Scream For Me - Scream - Episode 144

#side story 13

 

Side Story 2 (02)

In-woo, who came home from work, saw that the study door was wide open and looked inside the door. Yeonwoo was sitting in the middle of the study, which was so messy that it was hard to know where to start. Yeon-woo, who found In-woo, smiled brightly and said.

“I’m here?”

“uh. if… “Are you organizing your study now?”

“huh!”

In-woo looked distraught at the messy scene in the study, which contrasted with Yeon-woo’s bright expression. I told them to clean it up, but somehow they seemed to be making more of a mess. She couldn’t tell the person who was cleaning it up that she looked like she was making a mess, so she motioned to In-woo, who stayed silent, for Yeon-woo to come over.

“Inwoo. “Look at this.”

“What?”

“I found the happy birthday letter you wrote to me when you were a third year in middle school.”

Yeon-woo handed In-woo a note that seemed to have been cut out of a notebook to In-woo, who hesitated at the moment due to a strong premonition of dark history. In-woo licked his dry lips from nervousness, then took the note Yeon-woo handed him and held it.

happy birthday.

When I grow up and earn money, I will buy you better things.

After reading the contents of the short letter, In-woo let out a long sigh of relief. He felt like he wanted to give a big clap to his past self for not muttering useless words.

“this… “Is this the letter you said touched you?”

“huh.”

“hmm… what… “There’s nothing special?”

“I also gave you a gift along with the letter.”

Yeonwoo’s eyes twinkled faintly as she gently tilted her head, recalling old memories. Inwoo asked.

“What did you give me?”

“clock.”

“clock? “A third year of middle school gives me a watch as a gift.”

“It’s just sold at a fan store. “When I took the test, I said it was inconvenient not to have a watch, so you bought it for me as a birthday present.”

In-woo chewed his lower lip, feeling sad that the memories couldn’t come to mind. As Yeonwoo said, it seemed like he had forgotten all the memories of the good things he had done and left only the bad memories of the military.

“ah… Why me… “I don’t remember.”

“I don’t remember, but you kept your promise, right?”

“What promise?”

“I said I would buy you something better when you grow up. “In the end, I bought you a better watch when you became an adult.”

In-woo smiled and said with an expression of admiration at the perfect fit of the story.

“My mom said that the person I’m getting married to this year is a match made in heaven, and I guess that’s true.”

In-woo, who was returning the note to Yeon-woo, noticed a photo on a pile of books nearby and asked.

“What picture is this?”

“Oh, that… A photo of my mom and I. “I thought she had thrown it all away, but there was one left.”

In-woo looked at Yeon-woo once and then picked up the photo. Yeonwoo in the photo was an elementary school student who looked about 10 years old, and the woman standing behind her had a face that Inwoo did not recognize. In-woo, who was smiling unconsciously at the breathtakingly cute appearance of young Yeon-woo, asked Yeon-woo.

“Is the person standing behind you your mother?”

“huh.”

The woman in the photo looked so young that it was hard to believe she was the mother of a 10-year-old child. In-woo said after looking at Yeon-woo’s mother for a while as if curious.

“Do you look like your mom?”

Yeonwoo smiled and answered.

“I told you. “I look a lot like my mom.”

“iced coffee… .”

In-woo couldn’t take his eyes off the photo because the image of Yeon-woo’s mother was so different from the image he had imagined. She had an eccentric image because of the stories about how hard she worked, how she made her study hard and beat her, but Yeonwoo’s mother looked infinitely delicate and neat in the photo.

“Why on earth did your mother meet my father?”

In response to Inwoo’s incomprehensible response, Yeonwoo shrugged and spoke.

“I don’t know. Did you meet me because you thought I needed a father, or was there something else you had in mind? “Now that he’s gone, we’ll never know.”

Yeonwoo smiled bitterly and spoke after being silent for a moment.

“I will soon… “I want to see the professor.”

“What Professor?”

“Professor Seo Jin-won.”

Inwoo’s frown narrowed at the unpleasant name. Yeon-woo said to In-woo, who frowned as if asking why.

“Because it’s the anniversary of my mother’s death soon.”

“Ah,” In-woo sighed softly and bit his lip. Yeonwoo let out a long sigh, filled with old emotions, and then spoke.

“When I was taking classes with Professor Seo Jin-won, I worked really hard to get good grades. At that time, I felt like I was going to be recognized by you who ignored me. “I really wanted to become a better professor than you.”

In-woo was listening with a serious expression, and Yeon-woo said with a smile and a slight frown on the bridge of his nose.

“It doesn’t really matter now, but it did back then. What my mother wanted, she wanted me to do the same. She is recognized. And jumping over it. In the end, she hoped for something like that because she couldn’t because she wasn’t recognized as her son, but it’s so funny that even if she was recognized as her son, it didn’t mean anything. “My mother couldn’t let go of her obsession and left.”

Yeonwoo took a large, trembling breath, exhaled again, and spoke in a calm, even voice.

“This time, I’m going to go to my mother’s grave and completely resolve my relationship with the professor. I also had a bit of fun with my mom. I wonder what use it would be to grieve over someone who has already passed away… “I think that person should know the end of my mother.”

“… “How can you not feel anything when you see the professor?”

“It’s impossible to be completely indifferent. It’ll be okay though. Because I am different from my mother. “Do you trust me?”

In-woo, who had a serious expression on his face, smiled and said as if he had no choice.

“If you ask me that, I have no choice but to say yes.”

“If the professor gives me a hard time… “Can I snitch on you?”

“Do it that way. “Because that’s what my husband says.”

Yeonwoo smiled with wide eyebrows and fell into Inwoo’s arms. In-woo hugged Yeon-woo’s back for a long time and comforted her.

***

Yeonwoo, wearing a black suit, pushed open the door of a cafe full of unpleasant scenes and entered. The professor, who readily promised to do so without any hesitation in response to Yeonwoo’s request to meet her, was at the meeting place first and was waiting. As Yeonwoo walked closer, the professor lifted his head and smiled awkwardly.

“You’re here.”

Yeonwoo glanced down at the professor’s smile, which did not look at all comfortable. The space that was once scary for Yeonwoo now seemed to be a place that reminded the professor of uncomfortable memories.

I had deliberately called him to this cafe to remind him of the memories of cruelly pushing away the child he had given his name to and clinging mercilessly to his son who appeared with a new name. Yeonwoo said after taking a quick look around the old cafe.

“I have somewhere to go with you.”

“… Where… “Are you going?”

“You’ll know when you go.”

Yeonwoo turned around without listening. I heard the professor’s hurried footsteps behind me. After leaving the cafe, Yeonwoo got into the taxi that had been waiting in advance.

As the taxi pulled out onto the outskirts of the road, the professor bit his lip as if he was slightly anxious. Yeonwoo said with an indifferent gaze outside his window.

“We’re not kidnapping you, so don’t be so anxious.”

The professor’s shoulders shook at Yeonwoo’s words. Yeonwoo stopped laughing when he saw that. Lately, it seems like there have been quite a few cases where someone with a speaking style similar to Inwoo’s has popped up. Yeonwoo, who returned to his dry demeanor, pointed to the sign in front and said.

“It will arrive in a little while.”

The sign that Yeonwoo pointed to had the words “Memorial Park” engraved on it. The professor’s mood, which had been restless and excited for a moment, became extremely heavy.

The autumn memorial park was quiet and beautiful enough to be worthy of the word park. Following a path occasionally covered with fallen leaves, Yeonwoo headed to the enshrinement hall where her mother’s remains were enshrined. The professor was following Yeonwoo at a slow pace, as if his legs were weak.

The place where Yeonwoo stopped was an outdoor enshrinement hall in a corner of the park. The professor, who followed Yeonwoo in front of the memorial hall, let out a soft sigh as if he was out of breath.

Yeonwoo silently bowed twice in front of his mother’s urn. The professor just stared at Yeonwoo, not knowing what to do. Yeonwoo said.

“Mom, it’s been a while. “My father came too.”

The professor looked up at Yeonwoo with confused eyes. Yeonwoo gestured to the professor where his mother’s urn was placed. Her mother’s urn was in the bottom compartment of the enshrinement hall.

The professor, who had lowered his gaze to the floor and repeatedly clenched and released his empty fist, turned around as if he could not bear to see him. Yeonwoo said in an emotionless voice while looking at the professor’s trembling shoulders.

“It’s been a while, so please at least say hello.”

The professor wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Yeonwoo paused for a moment at the unexpected sight. I thought he was turning away because he hated the unexpected situation, but he seemed to be crying.

“Why are you crying?”

I didn’t think it was a very appropriate question, but the words had already left my lips. The professor, who had his head down so much that he could not bend any further, spoke in a trembling voice.

“… “I’m sorry.”

Yeonwoo couldn’t say anything. In an instant, too many memories pressed down on my mind. The thought that this was an unexpected answer occurred to me a long time later.

The professor cried for a long time. By the time he looked back at Yeonwoo, the corners of his eyes were all sunken. Yeonwoo said.

“Why don’t you ask your mother how she’s doing?”

“… “Can I ask you something?”

“He missed his father a lot.”

The professor’s tears, which he thought had stopped, began to flow again. Yeonwoo just stared at him without even patting his shoulder. No wind of inspiration rose in his heart, which had already frozen a long time ago. Yeonwoo spoke in a calm voice to the crying professor.

“He died in a car accident on his way home from work. It was a hit and run, there were no witnesses, and there were not many people at the funeral. They say he passed away after suffering a lot. “When I got to the hospital, he was already gone.”

“… … .”

“You did a lot of work. He wanted me to be like the professor, so he made me study a lot from a young age, costing a lot of money. Was he trying to make me someone like his father and depend on him instead, or was he thinking that if he raised me well, my father would come back… I’m not sure about that. What is certain is that her mother never let go of her father even for a single moment in her life.”

“… … .”

“professor.”

The professor raised his head at Yeonwoo’s calm call. His eyes were trembling slightly, as if he was nervous at the cold name. Yeonwoo spoke while standing upright without the slightest distortion.

“I am different from my mother. My mother lived her whole life obsessed with the professor, but I have lived hard for myself, and I will live a happier life from now on. So, professor, stop obsessing over your relatives, don’t make it difficult for yourself by forcing your desires, and live the rest of your life happily. “I asked to see you to tell you this, and now I won’t have to see you again.”

“… … .”

“I’ll go first.”

“… Yeonwoo.”

Yeonwoo lightly shook off the professor’s hand, which was barely able to hold on to his sleeve for fear of being shaken off again. Yeonwoo, letting go of his last pity for his mother who gave birth to him by finally bringing the professor, whom he was obsessed with until his death, in front of him, left the front of the memorial hall with lighter steps than ever before.