Chapter 17 - Help
Help
Translator : Elizabeth
Chapter 17. Help
The room was rampant with complete darkness.
The dark after the electricity cut off was different from night. It was as if a black film with neither form nor depth had stuck to all sides.
Hu-du-du-du-duk!
Rattle, rattle!
In the silence that devoured even the sound of breathing, only the sound of rain and wind scratching the old window frame seeped in irregularly.
“Die…! Just die…!”
A cracked voice popped out from between rough breaths.
“I will kill all those who ignore me…!”
Gibberish, just anger poured out while full of spite.
Rumble—!
As lightning accompanied by thunder struck, a momentary light illuminated the room as if scratching it. At that moment, the sight of thick fingers digging into a woman’s neck was revealed.
“You too, just, die…!”
“Kkeu-euk…! Kkeu-reuk…!”
A man’s face with bulging veins, distorted mouth, glistening eyes. And a girl’s body pressed on the floor, flailing only her toes.
…! …!
The sound got caught in the throat and didn't come out anymore. Breath was blocked and vision narrowed. As the front of the eyes started to smudge white, hot tears flowed down on their own.
Why did it become like this.
As consciousness slid backward, certain scenes emerged like fragments.
Im So-young.
She was born in this place called the last daldongne of Seoul.
Father Im Gong-sik, addicted to alcohol and gambling. And mother who got tired of him long ago and disappeared.
What remained was an old house and a life she had to endure alone.
After school, part-time job, after part-time job, another part-time job. Like that, earning living expenses, she fed herself on behalf of her father who rarely came home.
Im Gong-sik took half of the earned money in exchange for allowing So-young's part-time job. Still, she split and saved the remaining half, collecting little by little.
Money collected while juggling two jobs.
Funds to leave this neighborhood when next year comes, when she becomes an adult. The only hope to escape from here and start anew.
But today.
Im Gong-sik transferred all that money to his account, then put it all into private gambling abruptly.
Babbling meaningless nonsense that if he had money, winning over hundred billion won was nothing.
And a blackout in the middle of the game progress.
The moment the computer screen turned off and the room submerged in darkness. When the man's breathing sound mixed with embarrassment and anger grew louder.
‘Heuk! Heu-eu-euk! Euk, euk…!’
So-young, who watched that appearance blankly while having the money collected for several years taken away, couldn't hold back and burst into tears.
Im Gong-sik's gaze pierced her.
‘You, are you f*cking crying for me to hear right now…?’
And the situation returns to the beginning.
‘Why… Why, is my life….’
Strangled Im So-young’s thoughts started to cut off intermittently. Tears continued to flow, and consciousness settled to the bottom right then….
In an instant.
Bang!
The house gate was hit hard by something. Startled Im Gong-sik's hands loosened.
“What the, f*ck!”
Im So-young, whose neck was released, went limp spreading on the floor. Coughing, she vomited rough breaths.
Rumble, Kwa-gwang!
Lightning struck again, briefly revealing the silhouette of the intruder who crossed the gate.
“Hak…! Hak…! Hak…!”
Long hair wet with rain, the form of a woman breathing heavy breaths roughly.
It was really brief seeing that appearance, but somehow Im So-young felt their gazes met.
‘…Who?’
Limp on the floor, Im So-young looked beyond her blurry vision.
“Who the f*ck are you again!”
Im Gong-sik with a face distorted by anger, striding toward the intruder who entered the yard, was disappearing into the shadow.
—Pazzzt!
My whole body ached as if throbbing.
Clearly until just a moment ago, I was dying slowly amidst starvation inside the prison. But this stinging and sharp pain forcibly pulled up my mind as if pouring cold water.
Like just waking up from sleep, the flow of consciousness was slow. Thoughts spun in vain without finding their speed.
But I could know at least that the world dimly revealed in the light seeping into my vision was much more realistic than the prison.
A certain woman was seen.
A young face. looked still at an early age to call an adult. Bruises spread here and there on her face and arms couldn't hide that they were traces of being beaten by someone. That appearance was very pitiful.
Such a girl was taking care of someone very sincerely.
Ah, it was me.
It seemed we exchanged some conversation, but I didn't remember the content clearly. Probably words asking where I live.
Soon she supported me and took me out of the house. Slowly going up against the rain-wet daldongne road, the familiar alley.
A familiar house was seen. Rain and wind blew in through the open door, making the inside a mess.
The girl laid me on the bed.
And started cleaning without a word.
Sound of mopping, sound of broom sweeping the floor, low vibration of vacuum cleaner running. While listening to those sounds, my blurry consciousness gradually became clear.
Only then did the situation start to be understood.
Blackout swallowing the entire village.
In the complete darkness enough to mistake that the world was submerged in darkness, my trauma exploded all at once.
That was on a different dimension from turning off indoor lights at night.
The room's light could be turned on again whenever I wanted.
But a blackout was different.
At that moment, I was no different from a state where I lost all control over the situation. And that sense of loss led directly to panic.
Prison of the 16th century. Memories of dying from starvation were overwritten onto reality, collapsing the boundary between reality and fantasy.
Like Ho-jeop-ji-mong (Butterfly Dream) where one cannot distinguish whether oneself is a butterfly dreaming of Zhuangzi or Zhuangzi dreaming of a butterfly. Reality had degenerated into one of the countless fantasies seen while starving to death in prison.
As dawn came and the day brightened, darkness retreated little by little. Panic also subsided gradually along with the light.
Seu-euk.
I raised my body from the bed.
The girl's name was Im So-young.
“I truly thank you. Uh, but by any chance….”
After conveying thanks for helping, I asked cautiously about her bruises.
I could know that the dark blue spreading bruise marks were traces left after some time passed. But the handprints remaining clearly on her neck were different. Seeing redness hadn't faded yet, it was clearly a trace not long passed.
Honestly speaking, it was awkward to ask as it felt like digging into someone else's painful circumstances. But because I couldn't rule out the possibility that I, fallen into a panic state, committed it… I couldn't not ask.
“…Ah, this?”
Im So-young pointed lightly to her neck and said.
“Just… it’s one of those common things in this neighborhood, well. Unni didn't do it so you don't have to mind.”
Fortunately… No. This wasn't something that could be called fortunate at all, but anyway. At least it meant that trace wasn't left by me.
“Uh, um… I see. I’m sorry. I know it’s a rude question, but just in case.”
“Ahaha. I said it’s really okay. And honestly speaking, Unni’s state right now is also formidable.”
“Ah….”
Looking down at Im So-young's words, bruises and abrasions were visible through the clothes torn here and there.
The moment of wandering around pushing through the daldongne submerged in darkness chasing the Temperance Arcana came to mind briefly.
‘…Seemed I rolled down stairs too, if it’s this much it’s on the relatively good side.’
Anyway.
I clearly owed a big grace to Im So-young. So I must repay somehow.
“So-young-ssi, could you tell me your account number and contact information?”
“…Huh? Ah, yes. Okay.”
In this situation, what would be the reason for asking for an account number. So-young hesitated for a moment, then soon called out the number.
And scratched her head awkwardly and laughed.
“E, ehehe. Honestly speaking, I’m not on the well-off side. If you give a reward, I’ll receive it gratefully, Unni.”
“Yes. Please receive it. That way my heart is at ease.”
“Ah, and. No need to be polite calling me So-young-ssi like that. Just call me So-young.”
“I, is that so? Okay.”
“You don't have to use honorifics either.”
“Ah, that is because it’s my habit….”
“Habit? It’s a peculiar habit for a person of this neighborhood. Puhahat!”
So-young had a lot of laughter befitting her age. A child who burst into cheerful laughter even in trivial situations.
As I finished the account transfer, she took out a phone with a cracked screen to check, then opened her eyes wide.
“O, one million!? U, Unni! Didn't you add one more zero to this?!”
“It’s not like that. Actually I wanted to give more, but I spent a bit much money recently…. So I’m saying.”
I picked up one of the Tarot cards placed on the table, and lifting a pen, engraved my name on it.
Seuk, seuseuk.
‘If it’s as I found out, the Star card can be used like this.’
And handed that card to Im So-young.
“Th, this is…?”
“It’s a talisman. It will surely be helpful. …Might be hard to believe but-”
“No! No! I believe. I will believe, Unni.”
“….”
If one signs a Tarot card and holds it out saying it’s a talisman, honestly if it was the past me, I definitely wouldn't have believed.
But So-young was different. She hurriedly accepted that card to the extent almost revealing urgency.
“….”
“Woah, but the picture is a teeny bit erotic. Hehe.”
Seeing that appearance, I suddenly thought of one assumption.
Handprints left on So-young's neck. That was clearly a trace not long passed.
Calculating time, probably that time when I met her. In that place…. Someone else….
….
I asked in a tone as casual as possible.
“By any chance… did you see?”
“Yes? What?”
“Salt.”
“…!”
So-young's body turning the Star card this way and that flinched and stiffened for a moment.
And at that moment, one Arcana emerged in my mind.
Existence shining more than anything.
[THE SUN]
Sun.
It was saying clearly that the secret you were hiding has already been revealed, as if everything in the world is revealed under itself.
“…I see. There was one more person at that time.”
“….”
“And the appearance of that person touching me and turning into salt… So-young, you witnessed it.”
“….”
Heavy silence pressed down the air.
I asked quietly.
“Who was it?”
A moment later, an answer returned.
“…Dad.”
I closed my eyes tight.
Honestly speaking.
Looking at So-young's state, he couldn't have been a good ‘Dad’.
From the fact that he touched me and turned into salt in the first place, I could guess the emotion he harbored toward me wasn't normal.
However.
Just because of that.
Your dad was a bad person so let’s pretend it didn't happen. I couldn't utter such words.
It was when I was rubbing my face in miserable feelings worrying about how to handle this awkward situation.
“By any chance.”
Im So-young opened her mouth.
“Am I… being eliminated?”
Words too out of the blue popped out.
“Eliminated? Surely not! Why did you think that?”
As I asked back flustered, she hesitated and continued.
“No, that… In places like movies, secret organizations with superpowers eliminate witnesses when their existence is caught. Wondering if… now is exactly such a situation.”
Said she was facing high school graduation, but her way of thinking seemed like a middle schooler still.
‘Surely she isn't really a middle schooler?’
Looking at Im So-young's young face, thinking it was plausible enough, I shook my head. A chuckle leaked out unavoidably.
“Ha, haha. It’s not. I’m not affiliated with such a secret organization that I don't know if it really exists. Even if so, there is no way I would do such a thing to a benefactor.”
Then.
“Then, Unni.”
Im So-young approached one step.
“Then want to make a promise with me?”
“…Promise?”
She nodded and said.
“I, will keep Unni’s secret. I won't tell anyone for my whole life. Instead.”
A pitiful girl with limbs full of bruises and clear handprints engraved on her neck asked me.
“When I am too hard. When life is too overwhelming that I can't possibly stand up… Just once is fine so please. Please…. At least Unni, help me a little.”
To that request spat out shedding tears, I had no choice but to nod as if possessed.
So-young left, and I was left alone in the house.
“Phew.”
Barely moving my throbbing body to lean against the wall and sit, a deep sigh flowed out on its own.
She brought it up as if proposing a transaction, but what she actually held out was close to a help request without a promise. When, in what form, what price to receive. An empty promise where nothing was decided.
‘You can just ask for help right now.’
When I asked so, So-young slowly touched the bruise left on her arm and said this.
‘Even seeing this, even though you obviously noticed what situation my family is in. Yet Unni showed appearance of being… sorry like that. So I didn't want to demand a price. How can I.’
That word remained exceptionally deep in my heart.
Human heart is like that.
Even if it’s an object that doesn't matter if it breaks, emotion is bound to vary depending on the attitude of the person who broke it.
Rather than a person who turns away casually saying it wasn't needed anyway.
Aside from what that object was, the heart leans toward a person who reflects on their action itself and feels sorry.
Thinking such thoughts, suddenly, the Arcana that led me to Im So-young came to mind.
[TEMPERANCE].
That card implying an existence that will stabilize the urgent situation.
Honestly speaking, just looking at the situation of that moment, cards like Star or Sun might have suited better.
But why of all things Temperance.
I picked up Temperance among the cards scattered on the floor.
The appearance of an angel moving water between cups held in both hands caught my eye strangely long.
‘It meant that each other could become each other’s helper.’
It seems the meaning of existence to stabilize the situation didn't work in a one-way direction.
Only then could I understand the reason this card was chosen.
As realization subsided, gaze naturally headed to the turned-off computer.
Screen terminated without notice due to blackout during broadcast.
After worrying for a moment, I reached a conclusion.
‘Anyway, I can't read Tarot right now.’
Right now in my Tarot deck, the Star card was missing. If it was Minor Arcana maybe, but Major Arcana couldn't be missing even a single card.
Ordering a new deck, and taking a break from broadcast until it arrives.
That was the most rational choice for now.
Hulleodong.
I took off the clothes that became rags and looked down at my body full of wounds.
“…No need to worry about the reason for broadcast break separately.”
Click. Click.
Wearing moderately short clothes at home and taking a photo, I uploaded a notice on Twe’re.
———
[(Break Notice) There was an unexpected accident.]
[TarotYujin]
Hello, this is Yujin.
Yesterday’s broadcast was terminated abruptly due to a blackout.
Even, going out to check the situation, there was an accident of falling on the stairs,
I will take a break from broadcast for a few days for body condition recovery.
I will return quickly. Thank you.
P.S.
The photo below is my current state. Those with trauma to wounds or blood, please be careful.
(Photo of a woman wearing sleeveless shirt and dolphin pants holding a camera so the face is not seen)
[Comments]
- Came in to curse about break but f*ck what is this.
- Wow body… No not this, why injured so muchㅠㅠㅠ But f*ck body is… Not this, what to do if scars remain realㅠㅠㅠ Face isn't hurt right??? Saying this because I’m really worried.
L Are you mental patient???
L But seeing photo seems mental illness will occur.
L Real just heart aches.
- (;;; ´ﾟдﾟ｀)
- Going crazy;;;;
- Crazy did she roll from some mountaintop.
(……)
———