Though Cheon Yijae occasionally furrowed his brow at that disgusting sight, he watched the ghost until the very end before quietly whispering to his parents. It was information delivered during a brief break when the meal had just finished and dessert was being prepared—taking advantage of the gap when the businessman had stepped out.
After hearing everything the child had to say, bright smiles bloomed on the parents’ faces.
“By the way, Director. It seems you went to the outskirts reservoir late at night a few months ago?”
“You must have had some important business. It looks like you drove out there in a hurry by yourself without even calling your driver.”
“H-how, how do you know that…?”
Eventually, the parents blackmailed the man using the information they’d obtained through Cheon Yijae. That man had been subtly arrogant just minutes ago during the meal, rejecting all the proposals Cheon Yijae’s parents had made about working together on regional business projects, but now his attitude changed in an instant.
The parents smiled with satisfaction at the sight of the man kneeling on the floor, and after a not-so-short conversation, the man bowed repeatedly as he left. His face was completely pale.
It was clearly a situation where they had used Cheon Yijae’s spiritual sight to get a hold on the businessman’s weakness.
“As expected of our Yijae, thanks to you this problem will be resolved very well. He’s been an annoying person who kept interfering with our development projects for a while now.”
“Did you enjoy today’s meal? Last time I noticed you didn’t like tomatoes, so this time I made absolutely sure to tell them not to include any.”
“Ah, back then I just spit it out because it was hot…”
“What? It’s food our child is eating, they should have paid more attention to the temperature control. I’ll have to give them another earful.”
“That’s right, our precious Yijae almost burned his mouth!”
The parents carefully looked after Cheon Yijae. They repeatedly checked the child’s expression and prepared dessert with care that could only be described as devoted attention.
Whether they knew that Cheon Yijae hadn’t eaten properly during the main meal because he’d been focused solely on watching the businessman’s back, or whether the child had only just now caught their eye, they even went so far as to spoon-feed him dessert. Young Cheon Yijae accepted it while feeling a bit embarrassed.
Sim Seowoo quietly observed this scene, feeling a strange sense of discord.
Perhaps it was because the scene was quite calm to be called a trauma? Of course, what had happened just before must have been a harsh burden for such a young child, but the child’s expression right now wasn’t particularly dark. Though he seemed tired from staring intently at the ghost, he still opened his mouth as if pleased by the food his parents were offering him.
So this didn’t seem to be a despairing memory yet. Also, truthfully, more than Cheon Yijae’s reaction, Sim Seowoo felt an ominous uneasiness from the parents’ behavior.
Parents who are excessively doting in the early stages usually…
“Y-Yijae, you’re home. Did you have a good day at school?”
“You must be tired, so hurry and g-go to your room and rest.”
Eventually change their attitude.
In what seemed like an instant, three or four years had passed, and Cheon Yijae had grown quite a bit taller. An awkward smile appeared on the faces of the parents looking at him, probably after returning from elementary school. The excessive affection they’d shown at the banquet could no longer be found.
Even back then it had felt artificial, but now their expressions had come to resemble the middle-aged businessman instead. Even if not to the extent of that man’s fear, it was certain they were uncomfortable having all their secrets read.
As the child grew, it seemed the parents gradually became unable to treat him as they had before. As if they’d only now realized they could also be cut by the blade they’d been wielding against others, or as if they instinctively felt something eerie when looking at him.
They avoided making eye contact with Cheon Yijae.
“……”
Cheon Yijae didn’t say anything in particular. He simply stared at his parents, then quietly turned his head toward his room as if knowing that even his gaze made them uncomfortable.
This mysterious atmosphere changed the moment the parents had a second child.
It was a late-born child, born about ten years after the first. The parents who had been watching Cheon Yijae’s mood and acting as if to please him for a while changed their attitude. Now that they had a child they truly needed to ‘protect,’ they rejected Cheon Yijae as if they’d made a desperate resolution to guard that child.
“I told you not to come out of your room!”
“Don’t come closer. What if you hurt the baby!”
Perhaps their voices grew louder precisely because Cheon Yijae had backed down without a word while they avoided him. Because he was such an obedient child, they judged it was fine to treat him roughly.
And as if calculating that if he could only ‘see’ with his ‘eyes,’ they just needed to prevent him from seeing anything in the first place, the parents finally committed an atrocity.
“Only come out when we open the door for you. We’ll send meals up separately, so there’s no need to come to the dining room.”
“Don’t even think about going near the first floor where the baby moves around.”
They confined Cheon Yijae to a small room on the second floor.
Had he only just passed ten years old? They treated the still-young child like a monster, locking him in a small room and fastening a padlock on the outside. They even switched him to homeschooling so that the newly born child and Cheon Yijae’s spheres of movement wouldn’t overlap.
Sim Seowoo was genuinely dumbfounded by that tremendous treatment. The small room seemed to have originally been used as storage, with dust thickly settled and cold air circulating, but the parents didn’t care at all. It was a sight that brought only sighs, but he was shocked again when he saw what came crowding around Cheon Yijae afterward.
[Don’t you want revenge on them?]
[Hehe, take our hands. We’ll get revenge for you!]
Ghosts approached and whispered to Cheon Yijae sitting alone in the dim space. As if trying to lure out a medium who could see ghosts, and as if entranced by the power he possessed, they crowded around saying, ‘At least we are on your side.’
[That’s right, that baby. Everything changed after that thing was born! That brat is the problem. Let’s tear it apart! Rip off its tender skin and pluck out its eyes—]
“Get lost.”
But Cheon Yijae firmly drove them away. He even glared at them with eyes that found them annoying and bothersome, making Sim Seowoo wonder if he should be relieved that young Cheon Yijae wasn’t dispirited despite being confined to the small room.
However, he watched with mixed feelings as the child barely touched the meals brought up to his room. It seemed this small room was indeed the site of Cheon Yijae’s trauma.
Following that judgment, Sim Seowoo tried calling out “Sojunim,” and also took off the hood of his robe, approached him, and waved his hand. But still, Cheon Yijae didn’t perceive him. Their gazes didn’t connect at all.
This place was like a swamp carefully crafted to break down Cheon Yijae.
All the other members were trapped in fragmentary memories, but only Cheon Yijae was seeing a long past. Was the Hyeong Akgui, seeing him as its most troublesome enemy, deeply digging through his mind to completely destroy him? The more he relived every moment, the more vividly despair would approach.
While Sim Seowoo couldn’t find a way to do anything, time passed helplessly. Day and night visible through the small room’s tiny window changed endlessly, and ghosts persistently came to find Cheon Yijae. Every day they whispered to get revenge on the family of three, and even when he curled up to sleep, they murmured in his ear.
Cheon Yijae seemed to ignore them all, but…
[Kihihit. Their karma has accumulated enough that we can kill them now.]
[Ah! How should we kill them? Should we cause a car accident? Push them off a cliff? Drown them?]
[In the most painful way! No, let’s kill them in the most pathetic and ridiculous way! That will be the ending those humans will find most shameful!]
One day, his eyes snapped open at the conversation the ghosts were having, whispering among themselves. Rather than reacting immediately, he focused on eavesdropping on the ghosts’ conversation to find out the day they were plotting.
And having figured out that some kind of accident would occur on the coming full moon, Cheon Yijae immediately warned his parents of the danger. Since the parents hadn’t visited the small room in quite some time, he told the servant who brought his meals instead.
“Tell them not to go out anywhere that day. Tell them they need to stay somewhere safe.”
“But at that time, there’s a planned outing for the second young master’s birthday…”
“If they don’t want to turn a birthday into a death anniversary, no, if they want to peacefully enjoy the birthday together, tell them to listen to me. They can celebrate at home, can’t they!”
Cheon Yijae raised his voice. Perhaps because he’d heard the ghosts’ vicious words every day, his speech seemed to have grown rough as well. As he barely managed to compose himself, he eventually seemed so frustrated that he ran straight outside.
And in the hallway, he immediately encountered his parents. The parents seemed to have approached after being startled by the loud noise from the small room, and Cheon Yijae quickly warned them of the danger, but…
“Didn’t I clearly tell you not to come outside your room without permission?”
“It seems we’ll have to put shackles on you.”
The parents wrinkled their faces in displeasure. Having confined Cheon Yijae for over two years, their perception had completely changed, and they treated him as if he were a monster that had run out of its cage without permission.
‘To think there are this many crazy people.’
Sim Seowoo sighed. He too had been kidnapped by his parents in the past and dragged to a cult facility, and thought he’d become accustomed to all kinds of crazy people, but the actions Cheon Yijae’s parents were committing right now were shocking enough to appall even him.
