FL Chapter 66

“What are you doing today?”

The words flowed out suddenly from Heewoon’s mouth.

–Today? Hmm, after work, I have a meeting at night.

What kind of meeting is held at night? Heewoon’s forehead unconsciously furrowed.

–But I can always receive your call.

His tone sounded certain that Heewoon would call.

“… Yeah.”

At that moment, the sound of the bathroom door opening was heard. Heewoon spoke a bit urgently.

“Kangwoo, I’ll hang up.”

–Okay.

He hurriedly ended the call and got dressed. When he opened the closet to put on his outerwear, there wasn’t anything suitable. It was because his brother had gone out wearing his padded jacket. So Heewoon took out a worn-out padded jacket and put it on.

Heewoon and his mother went outside together, keeping an eye on their surroundings. Someone must be watching them. Grabbing his motherly hand, Heewoon looked around. They decided to visit the nearest PC cafe first.

It was early in the morning, so there weren’t many people in the PC cafe. Heewoon and his mother roamed around the small PC cafe. People with tired faces paid no attention to them, focusing solely on their monitors.

It seemed they couldn’t find his brother here. They went out and headed to another PC cafe a bit farther away. It was colder in the early morning. Touching his numb nose, Heewoon spoke to his mother.

“Hyung will be surprised if he sees us. Seeing us searching for him like this.”

His mother, who had been wearing a serious face the whole time, laughed softly. Heewoon talked to his mother more. He asked if she was cold, what they should have for lunch, and chatted about the weather.

They looked in a few more places but couldn’t find his brother. After two hours of searching, both his mother and Heewoon were freezing.

“Let’s go home first. He might be home by now.”

“Okay. You must be cold.”

His mother stroked Hee-woon’s cheek. Her hand was cold, the exact same temperature as his cheek, so he couldn’t feel anything.

***
His brother didn’t return until late in the evening.

“Should we report him missing to the police?”

“He’s not a child. If we report that your over 30 years old son hasn’t come home for a day, everyone will laugh at us.”

“…”

Heewoon bit his lip, realizing his tongue slipped. His tension and anxiety were growing. Looking at his mom, whose lips were tightly sealed, he lowered his head. He saw the strength in his mother’s hand as she gripped the floor.

“This won’t do. I have to look for him again.”

His mother stood up. Heewoon looked up at her, grabbing the edge of her apron. Worriedly, he spoke.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll check more PC cafes around and maybe the pool place.”

His mother put on the coat she left by the door, grabbed her wallet and phone. Heewoon, feeling uneasy, also stood up.

“Can’t we just wait a bit longer?”

“Heewoon, you stay here. Mom will find him and come back soon.”

Seeing his mother going out in the cold, Heewoon felt resentment towards his brother again.

“Then let’s go together, Mom.”

Just as Heewoon was about to grab a coat.

The sound of the front door opening echoed. Both Heewoon and his mother turned their heads simultaneously. His mother was faster in going outside.

“Heehyun… Heehyun!”

His mother screamed as if in a panic, and a strange anxiety suddenly grew in Heewoon’s chest. He also went out of the room.

He was frozen in place when he saw the entrance.

His brother’s appearance was a mess. His entire face was swollen with bruises, and blood had dried under his nose and chin. One eye was so swollen that it was impossible to see it clearly.

“Hee-Heehyun. Why do you look like this? Who did this to you! W-We need to go to the ho… No, we need to call 119.”

“Oh. Be quiet.”

His brother frowned, winced in pain, and furrowed his brows again. He walked past the two shocked people standing in front of the entrance and went inside. He was staggering to enter the room, he might be injured elsewhere.

Heewoon turned his head to look at the entrance. Beside Heewoon and Mom’s shoes, there was only one side of slippers laid out.

“Medicine! W-We need to treat him.”

His mother, who stood like a broken robot, seemed to regain consciousness. She hastily searched through a cupboard. Heewoon grabbed the first aid kit and followed his mother into the room.

In the bright room, his brother’s face looked even worse. His body was covered in dust and dirt. Seeing faint footprints and shoe marks on him, maybe he had been trampled on the ground.

“Fuck.”

His brother muttered a curse in a low voice. Heewoon couldn’t take his eyes off his brother’s face. He had thought countless times about wanting to hit his brother, but seeing him in this beaten state now felt strange.

“Heehyun, what happened? Hmm?”

His mother, teary-eyed, sat in front of his brother. Her hands, opening the first aid kit, trembled.

“Hey, Woo Heewoon. How much money do you have?”

“Why, why…?”

“We’re about to die, so fuck, tell me properly.”

“What are you talking about?”

Heewoon frowned. His brother’s eyes, half in decent shape, focused on Heewoon.

“It seems like those bastards have figured out that there’s no way for us to give them the money now.”

“What? The loan sharks?”

“Yeah, damn it. If you don’t have money, they’ll take our organs or something.”

Heewoon stared blankly at his brother and asked.

“W-What…?”

“It’s obvious that we can’t pay our debt. Eyes, liver, heart, anything that’s profitable, damn it. They’ll sell whatever we have.”

“Then we’re as good as dead.”

Heewoon mumbled dazedly. At that moment, something flew and hit his forehead. A bottle of pills made a sound as it hit the floor. Heewoon, focusing on the rolling bottle, heard his brother’s voice more roughly in his ears.

“Don’t just stand there stupidly. Pull yourself together. If we make a wrong move, all of us will die.”

All of us will die.

“…Why, why would we die? Hyung, you have money. You earned a lot of money, didn’t you?”

Heewoon grabbed his brother’s knee, his tone almost pleading. His brother forcefully removed Heewoon’s hand and said sharply.

“Just pack the essentials. I barely bought some time saying I’d get 300 million.”

Touching his painful swollen lip, Heehyun frowned. He had lost everything, not just money. He barely fled to South Korea after doing business and messing with the wrong people in the Philippines.

He should have gone to Vietnam instead of the Philippines. Who would have thought that Vietnam would become such a popular travel destination? Damn it, with that money, he could have opened a massage parlour in Danang and at least doubled his earnings.

“Hee-Heehyun. What are you talking about? Hm? Our Heewoon has been sending 2 million won each month. Why, why… sell your organs.”

His mother hesitantly held Heehyun’s arm. Heehyun nervously brushed off her hand.

“You think those guys are philanthropists? Judging by the interest-free amount they are demanding from Heewoon, those bastards were just waiting for me to come back.”

Heewoon observed his brother sitting with a pool of blood around him, while his mother gasped for breath, wondering how that could happen. Everything was unreal. It was like watching a third-rate film. So one’s life could be ruined that way, lending money from a loan shark was bad. Just why did they borrow from a loan shark? It’s a childish, low-quality film that people would watch for fun.

“I have to get out of here by dawn. Hey, you. How much do you have?”

“Eight million…”

Heewoon answered absentmindedly.

“What? How much?”

“I have 8 million won.”

“You have that much money?”

His brother grumbled, and even though his mother was in a haphazard state, she looked at Heewoon in astonishment.

“Damn, you’re a fucking stingy bastard. When did you manage to save up so much money?”

His brother teased.

Indeed. For the past few years, Heewoon lived extremely frugally. He slept less, calculated money every day. His hands even trembled when buying necessary things.

He lived so frugally, but at that time, he couldn’t save money.

That was more pathetic.

It felt like his insides had been hollowed out. The time he had spent desperately living with hope had all been a lie. He had been running not towards a day to live but towards a day to die.

Stupid and dull. Knowing only to believe in what he wanted to believe, blaming others. He didn’t do anything right. He cursed himself.

Why did he pretend not to notice all his suspicions? When his brother fled, Heewoon should have run away too.

“If you have 8 million, I can hide for a few months… Damn. Anyway, I need to cross over, whether it’s China or Japan.”

“…Why are you trying to go alone again, Hyung?”

Heewoon lifted his head and glared at his brother. Once again, his anger, unable to determine the direction to go, focused on his brother, who had come to take his money.

“No, fuck. You two don’t have passports.”

His bloodied face, scabs tearing off, didn’t look pitiful at all.

“Passports! We have passports, Heehyun.”

His mother shouted loudly and, with a desperate gesture, took out two passports from the drawer where they were kept. Heewoon thought that even though his brother’s face was swollen and not easy to see, his expression looking at the passports was probably unhappy.

“But, Heehyun. Shouldn’t we report to the police first? Hm? We can ask them to help us if we say we’re in danger.”

“Ah, Mom! Don’t say stupid things. Can you see that those bastards already waited for three years? They’re fucking persistent. And, it’s not like the police can catch and punish those bastards for us, so what can they do for us?”

His mother’s face twisted as if she was about to cry.

“Then. Should we talk to Aunt at least?”

“What if those bastards go to Aunt? Don’t call anyone.”

Heehyun said firmly. Then he continued.

“Let’s go to the airport in the early morning. Since they must have put us under surveillance, we have to sneak out through the wall next door and go to a crowded place secretly.”

To the airport. Heewoon recalled the day when he went to the airport alone. At that time, Heewoon frequently touched his passport and wanted to leave. Leave everything in Korea behind.

However, things were different now. He hadn’t touched the passport he always carried in his bag and hadn’t thought about wanting to run away. Instead, he continued to plan for the future. Yesterday, he took online classes and even looked into which company to apply to.

“…Then, do we have to keep running away?”

No one answered Heewoon’s question.

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