You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 469

You Have Been Defended – Episode 470

#470

“No, this isn’t right. Mija, have you eaten? You must be starving, coming all the way by boat since morning… Just wait a minute. Mom will grill some surf clams, the ones you love. My baby still likes surf clams, right?”

“No, Mom. Don’t bother yourself. Just sit down.”

“No, I went to the market yesterday to buy some for you, so just wait a bit. The lawyers aren’t here yet, right? Just wait a moment. I’ll quickly set the table.”

“But there’s no room….”

As Kim Mija tried to follow her mother, who was heading to the kitchen, by slipping her feet into the high heels placed under the porch, her mother shook her head and made her sit down again.

“We already ate breakfast, so you should eat with the lawyers. I wonder if the lawyers know about surf clams. Our Mija used to like them grilled, but they’re also delicious braised in soy sauce.”

“Oh, Mother, you don’t have to go to all this trouble. We can just buy something nearby and eat. You should have a family meal.”

“Huh? No. We already ate.”

Although the word ‘lie’ floated above her mother’s head, I quietly grabbed Kang Min-jae’s arm.

Even though Kim Mija had cleared up the misunderstanding, she might feel uneasy if she was suddenly surrounded by her family.

It didn’t seem like a good idea for us to leave this house.

“We can just stay in the room. Please have a meal with the lawyers, Mija. My mother is a great cook.”

“Yes, the lawyers are our Mija’s saviors; we should at least treat them to a meal. Everyone else, come on up.”

The eldest and second sons pulled us, who were standing in the yard, and made us sit on the porch.

Then, the two of them took their father into the main room and sat facing us.

“We’ve been cramped in this small house, but now that Mija has appeared, we can finally move. I’ve been trying to get an apartment in Mupyeong [a district in South Korea] since forever to take care of Mom and Dad, but she kept saying no, saying she didn’t know when Mija would come back, so we couldn’t move.”

“……Is that so? I’m too late. I’m sorry, Oppa [term of endearment used by a younger woman to an older brother or male friend].”

“No, no. I think Mom and Dad were right after all. There’s a saying that sincerity moves heaven. Really… I feel like I’m seeing a ghost.”

“I’m real, Oppa.”

Kim Mija chuckled and took the hand of the affable second son.

Then, the second son laughed heartily and stroked Kim Mija’s hand.

“Oh, your hands are so tiny. Just like when you were little. Really, how did we meet Mija again like this? Am I dreaming? Oh my, why am I suddenly tearing up again….”

The second son sniffled.

Then, Kim Mija, as if her tears, which had barely stopped, were welling up again, blinked, looking up at the ceiling.

“I don’t know. I feel like crying too because of you, Oppa.”

“Let’s keep in touch from now on. Okay? You said you live in Japan, so we might not see each other often, but it’s still better than a faraway country like America. Japan is close. Let’s see each other once in a while… and live like that. We should move Mom and Dad to Mupyeong now. Now that we’ve met Mija.”

“Yeah……. Let’s do that.”

“Oh, right. Mija should invite us to Japan too. We should meet your husband and see Japan too.”

“I will…….”

Kim Mija answered reluctantly.

She clearly had no intention of introducing Oda Satoshi to her family.

Either way, her family wouldn’t like Oda Satoshi.

No matter how flashy the job of a member of the National Assembly may seem, they wouldn’t like the idea of their precious daughter living with that old man.

“Oh, Mom and Dad should live near a big hospital now. They’re getting old.”

“That’s right. But wouldn’t it be better to bring them to Seoul? My eldest brother is in Seoul, too.”

“Seoul is expensive. Even if we sell this house, I don’t know if we’ll get a good price. And it might not even sell.”

“I’ll chip in too. I have some savings. I don’t know much about house prices in Mupyeong, but if I add to it, we can get a decent apartment in Seoul.”

“What are you talking about! Why would you chip in!”

Her father, who had been listening quietly, shouted.

“Why, Dad? I’m your daughter too….”

“No way. That’s out of the question. We didn’t even act like parents, so we can’t accept that. We couldn’t even give you a dowry when you married that man……. Did we ever pay for your tuition, or buy you pretty clothes when you grew up? What have we ever done for you that we can take your money? Absolutely not.”

“Yes, Mija. We’re not comfortable with that either. And if we go to the city center in Mupyeong, there’s a big hospital. Most of all, all our relatives and acquaintances are near there, so they’ll be uncomfortable if we suddenly go to Seoul.”

“Is that so…….”

Mija looked dejected, but before she could feel sad, clattering sounds started coming from the kitchen.

“Mom must be setting the table. My brothers will bring it, so stay here.”

As the eldest and second sons tried to get up, I gestured to Tae-shik and Jeong-hyeok.

Then, the two of them dashed into the kitchen and carried out the large table, placing it on the porch.

“I made the things my baby liked when she was little. I don’t know if her taste has changed. My baby still likes sausage, right?”

The grilled fish, seafood, and various seasoned vegetables on the table had a rustic feel, but the most noticeable thing was the pink sausage coated in egg batter and pan-fried.

“Oh, now that I think about it, our Mija was crazy about sausage.”

The second son, who was sitting in the main room, chuckled and chimed in.

“When Mom packed lunch for me and Seong, Mija would snatch the pink sausage, so there was nothing left for the brothers to eat.”

“Our Mija, eat quickly. Before I die, my wish was to cook a meal for my baby……. And now my wish has come true……. Oh my, how can this be?”

“It’s all thanks to the lawyers. I……. I said I didn’t want to meet Mom and Dad, but the lawyers found me. To clear up the misunderstanding, to help me……”

Kim Mija said, dabbing her teary eyes with a handkerchief again.

Then, her mother took one of my and Kang Min-jae’s hands and bowed her head.

“Lawyers, thank you so much. How can I ever repay this kindness? I owe the lawyers a great debt……”

“No, Mother. We’re really happy that we could clear up this misunderstanding. It makes me think I did the right thing by doing this job.”

Kang Min-jae was flustered, supporting Kim Mija’s mother, who kept bowing.

“Oh, Mom! What are you doing in front of the table? The food will get cold. Mija, lawyers, please eat first. Mom, come over here. You’re in the way.”

“I have to debone the fish……. I won’t cry anymore. I really won’t.”

The mother wiped away her tears and sat next to Kim Mija.

And Kim Mija slowly picked up her spoon.

Although it was an unfamiliar environment, I felt like I had to eat, so I picked up my spoon as well.

Thus, the meal began.

The mother deboned the fish one by one and placed it in Kim Mija’s rice bowl.

Kim Mija took a spoonful of fluffy rice and put it in her mouth with the plump fish.

While Kim Mija chewed, her mother’s eyes never left her.

Kim Mija chewed for a while, swallowed, and said tearfully.

“……It’s delicious.”

“My baby, is it delicious?”

“Yes, it’s so delicious……. It reminds me of the old days. It’s so delicious, so……. I wanted to eat it so much.”

“Eat this and eat more. I made a lot of rice. Okay?”

“Yeah…….”

Kang Min-jae lowered his head, listening to the mother and daughter’s conversation.

He was shoveling rice into his mouth, but it looked like he was crying.

Anyway, after the meal, the eldest and second sons cleared the table to do the dishes.

We thought Kim Mija might have things she wanted to say to her parents in private, so we told Tae-shik and Jeong-hyeok to keep a little distance and watch, then we went outside the gate for a while.

There was a small gazebo with a view of the sea right in front, and there was a can ashtray on it.

I thought I’d have a cigarette and take a walk before going back in, so Kang Min-jae and I sat side by side and lit our cigarettes.

“I’m really glad, Ms. Kim Mija.”

“Me too.”

“I was wondering what to do if the misunderstanding wasn’t resolved even after meeting like this. I hope you don’t think about dying anymore?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t know exactly why Ms. Kim Mija wanted to die, but she seemed to be afraid of not having a place to return to.”

“Right. At the hotel, Ms. Kim Mija said, ‘Who would love someone with a past like mine?’ But now she has her mother, father, and brothers. The neighbors all seem like good people too. Even that driver, Gil-du.”

Kang Min-jae took a long drag of his cigarette and quietly flicked the ashes.

“Seeing your mother deboning the fish suddenly reminded me of my grandfather. When I was little, my grandfather used to debone fish for me too.”

My mother did too.

At some point, I said I would eat it myself and told her to stop.

I haven’t become a parent yet, but wouldn’t it be the same for everyone?

Kim Mija’s parents, especially, had met their precious daughter again after 33 years.

Even if their forty-six-year-old daughter was in front of them, they would see her as thirteen.

Who would have deboned fish for Kim Mija in Japan?

Maybe she deboned Oda Satoshi’s fish.

“Lawyer.”

Then, Kim Mija’s voice came from behind us.

When I turned around, Kim Mija came up to the gazebo and sat a little away from us.

As Kang Min-jae hurriedly tried to put out his cigarette, Kim Mija waved her hand.

“No. Just smoke. People who smoke always have to smoke after eating, right?”

“It’s okay. I’m done. But why did you come out? You must have a lot to say to your parents.”

“Um……. I’ve said everything I wanted to say. There’s not much I can say, so I just want to hear a lot of stories.”

She glossed over the long years she had been sexually exploited with the vague phrase ‘I spent it going to factories and schools.’

I expected that too.

There was no way she could immediately tell her parents, whom she had met after 33 years, everything she had gone through.

You can tell just by the way her family calls her.

How much they cherish and love her.

If those people knew that Kim Mija had gone through such harsh times, something really bad might happen.

“Thank you, really. And I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“I feel like you’ve gone through unnecessary hardships because of me.”

Kim Mija said, breaking the clumped dirt on the ground with the heel of her high heel.

“You don’t have to think that way.”

“No. If I hadn’t kept saying I wanted to die, you wouldn’t have had to go to Japan, Baekgeum Island, and all over the place. And you must have felt burdened too……”

She tapped her fingernails together and looked at her toes.

“So……. I’m going to make it a hardship worth going through, not an unnecessary one.”

Kim Mija slowly raised her head and looked straight at me.

“If you still need me, I’ll testify as you said. I’ll give you the necessary materials, and I think I can do more than that.”

“I don’t expect anything more than that. That’s enough, and I’m grateful just for your decision.”

“No, I……. I want to increase the chances of Wooshin going bankrupt. So, in Korea……. I want to live happily with my parents and brothers. To do that, Wooshin has to go bankrupt for sure. Otherwise, I’ll be uneasy.”

“Ms. Kim Mija.”

“If I help, won’t the chances increase? I’ll do what I can. It’ll be quite helpful to what you’re doing.”

I could no longer maintain my previous opinion that ‘you don’t have to go that far.’

It was because it would really be a big help, as she said, but there was another reason too.

The look in Kim Mija’s eyes, as she spoke each word with determination, was overflowing with a vitality that I had never seen in her before.