Chapter 9: Ashes of a Name

Then last week, after her tutoring session, Kangeun was grazed by a motorcycle that suddenly appeared from behind and fell.

She didn’t want to tell Siheon, who was unusually worried about his noona, so she just said she had fallen while rushing, but in truth, she was a little scared.

“Okay, I get it. Then I’ll just take out the seaweed and go…”

– I’m not a kid. Don’t treat me like an idiot, just go.

“…What?”

– If a fifteen-year-old can’t even make his own meal, he’s an idiot. Noona didn’t raise me like that.

Contrary to his blunt tone, the affectionate content of his words made Kangeun’s lips curve into a smile.

‘Really, when did he grow up so much?’

“Yeah, I didn’t raise you like that.”
– So be careful on your way.
Don’t worry about dinner for me or Ahjussi.
“Okay.”

Kangeun, who had hung up the phone in a good mood, put the washed rice in a container and stored it in the refrigerator.
This way, Siheon could cook and eat when he came back.

She hurriedly changed her clothes, checked on her father who was sleeping peacefully in the big room, and left through the gate.
As she walked down the alley, Kangeun’s steps were incredibly fast, trying to avoid encountering people as much as possible.

She even thought about asking to move up her tutoring session by an hour.
Now that Siheon had grown up so much, she thought it would be okay to ask him to take care of their father’s dinner once a week.

“Hey!
Kangeun-ah!”

Startled by the voice calling her, Kangeun stopped.
She was just about to leave the alley.
The door of a red sports car parked in front of the alley opened, and the woman who got out of the sparkling car was wearing shoes that shone as brightly red as the car.

“Do… I know you?”
“Oh my, have I gotten old?”

‘What do I do, I must have gotten old.
Aish, I knew this would happen.
I should have gotten a few more millimeters put in while I was at it.’

The woman, who had muttered to herself in an annoyed tone, bent down to check her face in the side mirror.
Kangeun looked at the woman who had called her with a puzzled expression.

The woman, who looked to be in her early thirties, was wearing a form-fitting red dress.
She seemed to like the color red, as her lips were also bright red.
Everything around her was all red, and only the sunglasses she was wearing and her hair were jet black.

What was this unsettling sense of déjà vu?
Kangeun tried to ignore the familiar sense of foreboding that was rising like smoke.
It was an instinct not to want to lose anything precious to her anymore.

“I’m sorry, but I’m busy…”

Just a single word stopped Kangeun, who was about to turn away from the woman who was stroking the area around her laugh lines with a sad expression.

“Siheon, I hear he’s good at his studies?”

Would it feel like this to be suddenly doused with ice water?
Kangeun moved her stiffly frozen neck and met the eyes of the woman who had taken off her sunglasses and was looking at her.

“He’s even talking now, huh?
They say you, Kangeun, turned a kid who seemed like a complete idiot into a person?”
“…”
“Are you busy?
Still, couldn’t we talk for a moment?
I won’t take up much of your time.
Siheon isn’t back from school yet, is he?”

The woman, who tilted her head to look around and then smiled with her eyes, was Siheon’s biological mother, Yoon Miryeong, whom she was meeting for the first time in three years.

“Phew, that neighborhood is still the same.
No, it seems even more gloomy and run-down than before.”
“…”
“But you, Kangeun, have become so pretty.
You were pretty before, but you looked like a baby back then, now you’ll really make men’s heads turn.
You must have a lot of guys chasing after you, right?
Oh my, look at this girl’s firm skin.
Ah, no matter how much money you spend, you can’t beat youth.”

‘Can I touch it?’
Without even waiting for an answer, Miryeong reached out her arm.
The tips of her red-painted nails brushed against Kangeun’s smooth cheek as if to tickle it.

Kangeun stood there, stiffly enduring Miryeong’s touch on her cheek.
She had rushed to get into Miryeong’s car and come out to the main road, worried that Siheon might show up.

She deliberately chose a cafe near a bus stop where Siheon was unlikely to come.
Sitting across from Miryeong, Kangeun felt like she was sitting on pins and needles.
Even though she wasn’t the one who had committed a crime.
The fact that she had something to lose was the source of her anxiety.

‘I can’t live without Siheon now.’
‘I just want Siheon to stay by my side.’

Kangeun, who had swallowed dryly, finally opened her mouth.

“Imo, what brings you here…”

‘Please, no.’
‘Please let it not be the reason I’m thinking of.’

Kangeun prayed inwardly and clasped her hands together under the table.
She was terrified of the words that would come out of Miryeong’s mouth, who was smiling suggestively and staring at her.

“Just because.
I came to see how much our Kangeun has grown.
How have you been?
Is your dad still the same?”
“My dad is…”
“I’m sorry about what happened back then.
I did it to survive too.
It wasn’t because I had bad intentions.
You know, your aunt isn’t a bad person, right?”

As if she had no intention of hearing an answer in the first place, Miryeong cut Kangeun off and talked on and on about herself.
She complained about how she hadn’t lived comfortably either, lamented her fate, and then touched the corners of her eyes, worried about wrinkles.
She grumbled that she didn’t like the taste of the coffee, then boasted about her new nails.

Kangeun’s mind was in a mess.
Whatever the reason for her aunt’s reappearance, Kangeun couldn’t help but think of Siheon.
No matter how much Miryeong had abandoned her son and run away with money, she was his mother, so she could show up at any time and say she was here to take her son.

“Anyway, so what I’m saying is, Kangeun-ah.”

At the sound of her name, Kangeun quickly lifted her head.
Her tightly bitten lips were pale.
Miryeong, who had no intention of understanding Kangeun’s fear, smiled softly and opened the handbag she had carefully placed beside her.
The shiny enamel leather bag was adorned with a large, gold-plated logo of a luxury brand.

“Here.”
“…”
“You know I’m not the type of person to run off with money, right, Kangeun?
I was just borrowing it back then.
Here, I put in the two thousand eight hundred I borrowed plus some interest.
It’s three thousand.”
“…”
“Ah, as for your mother’s jewelry I borrowed, the price of gold wasn’t great back then.
It was almost worthless.
I sold it, but I didn’t get much for it.”

If you added the twenty-eight million won from the insurance money to the stolen gold jewelry, it would be well over thirty million won.
But Kangeun was so preoccupied with thinking about Siheon that she couldn’t do any calculations about the money.
She just stared at the thick envelope of money on the table with a dazed expression.

“What are you doing, hurry up and put it in your bag.
I just got it from the bank.”
“…”
“And this, this wasn’t planned, but seeing you, Kangeun, I’m so grateful.
I can’t just leave it at that.”

Miryeong took out her wallet from her bag and held out a few fifty-thousand-won bills.
Unable to just watch Kangeun, who was blinking her eyes, she even took Kangeun’s cold hand and pressed the bills into it.

“It’s an allowance from your aunt.”
“Ah…”

The day Miryeong had given Kangeun an allowance for the first time, the sky was cloudy just like today.
Remembering that day, Kangeun unconsciously crumpled the few bills in her hand.

“You’d be even prettier if you dolled yourself up.
Huh?
Buy some makeup, or some clothes.
Okay?”

Kangeun, who had squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them, saw the envelope of money lying on the table.
Because it was quite thick, it looked like a bag of roasted sweet potatoes in the middle of winter.
The situation felt so unrealistic to Kangeun that she thought of roasted sweet potatoes while looking at the money.

Thirty million won.
With this money, could her father get back on his feet?
If she took this money, she wouldn’t have to worry about college tuition for now.
She wouldn’t have to struggle to not lose her scholarship.
Moreover, it would be possible to pay for Siheon’s private art lessons for a while.

But what was this aunt, who had offered her this money, trying to take from her?
She had lost her mother when she was young, and it was as if she had lost her father too, who couldn’t fulfill the role of a guardian at all.
What else did she have to lose?

No matter how much she thought about it, Kangeun, who had come to the conclusion that all she had, all that was precious to her, was Siheon, bit her lip.
Even if the other person was his biological mother, she didn’t want to give up Siheon.

‘I like Noona.’
‘Noona, don’t be sick. Give all the pain to me.’
‘Everything Noona makes is delicious.’
‘It’s only you, Noona. The person I want to make smile.’

How could she let go of the child who said that and smiled only at her?
Kangeun read the dark thought that was beginning to grow inside her.

Rationally, she thought it was right for Miryeong, his biological mother, to take Siheon, and she also thought that if Miryeong, who seemed to be financially comfortable unlike before, took Siheon, she might be able to feed him, clothe him, and educate him better.

‘But you only scolded Siheon.’
‘You neglected him and turned a blind eye to him.’
‘You were annoyed by him.’
‘You could do that again if you take him now.’
‘Siheon would probably prefer to be with me too.’
‘He said he only has me.’

“And Kangeun-ah, about Siheon, thank you for everything.
Now…”
“Imo.”
“Yes?”
“I…”

Placing the bills she was holding on the table, Kangeun opened her mouth.

Outside the cafe window, the sky had already turned into a mass of gray clouds.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Deductive Reasoning

Capable BottomDevoted TopFantasy

Read Now →
Not interested