Midday Guest Chapter 1

The rising of the sun and the setting of the moon is a natural order that is fair to everyone, but the weight of life that each person carries crushes them in different shapes and weights.

While one person spends a peaceful time, another may take heavy steps while breathing in the cold dawn air.

Life was like a match played on a tilted field; regardless of the amount of effort put in, it was bound to bring about results that were unfair and unjust.

It had already been over a month since Father disappeared. In the meantime, Mother gradually lost her words, and the people who looked after the housework vanished one by one.

The atmosphere of the house was not like before, but there was nothing Yiwon could do. He had no choice but to silently go back and forth between home and school.

Afterward, they moved several times.

From Seoul to Gyeonggi-do, from Gyeonggi-do to the provinces, they moved their base, and around the time Yiwon turned ten, they ended up being pushed all the way to a rural village that was his father’s hometown.

Was it the first night after they finished moving? There was a day when Yiwon, tossing and turning unable to sleep, saw the silhouette of his father’s back standing vacantly in the yard.

He debated all throughout the dawn whether he should run to him or not.

However, Yiwon’s gaze reached the reason that ultimately made it impossible for him to approach.

His father’s shoes, which were always neat, were caked with mud, and on his mother’s vanity, which used to be filled in abundance, only cosmetics smaller than a finger sat upside down.

In the spot where he had tossed and turned, a worn and tattered backpack printed with a robot character, which no one Yiwon’s age carried anymore, lay limp.

Yiwon closed his eyes.

The reason he didn’t approach his father, even while looking at the same night sky, was because the thought crossed his mind that perhaps it would be better to pretend not to know.

However,

‘…Yiwon-ah.’

One day, not long before school vacation, just past two in the afternoon. Receiving an unexpected report of a tragedy from the Head of Student Affairs, Yiwon came to regret the choice he made that night.

Only then did he realize that they were living in a neighborhood without a single decent hospital. While racing to a large hospital in the next village in the Head of Student Affairs’ car, Yiwon felt the emotion of anxiety for the first time in his life.

<- Outpatient Clinic | Funeral Hall ->

The steering wheel turned right at the fork in the road. Yiwon, who didn’t want to get out of the car and held onto his seatbelt, was coaxed and soothed into getting out by the Head of Student Affairs.

Yiwon was led by the Head of Student Affairs into the funeral hall. In that place he looked upon with a face pale as a ghost, a world Yiwon was encountering for the first time unfolded.

‘To think that fucking bastard would just run off after abandoning his wife and kid.’

‘He must have thought it would be the end if he just went alone, huh. Well, that’s not how it works.’

‘This isn’t the time to be spaced out just because your husband is gone. What are you going to do?’

‘Is your ear hole fucking blocked… pretending not to hear what people are saying. Are you deaf? Is this perhaps not audible?’

Mother was staring at the funeral portrait with empty eyes. Men in suits looked at something on their mobile phones and spoke in raised voices.

‘Too hopeless, and that’s how it can be. But still, we have to settle the accounts. Right?’

‘You’re in a maintained marriage, and you have one child.’

The suit-wearer snapped his phone shut with a click.

‘Dispose of the house you’re living in and the villa, and put the apartment and factory site up for auction. Then you only need to pay back roughly five hundred million won…’

‘Mother, these days debt repayment can be done in very diverse ways.’

The man laughed as he poked at the heart, liver, and some unknown parts with his finger.

‘50 million, 30 million, 20 million. Still, eyeballs have the best cost-performance. 10 million for one, 30 million for two.’

‘……’

‘Ah, ah, there’s no need to be surprised. It’s not that I’m going to take yours, Mother.’

Having said that, the suit-wearer added with a smirk.

‘These days, kids are better business. Even a rich person can’t do anything about their lifespan.’

‘If we take them out and sell them in order, you’ll touch some decent money.’

From that moment on, emotions began to dwell again in Mother’s hazy pupils. It was a mixture of loathing, anger, hatred, and resentment, smeared with all kinds of negative emotions and taking on an unfamiliar form.

‘Even if they disappear, I recommend taking out the ones that function as a person first… Kidneys are fine, and eyeballs are fine too. Well, which way should I do it for you?’

Mother, who had been silent, slapped the suit-wearer across the cheek. It was a fierce sound, enough for the sound of tearing flesh to echo through the wide space.

Compared to Mother, he was a man who looked easily three times her size. The head of a person with such a massive build was turned completely to the side.

‘…Ha.’

Below the cheek where a reddish handprint remained, his tongue came up and repeatedly licked the corner of his mouth. Along with a rough sound scratching his throat, blood-mixed phlegm dropped to the floor. He crunched the phlegm under his shoe and clicked his tongue irritably.

‘So you reject a person’s kindness like this.’

From then on, the suit-wearers acted like thugs. They swung wooden clubs and struck people.

A single wreath provided by the funeral hall fell over pitifully, and the funeral portrait rolled around on the floor. Amidst the ruckus of breaking and shattering here and there, it was questionable whether his deceased father could even enter eternal rest.

The employees guarding the funeral hall had long since distanced themselves, and even the security guards could not easily jump in. There was no one who could stop the people whose skin was covered black with tattoos all the way up to their necks and the backs of their hands.

One of the big guys who was smashing the interior into a mess shouted while glaring.

‘What, did some fun spectacle happen that you’re all gathered here, fuck.’

His gaze, which was scanning the surroundings, turned toward Yiwon.

‘What is this now.’

A large hand ripped off the name tag attached to Yiwon’s chest.

‘Jung Yiwon?’

A fishy smile hung on the face of the suit-wearer as he chewed over the name.

‘Ah, so you’re Jung Yiwon.’

The man in the suit bent his waist and met eyes with Yiwon.

‘The face of a male brat… it looks a bit too wasteful to gouge out those eyes.’

‘Hey, come here to Mister. Let’s have a look at you up close.’

It was the first time in Yiwon’s life encountering such a world. His feet dragging on the floor were incredibly heavy, as if weights had been attached to them. He was so overcome by a sense of fear that his body froze stiff and his teeth chattered.

Seeing Mother being overpowered and rolling on the floor in the distance, his vision flickered. His heart was that of a superhero, but young Yiwon’s fists were only soft.

The suit-wearer rested the wooden club on his shoulder and asked the Head of Student Affairs.

‘By the way, who might this be? An acquaintance of our client?’

‘…Ah, I am.’

The Head of Student Affairs was the only adult he could rely on in this space. Yiwon held his hand tightly and waited for the words to follow.

‘Is this place nothing but a gathering of idiots? Why are there so many guys who can’t even speak properly.’

‘So, I, I am…’

‘I’m going to die of frustration. Nothing beats a club for making words flow smoothly. Shall I help you out a bit?’

Whoosh, the suit-wearer swung the wooden club.

Faced with a threat delivered right before his eyes, the Head of Student Affairs was helpless. He abandoned Yiwon’s hand as if shaking it off and crossed his arms to cover his eyes.

‘If you’re an unrelated person, turn around and get out; if you’re going to pay the money instead, stay here. What are you going to do?’

He could not find any hope from the Head of Student Affairs as he tilted his head back to look up at him. It was because the same emotions that would be read from Mother and Yiwon were showing in his pupils.

The moment the strength left Yiwon’s hand which had been holding the Head of Student Affairs, the man’s pupils shook violently.

There wasn’t even a shred of hesitation.

The Head of Student Affairs ran out right then as if fleeing.

And Yiwon was left all alone in the funeral hall lobby.

Mother, who had come running in a hurry, wrapped her arms around Yiwon and blocked his view from all wicked things. However, through his already opened eyes and ears, the world he had not seen in the past began to pour in.

In the fallen world, a hierarchy of its own existed. A world where the common sense he knew in the past did not apply; Yiwon’s body, which had fallen into a world turned upside down, collapsed helplessly.

For a short while, his memory became a black blur. When he regained consciousness, he was inside a hospital room and was looking at the ceiling. A doctor approached and conducted an interview, and a nurse administered a sedative and disappeared.

Mother was staying by his side.

‘…Mom?’

‘Yiwon-ah, are you okay?’

Mother asked if he was okay. While wearing a hand-sized bandage on her forehead. Seeing that, he could not bring himself to say that he wasn’t okay.

‘Yes, I’m okay…’

As he rolled his eyes to scan here and there, an explanation followed.

‘The policemen helped and then left.’

‘…Ah.’

So it wasn’t a dream. I wish it were a dream.

‘Sleep a bit more.’

‘What if those people come again?’

‘Mom won’t let them come.’