NOVEL NEXT Chapter 54
“What, what’s going on, Boss?”
“……”
Dad and Mom are kneeling.
This is the first time anything like this has happened, and I can’t help but feel flustered.
But it seems Kang Hyung-man was equally flustered.
“Well… ha…”
He trails off, letting out a frustrated sigh.
Maybe seeing that as a chance, Dad and Mom push off their kneeling position and rush toward me.
“Ugh-! Ye-rin-ahhhhh!”
“K-Kang Boss is… making us kneel… and scaring us…! Ughhh…!”
“Step aside a bit!”
“Ughh-!”
Of course, I trust Kang Hyung-man more than my parents, so I pushed them aside.
I knew he wouldn’t act like this for no reason.
“Boss…, could it be…?”
“……”
“Did my parents get into trouble again…?”
“……”
As Kang Hyung-man hesitated to answer my question, my parents shouted as if feeling unjustly treated.
“…Ye-rin-ah, how can we keep causing trouble….”
“Anyone would think we’re troublemakers….”
“Dad, Mom, please be quiet for a moment!”
“Our Ye-rin is…, ugh….”
“The nice Ye-rin…, sniff…”
Facing my blood pressure-rising parents, Kang Hyung-man shot them a fierce glare and then…
“Eek!”
“I-I’m very sorry…”
“Hoo…”
He sighed deeply and then said to me.
“…Ye-rin, it’s not good here, let’s talk outside.”
“…Okay.”
Agreeing, I left my clingy parents behind and followed Kang Hyung-man outside.
Tap, tap.
As soon as we got outside, Kang Hyung-man, looking flustered, pulled out a cigarette.
But before lighting it…
“Ah.”
He realized and put the cigarette back.
“Sorry, I almost made a mistake in front of a kid.”
“No, Boss. It’s okay to smoke.”
“No way, it makes me uncomfortable to smoke in front of a kid. It’s not like the smoke is any good.”
As a former smoker in my past life, I know how tough it is to stop just before lighting up.
Especially right now when he must really be yearning for a smoke, Kang Hyung-man held back that urge.
It’s impressive how considerate he is.
“Alright, now tell me. Why did you do that to my parents? What trouble did they cause this time?”
Why was Kang Hyung-man so furious this time?
As I asked, he let out another deep sigh and slowly opened his mouth.
“First, to explain that, I have to tell you why I’ve been lending money to your family.”
“……!”
I couldn’t help but flinch at that.
It’s something I’d always been curious about.
Why on earth did Kang Hyung-man lend money to my parents, who were clearly deadbeats and a burden to society?
‘It’s like handing fish to a cat, why would he lend money to my parents?’
I waited nervously for Kang Hyung-man to speak.
And what he said first was quite surprising.
“The reason is mainly twofold. The first reason is… your grandfather is my benefactor.”
“…Excuse me?”
“When the grandson of a benefactor asks for money, it’s hard to say no.”
“…Wait a minute.”
What’s he talking about?
“You mean my grandfather, whom I’ve never seen, is your benefactor?”
“That’s right.”
I panicked, asking a question, and Kang Hyung-man nodded calmly.
Thinking back, I had seen Kang Hyung-man since I was quite young.
At that time, I just thought Dad borrowed money again… but it seems the relationship between our families is closer than I thought.
“When I was young, I had nothing and was living a thug life. Your grandfather took me in and rescued me from my trashy life. Ever since then, I took care of his collection work.”
“Collection… was my grandfather a gangster?”
“Not quite a gangster, just a loan shark. You know your family was rich back in your grandfather’s time, right?”
“…Yes, I heard they were somewhat well-off.”
“Somewhat? No, your grandfather was quite wealthy. He had a lot of cash and… a lot of land.”
…My grandfather was that rich?
It was hard to believe Kang Hyung-man’s words.
They say wealthy people can survive three years after going bankrupt, but… well, a lot of time has passed, but how did my family end up in tatters like this?
‘How wealthy could he have been? Sounds a bit exaggerated.’
But I was left speechless at what Kang Hyung-man said next.
“He had a couple of buildings in Gangnam… and held some bonds from big corporations… and owned lots of land in Gyeonggi-do.”
“……Excuse me?”
“Oh, and he had a few thousand pyeong of land in Pangyo before it was developed?”
“…Wait, WHAT?!”
If that’s true, my family was ridiculously wealthy.
But if they were that rich, why are we so poor now?
I had heard that Dad lost some of the family’s fortune to gambling during his younger years.
But there’s no way he lost all of that wealth to gambling…
“Your dad blew it all on gambling.”
“……”
So my dad was someone capable of such a feat.
“Your dad’s legendary gambling moment of burning 8 billion won on five card draws still lives on in the history of the house…”
“…Oh my god.”
I felt a wave of dizziness sweep over me.
If I could, I’d love to meet my younger dad and give him a good smack.
“Anyway, when your grandfather retired, he passed a part of his business onto me. That’s how I can live like this… and your grandfather was like a father to me.”
“……”
So that’s why he couldn’t refuse to lend money to my parents, the family of his benefactor…
‘The boss places a lot of value on connections… that makes sense.’
As I slowly nodded, Kang Hyung-man patted my head and said.
“Ye-rin, you look a lot like your grandfather. Maybe that’s why I feel more affection for you.”
“I look like my grandfather…?”
Dad and I share a lot of features, but there was a significant difference.
It’s the impression.
My face is expressionless and cold while Dad has a weak impression like a spoiled rich kid.
But if my grandfather looked like me, then…
‘He must have looked quite scary.’
Even though I’ve never seen a picture of him, I had a rough idea of how he looked.
‘But that’s not the important part.’
As I pondered about my grandfather, I realized we had strayed from the main topic and said to Kang Hyung-man.
“…Okay, now I get the connection you had with our grandfather. And why you lent us money until now. But how does this relate to today’s incident?”
“……”
“Please hurry and tell me. Why were you so furious today? What trouble did my parents cause?”
Kang Hyung-man wiped his face and replied.
“…For me to explain that, I need to get to the second reason why I lent money to your family.”
The second reason…
Right, he said there were two reasons for lending money to us.
“You know your dad borrowed money from me several times now. And out of those, most I just gave up on getting back.”
“…Excuse me?”
“…Back then, I thought that was a way to repay your grandfather’s kindness.”
Thinking back, every time Dad borrowed money from Kang Hyung-man, he always said things like this.
“Don’t worry! I have a way to repay it! It’ll be fine this time too!”
…So did he just not pay it back at all…?
Where on earth is Dad’s conscience?
“The amount he borrowed kept increasing without him paying it back, so eventually, I had to refuse. Then… your dad turned to other places.”
“Other places…?”
Feeling my voice tremble, Kang Hyung-man answered with a serious expression.
“To be honest, even I don’t feel proud about lending money at high interest rates. But there are thugs in this world that are on a whole different level than me.”
“Thugs… what kind of…”
“Those who ignore the law and make debtors lose their lives or torture their remaining family to ruin lives.”
“……”
I couldn’t help but stay silent at such screenplay-like events.
“Your dad was trying to borrow money from those guys, so I lent him 200 million won. But those damn bastards…”
Kang Hyung-man seemed furious as his fists clenched tightly.
“…He attempted to borrow money from them again. Thankfully, I pulled him back before he could sign the contract.”
“……”
As I looked blankly at Kang Hyung-man’s words, he frowned.
“The scheming thugs must have been keeping tabs on your family. They probably found out you’re doing well on the broadcast and were planning to use your parents as leverage to threaten you.”
“……”
“If you get involved with those kinds of people, life can get really messy. No, it’s not just messy; it can definitely go downhill fast.”
“…Haha.”
So that’s it.
While I was filming Na Ah Ah, I almost ended up shackled again.
…Because of my parents.
I thought the things my parents had done until now wouldn’t surprise me anymore….
But it seems my parents are beyond my imagination.
The shock rendered me speechless, and Kang Hyung-man supported me as he asked.
“You probably can’t face your parents right now.”
“……”
“I’ll book a hotel for you. You can stay there tonight. I’ll gather what you need from your house.”
“…Thank you, but I’ll pack my own stuff quickly.”
“…Ye-rin.”
“I need to say something to my parents. Please wait a moment. I’ll be right back.”
“……”
As I firmly stated, Kang Hyung-man nodded and let me go.
I headed straight back home.
“Ye-rin! Ha Ye-rin!”
“Our daughter!”
As soon as I walked in, my parents welcomed me as if they saw a savior.
“W-Wait, did the Boss do something strange?”
“You must have had a tough time shooting? Mom will make your bed, so hurry…”
They feigned warmth and tried to take care of me.
But….
“…You tried to borrow money again, right?”
My feelings toward them had long since turned icy.
When I mentioned the money, my parents looked taken aback and awkwardly laughed.
“Ah, hahaha, Ye-rin, it’s not like…”
“…We promised not to borrow money anymore.”
“R-Right, we did.”
“…Then why did you try to borrow it this time?”
When I asked seriously, Dad stammered, and Mom stepped in to help him.
“We, we were just trying to live like regular people, Ye-rin.”
“…Like regular people?”
“We can’t keep just wasting away like this forever. So, we wanted to try doing some small business… that’s why we tried to borrow money for start-up funds.”
“…Lies.”
How many times had I been fooled by their lies?
This time will be different. Next time things will change.
My parents had said that countless times, and yet they hadn’t changed until now.
I could somewhat understand that people can’t easily change their innate nature.
But…
“…If you cared even a little about me, you shouldn’t have acted like this to block my path.”
“…Ye-rin.”
“If you regarded me even slightly as your child, instead of backing me up, you should have stopped doing things like this…!”
This was something they should never have done if they thought about me, even a tiny bit…!
“Haa…”
I couldn’t hold back the sigh that burst out.
As I tried to pack my clothes, my underwear, toothpaste, socks, and so on, I realized I couldn’t do it anymore.
“…I’m leaving this house starting today, so please don’t look for me for a while… it’d be even better if you didn’t look for me at all.”
“Ye-rin!”
“What do you mean! Where would you go if you leave…!”
“Why must I…!!”
In my past life, I was an orphan.
In my deepest loneliness, even when I was dying, I longed for a family.
When I was reborn into this body of Ha Ye-rin, knowing my parents were around, I struggled with joy in that little body.
I thought of them as gifts and blessings from God.
But….
“…Why did it have to be you two as my parents?”
Because of today, I became certain that your existence was a curse to me.
With that, I kicked the door and left the house.