Episode 592
“….”
A brightly lit room.
“…Ah…”
A young man woke up.
“….”
It felt like I woke up after a very long time.
I didn’t feel refreshed and felt very bad.
“…Where was the medicine?”
He kept wanting to sleep.
I didn’t really want to die.
It was a world where you couldn’t die in the first place, and dying didn’t solve anything. So, it was closer to going to sleep as an attempt to avoid death, which was more superficial than death.
“ah.”
The young man got up from the bed and slowly blinked his eyes as he looked at the empty medicine cabinet.
“….”
The young man muttered, covering his mouth with his hand.
“I ate it all…”
The voice was neither high nor low, but it was cracked, like someone who cried for three days and nights. The soot in his voice gave the illusion that the young man’s voice was very low.
The young man, who was rolling his lifeless eyes here and there, soon returned to his bed and sat down.
“….”
Sigh.
He immediately swept his face with both hands.
With both eyes open.
“….”
The room was luxurious.
‘It’s natural.’
They destroyed the upper class that was plotting a very large conspiracy and took away the power they had monopolized. This bright room sparkling with all kinds of jewels and beautiful lights was also part of what was taken away.
“….”
But now that I think about it, I don’t know if it was a good thing.
“….”
I wanted to go home.
‘…even though this is my home now.’
I’ve never had childish thoughts like this before, but lately, they’ve been coming to my mind so often that they fill my brain so tightly that they’re flowing out like ink. It reminds me of the house he lived in when he was young.
At that time, I thought it was so peaceful that it was so undeserved.
“…Sisters….”
I suddenly wondered where my twin sister was, so I raised my head, but then I realized it again. They would be too far away for him to call now.
‘I can’t even talk to my oldest sister on the phone.’
That’s right.
I did, but forgot about it for a moment.
I wondered if I had a memory problem because I slept for too long, but…
“…I’m sleepy.”
I just felt sleepy.
“I need to sleep.”
Even if I lay back on the bed muttering like that, there was no way I could fall asleep. The body of a person who had just woken up naturally after a deep sleep for over two days was unable to sleep again.
“….”
That’s why only vain thoughts kept coming through my closed eyes.
‘…want to go home.’
Then, as I felt a little hungry, the first thought that came to mind was food.
It was a cake. I remembered how my mother would bake thick sheets, my father would thickly apply whipped cream, and my sisters would sloppily coat the cake with it and then put things like chocolate or fruit on top.
‘I want to go home.’
The next thought that came to mind was about my sisters.
My eldest sister, who always smiled in a soft and quiet voice, and my second sister, who respected and followed her but was also noticeably extravagant.
Neither of us were very dexterous, so after cooking with our parents, the kitchen would end up a mess.
‘Home….’
Let’s reach our parents’ thoughts like that.
“….”
I was dazed for a moment.
The young man pursed his lips quietly.
“…sorry.”
He snuggled into the blanket.
“sorry.”
I dug deep until I couldn’t see myself at all.
“I’m sorry…”
Even though he was begging for forgiveness, his voice was calm and calm.
The young man’s voice was neat, as if he was reciting a neat poem, and was extremely calm with almost no pitch. The young man blinked, hiding under the blanket with eyes unfocused as his voice was hollow.
“….”
Maybe he just needed someone to blame.
‘It’s obvious.’
The story of a protagonist who grows up hating the person who betrayed his precious people. That was my story. It was a story decided by God, and it was the fate of the world that only we knew about.
My father said he paid the price for trying to defy fate.
“….”
So I killed my mother without knowing anything.
So he lost his entire family in an instant.
He suffered a terrible death at the hands of his own child, paying for his entire life with the sin of failing to properly fulfill his role as a villain. He probably thinks that fate was a punishment for his sins and a natural progression.
“….”
That was even more terrifying.
‘I should have told you no.’
It would have been nice if there had been just one person to tell him, ‘You weren’t wrong.’ It was no wonder that he rebelled against the unreasonable pressure of fate…
‘So before he died.’
Please don’t just accept your fate.
‘So…’
If only there was someone to tell me.
“….” How great
it would have been if it had been me
.
“…I want to go home.”
I say something again I don’t know how many times I’ve already said it.
“I want to go home.”
Maybe I’m praying to God.
Even though that god abandoned this world and ruined my entire family. Nevertheless, I felt pitiful and despised myself for praying with all my heart to the cruel race called God.
“When I get home…”
my mother will be there too.
The two sisters will also stay there smiling.
‘Father too…’
The young man who was thinking like that stopped breathing for a moment.
“….”
…No matter how I tried to turn my head and dream, my father in that gentle air could not come to mind.
“….”
What should I do?
He saw his father’s corpse lying in a rotten state in our old house.
There were injuries left by myself, wounds left by colleagues, and I also saw limbs that were torn off horribly, possibly from injuries caused while dragging the body on the way home.
I couldn’t even turn my father’s body over to see his face because it seemed like it would crumble at the slightest touch.
‘What kind of expression was he making?’
Maybe he was laughing.
‘Because he’s a strange person.’
Then how was he smiling?
A mean smile that fits his role? Or the relaxed smile you often saw when you were young? Or that light, flirtatious smile he wore at work? Or the angry laugh you get when you hate someone?
Or it could have been an empty smile, thankful that everything was over now.
“….”
I was a part of all my father’s terrible life.
But I didn’t have the confidence to go back and check the face of my father’s corpse even now. I kept wondering what his expression would be like, but that didn’t mean I was curious.
‘I’m scared to death just thinking about it like this right now.’
Maybe he died with a certain expression on his face.
It wouldn’t be bearable.
“…Huh.”
Suddenly, a huge, unbearable sadness came over me.
“…Ugh huh…”
Ugh…
I held the blanket tighter with both hands.
“Huh….”
Everything was ruined.
I thought I was smart. Still, I thought he was humble. I thought I was right, but I always kept my ears open because I knew that other people could be right too.
That was too much arrogance.
‘That was stupid.’
But isn’t the price of that stupidity too great and deep?
The rebellion and revolution that shed so much blood ultimately happened according to God’s script, and our story was just a play enjoyed by some people in power who knew the truth.
Even if we wanted to hold them accountable now, all those responsible are dead or have run away. My father, who must have been the most difficult person, has been dead for a long time.
“…Father…”
Even though I hugged the soft blanket with my whole body, the tears wouldn’t stop.
It was a little cold. I was
a little scared and
a little empty.
I’m so sad that tears come out randomly and I don’t even know why I’m so sad. I didn’t have the courage or energy to die, but I also didn’t have the confidence to survive and unravel all these tangled lines.
I felt so terrible about myself.
“father.”
He was a good person.
He was a good father.
“Ah…”
I should have listened to you more.
‘No matter how much that person avoided and hid it, you should have asked him at least once.’
The snake-like person did not tell his story to his children. And we weren’t that curious either. They were living in the present, and the only interesting thing about their parents’ past was how they dated and got married.
You were living so peacefully and happily. My mother and father looked like such perfect pillars and roofs that I didn’t even wonder how old they were or what they were made of.
‘Maybe it was because I felt so relieved.’
Would it have made a difference if I had asked my father at that time how injured he was and how much it hurt?
‘At least he didn’t lie to us back then… If we had asked, he would have told us.’
However, because his ability was to regenerate and he was a talent recognized by the country, no matter how horribly injured or maddeningly painful my father was, it was not noticeable. That’s why I thought he was a very sane person.
With that innocent face, we thought he had fooled us all and killed our mother. I thought that his pale face was fake, but in reality, he was a dog, a monster, and trash who listened to everything the government said.
“….”
The reason you seemed fine was because you were so good at enduring pain.
“….”
Before I knew it, the tears had dried.
The area around my eyes was swollen and tingling, but even that slight pain made me distance myself from my mind and reason.
I just knew that my body was in that state, and even my heart became calm, like hearing the sound of crackling firewood late at night… and I
couldn’t breathe.
“….”
I felt sleepy.
“….”
No matter how much I thought and dreamed, I couldn’t picture my father being happy.
Maybe that means you’ve never been happy.
“….”
I have such a dream.
“….”
When we were younger and everything was okay.
Just say ‘dad’ once….
* * *
Meanwhile, Lee Jae-heon and Park Min-jun.
“Captain, you are doing well.”
“I can survive.”
“But why is your personality like that?”
“I don’t think this will work because the Malbon bird is offended. “Please throw up everything you ate before leaving this restaurant, Park Min-jun.”
“Do not abuse. “It is a crime.”
Neither of them had any thoughts.
To be exact, I had so many thoughts that I just shoved them into a corner of my brain for a while, but whatever. The two, who had been talking for the first time in a long time and met someone they were comfortable with, were satisfied with each other’s response.
Jaeheon Lee covered his mouth with a pale face and muttered.
“I feel like I’m going to throw up…”
“Yes? “Suddenly?”
“I ate too much.”
“…I think there’s someone here who needs to throw up everything they ate. Instead of telling me what to say, why don’t you go to the bathroom yourself before a catastrophe occurs?”
“Stop provoking me before I vomit in my face.”
“I will report it.”
“You’re saying a report in front of someone. “I am a police officer and a person in power.”
“You seem like a dirty adult.”
“Adults are naturally a bit dirty.”
Feeling overly full, Jaeheon Lee sighed and leaned back on his chair.
“Ha… Should I ask for some medicine?”
“Do they sell medicine at the restaurant?”
“They usually stock one type as a service.”
“You were treated really well.”
“If you knew how Captain Neui was treated and how he spent his time here, you would be very upset… Do you know how they treated me? “I was almost a totem, a love doll.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, attachment dolls, but they’re terrible anyway. Anyway, I said it. “If you’re dissatisfied, throw away those chicks?”
“How did I raise myself to this point, but you’re saying such irresponsible things?”
“But anyway, you’re going to use me now, aren’t you? “Weren’t you trying to slowly relax?”
“You sound like Fang.”
Lee Jae-heon, who clenched his tongue, eventually called an employee and received three pills of digestive medicine. The staff tried to dissuade him from taking too much, but Lee Jae-heon was able to successfully abuse the drug thanks to his typical old nagging.
Park Min-jun was disgusted by that sight.
“It seems like your personality has gotten worse.”
“What do you call an old man?”
“Uh… yes.”
“You really take good care of your horse. “It just came out earlier.”
“I will be careful.”
“…No, um. Well…”
Gulp.
Lee Jae-heon said after swallowing the medicine.
“…actually, where has this old man manager’s personality gone? “I’m sorry if the captain’s appearance is a little different from what I remember, but since I am also ‘Lee Jae-heon’, I couldn’t help but change my personality.”
“Even so, it seems like the bad-tempered viper is still the same.”
“Huh, Malbonsae is really just right?”
Jaeheon Lee chuckled and then shrugged his shoulders.
“My body doesn’t respond well to medicine, so I took a bit too much. Of course, if you go to the hospital, they will give you the correct amount, but if you take it that way, the effect will not come quickly, so that’s why.”
“…? “Is the old manager’s body also immune to the poison?”
“Rather, it’s because I’ve been taking a lot of medicine since I was young. “I’m not sure if there’s actual immunity or if it’s just a placebo effect.”
Park Min-jun raised two thumbs up.
“Then even if you take poison, it won’t go away anytime soon. Congratulations on your convenient body.”
“Well, even if I took sleeping pills, I couldn’t fall asleep right away.”
“Have you ever taken sleeping pills? “Have you been kidnapped?”
“At that time, I got my fingernails pulled out.”
“It’s really typical and boring torture.”
“So it was kind of funny.”
They both laughed equally.
What should I say? By their standards, torture like ‘pulling out fingernails’ was like a haunted house that wasn’t scary. It was strangely embarrassing and at the same time, it felt funny.
“Oh really…”
Lee Jae-heon, who had been laughing for a while, caught his breath.
“It’s been a while since I laughed.”
Also overeating.
It’s been a really long time.
* * *
So when the weekend arrived.
“Jaeheon Lee, are you inside?”
“….”
“Are you inside?”
“Boss!”
“We’re here!”
Hong Gyeong-jun and the children (survivors) visited Lee Jae-heon’s house.
“…Hehehe….”
Lee Jae-heon looked back at the detective in the front door mirror.
He avoided Jaeheon Lee’s gaze.
“….”
“If you raise a child for so long, you won’t have this much manners.”
“….”
“Do you think it’s okay for a detective to suddenly come to someone’s house like this?”
“…How can you say how solemnly you raised your chicks?”
“All the poisonous snakes are dead.”
“It died a long time ago.”
The two threw a tantrum together.
(Continued in the next part)
