Hazardous Concentration Chapter 11

As for Eunhoo’s daily life over this time, much had changed in his mother’s life as well. They were chased out of the place where they had lived, and the blood relatives they had trusted turned their backs on her. Now, they even had to leave the hospital where she was undergoing treatment as if they were being chased away. The devastation was beyond words. If Eunhoo felt this way, the person directly involved must have been feeling it even more. Yet, his mother never once showed it. That made him feel more sorry, and he felt resentful toward his father.

It was especially so on the day he visited HW Capital. His father, who had worsened the situation to this extent and disappeared all by himself.

Thinking of how his father had loved them until now, he shouldn’t feel this way, but he hated his father. It was even more so when he looked at his mother. If only he would stay by their side regardless, even when things were this hard, it would be better. After all, isn’t there a saying about helping each other out? Surely it would be easier for two or three to hold on than for one.

“Mother, aren’t you resentful of Father?”

Eunhoo asked, casting his gaze downward.

“He abandoned us.”

At first, he didn’t want to admit it. He thought something must have happened. He thought he had hidden himself away because of some circumstances. But he knew the truth. His father had abandoned the two of them.

Eunhoo bowed his head even lower. Even so, he could feel that his mother was looking at him.

“Eunhoo.”

Eunhoo flinched and bit his lip.

“Your father is absolutely not that kind of person. There must be a reason for it. That, Mother can guarantee.”

Unlike Eunhoo, whose heart was gradually changing to resentment, his mother remained consistent. She defended his father, saying he was not that kind of person.

When Eunhoo lifted his head, his mother was looking at him with sorrowful eyes.

“My child, you must be having a very hard time. Mother is sorry.”

It didn’t take long for that look to turn into guilt. Eunhoo bit his lip even harder.

“Don’t say such things. Why are you sorry, Mother? I am the one who is more sorry.”

Eunhoo muttered, forcing strength into his stinging eyes. It wasn’t just talk; he was truly sorry to his parents.

If only it hadn’t been him who was born. If a smarter and healthier child had been born, his parents would have been happy.

∞ ∞ ∞

Right on time for the dinner rush, while he was in the middle of preparing ingredients, the cell phone in his pocket vibrated. There were only three reasons why Eunhoo received a phone call.

It could be spam, or it could be a debt collection notice. Recently, the hospital had been added to that list over the past few years. Eunhoo roughly wiped his wet hands on his apron and took out his phone.

「Mr. Eunhoo, it’s me. You’re not picking up, so I’m sending a text. Contact me when you see this.」

Eunhoo, his expression hardening, pressed the call button immediately without needing to think about it. The call connected after only a few seconds.

—Mr. Eunhoo?

“Yes. I saw your text and am calling back. What is going on?”

—Huh? Oh, well….

The person who contacted him was his mother’s caregiver.

“Did something happen to Mother?”

If something had happened, the hospital would have contacted him, not the caregiver, but when it came to his mother, rational thought was impossible for him.

It was a kind of trauma. After their house went bankrupt, his mother’s health deteriorated rapidly. With creditors coming by and causing a scene almost every day, and the environment where they lived being poor, there was no way her condition would improve. Even knowing that, Eunhoo had no way to help. To pay off the interest right away, he had to earn money. He ran around here and there, with 24 hours a day not being enough. He took the first bus to work every day, and when he arrived home, he fell asleep as if he had fainted. Due to the exhaustion he was experiencing for the first time, his words gradually decreased, and he naturally became neglectful toward his mother.

That was why he hadn’t noticed at all. The fact that his mother had been cleaning the apartment building after he left for work.

That she had been scrubbing and wiping down several apartment buildings with over 30 floors every single day when she should have been resting quietly.

He only found out later that she couldn’t even let out a moan for fear of being discovered by him, even though there wasn’t a place on her waist or legs that didn’t ache. Eunhoo had been that indifferent to his mother. That day was the same. He was in the middle of work when he kept getting calls from an unknown number. Eunhoo, who usually avoided answering numbers that weren’t saved because of interest repayment issues, naturally ignored the calls.

However, about an hour later, a call came through to his mother’s phone. At first, he wondered why she would call. Because his mother wouldn’t call unless something serious happened, for fear of being a distraction.

‘Yes, Mother.’

It was when Eunhoo answered the phone with a bright voice.

—Ah, it’s connected now.

A strange voice came from the other side of the phone. Eunhoo was about to ask who it was, but the other side was one step faster.

—Are you the guardian of Park Miok? This is the hospital. Ms. Park Miok was brought in due to breathing difficulties.

Eunhoo dropped everything he was doing and rushed to the hospital.

‘She must have overexerted herself recently. Her condition has become very poor.’

The doctor rambled on, but he couldn’t hear a word of it.

Eunhoo approached the bed where his mother was lying. His mother, who was asleep while receiving an IV, looked devastating. Her face, which used to be so fair, was wrinkled, and her body was emaciated. He saw her every day, yet he didn’t know.

That day, Eunhoo sobbed alone while watching his sleeping mother. Even after the house went under, he didn’t cry and endured it stubbornly, but this time he couldn’t hold back. She was a mother who had never been at ease for even a single moment because he was born with a cursed body. Upon checking, he found she had been saving money little by little for him, knowing that marriage, let alone dating, would not be easy for him.

Seeing the money hidden deep inside the old wardrobe, Eunhoo was left speechless.

Why couldn’t he have paid a little more attention? Debts and whatever else—nothing could come before his mother. Regret and self-reproach scratched at Eunhoo endlessly.

That was why he couldn’t help but tense up whenever he got a call from someone related to his mother.

“Mister.”

—Oh, you must have been startled. Mother is fine.

At the laughing tone, Eunhoo felt deeply relieved. Then, puzzlement rose in its place.

“Then what did you call me about?”

At Eunhoo’s question, he could feel hesitation on the other end of the phone.

“Mister?”

—Well, you see, there is this thing.

“Yes.”

—It’s a bit awkward to talk about this over the phone, but I just can’t seem to find a time to see you in person.

The long preamble made him feel uneasy for some reason.

“So what is it you want to talk about?”

—It’s about the caregiving fee….

“Ah… yes. I sent you the amount for this month just a few days ago.”

—Yes. I saw that.

Driven by an anxious feeling, he couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m sorry, Mister, but could you just give me the conclusion? I’m at work, so it’s difficult for me to be on a long call.”

—Then I’ll cut to the chase. It’s that, actually, I think I need to raise the caregiving fee a bit.

His heart sank.

“Mister….”

—I wouldn’t want to do this if I could help it, but times are so tough and difficult these days, so I’m planning to raise it by about 10,000 won per day.

Eunhoo’s face darkened. It might just be 10,000 won in words, but that’s 300,000 won a month, which was no small burden.

“Even so, how can you do this so suddenly? And it hasn’t been that long since we signed the contract.”

—I know. But I’m in a difficult situation, too. And shouldn’t you be mindful of that as well if you have a conscience, Mr. Eunhoo? I’m the only one who provides caregiving at that price. Look around elsewhere, see if there’s anyone who will do it for that price.

“I know. I’m well aware of that.”

If it were a private caregiver, Eunhoo would have been the one in the wrong. But she was a shared caregiver.

With the company’s bankruptcy, his father’s disappearance, and the unbearable debt piled on top, his mother withered day by day. Yet, she couldn’t even get proper treatment and eventually had to move hospitals.

The place she moved to was absurdly inadequate compared to a university hospital. The patient room was small, and every time he went, no matter how much he ventilated it, the smell of urine and a musty odor pierced his nose.

Even then, his mother always told him she was fine. Every time she did that, he felt like his insides were rotting away.

Instead, Eunhoo would wash the sheets and blankets and bring them to replace the old ones at least once every two days, but that wasn’t enough. It was a past that had already gone and would not return, but he kept thinking back to the days when his mother was treated in a VIP room. Back then, there was a dedicated caregiver, so it was always kept in a pleasant state. But now, if Eunhoo was too busy to go to the hospital, she would invariably look unkempt.