Love Born of Pity Chapter 81

Kang Gyumin held out his phone screen for Kwon Jiho to see.

[Do Yeonjae]

The pressure from just those three words was immense. Kwon Jiho sucked in a sharp breath. He shook his head frantically, insisting he shouldn’t answer. Kang Gyumin also had no intention of taking the call here. What kind of things would he hear if he answered?

“Ignore this.”

“……What if Director Do…….”

“That’s for me to deal with. Like we talked about earlier, shall we make a plan for what Mr. Kwon Jiho will do to get by from now on? It seems like it’ll take a while to arrive.”

Kang Gyumin asked, feigning composure. His heart was pounding as if it would leap out of his mouth at any moment, and he started to think that his impulsive decision had been a mistake. But the water was already spilled. With his help, Kwon Jiho had escaped. It seemed Yeonjae knew it was his doing, so now the only option left was to brazenly act like he knew nothing.

“The place Mr. Jiho will be staying is a small island called Suhodo. There are about fifteen households. The village has fewer than thirty residents, so you can tell how small it is, right?”

“……Yes.”

“My role is to provide a safe place for Mr. Kwon Jiho to hide. Whether you stay or leave is up to you.”

“Thank you…… so much.”

Kwon Jiho bowed his head deeply. Without his help, he wouldn’t have even been able to get this far. He would have lived in constant fear, wondering when Do Yeonjae would abandon him. Trembling with anxiety about whether he would grow tired of him.

“When you arrive on the island, the village chief will be there to meet you. He will take you to the house where Mr. Kwon Jiho will be staying. If there’s anything inconvenient or that you need, tell him. Most things should be taken care of. The chief will also restock your groceries periodically, so don’t starve yourself and make sure to eat well.”

“Yes.”

“How old did you say you were, Mr. Kwon Jiho.”

“……I’m twenty-four.”

Kang Gyumin mulled over Kwon Jiho’s age, which started with a different number than his own, and was reminded of how young he was.

“I don’t know why I’m helping you this much, it’s not like you’re anything special.”

“……”

“Don’t worry about your brother, just take care of yourself, Mr. Kwon Jiho.”

At Kang Gyumin’s worried advice, Kwon Jiho smiled grimly. He loathed his life, one where he had accomplished nothing and only caused trouble for others. No money, no house, no parents. Could he really live well after dumping his only remaining family member on Kang Gyumin?

“I don’t…… really know how things ended up this way.”

“Right? Why did you live like that? When you were just going to regret it in the end.”

“……”

“But, it doesn’t seem like it was entirely Mr. Kwon Jiho’s fault. What can you do when the only thing to grab onto is a rotten rope? You have to grab it and survive.”

While digging into Kwon Jiho’s past, he learned that Do Yeonjae had inserted himself into the most dramatic moments of his life. It seemed the young man didn’t know that Do Yeonjae had intentionally dug the pit deeper, making him reliant on the charity he bestowed as if giving alms.

A sudden notice of discharge from the hospital, debt collection calls from loan sharks, pressure to sell his organs—how could a boy who had just become an adult endure all that? The result was inevitable. Reaching out to Do Yeonjae, who appeared before him like a prince on a white horse.

But he had no intention of telling him all that. You never know how things will turn out for people, and he had no desire to open Pandora’s box himself and shove it in Kwon Jiho’s face.

“Do you know the saying, ‘This too shall pass’? It sounds too much like something an old man would say, so I hate saying it, but……”

“……”

“It all passes. Whether it’s a bad thing or a good thing, it eventually passes.”

The faint smile he offered was so ridiculously beautiful that Kwon Jiho couldn’t help but smile back. It all passes. He mulled over his words until they reached the dock, taking in the rapidly passing scenery.

♬⋆.˚

Suhodo was one of the affiliated islands in the South Sea, a small island that could be reached by a thirty-minute boat ride across the sea. The passenger ferry came and went twice a day, and it was said that there were even tourists from winter to early spring because its camellia colony was well-preserved.

The village chief who greeted Kwon Jiho talked nonstop on the way to the house where he would be staying. Perhaps sensing Jiho’s glances at his tanned skin, the man’s face, which had weathered the storms of time, crinkled into a smile.

“I look mighty young, don’t I?”

The chief, joking around playfully, greeted some men carrying fishing rods. Then he explained that this was the season when many anglers came to the island from the mainland. He added that Jiho would rarely run into them, though. They were mostly crazy about catching fish and lived attached to the cliffs.

“……Cliffs, cl… on the cliffs?”

“They’re mighty steep. A few folks have drowned and died, but they still do it. Goodness me. Mainland people are so strange. A fish in the sea is just a fish, I don’t get what all the fuss is about.”

The heavily accented speech sounded foreign to Kwon Jiho. The chief spat as he boasted about how pretty the island was, but Kwon Jiho couldn’t understand even half of it. He just nodded along, pretending he understood.

As they entered the village, the chief pointed to the houses that came into view one by one, explaining who lived where.

“When are you ever gonna see a place like this when you live on the mainland? See that black stuff over there? That’s all goats. Goats.”

“……Pardon?”

“Goats, ah, what’s it called? The goats……. Go, do you know what black goats are? The island has lots of cliffs, so the goats do well here. It’s our local delicacy!”

Kwon Jiho managed to make out the words ‘local delicacy’ and nodded. As they walked up a gentle slope, the chief mentioned that the phone signal was poor, so it could be frustrating.

“My son says he’s gonna die.”

“Ah……”

Is his child very young? Kwon Jiho, pondering the chief’s words, lowered his head. The phone Kang Gyumin had given him was in his pocket. He had no one to call, but he fiddled with it anyway before pulling his hand out to brush back his messy hair.

“It’s quite a walk.”

At Kwon Jiho’s murmur, the chief retorted, “What’s so far about this?” and strode ahead up the path.

The place they arrived at was a small, single-story house at the very top of the village. He opened the distinctly bright green iron gate, which looked freshly painted, and the first thing that caught his eye was the white exterior of the building. Then, a small lawn, a bench facing the sea, a wooden outdoor platform, and a water tap came into view one by one.

The chief set down the simple luggage bag on the narrow wooden porch and placed his hands on his hips. The blowing wind carried the unique salty smell of the sea.

“The view here is great. If you sit over there and look out far away, the whole day just flies by.”

“Thank you. It’s beautiful, just as you said.”

“If anything’s inconvenient, let me know, and if I’m not here, my grandson! You can just tell him. He’s young but sharp. I’ll bring groceries every Monday. My boy will start coming from today.”

The chief waved his hand and left through the gate. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, took off his old hat, put it back on, and walked back down the path he had come up.

It became quiet in an instant. Kwon Jiho slowly looked around before sitting on the bench to gaze at the scenery.

Is this okay? Is it okay for me to be so peaceful by myself? So many people are in trouble because of me, is it okay to pretend I don’t know?

The sea breeze was quite sharp, and the sun high above his head had a long way to go before setting. Would the day even end safely? What if Kang Gyumin couldn’t take the pressure and eventually confessed? What if Do Yeonjae came storming in? They said the boat to the island only came twice a day, but that wouldn’t be a problem for him. He was a man who believed there was nothing money couldn’t do.

But… was there even a reason for Do Yeonjae to come all the way here? He had paid off all his debts, so now… they were nothing to each other. He found it ridiculous that he was still so anxious even though he knew that.

“……It hurts.”

He finally felt the pain in his palm. It was hot and throbbing, as if he’d been burned. The tip of his nose stung. It hurt so much that tears welled up. As he sniffled and pressed the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand, he heard the sound of the gate opening.

“Oh……. Wow.”

“……Who.”

“My grandpa said a guest was here, and he told me to bring some food. You’re really…… young.”

His voice, trailing off at the end, was mixed with the strong wind, and he couldn’t hear it properly. The man who approached, carrying something wrapped in a pink cloth, looked to be about his age no matter how he looked at him. Is this the grandson the chief mentioned? Kwon Jiho tilted his head.

“The chief is my grandpa. He said you’d be staying here for a while, is that right? It’s my first time seeing someone my age, so it’s pretty cool. How old are you? I’m twenty-three. You? Twenty? Twenty-one? You’re younger than me, right? Am I the hyung?”

“……I’m twenty-four.”

“……”

The man’s mouth snapped shut, momentarily flustered. He rolled his eyes as if in a difficult situation, then put on a bright smile as if to laugh it off.

“You look so young, I thought you were younger than me.”

“……”

“You’re the hyung.”