#172

Yoon Ki-beom, on the verge of turning nineteen, was an indispensable figure in Special Activities. Despite being a newcomer, he received Dr. Choi’s love and the director and vice-director’s trust all to himself. That Yoon Ki-beom threatened to report Kim Young-ja’s mistake to the director and vice-director.

Kim Young-ja, who was secretly trying to dispose of the girl’s body with Mr. Han, was on the verge of being kicked out of the orphanage. No, she was definitely going to be kicked out. She was already warned, and she knew better than anyone how precious the director and vice-director considered the children, so she was certain.

Considering them precious didn’t necessarily mean treating them well, but at least they didn’t beat or abuse them to the point of death. To them, the children were a source of money. Especially the girls, they were geese that laid golden eggs. But Kim Young-ja had cut open the goose’s belly without permission, so she wouldn’t just be kicked out. Maybe she could die. She was scared.

Kim Young-ja was especially afraid of the vice-director, Kim Sung-hwan. Kim Sung-hwan was a madman. A psycho. He had no emotions at all. She always got goosebumps when he looked at her with his empty pupils. She had been living with him for over six years, but she still couldn’t get used to encountering Kim Sung-hwan.

But Yoon Ki-beom had seen it. That bastard, who was more than just loose, had become a witness to murder. Murder. It was a mistake. No, it was just bad luck.

Kim Young-ja knelt before Yoon Ki-beom. She begged, crying and pleading. She felt pathetic and miserable, being thirty-eight years old and kneeling before an eighteen-year-old boy.

If only I had become Dr. Choi’s wife, or even just his mistress, this wouldn’t have happened. Why doesn’t Dr. Choi like me? He says “The head nurse is the best” every time, and he says I’m beautiful every day, but why doesn’t he date me? If I had at least the qualification of being Dr. Choi’s lover, I wouldn’t have to kneel and beg to that arrogant Yoon Ki-beom.

Seeing that I’m still thinking about Dr. Choi in the midst of all this, I thought I was seriously ill.

“Auntie, take off all your clothes and write your name with your butt.”

Yoon Ki-beom demanded, giggling.

He called Kim Young-ja “Auntie,” leaving aside her title of head nurse. Before she knew it, he even called Rank 2 Najinsu, who called himself Rocky. Rambo and Rocky. They were disgusting bastards.

Especially Yoon Ki-beom, that bastard, never said a word carelessly. He wasn’t like that when he first came to the orphanage, but he gradually became corrupted and now he had become no different from Kim Sung-hwan.

It was all because of that Rank 1. Special Activities ruined him. No, he was originally a rotten seed. The special treatment just accelerated the process. If Kim Sung-hwan was an expressionless psycho, Yoon Ki-beom was a smiling psycho.

He smiled slyly and said, “Hurry up and take off your clothes.”

Kim Young-ja took off her clothes, crying. She became naked in front of young boys and wrote the names Yoon Ki-beom called out with her butt. Including the name of the dead child, she probably wrote about a dozen names. Na Jin-soo filmed the scene with a video camera, and Yoon Ki-beom also captured it on the expensive film camera that Dr. Choi had lent him. She was embarrassed, but she consoled herself that it was a hundred times better than being kicked out.

She thought that everything was resolved with that shameful punishment that day. The girl’s body was burned at the crematorium, and she told the director that she had run away. Since children running away from the orphanage was commonplace, Kim Sung-hwan went out to catch the girl without any suspicion.

But Yoon Ki-beom was persistent. He started demanding money from Kim Young-ja. At first, it was small change like a thousand or two thousand won, but the amount gradually increased. Eventually, he demanded Kim Young-ja’s entire monthly salary. It wasn’t a request, it was extortion.

Kim Young-ja was angry, but she had no choice but to give it to him. It wasn’t about the salary. Kim Young-ja had a separate bonus. It was a secret payment she received for managing and supervising pregnant girls, including their menstrual cycles, fertile periods, nutritional status, and post-treatment after Special Activities. It was a bonus that was two to five times her salary. If she left the orphanage, the bonus would be goodbye too. Since it wasn’t about the salary, she gave him whatever he asked for.

But Yoon Ki-beom’s demands never seemed to end, and he started laying hands on Kim Young-ja. That is, he hit her. He returned to her exactly what he had done to the girl he had beaten to death, as well as what he had done to other girls. Yoon Ki-beom and Na Jin-soo led the way, and the victims who had been beaten by Kim Young-ja took turns participating.

Kim Young-ja couldn’t stand being beaten by girls Rank 4 or below. How dare those low-ranking things, those who weren’t even human, beat this head nurse Kim Young-ja! Kim Young-ja, who had been gritting her teeth and enduring, finally exploded.

She wondered how to get rid of Yoon Ki-beom. She could never kill him. If she did, she would die too. Kim Young-ja was anxious. She struggled day and night to find a way to completely drive Yoon Ki-beom out of this orphanage.

Yoon Ki-beom would soon be an adult. When he became an adult, he would leave the orphanage and go out into society like any other child, and he would never set foot here again. Dr. Choi didn’t pay attention to the children who became adults either. No matter how pretty or handsome they were, even if they had his child, he treated them like he was just taking care of them.

But Yoon Ki-beom had more than a year left to become an adult. A year, she would die of frustration in the meantime. After much deliberation, Kim Young-ja finally found a clever plan. Of course, it wasn’t something she could do alone.

Kim Young-ja cried and told Mr. Han, who had made the temporary crematorium, that Yoon Ki-beom was harassing her. Of course, she didn’t say a word about the atrocities she had committed. Mr. Han, who didn’t like the orphanage children in the first place, got angry on behalf of Kim Young-ja. He took the initiative to punish him.

“Is Yoon Ki-beom that special?”

The man asked.

“Of course, he’s special.”

“Where?”

“Everywhere.”

It wasn’t because Yoon Ki-beom was tall and handsome that he received special treatment. There were plenty of boys in Rank 1 who were taller and more handsome than Yoon Ki-beom.

The real reason he was special was because he looked just like Dr. Choi. He even resembled only the excellent aspects of Dr. Choi’s appearance. To Dr. Choi, who was short, frail, and limped due to polio, Yoon Ki-beom was another self. The best output.

Dr. Choi was very fond of him. He praised him as a perfect boy, and he acted like he would do anything for him.

“So, what are you going to do with Yoon Ki-beom?”

“What else? We’re going to make him a cripple.”

Kim Young-ja smiled sinisterly.

Dr. Choi hated children with disabilities like himself. He was especially cruel to those who limped. He sent them all to the factory and made them work to death until they actually died.

As much as that, Dr. Choi considered cripples the worst. He insulted them as beasts that even God had given up on. He limped himself, but he was so cruel that it was hard to believe. Kim Young-ja guessed that Dr. Choi must have suffered a lot because of polio.

Anyway, Kim Young-ja decided to ruin Yoon Ki-beom. There was no way Dr. Choi would like Yoon Ki-beom, who had become a cripple. Of course, he would hate him and abandon him. Then Yoon Ki-beom’s world would be over too. She felt like she would go crazy with joy just imagining it.

From that day on, Kim Young-ja thought about how to harm Yoon Ki-beom every minute and every second. Since it was an orphanage in the mountains, there were endless ways, but it wasn’t easy to seize the opportunity.

Kim Young-ja, who was withering away day by day while waiting for a chance, had a perfect moment.

Kim Young-ja remembered that day as vividly as yesterday.

One night in February, after it had been snowing for three days straight, Yoon Ki-beom and Na Jin-soo went to the mountain 30 minutes away from the orphanage. They had their own hideout on the top of the mountain. It was just a tent, but it was heaven to them.

Yoon Ki-beom and Na Jin-soo took the orphanage girls there and prostituted them. They sold the girls to peers or older adults they met in entertainment establishments such as tea rooms and bars in the city. The children, who had grown up in an orphanage where rape was rampant, did it without any guilt, and Yoon Ki-beom stood at the forefront.

The director had heard rumors and knew about it, but he didn’t bother to stop them. After all, the girls had to get pregnant, and it didn’t matter who the Father was.

Besides, as long as Dr. Choi protected Yoon Ki-beom, the director had no authority to scold Yoon Ki-beom. It was better to pretend not to know than to get involved in troublesome things for no reason. It wasn’t the first time Yoon Ki-beom had done something bad.

Yoon Ki-beom committed all the acts that delinquent teenagers of his age would do, such as petty theft, assault, and gang fights. The director and vice-director went to the police station almost every day, bribed them, and covered up the incidents.

There was only one time when they went to the police station, not the police box, with Dr. Choi, and the director spent a lot of money that day. Dr. Choi, who returned from the police station, even got angry at Yoon Ki-beom. He even laid his hands on Yoon Ki-beom in front of everyone.

“What did you do?”

The man asked.

“Well, I don’t know either. Did he kill someone?”

Kim Young-ja joked and giggled. But the man didn’t laugh.

“Do you remember when that was?”

“Let me see.”

Kim Young-ja had a good memory. Moreover, how could she forget the day when Yoon Ki-beom was slapped by Dr. Choi for the first time in front of her? It was as refreshing as having a toothache pulled out.

When she told him the date, the man urged her to “Continue.” Encouraged by the man’s encouragement, Kim Young-ja continued.

After being hit by Dr. Choi, Yoon Ki-beom began to obsess over money. He used to spend everything he earned, but he started saving it desperately as if he had never done that before. Prostitution was also one of the ways Yoon Ki-beom came up with to make money. If you add up the money he earned from Special Activities, prostitution, and extortion from Kim Young-ja and other residents, it would be quite a lot, but Yoon Ki-beom was burning with the desire to earn more.

Perhaps it was natural. He was like an emperor only in the orphanage, but the moment he left here, Yoon Ki-beom was nothing. He couldn’t even dream of Dr. Choi’s protection. He seemed to have realized that fact belatedly. It was a great relief for Kim Young-ja.

Even on that snowy night, Yoon Ki-beom didn’t stop making money. He walked fearlessly on the snow-covered mountain path, where his knees sank deep. He had no idea that there was a trap under his feet, and he strode up.

It was Mr. Han who set the trap, and it was Kim Young-ja who ordered him to set the trap. It was a kind of gamble. After a month of stalking, she knew that Yoon Ki-beom always climbed the mountain path first, but Na Jin-soo occasionally took the lead, so she didn’t know who the victim would be. She had no choice but to leave it to fate.

The traps were placed zigzag from the top near the tent to the bottom. They carefully estimated the location as they came down backwards so that they would not get caught in the traps.

The terrifying traps for catching roe deer or wild boars were all covered in rust. Mr. Han hammered in one more blade into each of them. He used his skills in making temporary crematoriums to modify the traps so that the ankle of the person caught in the trap would be completely destroyed.

Kim Young-ja, disguised as a hunter, trembled as she looked at the traps made by Mr. Han. She was afraid that her ankle would get caught and crushed, even though that would never happen, she kept her distance from Mr. Han for no reason. At the same time, she was excited. She felt like she would die of happiness imagining Yoon Ki-beom getting caught in that trap and breaking his ankle.

After setting all the traps, the two people hid behind a nearby rock and calmly waited for the children.

Kim Young-ja looked up at the falling snow and prayed to the sky.

Father God, please make the sinner walk in front for your proud daughter, Kim Young-ja. This daughter earnestly prays to Father, please wash away the sinner’s sins with blood.

“Who’s calling who a sinner?”

The man sneered.

“Shut up.”

“Okay. Keep going.”

“I prayed really earnestly. It was probably the day I prayed the most earnestly in my life.”

She prayed really earnestly, and finally, her prayer was answered.

Heaven helped Kim Young-ja.

That night when they set the traps, Yoon Ki-beom walked in the very front.

Yoon Ki-beom gleefully stomped on the snow that sank deeply beneath his feet. He laughed, looking down at the girls trailing behind him like turtles and Na Jin-soo at the very back.

‘Hey, you fucking bastard, everything’s frozen solid, so no customers are coming.’

Na Jin-soo shouted from behind.

‘Bullshit, screw you. The people who are coming will come anyway. They’d come even in a storm, right?’

Yoon Ki-beom confidently replied.

‘We’ll see.’

With those words, Yoon Ki-beom took a step forward. His right foot sank, and a scream erupted from Yoon Ki-beom’s mouth.

‘Aaaagh!’

One out!

Kim Young-ja, who had been hiding and watching, was so happy that she hugged Mr. Han tightly. She barely managed to suppress the laughter that almost burst out.

The girls, unaware of what was happening, stopped at the scream. Na Jin-soo, startled, hurriedly scrambled up. Then, he collapsed near Yoon Ki-beom.

Two out!

‘Aaaaaagh!’

A scream also erupted from Na Jin-soo’s mouth.

The girls were thrown into confusion.

‘There’s a trap. Nobody move!’

Yoon Ki-beom shouted belatedly. The girls stood frozen, trembling with fear and cold, while Na Jin-soo and Yoon Ki-beom, buried in the snow, struggled desperately to free themselves from the trap.

‘Hey, you fucking bitches. Aren’t you going to come and help?’

At Yoon Ki-beom’s thunderous roar, the girls reluctantly went towards them, but they were of no help at all.

That trap could never be released by human strength alone.

Kim Young-ja chuckled as she watched the scene.

‘Misook, go and get some people. Hurry!’

Yoon Ki-beom pleaded, crying.

Rank 4 Kim Mi-sook. The girl who had a crush on Yoon Ki-beom ran down the mountain as if it were her own business, even at the request of the boy who forced her into prostitution. The small, thin girl rolled down the snowfield, disappearing lower and lower. The other girls took the opportunity to run away. Everyone except Kim Mi-sook returned to the Galilla Orphanage.

About an hour after going to ask for help, Kim Mi-sook appeared with two men. They were residents living in nearby farmhouses. They had heard the girl’s story and brought equipment.

Oh, dear. A sigh burst out from the mouths of the men simultaneously. They shook their heads, seeing the traps on the boys’ ankles. Tsk tsk, the two men clicked their tongues and desperately managed to remove the traps. Yoon Ki-beom howled in pain, and Na Jin-soo almost crawled.

As one of the men looked towards the tent and tried to move there,

‘Don’t go up there. I think there might be more traps,’

the other man warned. He was a man with a good sense.

The men supported the boys one by one and went down the mountain. Kim Mi-sook, unable to even support herself properly, did her best to support Yoon Ki-beom. The places they passed were stained with red blood, soon covered white by the falling snow.

Because it had snowed so much, the five of them repeatedly rolled in the snow and then stood up again. It was unfortunately the top of the mountain, and unfortunately, it was the time when a blizzard was pouring down and all the nearby roads were paralyzed. The snow fell disgustingly heavily.

Later, I heard from the headmaster that they somehow managed to get to the hospital, but a small clinic could not treat ankles that were so badly injured. After roughly disinfecting and stopping the bleeding, they moved to a larger hospital.

But the ambulance crawled. One hour, two hours, three hours. It took that long to get to the nearby general hospital, and after that, they wasted a total of twelve hours waiting their turn in the emergency room. In the meantime, Yoon Ki-beom and Na Jin-soo’s ankles were said to have reached an irreversible state.

That night, Kim Young-ja had a good night’s sleep for the first time in a long time. The screams of Yoon Ki-beom and Na Jin-soo became a lullaby. She had no idea that what she had done would eat away at the Galilla Orphanage. She simply rejoiced and praised her own courage in carrying out her revenge. She also thanked God the Father, who had been on her side.

Ah. How foolish was Kim Young-ja at that time?

If she had acted a little more wisely, if she had endured a little more, Yoon Ki-beom would have self-destructed on his own. If that had happened, Dr. Choi, whom she loved so much, would still be healthy and taking care of the orphanage and cherishing her.

Foolish, foolish.

That’s why she’s receiving this punishment now.

Kim Young-ja regretted, pounding the ground.

173 – Chapter Title Without Number