A Golden Holiday (2)
Clutching our stomachs that were full to bursting, we arrived at Gogwangwon.
Under the lead of Gogwangs community outreach program, volunteers had already arrived to fill the empty spaces left after the director and her lackeys were arrested. A few reporters who had yet to satisfy their curiosity about the latest incident were hovering outside the gate. They werent allowed inside as any investigation into Aeryuwon itself had been suppressed in order to protect the childrens privacy.
Its here! Our sweets are here!
The mister has arrived!
Kyahahaha!
The children spotted our car pulling in and ran over to us from the front yard. With a helpless smile, I popped open the trunk.
Thats right. Ive arrived. Now then, which greedy kid said our sweets are here?
It was Chan-Woo! Chan-Woo said that!
Eep! I was just playing around!
Mister!
During all this commotion, So-Yeon ran ahead of the crowd and wrapped in a hug. Looking down at her, all I could see was the round top of her head. Her small arms couldnt even reach all the way around my waist.
So-Yeon raised her head to look up at with a grin.
Have you been doing well? And have you been going to the hospital?
Yes!
Because So-Yeon had stayed asleep ever since she was drugged in the car, she had no mories of the abandoned factory. That at least was a silver lining. However, I had arranged for her to see a psychiatrist, because I was worried that the betrayal of the people who were supposed to be adopting her might leave behind a trauma. Though for a child who spends nearly every day at an orphanage, going to the hospital might just seem like a fun outing.
Youve arrived?
Sang-Beom and Ji-Hye were wearing casual clothes, instead of their usual school uniforms.
It was then that I suddenly realized sothing important. Sothing that I should have realized from the mont I got the call from Gogwangwon. It was currently noon on a weekday.
Why arent you two at school?
Showing off a relaxed smile, Ji-Hye waved her finger.
Haha. We dont have to go to school until next week.
Why not?
Today is the schools anniversary. Tomorrow is a free Saturday. And Monday is Childrens Day!
She seed to be really excited by this. In any case, today was their schools anniversary. So this was the reason why Sang-Beom had decided to phone today and encourage to begin the search. Since he also had the day off, he intended for us to start searching for his hyung together.
Fine then. This is convenient. Im also free until next week.
So how should we start the search?
Hm let think.
Around five years had already passed since Sang-Ho had gone missing. At the ti of the report, the police should have already carried out an investigation while following the basic guidelines. That ant that I needed to do sothing different.
First, I popped open two cans of drinks and handed one to each of them.
For now, why dont I listen to the whole story?
Since the weather was nice, we sat down outside, on the short bench next to the basketball hoop.
Tell everything that you can rember about your brothers case. Was he showing any signs that he intended to run away from ho, in which directions did the police officers investigate? Things like that.
How close were you to my hyung?
What? Is that sothing I can imdiately answer off the top of my head?
No, I just wanted to know if youre aware of my familys situation?
Sang-Beom glanced towards Ji-Hye. It seed that she already had a rough awareness of his situation, but he seed uncomfortable with putting it into words and dragging his dirty laundry back out into the open.
I waved my hand to show him that it was fine if we skipped that explanation.
Uhuh. I know all about that. Your brother told about it and said that I could even use it as material to write the script for a drama. Its all very well cinematic.
It was to a point where the words soap opera spring to mind. To start with, Sang-Ho and Sang-Beom werent full-blooded siblings. As they shared the sa father, they were only half-brothers, but the relationship between the two of them couldnt be closer.
However the problem was their parents. Their father and the two won that were entangled with him. Those three would habitually take out their stress on the two brothers in the form of both physical and verbal abuse. Alcoholism, gambling, and affairs, having long achieved this triple crown, their father also happened to be toxically patriarchal. anwhile, the mother who kept the household was neglectful of both of them.
By the way, it was the future Sang-Beom who had made the joke that his family could be used as material for a drama. Even while watching the most over-the-top soap operas, he would click his tongue and say that things still werent stimulating enough.
I knew that hyung was having it hard. He had to take a lot of part-ti jobs even though he was still attending high school.
The future Sang-Beom had told that he had received more in allowance from his hyung than he had ever received from his parents. To him, Sang-Ho was a friend, a reliable older brother, and an existence closer to that of a true parent, all rolled into one. Thats why his hyungs disappearance had left him feeling so frustrated and lonely. Even as he worried about his hyung who had suddenly disappeared, he was also enduring feelings of betrayal and abandonnt at being left behind.
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