TBM Vol 2 Part 13

He had almost no memories of his biological father, who had passed away when he was very young. After  Lee Il-seo developed the social concept of family, his family members consisted only of his maternal grandmother, his mother, and himself. His mother, the only one engaged in an occupation, left home early and returned late.

After his father’s death, an indescribable gloom hung over his mother’s face. But Lee Il-seo filled the void of insufficient love with plenty from his maternal grandmother. Though he missed his father, the three of them lived relatively happily together, so he wasn’t particularly unhappy.

However, when Lee Il-seo entered the first year of middle school, a strange man began visiting his home. His mother introduced him as Kang Hyung-won. Though initially scared of this particularly tall and large man, he was very affectionate not only to his mother but also to Lee Il-seo.

Occasionally, he would call Lee Il-seo after school and take him to family restaurants, and every time they met, he would give him pocket money. As Lee Il-seo gradually opened his heart to this initially awkward man, the days Kang Hyung-won stayed at their home increased, and eventually, before a year had passed, they began living together.

When Lee Il-seo kept calling him ‘mister,’ his mother suggested that, since they were living together, perhaps he could try calling him ‘father.’ Due to the psychological distance he hadn’t yet bridged, this felt uncomfortable. Seeing Lee Il-seo unintentionally hesitate, Kang Hyung-won said it was fine, told him to call him whatever felt comfortable, and laughed good-naturedly.

Thus, Kang Hyung-won became his mother’s new settled partner. Although his mother was a Beta, Kang Hyung-won was an Alpha. Lee Il-seo, who had believed that Betas usually paired with other Betas, was quite surprised that his mother’s partner was an Alpha, but seeing his mother’s increased smiles, he thought it fortunate.

His mother quit her painful job at the logistics center and opened a small cafe with Kang Hyung-won. Though it was a small shop, they ground coffee beans themselves and baked bread every morning with care, gradually developing a good reputation in the neighborhood.

As a result, Lee Il-seo’s allowance increased. He saved his money and bought a used guitar. This first and only guitar became his treasure.

After quickly learning fingering techniques from an old booklet and internet videos, covering pop songs in his room became his new hobby. His mother loved singing and playing.

But a year later, when his mother passed away unexpectedly, things began to change. She was involved in a traffic accident on her way to the cafe. After being told by his homeroom teacher to leave school early and go to the hospital, Lee Il-seo and his grandmother rushed to the emergency room at the university hospital.

But his mother’s body lying on the hospital bed was already cold. It was a senseless accident caused by a car that lost control and invaded the sidewalk. Kang Hyung-won, who had been waiting for her at the cafe, also arrived at the emergency room after receiving a call from her mother. Lee Il-seo wailed, clutching his mother’s body covered with a white cloth.

That day, Lee Il-seo learned for the first time how desperately a person could cry. Kang Hyung-won, who had been planning a small wedding ceremony and marriage registration soon, spent the entire funeral alternating between screaming, drinking to a stupor, and crying himself to sleep. Even after returning home, he continued this cycle of crying and drinking.

When completely intoxicated, he would break furniture while threatening to kill the driver who caused his girlfriend’s death, his eyes bloodshot with rage. Lee Il-seo’s grandmother would push him into a small room while trying to restrain and comfort Kang Hyung-won, their voices continuing throughout the night.

At first, Lee Il-seo was just scared of Kang Hyung-won, but gradually began to feel sympathy for him. After all, the reason for his hellish emotional outbursts was that he loved his mother. Lee Il-seo thought it was just his somewhat extreme way of expressing grief. After wandering for nearly two months mourning Lee Il-seo’s mother who was no longer in this world, Kang Hyung-won reopened the cafe after the 49-day memorial service.

Kang Hyung-won would come home during break time to eat alone, which coincided with when Lee Il-seo finished school, so they frequently encountered each other.

Unlike before, having to manage the shop alone, he ate his meals hurriedly. That day, seeing his back looking strangely pitiful, Lee Il-seo placed another bowl of rice across from Kang Hyung-won and ate an early dinner with him.

Kang Hyung-won raised his eyebrows as he looked at him, but Lee Il-seo continued eating without saying much. From that day on, they ate dinner together as if by agreement. When Kang Hyung-won occasionally asked about school or allowance, there were rare days when he felt like a father.

Lee Il-seo realized later that having lost his father and now his mother, he desperately needed someone to connect with emotionally.

In this way, he actually grew closer to Kang Hyung-won, his mother’s boyfriend, after his mother passed away. However, Lee Il-seo eventually realized that a strange atmosphere had developed between them. Instead of reducing his drinking and being devoted to their home, Kang Hyung-won spent more time watching Lee Il-seo.

Literally, he observed every movement with obvious stares. When Lee Il-seo went to the bathroom, he felt eyes following him, and when he turned on the TV, he felt a gaze on his cheek rather than watching the screen.

Sometimes when Kang Hyung-won was drunk, that explicit gaze would follow him persistently to the point of discomfort. After trying to avoid the situation by moving away or turning his body, Lee Il-seo finally couldn’t bear it anymore and asked Kang Hyung-won directly.

“What is it? Is there something on me?”

“Hmm?”

“Why do you keep staring at me?”

“I’m looking because you’re pretty, because you’re pretty. Is it wrong to look at my son?”

“Ah… Yes.”

The term ‘son’ felt particularly unpleasant. Since he wasn’t really his son and still felt more comfortable calling Kang Hyung-won ‘mister’, Lee Il-seo let his gaze drift uncomfortably. Kang Hyung-won continued with a small sigh.

“Lee Il-seo resembles Hae-su.”

He had heard many times that he resembled his mother. Especially his grandmother said that his eyes and the mole next to them looked exactly like his mother’s. After realizing who Kang Hyung-won was thinking of while looking at him, Lee Il-seo tried not to feel uncomfortable with his stares.

But gradually, Kang Hyung-won began to interfere with even the trivial aspects of  Lee Il-seo’s daily life.

“I’m going to hang out with my friend for a while.”

“When will you be back?”

“I’ll be a bit late. We’re going to the PC room.”

“Don’t be late.”

Kang Hyung-won used to ask these questions when his mother went out too. Unlike his mother who always reported her schedule precisely, Lee Il-seo gave a vague answer and left, returning after eleven o’clock.

After leaving the PC room, he and his friends bought ice cream, shared it at the playground, and spent a long time playing on the swings before coming home. The problem was that his phone battery had died, so he couldn’t answer Kang Hyung-won’s calls.

That day, as Lee Il-seo was entering the house, he encountered Kang Hyung-won at the front, who was searching the alley frantically.

With blood-red eyes, he grabbed Lee Il-seo by the neck, almost choking him, and dragged him into the house. He threw Lee Il-seo to the floor and struck his fallen body repeatedly with a fly swatter.

His grandmother tried to block him, but Kang Hyung-won shouted that he needed to teach him proper manners. They couldn’t withstand the strength of an enraged Alpha. Fearing his grandmother might get hurt, Lee Il-seo stood in front of her again and endured the violence disguised as punishment. Red bruises formed on his thighs, calves, and back.

The next morning, he knelt in front of Lee Il-seo, whose face was swollen, as he was leaving for school. He begged for forgiveness with clasped hands, saying he was truly sorry and had been so worried that he got angry.

“I was afraid you might have had an accident… Like Hae-su… I’m really sorry.”

Lee Il-seo, who had been thinking of reporting Kang Hyung-won to the police just the night before, softened when he saw him whimpering about his mother. But he was wrong. That day, Lee Il-seo should have run away with his grandmother.

After being quiet for a while, Kang Hyung-won admitted his grandmother to a nearby nursing home during the winter break before high school. The reason was that his grandmother, whose dementia had worsened since his mother’s death, had started a fire in the kitchen.

While Lee Il-seo was visiting a friend’s house, black smoke filled their small house, starting from a pot his grandmother had forgotten on the gas stove. Kang Hyung-won claimed to have saved his grandmother, who was nearly trapped in the smoke. Hearing the news later, Lee Il-seo was relieved to hear that his grandmother who had almost died was safe, and the fire could have spread to the neighboring house.

Kang Hyung-won persuaded Lee Il-seo, and even the neighborhood women joined in saying that his grandmother should be hospitalized. With his grandmother in the nursing home, only Kang Hyung-won and Lee Il-seo remained in the small house still marked with soot.

From that day, Kang Hyung-won began to reveal his desires openly. He displayed obsessive behavior regarding Lee Il-seo’s curfew and phone.

He picked fights over meetings with friends or group projects, and tried to verify if there were any lies. At first, Lee Il-seo thought it was just a guardian’s interference trying to discipline a teenager, so he obediently showed him his phone and observed curfew.

But one dawn, when he couldn’t sleep, Lee Il-seo discovered Kang Hyung-won sneaking into his room and repeatedly checking his phone before leaving. After this, he realized that Kang Hyung-won’s behavior was different from other parents and strange.

He also became uncomfortable with the lingering stares when he came out after a late-night shower. At some point, he began fully dressing inside the small bathroom after showering. He also became suspicious about his underwear, which would disappear during laundry and then reappear in the laundry basket days later.

After thoroughly searching the house when Kang Hyung-won left for the cafe, Lee Il-seo discovered his underwear stuffed in Kang Hyung-won’s desk drawer. From then on, he began to truly despise him.

Lee Il-seo became increasingly uncomfortable at home. One day, particularly reluctant to go home, he stayed at a friend’s house until dinner, using homework as an excuse. When his friend’s mother suggested he stay overnight since it was late, Lee Il-seo impulsively decided to spend the night away from home.

“I’ll stay at my friend’s house and go to school from here. My friend’s mother said she’ll drive us. If you need to talk to my friend’s mother, I can put her on the phone.”

Lee Il-seo had left a text message for Kang Hyung-won but received no reply, and didn’t think much of it. He thought Kang Hyung-won trusted him since he had mentioned his friend’s mother.

However, the next morning, Kang Hyung-won came to the school, took Lee Il-seo out of class, and as soon as they returned home, hit Lee Il-seo with his bare hands instead of a fly swatter.

After taking a blow to the cheek, Lee Il-seo accidentally bit his inner cheek, and a metallic taste of blood quickly filled his mouth. While spitting blood onto the floor, he picked up his cell phone.

“…I’m going to report you.”

Watching Lee Il-seo dial 112, Kang Hyung-won sneered.

“Go ahead if you want to see your grandmother take the beating instead.”

“What did you say?”

“Never mind. Let’s just lock your grandmother in this house too and set it on fire to kill us all. Hmm? They’ll think it was just a senile old woman who started another fire anyway.”

“Are you crazy? Why are you acting like this?!”

“You! Even you are driving me insane!”

Kang Hyung-won screamed in a frenzy, throwing objects around the house and roaring. Fortunately, neighbors heard the commotion and called the police, who arrived shortly after.

But Kang Hyung-won persuaded the police that he was simply disciplining his high school son who had stayed out overnight without permission. The police asked Lee Il-seo a few routine questions, but Lee Il-seo couldn’t answer properly.

This was because Kang Hyung-won was staring at him with bloodshot eyes that looked capable of murder, and Lee Il-seo feared that his crazed anger would be directed at his grandmother. The image of Kang Hyung-won mentioning his grandmother with yellowed eyes full of rage wouldn’t leave his mind.

After the police visit that day, Kang Hyung-won’s violence became more frequent and his methods more cunning. He began pushing Lee Il-seo into the utility closet and beating him with his fists and feet. This was to prevent the sounds of beating from being heard outside. The closet between the kitchen and the veranda was so narrow that adults couldn’t even enter, and for Lee Il-seo, it was cramped enough to squeeze his shoulders, a dark place without a single opening.

On days when Kang Hyung-won became obsessive and lost control with bloodshot eyes, Lee Il-seo would be grabbed by his hair, arm, ankle, or anywhere else and shoved into the closet, where he had to endure being beaten until exhaustion without being able to move. After venting his anger, Kang Hyung-won would lock the door from the outside, and Lee Il-seo had to spend hours crouched in the dark, narrow space through the night.

As this repeated, even the mere threat of being locked in the closet was enough to silence Lee Il-seo, and he gradually began to comply with Kang Hyung-won’s obsession helplessly. Lee Il-seo submitted to regular phone checks without complaint and always answered calls before they stopped ringing. Forget staying out overnight, he even reported by text message when just going to the convenience store.

Hating to stay at home, he signed up for self-study sessions that even his friends didn’t attend. He lied to Kang Hyung-won about weekend supplementary classes and secretly started a weekend part-time job. He received his wages in cash and hid them in his school locker. When he saved enough money, he planned to discharge his grandmother from the hospital and leave the house that had become hell forever.

Then Lee Il-seo learned about entertainment agencies that provided accommodation.