image.
I always knew I’d die anyway.
Of course death was terrifying.
That was why I’d been barely surviving until now.
But in moments like this, hormones let fear go numb.
My Top-Sin-Byeongja mind was helping me again.
“Everyone. Two kills and one death is a net gain, right?”
- Tti-hwak-jjit: ??? What are you even talking about? - SilverPantea: Boss, are you not having bad thoughts…? - RexiaQueen: Noeul, wait a second… just ignore her and keep playing… - Starfall: It wasn’t stalking to find the address and come, right? Just report it to the police… don’t go out…
I gave the viewers a little hint, stood up, and walked to the front door.
I’d always crawled before, but it didn’t bother anyone downstairs.
This time I made sure to make more noise on purpose.
I was preparing myself.
At the same time I didn’t want to show any sign of shrinking when I met Bae Deuro’s mother.
If I had to crawl to the door…
From outside she wouldn’t see my face, but I would still feel bad.
So I stood up straight.
Just like my usual in-game posture.
I didn’t latch the door and faced her.
“Whether you accept the apology or not, I won’t take it. I have no intention of playing along with an apology made to make your own conscience feel better.”
I’d forgotten how to get angry.
Since childhood I’d only learned how to get along with friends and adults.
I’d graduated kindergarten before I knew how to throw a tantrum.
Still, I could speak my mind.
Even so, the moment she saw me, Bae Deuro’s mother looked a little sad, then quickly returned to her solemn expression.
She didn’t seem the least bit offended.
“Yes, accepting or rejecting an apology is the student’s right. I only came because I have an unworthy son. This is for medical expenses.”
She suddenly held out a thick envelope.
I wasn’t trying to be proud, but I had never planned to make a deal with her son anyway.
I didn’t even reach out to take it.
“You don’t need to. I’m not going to make any deal.”
“You don’t have to accept it. Our child has to pay the price for what he did. I’m only sorry to the student. He was beaten until he collapsed and taken to the hospital.”
The woman said something completely unexpected.
No matter how you looked at it, her son’s sentence was going to be heavy. She was probably here trying to make a deal.
She even knew how to insult her own son and still ask for one chance for him.
She simply placed the unopened envelope on the shoe cabinet as if offering medical expenses was the bare minimum of being human.
“You don’t have to accept the apology either. I just hope our son doesn’t live with too many wounds from what he’s done. Please think he was simply unlucky enough to get bitten by a mad dog. I’ll make sure he never gets near the student again.”
“…Then why are you here?”
“As a mother I must take responsibility for what my son did. Money can’t fix everything, but this is the only way I can give the student even a little comfort. If you need more help, please contact me.”
Was she sincere, or did she actually feel sorry and think a deal would be made?
Bae Deuro’s mother left a business card on the envelope and walked away from my front door.
I stared at her retreating figure.
When she turned to get on the elevator, I closed the door so she wouldn’t see me.
She was really an incomprehensible person.