Chapter 144
Chapter 144
Filicide (2)
“...Come out!”
The old man lifted his head and rose with difficulty, like a puppet obeying the prison guard’s command. Following orders, the old man, who had soon shed his inmate uniform for civilian clothes, found the sunlight streaming in from outside harsh.
“Sir, you don’t have much time left out there. Live well.”
“...”
“Don’t make any wrong choices again, alright?”
The old man didn’t answer. He just stared blankly into space.
One would expect someone being released from prison to have a light step, but the old man walked outside with a precarious gait.
“Senior, why are you so concerned? He’s just a criminal, isn’t he?”
“That man has a pitiful story.”
“Who here doesn’t have a story? They all claim they were wronged.”
“Well...”
The camera continued to film the old man’s back as the prison guards’ voices flowed.
(That old man had a son in his forties... He had mental problems.)
(So do you think he could get married properly? The old man spent over a decade just taking care of his son.)
After passing through the thick iron gate, Hwang Dae-sik shielded his eyes from the blazing sun with his hand. There was no one there to greet him. He walked without stopping.
(Then why did he end up here?)
(Taking care of his son like that, his financial situation worsened... With no way to make a living, what do you think he chose?)
(Don’t tell me...)
(He tried to die with his son, but only the son died, and the old man survived...)
The guards’ voices faded as Hwang Dae-sik, now back in society, boarded a bus.
The court, considering his tragic circumstances, had given him a relatively light sentence. He was imprisoned for a year and six months, but he remained frozen in the moment his son died.
In the alley of the village where Hwang Dae-sik lived, someone stopped him on his way home.
“You’re back for good?”
“It seems so...”
“Wait a minute... Take some kimchi.”
In the cramped and steep shantytown, though everyone was busy with their own lives, they were full of affection, perhaps because they knew the old man’s sad story.
“Sir, here’s some fruit...”
“...Thank you.”
It was a human connection he hadn’t felt during his time in prison. Unable to refuse their kindness, he accepted one thing after another until both his hands were heavy.
“Don’t just stay at home. Come to the front of the supermarket often.”
“That’s right. Let’s play Go-Stop together.”
Leaving the concerned words behind, he finally arrived home. The small living room, kitchen, and narrow single room were neglected and covered in dust. Hwang Dae-sik let out a small cough.
While organizing the food the villagers had given him, he tidied up the house a bit.
Do I even deserve to be alive?
Dust swirled in the air from the improper cleaning. He coughed again.
A cough, yes... it was a cough. That was the last sound he heard from his son. The old man squeezed his eyes shut.
I should have died with him back then...
For a few days after his release, he simply let life flow by. With the help of the villagers, he got his electricity and water running again, but he had no motivation. Hwang Dae-sik finally decided to act on the thought he had been harboring. To follow his son.
“Sir, let’s head in.”
However, there was a problem with the method. Im Seung-hyeon, seeing the props manager bring something like a rope, cautiously made a suggestion.
Yu Yeon-seo had arrived earlier than his call time to immerse himself in the role. He wanted to grasp the flow of the drama and also see Park Seung-hwan’s acting in person. But he didn’t have the confidence to face the next scene.
“...Alright.”
Given his past experience on Dreaming, Yu Yeon-seo didn’t push it. Leaving Lee Tae-gyeom on set, he headed to his car.
“Huh? We’re supposed to shoot the next scene right away.”
“He’s probably going to get his makeup done.”
After the director, the face seen most often on set was Yu Yeon-seo’s. So his absence was unexpected. Nearby staff members watched him leave with puzzled expressions.
With slow movements, Hwang Dae-sik began to prepare to leave the world. In that moment, he recalled the past.
He remembered stopping his son with his old body when the son claimed his fingers had suddenly grown longer and he needed to cut them off, and his son, back to his senses, sobbing that he was sorry. And his son’s final words, mumbling that he couldn’t breathe as he coughed.
“Cut!”
Park Seung-hwan, unsatisfied with his performance, reshot the scene twice. Meanwhile, Yu Yeon-seo, having finished his makeup, prepared for the next scene.
Just as Hwang Dae-sik, almost done with his preparations, took a deep breath, Hwang Min-jae shouted from outside.
“Hello!”
Hwang Min-jae, who had been pounding on the door because the doorbell didn’t work, slumped to the ground. He can’t be out, can he? Right, maybe he gets home from work late. I’ll shout one more time and then just wait.
“Is anyone home?!”
That shout roused Hwang Dae-sik. Thinking today was a lost cause due to the annoying noise from outside, Hwang Dae-sik stepped down from the chair and opened the front door.
The harsh sunlight was irritating. He shaded his eyes with his hand. Then, the face of a boy in a school uniform came into focus.
“...What is it?”
“Uh... hello.”
Faced with someone different from who he expected, Hwang Min-jae showed his anxiety by chewing on his thumbnail. He didn’t move, did he? With a trembling hand, he held out a photograph.
“Do you happen to know this person?”
Hwang Dae-sik, who had just been thinking of his son, muttered blankly. He had never seen the photo before.
“...Jun-ho. My son.”
Upon hearing those words, Hwang Min-jae’s face lit up.
“Then... are you my grandfather?”
It wasn’t the polite term for an elder. The tone was as if he were addressing his own kin.
The hand that had been shielding the sun slowly lowered, and a light entered Hwang Dae-sik’s lifeless eyes. Warm sunlight shone on Hwang Min-jae’s face as well. At a glance, it almost looked like a halo. It could have been a warm light seeping into Hwang Dae-sik’s withered heart, or it could have been something that would dry it out even more.
“Why are you here...”
Come to think of it, the boy in front of him bore a striking resemblance to his son.
“Um, can I come inside? It’s cold.”
Hwang Dae-sik instinctively felt that he shouldn’t let this boy into his house. He had a feeling that the moment he did, something irreversible would happen.
But the boy’s shabby appearance weighed on his mind. He was wearing only a thin outer layer in the cold weather, and even his ears were bright red. Furthermore, his face was covered in bandages, as if he’d been beaten up.
“...Come in.”
Unable to turn away from such a pitiful sight, he finally let the boy inside. For the first time since his appearance, Hwang Min-jae showed a bright smile.
“Why is there a rope on the ceiling like that? Is the light out?”
“It’s nothing.”
Hwang Dae-sik hastily took down the rope. Yu Yeon-seo felt that ‘it’, which had been perfectly positioned there, also vanished.
“So, what brings you here?”
The phlegmy voice brought him back to his character, Hwang Min-jae. For Filicide, they had even invited a famous special effects makeup artist from Hollywood. The realistic makeup combined with Park Seung-hwan’s powerful presence was enough to make immersion easy. This was why the co-star was so important.
Hwang Min-jae explained the whole story. He said his mother’s diary mentioned meeting his father, and that he’d come looking after finding a photograph with it.
“So... you’re my grandson?”
“Yes.”
After answering, Hwang Min-jae craned his neck, looking around Hwang Dae-sik’s house. It was still bigger than the house he had lived in with his mother.
“Your mother must have had a reason for not looking for Jun-ho... Why did you come?”
But Hwang Dae-sik’s reaction was lukewarm. Huh, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go... I thought he’d naturally welcome me, since I’m his flesh and blood, seeing me for the first time. He would have, if he were in the old man’s shoes.
Sensing a crisis, Hwang Min-jae put on his most pitiful expression.
“I don’t have a mother anymore. She passed away at work...”
“Oh dear...”
Hwang Dae-sik clicked his tongue in pity. The boy’s situation was indeed pitiful, but he himself was in no position to take care of anyone. Besides, wasn’t he just about to leave this world a moment ago? While he was wondering how to send the boy away, the child kept talking.
“But where’s my dad?”
“He’s not here.”
“Did he go to work somewhere?”
“He’s gone completely.”
Realizing that meant he was no longer in this world, Hwang Min-jae’s eyes trembled.
“Uh... why?”
I killed him. Unable to say those words, Hwang Dae-sik sighed.
“...It’s late, so stay the night.”
Of course, Hwang Min-jae ignored Hwang Dae-sik’s offer to stay for just one night. He had figured out that his grandfather didn’t welcome him. Hwang Min-jae’s default setting was depression and a lack of affection, but he still possessed a child-like innocence. And he used it.
“I’ll leave after I graduate from school.”
“...”
“...You’re all I have now, Grandfather.”
Those desperate words moved Hwang Dae-sik’s heart. At the words to do as he pleased, Hwang Min-jae happily applied to transfer to a nearby school.
Having decided not to get attached now that things had come to this, Hwang Dae-sik and Hwang Min-jae, who was trying to get along with the grandfather he’d just met, began their strange life together.
Since it was vacation time, filming vehicles began to pull into the empty school one by one. Yu Yeon-seo got out of the van and headed to the prepared waiting room.
“Hello, senior!”
“Yes, hello.”
Yu Yeon-seo nodded in response to an actor’s greeting. That actor was playing the role of a friend Hwang Min-jae makes at his new school. With a bright face, he hovered near Yu Yeon-seo.
“Is there something you want to say?”
“Ah, no! I look forward to working with you!”
“Yes, I look forward to working with you too.”
Perhaps because he’d landed a role with some weight after a string of minor parts, he was very disciplined. Since their characters would become best friends, the actors themselves would need to get close....
“You don’t know him?”
“That’s Kang Cheon-hui. Same age as me, seven years of acting experience.”
Yu Yeon-seo recited the information from the files. Cha Yun-ho, who had stopped by to check on the production, sat next to Yu Yeon-seo and spoke casually.
“Not that.”
“...Is there a reason I should know?”
“He played a minor role in ‘Doll’. It was a pretty significant one.”
“Oh, did he?”
He hadn’t properly received that memory yet... Yu Yeon-seo turned his head to look at Kang Cheon-hui’s back.
“You know, the guy who played the detective.”
“Ah, I think I remember now.”
Even without the memory, he had seen the drama. He had exchanged a couple of lines with him back then.
“But why do you ask?”
Cha Yun-ho cleared his throat and began to explain. The detective role in ‘Doll’ was a significant minor part, appearing across two episodes.
The production company had held large-scale auditions for the role, but the problem was that even if an actor passed the audition, the company could send them home from the set if they weren’t satisfied.
[Ah, his acting is good, but his face is... not quite right.]
[Isn’t there anyone else better?]
The production company was about to replace him with another actor they preferred, and Kang Cheon-hui almost lost the hard-won opportunity.
[Just let him do it. Didn’t he pass the audition? Does it make sense to send him back?]
[But another actor is already scheduled to come...]
[So you want me to wait here until that actor arrives?]
If it hadn’t been for Yu Yeon-seo.
As a major investor and the lead actor, they couldn’t easily go against his words. Even if he had said it casually without much thought, for Kang Cheon-hui, it was like a saving hand.
“...Did something like that happen?”
“Yes, I was on set back then.”
So that’s why he was hovering around with an expression like a puppy begging for a treat. He was probably trying to find the right moment to thank me.
He really doesn’t have to...
Surprisingly, this would be the first time he received thanks from someone from before 2018. The few directors and writers he had helped debut hadn’t even bothered to check in on him.
Oh, right. They did contact me again after their works became famous.
He was so annoyed he didn’t even read their messages.
“But Secretary Cha, how do you remember all that?”
“In order to tell the Chairman good stories about you, Director, I’ve been gathering data...”
“...The Chairman?”
As Yu Yeon-seo furrowed his brow and asked again, Cha Yun-ho covered his own mouth.
“Ah, he told me not to mention this.”