A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 163

163. Trial Date

Before visiting Jiheon’s family home, Jeong-o reflected on what would happen today.

Yeongmi had apologized abruptly in the hospital room before, and Jiheon had stepped in for Jeong-o at that time. Jiheon told Yeongmi to apologize again after she recovered. So, this time, she would receive a proper apology from Yeongmi.

In fact, Jeong-o no longer resented Yeongmi. From the moment she met Yeongmi again in the hospital room, her heart slowly melted. Because she couldn’t accept the apology right away back then, she now felt even more sorry.

So, she thought she shouldn’t create a situation where Yeongmi would feel embarrassed this time, but Yeongmi’s apology came too quickly. Jeong-o was surprised that Yeongmi seemed to resent herself much more than Jeong-o resented her.

Jeong-o poked Jiheon’s leg. Jiheon, startled, looked at her, and she gestured towards Yena with her chin.

Quick-witted Jiheon immediately understood Jeong-o’s intention. Whatever the circumstances, there was no need for his granddaughter to see her grandmother kneeling.

Jiheon quickly ran over, snatched Yena from Jae-gwang’s arms, and headed to Jae-gwang’s studio.

Soon, only Jeong-o, Yeongmi, Guksun, and Jae-gwang remained in the room.

Jeong-o’s knees also lowered and then dropped to the floor.

“Mother, I’m okay. Please get up.”

This time, Jeong-o gestured with her eyes to Jae-gwang, who was standing blankly after having his granddaughter taken away.

Jae-gwang also immediately understood his daughter-in-law’s intention and approached. Jeong-o grabbed Yeongmi’s arm to help her up, and Jae-gwang assisted. Yeongmi was now out of the hospital but still needed to avoid overexerting herself.

Yeongmi couldn’t shake off Jeong-o and Jae-gwang’s hands and cautiously got up. Even after standing, she had an embarrassed expression. Jeong-o had to soothe her.

“Mother, I’m really okay now. I hope you can be okay too. I hope you can put down any burdens and be happy.”

Everyone has their own time difference. It’s always been that way.

A baby born after eight months, a baby who stays in the womb for ten months, a baby who takes their first steps in ten months, a baby who can barely crawl even after their first birthday.

And a child who becomes an adult before even becoming a high school student, a person who can’t become an adult enough to have a job and children…

There’s usually a norm, but there’s no right answer. A baby born after eight months might be the healthiest, a baby who crawled even after their first birthday might become an athlete, and a person who becomes an adult late in life might become someone everyone respects.

Yeongmi will be the same. If she has now come to know the value of love, then now is the beginning. There’s no need to resent her for realizing it late. The path ahead was more important than lamenting the path she had walked. Jeong-o’s family was just beginning.

“Thank you for saving Yena at the hospital, even when you weren’t feeling well.”

“No, that’s not it…”

Tears welled up in Yeongmi’s eyes.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have accepted Yena’s donation…”

“Grandpa!”

While Yeongmi’s voice was faltering, Yena’s voice was heard again from the hallway. Yena, who had left with Jiheon, had returned because her grandfather hadn’t followed.

“Grandpa, why aren’t you coming?”

As Yena approached, a smile appeared on Jeong-o’s face. She was an ordinary mother who could be humble to everyone in the world but endlessly proud when it came to her child. Today seemed like it would be a proud memory for Yena too.

“Mother, how about you tell Yena about the cord blood donation directly? Yena would be very proud.”

Jeong-o changed her tone and suggested to Yeongmi. Only then did Yeongmi wipe away her tears and approach Yena.

“Baby.”

“…”

“Thank you. Thank you, our… granddaughter.”

“Why?”

Yena asked with wide eyes. Jeong-o explained the reason.

“Our Yena shared her blood with her grandmother. That’s why she’s saying thank you.”

“Ah!”

Only then did Yena grasp the meaning and excitedly explained.

“Grandma, Yena’s blood has a map, so even if you get lost, you can come back to Grandma.”

A map in the blood.

People who will eventually meet.

In the end, Yeongmi hugged Yena and burst into tears again.

Guksun, Jae-gwang, and Yeongmi exchanged belated greetings. It was a meeting that was seven years late, so Jae-gwang and Yeongmi felt very sorry. The two repeatedly thanked Guksun for applying for cord blood storage and bowed deeply again. Jae-gwang politely greeted.

“Thank you for coming. We should have arranged this meeting earlier, but we are only hosting you now, and we are sorry. As you know, we are very lacking people. We will learn a lot from you.”

“No, thank you for taking the time and inviting us. Please take good care of our child.”

“We should be the ones asking you to take good care of Jiheon. We will be causing you a lot of trouble while living together…”

“Jeong Seo-bang [term for son-in-law] is so kind in both words and actions that there is nothing to criticize. He is a very proud son-in-law.”

Throughout the exchange of kind words, Jae-gwang occasionally checked Jiheon’s expression. He became conscious of the words Jiheon had left in the text message. That’s why it was even more difficult to bring it up.

“Now… although it’s late, how about we hold a wedding ceremony for the kids…?”

“It would be good to have the wedding ceremony soon, but Jeong-o is pregnant with their second child, so I don’t know what to do. Since it’s already late, how about we do it after the second child is born?”

Guksun spoke on behalf of Jeong-o. She remembered Jeong-o complaining that she would end up wearing a wedding dress with a baby bump.

Yeongmi, who had been listening quietly to the conversation, became solemn again. All the procedures had been delayed because of her.

“All the procedures have been delayed because of me…”

“No, it’s not because of you, it’s because of the kids. The second one came right away.”

Guksun shook her head and pointed to Jiheon and Jeong-o with a wink.

Jiheon and Jeong-o subtly avoided eye contact, and Guksun chuckled. Jeong-o was amazed at her mother, who was fearlessly dealing with Jae-gwang and Yeongmi. In reality, her mother was only thinking about her daughter.

They ate together, finished the stories that could be decided with the adults, toured the mansion, made candy for Yena, and as they spent time, the day gradually came to an end.

Yeongmi, who couldn’t say anything at first like a sinner, gradually managed to smile awkwardly. Guksun often spoke to her, and by the time they parted, she had even found her voice.

“Yena, come play again. Come play often. Grandma will play with you a lot.”

Yeongmi said, gently stroking Yena’s hair.

“Then, can Grandma make candy too?”

Yena asked, holding bags of candy in both hands. Her sharp question, as if there were no visits without a purpose, gave Yeongmi her next task.

“Yes. Grandma will practice and make pretty candy for you.”

“Then, yes!”

Yena answered cheerfully with a conditional response. While people were laughing, Jiheon approached Yeongmi.

“Mother.”

Jeong-o watched Jiheon whispering to Yeongmi intently. Yeongmi’s expression became serious, as if it were something serious.

After parting with Jae-gwang and Yeongmi and returning home, Jeong-o asked Jiheon.

“What did you talk about with your mother before we left?”

“It’s nothing.”

“You looked serious.”

“It was about Bae-il.”

“Ah.”

Bae-il, who had revealed all the truth about the incident related to Chae Eun-yeop and confessed all his faults, was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of probation in the first trial.

Jiheon, who was the victim of the hit-and-run accident seven years ago, wanted leniency, but it was not easy to reach an agreement with the bereaved family of Kim Jin-gu, who had served prison time in place of Bae-il. However, his past achievements as a police officer were highly regarded, and he was able to avoid a prison sentence.

“How is Kwon Bae-il doing now?”

“He’s studying English.”

“Studying English?”

“He wants to go to America someday and open a baduk [Go] academy. I told him I would invest in him.”

“Wow!”

“It’s not that big of a deal.”

Jeong-o didn’t say that she was impressed by Bae-il’s heart because Jiheon’s boastful appearance was funny. Her heart ached because she felt like she knew why he wanted to go to America. She wanted to cheer for Bae-il’s future.

As she recalled Bae-il’s unfortunate fate, her thoughts naturally reached Chae Eun-yeop. Jeong-o glanced at the calendar and said slowly.

“Come to think of it, tomorrow is…”

Jiheon nodded as if he knew.

* * * * * * * *

The next day.

It was Chae Eun-yeop’s final trial date.

Jiheon and Jeong-o attended the trial. On the way to the courtroom, some reporters who recognized Jiheon approached, but Jiheon did not respond to the interview.

The courtroom was quite deserted because it was a closed trial.

“Eunbi came too. With her mother.”

Eunbi was sitting far away from the defendant’s seat. She was wearing black sunglasses and a mask, but Jeong-o could recognize Eunbi.

Soon, Chae Eun-yeop, wearing a prison uniform, entered the courtroom. Chae Eun-yeop seemed a little thinner, but he looked fine. His eyes, which scanned the audience with a fairly relaxed expression, became quite sharp when they met Jiheon’s.

*Just you wait. I’ll soon be free and repay this humiliation.*

Jeong-o felt a chill down her spine as if she could hear Chae Eun-yeop’s voice. But as the judge entered, Chae Eun-yeop immediately put on a solemn expression. Jeong-o was dumbfounded.

“Look at how he changes his expression. It’s amazing.”

“I heard he wrote forty letters of remorse in the meantime.”

Jiheon responded to Jeong-o’s whisper. Forty times meant he wrote a letter of remorse almost every day. Jeong-o was even more dumbfounded.

“No, who did he write the letters of remorse to? The person who should receive the apology is you, but who received the letters of remorse?”

But she couldn’t hear the answer to this, and the trial began.

Chae Eun-yeop reflected on his mistakes but insisted on his innocence throughout the trial. He intended to write letters of remorse only for the criminal acts that he had to admit and escape from the rest. But the more he did, the more persistent the prosecution became.

“The prosecution has found the cash that the defendant hid. It was the same amount as the testimony of witness Ham Dae-geun, and the flow of funds is also accurate. With this, another lie of the defendant has been revealed.”

Each time the evidence found by the prosecution was revealed, the lawyer looked at Chae Eun-yeop with a troubled expression.

Soon, all the evidence and testimonies were gathered in one place.

“Prosecution, please state your indictment.”

At the judge’s words, the prosecutor stood up from his seat.

“The defendant quickly removed anything that became an obstacle to his father’s success and paved the way for his father. In the process, he hired a contract killer to instigate the murder of Kim Jin-gu, who could create a noisy incident, and before his father’s confirmation hearing, he bribed members of Congress to desecrate the sacred Congress. However, when his father’s confirmation hearing failed, he harbored resentment for all of this and caused a traffic accident with the intention of killing Jeong Jiheon. After even this traffic accident failed, he attacked Jeong Jiheon’s daughter and mother, Jang Yeongmi, inflicting injury on Jang Yeongmi.”

Chae Eun-yeop shook his head with teary eyes, as if all these statements were not true. It was quite a plausible act that Chae Eun-yeop would look wronged to someone who did not know the details of the case.

“Before all the crimes occurred, there was the defendant’s meticulous planning, and until the moment he was handcuffed in the hospital, the defendant even pretended to be mentally unstable in order to claim innocence in this court. As such, the defendant’s crime is serious, there is no room for remorse, and he is still full of persistent revenge, so he can be judged as an entity that causes serious harm to society, so this prosecutor indicts the defendant with life imprisonment so that he can be permanently isolated from society.”

Chae Eun-yeop’s eyes, which had been consistently maintaining a theatrical, kind expression, flashed. That must have been his real expression.