Ch.73073 – The Transfer Student Who Brings a Typhoon 2

# 073 – The Transfer Student Bringing a Typhoon # 2

My family was well-off.

How well-off? We had a yard and even a separate garage.

Our house was a two-story family home.

You couldn’t find a single cockroach anywhere.

My parents had enough money to shop at department stores every week.

Since childhood, I had everything I wanted and lived without any lack.

Until sixth grade, I was always the class president and student council president.

In other words, I was in the same position as Wang Jahyeon is now.

Of course, Jeongseok didn’t seem to understand.

“You were like that?”

“I’m telling you I was. I just keep to myself now, but I used to be popular too. The girls in class would even beg the teacher to be paired with me…”

There might have been a bit of exaggeration there.

But anyway, that wasn’t the important part.

“It was summer of sixth grade. Just before vacation started. One day, my father told me something. We had a storage shed behind our house where we kept old furniture and tools. He said it was dangerous and to never go near it. Never.”

“Never?”

“Yeah. Never go near it and don’t even dream of opening the storage door. I said I understood. Until then, I was…”

I was a child who listened well to my father and mother when I was young.

An obedient child. My parents’ joy.

But… one day strange things started happening.

Every night I would hear someone sobbing, and sometimes the ice cream I had set aside to eat would disappear from the refrigerator.

I started to feel terrified of the spacious house I lived in.

A ghost.

There’s a ghost living in the house-

I felt that fear and gathered my courage to inspect every corner of the house, until I finally discovered what was in the storage shed my father had told me never to approach.

“…It was a girl. My father had kidnapped a young girl… He was secretly raising her in the storage shed. After that day, our family completely fell apart. My father, who was a senior pastor, became a sex offender.”

“Oh, shit…”

Jeongseok frowned and muttered like I did.

The story I revealed must have been quite shocking to him too.

“After that, I lived with a scarlet letter until the end of middle school. Even kids who used to be friends with me all pointed fingers at me. And at the center of it all was Wang Jahyeon.”

Wang Jahyeon’s family and mine actually had frequent interactions.

Wang Jahyeon’s father was an associate pastor at the church where my father served.

I also thought of Wang Jahyeon as my closest friend.

Like Jeongseok is to me now.

No, in some ways, we were even closer than Jeongseok and I.

“Anyway, if Wang Jahyeon decides to bully me again, he might try to win you over first. He’ll definitely do that. I don’t know why he transferred here, but…”

Why would Wang Jahyeon, who was living well in Seoul, come to this Gaeryong?

For me, it was like facing a typhoon without a roof.

That’s when Jeongseok asked:

“…So why did your dad do that? Kidnapping a child… Why?”

“…I don’t know. It could be pedophilia like they said on the news. Or…”

Actually, I don’t know.

I still think about it sometimes.

Why did my father do that?

And if I had never opened that storage door… would I still be living in that grand two-story house as if nothing had happened?

Whenever I think about that time, the summer heat, the cicadas’ cries, and the sticky stench I felt when I opened the storage door all come back vividly.

In a way, I still haven’t escaped that nightmare.

Soon Jeongseok said to me:

“Now I understand why you got a status window. You’ve inherited the blood of a villain. You have all the qualities to become the world’s worst villain. That’s the kind of guy you are.”

Is this supposed to be comforting or insulting?

But even after hearing my story, Jeongseok’s gaze toward me didn’t change.

No, there was one small change.

Instead of despising me, he seemed curious.

“Where is your father now?”

“In prison. He didn’t even appeal. He just admitted to everything and went to jail. He was caught red-handed anyway, so…”

“What happened to her? The kidnapped girl.”

Jeongseok asked me.

I shook my head.

“I don’t know. I was too preoccupied with my own situation.”

Come to think of it, it wasn’t just my family’s life that was ruined.

That girl might still be trapped in that nightmare from that day.

She probably can’t forget it for the rest of her life.

“Why is the matching taking so long?”

I looked at the matching waiting screen that had been going on for several minutes.

When I started to get a bit annoyed, Jeongseok pressed the cancel button.

“…You said it was summer of sixth grade?”

“That’s right.”

“Maybe… I think all these events are connected in one big circle, like a huge fence. That girl. The girl your father kept locked up for a month. I know who she is.”

He knows who she is?

Wait, did I even mention she was locked up for a month?

“She is—”

Jeongseok was about to say something but closed his mouth.

Soon someone approached us.

“Here you are! Guys!”

It was a cheerful voice.

The appearance of a beautiful girl so out of place in a PC room made all the customers glance over.

It was Yu Dahui.

And I felt like lightning struck my brain.

The hot summer.

The girl living like an animal behind the tightly locked storage door.

“Ugh!”

With an unbearable urge to vomit, I rushed to the bathroom.

# # #

“…Yu Dahui, did you know?”

When his friend rushed to the bathroom and left his seat, Jeongseok asked Yu Dahui.

Yu Dahui tilted her head.

“You guys messaged that you were at the PC room. Besides, this is my first time ever coming to a PC room! How do you turn on the computer? Can I play that League thing too?”

“Not that. I’m talking about what happened in sixth grade.”

Jeongseok and Yu Dahui were elementary school classmates.

They hadn’t really talked much or been close, but…

It meant he remembered what happened back then well.

Yu Dahui went missing in the summer before sixth grade vacation.

For about a month.

She had been kidnapped.

When the criminal was caught, the world was in an uproar, and after that day, Yu Dahui couldn’t go to and from school without riding in a car.

Jeongseok’s friend Ha Yeongwon had just realized that fact and truth, and left his seat with an unbearable urge to vomit.

‘What about Yu Dahui? Does she know? I know about the incident too. A pastor from a large Seoul church kidnapped and imprisoned a young girl for sexual assault… It was all over the news.’

Yu Dahui was the victim of that incident.

She might or might not know that Ha Yeongwon was the perpetrator’s son.

‘Yeongwon was marked with a scarlet letter and changed his name. From his father’s surname to his mother’s surname, becoming Ha Yeongwon! Yu Dahui might not know that the criminal’s son is Yeongwon!’

Jeongseok suddenly thought he had brought up the topic carelessly.

Had he unintentionally driven a wedge between Yu Dahui and Ha Yeongwon?

As he closed his eyes tightly, Yu Dahui spoke.

“I know. I didn’t at first. But after meeting and talking a few times, I figured it out. Of course, Yeongwon didn’t seem to recognize me.”

Yu Dahui puffed her cheeks as if slightly upset.

Seeing that, Jeongseok asked:

“Then… is it all true? What they said on the news…”

“The truth… I don’t remember well. Actually, the memories from that time are blurry. They say it’s because of traumatic shock…”

“Is that also around the time you suddenly couldn’t remember looking for Yang Dohui, Yang Juhui’s older sister?”

“That’s right. But there’s one thing I do remember. A voice from beyond the wall… I… I owe a debt to that voice. It saved me, but in return, I ruined that child’s life.”

Jeongseok could somewhat understand why Yu Dahui was interested in Ha Yeongwon.

And as he said earlier, he felt that many events were tightly connected by a single thread.

His friend Ha Yeongwon seemed to have gone home first.

Jeongseok left the PC room with Yu Dahui and looked up at the sky.

The evening sky was increasingly resembling summer.

Buzz-buzz-buzz-

The cicadas were starting to cry out.

Someone lingering near the Foundation Chairman’s office heard it.

It was Kang Bada.

Kang Bada briefly checked the time on his phone before entering the Chairman’s office.

Chairman Cheon Daegon was sitting at his desk, signing something, then stopped.

“Chairman. It’s been a while.”

“Cut the crap. I know you’ve been hanging around Dahui lately. I don’t have time to waste on someone like you, so I’ll get straight to the point. Leave Korea.”

“Wow, and if I don’t?”

Scratch-scratch-

As Kang Bada stroked his chin stubble, the Chairman silently opened his narrow eyes.

There was no need for further conversation.

Kang Bada could sense the fate approaching him.

‘Chairman Cheon Daegon. This man can do whatever he wants if he desires. Getting rid of someone like me would be nothing to him. And he’s the type who would actually do it. This old man doesn’t fire warning shots.’

In the past, he would have backed down.

Like when he fled to Japan under the Chairman’s pressure.

But Kang Bada had aged and gained some backbone.

“Chairman. You’re still trying to push people into that nightmare, aren’t you? You did it to your daughter Inna. And you’re probably forcing it on your granddaughter Dahui too.”

“Get to the point.”

“…I’ll go. I’ll go and bring back what you want. So please leave Dahui out of this. I’m begging you.”

Swish-

Kang Bada knelt down and pressed his forehead to the floor.

Cheon Daegon didn’t even look at the gesture.

He just smiled.

“Not necessary. You don’t even know how to enter that place in the first place. Idiot. Besides, Miri has been doing quite well recently. She’s been to that nightmare twice lately. Quite impressive.”

Swish-

At that moment, Kang Bada lifted his forehead.

And stood up.

“But Oseong won’t listen, will they? You haven’t been in good contact with Oseong lately, have you? You must know they’re researching how to send people to that nightmarish place.”

“Those bastards aren’t even my competition. Just some guys selling stuff. Those sons of bitches don’t even know who raised them to that position and now they’re getting cocky.”

Knock-knock-

Someone knocked on the door.

The door opened with a click.

A tall, handsome male student bowed his head before Chairman Cheon Daegon.

“I’m Wang Jahyeon from Gwanak Jeil Presbyterian Church. I’ve brought a gift from my father and Pastor Cheon Aesu to thank you for helping with my transfer procedures.”

It was a very elegantly wrapped box.

The Chairman didn’t even look at it.

“Just put it over there.”

“Then, goodbye. Oh, and one more thing. Now that I’m here, everything will return to normal. Don’t worry too much, Chairman Cheon Daegon. I’ll be going now.”

Bow-

What a handsome boy-

That’s what Kang Bada thought.

However, for the first time today, Cheon Daegon showed his discomfort.

“Pathetic bastards coveting what belongs to others. They rush in when there’s something good, just like stray dogs. They smile to your face but are thinking of biting your neck when you turn around.”

“……”

“Fine. Kang Bada. I’ll accept your proposal. I won’t push Dahui anymore. But there’s a condition. Instead of Yu Dahui, I’ll put that boy into the Idea. Ha Chaeyeon’s son.”

“…Chaeyeon’s son?”

“Yes. Hehehe. You teach him. Teach him to survive even in hell. If he falls in that hell, then inevitably Dahui will have to step up again.”

Chairman Cheon Daegon’s laughter spread low across the room.

Kang Bada felt dizzy.

“Put him in instead? You know very well that place isn’t somewhere you can go freely, or avoid going if you don’t want to. Yeongwon… he just seems like an ordinary kid.”

“There are ways. You know how Oseong or those church people create Watchers. It’s a somewhat eccentric method.”

“Chairman. Are you saying you’ll kill Ha Yeongwon?”

“He won’t die. He’ll just become neither living nor dead. And he’s not Ha Yeongwon. He’s Cheon Yeongwon.”

# # #

My physical condition deteriorated rapidly, so I fled from the PC room to home.

As I was trying to recover my strength under the blanket, knock-knock-knock- someone knocked on our door.

Is it Jeongseok?

Or…

“Who is it?”

—It’s me. Teacher Hong Miri.

Teacher Hong Miri came to our house?