Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 198

198

“I, I never said anything like that……”

“Don’t lie! You acted all nice and pitiful in front of me, putting on all sorts of airs. But behind my back, you were plotting like this? From the moment you were conceived, I never liked you! Do you think you’re so great? Are you even human? Don’t you know how hard your older brother is working to study? It breaks my heart to see him struggling with his commute, and instead of helping him, you, as the youngest, give him such dirty humiliation? Is that why you made him resort to taking Mom’s money? How desperate must that fragile child have been to do something he knew would get him in trouble!”

“N, no, Mom. I really didn’t……!”

“So, you’re saying Jin-soo is lying now? I can’t believe it. Not only are you wicked, but you’re also shameless? Do you think I don’t know Jin-soo? He’s been such a pushover since he was little, never saying a word even when others stole his things! There’s no way such a kind child would do that!”

Then what about me?

Mom, I’m your son too. You should know about me as much as you know about my brother.

My chest felt heavy, but no sound came out. I could see my older brother standing behind my screaming mother. He smirked at me and mouthed the words, ‘I told you to wait and see, didn’t I?’ It wasn’t hard to understand what he was saying.

I clenched my fists to control the surge of emotions. Seeing this, my mother’s eyes turned even more fierce.

“Oh, are you clenching your fists now? Why? Are you going to hit me or something?”

“N, no. That’s not it……”

“Goodness, there are so many unfilial children these days who beat their parents! You’re exactly the kind of child they’re talking about! I didn’t give birth to a human, but a beast!”

“Mom! That’s not it, Mom! I……!”

“I told you not to call me Mom! It gives me the creeps to think I gave birth to you! If you were born ugly, you should at least try to be loved! Just live quietly, without standing out, as if you’re there but not there. Is that so hard to do? Do you have to cause trouble like this to feel better? Why were you even born into our family! If it weren’t for you, our family wouldn’t have any problems!”

My mind went numb with shock. Again, I couldn’t say anything except move my lips. I wasn’t even given a chance to explain, or even finish my sentences. From the start, she had no intention of listening to me. What’s the point of the truth in this situation? I just stood there blankly, feeling empty. My mother pushed me out.

“Get out! Get out of this house right now! I can’t stand living with you, it’s horrifying! Don’t ever show your face in front of us again, and disappear!”

“M, Mom! Mom!”

I tried to resist, but my mother’s strength was too much. Her tightly clenched fingernails scratched my wrists and arms, causing me to groan. The door opened, and I was forcibly pushed out. After falling from the rough shove, I looked up in a daze and saw my mother’s face twisted like a demon. I had never seen such a painful and terrible expression on my mother’s face before.

Did I make my mom make that face? Is it because of me?

My heart sank, and the door closed in front of my eyes. I quickly ran and clung to the doorknob.

“I was wrong!”

I knocked on the door urgently, but there was no response from inside. The door, already firmly locked, seemed like it would never open again. It was as if I was the only one left in this world. I trembled all over with sorrow and fear.

“M, Mom! Mom! Brother! I’m sorry! I was wrong! I won’t do it again! Please forgive me! Please forgive me, Mom! Please……!”

“……I thought I finally found you.”

A low voice was heard near my ear. It was a voice I had heard many times before. Startled, I looked up and saw someone standing at the end of the hallway. It was late, and the lights were not on, so I couldn’t see the person clearly.

“W, who are you?”

He started walking towards me. As he slowly approached, the shadows lifted, and his figure gradually became visible. My eyes widened. It was the blond man I had met on my way to work this afternoon.

“Why are you here……”

I was so surprised by the unexpected encounter that I forgot my desperate feelings for a moment. Confused, I asked, and the man replied nonchalantly.

“I should be the one asking that.”

“Excuse me?”

“What on earth are you doing?”

His gaze was cold as he looked down at me sitting on the floor. He looked very displeased. He looked at me with annoyance (but somehow, that annoyance didn’t seem to be directed at me) and sighed deeply. Then, he grabbed my arm and helped me up.

“Ah, th, thank you.”

“Tsk, it’s because you keep running away.”

“Pardon?”

“I didn’t know repeating questions was your specialty.”

He smiled incredulously and flicked my forehead with the back of his hand. Wow, this guy can smile too. Seeing his smiling face after only seeing his indifferent expression, he seemed like a completely different person. The man brushed off the dirt on my clothes and straightened my collar. I could feel his warm body temperature from his touch. It was an unfamiliar experience, and I felt my face turning red, but I didn’t dislike it.

“You’ve had enough of a rough time, haven’t you? Let’s go back now.”

“G, go back? Where to?”

I looked at him, bewildered, and the man paused slightly and frowned. That’s when it happened.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

Someone shouted angrily from behind. I couldn’t help but be surprised when I turned around. Tae-jin was there.

“T, Tae-jin?”

Why was Tae-jin here at this late hour? Did he have something urgent to tell me? I should be feeling happy, but the situation was so unexpected that I felt more bewildered. Actually, the blond man in front of me was even more suspicious.

Yeah, no matter how I thought about it, he was a really strange person. I looked at the man again with a fresh perspective. At least Tae-jin knew where my house was, but this guy didn’t even know that. Besides, he had no reason or justification to come looking for me. Yet, the man was staring at Tae-jin as if he were an intruder.

“Is it that thing again.”

The man swept back his hair as if he was annoyed and glared at Tae-jin with fierce eyes.

“Don’t interfere.”

That was the moment. Tae-jin’s movements, which had been quickly approaching me, suddenly stopped. Literally. He didn’t hesitate or back down, he just froze in place. It was like watching a scene from a paused video.

“T, Tae-jin? Ha Tae-jin?”

“He won’t respond even if you call him that now.”

The man said in a monotonous tone as I called out urgently. I took a deep breath and glared at the man. His presence, which had been fine until just now, felt frightening. Something was going strangely. It’s scary. I felt like I was going to die from fear.

“W, what did you do? What did you do to Tae-jin!”

“I didn’t do anything. I just stopped the nightmare for a moment. Because you keep trying to go too deep.”

“Nightmare! What are you even talking about!”

“Can’t you still realize it? You’re really bewitched.”

“What are you talking about!”

“Hoo……. El, calm down for now. Let’s talk calmly……”

“I’m not El!”

He closed his mouth at my strong denial. I could feel his furrowed gaze staring at me as if trying to figure out my intentions.

“I’m not El. My name is…… not El……”

I mumbled like a crazy person. I didn’t even know what I was saying. The man stared down at me for a while, then said as if sighing.

“Okay, then I won’t call you that.”

My shoulders twitched at those words. Seeing him readily accept it, he must have known my real name. But why? I hated the thought of him calling me by my real name even more. I couldn’t bear the thought of the name ‘Ji-hoon’ coming out of his mouth. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to cover my ears. But at that moment, I heard a completely unexpected word.

“Son.”

“……!”

“Let’s talk, son.”

Thump.

It felt like my heart was falling down. What did I just hear? I clearly heard it with both ears, but it didn’t feel real at all. Maybe it was because it was a completely unexpected word. I blankly looked up, and the man met my gaze with a calm expression.

“……Son?”

“You said you didn’t like the name.”

“That’s not it…… Why are you calling me son……?”

“Because you’re my son.”

“……I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I shook off the arm that the man was holding. But this time, the man didn’t back down easily. Instead, he grabbed my shoulders even more strongly and opened his mouth as if cutting out each word with a serious face.

“No, you already know. The fact that you’re disrespectfully talking down to me is proof of that. Stop it now. If you stay here any longer, even you will definitely have your mental world collapse. Your only friend who cares about you? Such a flimsy defense mechanism won’t last long. No, in the future, it will even try to attack you in reverse. Because it’s a spell created for that purpose.”

“A spe……ll?”

“Yes. Not only you, but all of your companions are wandering inside it. While you’re doing this, your friends are gradually going crazy. Are you going to leave them like that?”

“Friends? Going crazy?”

“Remember. Where were you and what were you doing before you came here? Who were you with? No, let’s start with answering this properly. You didn’t answer and ran away earlier, did you? I’ll ask again. Who am I?”

“……I don’t know.”

I shook my head at the man’s question. Then he made a bitter expression.

“It’s not that you don’t know, but that you ‘don’t want to know.’ Now, son. I’ll listen to everything, so tell me. Why don’t you want to remember me?”

“Why? I hate being a substitute for someone else.”

My heart fluttered at the word ‘son.’ Maybe that’s why. The answer popped out without me realizing it. I stiffened my face in surprise, but the man continued without a care.

“It’s okay to be ignored and beaten by your family?”

“St, still, they look at ‘me.’ I’m not a substitute for someone else. Even if they hate me, even if they curse and despise me…… it’s all directed at me. Besides, there are friends here who will comfort me when I’m in pain……”

“So? Do you want to keep living here? Even if all of this is a fake you created?”

“……Fake?”

“Yes. Everything here is just an illusion you’ve made up as you please. In reality, you’re already dead among them. Have you already forgotten?”

“What does that……”

At that moment, a strange sight suddenly unfolded before my eyes. Friends swallowing their tears. Chrysanthemums being placed one by one in front of a black table. Tae-jin was standing in what appeared to be someone’s funeral hall, wearing the sign of the chief mourner. I gasped at the portrait he was holding. The person in the frame with the black ribbon looked strangely familiar. It couldn’t be helped. It was me.

“Ah……”

Right, now that I think about it, I was already dead. I slowly raised my head as the fact suddenly dawned on me. At that moment, I felt something soft and something swaying under my shoulders along with a soft sensation. When I reached out my hand, strands of blue thread that seemed to contain water gently wrapped around my fingers. It took me a little longer to realize that it was my hair.

I looked around with a slightly dazed feeling. The cold apartment hallway that exuded a gloomy aura, and Tae-jin’s frozen figure had all disappeared, and the surroundings were dyed in dark darkness. The only things that remained without disappearing were me and the blond man in front of me. Only then could I accurately recognize who the man standing in front of me was. With eyes that were more 냉정하고 엄격한 [cold and stern] than anyone else, yet kind, he was…….

“……Ellyuen?”

That’s right, that was the name. The murky sensation disappeared, and my vision cleared all at once. Then, things that I hadn’t realized until then began to come to mind one by one. For example, the fact that he in front of me shouldn’t be here.

“Huh?”

My mind snapped back as if I had been splashed with cold water. I couldn’t help but gasp at the reality I had finally realized. Ellyuen! What, is it really Ellyuen? No way! Why is Ellyuen here? Wasn’t this inside a dungeon?

I looked at the man in front of me again with a slightly embarrassed feeling. Good heavens! I didn’t see it wrong. No matter how many times I looked and checked, it was definitely Ellyuen. He seemed to have grasped my condition from my scattered actions. He sighed deeply as our eyes met.

“Now you’ve finally come to your senses. My only son is always causing trouble.”

“Uhh, um, excuse me? What’s going on, Ellyuen? I was just in a dungeon……”

“What do you mean what’s going on? You’re just unnecessarily weak-hearted and got caught up in some ridiculous spell.”

Ellyuen clicked his tongue at me, who was in a state of confusion. I couldn’t understand his words and asked again.

“W, wait a minute. A spell?”

“Yes, a spell. Well, you’ve come to your senses, so open your eyes first. It seems like that’s the order.”

“What? What does that…… Ugh!”

As soon as he finished speaking, everything around me shattered like glass. The sensation of stepping on the floor had also disappeared. By the time I realized what was happening, I was already falling rapidly.