120 – Dongmin Lee (55)
Dongmin Lee (55)
“My baby!”
A smile appeared on the mother’s pale face.
She climbed her stone steps across her yard, looking skinny and out of place with her slim figure.
Then he passed by my sister and hugged me.
… To her pride, she smelled of her mother, which I longed for so much.
“Your face has improved.”
“…How…”
My voice was not coming out because my throat was choking.
She thought she had no affection for her.
When she was young, her mother’s religious obsession resulted in numerous beatings and emotional abuse for her.
She didn’t care even when she left for overseas missions with who she was, whether she was a pastor of a pseudo-religion.
Her father’s violence became more focused on me as she left her, but she did not resent her either.
Her
I thought I forgot her while I was independent.
It wasn’t until the emotional thought of being a mother who abandoned her child, but she considered it a separate life.
But now, her appearance was, how to say, so sudden, it was as if her god had descended.
To use her mother’s own words, she is.
I noticed that she was carrying her shopping cart.
“… Do you live here?”
After a while, I remembered the scene behind the mother and son reunion, where a man who was both a husband and a father was mixed with his mistress, mixing each other’s blood.
My mother is a strong person.
No, she’s a ruthless person.
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She was nothing other than her passion for God, and she was also reckless enough to think that martyrdom was her lifelong aspiration.
I have often said that there is no lingering attachment to meat, and I would not blink an eye at a sight like that.
Nevertheless, I was worried.
No, what are you worried about?
Rather, I was afraid of the truth I would find out.
Is this really a coincidence?
I looked at my sister as I hugged her mother.
The light in her eyes seemed to disappear.
My sister and I have different birth mothers.
In other words, Woo Sang-mi, this person can be said to be a raw man with no blood mixed with her sister.
However, as Lee Dong-gwan’s second wife, her mother shared some of her older sister’s growth.
Her older sister’s impression of her was the worst.
As much as my sister cared for me, her hatred for the woman who had committed child abuse under the pretext of her belief in her god was still unreserved.
“God is protecting you.”
My mother said looking at my face.
“Your complexion has improved, your health has improved, your posture has improved, and the fact that we are now meeting is all thanks to God’s grace and providence. Got it?”
“………”
Really, nothing has changed about this woman.
I laughed bitterly.
I couldn’t laugh, but I laughed.
“Hey Mother, do you live here?”
A categorical detective approached and asked.
It’s a coincidence, but since he witnessed the crime scene, he seems to have returned to his job as a detective.
“Yes.”
My mother answered briefly.
“God wills it all.”
“… If God wills it.”
Detective Beom asked as if he was curious.
“His death is also God’s will.”
“…Did you know?”
A look of bewilderment bloomed on Detective Beom’s face.
My mother said she was on her way home with a shopping cart full of groceries, and she hadn’t seen the sights inside the front door yet, she was surprised to see that she used the word ‘death’ specifically. I can’t help it.
As if she knew everything.
Her expression was calm.
“Do you know who did this?”
“I told you it was God.”
“………”
My mother was adamant.
On the contrary, it seems that my faith has become stronger than a few years ago.
“God instructed me. Since the god himself will descend, leave here.”
“… How did God give the order?”
Detective Beom asked in embarrassment.
His gaze glanced at me and my sister.
Of course, neither I nor my sister had anything to say.
Because that woman was originally like that.
“Let me know in several ways.”
“Can you give me an example?”
“For example, it must be inspiration.”
“…What kind of inspiration?”
“It’s a sudden awakening.”
“…Awakening?”
“Suddenly, you will know the will of God.”
It was more and more difficult.
Detective Bum seemed to be unfamiliar with the conversation he had with his mother, so he asked us for help again.
“…Is there another way?”
“Also through the Messenger of God.”
Detective Park Seong-gang helped out as if he couldn’t stand it.
“…Was the lady involved in this case?”
“……”
The mother’s eyes became quiet.
Until now, if there was pride in representing God’s work and explaining it, now I took a step back and looked at Detective Park Seong-gang.
There was even a smile on the corners of his mouth.
“Park Seong-jae, you are the detective right?”
“……”
In an instant, Seonggang Park’s body froze.
He said, hiding his agitation.
“… My name is Seonggang Park.”
“Yeah, whatever you think. God thinks you are Seongjae Park.”
“………”
“God has mercy on you.”
My mother said as she held my hand.
“He blessed your writing.”
“… Mine?”
“Yes, your article.”
It was clear that he was referring to the situation where 『Journal』 Was becoming a reality.
“… How did you know?”
“God told me.”
“……”
My mother’s way of speaking was always like this.
But now I can’t just move on.
I remembered what my sister said.
‘I can’t turn it back?’
The fact that the 『Journal』 Cannot be undone and cannot be controlled is because of the countless people who know the contents of the 『Journal』.
Those who know and can manipulate the contents, whether through illegal sharing sites or text books.
‘Mother too?’
She knows about the existence of 『Journal』.
But she probably didn’t even know I was writing a novel, and she wasn’t interested in me in the first place.
This was strange.
“Who told you?”
I asked a little more seriously.
I’ve never talked to my mother like that before, but maybe it’s because I was in a hurry.
“Tell me. Who are you.”
“You said God.”
My mother’s expression immediately turned cold.
That expression that always frightened me as a child.
But not anymore.
“Why did you appear here?”
I gave my strength and said.
“Why?”
My mother put on an innocent expression.
Then she burst into laughter.
“Why? Why?”
Ahahahahaha, as if she couldn’t stand it, she held her stomach and laughed convulsively for a long time.
Jaak-!
Then she slapped me on the cheek.
“Dongminah!”
My sister put a barrier between me and my mother.
“God!”
Cried the mother.
“God called me.”
“………”
“Come on, mother, over there…”
The categorical detective intervened.
Detective Park Seong-gang seemed lost in thought, but mechanically helped him to get his mother away from me.
“You have to go to the office. Detective Park, ask for support first. Let’s take it as a reference.”
#
“You must have suffered a lot too.”
Assistment came from the nearby police station, Detective Beom said.
A yellow police line was installed around the house.
I can’t believe I’m going to see a scene like this.
I still had no sense of reality.
The police were preserving the site, taking pictures of the interior, and before they knew it, the press also rushed in.
In a complicated situation, my sister held my hand and stayed by my side, and Detective Beom said.
“… I’m really sorry to say this, but you’re the type of person that comes to mind when you’re fanatic.”
“……”
“I’m sorry. You talked nonsense.”
The detective immediately apologized.
“No. I admit it.”
I conceded.
My mother’s attitude has become a little worse than before.
She was serious even then, but she wasn’t talking nonsense about hearing the voice of God.
It seems that he has come to resemble the archetype of fanatics who appear in places like the mass media.
I don’t know what happened in the meantime.
“… Now that things have turned out like this again, I think we will have to retreat. Dongminah. For now, it would be safer to be with my sister. Because I have know-how.”
Know-how.
Know-how to escape from Kang Hae-rin.
Her older sister hid from her for several months.
The secret was the laptop.
Certainly there was no ‘catch’ if there was one.
“……”
There has been no contact from Haerin Kang.
Did he even fall asleep?
It was the first time she hadn’t received my calls like this since she was ‘shocked’ and went to sleep.
I was more concerned about it now.
Because of what her mother said.
Aside from the fact that she looks insane, she says that ‘God’ ordered it.
Haerin Kang has the ability to mimic someone’s voice and even disguise herself.
If you’re going to ‘pretend’ the voice of a god who couldn’t exist in the first place, you don’t have to imitate anyone.
Haerin Kang doesn’t have a laptop.
That belongs to my sister.
Then, information is asymmetric.
I and my sister can figure out Kang Hae-rin’s whereabouts, but she doesn’t know about us.
Still, she has excellent abilities.
What if God was Kang Haerin?
If the mother knows the existence of 『Journal』, The existence of Kang Hae-rin in it may be a divine being.
It’s coming true, so it might be like a prophecy.
“………”
I broke up with the detectives and took a taxi with my sister.
My sister put the laptop on her lap.
We need to figure out Kang Hae-rin’s location.
So she can return home safely.
And my sister knows Kang Hae-rin’s current situation.
Why she wasn’t answering, she knew where she was and what she was doing.
But before questioning her, her older sister said.
“For the time being, I think it would be best to keep quiet.”
She covered her laptop.
“What do you think of my words?”
“What do you mean?”
“The 『Journal』 Cannot be stopped.”
“… Will stop it.”
I said.
“By all means.”
“…The bad guys are going after them too?”
“Yes.”
“What about Haerin Kang?”
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“What.”
“What if Strong Rin commits her murder?”
“………”
“I’m chasing Kang Hae-rin, and I’m also chasing the villains. Also block 『Journal』.”
My sister’s voice became sharp.
“Are you going to do all of that?”
“……”
“Dong Min-ah.”
“Yes.”
“All I need is you.”
“……”
“Can’t you just do that?”
“……”
“Let’s find a way to prevent 『Journal』 From becoming a reality together. But, give up the rest. Huh?”
“………”
“Dong Min-ah.”
“………”
“If you leave it alone, Haerin Kang will block all the villains. Haerin Kang was originally born to do that. No?”
My sister’s voice became tougher.
“You know that. That you can’t do anything with your small responsibility. What should I do if I get caught by Kang Hae-rin after running around? Huh?”
Listening to my older sister’s voice, which has now become pleading, my heart weakened little by little.
It was difficult and exhausting.
My sister’s voice penetrated the crack in his heart.
It came into me, gently.
The sound of something collapsing was heard.
Unbeknownst to me, I may have been in despair.
“…Okay.”
“………”
“…Okay.”
I have said it over and over again.
“… Yes, Haerin Kang is abandoned.”
“………”
I remembered that the word ‘organic’ is a term commonly used in male-oriented web fiction, but it didn’t come to my senses, perhaps because of the heavy reality.
Organic.
It is usually said that animals are abandoned.
In a broader sense, it is when a person completely abandons the ‘opponent’.
It is neglect and abuse.
“Okay?”
My sister’s voice became a little more private.
“I can be happy with my sister.”
“………”
The blood-stained and dirty landscape of the home, the memories of the past, and the tiredness rushed like a landslide at once.
Did my mother kill my father?
Or are you really a messenger of God?
I am now an orphan.
I was abandoned by the world.
I shook my head.
“…Yes.”
“…Yes.”
My sister hugged my head to her chest.
#
That night, my sister came in, dressed more daringly than usual, under the blanket on the narrow mattress.
I disarmed her and accepted her.
Things like the laws, morals, and order of the world.
Things like that were scattered like bubbles.
My sister and I were isolated in a cave.
… I was completely abandoned by the world.
Very vaguely, among the words my sister said today, there was something that didn’t fit.
But I forgot about that too.
#
The next day, I saw the news that Ban Yi-jae and Park Sang-woo, who were imprisoned, were poisoned for unknown reasons.