Riser
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21-14
🕑 Added 2025-03-13 02:11:57 +0000 UTCChapter 14: Dad Goes Back to School (Slightly Modified)
My sister Mi-hyun was definitely awake last night too.
The next morning when we made eye contact after waking up, I could tell. She had heard everything. Judging by her gloomy expression...
Unlike yesterday when we were happy to get our first phones, a chilly atmosphere surrounded our family from the morning.
"...Eat your food."
"Okay..."
Mom was deeply depressed, and we became depressed too seeing her mood. We silently ate our food, rolling our eyes at each other, then went to school.
"Hey! Hyeon-seong! Let's play dodgeball!"
"Uh... I'm not feeling well today."
"Why? You're our ace!"
"Don't go! We'll all lose if you don't play!"
"Sorry."
I guess it was obvious to others too. As I sat like a corpse with my face darkened, Gyu-tae came over from the next class and asked after reading the mood:
"What's up? Why do you look so dead? Want me to roll you a joint?"
"Ha. I'm fine."
"Come on, what is it? You keep making that face."
"Family stuff."
"Are your parents getting divorced?"
"What? What nonsense are you talking?"
"My dad's getting divorced soon."
"...What?"
It turns out Gyu-tae's dad runs a business too, but he's so busy he doesn't come home, so his mom had an affair and they had a big fight.
"I didn't know."
"I didn't tell you. You should open up too. It might make you feel better."
"Aren't you upset? Your parents are getting divorced."
"...I don't know. They've been fighting terribly since I was little, so I feel like it was inevitable."
"...Okay. The thing is..."
After I finished telling him everything, Gyu-tae slapped my shoulder and said:
"Shit, it's pretty messed up but at least they're not divorcing, right? Your dad will be out again in a few years. It's better than my situation. You've got it good, haha."
"How is this better, you bastard?"
"Is that so? Then let's call it even."
Though his words were frivolous, I felt my heart lighten a bit. This is why I couldn't hate this guy.
Kwak Young-cheol.
That was the man's name.
The man who made Dad take the fall and go to prison alone.
The next afternoon, that man suddenly appeared before our family. In front of the narrow basement apartment stairs, with Dad. That gentleman seemed to already know Mom, as he greeted her familiarly while being cautious:
"Na-yeon. It's been a while."
"Young-cheol oppa?"
"Yeah. Have you been well?"
Kwak Young-cheol was a man who reminded me of a bear or gorilla in many ways. He was shorter than Dad at around 175cm, but his shoulder width was incredibly broad and his chest and waist were thick. Everything about him was thick. His frame was so wide that I immediately thought he looked strong.
So even though Dad was tall and slim, standing next to him, Young-cheol looked... very solid.
On top of that, his forearms exposed by his short-sleeved shirt had... dragon tattoos boldly drawn on them.
Overall, he was the epitome of a thug. He looked like a slimmer, more vicious version of Ma Dong-X.
With a person like that blocking the entrance with Dad, I felt suffocated.
"You've heard, right? I felt so bad... I came to apologize to Tae-gu in person because I felt so sorry."
"..."
Mom was seething silently, while Dad next to her was fidgeting nervously for no reason.
"Hey, Na-yeon. You know I would've ended up in prison anyway, even if it wasn't for Young-cheol hyung. You know that, right?"
"Sigh... Yes, I know, you idiot. Since I know, just shut up."
"..."
While Dad became a mute who'd eaten honey, Mom glared fiercely and pointed her finger at Young-cheol.
"Oppa. How could you do this? How could you pin everything on him...?!"
"I'm sorry. I really have nothing to say."
"...You shouldn't have anything to say. Sigh..."
Kwak Young-cheol rolled his eyes nervously in front of Mom, who looked like she could be knocked over with one punch, before finally speaking:
"Yeah. I'm sorry. I know. What I did was trash. So from now on, I'm going to think of him as my lifelong benefactor and take care of Tae-gu. I'll give him a management position at our company when he gets out, and I'll take care of your family while he's in prison too."
"How exactly are you going to take care of us?"
That's when Dad, who had been fidgeting next to Young-cheol, stepped in to explain:
"Na-yeon. Young-cheol hyung is no joke. He runs several businesses, including big operations in water and women."
Ah...
I didn't have much respect for Dad to begin with, but... seeing Dad acting subservient next to the sturdy Mr. Young-cheol... Dad who usually hit Mom and us at the slightest provocation was now just watching carefully and sucking up in front of a stronger person, which felt very unmanly.
Above all, seeing him praise another male in front of his woman seemed fundamentally wrong. It's human nature to want to look cool and strong in front of your woman. But Dad was really not it at that moment.
Actually, it wasn't that surprising that Dad was going to prison. When I was a baby, when Mom had to raise us twins alone as an underage single mother, Dad was in prison, or rather juvenile detention.
But now at such an important time, to irresponsibly say he'll be in prison for a few years and do time for his close hyung... no matter that he's my dad, it felt like his incompetence had really exceeded the limit.
"Come on... Let's not do this. We haven't seen each other in a while, so let's have a beer and talk. Okay?"
"Beer at a time like this... Sigh, never mind..."
After the adults' argument roughly ended like that, Mr. Kwak Young-cheol hesitantly approached us siblings. Honestly, he looked so scary I was intimidated, but...
"Haha. So you're Na-yeon's kids. My, you both look tall and handsome like your mom. Uncle feels so sorry to you... Want to take this?"
But when several 50,000 won bills suddenly popped out of his wallet, I felt my heart soften a bit.
Maybe he's a better person than I thought?
July 20th.
Dad's trial and detention proceeded swiftly. The evidence was so clear, and he had agreed to take the blame for Mr. Young-cheol's share too after coordinating with him.
"The defendant Kang Tae-gu, on XX/XX/202X at around XX PM, got into an argument with the victim XXX while drunk at a bar in Guro-gu, Seoul. The defendant then punched the victim's head multiple times, knocked him down, and kicked him, causing severe injuries requiring 16 weeks of treatment including facial fractures and rib fractures... For these reasons, the defendant Kang Tae-gu is sentenced to 3 years in prison, with the time already served in detention to be counted towards this sentence.
This concludes the judgment. Judge Kim..."
When the verdict was announced, Mom's eyes welled up with tears for a moment... but that was it. It's not like we had high expectations for Dad, Kang Tae-gu, anyway. I was listening to the verdict rather blankly too.
"Kids. Dad will be a model prisoner and get out early. Study hard while I'm gone, and you're the head of the household now so take good care of Mom. Look after Mi-hyun well too... Okay?"
"...Yes."
So I halfheartedly brushed off his usual words of concern. Honestly, this man had no right to nag me about anything.
"Mi-hyun's not coming after all?"
"Mi-hyun obviously doesn't want to see her dad's face, why are you looking for her? If you were Mi-hyun, would you want to see yourself?"
"Fuck, the way you talk... Still, she should come see her dad off to prison."
"Oh please. What good example are you setting to make your daughter feel bad? Just behave yourself in prison and come out quietly. I'll deposit money for you often."
As Dad was finally taken away, Mom watched his retreating back with mixed feelings and let out a small sigh.
"Sigh... My fate. Let's go, Hyeon-seong."
"Okay..."
After Dad went to prison, Mom also had to find a job now. No matter how poorly Dad had performed as the breadwinner, he was still our only source of income that had now disappeared.
"Mom, should I get a part-time job too?"
"No need. You just study. Your grades were good this time, right?"
"Yeah..."
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it. At least one person in our family should go to college, right?"
Mom talked big to me like that, but when it came to actually finding a job, she was at a loss. A 32-year-old woman with only a middle school education and no work experience. That was Mom.
"...Part-time hourly wages won't be nearly enough."
She sighed again after asking around and searching the Alba Heaven app. Another sigh looking at flyers.
The jobs with the salary she wanted required qualifications she didn't have, and the simple jobs that even a middle school graduate could do paid only minimum wage, which didn't seem satisfactory to her.
After going to a few interviews here and there for a while, Mom... surprisingly found a decent office job paying 2.3 million won a month.
"I promised I'd take care of you, didn't I?"
Mr. Kwak Young-cheol had really kept his promise and given her an office job at his used car dealership.
