22. Jeong Su-yeon (3)
Written by Malranggong.
*Please note that this article contains depictions of domestic violence.
At that time, Jung Ho-seok was only eighteen. And for thirteen years, he had endured all kinds of violence. Whether verbal or physical, the violence was more than anyone at that age could bear. Hoseok endured a burden that even an adult would struggle to bear. But by the time he turned eighteen and Jung Soo-yeon was six, he could no longer endure. The anxiety that he would soon have to take the college entrance exam and the pressure it would place on him tormented him. He even wondered if death would be better. But Hoseok didn't want to give up on life. He simply wanted to escape this pain. Hoseok made up his mind then. To run away. To escape this hellish place. Even if he got caught and beaten to death, he would at least try.
So Ho-seok hatched a plan. A plan to completely escape without anyone knowing. On Jeong-suyeon's birthday, her parents would wake up at the crack of dawn to prepare, and naturally, they would be exhausted and go to bed early. Ho-seok decided to run away at that moment.
After formulating the perfect plan, a sudden thought struck Hoseok, making him hesitate on whether to carry it out or not. That thought was none other than Jung Soo-yeon, who was only six years old. There was no way he could bring her out. She was still young, and in Hoseok's mind, Jung Soo-yeon was an innocent and ignorant child. So, Hoseok thought, no matter how much he explained his situation to Jung Soo-yeon, she wouldn't understand. Still, his parents wouldn't touch Jung Soo-yeon, he thought, rationalizing the fact that he might run away alone and decided to go ahead with his plan.
***
Ho-seok, who ran away in the middle of the night, caused a huge stir in the house.
When his mother woke up early in the morning, she knocked on Hoseok's bedroom door first. When she heard no sign of life from inside no matter how much she knocked, she went inside. The first thing that caught her eye was a note on the desk. The note looked as if it had been hastily torn from a page of notebook paper. The contents of the note were very short and concise. 'I'm leaving this damn place. Don't come looking for me. Mother, Father. From Jung Hoseok.' As soon as she read the words, she shook her father violently, who was still snoring, awake. His father, who had just woken up and couldn't open his eyes properly, looked at his mother with a frown and annoyed.
“What the… What’s wrong, honey? Don’t be annoying in the morning.”
“That’s not important right now. Look at this!!”
Mother held the note, crumpled from all the weight she'd been holding, out to Father. He frowned, peered at it, and then, speechless, he stuttered without realizing it.
“What, what is this……”
Only then did his father grasp the situation. He got up in a huff and headed to Hoseok's room. He opened all the closets and drawers and searched through them. As expected, all his belongings left were useless things like writing utensils. It seemed like they had taken all of his valuables. For a moment, his father was overcome with anger. He didn't care about what he had done to Hoseok. He didn't even care why Hoseok had run away. Only his own feelings, his own thoughts, took priority.
Unable to control his surging anger, my father overturned the desk right in front of him. As a result, the house erupted in commotion, filled with noise and commotion.
“Honey!! What are you doing? Suyeon’s going to wake up like this… And why did you suddenly flip the desk?? Calm down!!”
“Are you serious right now?? That Jung Ho-seok, that kid, he even left a note saying he ran away. He sneaked out in the middle of the night, that kid!!”
“He’s still a minor, so he probably can’t have gone far. So…”
“What if you can’t find it?? Huh?? You’ll take responsibility?? You should have taken better care of the child!! Who will continue the family line without Jung Ho-seok……”
As the atmosphere grew tense, Jung Soo-yeon, still half-asleep, approached her parents and asked what they were doing. Her mother tried to send her back to her room, but her father stopped her, bent down to Jung Soo-yeon's level, and opened his mouth.
“Suyeon, our Suyeon will study well, right? She’ll continue to be with mom and dad, right?”
Her father grabbed Jung Soo-yeon's shoulder and pressed her, asking her questions in a pressured manner. Of course, Jung Soo-yeon was still young at the time, so she had no idea whether it was pressure, a threat, or gaslighting. So, she nodded absentmindedly and answered.
"…yes."
“Yeah. Our Suyeon is kind.”