Flashback: Seo Euna and Han Ga-eun (18)
Yes, I was furiously angry. But right now, I was incredibly calm. I didn't want to yell or smash anything. I was just worried about Euna. More precisely, about what would happen to Euna after I did what I was about to do.
Disappointment over me breaking my promise was secondary. She'd definitely sense something off about her mother's changed demeanor under hypnosis. Then she'd come at me with questions... Hypnotizing her not to question it would solve everything simply. But I didn't want to do that.
Even if there was a plausible reason, I'd still broken my promise, and I had to deal with the fallout. It felt like the right thing to do. I didn't want to dodge it like that.
I'll think about it later. Yeah. Later. These thoughts would just make me hesitate now.
I turned on my phone and searched the internet for Professor Han Ga-eun. I'd been so focused on raising Euna and handling everything else that I hadn't even thought to look her up until things blew up.
A flood of photos and articles assaulted my eyes. Han Ga-eun, the youngest professor at Korea University at 36. The math paper she published five years ago had turned the academic world upside down. Countries like the US had pulled out all the stops to recruit her, but she'd stayed in Korea out of loyalty to the Korea University president who'd helped her in the past.
With her stunning looks and perfectly sculpted, voluptuous figure, she could've been hugely popular. But her severe power-tripping and verbal abuse kept everyone at a distance.
36 years old? Euna was 20 now... That meant she'd given birth to her at 16, roughly speaking? Factoring in the usual ten-month pregnancy, she'd gotten pregnant at 15 or just barely 16.
Did she marry young? Or... Something flickered in my mind, but then my phone rang. It was Euna.
"Hello?"
"Mister, where are you?"
"On my... way home."
I tried to sound calm, but my voice trembled anyway.
"You're not heading to my mom's, are you?"
Spot on.
"No."
The answer came a beat late. Maybe two beats.
"You promised. You said you wouldn't do anything to my mom."
"And that solves everything?"
"I have my own plan."
"What plan?"
"I'll just try harder..."
"How much harder? How much more? You've tried so far and it hasn't worked—what, you gonna become president? You think that'll make her see you as her daughter?"
Oh no. The words snapped out before I knew it.
"Mom's... a pitiful person."
"Pitiful?"
I didn't see her that way at all.
"Grandma told me once. Dad ran off when Mom got pregnant with me. So she left me with Grandma and studied alone until she became a professor."
Was that why she called it a curse? It started to make sense. But what was pitiful about her? If anything, wasn't Euna the pitiful one? A cheating husband was a dime a dozen, and even granting that, did it justify spewing vitriol at her daughter, calling her very existence a curse?
Euna had been born without a father, raised by her grandmother while her mother hated her guts. Despite that environment, she'd worked her ass off and climbed to the top, but her mother's perception hadn't budged. No matter how I sliced it, the pitiful one was Han Ga-eun? No—Seo Euna.
"Oh, just occurred to me—maybe if I introduce Mom to a nice guy, things'll get better?"
Did she really think that was a solution? Sorry, but Euna didn't seem in her right mind from the shock. Still, I kept my mouth shut. Fighting now would just prove I had other ideas.
"Got it. I won't interfere."
So I lied and hung up.
"We've arrived."
I paid the taxi fare and got out. The grand sight of Korea University—Seoul's top school—loomed before me, just like in the photos and videos.
Students dashed around in rumpled clothes, too buried in studies to care about their looks, backpacks slung over their shoulders. Couples laughed together, strolling hand-in-hand—CC or whatever. But none of that mattered.
"Excuse me, where's Professor Han Ga-eun's office?"
"Oh?"
I grabbed a female student and asked. Her eyes lit up. Before I could react, she shoved her phone at me.
"Give me your number and..."
"Just tell me."
She looked ready to drag this out, so I hypnotized her. She blanked out for a moment, then turned and led the way.
That's how I found Professor Han's office. I implanted suggestions for regular habits, exercise, and positive thinking in the girl, released her from hypnosis, then flung open Han's door without knocking.
"Who the—!"
No one but a visibly startled Professor Han Ga-eun. Perfect. A TA or anyone else would've been a hassle.
I locked the door with a click, eyeing her coldly.
"Professor Han. You remember me, right?"
"Hah... You're that punk with Euna earlier."
The moment she recognized me, she pressed her index finger hard against her temple, like the annoyance was killing her.
"So, what? Here to pick a fight?"
"Yes."
I could've hypnotized her right then. But Euna had told me not to do anything to her mom. And I was curious about why she acted this way—what her full story was. So let's talk first. Hear her out, persuade her. It wasn't like Euna meant no hypnosis at all—just don't mess around. Still, it nagged at me; I wanted to save it as a last resort.
"Get out. I'm calling security."
"Professor Han. Can you handle that?"
"What the hell do you want?!"
She bellowed, but I didn't flinch, just stared down into her eyes.
"What... what are you looking at?"
"The world doesn't know what you and Euna really are."
"Hah, gonna expose me? Euna gets hurt too, you know."
"No. She won't. People'll just buzz around with 'oh, what a story'—hundreds of articles headlined 'Mother and Daughter.' It'll be good for Euna, actually. But can you handle it, Professor? Rejecting your daughter publicly? It'll be a shitstorm."
"......Hah, fuck."
The professor—a professor—let a crude curse slip, then exhaled a long sigh at the ceiling.
"So, what do you want?"
"Euna's run herself ragged for your love, to be a daughter you could be proud of. Practicing acting every day, studying her ass off."
"And?"
"She's climbed to the top like that. Rejecting even the gift from such a daughter—isn't that too cruel?"
"......"
I pulled the gold watch case Euna had offered—and been refused—from my pocket and slammed it on her desk with a thunk.
"Take this, and be a little nicer to Euna. Not hard, right? Promise that, and I'll leave."
I meant it. Hypnosis was the nuclear option. I'd broken my promise, sure, but Euna had said it so earnestly—I didn't want a snap fix.
"Why the hell should I?"
"Why? She's your daughter."
"That thing?"
Listen to her—calling her own daughter "that thing."
"I heard the gist from Euna. Her dad ditched you when you got pregnant."
"What...?!"
Her face twisted. I'd hit a raw nerve.
"You know there's no fault in the daughter there. If you hate someone, hate the father."
"He's already dead. What now?"
"Huh?"
"That bastard got life for street beatings and slit his wrists in prison."
"Then there's no reason to hate your daughter like that."
"No reason? She has his genes! Every time I see Euna, I see that fucker. Hear her voice, and it's him sweet-talking me into bed. And she even has my eyes—it's infuriating."