episode_0012

I turned my steps and squeezed through the crowd to observe the situation.

“Hey! Ryeowon! Why are you ignoring Dad’s words?!”

At the center of it all was indeed Han Ryeowon.

The drunk causing a scene at the school gate was her father.

“Wow. That’s Ryeowon’s dad?”

“He’s crazy… They don’t look alike at all.”

“They must be from a completely different world.”

The students forming the crowd didn’t hesitate to mock the two women.

Naturally, the same would have reached the ears of the subjects.

Han Ryeowon, trembling with clenched fists, turned away from her father with a stiff expression.

However…

“Ryeowon! Are you just going to stand there?!”

Her father raised his voice even further, drawing everyone’s attention to him.

“Hey!!!”

In the end, she couldn’t help but stop.

“….”

Her upright face was contorted with deep anger and shame.

“Ha, this shameless girl. Does she have to shout to be heard?”

“…How did you find out about this place?”

“Hey, girl. If you see your dad, shouldn’t you at least say hello?”

“How did you get here?”

Han Ryeowon glared as if to kill, while her father, with an unashamed face, smirked as if nothing mattered.

There seemed to be some circumstances.

“You don’t need to know that. Give me some money.”

“What…?”

For a moment, I thought I had misheard.

“You have about a hundred thousand won, right? Your aunt gives you pocket money all the time. You’ve been saving it, haven’t you? Huh?”

Her father shamelessly demanded money from his daughter.

“…Is that the only reason you came here for?”

“Hey! Why else would I come all the way here? Hurry up and give me the money!”

Then, murmurs started to emerge from the surroundings.

“Wow. He’s really insane.”

“This is so frustrating…”

“Dad is a legend.”

“Ugh. If it were me, I’d commit suicide.”

Is this what they mean by “watching a fire across the river”?

Even as a bystander, I found myself burning with anger in the face of the pouring mockery.

“….”

Ryeowon, who had been trembling with rage at her stepfather’s behavior, took out her wallet from her bag with a fierce expression.

Then, she took out all the bills inside and handed them over as if pushing them away.

“…Don’t ever come looking for me again… Please…”

However…

“Is this all, Dad?”

Her father was not satisfied.

“Don’t you have more? There’s an ATM over there. Go and withdraw some more.”

An attitude of insatiable greed that was hard to imagine.

Han Rye-won, who had held back her anger, finally let her tears flow.

“Please…!”

And at that moment,

“Oh, Dad!!!”

Unable to stand by any longer, I interjected loudly between the two.

“…!”

“Hmm?”

Attention turned towards me.

Sneakily hiding Han Rye-won behind me, I approached her father.

“I’m sorry for interrupting, but we’re quite busy right now!”

“What are you doing?”

“She’s Rye-won’s friend!”

“Friend?”

“Hey, hey….”

Looking flustered, Han Rye-won grabbed my sleeve tightly.

Ignoring her, I firmly held her hand and shouted, “Anyway! Excuse us, but I’ll take Rye-won with me!”

“…Huh?”

As he hesitated for a moment, I grabbed Han Rye-won’s hand and swiftly fled through the crowd.

“Hey, hey! Hey, you! Don’t just stand there?! Hey!!”

Desperate shouting could be heard from behind, but…

“If you want me to stop, you should’ve stood in our way.”

Naturally, there was no stopping.

*

After running for a while, we arrived at an empty playground nearby.

Yoo Chan and Rye-won sat side by side on the swings.

“…….”

“…….”

A heavy silence filled the air.

Rye-won, looking as if she could die any moment, stared at her toes, while Yoo Chan kept an eye on her.

Regret crept into Yoo Chan for impulsively intervening.

“Was it a pointless thing to do?”

Although it was difficult to watch, he had taken her away without thinking, but now he wasn’t sure if it was the right decision.

Of course, if faced with the same situation again, he would make the same choice.

He still lacked the experience to distinguish right from wrong.

“By the way, how dysfunctional is her family…?”

Yoo Chan pondered over the scene caused by Rye-won’s father.

Showing up at school drunk, causing a scene, and even shamelessly taking money from his own daughter in front of everyone.

It was truly a situation one might only see on TV.

Underneath such a person, how could someone like me have turned out like this?

Yu-chan couldn’t hide his surprise and let out a sigh. Carefully, he opened his mouth to comfort Ryeowon.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah…”

However, she still seemed unable to shake off the shock.

“Sigh. Poor thing.”

Yu-chan felt sorry for her, but he didn’t have anything particular to say. He had no knowledge to replace the trash-like father’s insults, nor did he have any reason to force strength into a girl who was deeply shocked.

All he could do was offer calm comfort instead of the words that lingered in his mind.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

…

Silence fell heavy once again.

Scratching his messy hair absentmindedly, Yu-chan looked around, then gazed at the small convenience store right in front of the playground.

Suddenly, as if struck by a thought, he sprang up.

“Just wait here for a moment.”

While Yu-chan briefly left his seat,

Left alone, Ryeowon involuntarily lowered her head and closed her eyes tightly.

“I want to die.”

She detested her father so intensely. Since she was young, he had hit and cursed her mother in front of her, and even after her mother died from illness, he hadn’t changed at all. Instead, he spent the insurance money on alcohol and entertainment, bragging about her death.

If only it had stopped there, she could have just blamed her parents for being wrong.

But he came all the way to the relative’s house where she was taken because she had no one else, demanding money for the child and causing trouble. Not only that, he even followed her to the agency she joined, demanding compensation and threatening to sue.

Naturally, rumors about him spread quickly.

Eventually, Ryeowon was ostracized by other trainees, unable to bear the stress, and gave up on her debut.

He caused nothing but harm without giving an ounce of help to his only daughter.

So she deliberately concealed the school she attended and distanced herself… Yet somehow, he managed to find her school.

Ryeowon resented her fate, unable to escape from her father’s shadow.

“…It’s going to spread, for sure.”

Just because I caused a scene in front of everyone, it’s obvious that rumors will spread throughout the entire school.

It probably won’t make a difference even if I transfer schools.

I always have to stress about when he might come back and cause a commotion again.

Up until the moment he died. Throughout my whole life.

Because of that cancerous lump called ‘father,’ it felt like my entire life was ruined.

“Should I die?”

Tears welled up in my moist eyes once again.

“Yeah. What’s the point of living like this? Let’s just die. Just like that.”

Leewon was in a moment of extreme impulse, wallowing in despair over his miserable fate.

“Take this.”

An indifferent voice pierced her ears.

“…?”

Reacting to the sound, Leewon unconsciously looked up.

There stood Yoochan, who had returned without her noticing.

With a bottle of vitamin drink in hand.

“They say vitamins are good for you.”

“….”

Leewon could easily tell that he was trying to comfort her.

Honestly, it wasn’t a very skillful attempt at consolation.

“….”

She silently takes the bottle.

The refreshing coolness emanating from the cold bottle.

Seeing her slightly out of breath, it seemed like he had hurriedly bought it from the convenience store.

“Thank you….”

“Drink it, I’ll give you the bottle.”

Leewon absentmindedly twisted off the cap at Yoochan’s insistence.

Then, she absentmindedly stared at the bottle, before swiftly tilting it to her lips and drinking it all in one go.

Gulp. Gulp. Gulp. Maybe because she felt unwell, the sweetness permeated through her entire body.

“Pffft….”

That was the moment when Leewon finished the bottle and let out a refreshing sigh.

Twist. Following that, Yoochan, who was twisting off the cap, spoke.

“Feeling better?”

At that moment…

“…Huh?”

Internally startled, Leewon found herself thinking.

Certainly, just a while ago, all sorts of impulses were overwhelming her.

But now, her once complicated mind felt completely emptied, as if it were a lie.

“…Yeah….”

In response to Leewon’s absent-minded reply, Yoochan quietly nodded, bringing the bottle to her lips.

“See, vitamins are good for you after all.”

A subtly proud remark.

For some reason, seeing him like that made Leewon feel a bit amused, and she burst into laughter.

It was an astonishingly sudden change of emotions.

‘…What is his deal?’

​

Ryeowon sneakily turned her head to steal a glance at Yoochan, who was sipping on his drink.

​

At first, when they kept running into each other at the library, she thought he was like the other guys, trying to attract attention.

​

Surprisingly, he seemed completely uninterested in her.

​

He’s deeper than she thought. There’s a mature side to him.

​

While he has some masculine traits, there’s also something cute about him.

​

Above all, being with him inexplicably put her at ease.

​

He felt distinctly different from the guys she had known.

​

“What are you looking at like that?”

​

Yoochan, having finished his drink, reached out as if asking for an empty bottle.

​

As Ryeowon gazed at him, she simply handed over the empty bottle and shook her head.

​

“It’s nothing.”

​

She decided to get a little closer to Yoochan from now on.

​

*

​

After Ryeowon found some stability.

​

Sitting on the swing, they naturally started discussing their families.

​

“What…? Your father came to your workplace?”

​

Her newly discovered father was worse than she had imagined.

​

No, calling him trash would be an understatement.

​

“He came to my workplace demanding money after squandering my mother’s insurance due to domestic violence.”

​

Ryeowon calmly recounted disturbing events as if resigned to life.

​

She looked too pitiful.

​

“Oh… Having a father isn’t always a good thing… I grew up without a dad.”

“Is that so?”

“There was someone who acted as a father figure for me. He was my mom’s boyfriend, but he suddenly disappeared.”

“Suddenly?”

“He was an awakened individual. As far as I remember, his rank was quite high. Was it A-rank?”

“Oh….”

​

Surprisingly, they had many things in common.

​

Step-parent households. Unintentional transfers and bullying.

​

Moreover, they shared similar minor preferences such as favorite books and movies.

​

“Oh! I’ve seen that movie too. It was so good I watched it twice.”

“Really? You’re the first person I’ve met who’s seen it besides me.”

“I personally liked Bom-i the most.”

“Oh… You’re Team Bom-i? I preferred Gaeuli.”

“Gaeuli was cute too.”

Eventually, no matter what topic we threw out, the conversation flowed well. It felt like the story was being conveyed even better than when talking to Mayeonseo.

“It’s amazing.”

We chatted away without realizing the time passing, until it was nearly dusk when we suddenly realized and got up.

“Are you going to the bookstore?”

“It’s not closed yet, so let’s go.”

“Then… let’s just go as far as there.”

We decided to accompany each other only until the paths diverged…

“Hey, Yoochan.”

“Yeah?”

She, who had been walking alongside me, suddenly brought up the topic.

“Come to think of it, I don’t have your number.”

“My number?”

“Yeah. Could you give it to me…?”

“I guess that wouldn’t be a problem.”

I absentmindedly gave her my number and then tried to save her contact information on my phone.

“It’s the number of the first friend I’ve made since coming to high school.”

But then…

“…?”

Somehow, the usually weighty jacket pocket felt strangely light.

“Uh, uh, uh?”

“What’s wrong?”

Distracted and unable to respond, I hastily searched through every pocket and compartment in my clothes and bag.

But…

“Oh, damn.”

Nowhere could I see my phone.