Father-Daughter Incest Play (3)
My reunion with Chaeeun took place in a thoroughly awkward atmosphere.
Just as she had said, she was waiting for me at the coin karaoke booth where we had first hung out together.
She sat quietly in her seat with her hat pulled low over her face and her handbag clutched tightly in both hands.
I crossed my arms and looked her up and down with a dissatisfied expression before speaking.
"...You're really something else, you know that? So, did you get permission from your amazing boyfriend to come out?"
"D-don't say it like that... Jungin oppa is just worried about me..."
I let out a hollow laugh and dropped down beside her. Then I scratched my head, not knowing what to say next.
No song came from the karaoke machine; only the silent flicker of an idol music video played across the screen in the stillness.
Chaeeun was hunched so pitifully it looked as if she had committed some crime.
...How could that cocky girl change this much in just a few days... What the hell did that bastard do to her?
I shook my head and let out a deep sigh.
Then, as I glanced at the side of Chaeeun's face under that deeply pulled hat, something felt off. I frowned and looked closer.
"...Hey, hold on... What's that mark? Did he hit you?"
I cried out in shock at the dark blue bruise on Chaeeun's forehead.
Chaeeun hurriedly pulled her hat even lower and mumbled excuses.
"N-no, it's not... I just fell by myself..."
I stared at her blankly with my mouth hanging open, then finally grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard as I shouted.
"Hey, what the hell happened to you? Does that guy have something on you? Did he threaten to hurt your family if you don't listen? Or is he blackmailing you over the drugs from last time? Snap out of it! You don't have to listen to that crap! You didn't even know what you were taking back then, and if anyone gets arrested it'd be them, not you—"
"That's not it at all!"
When Chaeeun suddenly yelled at me, I flinched and let go of her shoulders.
After shouting, she seemed to feel bad about it and fidgeted again as she mumbled an addition.
"...I'm not dating him because of anything like that. I really like Jungin oppa."
I stared at her with a serious expression for a long moment before carefully asking,
"...Fine. Then let me ask you just one thing. Why do you like that guy so much? Don't tell me it's because he's handsome?"
The clean-cut face of that club-MD-looking bastard floated into my mind and my expression twisted on its own.
Chaeeun flushed and muttered,
"W-well, Jungin oppa is handsome, sure... but that's not why."
"That's a relief, at least. If you'd said yes I was about to smack some sense into you right now."
I cracked my knuckles threateningly. Chaeeun shot me nervous little glances and spoke in a tiny voice.
"...Jungin oppa... promised me something."
"A promise? What kind of promise? Did he say he'd buy you a house or something?"
I snorted. Chaeeun bristled and glared at me as she answered.
"It's not like that. You know what I mean, oppa. We're the same."
"...."
I shut my mouth as if she had hit the bullseye and quietly looked at her.
Chaeeun's eyes had turned red; she stared straight back at me for a long time.
We're the same.
Yeah. I knew that. Chaeeun and I were the same type of person in a lot of ways.
Both of us had lived as lonely outcasts through our school years because of our own stories, and even after becoming adults we had spent a long time wandering.
I didn't know exactly what her story was, but as a girl she had probably felt a deeper loneliness and isolation than I ever had.
The pain of being cast out of the group hits women harder than men, after all.
So maybe that was why, once she became an adult, she had worked several times harder than I ever did to join the mainstream and become popular.
In fact it was the complete opposite of the attitude I had taken.
Even after becoming an adult I had deliberately chosen the lonely outcast path for a long time, keeping everyone at a distance.
Even so, I could understand the meaning of the promise Chaeeun was talking about.
I had that kind of experience too. The person who first showed light to someone lost in deep darkness and promised hope.
For me, that person had been Jihyun. I still remembered the day she first spoke to me.
...You're that guy, right? The creepy one everyone's talking about in the department.
...The problem was that the human who had made that promise to Chaeeun was absolute human garbage.
Of course, Jihyun hadn't been a particularly good person by objective standards either, but comparing her to someone like Jungin was an insult.
Even so, I understood.
Why Chaeeun clung to Jungin so desperately that she was willing to throw herself away.
Weak people like us can't easily let go of the first person who showed us light.
After all, I myself had obsessed over Jihyun for nearly four years after that.
I sighed and asked again in a quieter, softer tone than before.
"...What exactly did that guy say to you?"
Chaeeun looked at me for a moment, then answered in a small voice.
"...Jungin oppa... said if I dated him I could get revenge."
"Revenge...? On who? The people who bullied you in school?"
Chaeeun gave a bitter smile and shook her head.
"No. Those kids don't even live around here. And I don't really hold grudges against them one by one anyway. There were way too many of them."
"Then who the hell are you getting revenge on?"
"My dad."
Chaeeun parted her small lips and answered in a calm tone.
Suddenly I remembered the last time at the motel, when a drugged-up Chaeeun had clung to me babbling "Papa, Papa" like she was talking in her sleep.
When I looked at her silently, demanding an explanation, she hung her head and spoke weakly.
"My dad, you know... he used to be so kind. From the time I was little he bought me everything I asked for and did everything I wanted. He would have plucked the stars from the sky for me if he could.
I even liked bathing and sleeping with Dad more than with Mom. That's how good a father he was.
...Until Mom died in the accident.
After Mom died, Dad became like an empty shell. He didn't react when I asked him to play, and he never bought me presents anymore.
Weird, right? Usually a teenage daughter starts drifting away from her dad around then. I did the opposite—I started clinging even harder to the dad who was ignoring me. I was ready to do anything to get his attention.
...And then one day, that happened."
Chaeeun stopped there and hesitated, as if deciding whether to continue.
I sat quietly and waited patiently without rushing her.
Eventually she flushed a little and mumbled on.
"...Looking back now I regret it. Why did I do something like that... I was so stupid... But at the time it felt like the only way.
Once, by accident, I had peeked at Mom and Dad doing it in the master bedroom. So I thought if I did the same thing, Dad would cheer up...
One day I put on makeup as best I could, put on pretty underwear, sprayed perfume, and went to him...
He definitely reacted. Just not the way I expected.
That day Dad hit me for the first time. He didn't just hit me—he beat me half to death. The scar from that day is still on the top of my head."
Honestly I was shocked inside, but I kept my expression as calm as I could while looking at her.
Chaeeun lifted her eyes and glared at empty air as she muttered,
"After that day Dad completely changed. He started watching and controlling every single thing I did like a madman. He took my phone away so I couldn't even use it. He tried to sneak into school after me more than once—I nearly had a heart attack. He wouldn't let any guy come within a hundred meters of me.
Of course, with Dad like that, all my friends disappeared. And somehow what I had done got around school as a rumor. The rumors followed me into high school too. And Dad's surveillance only got worse."
Chaeeun clawed at her blonde hair, trembling, and spoke in a voice thick with rage.
"...You know what I can never forgive? Dad always used to say that once I grew up he wouldn't interfere anymore. That he was only watching me like this until then.
He said that, and the moment I became an adult and entered university, Dad killed himself. I guess that was the only way he could keep his word.
So just like he promised, I became free. For the first time in my life I dyed my hair, went to karaoke, went to clubs... even dated a guy. Haha..."
By the time she finished she was half crying. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just sat there biting my lip and looking down.
Chaeeun sniffled, then finally turned her body and looked up at me.
"I know Jungin oppa isn't a good person. That's why it's revenge. I want Dad to watch me suffer from the afterlife and feel pain for a long, long time. I want him to keep watching only me even from there..."
"You're wrong."
I finally opened my mouth and spoke briefly. Then I stared straight at Chaeeun and continued in a firm tone.
"Your dad is dead. There's no one watching over you anymore."
"B-but..."
When Chaeeun's eyes filled with tears and her voice broke, I quietly added,
"...But if you need a dad that badly, I'll be one for you."
I finished while looking at Chaeeun, whose eyes had gone wide with surprise as she stared at me.
"...Until you stop saying stupid things about revenge, I'll do it for you."