Dopamine Addiction - Chapter 84

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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84.
Hee-ju’s breath caught short. Her pupils trembled. She didn’t know how to accept this sudden trace of her father, encountered without warning.
Her gaze instinctively sought Liam. He met her eyes and nodded.
“Do you know anything about him?”
Margaret stared into the distance as if sifting through memory. Her voice carried the deliberate slowness of someone reaching back into the distant past.
“It must have been more than a decade ago. My husband invited Kim over once. I remember him introducing him as someone he’d come to know through business.”
“You mentioned your husband was in the mining industry?”
Liam’s question drew a “Yes” from Margaret.
“Iron ore and manganese, mainly. I don’t know the details.”
“Iron ore and manganese. Those are minerals primarily used in weapons manufacturing.”
Liam murmured the observation meaningfully. Hee-ju clasped her hands together without realizing it. She’d never expected to find a connection between her father and Melpis here.
“It could have been. Among my husband’s acquaintances, there were quite a few people in the military supply industry. But honestly, I really don’t know the details. He never discussed business with me.”
“How did Kim come to know him?”
“Like I said, more than a decade ago my husband invited him to the house. They met a few times after that. I remember my husband quite liked him. There was quite an age difference, but when they talked, he’d lose all track of time. Whenever he’d ask Kim to stay the night, Kim would wear that awkward expression and nod as if he had no choice.”
A faint smile lingered at the corner of Margaret’s mouth.
“He was only invited to the house a few times, but it seems they spent much more time together at my husband’s cabin. So I assumed hunting must be his hobby.”
“……Is that so?”
Only after the words left her lips did Hee-ju realize how strained her voice sounded, as if someone were throttling her throat.
She cleared her throat and spoke again.
“Was hunting really his hobby?”
“No. My husband would mention him from time to time, and it seemed he had no interest in hunting at all.”
“I see.”
“Every hunting season my husband would invite a few acquaintances and hold a small competition. Small as it was, there were prizes involved—mostly gold.
But Kim never took home a single prize. He preferred to sit in a rocking chair in front of the cabin and read. He had no interest in the gold everyone coveted. My husband was so delighted by how much Kim seemed to love it that he gave him a key to the cabin—told him to use it whenever he liked. I didn’t pay much attention to it since I never had reason to go there anyway.”
“I see.”
“It’s strange, isn’t it? A person I hadn’t thought of in years, and talking about him brings back forgotten memories one by one. Oh, that reminds me.”
Margaret added a remark as if the thought had just occurred to her.
“I remember hearing that he had a daughter. It must have been when we were having dinner together at our house.”
Hee-ju’s lips parted. She tried to respond, but her voice wouldn’t come.
Liam took her hand. Watching this, Margaret smiled with an air of understanding something.
“There’s clearly some story there. The way he couldn’t meet—it stuck with me. My husband traveled on business to many countries, but he always asked so much about Korea. Every time he spoke about Korea, I could see how intently Kim listened. Then contact stopped a few years later. I don’t know if he continued meeting my husband separately, but he was never invited to the house again. That’s why I’d forgotten about him completely until now.”
“……Yes.”
“Oh, and my husband kept letters he exchanged with acquaintances. There should be a letter from Kim among them.”
“A letter?”
Hee-ju’s eyes widened, and Margaret laughed. “Hoho.”
“Is it too old-fashioned for people nowadays? It’s not anything grand—just Christmas cards and New Year’s cards. Would you like to see them?”
Hee-ju swallowed slowly.
“Would that be all right?”
“Just a moment.”
Margaret left them and returned shortly with a wooden box. She reached out and gently touched Hee-ju’s shoulder, then let it fall.
“Take your time looking through them. I should check on how dinner is coming along.”
After Margaret left the living room, Hee-ju exhaled the breath she’d been holding. Liam studied her face and asked, “Should I look?”
Hee-ju shook her head. Slowly, she reached out and opened the lid of the wooden box. Numerous letters were arranged neatly inside.
Finding her father’s among them wasn’t difficult. The meticulous Melpis had organized them in alphabetical order by sender’s name.
There were only four envelopes in total. Three were Christmas cards her father had sent to Melpis, and their contents were unremarkable.
Yet Hee-ju stared at the handwriting intently. Above the neat penmanship, her father’s final image came to mind. His gaunt face, bones stark and prominent.
She wished they’d talked longer. Waited for him to wake, exchanged a few more words.
The weather’s turned quite cold, hasn’t it? Though it’s more bearable than Korea. This is my first time in the United States. Are there any tourist sites to see when I visit San Francisco? Any foods I absolutely must try?
“……”
She wished they’d shared more trivial words like these.
And that she could have told him—she’d resented him.
That she’d longed for him as much as she’d resented him.
That she’d loved him as much as she’d longed for him.
All the unsaid words churned roughly in her chest. Hee-ju swallowed the rising emotion, moving her throat slowly.
As she opened the final envelope, she froze. It wasn’t a letter her father had sent. It was a letter Melpis had been sending to her father.
The fact that it was still in the box meant it had never been mailed.
“Since he said contact stopped, he must not have been able to send it. Maybe Father had retired……”
Hee-ju trailed off, muttering absently. A photograph slipped out. A familiar child’s photograph.
Liam, looking over her shoulder at the image, frowned slightly.
“That’s you?”
“……Yes. But why would this be—”
Hee-ju fell silent, staring at the photograph. There she was in her high school uniform, walking home from school with a friend whose name she could no longer recall, both of them smiling.
“It seems Melpis took this photograph on one of his business trips. From the looks of it, this wasn’t the first time.”
Liam opened the accompanying card. Inside was written: “Merry Christmas, Kim. This year’s gift.”
“Your father never forgot you.”
!
In that moment, something hot surged up and overwhelmed her. She couldn’t tell if it was resentment, sorrow, or longing.
All the emotions tangled together, staining her completely dark.
Her vision blurred in an instant. She bit her lip hard, but tears welled up relentlessly.
A swollen drop fell, plip, onto the photograph.
“Huh… uh……”
A suppressed sob leaked through Hee-ju’s clenched teeth. She, who hadn’t cried even at her father’s funeral, finally broke down with tears that came too late.
Her father had loved her. Even though she’d never known it.
“Dad……”
The belated call dispersed uselessly into the air.
“Dad.”
Liam slowly reached out and pulled her into his arms. He pressed his lips to the crown of her head.
When he’d first met Hee-ju, he’d wanted to see her cry. He’d wanted to see that composed face crumble.
But that had been his miscalculation. The moment he saw her tears, his entire body ached as if rough hands were tearing open a wound.
The fact that there was nothing he could do made him feel sick.
“Liam……”
Hee-ju buried herself in his chest. Liam held her tighter and whispered softly.
“Don’t cry. Please.”
***
Anthony tilted his seat back and stretched.
“You got the CCTV footage?”
Hunter nodded while adjusting the radio frequency. After wandering through various stations, his hand settled on classical music.
“There’s barely any CCTV near the mansion. Still managed to secure what we could.”
Anthony shifted his body, searching for a comfortable position. “Should’ve brought donuts if I knew we’d be here this long,” he muttered, clicking his tongue.
Hunter picked up the binoculars and rose from his seat.
“I’m going to take a look around.”
“Grab some donuts on the way back.”
“Where are the donut shops around here?”
Hunter brushed off the empty chatter and opened the car door. He climbed the hill until the mansion building came into view.
He stopped at a suitable vantage point and raised the high-magnification binoculars to his eyes. The military-issue binoculars had quite good specs.
Though several kilometers away, three shadows beyond the living room curtains were clearly visible.
Back at the car, Hunter tossed the binoculars onto the back seat and interlaced his fingers behind his head. He tilted his seat back like Anthony.
“They’re still inside. Nothing to worry about.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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