Chapter 109 – Chapter 109
17 years ago, when he was in middle school. It was then that he saw the novel for the first time.
That day was also a day when I was twisting my body out of boredom.
As usual in rural areas, the only thing to play is to read a book inside the house, or run outside.
Of course, most of my peers enjoyed going out and moving their bodies. It seemed so good to sweat while playing ball together.
However, since I wasn’t a kid with a lively personality enough to enjoy going out, my options were naturally narrowed down to reading.
Speaking of books, it is also considered a noble hobby, so there is no chance of getting glare from the people around you. It was an optimal environment. An environment in which he could enjoy his hobbies was created around him, and he naturally began to read books.
After reading fairy tales, reading novels, and reading classics. After reading everything I could get my hands on, I had nothing left to read, so I went to a used bookstore to find something to read.
Found it there
It started when I saw the book lying in a corner at an old bookstore I went to to see if there was anything to see.
A rusty sword and a hummingbird’s grave.
A title full of metaphors. The day I picked up the book and started reading it, assuming it was a novel, I felt the most enjoyable feeling of my life up until the day before yesterday.
The story of a different world that you have never imagined. The story of this world where magic and miracles live and breathe.
All the elements that drove me crazy when I was in middle school were there.
I read him like I was possessed. After confirming that the story had been discontinued, I went to the biggest bookstore in town to look for the next volume, and when I couldn’t find it there, I started to rummage through the Internet.
Fortunately, the next volume was available on the Internet. I bought all the serialized books with all the pocket money I had been saving.
Been like that for several months.
Read what you read again, and then read it again when it comes to mind.
At that time, he was a person who was obsessed with a book.
It was so much fun.
I still remember the 11th of every month. On the day when the new edition of the book comes out, I feel happier than on my birthday, and my heart beats full. I couldn’t sleep for days before the book was delivered.
And then, when I received the book and read it, it was a pity that I went over to the last page again.
Like that, a few months to live while wasting all my time in the book [The Rusty Sword and the Grave of the Hummingbird].
Very naturally, I came up with the idea that I would like to share the story of this book with others.
All of the guys I would call friends were soccer fanatics who didn’t like this kind of thing, so I found an internet community while looking for other people to talk to.
… Now that I think about it, I wonder if it was the biggest mistake of my life, but anyway, I spent time going in and out of the community, talking about the novel, and having a fight when there was a disagreement.
To put it mildly, one could say that he fell in love with the book.
Chae Do-gyun, a middle school student, chose those 10 or so fantasy novels for his first love.
Do you regret
If you ask me that, I could say no. The days I fell in love with that book have been cherished as fond memories in my heart until now, more than ten and seven years have passed.
It was a happy moment, a happy memory.
However, the fact that the end of the memories was not beautiful still remained as sadness.
How nasty is life again. He announced the end of those happy days in a way I never thought of.
Author’s suicide.
A rare issue that turned the community in which he was active at the time into a sea of fire.
The time when there was only one book left until the end. There was only one week left until the release of the last volume.
Like that, my first love said a one-sided farewell to herself.
It was the parting that came at an unexpected moment.
At first it starts with a negative. They mistakenly think that they are having a very bad dream.
Then, when I acknowledged him, that was the beginning.
It makes people completely empty, makes them sad, and makes them find traces of it without even realizing it.
I remember that I was half-conscious at the time. It was to the point where my parents took me to the hospital.
He had nothing to say when he said it was so polarizing, but even so, to his sensitive young self, the breakup was the saddest thing in the world.
Looking back, I think it was then. It was the first time I got to know the face of the author of this novel.
A face on a page of Internet news.
Appears to be a little over 30 years of age. A mistress-like impression that fits the word elegance.
That face stuck in my head haunted me for a while. I wonder if it would have come to my dreams.
That wasn’t the end.
Now, in the time left in the distant past, there was one more fact that was only revealed belatedly after the face was revealed. That was the background of the author, Seo Han-kyung.
The daughter of the president of a famous conglomerate that even the little kids in her village know about. She is the heir to a chaebol family.
That background is known, and because of that, the community once more. In addition, there was a memory that even the media burned.
Do-gyun remembers him, and only then does this family. I was able to figure out the source of Eun-ah’s unknown wealth.
Chaebol 3rd generation.
She was not kidding, she was a real third generation chaebol.
For a while, Do-gyun looked back at the frame and notebook with a face full of confusion.
I know that her mother is Seo Han-kyung. She also knows why her style is so similar.
But, but why? Is the setting book of the work written in the young Eun-ah’s handwriting?
Concerns ensued, and saliva flowed out.
To be honest, nothing came to mind. However, if we dismissed it as true, there was another part that made no sense. Plus, if I’m right, I feel very sorry for Eun-ah.
Tendons bulged on the backs of Do-gyun’s tightly clenched hands.
Assumptions popped into my head.
‘I stole Eun-ah’s story.’
Seo Han-gyeong took away the story of young Eun-ah.
It was an unbelievable story.
At the time the novel was serialized, Eun-ah was only a child of five to six years old.
Seo Han-gyeong was an established writer who had also published other literary works before this work.
It took too many parts to be stolen.
Nevertheless, Do-gyun, whose feelings were complicated by the assumptions that kept popping up in his head, frowned and turned his head toward the door.
In the living room, there was someone who knew the answer.
*
Do-gyun opened his mouth, holding out the note he had brought out to Eun-seol.
“… Can you explain?”
Spoken words. Eun-seol, who had been silent for a long time while looking at her notebook, got up and went to the kitchen to bring out a drink.
Again, there were two glasses.
“Are you going to drink?”
“… Yes.”
Dokyun gave a small nod of his head and replied. It was a car that needed a little drunkenness.
Eun-seol’s mouth burst into laughter at the positivity that was conveyed, and the glass began to fill up.
“You are right. Seo Han-gyeong stole Go Eun-ah’s story.”
Handing over a glass and spitting out words. Do-gyun’s fists clenched tightly.
“How…”
I mean is that possible? Aside from stealing a child’s story, it is possible for a child who has not even entered elementary school to write such a story.
When Do-gyun looked at Eun-seol with a face full of confusion, Eun-seol poured his share of alcohol and continued.
“Where should I start talking…”
Eun-seol, who stirred the drink after lifting the glass, continued to think for a while before continuing.
“Yes, let’s start with Go Eun-ah. That would be easier to understand.”
Drinking while talking Eun-seol, who then emptied the glass in one go, poured another drink over it and continued.
“Go Eun-ah was special. She was special from the moment she was born.”
Words that are handed over with a smile. Do-gyun tilted his head at him, and Eun-seol, who glanced at him, spoke again.
“It was just different from others. So, I wondered if this was human.”
Do-gyun looked at Eun-seol, who said that, and thought of the question again. It is because the intention of the words was not well understood.
“You just have to understand that. I can’t give any other explanation. A human whose realm of thinking is beyond the human category. That is Go Eun-ah.”
Do-gyun closed his mouth and listened to her words.
“I didn’t even teach you, but I took off writing by myself. Crawl into the study and read all the books. When I see an object, I understand what it is for.”
Eun-seol’s gaze turned to Do-gyun.
“It is a monster. It’s a monster in human clothing.”
Monster.
As Do-gyun spat out the word, he remembered that the expression drawn on Eun-seol’s face looked sad somewhere.
“Even Seo Han-gyeong didn’t know at first. He would have known only as a precocious kid. I wished it had, but it turned out too soon.”
A long breath escaped from Eun-seol’s mouth. The shadows under his eyes deepened even more.
“Due to the nature of the work of a writer, Seo Han-kyung has always lived surrounded by books. Likewise, Go Eun-ah lived buried in books. Seo Han-kyung, who found Go Eun-ah reading a book, was just delighted at first. Just do it. My daughter likes the same things as I do, so what parent would she hate?”
Do-gyun was suspicious of the words he heard and spat out a question.
“… Is it a discovery?”
It was a question I asked because I did not show a book, but rather a ‘discovery’.
In response to the question, Eun-seol’s eyes turned to Do-gyun again, and soon after, Eun-seol nodded her head and spat out an answer.
“Seo Han-kyung was not interested in Go Eun-ah.”
“Ah…”
A long sigh escaped Dokyun’s mouth. Ignorance comes from indifference. Eun-seol was saying that Seo Han-gyeong neglected Eun-ah.
“Anyway, Seo Han-gyeong, who learned that Eun-ah Go reads, made her read a book every day from that day on.”
Do-gyun knew what he meant.
“Diary.”
The diary I found when I first went to the study. Its contents.
Her mother made her read the book, and she was praised for reading it herself.
When Do-kyun uttered the words, Eun-seol nodded.
“If I said this roughly, you would have noticed. If she didn’t read the book, Go Eun-ah had to be punished. As you can see from the diary, Seo Han-kyung was not in his right mind either. He was severely depressed. Self-injury without even trying He gets along well for a while, but then suddenly bangs his head against the wall. Thirsty for the attention around her, she always wanders the streets at night. In the meantime, Go Eun-ah will continue to guard her house.”
Eun-seol, who continued to speak, quenched her throat with alcohol and continued to speak after catching her breath. Contempt crossed his face as he continued to speak.
“It’s okay, that bitch doesn’t even know who Ko Eun-ah’s father is.”
A contempt so deep that it was immediately apparent. It was the most blatant emotion among Eun-seol’s emotions that had been revealed so far.
Immediately after, Eun-seol, who briefly clicked his tongue, shook his head and spoke again.
“Well, you just need to know that it was that kind of year. It’s a problem from now on. As the days go by, the strange things about Go Eun-ah come into my eyes. I feel that I am no ordinary child. It’s too late to realize that and start to be afraid of Go Eun-ah.”
Parents afraid of their children. It was an odd word.
“My mental illness got worse. Because I can’t understand what came out of my stomach with my head. Then, on the day when her depression had an attack, she started bullying Go Eun-ah, saying that she would try to overcome it somehow.”
At the words that were being conveyed, there was a sentence that passed through Do-gyun’s head.
– Her mother got sick from punishing me.
– I am a bad child who hurts her mother.
It’s a story that I was expecting to some extent. However, even so, it’s a story that makes me feel like I’m going to have a good time.
Seo Han-kyung did a self-harm show in front of young Eun-ah Go.
“Even Go Eun-ah knew at least that it was not a normal thing. However, I didn’t admit it. Seo Han-kyung was my only world.”
Eun-seol’s brow furrowed and wrinkled. The tone of his speech was full of annoyance.
“Stupidly, if Seo Han-gyeong goes crazy, I know it’s my fault. I don’t hug because I’m wrong. That’s what you think.”
My stomach rumbled. My heart aches to hear it.
“So you have to do something good. If you want to be hugged by Seo Han-kyung, you have to become a better child. That’s why Goeunchae came out.”
Her breath caught in her throat.
It was a story that I had never imagined, and that’s why it came to me even more painfully.
By the time his expression frowned and his head became hot. The words came out of Eun-seol’s mouth.
“And while Go Eun-ah was ruined, Seo Han-kyung met Ko Eun-chae.”
