Chapter 4
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Couple's Quarrel
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“No, see... the rent's already four months overdue.”
“I'm sorry... I've been looking for a job as best I can...”
The landlord's voice had softened considerably, and Mom responded in kind, lacing her words with a nasal whine and a touch of coquettishness. She might have been the mother of two kids, but she was still in her mid-twenties. With her toned thighs peeking out from under her minidress and a glimpse of cleavage on display, the dizzy landlord quickly weakened.
“Well... still, there's such a thing as a lease...”
“I know... I'm really sorry. But it feels bad keeping you out here like this... why don't you come in for a cup of tea?”
“Ahem... s-sure.”
The landlord shuffled hesitantly into the semi-basement studio, glancing around until he spotted my sister and me huddled in the corner.
“Uh, hi?”
“Who are you, mister?”
“Huh? Oh, I'm the landlord.”
“Ohhh...”
“Heh heh... you two in elementary school? How old are you?”
“Me... I'm ten.”
“Ten? Wow, your mom's got some serious baby face.”
We hadn't been living in this studio long, so the landlord didn't know much about our family situation. Mom gave an embarrassed smile and twirled a strand of hair.
“Well... I had kids pretty young...”
“Really? How old are you now?”
“Me? Twenty-four...”
“What?! How did you...”
The words “make such a mistake” nearly slipped out, but the embarrassed landlord turned his head away with an awkward expression.
“No, I mean... young folks do that sometimes... anyway, about the rent being months overdue...”
“...I'm sorryyy. Things have just been really tough for us...”
Out of options, Mom bowed deeply, showing off her cleavage in apology, but this time, the shallow trick didn't work.
“Look, even if I want to cut you some slack... rent's 450,000 won a month, and you're already four months behind. That's... 1.8 million won!”
“...I'm sorry. If you could just give us a little more time...”
“I've already waited four months! I've been patient because you're a young wife, but I...”
With nothing to say, Mom lowered her head slightly and fidgeted with her fingers on her thigh. The landlord's gaze lingered on her thigh for quite a while before finally peeling away.
Noticing the look, Mom glanced at him.
“Ahem... ahem.”
Suddenly embarrassed, he cleared his throat loudly and subtly scanned the room—especially us kids. Mom hesitated for a moment watching him, then whispered softly.
“...It's hard to talk here with the kids around... why don't we go to your place and discuss it properly?”
“Huh...? M-my place?”
The villa we lived in was a five-story building: the top floor was the owner's, with the other four floors plus the semi-basement rented out. Four studios per floor, two in the basement—eighteen units total. Even in a cheap area, owning a building like that in Seoul meant serious money.
I didn't know it at the time, but Mom probably did.
The landlord's pupils shook as he glanced at us again, then nodded quietly.
Being young and naive, I just thought something serious must be happening. Looking back now, I can guess what kind of scheme was in play.
“Hyun-seong, watch your sister. Mom's stepping out for a bit.”
“Huh? To the landlord's?”
“You don't need to know, kid.”
The landlord, fidgeting like a dog desperate to poop, headed up first. Mom grabbed the hem of her short dress skirt and climbed the stairs with sharp clicks of her heels.
“Oppa, where's Mom going?”
“Huh? You don't need to know.”
What happened at Mr. Lee's place that day?
I don't know the details, but with Mom gone for once, my sister and I were just thrilled at the rare freedom in the empty house.
And Mom came back about two hours later.
I remember the ass of her thin gray dress was soaked and clinging wet, and her face was flushed pink.
“Mom! What'd you do at the landlord's?”
“Huh?”
“You were there like two hours. What about the rent?”
“Hey, kids shouldn't worry about that stuff.”
As she turned to scold me, there was a weird tuft of hair stuck to her lips.
“Huh? Mom, you got hair on your mouth.”
“What? Oh...”
It was curly gray pubic hair. Mom's face turned beet red as she hurriedly brushed it off, then scolded me sharply again.
“Hey, Hyun-seong. This is a secret from Dad, got it?”
“Huh? From Dad? About what...?”
“...About going up to the landlord's today. Got it?”
“Y-yeah... got it.”
“Promise, okay?”
I didn't get it back then, of course. I just thought Mom had gotten some hair on her mouth somehow. But after that, the landlord started dropping by our place more often, and complaints about overdue rent dropped off sharply. Ha ha.
Just as Mom wasn't some devoted wife, Dad... well, he was an outright scumbag, and his womanizing was even worse.
About a week after the day she came back with that curly hair on her lips?
“You jerk! Park Hwa-young offers it up, and you just gobble it right up?!”
“Fuck, I was drunk and messed up!”
“What? So being drunk means you stick it in any hole?! Huh?!”
Dad had gotten caught sleeping with another woman, sparking an intense marital fight that day.
My proud parents had always fought openly in front of us kids, but Dad's affairs made them go at it even harder than usual.
As a kid, it confused me. Mom didn't seem to love Dad that much... yet she'd flip out whenever another woman showed up.
The problem was, even when Mom had 100% right on her side, Dad played dumb or shameless, thick-skinned as ever.
“Yeah! I did it! She offered, so I fucked her! What's the big deal, you bitch?!”
“What... what?! That's all you have to say?!”
The argument escalated into shouting, then usually Dad's fists. That day, as the fight dragged on, my sister Mi-hyun and I huddled in the corner, trying to ignore them.
Sometimes I'd cover Mi-hyun's ears as she trembled. I was still a kid too, heart pounding like it might burst whenever they fought like this, but Mi-hyun seemed even more affected—maybe because she was a girl.
Slap!
The verbal fight peaked, turning physical.
“Ah! Why hit me?! What did I do wrong?! You're the one at fault!”
“Fuck, so what do you want me to do about it, you bitch?!”
Slap! Crack!
“Aaaah!”
There had been countless fights like this before, and they always ended the same: Mom submitting.
“Huff... huff...”
“Sob... hic...”
Mom collapsed on the floor sobbing. Dad ran a hand through his hair, calming his rage. After a moment, he pulled a 10,000-won bill from his pocket and tossed it to us kids in the corner, who were shrinking away from the fight.
“Go on, take Mi-hyun and buy something to eat.”
“O-okay...”
Why send us out all of a sudden?
“Mi-hyun... let's go.”
“Yeah...”
It was 10 p.m. Our villa was on a hill, at the dead-end edge of the villa cluster—alleyways dark and poorly lit. But with the rare pocket money from Dad, we trudged through the gloom to the nearest convenience store.
“What're you gonna get?”
“Ice cream.”
“I'll have cola.”
Normally we'd kill time with games on a phone, but we were too poor—only Mom and Dad had smartphones. After buying snacks, with nothing else to do, we headed back home.
Round trip took about ten minutes. As we approached through the dim alley... a shadow was lurking outside our semi-basement window.
“What the...”
“...!”
Sensing us, the shadow startled and ducked into the villa entrance. What had it been doing to freak out like that?
As we got closer to the house, the answer came right away.
“Ahhng... ahhng...!”
Mom's moans leaked out from the window.
“...”
Mi-hyun froze in place. She knew what Mom and Dad did at night, so the sounds were familiar... but right after such a brutal fight? It didn't make sense.
“Oppa, I'll wait over there in the empty lot.”
“...”
“Not coming?”
“Uh...? Nah... too lazy, I'll just stay here.”
“I'm scared...”
“...Go alone.”
Hating the sounds, Mi-hyun headed to the dark lot by herself. Once she was gone, I waited a bit... then quietly crept toward the window.
Ahh.
Why did I do that back then? Mom and Dad did it right next to me every night, but I'd rarely seen it properly. They usually turned off the lights, so I mostly just heard.
But our rundown semi-basement had bright light spilling out the window. It was July, sweltering hot, so the window was wide open.
Drawn by the noise, I sneaked up like a stray cat and peeked inside.
The dark outside made the lit room starkly visible. Ignoring any chance of being watched, Mom and Dad were tangled in the middle of the room—the most visible spot.
Mom's pale naked body straddled Dad's copper-toned skin, her hips shaking wildly. Her white skin glowed brilliantly under the fluorescent light.
“Ha-uk... ha-ut... ah... Oppa, too deep... ah!”
“Feels good? Huh? You like it, you slut? Ungh.”
Nothing new about the scene. The same vulgar talk I heard every night. But right after fighting? How could they cling like that after all that? It was a total mystery to my young mind.