Chapter 12 – Jo Young-Rae’s Older Sister, Jo Young-Hee

“I’m home..”
“Uh. Okay. Is Sungjin here?”
When I got home, I saw my young father, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, sitting in the room.
“Ah! Is your father here?”
“Father? What kind of father is this guy all of a sudden? You’ve grown a lot since I couldn’t see Seongjin.”
Entering the room, my father and I ran into each other, and we paused for a moment to talk.
I hesitated because I couldn’t adapt to the appearance of my young father, and my father hesitated when he saw me growing taller with muscles all over his body in just two months.

As a child, he had a very scary father.
I was curious about how I would feel when I saw my father after returning, but when I saw my father looking tired, I felt sorry rather than scared.
My father, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, seemed to be shorter than I remembered, and his body was slender, and his limbs were thin.
‘Was your father so dwarfed? He used to look like a mountain.’
For some reason, I thought that my father was not as scary as in my memory, and I was so happy to see my father after 28 years, and rather, it was my first time seeing him with tears in my eyes.
“Dad, how have you been? Is he not sick anywhere?”
“Uh.. Yeah.. Hey, I can’t get used to it because you talk with respect. But it’s nice to hear.”
As I approached my father and massaged his arm, my father laughed awkwardly.
As I looked around his room while rubbing his father’s shoulders, the atmosphere in the room felt strange.
My mother looked at me once even after I came in, and she was silently putting on a wig.
“I heard that Seongjin ranked first in the entire school this time?”
The atmosphere in the room was awkward, so my father raised his voice and asked me a question.
“Yes. Somehow I got first place.”
“Good job. Good job Stay still, I have to reward you.”
Father took his wallet out of his back pocket and he pulled out a 5,000 won bill and handed it to me.
“No. Father, father, you need money to live in a foreign country, but you don’t have to give it to me.”
“Take it, you bastard. If my father gives it to me, I say thank you and take it quickly.”
“Then. Thank you.”
“Really.. Haha..”
Mother looked at her father and sighed.
Seeing her mother like that, her father awkwardly turned her head and cleared her throat.
“Mother why are you like that? Do you have any bad feelings?”
I went up to her mother and rubbed her shoulder and asked.
“Ugh. It’s because I’m upset. That man is good. No way. I shouldn’t talk.”
I don’t know what it is, but it seems that the father did a big mistake to her mother.
“No way. Relieve your mother. Aren’t we eating dinner? Son is hungry My father is here too, so let’s have dinner quickly.”
“Okay? Is Sungjin hungry? Okay. I’ll make dinner soon.”
When I heard that I was hungry, my mother jumped up and went to the kitchen.
“That woman doesn’t even care about the West, but when she says her son is hungry, she moves like lightning. What the.”
Father must have been dumbfounded by her mother’s appearance, he grumbled in a small voice.
“Hey. You guys, hurry up and put away your books and bring prizes. Let’s eat.”
As if relieved of the heavy atmosphere, the younger sisters quickly put away the books and brought the table to the middle of the room, while her younger sister went to the kitchen and started helping to serve the side dishes.
Evening time was a heavy atmosphere because of my mother, but I was able to spend a good time as I asked my father various questions while eating.

After teaching my younger siblings for about an hour, I exercised on the rooftop as usual.
After working out for over 2 hours, I was about to finish by sweating all over my body, but at the end of the bench, my father was smoking a cigarette while looking at me.
“Has your father come out? I didn’t even know he was coming…”
“Hey, you bastard. What kind of sports do you do so horribly? If you exercise too much, you won’t grow any taller.”
“Do not worry. Because you do just enough. And, I am still growing taller.”
“Okay? Let’s see. Come to think of it, I really grew up a lot.”
My father came next to me and compared my height.
My father is 173 cm tall, and when he stood next to me, he had a head above his ears.
My father went back to the table and sat down.
I also finished my workout and went and sat next to my father.
“Sungjin, I’m sorry. You say you’re running the newspaper these days. I’m sorry that I met ugly parents and couldn’t take care of them properly and only made them suffer.”
“Are you okay. It would be nice if I could exercise and earn pocket money. That’s why. Don’t worry too much about it.”
“However, it is not like that from a parent’s point of view. Thank you for studying so well and taking good care of my mother.”
When she heard that she was taking care of her mother, a bitter smile came out of her heart.
“Father, if you’re that worried, come home often. I know you are busy with work, but you still have to come often to be treated by your mother.”
“Eww. Huh. Okay.”
For some reason, my father stuttered his words with an awkward smile.
I could sense that there was something hidden in his father’s figure.
“Anyway, when you’re not around, Seongjin, as the head of the family, you have to take good care of the house. Understand?”
“Yes, got it. Do not worry.”
Dad went into the room, and I went downstairs to wash up.

Since my father came, my bed was moved to the far end of the room.
The lights were off, my father was lying at the door, and his younger brothers were already asleep.
Even though the mother was late, she was just silently putting on her wig.
I close my eyes and go to sleep, but I think of Jo Young-rae’s work during the day, the pretty image of Jo Young-rae’s older sister in the picture, and guessing what my father is hiding outside.
“Hey, how long are you going to wear wigs? Aren’t you going to sleep?”
“Are you sleeping now? If you only made a lot of money, would I be wearing a wig like this?”
“No, why are you saying that again?”
“No, then I don’t look angry? How can you work for two months and bring me 400,000 won? How do you live with your kids with 400,000 won?”
The mother’s voice grew louder and louder, probably because she was very angry.
“Ugh! Then the kids wake up.”
At Father’s words, Mother hurriedly turned to us.
“You talk to me.”
Mother put down her wig, put on her shoes, and went out to the roof.
“Her! That’s great.”
My father also reluctantly followed.
I got up from my seat and secretly hid myself at the entrance to the roof and began to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“Tell me honestly. You look like another woman?”
“Ugh! What is this person talking about? Where is my girl?”
At the mother’s sudden question, the father grabbed and slapped in a panicked voice.
‘Oh, my father too. It’s because I can’t lie like that.’
“It looks like a woman, right? The days I come home are getting longer and longer, and I only bring 400,000 won home after working for two months. No matter how much I think about it, it doesn’t seem to make sense except that I have a woman.”
“Ugh! Even if it is not It’s because I couldn’t work properly because of the rainy season..”
“No, no matter how rainy it is, how is 400,000 won for being away for two months? 400,000 won. What are you guys really doing with this? Yes?”
Mother was not very upset that her father was cheating on her.
She was more angry at not being able to take good care of her children.
“I don’t care if you’re having an affair or starting a different life. Because it’s been like that since before. But my kids, I can’t stand having them live like beggars like that…”
Her mother’s voice grew cold, and she eventually began to cry.
“Ugh! Why are you crying again? And why are you talking about the old days again?”
‘Ouch! Father, is that what you’re talking about at this point? Even if I read it, it won’t be enough.’
“No really. This gentleman. Does it matter now? What are our kids going to do? Sungjin took first place in all schools this time. I want to send my handsome son to an academy, but I’m going to die of upset because I can’t do that. That little one gets up at dawn to help me and turns the newspaper. You are the real baby Do you know how hard it is for me right now? If it wasn’t for our Sungjin, he would have died a long time ago. But what about the old days? Are you living this now? Are you living What the hell are you doing right now?”
Eventually her mother exploded and screamed at her.
“No, why is this person screaming? It’s night now. Be quiet. And, is Sungjin a kid? In the old days, I would get married and have children at that age.”
“No, really. Are you saying that now? Yes?”
“Eh! Stop. Because I know.”
In the end, my father tried to avoid his seat with a look of annoyance.
“No, this gentleman. Where are you going without talking?”
As the mother grabbed her father’s arm, the father’s body spun and stumbled.
“No, is this woman crazy? Where is she bragging about strength?”
“Stop talking, where are you going? What are you going to do next? Aren’t you going to have to bring money to live?”
The mother refused to let go of her father’s clothes, regardless of what her father said.
“Terrible.”
The angry father ended up slapping his mother.
“Can’t you just give me the money? Niimi, where are you screaming? It’s a corner of the house, so you have to feel comfortable to come in.”
My father slapped my mother, and I was about to run out, but hesitated, turned his feet, entered the room, and lay down.
She couldn’t go out because she felt that her mother would not want her son to see her fighting.
The father shook off her mother’s hand, went inside her, huffed and puffed, then lay down and went to sleep.
After a while she came in as well, looked down at her father for a moment, then came and lay down next to me with her pillow.
My mother, fearing that I would wake up, directed her as far away from me as possible, then lay down on her side against the wall and whimpered weakly.
While I was thinking about what to do, I heard my father snoring from the other side.
She lifted her head slightly and took one look at her father, then put her left arm under her mother’s neck and held her right arm from behind.
My mother was startled and turned her head towards me and looked at me.
“You haven’t slept yet?”
“Yes. I woke up a while ago when my mother came by my side.”
“Okay? Woke me up from sleep Sorry.”
“No. Mother, don’t curl up like that and take a nap. She’ll come this way.”
I turned her mother around and took her into my arms.
“I’m sorry, Sungjin. I got into a fight with my dad and now…”
“Shh. Mom, talk to you later. Please go to sleep.”
I cut my mother off and hugged her tightly.
“Huh. Okay. OK.”
My mother also hugged me on the back, and I gave her mother a kiss on the lips.
My mother, who had been crying a while ago, looked at me with a big smile as if everything had been resolved with a single kiss from me.
“I live because of our Sungjin.”
She closed her mother’s eyes with her hands and told her to go to sleep.