By Zephyria 
“You disgrace to this family. Do you know why you’re attached to the hospital? It’s not because you graduated from medical school, nor because you have immense ability. It’s all because of me! You’re there thanks to having the right parents! There are plenty of people smarter and better than you, but I put you in that position because you’re my child. Then you should do something that helps the hospital, not try to ruin it! You ignorant brat.”
Slap! I heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh. For a while, loud noises of things being thrown and broken continued.
“I guess you’ll only come to your senses if you’re kicked out of both your home and the hospital. No, you’re the kind of guy who won’t come to his senses even then.”
“I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Father. I was wrong. Please forgive me just once. Then I’ll never again…”
“’I’ll never do it again.’ The words you say every time are the same, and your actions are the same. Do you not know the meaning of progress?”
“No, Father. From now on, I’ll really, really do well.”
The younger one cowered before Father, as if terrified of something. The sound of his sobbing leaked out of the room. For it to be that loud, he must have done something terribly wrong.
“Leaving the hospital whenever you please, misdiagnosing patients, not giving a damn about them. What other stunts are you planning to pull to drag this hospital through the mud? Ruining your life, ruining the hospital, ruining this family, all while sucking on this shit!”
“I’m sorry. I’ll do better from now on. I won’t leave my post, I’ll take proper care of the patients, I won’t disappoint you, Father….”
Oho, that guy was a complete disaster. Leaving the hospital and neglecting patients is just a lack of professional attitude for someone receiving a salary, but he even misdiagnosed people? It’s honestly impressive that he’s still practicing medicine. For the sake of the patients, it would be better to just kick a guy like that out.
“Dong-hu.”
Father, catching his breath, called the younger one’s name in a low voice.
“Yes. Yes, Father.”
“Please, get your act together. How much more of this delinquent behavior do I have to witness? I’m not asking you to be great. Is it really that hard to just stay quiet and stop causing accidents? You need to keep your mouth shut so you can at least open your own clinic and leave eventually.”
“Father!”
“You only have a position right now because I’m here. What do you plan to do once your Hyung takes over the hospital? I can turn a blind eye because you’re my child, but you know as well as I do that the eldest doesn’t have that kind of personality.”
The eldest is indeed cold. Recalling the eyes of the eldest—cunning as a snake, always waiting for an opportunity—I figured that if that man became the next hospital director, the dim-witted younger one wouldn’t get a single crumb.
“When did I ever tell you to be exceptionally great? I just told you to do your part as one person. How do you manage to cause an accident every single time? You always make such a scene. Do you feel nothing while watching your eldest brother? Doesn’t it occur to you that you shouldn’t live like this? I’m not asking you to be like him, just to be as decent as an average person! Is that so hard?!”
“Hyung, Hyung, always Hyung! Stop talking about him!”
“If you were born well, you should act the part. You were sown from the same seed and born in the same field, so why are you so different! This is why you’re no match for the eldest. Were you born an Alpha without any ambition or aspiration? Rumors are already swirling as if it’s a given that the eldest will be the next director, and yet you’re still pulling these delinquent stunts!”
“Rumors? You’re planning to hand it over to Hyung anyway, so why blame the rumors? You never once considered me. In your head, the next director is already Hyung!”
“That’s why you should have done well! You should have pushed forward while I was supporting you. Do you know the difference between you and the eldest? While the eldest grew quickly, absorbing every bit of nutrient I gave him, you just let everything leak away, spreading sideways and barely managing to sprout a few twigs. You useless brat.”
“Anyway! Anyway, I’m the second son. Whether I’m capable or not, you’re giving the director position to Hyung anyway, so why blame me! If I had been born first, that spot would have been mine. If you were going to give everything to Hyung just because he was born slightly earlier, why did you even have me? Huh? The only thing Cha Baek-joo is better at is being born before me!”
Yeah, that’s not true. I don’t particularly like the eldest, but he is certainly superior to the younger one in many ways. Looking at his cold personality, his patience in quietly observing situations, and his judgment in seizing opportunities, he was the type of man who could easily trample others to survive alone. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a good person, though.
“Do not… disappoint your father any further. Otherwise, I will have no choice but to kick you out with my own hands, rather than the eldest’s.”
“Father, please. Please give me a chance. Please?”
“Based on what? Your delinquent behavior? That dim-witted head of yours? That body of yours that does nothing but do drugs? What on earth am I supposed to see in you to trust you? Just stay quiet and open your own clinic in a few years and leave. Stop causing accidents.”
Sensing the conversation was winding down, I stood on my tiptoes and slipped back into my room. I felt like I now had a general grasp of how this household operated.
Father could tolerate his children’s delinquency, but he couldn’t stand anything that harmed the hospital. The eldest was thriving with the director’s position within reach. The younger one was the problem; having grown up being compared to the eldest despite lacking the ability, he seemed to be riddled with inferiority and a victim complex. When an incompetent person acts like that, they’re bound to cause a disaster eventually.
Father was wrong. It wasn’t that the younger one lacked ambition or aspiration. He had ambition, but lacked the ability.
If I poke at this gently, a pretty interesting picture might emerge. My wicked streak was starting to flare up.
∞ ∞ ∞
“Do you like living alone?”
I asked as I stepped into the elevator with Kwon Yi-kang, who had personally come down to the parking lot to pick me up.
“It’s convenient in that I can avoid friction with my parents. Why? Thinking of moving out?”
“No. I like it as it is for now.”
“I suppose so. The world is a scary place for an Omega young master to live on his own.”
What is he talking about? I’m a man so driven by spite that even a robber would run away from me. The reason I wanted to stay at home was that I needed to get used to Cha Soo-kyung’s life, and watching it from a third-party perspective was as thrilling as watching a soap opera.
“That family is quite entertaining. Something beyond expectations always happens, so there’s never a dull moment.”
“That family is your family; your positive way of thinking is commendable,” he said lightly, brushing against the nape of my neck.
“This way.”
I had said it as a joke, but I was immediately invited to Kwon Yi-kang’s house. I guess this is why everyone wants to move out. You can date comfortably at home without having to go to a hotel or motel. Why are the people in my family all clinging to the house? Maybe it’s because there are so many children.
“Are you an only child?”
“I think I mentioned it last time, are you just confirming?”
“No, not that. I mean, do you have no siblings, just you?”
“That’s right. Why do you ask?”
“I was just wondering why the children in my house all cling together when living independently is so convenient. I wondered if it’s because of the inheritance. It feels like they stick together disgustingly just to make a better impression so they can get a bit more later. Even though they hate each other.”
Given that Grandfather is still healthy and alive, independence will probably be impossible for them for the rest of their lives. They’ll live together until their parents are on their deathbeds, then push for a revised will when the last breath is being drawn. Arguing over who was better, pulling hair, exposing each other’s secrets. I can see it clearly without even looking.
Since I’m a person who values the present more than the future, I won’t cling to an inheritance that might never come; I’ll just figure out a way to grab a chunk of it early and get out.
“Life is similar for everyone. Those with money fight over it, and those without it fight over not having it.”
“Isn’t it the same regardless of how much you have, as long as you don’t have to worry about making a living? It’s not like all that money goes into eating, dressing, playing, and sleeping.”
“Humans are creatures who want more the more they have.”
Frankly, what’s the point of being the hospital director or the chairman of the board? It’s not like they’re going to sell the hospital for cash. With the money they have now, they could easily live comfortably until they die. I don’t know why everyone is so obsessed with the hospital. Seeing how they clean up after a son who causes medical accidents, it’s clearly not some holy goal of thinking only of the patient and treating them from the patient’s perspective.
Of course, as someone living off my father’s money, I’m in no position to complain, but watching from the side makes me sigh at how they waste their energy on such useless things.
“I just don’t get it.”
Clicking my tongue at such incomprehensible people, I stepped through the door Kwon Yi-kang opened. As I took off my shoes and stepped inside, I saw photos filling one entire wall from the entrance to the living room.
“What is all this?”
“Photos I took. I majored in photography.”
“That’s unexpected. Didn’t you say you work for a company?”
“That was because of my father. Feel free to look around.”
Taking my coat, Kwon Yi-kang gave me his permission.
Photos of various sizes were hung on the wall in plain wooden frames. As I looked through them slowly, I recalled having seen photos with a similar feel before.
“I’ve seen photos like these.”
“Where?”
“A while ago… there was an exhibition. I went every day to see it.”
Because of Cha Soo-kyung, I had paid the blood-like admission fee every time. Since I had a date with death, I paid the money without hesitation; otherwise, it was a place I wouldn’t have set foot in.
“It must have been my exhibition. An acquaintance of mine is an agent, so I get contacted occasionally. I’m honored that you were such a fan that you went every day.”
I should probably not mention that I cursed like crazy because of the admission fee. Or that I cursed saying the photos made the viewer feel like shit.
To think the exhibition where I poured out words bordering on malice was Kwon Yi-kang’s… I briefly wondered if I should pour those feelings onto the photographer now, but I quickly decided it was better to just leave it buried.
The atmosphere was similar, but there were almost no overlapping photos with the ones I saw at the exhibition. I wondered if they weren’t good enough for an exhibition, but then I wondered what the difference was, since he chose to hang them at home.
As I examined the photos one by one, I saw a photo in a frame slightly larger than the others. It was a black-and-white photo of an alleyway, similar to the others, but the small child captured in it gripped my gaze and wouldn’t let go.
“Ah, you’re looking at that one. It’s my favorite photo.”
“…Why?”
“That kid was quite unique. I still remember.”
The child in the photo Kwon Yi-kang pointed to was wearing grimy clothes, shoulders hunched, glaring straight ahead.
That was… me at eleven years old.