His steps were heavy because if there had been somewhere else to go besides home, he wouldn’t have wanted to come yet. The flow of time felt from the sign that read <Hoho Soup Restaurant> stained his chest with a tingling sensation.
He remembered painting the sign with his grandfather when he was young. The memories of grandparent and grandchild lived and breathed in the walls and doors covered with opaque vinyl sheets as well.
His nose bridge stinging, Ian took a deep breath until his chest swelled. He had just cried for a long time at the tree burial site, yet tears were about to come again. Had his whole body turned into tear glands as Soyeon said?
As tears flowed down, his eyes stung. He had cried so much that his white skin had all turned red and raw. Ian pressed down hard on his eye sockets with his sleeve.
Because he used it instead of a handkerchief, his sleeve was damp too. The amount of tears flowing down was greater than what was absorbed. He steadied his ragged breathing while putting strength into his tear-soaked lips.
If he kept being like this, he would catch the eyes of the neighborhood people, and Okjeong and Soyeon, who heard the news, might come running immediately. He couldn’t trouble the people who had just gone home to rest after staying by Ian’s side all this time again.
Ian clenched both fists and raised his head. Even if his heart drooped like waterlogged cotton, he had to live. Because that would be what his grandfather wanted.
“Huh…….”
But something unbelievable happened before his eyes. The second floor, which should definitely be dark, had its lights on. Thinking he might have seen wrong, he closed his eyes and opened them again, but the window that had been dark until just now was bright.
The second floor of the soup restaurant was Ian and his grandfather’s home. Unless there was another family member, there was no reason for the lights to be on at this time.
Could it be…….
At the sudden thought, Ian ran up to the second floor. With each step he climbed, his heart pounded madly.
The front door, which should have been firmly closed, was ajar. When he opened the door, a pair of unfamiliar shoes was sprawled carelessly.
They were one size larger than the shoes his grandfather usually wore. Ian raised his head while catching his ragged breath.
The inside of the brightly lit house was a mess everywhere, as if a thief had broken in. Starting from the shoe cabinet, all the places where things were stored were wide open.
Seeing objects containing memories with his grandfather rolling around everywhere like garbage, his head spun.
The books that had filled the bookshelf tightly had all fallen to the floor, and from medicine boxes to sewing kits were cluttering the floor.
It looked like a thief had broken in, but Ian thought he would rather it be a complete stranger thief.
“Damn it, where is it. I’m telling you, you have to understand how suspicious old people are.”
The voice coming from the master bedroom wasn’t unfamiliar, so emotions welled up. Ian took off his sneakers and entered the house.
Like the inside of the house that had become a mess, his heart became tangled with emotions that couldn’t be defined by a single word.
The closer he got to the master bedroom, the sound of rummaging through things carelessly could be heard. It was still a space where his grandfather’s touch lived and breathed.
The middle-aged man was panting with a reddened face, ravaging the space that Ian himself had been too scared to even enter. It burned as if a sharp blade had cut through his chest.
“……What are you doing here?”
A deeply sunken voice flowed out. Only then did the man stop rummaging through the clothes in the drawer.
The face that turned around had aged and become shabby compared to his memory. Though it had only been five years, it felt like they were reuniting after a full ten years had passed.
The middle-aged man, who had features resembling Cheolho and Ian everywhere, had whites of his eyes bloodshot bright red, and constantly sniffled, so at a glance he looked like his mind wasn’t fully intact.
“Oh, Ian came. You came at the right time. Do you know where grandfather usually kept his bankbook? Before, he used to hide it in the blankets here, but when I looked, it’s not there.”
Yeon Sangmin, who discovered Ian, sparkled his eyes showing how glad he was. Sangmin pointed at the cotton blanket with his fingertip. The blanket that had been neatly folded in the wardrobe was spread wide open like a wrapping cloth.
“……Is that all you have to say to me?”
The tears that had briefly stopped flowed down his reddened cheeks. How should he explain the situation where his dad, who hadn’t shown his nose until the funeral was over, was ransacking the house?
Looking at how he was asking where grandfather’s bankbook was, there was only one reason he came. It’s because of money again.
With a sad heart, Ian clenched both fists. Though he was his dad, he didn’t even want to call him dad. If he had resembled his dad even a little in having a nasty temper, he would have grabbed Sangmin by the collar right now asking what the hell he was doing. He felt pathetic about his own personality that only glared to death.
“Ah, a lot of condolence money came in, right? The old man should have had a wide circle of friends. A lot of people must have come to the funeral hall. Where’s the remaining condolence money? How much came in?”
Whether he couldn’t see his young son’s face becoming covered in tears, Sangmin only said what he wanted to say. His pupils wriggling with greed quickly scanned Ian up and down.
The youthful face and black mourning clothes were incongruous. Whether it was because Ian was thin or the mourning clothes were too big, the seam line had slipped down below his shoulders.
Even in the appearance of clothes swallowing a person, Sangmin only looked for corners where money might be. Since he wasn’t carrying a bag separately, he wondered if perhaps there was money in his pockets and stared intently at only that part.
“Get out. I’m calling the police.”
Thinking that words wouldn’t get through, Ian said with wide eyes. Far from flinching at the tear-soaked threat, Sangmin only snorted.
“I came to my father’s house, so why would you call the police? What a ridiculous kid. You, hey, you see your dad after a long time and don’t even greet him, and you’re glaring with your eyes like a flounder? Where did you learn such manners!”
Even talking to an animal would be better than this. If he’s human, is this something to say?
He left his young child practically thrown at his own father and only showed his face once every few years. And that too, he didn’t come because he wanted to see Ian, but came to extort money from Cheolho.
People who knew even a little of Cheolho’s circumstances didn’t curse Sangmin for nothing. Sangmin was the worst kind of human trash, crazy about gambling.
Even knowing Cheolho had died, his reddened face showed no sadness for his father, no longing, and no compassion for Ian who was left alone. Only greed for money blazed.
“Yeon Ian, I’m asking where grandfather put his bankbook. Dad is in a huge hurry right now.”
When Ian didn’t budge even after he yelled, Sangmin changed his approach. He exhaled deeply and scratched his head roughly. His greasy hair, which looked like it hadn’t been washed for several days, glistened under the fluorescent light.
“I don’t know.”
But Ian had no intention of telling Sangmin obediently. It was a bankbook containing money his grandfather had saved penny by penny, working hard every single day.
It was money saved while cutting back on his own food and clothing, worried about his grandson who couldn’t even properly attend school because of his illness.
Even while holding the funeral, Ian never thought about touching his grandfather’s bankbook. This was because the drops of his grandfather’s sweat contained in it were too precious.
“Do you think I’m joking right now?”
Sangmin, who took out his phone to check the time, blinked his reddened eyes. In a little while, those bastards would come looking for him. If that happened, Ian definitely wouldn’t be safe either.
“Hurry up and tell me where the bankbook is. And I put this house and store on the real estate market. I’m going to dispose of it as a quick sale, so someone who’ll buy it will appear soon. Dad will give you some money, so you also hurry and find a new place to live. I’ll give you about 100 million won. With that much, you should be able to get a small studio apartment jeonse in Gyeonggi Province.”
