362. Child (5)

A week had passed since my brother-in-law was stabbed.

My brother-in-law, who they said almost died if he’d been a little less lucky, had recovered a lot, but Hinami and I couldn’t go visit him.

The fact that the former manager of the famous idol ‘Seo Jia’ stabbed the boyfriend of ‘Seo Haeun’, Seo Jia’s older sister and a YouTuber with over 300,000 subscribers, was quite the incident that could have become an issue.

Someone must have pulled some strings because there were hardly any news reports, but the company insisted on stopping me, saying it could become an issue the moment I went there.

…Why?

Why is it a problem if it becomes an issue?

The former manager and stalker, who hadn’t shown his face for ages, appeared at such a suspicious timing and stabbed my brother-in-law.

He claimed at the police station that he did it drunk by mistake… really?

Wasn’t it because he heard I was pregnant?

It’s obvious who he heard it from without me having to say it.

…Hinami seemed to have reached the same conclusion as me.

“Hinami. Seo Jia, calm down for a second and sit down.”

“”We don’t want to.””

Just our luck, as soon as the Director noticed, Oppa almost died.

The former manager who drugged me and attempted rape didn’t go to jail, was neatly buried, and then suddenly popped out.

My Master contacted me as soon as he woke up and asked for the Director’s number.

If you can’t figure it out after hearing all this, you’re no different from an idiot.

No matter how I thought about it, the Director was the only one involved in everything.

“…Why should we listen to a murderer?”

“Stop with the baseless speculation and just sit down for now.”

I should have been the one stabbed.

Because the person he should have felt betrayed by was me, not my brother-in-law.

But somehow, the Director convinced that stalker bastard to turn the blade towards my brother-in-law instead of me.

Of course, there’s no physical evidence.

As far as I know, the Director isn’t the type to leave that kind of thing behind.

“It’s unfortunate that something bad happened to your brother-in-law because of that crazy bastard, but you suddenly want to quit your jobs.”

If my brother-in-law had died cleanly, the Director would have pretended to be more furious than us and tried to persuade us while we were lost in despair.

Imagining that now, I don’t think we, in our state of extreme mental distress, could have interrogated the Director.

Because if my brother-in-law disappeared, all the stories reaching my ears would be carefully selected words from the company.

In the end, I would have poured all my anger onto that stalker bastard and lived lonely, raising the child now settled in my belly.

“…I can’t work because I’m scared. What if that person stabbed me instead of my brother-in-law?”

“That bastard was caught. It’s okay now.”

“Even if it wasn’t that manager, I feel like any fan who likes me would want to stab us or Joo-hyuk oppa. …You heard it too, Director.”

“…Hinami.”

I don’t really hold a grudge against the Director.

We were the ones who went off the rails, and we were the ones who did wrong.

That person probably chose the options available to him in his own way.

…After all, in his eyes, I must look like a product, not a person.

If you think of it as shooting a thief who stole a precious jewel, I can grudgingly understand his shamelessness.

But.

“I’m tired of lying anymore, so I’m quitting everything. …I can’t pretend to smile anymore.”

“Me too.”

…I was just pissed off.

The company’s behavior of weighing human lives against profits.

And our transgressions, which involved deceiving the public to the point where we started weighing human lives too.

I couldn’t keep burying these stinking affairs under some pile of dirt anymore.

Because it was literally something that could explode at any moment.

And if it did explode, we didn’t know how badly we’d get hurt this time.

“…Your brother-in-law wouldn’t want that either.”

“I don’t know. I think Hinami and I know him better.”

I wanted to scatter it all out in the open field.

Many people would catch the stench, but at least it wouldn’t explode with a bang.

“What about your penalty fees?”

“We can sell a house. …Besides, all our endorsements were canceled last time due to the drug scandal, so there isn’t much penalty fee to pay anyway.”

“…Do you really think the company will just stay quiet?”

“Do whatever you want. …I don’t think I’ll get hurt just because of some media manipulation.”

I know very well that our company is terribly, horribly vicious.

I’ve even used it myself to achieve my goals sometimes, very often.

“…Look, I think you might be trying to play the victim card to gain sympathy, but it won’t work. Only we can clean up the mess you’ve made, and the moment you self-destruct, no one will take your side.”

“I know. Do you think I’m an idiot? Whether the company keeps quiet or tries to bury me, I’m not scared of any of it. …My fans will probably curse me out even more anyway.”

But I knew even better that the public is more vicious than that.

I knew it was possible to package our story as a tragic romance and drone on about it, but no one would listen.

Even if I played the role of a frail heroine, I knew there would be no chance for an idol who got pregnant to make any excuses.

…But that’s precisely why it didn’t matter.

“If you know that, then just stay put quietly. Huh? Just go to Japan for a bit of recuperation like your brother-in-law wants, and then come back quietly. Think rationally.”

“I can’t do that because I feel like I’ll disappear along with the villa during that ‘short recuperation.’ …I don’t want to die a dog’s death.”

“….”

“If everyone curses us out, at least they won’t pull off ‘stupid stunts’ like this time. …We’re doing this because we want to live too.”

The opposite of criticism isn’t praise, it’s indifference.

At least while we’re being criticized, something like this won’t happen.

As long as I can live with him, I don’t care if I get cursed at a bit.

…No matter how I’m treated from now on.

**

My body was sturdier than expected, and unlike my shoulder, my side recovered quickly.

Was it because Haeun took meticulous care of me, or did the anger towards that Director guy help?

I managed to schedule my discharge about a week later, and unlike when I came in, I walked out of the hospital on my own two feet.

Of course, I couldn’t walk all the way home, so I hitched a ride in the car brought by Hwang Soo-ah’s uncle, who is also my senior.

“Are you really okay? You don’t need help walking?”

“I told you I’m fine.”

Haeun, whose eyes were swollen shut initially, had calmed down a lot seeing my body recover, but she was still full of worries.

Of course, seeing the size of the scar left on my side, it was understandable, so I couldn’t fault her for worrying.

“Ho ho, then you should go inside. I’ll be going now, Mrs. Joo-hyuk.”

“…Yes. Thank you.”

“Thank you, Senior.”

“Nonsense. If a junior gets stabbed, am I even human if I don’t help?”

…Actually, I had done plenty of things that deserved getting stabbed by this guy too.

Seeing him smile so kindly, my conscience pricked me more than my side, and I couldn’t meet his eyes.

He’s the one who didn’t say anything when I sold the gym and just accepted it.

“Let’s get out, Joo-hyuk-ah.”

“Yeah.”

After grabbing the luggage from the trunk, I held Haeun’s hand and got into the elevator to return to the house we lived in.

Perhaps because I’d been lying down for days, the feeling of my body floating up with a ‘boong’ was quite awkward, but I was glad it didn’t hurt.

The doctor said I would have likely died if it had been just 1cm deeper, and I don’t know what guts I had to yell so fiercely back then.

If that bastard had just headbutted me out of anger, my life would have been over right then and there, wouldn’t it?

“…We’re here.”

“Yeah. …I’ll make you dinner as soon as we get inside.”

“What should we eat?”

“Anything.”

Thinking how damn lucky I was, I got off the elevator, unlocked the door for the first time in a while, and stepped inside the house to find…

“…Welcome back, Brother-in-law.”

“What the hell. You.”

“Welcome back, Oppa.”

“And why are you….”

A duo wearing aprons greeted us politely.

…Didn’t these two have schedules all along?

Why are they here at this hour?

“We felt threatened, so we’re going to live here for a while. …If you live alone and get stabbed like Oppa, it’s dangerous, right?”

“….”

“I also think it’s safer to be with Brother-in-law. …I told the company I was taking a break and came here.”

“For how long?”

“About a year for now. …It could be 10 years, or it could be 80 years.”

“….”

…Ah.

No wonder I wasn’t getting many calls.

Even without me saying anything, they already figured it out.

Well, if you didn’t know, you’d be an idiot.

Especially since they asked for the Director’s contact info while I was alive, not dead.

“…It’s nice that you’re welcoming us, but can you two move aside? Are we going to keep our patient Master standing in the doorway?”

“Ah, sorry, Haeun unnie.”

“….”

Passing through the duo who parted like the Red Sea, I stepped into the living room and released the hand-grip I had tightly locked with Haeun.

Then, after unpacking the luggage in the cleaned living room, I sat down at the neatly set dining table and beckoned to them.

…It looks like they ordered something like poke bowls, but whatever.

“Let’s eat first. …We can talk slowly later.”

“”Yes.””

Haeun next to me, Hinami across from me, Ye-eun diagonally.

A seating arrangement that seemed to explain our relationship.

Before picking up my spoon, I took a sip of water to wet my lips and then opened my mouth towards them.

“…Are you all quitting your jobs?”

“”Yes.””

“So will you stay here, or-“

“I want to stay here. …It seems easier to disappear secretly once we’re across the water.”

“I think so too, Oppa. …That’s advice from a local.”

…What to do from now on.

How to,

screw over the bastard who put a knife in my body.