Payback: Reversal

29 - The End Is Not The Answer

His heart was cold.

He used to yearn for this old man's love and affection in the past. A faraway memory that felt so blurry now. Yoohan still tried to respect this man and called him father even after the divorce. But the more he saw his mother suffer, the more his hope waned.

Everything turned into a cold fury, until his mother died. No record of the old man ever visited her, of her dead son. From the ashes of his brother's and mother's remains, a flame of retribution burned inside his soul.

"You seem miserable," Yoohan smiled, a gesture that did not touch the void in his eyes. The old man stopped flailing, and just looked at him with glaring eyes. Yoohan chuckled and walked toward the chair beside the bed. "No—you seem to think that you're miserable."

He took a seat with a small groan, asking nonchalantly. "How long have you been here? A week? Two weeks?" Yoohan glanced at the chart on the edge of the bed, before looking back at the old man that was trying to move his head so he could look at Yoohan. With a smile, Yoohan added. "You'll stay for at least three months, right?"

The soundless mouth gnashed its teeth, and Yoohan shook his head. "Don't look at me like that," he sighed, as if talking to an unruly child instead of his father.

Not that he thought the man had any right to call himself a father.

Leaning back and knitting his fingers together on top of his lap, Yoohan added calmly. "Don't you think you should at least experience what my mother feels?" he paused for a bit, letting his words sink inside the old man's head. "You're not going to whine just because you become physically ill for a few months, right?"

You could at least move a bit—Yoohan added inwardly. His mother couldn't even open her eyes. She was in a state where she could only live by attaching life support units. All because no one could sign the consent form for her operation. Yoohan was her medical proxy, and he was unconscious. And her closest relative, by association, was supposed to be her ex-husband, who was in the middle of frolicking with yet another mistress and scolded the attendant who called him about it.

During those three months, there wasn't even any hope for her recovery.

The only reason why it went on for three months was simply...because Yoohan couldn't let her go yet. Because he hadn't numbed his heart yet.

For a while, Lee Hwal finally stopped glaring. His eyes shook with different emotions this time. Was it regret?

Yoohan scoffed in disgust.

Was the old man regretting what he did in the past because he felt sorry? Or was it because he felt that he wouldn't experience all his misfortune if he did Yoohan and his mother right?

Either way, Yoohan felt it was disgusting how the man couldn't feel like that five years ago when he knew his former wife was on a deathbed.

Tapping on the armrest of the chair absentmindedly, Yoohan asked. "Does it hurt, losing HS?"

At these words, the old man went agitated again, which showed Yoohan how justified his disgust was. Ignoring the angry glare and frustrated gesture, Yoohan continued nonchalantly.

"I wonder which one would hurt you more; losing the Group, or losing someone you love," he said, looking up as if he was in contemplation. "I was wondering about that for a long time. But then, I realized that you have never known love, so I can't really do that."

Yoohan shrugged, shifting his gaze back at the old man, who frowned deeply at him as he continued with a smile. "It seemed that you love your lifestyle and the Group more than the woman who loved you," he said. Staring straight at the old man's eyes, Yoohan added with a low voice, the smile had gone from his face. "Truly loved you."