Chapter 75

EP 13 - International Hunter's Perspective (2)

Our maternal home was very poor. To be precise, our maternal grandfather abandoned our grandmother and fled abroad, taking all the assets with him.

That's why, I guess, my late mother and aunt were very interested in money, and each of them fulfilled their own wishes in their own way.

Mother married my father, who was a businessman, and my aunt passed the bar exam after a life-or-death struggle in a dormitory and became a lawyer. She clenched her teeth and earned money by cleaning up for companies at a law firm.

The important thing is that Mother married Father because of his wealth.

To be honest, my parents, who are now deceased, were not exactly paragons of virtue. Everyone has flaws, but the relationship between the two of them was not good, and our family was not harmonious. It was just...?

I, too, might have inherited their traits, as I was not the type to approach others first and act cute. There was a time when I avoided going home and went to internet cafes. If a primary school student felt that way, you can imagine what the family atmosphere was like. I didn't want to see them fighting all the time, so I went outside.

In other words, to be honest, I wasn't on good terms with my parents either.

But, it hurt so much because they were gone.

It was at the funeral, when I was 15, that I first realized how much I loved these people. Even though they used to throw remote controls at each other and talk about divorce in front of their children, even now, more than 10 years after their passing, I still feel my eyes well up when I think about my parents.

That's what family was.

I only realized I had a hole in my heart after being shot.

That's why.

As soon as I received the call, I sprinted to the hospital with all my might. To be precise, I did the chicken dance. I didn't care about the looks from people around me.

“Aunt! Uncle!”

After running so frantically that my prosthetic leg loosened, I burst into the hospital room, drenched in sweat.

The first thing I saw was,

Next to the still lying Uncle,

Yeo Do-yeon and Aunt, who had fought all their lives, hugging each other tightly and sobbing.

* * *

After a dramatic family drama, we each had red faces and an awkward silence fell. I scratched the back of my head and peeled an apple to offer to my aunt.

“...Do you want to eat some?”

“...Yeah, I need to eat something.”

Aunt's cheeks were sunken, as she hadn't eaten anything during the time she was a zombie. If she hadn't been given an IV after being transported to the hospital, it would have been very dangerous.

Yeo Do-yeon said bluntly.

“At least you didn't eat human flesh.”

“Compared to what you say...”

It was a sharp conversation as usual, but unlike usual, both of them were smiling.

“...Where's my phone?”

“Here.”

Aunt, with a haggard look, took the phone and immediately sent a text message. Her emaciated fingers trembled as they tapped the screen.

She put down the phone and sighed.

“I told them I'm quitting the company.”

“What!?”

Yeo Do-yeon jumped up.

“I thought I was being punished for living like this... But why are you nitpicking? If it's like this, then it's like this.”

“No, why!?”

Aunt was a lawyer at the second-largest law firm in the country. Her specialty was lobbying, and her hobby was destroying labor unions, and her nickname was a mosquito that sucks fees.

In other words, she was a professional at cleaning up for black companies. It's no exaggeration to say that she was the one who dug up three labor union members who were driven to suicide by her in a JTVC investigation.

I don't know if the media really investigated Aunt's background to discredit me or if Chon Kunsun faked it during our first meeting, but at least it was true that Aunt was obsessed with making money, even to the point of taking lives.

This was also the reason why Yeo Do-yeon and Aunt fought all their lives.

Aunt wanted Yeo Do-yeon to become an elite upper-class person through hard study, and Yeo Do-yeon grew up watching what Aunt, as an elite, did.

Calling security to forcibly remove people who came to the house, kicking people who clung to her pants at the court, and doing things that would make people grab her pants without hesitation, and so on.

To put it nicely, she was a money demon, and to put it bluntly, a shrew. Honestly, Aunt was the type who would be picky with employees in department stores and restaurants. Thinking about it, among our family, only Uncle was a decent person.

So Yeo Do-yeon knows.

“Why are you suddenly quitting your job!”

“Look at you. You used to be so eager for me to quit, but now you're upset that I did?”

“No, no...! That...!”

“Yeah, what?”

Yeo Do-yeon knows how important 'job' is to Aunt. She knows that money is not just capital but a source of life that alleviates childhood trauma.

She knows that Aunt goes out to drink strong liquor with Father on nights when she does bad things as a lawyer, and she knows why Aunt is so interested in money, what hardships she went through to become a lawyer, and how she lived a life of overwork without weekends.

Because they are mother and daughter.

No matter how bad their relationship was, they knew each other better than anyone else.

“...Ah, I don't know!”

Even if she's embarrassed and can't say it.

But Aunt mercilessly threw a sharp remark. As always, she sharply criticized people.

“If you're going to talk, do it clearly and live that way. How long are you going to act like a child even though you're a grown adult?”

“Mr. Nam.”

“Am I your Mr. Nam? Look. Think before you speak. Words can't be taken back. I've been teaching you to speak clearly for decades, but-”

Aunt, who was upset that her daughter called her 'Mr. Nam,' continued her fierce attack more than usual.

Since it seemed impossible for a former martial artist to win a verbal battle against a veteran lawyer, I decided to help this politician.

“But Aunt.”

“What?”

“Did you thank Do-yeon...?”

“...”

[Do you really have to say it? As a grown 'adult.']

I could have ended with that, but I didn't say it out of childishness because it would really upset her. After all, she understands everything.

Yeo Do-yeon, who couldn't grasp the flow of the conversation, was chewing on the apple with a sulky expression. Aunt blinked a few times, sighed, and lay down.

“What a pair of siblings...”

“You did a good job raising us.”

“Yeah...”

She sighed, but it meant she did a good job raising us.

Aunt smiled and said softly.

“When I woke up and saw the news, I saw your faces. Are you going to tell me about catching the monster?”

“Damn, then I can't just sit still.”

Yeo Do-yeon stepped forward as if she had been waiting for it. She told the story, exaggerating it like a fisherman who increases the size of the fish he caught. Aunt listened attentively, both worried and proud.

Just watching them talk made the knot in my heart slowly melt.

“T, the high school student slashed with a knife, and I...”

“Seol Jin-won? I should invite that student to my house and feed him something. Debts must be repaid.”

“Right! I'll bring him over!”

Yeo Do-yeon was so excited that she laughed for the first time in a while, and her short-tongued dialect accent came out. Aunt seemed a bit awkward but was clearly happy to be alive and talking to her daughter.

As Yeo Do-yeon's voice mixed with a nasal tone, I was thinking about hitting the back of her head when,

“Ugh!”

Uncle, who was lying next to us, woke up with a scream. I held his hand and asked.

“Mr. Yeo Do-sik, are you conscious?”

“...Ugh! Damn it!”

“Mr. Yeo, calm down.”

“Seung-moon!?”

Uncle looked around with half-open eyes.

“S, So-jung and Do-yeon!”

“Honey, be calm, it's embarrassing.”

“Dad, just sleep a bit more.”

Although they were a pair of people with bad tempers, Yeo Do-sik, as befitting his character, sighed in relief, looking glad to be alive.

“Uncle, are you okay?”

“...Y, yeah.”

It took a while for Uncle to focus his eyes. Then he stared at my face and froze.

And he made a face as if he was about to cry.

“? Why?”

“I, I had a rough idea.”

Uncle bowed his head.

“How many years have passed?”

“Huh?”

“Damn... Look how old I am? Yeah. No need to hide it. I'm prepared to-”

So. What is it.

Like a cryopreserved person checking the date,

The flow of time estimated from my face was at least in years.

“...”

It took about 19 minutes to calm down while I was thrashing around, grabbing the hospital gown.

*

“Hey, am I that old?”

“I am Groot.”

“No, don't dodge it, man.”

“We are Groot.”

When I asked from the back seat, the two in the front seats avoided answering.

I smiled and said to Yang Il-ho and Lee Ho-jeong.

“Hey, you know I don't hold grudges. Just answer honestly.”

“Yeah, you look old.”

“...Hey, that's a bit harsh-”

Rustle, Lee Ho-jeong quickly handed me a gift.

“Congratulations on your family's recovery.”

“...Thanks.”

Yang Il-ho, who was driving, added a little. Knowing my obsession with driving, he didn't turn his head and held the steering wheel with both hands, speaking only with his mouth.

“The meat was too expensive, so I bought chocolate, which was a bit cheaper, and put both in.”

“Sure, educated people are different.”

“We went to the same university.”

“So, educated people are different.”

Lee Ho-jeong subtly smiled and fluttered her long eyelashes. She couldn't take care of herself without cosmetics, but now she's back to her old heavily made-up self.

“Mr. Han, you look better now. You don't have to be so cautious.”

“Have you ever been cautious of me?”

“You'd be surprised at how sensitive we are to your moods. We have strategy meetings every morning.”

Whether it's true or not, it's an awkward thing to say, so I made a sullen face.

“Are you looking for a constituency?”

“What constituency?”

“The constituency where you will run for office.”

Yang Il-ho turned to look at me lightning-fast, but when I wiggled my finger, he quickly looked forward again.

Lee Ho-jeong covered her mouth in amazement.

“Mr. Han...!”

“Why are you pretending to be moved? You already knew it would happen.”

We all wanted to be members of parliament, so we took the path of being secretaries. There are already so few people I can trust, so who else would I do politics with if I don't send them to the next election?

Thinking about the hard work they did for me without weekends, it was a fitting reward for their efforts.

They always carried a gun in their inner pocket, and when I was being torn apart by special prosecutors and the prosecution, they were also handcuffed and dragged away.

Lee Ho-jeong smiled lightly.

“Even if we expected it, we are still grateful.”

“Yeah. Serve me faithfully for the rest of your lives.”

“Will we become the first faction of Han Seung-moon?”

“Sure.”

“Wow! We're the direct descendants of the Han Seung-moon faction!”

South Korea is a country of factional politics. It's a country where boss politics is a bit strong due to long-term pseudo-democracy.

Well-known factions include the 'pro-Park' of the Park family, the 'Sangdo-dong faction' of YS, the 'Donggyo-dong faction' of DJ, and the 'pro-Roh-pro-Moon' of the participation government. In that sense, the first appearance of the Han Seung-moon faction is truly a historic event.

“By the way, it hasn't even been a year since you put on your badge, right?”

“I put it on last summer, and now it's spring... Yeah.”

“Time really...”

I suddenly felt a lump in my throat but held it back, thinking I would look like I was going through menopause if I cried here.

Yang Il-ho said bluntly.

“...You really went through a lot.”

I closed my eyes for a moment. No particular thoughts came to mind, just a few names.

Jae Kyun Cha.

Chun Sik Kim.

“Sigh...”

I barely managed to calm myself and let out a sigh, and a sniffle came from the passenger seat.

“...Ah, I'm, sorry.”

“...”

“Hold on. Ah, why am I like this...”

Lee Ho-jeong was shedding tears.

“...”

Based on a few years of observation, I guessed she grew up in a household with domestic violence. That's why she left her family without hesitation on the first day the gate opened.

Of course, it's just a guess based on certain circumstances. She has an uncanny ability to read people, flinches when someone raises their hand, covers a small scar on her chin with heavy makeup, and the scar looks like a scratch. Her mumbling when drunk is not normal.

I don't really know for sure.

But I do know.

There are no heartless people in the world.

I don't know why she's crying, but it's natural to respect her.

“Yi-ho, what are you doing? Drive the car.”

“Going to the rest stop.”

The urgent news from China, relayed by Won Ok-bun, came just as the three of us were sitting on a bench at the rest stop, and the cup noodles we had placed there were starting to cook.