If I Don’t Earn 1 Trillion Won, My Regression Ends - Chapter 31
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 31
“That’s right! It’s supposed to be dark when you blow out candles, right? My mom always does it that way! Should I turn them off?”
Quick sideways glances toward me, including from Mother. The Jeong siblings also steal furtive looks while pretending not to.
I smiled shyly and pretended not to know anything.
“No~ Every family does it differently. Auntie’s house always does it this way. Now! Shall we start singing?”
May 25th, 1998.
The birthday song rang out.
With all the lights on, bright as midday, birthday candles flickered on top of a buttercream cake loaded with fruit.
“Happy birthday, Sing-a!”
“Here’s your present- Ah! I told you not to push!”
“We’re screwed! Auntie, the cake fell over!”
The cake spilled all over my nylon dress… I became a human cake and just stayed silent. The buttercream of this era had a very high margarine content, making it incredibly slippery…
While the kids who had caused the accident just hesitated and watched nervously, Jeong Hyeon-gyo held out a handkerchief from beside me.
“Here.”
“Is it yours?”
“Yeah. Don’t you want it?”
What’s he saying?
I don’t know why his way of thinking jumps around like that, but I was just surprised by the gentlemanliness that the future prosecutor general possessed.
I gave Jeong Hyeon-gyo a light glance and was using the handkerchief to brush off the chunks of buttercream stuck all over my body when it happened.
Whirr- thud…!
“Oh!”
“…!”
“What!”
The refrigerator compressor sound, the electromagnetic waves from fluorescent lights, and all the white noise that had been quietly running suddenly cut off at once.
Silence fell, and everything around us plunged into darkness.
I blinked my eyes while frozen in the darkness.
It was a power outage.
♧
“S-Sing-a! Sing-a!”
The person who panicked most from the power outage wasn’t Seosing-a, but Seosing-a’s mother, Bang Suk-yeong.
Seeing the woman trembling like crazy seemed useless, so Jeong Hyeon-hye shouted irritably.
“Mother, candles!”
Eun Yeon-ju hurriedly rummaged through drawers and pulled out candles.
Power outages weren’t rare events in this era, and every household kept candles and flashlights within reach.
Amid the murmuring, candles as thick as forearms were lit one by one.
Once objects became distinguishable, Jeong Hyeon-hye frantically looked for someone. She couldn’t understand why her heart felt so urgent.
Why should she care about that detestable kid?
But Jeong Hyeon-hye remembered.
Winter two years ago.
It was the day they went to visit someone at the hospital.
“Kids understand each other. Hyeon-gyo, you and your sister go comfort Sing-a well. She’s younger than you, so imagine how scared she must be.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Soothe her, play with her, and if she needs anything, go buy it for her. Do everything Sing-a wants. Don’t interfere while the adults are talking. It’ll be troublesome if this matter gets bigger. Hyeon-hye, do you understand what Father is saying?”
“Yes.”
‘When have my brother and I ever failed to understand orders?’
Jeong Hyeon-hye sneered cynically to herself, but that didn’t mean she didn’t understand the seriousness of the situation.
It was a matter involving none other than Rampa Lim.
This time it was a kidnapping incident caused by Rampa Lim’s uncle, and that uncle was Father’s ‘Chairman.’
In their household, the Chairman always came first.
So Rampa Lim, the Chairman’s only nephew, was also important, and whenever Rampa Lim came to Korea, if any problems arose, Father wouldn’t hesitate to yell at and even hit their family.
He was someone who cared about the Chairman more than anything else in the world, to the point where he didn’t even know what his own wife was doing outside.
Jeong Hyeon-hye thought this incident was somewhat disappointing.
It would have been perfect if Rampa Lim hadn’t returned alive.
Then the Chairman would have thrown Father away like chewed gum, and this family might have had a chance at recovery.
But Rampa Lim stubbornly returned alive, and Jeong Hyeon-hye had to watch that walking disaster bring another misfortune to a family.
In front of Seosing-a’s sobbing parents, the doctor said:
“Always keep doors open, don’t make spaces too quiet, and avoid turning off lights whenever possible.”
That’s how Seosing-a’s house became unable to turn off lights forever after Christmas 1996.
Even when everyone was asleep.
Even when lighting things like candles, as today.
Because their daughter would have seizures due to bad memories that came with darkness.
Jeong Hyeon-hye had directly witnessed Seosing-a collapsing while foaming at the mouth.
Her face was blue-black like a dead fish, and her hair was soaked with sweat, clinging to her cheeks like seaweed strands.
It was ugly.
Unlike Seosing-a.
Originally, Seosing-a was a child who was obviously loved by everyone.
She would move from her mother’s arms to her father’s arms, transferring between embraces with such good fortune.
She would even unhesitatingly snuggle into other people’s parents’ arms, curling her eyes and smiling triumphantly like a little fox. As if she was afraid others might not know she was being adored.
What kind of child was like that?
Jeong Hyeon-hye disliked that child at first sight, and she still did now.
“Put this in her mouth.”
But she clearly remembered how the adults had soothed Seosing-a when her trauma caused seizures.
Candy would do.
Seosing-a liked sweet and refreshing things, and if you put candy in her mouth, she would quiet down even while crying.
Green grape candy would be best, but all she could see right now was peanut caramel, which was unfortunate. Jeong Hyeon-hye nudged Jeong Hyeon-gyo with her elbow, urging him.
Jeong Hyeon-gyo, who received the caramel, looked intently at his sister’s face.
“Give it to Sing-a?”
“Yeah. You need to feed her something sweet.”
“Instead of giving it to her yourself.”
“You give it to her. Never say I gave it to you.”
“…Don’t regret it.”
Regret? Me?
Jeong Hyeon-hye almost burst out laughing because it was so ridiculous.
That child Seosing-a was a stubborn brat who didn’t know when to quit when pampered and just got more arrogant!
How much more triumphant would she become if she knew someone cared about her? The fox’s tail might soar so high it would fly to the sky.
Jeong Hyeon-hye snorted and turned her head away.
“You were so scared, our daughter! Mommy’s sorry, so sorry!”
“Let’s end the party here for now. I’ll send the kids home first. Hyeon-gyo’s mom, please take care of Sing-a’s mom. Huh? Hyeon-gyo. Are you giving that to Sing-a?”
“Yes. Sing-a. Try eating this. It’s caramel. It’s sweet.”
“Thank you, Hyeon-gyo oppa.”
“It’s nothing. Were you very scared?”
Surrounded by people, neither Seosing-a nor Jeong Hyeon-gyo could be seen.
When she met Song Geum-sil’s observing gaze from across the room, Jeong Hyeon-hye felt inexplicably irritated. So she got up and moved to a seat far away.
The power outage wasn’t being restored quickly.
Thick candles positioned here and there burned red.
Eun Yeon-ju, who knew the situation, had brought out as many candles as possible to avoid stimulating the child’s trauma.
Thanks to that it was bright, but it also looked quite dangerous.
It was Monday evening, so it was time to start sending the children home. The voices of children leaving their seats were noisy.
“What should we do with these leftover firecrackers?”
“What a waste! Just set them off!”
Pop—!
Jeong Hyeon-hye couldn’t remember clearly after that.
The mischievous boys set off string firecrackers all at once in succession, and the girls’ screams echoed.
In the midst of chaos spreading in an instant…
Firecrackers exploding in the crowded cluster, confetti and gunpowder scattering over the burning candles.
Whoosh! Sparks flew up and the thick candles fell like dominoes onto the butter cake…
Flames that bloomed in an instant clung to the butter cream and the nylon dress Seosing-a was wearing.
Fire growing and spreading.
Before anyone could react, Jeong Hyeon-gyo urgently embraced Seosing-a tightly.
“Hyeon-gyo!!!”
The adults’ shocked cries. The children’s wailing.
With a click sound, the electricity came back on.
“O-oppa? Jeong Hyeon-gyo…!”
Under the white fluorescent lights that stung the eyes, Seosing-a burst into tears in Jeong Hyeon-gyo’s arms.
The tear stains spreading across her pure face came into Jeong Hyeon-hye’s vision so vividly it was dazzling.
The small fire that had spread was quickly extinguished by adults frantically waving their clothes, but the burning smell and Jeong Hyeon-gyo’s groans were still there.
“1, 119… Call 119 first, hurry!!”
“What do we do about Hyeon-gyo’s neck?! The clothes melted and we can’t take them off!”
“H-Hyeon-gyo. Does it hurt a lot? Just bear with it a little longer!”
“Is this 119? This is Jeongja-dong-”
“Hyeon-gyo’s mom, pull yourself together! Someone quickly contact Hyeon-gyo’s father!”
Seosing-a didn’t leave Jeong Hyeon-gyo’s side.
She stubbornly resisted the adults’ attempts to separate them, hugging Jeong Hyeon-gyo’s arm and looking only at Jeong Hyeon-gyo.
Tension, guilt, compassion, responsibility, dependence…
Jeong Hyeon-hye could read each and every one of those emotions appearing on Seosing-a’s face.
It was that sincere.
The first time she’d seen such an expression since getting to know the girl named Seosing-a.
‘That’s the real Seosing-a.’
Jeong Hyeon-hye felt like she had missed something.
She was still too young to define it clearly, but… in later years, she would think whenever she saw Jeong Hyeon-gyo.
That scar should have been on me.
♧
I stared at Jeong Hyeon-gyo frantically.
This child who was dripping with cold sweat but never once said it hurt.
Even though his flesh was being damaged…!
‘How can such a child exist?’
And at the same time, the now-familiar sound reached my ears.
【The ‘Dice of Fate’ is ready.】
【Multiple fates within range match the dice’s automatic execution conditions.】
【Manual selection is required.】
Once again, it was the dice.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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