TTS Vol 2 Ch 8.1

The streets of Itaewon were quiet on a weekday.

Park Sihyun, who had brought Taeri to a pizza place after work, handed the menu to the waiter and took off his suit jacket. Despite wearing a well-made suit, he carried himself differently than Park Chigyeong.

It had been over 80 hours since she last saw Park Chigyeong. Gong Yunseon said that a life without overtime was just an illusion for a prosecutor.

“Hey, I’m really curious about something.”

“Ask away.”

“Why is hyung helping you? What’s your relationship with him?”

Taeri, unable to answer any of his questions despite being invited to, simply sipped the cola the waiter had brought. Park Sihyun grew frustrated with her silence.

“You’ve met hyung, you know what he’s like. Does he seem like the type to help someone for free? My brother is… he doesn’t care about anything except family matters. That’s why I find this so strange. And besides, you’re the one…!”

As if suddenly enraged, Park Sihyun slammed his fist on the table. 

Thud.

“You and I… we have history! You’re the one who fucking reported me to the police! Why on earth is he helping you? Are you, by any chance… dating my brother?”

Taeri, with a grim face, scratched the surface of her glass with her fingernail. She remained silent, deeming the question unworthy of a response. Park Sihyun, however, seemed to interpret her silence as confirmation, raising his voice even more.

“Are you serious, Kang Taeri?! What the hell, the age difference, are you kidding me?! I get it, he looks really amazing right now! It’s the age when a man looks his best! But later on… Hey, damn it! Get a grip, you crazy girl!”

“Sihyun.”

“What, you crazy girl!”

“Who said I’m dating your brother?”

“You’re not?”

Park Sihyun seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, reading Taeri’s firm expression. “Wow, that’s a huge relief then,” he muttered, leaning closer to the table and lowering his voice dramatically. He spoke in a tone bordering on a warning.

“My brother, he’s got a good shell. He’s handsome. Even as his younger brother, I think he’s incredibly handsome, so imagine how women must see him? And he’s a prosecutor on top of that? Super hot, right? But, Kang Taeri, don’t be fooled by his looks, okay?”

This time, Taeri had no choice but to remain silent for a different reason. It was too late for such advice.

“My brother, no one can handle him. Not even our mother. Her own son, can you believe it?”

Just then, the pizza arrived, piled high with cheese like a blanket. Despite her lack of appetite, her mouth started to water.

“Our dad? You’ve never seen our dad, have you? Our mom says hyung looks just like him, but I don’t think so. My brother doesn’t resemble anyone.”

Park Sihyun lifted a slice of pizza from the pizza server. Watching the mozzarella cheese stretch like a trajectory, Taeri thought of the tteokbokki she had eaten the other day. It was strange.

“I just put up with it because he’s family. With someone like my brother, life’s easier having him on my side than as an enemy. But why are you involved with hyung? You’re just a stranger.”

“…….”

“I don’t know why my brother is helping you, but just take all that you need and leave. Don’t get involved with him anymore. Your life will be completely ruined that day. Do you understand, Kang Taeri?”

Park Sihyun uttered his solemn words as he placed a slice of pizza onto Taeri’s plate.

She stared at him, thinking, Since when was he this polite? She wondered if he was a bad guy pretending to be nice, a good guy who had briefly been bad, or just a bad guy who seemed nice in comparison to someone even worse.

Her thoughts were a jumbled mess.

“Kang Taeri, don’t take my words lightly. Even if we’re both trash, trash my age is trash you can easily control. But if you’re dealing with trash much older than you… Your life is really going to be fucked, girl.”

“Do you… do you really think your brother is trash?”

“Is ‘trash’ even enough to describe him? I’m a firm believer in the theory of the inherent evil of humanity because of my brother. My mom says hyung was always been like this, even as a child. No childlike innocence whatsoever. In my opinion, I think my brother has lived at least three lives. Or he’s not even human at all.”

Park Sihyun ate a single slice of pizza using a knife and fork. Elegant manners seemed to be a common trait in their family. Taeri, on the other hand, picked up a slice and ate it with her hands. Park Sihyun looked at her as if she were a savage, and Taeri defiantly stretched the cheese out with her mouth.

“I thought you were trying to win over your brother. Because from my perspective, you look like someone desperately trying to earn his favor.”

Park Sihyun remained silent, perhaps admitting the truth in her words. Taeri smiled like a good-natured person, chewing and swallowing the rest of the pizza. She drank some cola, wiped her mouth with a napkin, and continued.

“My parents, Sihyun, weren’t born with silver spoons in their mouths like yours. They built everything themselves. Especially my father. He worked himself to death to get to where he was. Even if it wasn’t the strongest, he built a decent-looking castle. And then it collapsed. Do you know what happens to the family living in that castle?”

“There’s nothing left to lose.”

That’s why I handle your brother. I can handle him.

Taeri’s face, which had been smiling moments before, became blank. As Park Sihyun stared at her, dumbfounded, his phone began to ring. 

Buzz, buzz, buzz. 

It was around then when the pizza between the two of them was getting cold.

* * *

Park Sihyun’s convertible accelerated as if it were speeding down a narrow alley at 100 km/h. The ride was comfortable, but her heart was uneasy, gripping the handle several times. Because she thought she was going to die. Apparently, her life wasn’t that miserable. She still wanted to live.

Taeri pushed away the distracting thoughts in her mind and recalled the phone conversation Park Sihyun had just had.

‘Uh, h-hyung! I, I’m eating pizza with Taeri nearby? Hyung, are you home? Ah, but hyung. The pizza just came out, so can we just eat a few more slices before we… Ah, you can’t? Do you want us to come right now? Yeah. Okay, hyung. We’ll be right there.’

The caller was Park Chigyeong, who had returned home after 82 hours.

They passed through a garden that retained the colors of summer all year round and entered the front door of the house.

Four feet tapped rapidly up the stairs to the first floor. Park Sihyun’s steps were definitely hurried, and Taeri’s pace also quickened for some unknown reason.

As soon as they reached the first floor, they saw Park Chigyeong in the living room, still in his suit. He had only taken off his jacket, and he looked remarkably neat and tidy for someone who had just spent 82 hours outside. Except, of course, for the slight fatigue etched on his face.

He sat on the leather sofa, staring at the wall-sized TV with an expressionless gaze. On the screen, entertainers were talking, laughing, and chattering, but Park Chigyeong simply stared blankly, as if devoid of emotion.

“So, Chigyeong. I gave that woman a piece of her mind. I told her a prosecutor can’t just handle civil lawsuits like some lawyer. Anyway, isn’t she such an ignorant woman?”

Meanwhile, Gong Yunseon sat diagonally across from Park Chigyeong, recounting the stories she’d been holding back, but Park Chigyeong’s face showed he wasn’t listening.

“Oh my? My pretty ones are already here? Did you drink the pizza like water? Why are you guys back so soon?”

“Huh? Ah, h-hyung told us to come back…”

“Mother, please go to your room.”

Park Chigyeong cut off the conversation, stood up, and looked at Taeri, who was standing next to Park Sihyun.

As soon as their eyes met, Taeri flinched. The heavy fatigue that settled on his face was unfamiliar. The very fact that he looked tired was surprising.

He slowly scanned Taeri as she looked at him, with a gaze that was both similar and different, then shifted his attention to Park Sihyun. Slowly unbuttoning his cufflinks and rolling up his sleeves, he asked casually,

“Was the pizza delicious?”

“Uh, yeah, well…” 

Park Sihyun stammered like an idiot, and Chigyeong’s gaze returned, piercingly, to Taeri. She felt a part of her being cut sharply by the somehow cold stare.

“Was it delicious for you too, Miss Kang Taeri?”

“We… we didn’t even get to finish a slice. But… it seemed to be delicious.”

“Is that so?”

He chuckled. It was the first derisive laugh she’d heard from him in 82 hours.

“How nice for you. Delicious pizza.”

His breathy, sarcastic murmur made Taeri bite her lower lip.

Crazy bastard. Why ask if it was good if he’s just going to be like this? 

Anyway, she thought his personality was really strange. Just then, Park Chigyeong glanced at his wristwatch and immediately took it off. At the clink sound, fear filled Park Sihyun’s eyes.

“H-hyung? Why… why the watch?”

Park Sihyun was so scared that he backed away as if seeing a ghost, and Gong Yunseon, rising from her seat, quickly grabbed Park Chigyeong’s arm and pulled him back, offering an awkward smile.

“Chigyeong? Why is our Mr. Prosecutor acting like this again? He must be very tired from working so hard lately. Go upstairs and take a nice, warm bath and get some sleep. Housekeeper? Please prepare a bath for Chigyeong.”

“Yes! Madam!”

“I told you to go to your room.”

Park Chigyeong gently but firmly removed Gong Yunseon’s hand from his arm. Gong Yunseon staggered, looking utterly despaired. The most despairing of all was the fact that she had no power to stop her own son.

“Chigyeong, you wouldn’t… right? You’ve never done this in front of your mother before. Don’t do this. Don’t upset your mother. Don’t hit Sihyun. I will collapse, I’m serious.”

This was all Gong Yunseon could manage to say as a parent. His subdued but piercing gaze rendered her instantly powerless.

“H-hyung, I, I’m sorry. I did wrong.”

Park Sihyun apologized, even though he had done nothing wrong. He was practically hunched over, as if about to kneel and beg on his hands and knees at any moment.

“Why do you think I brought Kang Taeri here, Sihyun?”

He asked in a monotone, walking towards Park Sihyun. Even though he was wearing slippers, the sound of his footsteps seemed to echo throughout the room. 

Taeri’s heart pounded in her chest, as if a giant was stomping inside her.

“Because it’s dangerous, Sihyun. Dangerous.”

Clink, the sound of Park Chigyeong’s watch bracelet continued. 

Clink, and clink. Every time he heard the sound, Park Sihyun flinched violently.

“H-hyung, j-just listen to what I have to s…say first. I, hyung, I…”

“But you.”

Slap! Park Sihyun’s cheek was twisted to the side in an instant.

“Without my permission.”

Slap. This time to the other side.

“Took Kang Taeri.”

Back to the other side.

“Outside, and if.”

To the other side again.

“Something were to.”

Slap.

“Happen to her, what will I!”

This scene was a repeat of the past. The day she first met him. The day everything went wrong.

But it was incomparable to the tension of that day. The chilling atmosphere was on a different level. Gong Yunseon must have felt it too, because she cried out, “Chigyeong!” and hugged him tightly from behind.

“Chigyeong-ah!! Stop it!! Our Sihyun will die, Chigyeong-ah!!”

Park Chigyeong didn’t even blink. As he raised his large hand again, the one that had struck Park Sihyun’s face countless times—

“Sir, stop it!”

Unable to watch any longer, Taeri squeezed her eyes shut and stepped in front of Sihyun.

Park Chigyeong’s hand, which was about to strike, suddenly stopped as if slammed on the brakes. It seemed to freeze in mid-air.

Gong Yunseon’s eyes widened at the rare sight. It was because she knew her eldest son was not one to be stopped easily just by anyone.

Park Sihyun, whose endurance seemed to have grown considerably, held on for a long time before he finally collapsed. He clutched his neck and coughed, his mouth red, as if he had been holding his breath. Seeing his condition, Gong Yunseon put her hand to her forehead with a dazed expression and collapsed to the side.

“Chigyeong, how could you… do this in front of your mother…? You weren’t like this before…”

Gong Yunseon looked at Park Chigyeong’s broad back, tears welling up. Taeri approached her, bent down, and gently helped her up by the waist.

“Here, hold onto me, ma’am.”

“Pretty one… I’m so scared I can’t live… How could this happen… This can’t be…”

Gong Yunseon buried her tearful face in Taeri’s chest. Taeri put her arms around Gong Yunseon’s back and looked at Park Chigyeong.

“Mrs. Shin, please bring some headache medicine for Mother.”

“Yes, yes, sir.”

The one who caused all this commotion was calmly fastening his watch and walking up the stairs.

He looked the same as usual, but also different. She knew he usually acted like a sociopath, but…

Today… he was too much. Way too much.

As Taeri stared blankly at the empty staircase where he had disappeared, her eyes fell on a black plastic bag on the dining table. She knew instinctively. The source of the familiar smell that had been lingering around her nose since a while ago was right there. The tteokbokki from the same restaurant.

The one Taeri had enjoyed a few days ago. The one she had thanked him for.

That one.