By Zephyria Past midnight.
The atmosphere in the room was bleak.
“If you need any further explanation—”
“No.”
Ki Jae-eon cut Ryu Seong-hee off firmly.
“It’s enough.”
He said it was enough with a face that said otherwise. But he had his reasons. No matter how much more he heard, the reality wouldn’t change. So, it was more efficient to understand quickly.
Okay, let’s summarize what I’ve heard so far.
My father left home for sudden training.
My brother will inherit the family instead of me.
I’ve been transferred from Heavenly Land to the main office?
Everything from start to finish was strange, but he grasped the gist of the story.
However, the point that remained a mystery was…
Why did the ‘past me’ accept all of this? The current him would never make such a foolish choice as abandoning Heavenly Land and coming to the main office.
‘Why did Father condone these ridiculous choices?’
Did I commit some huge mistake before losing my memory?
Or did my power wane?
‘No, that’s not it. My energy seems to have increased significantly.’
He was feigning composure, but his inner self was in turmoil. Perhaps Ryu Seong-hee recognized this in her son? She calmly called his name.
“Jae-eon.”
“……”
“Jae-eon?”
“Mother, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“Yes, you can ask me anything.”
“Am I being demoted?”
“What?”
“Did I fall out of Father’s favor…?”
Ki Jae-eon’s words trailed off slightly. In fact, the possibility was low, but it wasn’t entirely impossible either.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m not insulting Father. I’m just—”
Ki Jae-eon continued cautiously, saying that he knew his own worth best. But the more he spoke, the more Ryu Seong-hee’s expression hardened. She was shocked by the cynical remarks that came so casually from her son’s mouth, and she murmured, “Worth…” in a stunned voice. Then, she staggered and touched her forehead.
“That’s not it.”
She was trying hard to suppress her emotions.
“There’s no such thing as worth in a parent-child relationship.”
“……”
“It’s just.”
Ryu Seong-hee bit her lower lip tightly and remained silent for a moment. She seemed to be deep in thought for some reason. Her eyes wavered. Not missing that moment, Ki Jae-eon realized that there was ‘something unsaid’ that his mother wasn’t telling him. But he didn’t press her. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t curious, but he didn’t want to make his mother uncomfortable by questioning her. Yes, if it were important information that he absolutely needed to know, she would have told him already.
‘It couldn’t have been important.’
His mother would never lie, even if she remained silent.
Ki Jae-eon uncharacteristically rationalized.
It was then.
Ryu Seong-hee opened her mouth hesitantly, as if she had decided what to say.
“…Just think of it as a vacation.”
“A vacation?”
“Your father and brother know how much you’ve suffered, Jae-eon.”
Suffered…?
Ki Jae-eon’s expression became subtle. He looked like a fool, as if he had been hit out of the blue. After all, how could he not be surprised that his father and brother were worried about him! Ki Jae-eon stared blankly ahead, as if he had heard something unimaginable. He was like a robot with a long loading time.
‘Father and brother…’
They thought that way about me? A feeling he couldn’t define suddenly surged deep within his chest. It felt stinging, and also nauseating. In any case, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
Ki Jae-eon curled his twitching fingertips inward and tried to change the subject. He didn’t want to be dominated by this meaningless emotion any longer.
“Then, why the main office of all places?”
“Because you have many friends at the main office.”
“Excuse me?”
“Above all, you liked it here, Jae-eon.”
“E-excuse me?”
Ki Jae-eon’s eyes widened again. He was so surprised that he even cracked his voice as he asked back. It was a completely different reaction from before.
How could he be friends with such riffraff!
How could he have liked such a terrible place!
Good heavens!
This was… truly absurd.
Regardless of whether he lost his memory or not, it was an impossible story.
Ki Jae-eon heard the sound of his pride cracking. It wasn’t an auditory hallucination. It really felt like it was shattering into pieces.
Ki Jae-eon stood up abruptly. Ryu Seong-hee also flinched at the rattling sound.
“Jae-eon?”
“I’ll return to duty as of today.”
“What?”
“Please allow me to return to Incheon… to Heavenly Land.”
His eyes were resolute.
‘Yes, if I think about it calmly, whatever the past was like, it has nothing to do with the current ‘me’.’
If the current me doesn’t like it, then I don’t like it!
But unfortunately, life doesn’t go as planned!
“I can’t allow that.”
Ryu Seong-hee rejected him immediately.
“What?”
“At least until you regain your memory, you’ll stay at the main office, Jae-eon.”
“Mother!”
“Jae-eon, it’s your mother’s request.”
“…A r-request?”
He was hearing things he had never heard before all in one day.
Ki Jae-eon drooped his shoulders at his mother’s gentle touch on his hand.
His mother was making a request? Frankly, it was surprising.
He hadn’t felt a big difference even though he had lost his memory, but that wasn’t true.
‘The mother I knew is quite different.’
The difference was clear.
What on earth happened before I lost my memory?
What did I do to make my family—
‘Get closer?’
How did the past me… live as their ‘son’?
*
“Everyone understood, right?”
“Yes!”
The children nodded at Kim Yeong’s attention. Um, good. Kim Yeong made a satisfied expression, then paused and gave Lee Gyeong-hak, who had a loose tongue, another warning.
“Gyeong-hak, what did Teacher say?”
“Ah, Teacher. I’m not an idiot.”
“Heo, hurry up—”
“Don’t tell Jae-eon hyung about the past.”
Lee Gyeong-hak pouted, saying he got it.
“But, Teacher… is this the right thing to do?”
Jo Eun-ha, who had been quietly watching the situation, raised her hand slightly. She glanced at Kim Yeong and then conveyed her opinion in a subdued voice. “In the end, we’re all going to lie, right?” Her guilty expression was clear. Kim Young-do, seeing his student’s pitiful appearance, also groaned. Yes, he agreed. She was right. What they were about to do was make a fool of Ki Jae-eon. Kim Yeong was also uncomfortable, even while thoroughly controlling the children’s mouths.
That was because the [main office] had decided to coordinate their stories after a long meeting.
They decided to hide the ‘unnecessary’ past from Ki Jae-eon.
To put it nicely, it was for Ki Jae-eon’s ‘absolute stability,’ and to put it badly, it was because they didn’t know what to do, so they decided to keep it a secret for now.
There were many clashes of opinion before that conclusion was reached.
Ryu Seong-hee, Ki Jae-eon’s parent, and the main office Teachers were divided exactly in half, raising their voices.
They were split between telling everything honestly and not telling the story about ‘that.’
For reference, those who supported the latter argued that there was no need to dig up painful parts and ruin the child. They had seen through his memories how Ki Jae-eon was hurt and broken. In addition, some said that now that things had turned out this way, they should let him forget the terrible memories and give him a new life.
Kim Yeong also supported the latter ‘for now.’
But he fully understood the minds of those who supported the former.
First, it was a pity to lose the knowledge of ‘that’ that Ki Jae-eon had, even though it was regrettable for him.
Second, the shock he would receive when his memory returned for some reason in the future.
Considering everything, it was better to tell him the truth.
In the end, the decision-making power went to Ryu Seong-hee, his biological parent, and after a long deliberation, she said, “Give me time.” So, the immediate conclusion was ‘silence.’ Except for the story that he had transferred to the main office for a ‘vacation’ and was getting along with everyone.