Afterword – Pregnant Family

* Afterword – Pregnant Family (9)

After pulling out one shot of sperm, I left Moonyoung-i, who was sobbing and patting my chest with her fist, as is. A pregnant woman running away while dripping sperm with a strange expression, both wronged and happy, perhaps because she felt good. I thought about chasing after her, but figured she’d sort herself out if I left her alone, but she didn’t return even the next day, so I clutched my head.

“Junseo-ya.”

“What.”

“What? Hey, go find her quickly.”

“Eugh…”

Haeun-nuna is coldly snapping at me as if telling me not to crawl back into the house until I find her. Was sex while pregnant too intense after all? I thought she wasn’t seriously angry, so I remained nonchalant, but in the end, I ended up going to find her myself.

“How did it end up like this…”

I look ridiculous, wearing a tank top and shorts that I’d wear at home, and slippers, trudging along to find the kid. Maybe it’s because I take the kids here and there so often, but I don’t feel like I’ve become a father. It’s because of the elders who like the kids, even though I don’t. She’s probably having a good time somewhere in the village with the old folks, doing “aba baba.” I worry about what to do if she likes the villagers more than her father.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“Have you seen my kids?”

For now, it’s certain they’re somewhere around here, so I came down to the village and grabbed an old man passing by on the street and asked him point-blank.

“Heo.”

It’s not like he’s questioning why I’m asking him that now, but he’s looking at me with such a cold, dead gaze, as if saying, “A father doesn’t even know that?” I feel sorry for myself. If Moonyoung-i had answered the phone, I wouldn’t need to be doing this. I feel strange, like I’m chasing after a runaway wife.

“That way, over there, do you see that building?”

“Thank you.”

“You’re still young… tsk tsk tsk…”

Still, I’m Doryeon-nim, you know. I never imagined he’d look at me so coldly like that. In the first place, I hated this title when I first got it a few years ago, but now that I’m being treated like this…

No, never mind.

Don’t think too deeply about it.

The traditional Korean house the old man told me about was surprisingly close and had an open courtyard. It looks like a place where old people mainly come to hang out, so she’s probably here.

“Is anyone here?”

“We have a guest. Who is it~?”

“Huh?”

But just like those crazy bastards I met during my walk, I’ve been encountering a lot of sudden things lately. A woman with shining blonde hair that doesn’t suit the traditional Korean house’s courtyard, and nipples that are bulging out, wearing mourning clothes. She’s playing kickball in the courtyard with a girl in a fairly large hanbok, and she’s Iserim-i, who I haven’t seen once recently. The girl who came out to greet me and bowed deeply is also a face I’ve seen somewhere, so for some reason, my conscience pricked me.

“Doryeon-nim?”

“Serim-i? What are you doing here? You’re still in the village?”

“Yes, since there’s no chance of being sold off, I’ve been taking care of children recently. What brings you here today?”

“Don’t play dumb. Moonyoung-i came here, didn’t she?”

“Playing dumb? I would never take such an impudent attitude towards Doryeon-nim, so I hope you don’t misunderstand. If you had asked, I would have told you right away.”

“You haven’t changed. Where are my kids?”

“Doryeon-nim’s children were brought here by Moonyoung-i and have been eating and sleeping with the elders yesterday and today. They’re growing up healthy, so I’m relieved.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Iserim-i swept her blonde hair back and revealed a slightly flushed face to me. After that incident, causing a commotion in the village, rebelling, and other things, the number of people avoiding me has increased a lot, but Iserim-i’s attitude hasn’t changed. Normally, this would be the time to poke at me, saying something like, “Shouldn’t Doryeon-nim take care of the kids a bit too?” but Serim-i doesn’t seem to have any intention of doing that.

“That’s unexpected? Everyone else just badmouths me. Saying I neglect the kids.”

“In the first place, raising children is a woman’s job. Why would you make Doryeon-nim raise children? What’s the reason for making you do such a troublesome thing? It’s not something you should be doing.”

“You’re so bad because you’re sincere about that…”

Rather, my conscience is pricked. A woman completed as a product. The common sense of something below human is deeply ingrained.

“Serim-i unnie, who is this ajusshi?”

“Ajusshi…”

A girl runs up to me, giving me a fresh taste of Iserim-i’s scary common sense, and glares at me. Unlike her kind tone, her eyes are raised, and her hair is naturally and prettily let down. Is she in elementary school or about to enter middle school? I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen her somewhere.

“Juae-ya, that person isn’t an ajusshi. He’s Doryeon-nim, Doryeon-nim, got it?”

“Doryeon-nim~? The highest person here~? He~! I didn’t know because I saw you for the first time~!”

“She looks mischievous… Is her surname Ju and her name Ae…?”

“Yep~! Doryeon-nim looks like you get a lot of stress~! Were you born that way~?”

“This one, her way of speaking is just like Haeun-nuna’s… like… euun~?”

As electricity buzzed in my head, I stared at the girl’s face and then glared at Iserim-i again. I couldn’t stop alternating between looking at Iserim-i and the girl called Juae. It’s clear that Serim-i is teasing me with this girl, showing me a sly expression, but I couldn’t grasp the point of what she was teasing me about.

“What’s wrong, ajusshi? Why are you staring at my face so intently? Is there something on my face? Or are you eyeing Serim-i unnie? Not me, right? Are you perhaps getting excited by a child? If you’re such a crazy person, I’ll report you right away!”

“She has no filter… I have a bad feeling about this…”

Like Haeun-nuna…?

Haeun, Haeun, Haeun-nuna…

Nuna?

“?!”

“Uwab?! Why! You really were a pervert? No way?! Let go!”

Without realizing it, I grabbed the girl’s cheeks and brought her face close to mine. Her fox-like, raised eyes and rough way of speaking like Haeun-nuna. And that unique nuance reminded me of someone.

“Those fox eyes!!!”

“It’s good that you noticed, but don’t say it out loud. She’s just an ordinary kid who doesn’t know anything.”

“Say it’s not true.”

“I’m sorry. I’m a woman who can’t lie to Doryeon-nim. You knew she was living here, didn’t you? It’s surprising that you didn’t notice right away.”

“Heoaaaaak…?!”

“Kyaa! What are you doing! Are you crazy?!”

I was so surprised that I pushed the kid back. Iserim-i skillfully caught her, but Juae was so surprised by my actions that she immediately cursed. But I really don’t understand, so my head is a mess.

“Ju, Ju, Ju… right, so her surname is… Ju…”

“Shh.”

She covers my lips with her finger, telling me not to say it even by mistake. I know that Juyeonmi died and there’s a child entrusted to Kim Yongshin. It’s been four years, so I thought she’d be quite big, but she’s already like this? No, wasn’t she younger? I really don’t understand…

“Serim-i unnie, who is this ajusshi really? Does he know me? I expected him to be a strange person since he’s the Doryeon-nim of this village, but he’s more than I thought! I wish strange things were limited to people walking around naked?!”

“Doryeon-nim is an acquaintance of Juae’s deceased mother. He took charge of the funeral when Juae was still young. So don’t talk like that.”

“Eh?! Really?”

“Really. He was the one who watched over her until the end. So you shouldn’t do that.”

Unlike the smiling Iserim-i, Juae seemed surprised by that fact and blinked her fox-like eyes at me, apologizing. Even though her tone is rough, this was proof that she’s still pure inside, unlike Juyeonmi.

“I didn’t know that. I’m really sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize.”

My face turned blue at the cruel lie.

I’m the one who fucked her mom.

Since I’m the fucking bastard who watched over her until the very end, I wish she wouldn’t tell such lies to that woman’s child.

“Where’s Yongshin grandpa…?”

“He went out for a while with Moonyoung-i. They’ve both developed a habit of making something themselves because they want to feed the kids good things.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Yes, didn’t you know? This place is like a gathering place. Other products also come to see the children often.”

“I had no idea.”

“It might be presumptuous of me to say, but I think you have more to get scolded about when you go home. Wouldn’t it be better to prepare some excuses in advance?”

“……………”

My head starts to ache again. I’ve never told anyone in my family about Juyeonmi. At least, I haven’t told them, and judging from their reactions over the past year, it doesn’t seem like anyone told them while I was locked up for three years.

‘I should at least have them meet face to face… First of all… she’s also related to our family’s perverted three sisters… I can’t just leave this alone…’

Even if I can’t say it out loud.

Now that I know, I don’t think I can pretend not to know.