## Chapter 106 – Black Root (12)
“A-Are you perhaps Seohee’s friends?”
“…Uh, uh! Who might you be…”
At Chaeyoon’s words, the woman suddenly grabs the hem of her skirt.
Startled by the woman’s actions, Chaeyoon looks back at me with a ‘What do I do?’ expression, but I’m looking at the woman clinging to her, not Chaeyoon.
I definitely feel like I’ve seen that face somewhere, but where?
Neatly styled hair, sharp yet gentle eyes,
A woman sitting on the dirt floor, not befitting her elegant and pretty clothes.
“…I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere too.”
“Huh? You too, Unni?”
I put my hand on my chin and quietly compare her face in my head,
While I-ran Unni next to me is similarly frowning and racking her brain.
For her, who hasn’t been awake in the modern world for very long, to have seen this woman before.
I wondered just what this woman’s identity was.
I take my hand off my chin and approach the woman clinging to Chaeyoon.
“Um, first, could you calm down and let go of her?”
“Ah, yes… I’m sorry…”
Thankfully, it seems like we can communicate, so she’s not a crazy lady.
I give her a gentle smile, bow politely, and ask her, and the woman lets go of the skirt.
Looking at her face up close, I still can’t shake the feeling of familiarity.
Feeling that familiarity, I subtly inhale and ask.
She definitely seems to know Seohee, so if I ask about that…
“As the teacher said, we’re friends with Seohee who lives in this house,
If it’s not too much to ask, could you tell us what your relationship with Seohee is…”
Wait a minute, Seohee?
“…Ah, no! It’s not too much to ask! I’m the one who’s been rude… I’m…”
I offer my hand to the woman kneeling on the floor,
And she takes my hand, gets up, and bows politely to apologize.
From this mature behavior, I feel a sense of incongruity once again.
Something doesn’t quite fit, it’s hard to believe she’s acting like this with that face.
She was apologizing to me for her rudeness and introducing herself,
But my mind, already blank from shock, couldn’t properly hear her voice.
No, wait a minute, really? Is she really…
What brought my mind, which had already flown to Andromeda, back to Earth was a voice from behind.
A woman’s voice, somewhere similar to the woman in front of me but shouting in a completely different tone.
“…Mom?”
“Ah! S-Seohee-ya!”
“…Huh?!”
“Ah, I thought they looked alike.”
Seohee, who had climbed the stairs with both hands full of shopping bags, before I knew it.
And Chaeyoon, who was a beat late in being surprised and looking at Seohee standing next to her.
I-ran claps her hands as if she knew it all along and smiles.
…Seriously?
Looking at her face again, I can definitely see Seohee’s face overlapping.
Sharp eyes, jet-black hair, even the mole under her right eye is the same.
“…Mother?”
The one word that confirmed the relationship between this woman and Seohee popped out of my mouth again,
A moment of stifled breaths and awkward silence lingered for a moment.
She takes a deep breath and throws the shopping bags on the floor before quickly running down the stairs.
“Ah?! Wait, just a moment, Unni!!”
“Why is she like that, why is she like that! Hey Chanwoo! You take care of that person…!”
The shopping bags suddenly hit the floor with a tremendous noise.
Startled by the sound, the two people flinch and chase after Seohee, who is running down the stairs.
The two people who chased after Seohee, and me, left here with Seohee’s mother.
“…Um, excuse me…”
I was trying to ask if it was okay not to chase after her, enduring the hellish awkwardness.
But I was so surprised by the expression she was making that I couldn’t even get the words out.
“…Hic…! I-I’m sorry…”
Seeing her shedding tears like raindrops,
My hands started sweating like crazy.
I don’t know the details, but it seems like there’s an incredibly complicated family history involved…
“W-Why don’t we go inside and talk…? Seohee’s friends chased after her, so don’t worry…”
Damn it, I think this is the first time I’ve been this kind to a woman since my mom.
————————————————————
“…U-Unni! Just a moment!!”
“Why is she so fast!”
“…”
I stop walking at the voice behind me and turn around.
The ones who chased after me were two people, Chaeyoon and… I-ran.
…Right now, I don’t care about anything.
Confirming that only two people chased after me, I stop in my place and take out a cigarette.
Just as I put it in my mouth and take out a lighter to light it, the two people arrive next to me.
I look down at the two people who are panting and exhale cigarette smoke into the sky.
“Haa…! Unni, Seohee Unni!! Ugh…!!”
“…Wow! You’re really fast, did you evolve physically… Haha… Haa…!”
I decide to wait while smoking until the two people catch their breath.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her, no. It’s the first time ‘I’ve’ seen her face.
But to me, who inherited the memories of the woman ‘Kim Seohee’ as they were, it’s just an unpleasant encounter.
Whether it’s been a long time since I’ve seen her or it’s the first time, I feel this unpleasantness and loneliness regardless.
Kim Seohee’s mother, my mother. I should say it’s a strange feeling…
Her memories that I inherited in order to perfectly play the role of ‘Seohee’.
But because of those memories, I had an indirect experience that I didn’t want.
Just like those girls who are catching their breath are second-hand smoking because of me.
“…Are you okay now?”
“Ah… Haa… Yes, I think I’m okay. How about you, Unni?”
“I’m okay too, I was just a little surprised.”
At I-ran’s words, who finally caught her breath, I nod and tap my temple.
The memories that the original host had, especially the trauma that was deeply rooted,
It’s a common phenomenon for us to experience unpleasant experiences or negative emotions as they are.
I didn’t think it would happen to me, but I was surprised by the memories that came to mind as soon as I saw my mom’s face and ran away.
“I’m okay now, if you go into detail, it’s not even ‘my’ problem.”
“Hmm, is it something that happened before Unni got that body?”
“…That’s right, it’s a problem from when I was young.”
“Tell me what happened, I’m curious!”
“If you want to live in this era, learn how to read the room first.”
I throw a joke at I-ran, who is excited and has her eyes lit up as if she wants to hear my story.
Then, I take the last puff and put out the shortened cigarette butt on the floor with my foot.
My mom, that is, the woman who provided me with the body, was a doctor.
There’s no dad, he just wasn’t there in my memories since I was babbling.
But thanks to my mom, who was working at a fairly large hospital at the time, there were no financial difficulties.
A caring and kind mom, and I had ordinary friends too.
Then, when I was in the 6th grade of elementary school, about to graduate, my mom suddenly had debt.
Fortunately, the amount could be resolved with the money my mom had saved, so it passed without any problems,
But I, who was old enough to understand to some extent, didn’t understand.
My mom having money problems, did something happen at work?
With a childish heart, I secretly went to the hospital where my mom worked, but unlike my worries,
I was relieved to see my mom working with a bright smile without any problems.
I went to middle school without any problems and happened to hear a story from a maternal relative.
The reason why my mom suddenly had debt was because of my maternal uncle’s debt guarantee.
The story was that the uncle had already run away a long time ago and couldn’t be contacted.
That my mom is amazing for raising me alone even after going through such problems.
At first, I was angry at my maternal uncle, for taking advantage of a good person.
Especially my mom, for using someone who was related to him by blood.
But what’s the point of paying attention to someone who’s already disappeared.
So time passed quickly again, and it was when I was in the 3rd grade of middle school.
I woke up because someone was screaming at the front door late at night.
I was too scared to go out because of the woman’s screaming voice,
I secretly opened the door a little and watched the two people through the small gap.
Mom and a woman I’ve never seen before.
The woman was screaming at my mom at the front door,
And my mom was doing her best to smile and appease the woman.
In case something happened to my mom, I was about to call the police with trembling hands.
The words that came out of the woman’s mouth made me stop.
My life was ruined because of your brother.
The baby in my belly, I want to beat him to death right now.
A woman pouring out such cursed words to my mom,
It turned out that the woman was my maternal uncle’s girlfriend.
She spat out a lot of words, but in the end, the point of the story was that you should take responsibility for your brother.
It was such a ridiculous story, but in the end, my mom gave a large sum of money to that woman.
…
When I first heard that she paid off my maternal uncle’s debt instead, I just thought my mom was amazing.
And when she gave money to my maternal uncle’s girlfriend, I didn’t understand.
It’s not my mom’s fault, so why should my mom take responsibility?
I pretended not to know about what happened that night.
But for some reason, my mom seemed a little different after that day.
Then one day, it was another incident that happened just before graduating from middle school.
Right before the graduation ceremony, I left school early, hung out with my friends, and was on my way home.
I was walking a little distance away from my house when I saw a couple in a parked car.
…
As expected, the woman in the couple was the maternal uncle’s girlfriend who had come to our house before.
And a man who looked like my mom was having a long kiss with her.
There was no need to think about it any further.
I couldn’t help but think that these bastards were plotting to make my mom suffer.
I immediately opened the car door, dragged the surprised maternal uncle out, and beat him to death.
But the opponents were two adults, one of whom was a man.
A middle school girl couldn’t handle it,
Rather, I was beaten for a long time and dragged to the police station.
The maternal uncle, whom I was seeing for the first time, was yelling at me,
The woman was spitting out curses in a soft voice, it was a chaotic situation.
In that situation, my mom arrived,
And my mom, who had never laid a hand on me, slapped me on the cheek.
…
After that, I don’t remember well because of the shock.
“…Damn, you stupid pushover.”
I spat those words at my mom and didn’t talk to her after that.
I went to high school, but no one approached me, who was rumored to be a crazy bitch who beat up an adult in a small neighborhood.
But the thugs, whose only value was pretending to be strong and bluffing, must have liked me.
They were the only friends I had, so I learned how to smoke there,
I decided to leave home and live with the friends I met there someday.
And after I became an adult? I never received a call or money from my mom.
I didn’t have anything I wanted to do, so I didn’t apply to college,
I was living quietly while working part-time at a convenience store…
“Then you picked a fight with Chanwoo Oppa and that’s what happened?”
“You need to learn how to speak nicely.”
“…No matter how I look at it, it’s your mom’s fault?”
“That’s right. In this day and age, being patient three times makes you a pushover.
I heard that when you caught those beasts, you got slapped instead?”
“…”
“Unni, but you know.”
Ignoring Chaeyoon, who was chattering next to me, I take out the last cigarette and put it in my mouth,
Chaeyoon licks her upper lip and comes to me, speaking softly.
“Why?”
“…You know, you look like your mother? Your mother is very pretty…♡”
