Even at his call, Haeseong stepped forward to follow Euiju, who was moving away. However, Park Hyeonju quickly blocked his path.
“Haeseong-ah. Why are you holding onto someone who’s leaving? I’ll find you a better person, so stop this!”
Park Hyeonju, whose feelings were already hurt as much as they could be by Euiju’s resolute actions, tried to reason with Haeseong. Haeseong pushed her aside as if he couldn’t hear those words and tried to grab Euiju’s arm.
“Haeseong-ah!”
“Don’t go! Fuck—! I’m telling you not to go!”
Park Hyeonju and Kim Jaeho eventually laid hands on Haeseong’s body. They grabbed the shoulders and waist area of the rampaging Haeseong to prevent him from going out.
“Let go. I said let go!”
With the continuous shouting, Haeseong’s voice had become low and hoarse. Euiju pretended not to notice such a Haeseong, bit his lower lip, and finally stepped outside the door.
Haeseong’s ear-splitting shouts continued to grab at him, but Euiju moved forward step by step without lingering in his steps.
“……”
Euiju’s face as he walked down the corridor was distorted as if he would burst into tears at any moment. Like someone who had left something important behind, like someone who was moving forward looking only ahead while turning away from something precious.
He wanted to look back. He wanted to go back and calm down the rampaging Haeseong and hug him.
However, Euiju was in a position where he had to leave Haeseong behind and go far away. If he didn’t cut things off coldly, he would give him lingering attachment. Knowing that Haeseong followed him too much, Euiju wanted to help him cut off his attachment to himself as much as possible.
Even as he moved farther away from the office, Haeseong’s screaming shouts clearly reached Euiju’s ears.
Emotions of lingering attachment and guilt dripped out with each of his steps.
The smell they gave off was too foul.
***
“Hyung… When are we going home? I don’t want to be here…”
While Euiyeon had gone to pick up the twins from school, Roun, who had woken up, whined to Euiju beside him. Since last night, his energy had returned a little and he had made his older siblings cry for quite a while.
“Roun woke up? Our Roun needs to stay here a little longer because here hurts just a tiny bit. Aren’t you hungry?”
When Euiju tapped Roun’s small chest and spoke, Roun weakly shook his head. Now he couldn’t digest anything properly and threw everything up, so he was getting glucose injections as a meal replacement. Already three needle marks were stuck in the young child’s small hand. Euiju, who had been staring blankly at that small hand, turned his head to the other side and calmed his heated eyes.
Euiju smiled weakly and stroked Roun’s cheek. Roun seemed to like Euiju’s touch, curving the corners of his eyes and grinning as he rubbed his face against Euiju’s hand. Since he didn’t have the energy to move his body, it was the cuteness he could manage.
“Hyung. Hug me…”
At the child’s whining, Euiju got up from his seat and carefully picked up Roun. The youngest buried his face in Euiju’s wide chest and closed his eyes as if feeling good.
The child had been lying down for several days, and holding the child like this was deeply moving. Euiju wiped his eyes without the child knowing.
Before long, Euiyeon arrived, bringing the twins from school.
“Roun-ah. We’re here!”
“Shh, Euiho-ya. There are other people too, so you have to speak quietly.”
“Mm… Roun, weren’t you bored? Hyung brought this from home?”
It was Euiho handing the youngest a pinwheel with an amusement park logo that Roun liked best. Roun smiled broadly and took the pinwheel. Euiseong prettily arranged Roun’s hair that had gotten messy from being held in Euiju’s arms.
Euiju silently gave his gaze to Euiyeon, who was organizing the luggage she had brought.
“…Noona.”
Several days had passed since receiving money from Jeong Gwangho and notifying his resignation. Since that day, Euiyeon’s face had been excessively dark.
It was Euiyeon who had first thought of going to find Jeong Gwangho, but would she have wanted to do that? Since the youngest’s life and death were at stake, no matter how dirty the money was, they had to accept it.
However…
It was true that things had been resolved this easily and they felt relieved receiving financial support. But the fact that the power came from Jeong Gwangho itself was uncomfortable, so for Euiyeon, there would be no way to explain her current dirty feelings.
Euiju, who carefully laid down the youngest who had fallen asleep on the bed, patted Euiyeon’s shoulder. It was a gesture mixed with comfort, as if understanding noona’s heart completely.
“While I’m getting the remaining documents, I’ll stop by home for a bit. Eat dinner first.”
Euiju, who had prepared to go out with his bag over his shoulder, said. At that moment.
“Euiju-ya.”
Euiyeon grabbed the hand of Euiju, who was about to leave.
A brief silence passed. The twins, each with a snack in their mouths, tilted their heads puzzledly and looked at their hyung and noona.
In Euiyeon’s eyes looking at Euiju, there was indescribable darkness and anxiety. As time passed, it seemed like maddening impatience was weighing down on Euiyeon.
“…He can get better, right?”
At Euiyeon’s low question, Euiju forced a smile.
“Of course, naturally. We’ll use any means, right?”
Euiju, who firmly squeezed Euiyeon’s hand that was gripping his, left the hospital room leaving his family behind. He spoke confidently, but redness began to rise in Euiju’s eyes as well.
Euiju, who quickly exited the corridor, entered the lobby to head to the back door that led directly to the bus stop. At that moment, a not unfamiliar figure stopped him.
“Euiju-ssi. Hello.”
It was Jeong Gwangho’s right-hand man, Moon Jeonghun.
“Your phone was turned off. I couldn’t reach you at all, so I came to visit like this suddenly.”
“……”
“Are you going somewhere? I’ll give you a ride.”
“It’s fine.”
He was in a state of not having made any contact with Moon Jeonghun, who had offered to help and given him a business card. This was because Euiyeon and Euiju thought they could settle in America sufficiently without Moon Jeonghun’s help if they somehow put in the footwork and went around.
They had received money from Jeong Gwangho. They didn’t want to be indebted for anything else. It was already a matter decided through conversation with Euiyeon, and not contacting him was a form of refusal. Yet to come visit directly like this—Moon Jeonghun was Jeong Gwangho’s person.
Euiju naturally had no choice but to be displeased.
Moon Jeonghun followed Euiju all the way outside the hospital. Unable to watch any longer, Euiju stopped walking.
“Are you going to take the bus? If you tell me your destination, I can drive you…”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t need Moon Jeonghun-ssi’s help.”
When Euiju brought up words of refusal first without any other words, Moon Jeonghun made a dumbfounded face. Euiju’s cool and cold voice held a firmness that said he wouldn’t reconsider.
“I would appreciate it if you didn’t come visit like this. I’ve conveyed my intention, so I’ll be going now.”
Euiju, who lightly bowed, turned his body without lingering.
However, even though such a firm refusal should have been enough to give up, Moon Jeonghun was stubborn. Moon Jeonghun, who had a taller height than Euiju, quickly narrowed the distance that had opened up.
“Even just the children’s school issue alone will be overwhelming. Since I go back and forth between Korea and America, if I help, things will become a bit easier.”
“I don’t want to be more indebted to that person. And this isn’t something for Moon Jeonghun-ssi to interfere with.”
“Euiju-ssi.”
Moon Jeonghun’s voice became lower. At the voice with added seriousness, Euiju, who felt puzzled, turned his head.
“Could you perhaps think of Chairman Jeong and me separately?”
“What does that…”
What kind of ghostly nonsense was this? When he looked with an absurd face, Moon Jeonghun continued speaking without any change in his expression.
“It’s not for Chairman Jeong’s sake. Euiju-ssi, no, I’m saying I want to help for Euiju-ssi’s family’s sake.”
“……”
“Euiju-ssi, don’t you remember me?”
“…Have we met somewhere?”
At Euiju’s question, Moon Jeonghun smiled slightly.
“Jenam Orphanage. You probably know it.”
It was a name that was neither familiar nor unfamiliar. When Euiju made a puzzled face as if he didn’t understand at all, Moon Jeonghun nodded as if he couldn’t help it.
“Noona would remember me more clearly. If Euiyeon-ssi saw my face, she would recognize me right away.”
Moon Jeonghun took out a business card from his inner pocket and handed it to Euiju.
“I thought you might have thrown it away. Please take care of it this time.”
Euiju bewilderedly accepted the business card that Moon Jeonghun held out with both hands.
“The words about viewing me separately from Chairman Jeong are sincere. Although I have many things to be grateful to Chairman Jeong for, I received a favor from President Lee Seongho that can’t even be compared.”
When his father’s name came out, Euiju’s eyes widened enormously. Flustered, a sudden cough burst out and he quickly covered his mouth.
“Please reconsider positively. Then, I’ll be going.”
The man who bowed his waist to Euiju smiled broadly and then began walking back the way he came.
Euiju, who had been watching that retreating figure dumbfounded, was able to come to his senses at the announcement voice flowing from the bus stop. He gave his gaze to the direction where he had disappeared and got on the bus.
All the way home after finishing his business, he ruminated on what Moon Jeonghun had said.
—Jenam Orphanage. You probably know it.
It was a name that wasn’t unfamiliar, but it wasn’t a name that came to mind immediately either. Moreover, a favor—what had his father done for him that a man who was Jeong Gwangho’s right-hand man would act like that?
Even after getting off the bus and walking toward home, the questions didn’t stop. He was about to call Euiyeon to ask, but then remembered that he hadn’t charged his dead phone and put it back in his pocket.
Having arrived in front of the house before he knew it, Euiju was about to carelessly open the old gate. Suddenly sensing a presence from inside, tension entered his body tightly.
“…!”
When he carefully opened the door, a not unfamiliar silhouette was visible. Jin Haeseong was sitting on a chair set up in one corner of the yard.
Haeseong, who had been sitting with an indifferent face, slowly raised his head.
