Chapter 68: There’s No One Home (5)

“Hey, you, I don’t have a person in my house, I don’t have a house, you!”
“Abubuㅡ”

There’s no one at home even if you go home?
So you didn’t want to go home?
I’m living in someone else’s house on a lease, but you have your own house and you don’t want to go home?

“Stop, stop itㅡ”
“No. You crossed the line.”

I know it’s not mature.

But because I’m an adult,
And because I’m now acutely aware of how difficult it is to own a house in this country, I couldn’t hold back.

“Augh…”
“You might get scolded if you say that to someone who doesn’t have a house.”
“…Okay.”

I stroked Yeoni’s hair as she rubbed her cheek, which I had pinched, and gave her a stern lecture.

“And of course there’s no one at home when you go home while living on your own.”

And when I added something so obvious, Yeoni glared at me with a sulky expression, as if that wasn’t what she meant.

Well, there must have been her own thoughts and considerations in making such meaningful words.

As expected, Yeoni, after hearing my ridiculous answer, opened her mouth as if she wanted to correct me.

“…That’s not what I meant.”

I know that.

And I can guess what Yeoni wants to say.

However, I shouldn’t hear that story from Yeoni’s mouth.

From the expression on Yeoni’s face looking at me, I could clearly feel that she was expecting something from me.

“I…”
“Were you lonely because there was no family to welcome you home?”

So I cut off Yeoni’s words and asked.

Then Yeoni shook her head and denied that wasn’t it.

“No, it’s not that, but.…”

“Then.”

I just started a topic and got up to move to another spot.

In front of the display case where Yeoni’s grandfather’s plaques were displayed.

I faced away from Yeoni and looked at the display case, picking up the topic I had started and continuing to speak.

“Does it hurt your heart because you keep remembering memories with your grandfather?”

“…It’s not that.”

Leaving Yeoni, who was denying my question once again, behind, I looked at the three letters of Hwangbo Won’s name written on the plaque.

He was the writer of “The Tyrant God’s Records” and the name of one of Korea’s great cartoonists, but the first time I heard those three letters was not as a cartoonist.

High school art class.

An arts and sports class where no one was paying attention, and where there were even people studying on their own.

The art teacher wrote the name of one person on the blackboard in the textbook and said.

There was a younger brother to Hwangbo Seon, a great Korean artist who first blossomed modern art.

Hwangbo Won.

The younger brother of Hwangbo Seon, who drew a line in Korean fine art, and a cartoonist.

At the time, the teacher mentioned in passing the contents of an interview that Hwangbo Won had done, saying that he couldn’t shake off his inferiority complex about his brother, Hwangbo Seon.

And Yeoni, who lived under such a grandfather.

She was entrusted even though there was nothing bad that had happened to her parents, and Hwangbo Won, who gave his inheritance to such Yeoni even though she wasn’t a direct descendant.

No.

That can’t be it.

Several pieces of information were being pieced together in my head.

“Then.”

The personal history of Hwangbo Won that I had vaguely heard.

The relationship between such Hwangbo Won and Yeoni.

And the things I had investigated about what kind of person Yeoni was before working with her.

After organizing and matching the information, I came to one conclusion.

“You mean you don’t have anyone on your side?”

“Among my family?”

Turning away from the display case, Yeoni had already come very close.

Yeoni was making a ferocious expression that I had never seen before.

“Calm down.”

“Why are you talking like that?”

Yeoni’s small hand grabbed my collar.

It was the biggest expression of emotion in the few months I had spent with Yeoni.

I could feel a lot from Yeoni’s face as she glared at me.

Anger at crossing the line.

A sense of betrayal, as if she didn’t expect you to be like this.

And

Even the look of someone who had been hit hard and wanted to bury the truth by getting angry, which was unique to people who had been hit hard.

And with this, I could be sure.

Yeoni had some kind of problem with her family relationship.

She had fled to me instead of her now deceased grandfather, whom she could rely on….

That shouldn’t be allowed.

Discord with family shouldn’t be resolved by fleeing to others.

Because others can only be others in the end.

That’s why Yeoni’s other said.

“Have you talked about it?”

At my question, Yeoni momentarily avoided my eyes and lowered her head slightly.

She raised her eyes and showed her poison.

A declaration of will not to ask any further.

Probably

If I give in here.
In a little while, Yeoni would treat me as if nothing had happened.

“Have you ever tried to talk to your family first?”

But I won’t do that.

Just like you, Yeoni, put your thoughts and considerations into the words that there was no one at home,
I also have my own thoughts and considerations.

“Yeoni.”

“….”

Others can’t replace family.”

Yeoni’s hand, which was grabbing my collar, trembled.

“…Why are you doing this.”

“Why.”

“Why are you trying to push me away so much…?”

When Yeoni bent the arm that was grabbing my collar, her small face was hidden in my arms.

And as her face disappeared, the emotions that had been hidden behind her few facial expressions were gradually leaking out.

As if the smallness of expression wasn’t the smallness of possession.

Perhaps it was just that she didn’t know how to express it, but it was as if the child’s emotions were welling up.

“Grandfather… my great-grandfather was always in pain.”

“….”

“My older uncle, his brother, always praised our family as great.”

“My great-grandfather… no one talks about my great-grandfather’s greatness and awesomeness.…”

Finally revealing her pain.

Why don’t the other family members respect her grandfather, whom she respects so much?

Why do they only talk about her great-uncle’s name?

I just decided to listen to Yeoni’s story silently.

For the late bloomer who was now learning to cry, something she should have learned when she first came into the world.

“…My parents are both painters.”

“They hold exhibitions overseas too… they’re amazing people….”

I could feel the burden that Yeoni was carrying in the five letters that said “amazing people,” and

“And my sister… followed my parents overseas and worked there….”

I could feel a deep resentment in the two letters that said “sister.”

“They’re amazing… they’re amazing people, but…”

Hwangbo Seon, who did fine art, and Hwangbo Won, who did art for the masses.

From a third-person perspective, I think that the family had no choice but to talk a lot about Hwangbo Seon since they were majoring in fine art….

But it may have felt completely different to Yeoni, who was the person involved.

Perhaps there is a more deep-rooted contempt for popular art than I think.

That was an area I couldn’t know, so

“My grandfather is amazing too…”

I just listened to the words and

“Yeah, yeah.”

Just comforted the crying child.

“…Boss.”

“Yes?”

Yeoni, who had been sobbing in my arms for a long time, asked me as if she had calmed down a bit.

“You told me to talk to my family, right…?”

“Right.”

Yeoni raised her head and looked at me.

As if begging for an answer.

“What if my family disagrees with me?”

“What if my family… denies what I’m trying to do?”

“Even if I fight with my family just by talking to them.”

“Even then… should I try to talk to my family?”

Yeoni asked me, revealing what she had been through so far.

Even so, should I try harder?

“Yes.”

And I said yes.

Then Yeoni asked me again.

“Even if they disagree with me,”
“Even if they get angry at me for disagreeing with them, give me the eye, and deny the path I’m trying to take,”
“Do I still have to be patient…?”
“Just because they’re family?”

“….”

Yeoni’s words reminded me of my past self superimposed on Yeoni.

The words I had said to my family kept circling in my head and tormenting me, but….

It was hard, but
I tried my best to open my mouth.

“Yeoni.”

At my call, Yeoni answered a beat late.

“…Yes.”

I stroked Yeoni’s head and looked up at the ceiling.

“Even couples who love each other and choose to marry each other fight because they don’t agree.”

“….”

“How much more… can there not be fights between parents and children, brothers and sisters who can’t choose each other?”

After hearing my words, Yeoni retorted like that.

“If we agree… there’s no need for the other person to be family.…”

At those words, I let out a small sigh.

How can you say such similar things?

I closed my eyes for a moment to gather my heart, and then spoke to Yeoni again.

“Family isn’t… always family because they agree.”

Perhaps family is also the hardest to agree with than strangers.

I can choose strangers who agree with me, but I can’t choose family who agree with me.

But

“Even if we disagree, even if they completely deny you.”

“Even then, because they can be on your side.”

“That’s why they’re family.”

I buried Yeoni’s head in my arms and leaned my head on Yeoni’s head.

“I hope Yeoni doesn’t make the same mistake as me.”

“….”

Conveying my regrets.