Chapter 175
Chapter 175
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 175
Chapter Title: Mom, Dad, I Love You
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“You had all these?”
“Of course. She’s our daughter, after all.”
While saying that, Painter Oh slowly gazed at the photos lining the walls of the room.
They started from her earliest childhood and continued up until just before Suryeon had left for heaven.
Looking at them, a thought crossed my mind.
‘She looks like an angel.’
Every single photo captured a smiling face.
Whatever had made her so happy, her wide-open grin was the very picture of an angel.
The director gazed at Suryeon’s photos with a wistful expression too.
I couldn’t fully comprehend her feelings, but I understood them a little.
“It’s been a long time since you’ve seen them, hasn’t it? I’ve had most of Suryeon’s photos.”
Nod.
Nodding, she stepped further inside.
The interior was remarkably sparse.
Nothing extraneous—just the bare essentials, it felt like.
As if the person living there believed all of this was their fault somehow.
Seeing that, the director’s voice brimmed with puzzlement as she asked.
“Is this all your stuff?”
“Less than you’d expect, right? Honestly, what more does a painter need? Just the basics for eating, sleeping, and painting.”
I hadn’t thought it was like this.
At the very least, I’d assumed Painter Oh had put the past sorrow behind him and was living well.
I’d gotten that impression from his behavior over time, but I was wrong.
Someone once said it.
The greatest sorrow in this world is the sorrow of burying your child.
There was no way he was okay.
He had simply chosen not to show it.
Seeing Painter Oh’s house only made that realization sink in deeper.
Painter Oh, painting at home every day—hadn’t his heart been shredded to pieces?
“Why live like this? I told you to forget.”
“How could I possibly do what even you couldn’t?”
“Still…”
At those words, Painter Oh gazed at the photo of Suryeon smiling like an angel and spoke.
“I did try to forget her once. But it didn’t work. How could I forget that beautiful face? I could forget everything else, but no matter what I did, Suryeon’s face wouldn’t fade.”
With those words, Painter Oh gently caressed Suryeon’s face in the photo.
“And if I didn’t think of her like this, I really felt like I’d die. It was the only way.”
The room of Suryeon’s that he’d recreated for his artist exhibition.
That alone showed how long he’d yearned for her.
To recreate it exactly as it was, he must have pored over her photos time and again.
‘Haha… really.’
My heart ached.
Painter Oh’s calm tone only made the pain sharper.
If even I felt this way just watching from the side, how much worse must it be for the two of them at the center of it?
At that moment, Painter Oh spoke with a somewhat lonely expression.
“After we came back from Jeju together, I thought about it for a long time. Is it right for us to keep living apart like this? If Suryeon were still alive, would she be able to smile seeing us this way? That’s why I made up my mind. To go up to Seoul and live with you.”
Swish.
The director stared at Painter Oh without a word. And right then, as he gave her an awkward smile…
Whoosh!
The director spun around and stormed outside.
“W-where are you going!”
Painter Oh looked utterly flustered by her sudden action.
I turned to him and said.
“I’ll go check on her.”
Nod.
He clearly wanted to follow, but even he seemed to know.
That his presence wouldn’t solve anything right now.
“Daeun, Dad’s stepping out for a bit. You can stay here with Painter Oh, right?”
“Yeah! I can do it!”
Smile.
“Good girl, my Daeun. Dad’ll be right back.”
With that, I hurried out after the director.
Once outside, I followed right after her.
The front gate was wide open, so I quickened my pace along her trail.
Far from Painter Oh’s house, at the mouth of an alley, I spotted the director leaning against the wall.
“Director!”
As I called out and rushed over, she hastily wiped at her eyes and said.
“Why’d you follow me?”
“Why do you think? I was worried, so of course I did.”
“I’m fine. Go back inside.”
“No, you don’t look fine at all.”
“I said I’m fine!”
I didn’t budge an inch.
“No way. I can see you’re hurting too. I know firsthand how much it matters whether someone’s there beside you or not. So I’m staying.”
At that, the director pressed a hand to her forehead and said.
“Sigh… I don’t need that kind of… help. Go take care of him instead.”
“No.”
Swish.
She scowled deeply at me.
Normally, I would have followed her lead without question, but not this time.
“You can glare all you want. I’m not leaving.”
“Sigh.”
Unlike her usual self, she let out a long sigh before seemingly giving up. Without another word, she sank down to the ground right there.
Then, staring up at the sky, she muttered.
“The heavens really are heartless. It’d be so much better if they’d just taken me instead. I’d curse them for life. If gods exist, I’d spend my whole life cursing them.”
I wanted to say something—anything—but I couldn’t.
All I could do was listen quietly to her words.
“Our Suryeon… They took our Suryeon, the most beautiful girl in the world.”
The director’s eyes reddened.
At the same time, I could feel her emotions surging.
Grip!
How could words even capture such sorrow?
“Director…”
But the director’s grief showed no sign of stopping.
It only deepened, as if devouring her whole.
Thud! Thud!
She even began pounding her own chest with her fist.
Seeing that, my first thought was to stop her.
If this kept up, she might truly collapse.
“Please stop.”
“Leave me alone.”
“No, you can’t. Suryeon would be sad.”
Swish.
At my words, the director looked at me with eyes full of sorrow.
“I can’t fully understand your grief, but I do know how agonizing it is to lose the most precious person in your life. I’ve been through it myself.”
“…”
“But that doesn’t mean you can fall apart.”
She absolutely couldn’t.
Not even for Daeun’s sake.
These were the very words I’d once said to myself, but who would have thought I’d end up saying them to the director?
“You have to steel your heart. That way, Suryeon up in heaven won’t feel sad.”
Hyorin was dead.
I could never see her again, no matter how much I longed for it.
At first, that thought made every single day pure torment, but now my thinking had changed.
“Truth be told… when I first heard about Hyorin, it felt like the whole world had ended. But then I met Daeun, and my perspective shifted. She’s just gone a little farther away. Hyorin lives on in my heart, and someday, after a very long time, we’ll meet again. When that day comes, I’ll tell her all the feelings I couldn’t express while we were apart.”
Swish.
At my words, the director looked up at the sky.
“Could it really be true? That someday… I’ll get to see Suryeon again?”
“That’s what I believe.”
I wasn’t sure if my words brought her any comfort.
But one thing I knew for certain.
If I had managed to endure, then surely she could too.
“Someday, we’ll meet again.”
She knew as well as anyone when that day might come.
At those words, thick teardrops began streaming down the director’s cheeks.
As time passed, the director’s emotions gradually settled.
“I must’ve shown you an unseemly side.”
“No, I’m glad I got to see this side of you.”
At that, the director averted her gaze slightly.
“Shall we head back in? Painter Oh must be worried sick.”
“Sigh…”
The mere mention of Painter Oh drew a long sigh from her.
Then came some unexpected words.
“Seeing him is hard.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure what emotion it is exactly, but thinking about how he must have suffered all alone until now… it hurts my heart.”
“The same goes for you, Director.”
What did it matter who hurt more?
The important thing was that they shared the exact same sorrow.
“Don’t think like that. And don’t push him away anymore.”
“Push him away?”
“You might not realize it yourself, but that’s how it looks to me. You’ve been instinctively keeping Painter Oh at a distance.”
These were words I never could have said before. But now, I could.
Perhaps our emotional closeness had grown.
“Me?”
“Yes. So please try approaching him with a little more sincerity. I’m sure that’s what Painter Oh wants too.”
The director fell deep into thought for a moment.
Then she gave a slight nod.
“I’ll try.”
She had come here to mend their relationship, after all.
It wasn’t as if she wanted things this way.
“Alright, then let’s go in.”
With that, I opened the door to Painter Oh’s house.
Inside, I found him chatting with Daeun about something.
“What are you up to?”
“Ah, haha! Y-you two are back!”
He quickly tried to change the subject.
“You have no idea how startled I was when you just left like that.”
But the director wasn’t one to miss the vibe in the room.
“So, what were you two doing?”
“Oh, Daeun and I were just—”
“Yeah, it looked like you were in the middle of a conversation.”
“Ah, well…”
Right then, Daeun shook her head vigorously and declared.
“It’s a secwet!”
“What secret?”
“Yup! A secwet!”
At that, the director’s eyes took on a peculiar glint.
My curiosity piqued too, so I asked Daeun.
“But seriously, what were you talking about? Dad’s really curious—can’t you tell me?”
“Nope! No way! Not even to Dad—Daeun won’t tell!”
“Why not?”
“‘Cause it’s a secwet between Painter Oh and Daeun!”
What on earth could they have talked about to make it such a big secret?
But with her insisting like this, she probably wouldn’t tell even if I asked.
I decided to hold off on my curiosity for now—until Painter Oh spoke up.
“But… are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just suddenly started missing Suryeon a lot.”
“Yeah.”
He gave a faint smile, seemingly relieved.
Yet to Painter Oh’s words, the director said something unexpected.
“I suddenly miss Suryeon so much.”
“…What?”
“It’s been way too long since I last saw her. I really miss her.”
Painter Oh bit his lip hard, his nose scrunching up.
“Yeah… I miss her a ton too.”
Swish.
He glanced at Suryeon’s photo on the wall.
I wasn’t sure if it was thanks to what I’d said, but it felt good to see the director opening up about her feelings a little.
Then, out of nowhere, Daeun piped up.
“Does Director wanna too?”
“Hm? What?”
“The secwet with Daeun!”
“A secret?”
“Yup!”
She’d just insisted she wouldn’t tell, but now she was about to spill it anyway, which made me chuckle despite myself.
And that’s how I learned what Daeun’s “secret” was.
“So what’s the secret?”
At the director’s gentle prompting, Daeun grinned wide.
“There! The pictuwe!”
“Yeah, a photo.”
“The sister who dwew that one said!”
“What?”
At Daeun’s continued words, the director couldn’t help but break into a beaming smile.
“‘Mom, Dad, I love you!’”