Han Seungbeom and Han Jaewoon were one year apart in age.
Yet, the fact that both of them shared their father’s blood meant that Han Jaewoon’s father had an affair with Han Jaewoon’s mother shortly after Han Seungbeom was born.
‘…Was Han Seungbeom’s mother totally in the dark?’
Considering the family photo of young Han Seungbeom with his biological parents, taken in a warm and loving moment, it seemed that Han Jaewoon’s father kept the affair a secret and maintained his marriage until the end. It would be reasonable to assume that he remarried Han Jaewoon’s mother after his wife passed away from illness, without ever repenting for his sins.
[My father brought an unfamiliar woman and a boy a little younger than me.]
[I just felt like I was abandoned in the world, alone.]
Han Seungbeom must have witnessed the whole thing. And he likely had to live with the feeling of being the only stain in the seemingly perfect family that revolved around Han Jaewoon.
Where else in the world could you find such deceit?
Han Seungbeom wrote in his diary that he had decided not to resent his father, but I honestly believed he didn’t truly want to forgive him.
It was almost impossible for a minor, who was still unable to fully provide for themselves, to resent and be hostile toward their only remaining guardian. Han Seungbeom seemed to have simply grown utterly weary and collapsed under the weight of reality.
The more I thought about it, the less I could forgive them.
“…….”
As the name ‘Father‘ appeared on the screen, my manager, who had been watching from the side, cautiously glanced at me. It must have been because my expression wasn’t looking too good. I tried to maintain my composure as much as possible, signaling that I would step out for a moment to take the call, and then left the studio.
I walked to a place where no one was around, plugged in my earphones, and answered the call.
“Seungbeom-ah…….”
Then, a choked voice, as if on the verge of tears, came through the earphones.
‘When I went missing, you didn’t say a word … but now you’re reacting this strongly just because Han Jaewoon messed up. Unbelievable.’
What in the world is the difference between Han Jaewoon and Han Seungbeom?
I didn’t know much about Han Jaewoon’s mother, but wasn’t Han Seungbeom also related to his father by blood? He must have spent even more years with him than with Han Jaewoon. I had considered the possibility that his indecisive nature might have led him to try to appease his wife, but after hearing that pleading voice, it didn’t seem like that was the case.
There wasn’t always a reason for why someone loved or hated another person, so I decided to just give up on trying to understand him.
“Can we, talk for a moment?”
“…….”
“Even though you’re living independently now, you should still visit home from time to time ……. to see the family and such…….”
I tightly shut my eyes at the hesitant way those words were spoken. They were the most ordinary words a parent could say. But the timing of those ordinary words, being said for the first time when they needed something from me, felt like the height of absurdity.
Letting out a small sigh, I replied, “I’ll be there soon”, and then hung up the phone.
***
I was about to enter by typing in the house password, but for some reason … I just wasn’t in the mood for it, so I rang the doorbell instead. Shortly after, I heard someone hurriedly running out from inside the house, and then the door flew open.
“Seungbeom-ah!”
They were Han Jaewoon’s parents. When they saw me, they made a face as if they had encountered a savior, grabbed my wrist, and dragged me into the house.
“Have you eaten? Have you had a meal? If you’re hungry, should I make you some food? Do you want to eat Mom’s cooking? It’s been so long, hasn’t it?”
Their attitude was strikingly different from when I last saw them, so I figured they were hoping for something from me. I quietly stared at them, noticing how transparent their intentions were, and then asked in a cold voice.
“Where is Han Jaewoon?”
At that, the two of them exchanged glances, then cast a quick look toward Han Jaewoon’s room before answering.
“He’s in his room … resting.”
As soon as I heard their answer, I frowned and tilted my head slightly. Picking up on my unspoken thought—’How does he even have the nerve to think about resting after causing such a huge incident?‘—Han Jaewoon’s father hurriedly jumped in to shield his son.
“He just got back from the police investigation, so he must be really tired, Seungbeom-ah. He’s already having a hard enough time, so don’t be too harsh on him.”
“How is he having a hard time? He’s the perpetrator. He’s a grown adult, he should take responsibility for what he’s done.”
“…Watch your mouth! Jaewoon isn’t the perpetrator!”
Just as I thought I heard an unusually firm tone from him, I noticed his wife shooting him a sharp, icy glare from the side. Once again, I found myself thinking, ‘Those two really haven’t changed at all‘. With a curt tone, I asked a question that was pointless to even ask.
“What do you mean he’s not the perpetrator?”
“He just made a mistake because he was drunk. It wasn’t sexual harassment. He didn’t touch her butt or chest, he just brushed his hand against her legs and waist.”
“Any kind of physical contact without consent is considered sexual harassment.”
“I told you, it was just a light brush? That sort of thing happens all the time, even when you’re walking down the street.”
“What on earth are you basing that belief on?”
“Obviously, it’s Jaewoon I believe! That woman, she’s staging this whole thing just to get money from the settlement.”
“…You’re saying that an actress who has gone through all kinds of hardship and is only now starting to make a name for herself is willing to sacrifice her entire image just to get a settlement?”
“If it’s not the settlement money, then it must be because everyone’s attention is on Jaewoon right now. She’s trying to ruin his life out of jealousy. Or maybe she just wants to get famous from this.”
I was the fool for asking.
As soon as I heard that nonsensical answer, I gave up on trying to talk to the two of them and forcefully opened the door to Han Jaewoon’s room. Inside, I found Han Jaewoon with his eyes all red and bloodshot, searching the internet for keywords like ‘sexual harassment punishment‘, ‘sexual harassment charges suspended‘, ‘sexual harassment police investigation’, ‘Han Jaewoon’, and ‘Han Seungbeom’s younger brother‘.
Ignoring the surprised reaction from him upon seeing my sudden appearance, I walked straight up to him and asked, “Have you apologized to the victim?”
“…….”
At that, his face, which had relaxed in surprise, quickly hardened again, and he averted his gaze. It was obvious he hadn’t. As soon as I confirmed that, I grabbed his wrist and dragged him out to the living room.
“Let go, let go!”
When Han Jaewoon, who had only just regained his senses from my sudden action, resisted fiercely, the hand I was holding him with slipped away easily. Han Seungbeom’s weak body was pushed back by the force, causing me to stumble back a step, then another. Seeing this, Han Jaewoon smirked, as if to say, “See that?“, for a brief moment.
“Anyway, it was that woman who liked me and tried to seduce me, so why should I apologize? If my lawyer tells me to, I’ll apologize. If I need to pretend to be sorry to get a good outcome in court, even though I don’t want to, I’ll grit my teeth and do it. So, you should just stay out of it, hyung.”
His behavior seemed very impulsive, probably because he was being backed into a corner and was feeling disoriented. With insults coming from all directions, it was understandable that he felt like everyone was his enemy. However, that was something he obviously had to endure.
I stared at his face for a moment, then spoke in a frosty voice, “You’re smiling?”
At that, the faint smile on his face instantly vanished, and his expression stiffened.
Then, Han Jaewoon’s parents, who had been pacing around nervously, also looked at me and, unable to hide their surprise, covered their mouths.
The Han Seungbeom they knew was timid, weak, and so kind it made him look foolish. That’s probably why they thought they could still control him however they pleased and called me here. But things wouldn’t go the way they hoped.
As they could now see for themselves, I was a completely different person from Han Seungbeom, even right down to the way I moved my facial muscles.
“Go to the victim, get on your knees, and apologize. Whether she decides to forgive you or not, beg until your hands and feet go numb. And if she says she doesn’t even want to see your face, don’t talk back. Just leave. That’s the only thing you can do right now. The lies you told your parents just to avoid getting scolded won’t work in court anyway. There’s a witness.”
I came here for the victim.
To be honest, I didn’t care what happened to Han Jaewoon’s family. Just like I had in the past, Perhaps Kang Hyukwoo expected ‘Han Seungbeom‘ to let family ties cloud his judgment and suffer damage to his reputation, just as I once had. But I wouldn’t have batted an eye if Han Jaewoon’s family ended up on the streets, or stoned to death by the public.
However, the victim was a different matter. If harm had been done, then an apology was something she was owed. Everyone knew just how deeply hopeless a victim could feel when faced with a shameless perpetrator who never offered even a single word of apology. Whether to forgive or not was entirely the victim’s choice, but offering an apology was the bare minimum of decency.
“At the very least, if you’re human, you should apologize. I came all the way here just to say that.”
After saying that, I tried to turn and leave without hesitation, but Han Jaewoon’s parents, in shock, clung to me and refused to let go.
“Wait, please, please help us. Seungbeom-ah!”
“I have nothing more to say. There’s nothing I can do for you.”
“Why can’t you do anything! You can just tell people. Tell them that our Jaewoon isn’t like that, that everyone’s being fooled by that woman! Our Jaewoon is still so young. If we leave him like this, what will happen to our Jaewoon’s life, his dreams!”
“Are you telling me … to inflict secondary harm now? You want me to believe such obvious lies? Don’t talk such rubbish.”
“We’re family, aren’t we? If family doesn’t believe in each other, then who will? Do you have any idea how much effort and sincerity I put into raising you, even though we don’t share a drop of blood? In another family, they would have just abandoned you at an orphanage. But I tried to take responsibility for you until the end. Even while hearing hundreds, thousands of times that I was raising someone else’s child, I did my best! And now, you can’t even do this one thing for me?”
The moment I heard those words, I heard ringing in my ears.
There was no situation more stressful than witnessing the pain my child endured with my own eyes. My strong heart felt as though it was being uprooted and torn apart in the face of the pain and wounds that my loved one had to bear.
“Be grateful that I didn’t just abandon you and your brother at the orphanage.”
“I’m already struggling to get by on my own, and now I’m in this mess because of you two. Just seeing your faces makes me sick, seriously.”
And at that same moment, the old scar I had kept buried deep inside my heart surfaced. It felt as though blood was seeping from a wound I thought had long since healed, one I believed had stopped hurting.
‘My heart…….’
My heart started to pound abnormally, like the prelude of a seizure.
My upper body staggered under the weight of the unbearable pain, and I clutched my chest subtly, trying not to let it show.
Does this pain truly belong to Han Seungbeom, or is it mine?
‘…Damn it.’
I knew better than anyone how painful it was to hear those kinds of words from a parent. That’s why I truly wished for the child I loved to never experience the same pain I had gone through.
“…….”
Ah, no. This is not acceptable.
If it had only happened to me, I would have been able to put up with it until the end.
The anger I had kept bottled up for so long seemed to erupt from me, scorching and uncontrollable.
“If anything happens to Jaewoon, Mom will really die!”
I felt it was rather fortunate that it wasn’t Han Seungbeom standing in this spot. That foolishly kind-hearted child would have been terrified by those words and easily manipulated into doing whatever was asked.
As I quietly watched her yelling and tugging at the hem of my shirt, a feeling of disgust welled up inside me. That pathetic excuse of a man hiding behind his wife, unable to utter a single word, wasn’t even worth talking about.
After pressing the button on the device in my pocket, I gently wrapped my hand around her wrist and pulled it away.
Then I leaned down to meet her eyes, and whispered,
“Then die.”
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Translator’s Corner:
Oh Seo Yutae … the man that you are….. why all stepmothers (at least the ones I knew, sorry for all the kind stepmothers out there) literally say the same thing, this isn’t even funny anymore
Actually, today is my birthday. Last year my birthday was with SSS Cafe, back when I was still working on my thesis. And this year, here we are … I wondered if I should’ve timed it with a happy chapter, but at this point, we don’t really have completely happy chapters near ….
Anyway, my birthday wish is employment with decent job … everyone please say amen.
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