Husband Role - Episode 30

Jung-hyuk strode past Eun-seol and into the iron gate. He was truly unstoppable.

 

Thump, thump, thump, thump—Eun-seol followed the echoing sound.

 

“Sir!”

 

Eun-seol called out to him in a flustered voice.

 

“Sir!”

 

She called to him again, but he didn’t stop.

 

“Jung-hyuk!”

 

This time, she grabbed his arm and called him by name.

 

Jung-hyuk’s chest heaved without a word. The glimpse she caught of his eyes was chillingly cold. Eun-seol involuntarily took a step back.

 

Bang—!

 

Jung-hyuk opened the first door. It was a storage room for bedding and other household items.

 

Bang—!

 

He opened the second door. An old wooden bed and desk, a shabby plastic dresser, and a cheap wardrobe came into Jung-hyuk’s view.

 

Jung-hyuk stepped inside.

 

“That’s the room the housekeeper used to use!”

 

Eun-seol cried out urgently, her face pale.

 

As if he didn’t hear Eun-seol, he threw open the wardrobe. The inside was mostly empty, but a few articles of clothing remained.

 

Jung-hyuk roughly pushed the hangers aside. Then his hand stopped at one spot.

 

‘Lee Eun-seol.’

 

It was Eun-seol’s school uniform with a yellow name tag. Below it, a worn and familiar school bag sat alone.

 

Veins stood out blue around Jung-hyuk’s eyes. He turned his gaze away without a moment’s pause, this time toward the desk.

 

Familiar textbooks and workbooks were arranged on the bookshelf built into the desk. A star-shaped sticker on the lamp and the timetable under the glass on the desk immediately caught his eye.

 

Again, he looked around the room.

 

Faded wallpaper, a cracked and taped-up opaque window, and mold in the corner of the ceiling.

 

It was utterly miserable.

 

“It looks like they kept my things here,”

 

Eun-seol murmured in a trembling voice. She knew it was a ridiculous excuse, but somehow she felt like he couldn’t find out. It wasn’t her shame, but it felt like it.

 

“…”

 

Jung-hyuk didn’t answer.

 

He was recalling the ‘Eun-seol’s room’ he had seen before. The uneasy feeling he had felt looking at the space devoid of any signs of life.

 

Even when the impurities settled, the truth was still muddy water.

 

At that, Jung-hyuk felt a strange rage rising from a distant place. Anger burned his insides black and stung under his eyes.

 

His strong jaw trembled faintly as he clenched his teeth.

 

Since when had Eun-seol been living here?

 

How had she been living?

 

So…

 

In this room, like an abandoned space.

 

His teeth were grinding at the vague question.

 

“If you’re done with your business, you should go back to your husband’s house, why are you staying in the room feeling sorry for yourself!”

 

As she grumbled and approached, Mrs. Ma-san discovered Jung-hyuk and froze.

 

“J-Jung-hyuk…”

 

Jung-hyuk’s fierce gaze slowly turned to Mrs. Ma-san.

 

Pale with fright, Mrs. Ma-san ran upstairs as if fleeing from a monster.

 

 

The sun had already risen high in the sky. The sunlight streaming through the L-shaped glass window was dazzling, as if it would make a sound. It was a bright Saturday noon.

 

But a cold silence like a cold wave hung in the living room. The season was useless.

 

“Yes. It’s as Jung-hyuk saw. So, are you going to argue about it now?”

 

It was So-hee who broke the silence.

 

Jung-hyuk closed his eyes deeply and then opened them. The pressure made his eyeballs ache. His neck, stiff with anger, was still stiff.

 

“You must have had something to say to sit me down here.”

 

So-hee urged, growing impatient. She often came on strong, but she was weaker than anyone in front of the powerful.

 

“…Do I.”

 

Jung-hyuk asked in a voice barely suppressed.

 

“Look like a generous person?”

 

“…So, what do you want to say?”

 

So-hee retorted in an unnatural voice.

 

So-hee hesitated, her face trembling faintly, then opened her lips as if she had made up her mind.

 

“Eun-seol… originally lived in that room. It could happen. It’s not like we abused her or starved her.”

 

“…”

 

“Jung-hyuk, you don’t have kids yet, so you can’t understand, but how can a child and a niece be the same?”

 

“…”

 

“It would be different if we had raised Eun-seol from when she was a baby.”

 

So-hee glanced at Eun-seol.

 

“She… came to this house when she was old enough to have a fully formed brain. Do you know what that means?”

 

“What does it mean?”

 

“It means it was impossible for her to mix with our family.”

 

Jung-hyuk was silent. He only stared at So-hee with eyes as sharp as blades.

 

At that, So-hee cleared her throat and began to explain in a slightly softer voice.

 

“You saw the room on the second floor. We originally intended to give it to Eun-seol. We put some thought into it. But there was one thing we overlooked.”

 

“…”

 

“Jun-seo was just entering puberty. He was starting to become very curious about women, so we couldn’t put a cousin who was practically a stranger next door. We wanted to prevent any possible mishaps.”

 

So-hee thought this was a decent defense. Finding her composure, she subtly straightened her back.

 

“So…”

 

Jung-hyuk said in a deeply sunken voice.

 

“You’re saying you saw your son as a potential sex offender.”

 

So-hee’s face turned pale at his words, and she frantically waved her hands.

 

“N-No! That’s not it! We don’t know what kind of kid she is, how can we let them use the same floor!”

 

It was a ridiculous excuse.

 

Jung-hyuk realized that when a person is too angry, a twisted smile comes out.

 

Seeing him coldly sneering, So-hee flinched and called out to Eun-seol in a small voice.

 

“You say something too. We weren’t extremely nice to you, but… we weren’t bad to you either.”

 

Many episodes played back in Eun-seol’s mind.

 

The boiler that didn’t work only in Eun-seol’s room in the middle of winter, and the bedding that forgot the season.

 

Unless guests came to the house, she didn’t even have the chance to eat at the same table as the family. Even Mrs. Ma-san was like that. In fact, there was no need to even list Mrs. Ma-san.

 

She was in a worse position than the two dogs in this house.

 

“We paid for your education, too.”

 

She couldn’t even pay for tuition, so she studied until her nose bled every time to get a scholarship.

 

And how much persecution had she received for going to medical school?

 

It was for that reason that she was slapped by Dae-hyuk for the first time, saying that her intentions were evil.

 

After taking a leave of absence, they said it was fortunate that she had finally realized her place. Dae-hyuk’s hearty laughter that day was still vividly etched in Eun-seol’s mind.

 

There was a day when she was terribly sick. She felt like she was sinking under the bed due to a raging fever. It was then. A red Tylenol bottle fell with a thud onto her stomach as she was suffering.

 

‘I guess you don’t need to go to the hospital?’

 

Dae-hyuk asked, and

 

‘The medicine is good these days.’

 

So-hee said with a faint smile.

 

It was her, who had spent every day in tears because one of the dogs was hospitalized a week before Eun-seol got sick.

 

“The madam is talking.”

 

Mrs. Ma-san, standing behind So-hee, said with a forced smile. The shadow of the past was superimposed on Mrs. Ma-san as well.

 

‘You’re just freeloading like me, don’t act up just because you’re a little sick.’

 

It was Mrs. Ma-san who handed Eun-seol a toilet brush as soon as her fever went down a little.

 

‘I thought I was going to die of exhaustion alone while you were lying down.’

 

That day, Eun-seol was only able to return to her room after cleaning the toilet, bathing the two dogs, and wiping all the glass windows in the living room.

 

It was only natural that the fever, which had barely gone down, would rise again terribly.

 

When the family was absent, Mrs. Ma-san used Eun-seol comfortably.

 

Everyone knew it, but no one intervened.

 

Eun-seol gave up early.

 

Because everyone was in cahoots.

 

“Auntie, shut your mouth.”

 

Jung-hyuk warned in a cold voice.

 

“S-Sorry.”

 

Mrs. Ma-san quickly bowed her head in a trembling voice.

 

So-hee quickly gestured for Mrs. Ma-san to step back. Then, with the softest smile she could muster, she opened her mouth.

 

“Eun-seol seems too shocked to say anything… Jung-hyuk, calm down a bit.”

 

“Calm down?”

 

Jung-hyuk smiled coldly and grabbed Eun-seol’s chin without hurting her. Eun-seol frowned and winced.

 

“You made my wife’s face like this and now you dare…”

 

His eyes trembled with anger.

 

“Did you say ‘calm down’?”

 

“Ah, this is…”

 

“You’re not going to make up some ridiculous story about her falling, are you?”

 

I.

 

“It’s not the first time I’ve found a wound on my wife’s face.”

 

It was when So-hee, speechless, swallowed hard.

 

“…Apologize.”

 

Eun-seol murmured softly. When So-hee asked, “What?” Eun-seol raised her eyes and looked straight at So-hee.

 

“…Apologize to me for everything you’ve done wrong.”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“Let’s go.”

 

Jung-hyuk stood Eun-seol up.

 

“An apology is something you ask for when you can forgive.”

 

“…Sir.”

 

It was the moment Eun-seol looked up at Jung-hyuk with red eyes. He said in a voice like a knife.

 

“I don’t have the slightest intention of forgiving right now.”

 

“That’s…”

 

“What you’ve been through.”

 

Jung-hyuk repeatedly emphasized, even interrupting Eun-seol’s words.

 

“Is the same as what I’ve been through. So.”

 

Jung-hyuk took his eyes off Eun-seol.

 

“Don’t easily.”

 

And he glared at So-hee’s bloodless face as if to devour it.

 

“Forgive.”