Chapter 26: The Weight of Ominous Words

Actually, Mom always eats dinner at the villa.

However, Yoon Heesung, who had no way of knowing I was lying, worried about me instead.

“Nothing’s really wrong, is it?”

“No. Nothing.”

‘Right, I was overthinking it. The homeroom teacher had unnecessarily said something strange. Yoon Heesung was such a kind kid.’

Still, I figured I would only act spaced out if I stayed with him today, so I decided to go home.

Watching his retreating figure, I reconsidered my thoughts once more. Even if he truly had done it, there must have been no other intention. He probably just wanted to get closer to me faster.

As I climbed the villa stairs, I was suddenly plagued by guilt. It was the thought that I had been distracted by baseless rumors and sent Yoon Heesung home alone. While there was no reason for me to look after Yoon Heesung every day, I found myself worrying about him at every opportunity.

It was then, as I entered the house, contemplating, ‘Should I go to the villa now?’

The interior was bright. The lights were on. Our house was always so shaded and dim that we had to keep the lights on even in broad daylight. Thinking I might have forgotten to turn them off that morning, I quickly slipped off my shoes and stepped inside.

But there was someone inside. My mother was waiting for me. She sat at the table I used for studying, which she had pulled out.

“Mom. You’re home early today?”

I had used Mom as an excuse to lie to Yoon Heesung, but I hadn’t expected to encounter her immediately. Normally, it wasn’t time for her to be home from work yet.

However, the moment I saw Mom’s face, I swallowed dryly.

“Mom, are you about to have dinner?”

The table was clean, with nothing set for a meal. I knew, I understood… yet I still asked.

“Did the madam tell you to leave early again today?”

There’s such a thing as intuition. There are moments when, even without seeing or being told, you instinctively sense something ominous lurking nearby.

“Yunwoo.”

Mom called my name. It wasn’t an intention to summon me. This was merely an introduction.

It was ominous.

“Mom has something to tell you…”

The moment I waited for Mom’s mouth to open again felt like an eternity.

As her shadowy mouth parted, every nerve in my body tensed, anticipating the words that were about to come.

The person who helped us find a house here was none other than the restaurant owner who had rejected Mom. He had offered Mom a job, only to change his mind a day later. He claimed he hadn’t known she was an outsider, stating that if he had, he wouldn’t have even considered hiring her from the start.

Yet, perhaps feeling a hint of remorse, he made a threatening call somewhere.

“Hey, don’t you have a vacant house? Show it to me. I know no one’s using it, and no one will.”

He had made this call after hearing we were still living in a shabby inn, unable to find a house. Due to his coarse accent, it sounded more like a threat than a request. We urgently needed a job more than a house. But saying so would have been futile.

Shortly after he hung up, a middle-aged man emerged, dragging his slippers with a shuffling sound. He constantly grumbled, his hair disheveled as if he had just woken up from a nap.

First, there was an apprehension about whether we could trust and follow such a person. Second, as we drew closer to the sea, a worry arose that the rent might be expensive. Though I was ignorant of many things, I knew that houses with ocean views were costly.

However, those fears were unfounded. The house the man showed us offered no view of the sea. Far from it, even sunlight barely penetrated.

Mold festered in the cracks of the ceiling and walls, suggesting poor ventilation, and a stale, damp odor permeated the air. It was the kind of smell that could only accumulate after years of moisture settling and fermenting.

“It even has two rooms. You know you won’t find a house like this at this price, right?”

The man stood in the doorway, leaning on one leg, and merely gestured for us to follow.

“It gets a bit cold in winter, but it’s cool in summer. This area isn’t usually very hot anyway.”

Though he offered perfunctory remarks, he seemed to lack any real desire to sell, merely tapping on his phone after saying, “Feel free to look around.” Perhaps he simply didn’t want to step onto the salt-encrusted floor that stuck to one’s feet. This house wasn’t cool; it was unpleasantly damp and stuffy.

As he said, there were two rooms, but both were embarrassingly small to even be called rooms. The one separated by a hinged door had no window and was incredibly tiny. A cursory glance suggested that if I were to lie down, the room wouldn’t just be full; it would feel like it was expanding.

The other room was a space separated by a sliding door. Since it had a veranda attached, it was better than the smaller room.

I hadn’t expected an elevator, but there was none, of course. Climbing five floors alone would be an ordeal. There was indeed a reason for the cheap price.

I later learned that this villa had more empty units than occupied ones. Rumor had it that most were neglected homes their owners wanted to sell but couldn’t. This was due to the failed development of the area as a tourist destination.

Even so, we were not in a position to be picky. The mold wouldn’t be visible if we didn’t look up. When falling asleep, one simply had to close their eyes quickly without surveying the room. Then, even a room as narrow as a coffin wouldn’t bother us.

On our way out after following the man to his office and signing the contract, Mom marveled at the shimmering blue water in the distance.

“Yunwoo. Look over there. The water is so clear.”

I could have humored her exaggerated tone, but I simply wasn’t in the mood, so I only looked down at my feet.

Then, as now, everything was excessively vivid. It was as if etched onto my retina, clear even when my eyes were closed.

The exaggeratedly sorrowful smile of the man who had stomped into the house Mom and I lived in—the house Lee Sunwoo had already left—filled me with rage every time it came to mind. Thus, I could not marvel as Mom did.

“It’s tough for you to live like this, too, mister.”

That mockery, spoken in polite terms,

“Ruined by business, tried to fix it, made things worse—it’s common, isn’t it?”

Isn’t that right? And the look in his eyes, seeking my agreement as he clapped my back.

“If you lack ability, you shouldn’t act so recklessly. Right?”

Every time he uttered a word, the scar above the left corner of his mouth twitched. It looked exactly like an insect stuck to his skin, writhing.

Later, even just seeing someone twitch their lips reminded me of the man who had threatened us.

The man was referring to Lee Sunwoo.

My older brother, Lee Sunwoo.

Lee Sunwoo was seven years my senior. Despite being old enough to know better, he acted like a wild child. No, “wild child” was too gentle a term for Lee Sunwoo. He was simply a scoundrel.

Lee Sunwoo had practically lived away from home since his school days. He was a shameless individual, worse than a stranger, only seeking out Mom when he needed something.

Whenever Lee Sunwoo visited, Mom would lament to me, ‘Don’t live like that,’ yet she couldn’t let him go.

Despite her complaints about him, she’d always add that he was her son, and if he just put his mind to it, he could do well—it was just that she hadn’t taken good enough care of him.

She would also offer vague excuses, like being too busy with life, never quite clear who she was trying to convince.

I felt sorry and pitiful for Mom. I hated Lee Sunwoo. Because of my brother, Mom always came home late, overworked herself into the hospital, and perpetually reeked of pain patches.

That was why I, as a clueless middle schooler, had foolishly confronted Lee Sunwoo. That day, too, Lee Sunwoo brazenly searched the house and took money. He thoroughly beat me when I, unable to tolerate it, rushed at him. My first act of rebellion ended powerlessly.

That day, as soon as Mom came home, I reported my brother’s misdeeds, but she only scolded me instead.

“Even cold water has an order. That’s why Sunwoo doesn’t treat you like a younger brother!”

Mom was always like that.

When I learned Lee Sunwoo had suddenly vanished, I actually felt a sense of relief. Though pushed by Mom, whose face had turned ghostly pale as she urged me, I picked up the phone and called, but that was all I did.

“It says the number doesn’t exist.”

Even then, I didn’t realize something was terribly wrong.

A few days later, one by one, menacing-looking people began to appear at our house.

It began with two men.

Returning home after self-study, I found two burly men squatting by our door. These men, who seemed to deliberately bulk up their bodies to project an intimidating presence, hardly gave the impression of holding ordinary jobs.

“Little one, where’s your mother?”

His pupils, peeking over my shoulder, were so sunken into his flesh that they looked like mere black lines. I saw the neighbor from next door, who had started to come out, abruptly retreat back inside as if startled.

Mom, having received the call, abandoned her restaurant work and rushed home. The two men stood inside with their shoes on and spat.

“Your son really loves gambling, it seems. Did you know that, ma’am?”

The man, having started that way, then presented a piece of paper.

It was a promissory note.

It wasn’t that we hadn’t resisted. Mom threatened that she could never repay it, and beside her, I raised my trembling hand with my phone, declaring I would call the police. In response, as if conceding defeat, they smashed what few appliances we had, then stomped out.

That was truly just an act. The next day, they brazenly swarmed the restaurant in numbers. Mom was immediately fired from her job.

The day after that, they came to our house again, just like before, and simply sat idly by. However, the sight of five or six men dressed in black squatting there was, in itself, enough to create an intimidating atmosphere.

And the day after that, they pounded on our door, screaming and cursing all day long. If they had even stepped inside, I would have immediately called the police, but as if knowing this, they never entered the house.

For the next four days, Mom and I were too terrified to leave the house. I was absurdly fired from my long-held part-time job at the study cafe. After all, I would have fired an employee myself who spouted clear excuses about being sick and didn’t show up for several days.

But even that didn’t last long.