Chapter 122 - Chapter 119: Episode 117 - Wandering
I used to think that the moment I welcomed Seon-ah back would be just like a scene from a movie.
A man waiting at home, and a woman returning to hold him in her arms.
Even with our gender roles reversed, I never doubted that the kind of scene you see before the credits roll would eventually play out for us.
But it was different.
Because I was living in reality, not a movie, and I wasn't the female lead.
To Seon-ah, in this movie called reality, I was just...
Just another villain.
That was the thought that crossed my mind as I stared at the closed front door.
I had begged Mother to let me see Seon-ah, but she refused.
I didn't need to overthink the reason.
I already knew it all.
I had just been turning a blind eye to it.
I was terrified of returning to my right mind after quitting the drugs.
I loved that Yena treated me like her mom.
If I came back to my senses, I was terrified of having to admit that Yena wasn't actually my daughter.
But if I didn't return to my senses, I couldn't be with Yena.
To endure that contradiction, I was simply feeding myself delusions.
Even though all my memories returned after I quit the drugs, I forced myself to believe Yena was my daughter.
And I convinced myself that Seon-ah had never met 'Miel', had never gone to the Demon World, and had simply married me without any 'accidents'.
I believed that if I truly repented for filming those videos with Seon-ah, he would look at me again.
It was nothing but wishful thinking, fueled by my own selfish desires.
That cold, harsh reality refused to accept me.
As I realized that everything was a lie I'd told myself, I began to laugh like a madwoman.
"Ahahahaha! Hahaha! Hee-hee! Haha!"
I could hear people whispering as they looked at me, but I couldn't stop.
If I started crying in this state, the tears wouldn't stop, and that was why I had to keep laughing.
After laughing for a long time, the people around me drifted away.
My whole body was trembling from the exertion.
"Ha.... ha...."
The laughter gradually turned into gasping breaths.
Because I'd kept laughing without taking a single breath, it felt as if the oxygen in my lungs had been depleted, and I began to claw at the air.
To think I couldn't even inhale when the air was right in front of my nose—my lungs and their owner were just as pathetic as I thought.
"..."
Having walked for so long in a daze, this street suddenly felt familiar.
It was dark, but the streetlights illuminated the area, and I began to recognize where I was.
"Daycare center..."
This was the daycare center Seon-ah and I used to attend together.
I remembered my childhood self, acting out so violently.
I remembered how Seon-ah would set me straight whenever I ran wild and bullied the other children.
To the left, the kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and high school that Seon-ah and I attended were all connected.
Because everything from daycare to high school—the fifteen years we spent together—was in one place, I never thought I'd be separated from him.
I started doubting Seon-ah the moment he entered a university he kept secret from me, a place I couldn't see.
To chase after him, I'd used a contribution admission to get into that same university.
It must have been from then on.
The moment I started making mistakes with Seon-ah...
When we became adults and shared our first moment together, I treated him like an object and ravaged him like a madwoman.
Based on nothing but a single suspicion, my jealousy exploded, and I drove Seon-ah to his limit.
When Seon-ah was ravaged by Minji after being kidnapped by the workers, instead of comforting him, I broke his neck bone, thinking I was punishing him for giving his body to another woman.
Could this really be something one does to a person they love?
What did Seon-ah think when he saw me then, forcing him to take narcotics and filming dozens of videos, treating him like a sex slave whenever I pleased?
When Miel was kicked out by her mother and brought Seon-ah to me, did I torment him just to vent the frustration I felt from being toyed with by Miel?
It was all because of my own jealousy.
Because of that one emotion, Seon-ah's life was ruined, and even the family most important to him disappeared.
The one who killed Hyeon-tae-ajeossi, the culprit who forced Min-ah-ajumoni into the Demon World, was none other than Park Yu-rin.
It was me.
And yet, I shamelessly tried to ask Seon-ah for forgiveness.
I took Seon-ah's daughter, Yena, around as if she were my own and made her call me mom.
I only told Yena about the acts for which I could be forgiven, but I never told her about Hyeon-tae-ajeossi dying or Min-ah-ajumoni suffering because of me.
Because those were acts for which I could never be forgiven—not by Yena, not by Seon-ah, not by anyone.
No demon would commit such deeds.
I deceived Seon-ah, Hyeon-tae-ajeossi, Min-ah-ajumoni, and now even Yena.
And I tried to force our relationship to be whatever I wanted.
I had to admit it now.
That I was trash...
I had no choice but to realize that I should never see Seon-ah again, and that I was a bitch who had no right to be with Yena.
Once I admitted everything, I no longer had the strength to move.
"I want to die... I don't want to live anymore... I'm sorry... Seon-ah... I'm truly sorry..."
Perhaps because she no longer had the strength even to laugh, hot tears began to flow from between her tightly closed eyelids.
As she lay there, she felt a sensation as if something was touching her.
"No matter how hard things are, if you collapse on the ground and cry like this, a woman's dignity is crumpled. I don't know who you are, but you seem quite depressed. I, too, am in the same state of mind right now..."
Yu-rin tried to lift her head to look at the face of the woman using that peculiar way of speaking, but because the streetlights in the school zone were so bright, she couldn't see the face of the woman standing with her back to the light.
"You are..."
The woman looking at me suddenly trailed off.
Then, she let out a resigned sigh and spoke calmly.
"Ha... come to think of it, that was it... He had too many ill-fated connections..."
"..."
I didn't know who the 'he' she was talking about was, but I felt like she might be someone I knew.
"First, get up... I will tell you the details after that..."
Yu-rin forced her trembling legs to support her and stood up by leaning against the wall.
Seeing that she couldn't stand properly, the woman grabbed her arm and helped her up.
Yu-rin turned her head to thank her.
The kind face of the woman, which hadn't been visible earlier, was finally revealed.
She rubbed her eyes to see if she was hallucinating.
Was it because she'd shed too many tears?
Or was there a problem with her mind because her head was throbbing with pain?
Who knows.
Maybe there was something wrong with her head from when she hit it against the wall earlier.
No matter how much she rubbed her eyes, this was a person who shouldn't be here.
Unless she had come with Seon-ah, she was someone who couldn't be here alone.
Wondering if she was mistaken, she called out.
"Min-ah... ajumoni?..."
"You recognized me... but you see... unfortunately, that's not the correct answer."
The appearance was indeed Min-ah-ajumoni, but the atmosphere was entirely different.
Unlike Min-ah-ajumoni, who exuded a kind and warm aura even with sharp eyes, this woman was looking at her with a cold, icy gaze.
The impression was so different that it felt like the complete opposite of her.
She felt such a sense of incongruity that she wondered if she could even call this woman, who exuded the aura of a tyrant, Min-ah-ajumoni again.
"Even so, if I leave you like this, you might go to Seon-ah... that must not happen... because it's clear that Seon-ah will be hurt again..."
It was a tone filled with absolute conviction.
Suddenly, a sharp impact struck the back of her neck.
"Keuk!"
Letting out a short, death-rattle-like groan, Yu-rin's body collapsed.
She lost consciousness, her body plummeting toward the ground.
MnZBMElkRjFKc3ZCR0RiWklQRlA5U3ZCb3dHV0RHcG5FbWJMN0l4VnVtL0lBNHJhUHpZeFowRWNLZlR6bDdxbQ
However, at that very moment, the woman wearing Min-ah's appearance caught her.
"I won't kill you myself... I... Miel... and you... all deserve to be punished by Seon-ah... If Seon-ah's frustration can be relieved even a little... that's what I must do..."
Sophia, with a sad expression, muttered to herself while holding the unconscious Yu-rin.
While reviewing Min-ah's memories to revive Seon-ah's own, Sophia had been exploring the daycare center and school he would have attended, and had coincidentally encountered Yu-rin.
Anything harmful to Seon-ah had to be excluded from Min-ah's memories.
But they must not be eliminated by her own hands.
Because it was only natural that the punishment for those who tormented Seon-ah should be delivered by Seon-ah himself, not by her, who had committed the same sins.
With that thought, she returned to Min-ah's house.
Thinking that she was glad one more gift for Seon-ah had been prepared unexpectedly....