House Of Charades

Chapter 1: The Park Family

December 22, 1990

Dear Reader

My name is Ae-Yeong, 

My family and I are the new inhabitants of Min Tae Jung's multi millionare home in Seoul. My halmoni (grandmother) worked for Mr. Jung as a caretaker and the man left all of his millions to our family. In this journal of mine I will record my thoughts, emotions, pains, and experiences with the hope that you too will find a common ground. It was never my choice to live here in this deserted and odd home. I wanted to live with halmoni Chun-Cha but my mother dragged me and my little brother Min Ho into living with our abeoji, (Jyung Joo), well known businessman in the software industry. No one knows my abeoji wears a mask, society sees a bright, handsome, and kind man but the one at home is different. I do not like abeoji, he beats me and Min and drinks till the house is piled with alcohol. Now that you know a little bit about my father I will discuss the problem with my poor mother. 

(Yeon Kyo) is my selfish and vain mother, like my father she wears a mask. This mask is perceived by the people in a way, that she appears to be one of the most beautiful and happy women in the city. Everyone asks my mother, "How can one be as happy as you?" and she answers, "I do not have an answer for that. I do know that one must act a certain way to feel a certain way." I have always hated my mother for neglecting me and my brother and her screams at my little brother for being mute. Yet I know that somewhere inside her is the mother that stroked my hair and read me stories to sleep. It was her shame of having a mute son and strange daughter that she withdrew herself from showering us with love like all the other mothers. Omma (mother) took in the abuse from my father and never spoke back a single word. She would usher us into our rooms when he came drunk boasting the many women he had slept with and how much better they were than our mother. He would throw beer bottles at the walls and beat our mother till she would bleed. This resulted in my older brother Dae-hyun abandoning me and my siblings back when we lived in  Incheon. 

(Dae-Hyun), my guarded and reckless elder brother. As a result of my fathers abuse, he was just as reckless as my father. Unlike my parents however, Dae-Hyun was transparent, he said things when he felt he needed to say them, no withdrawing or hiding himself from the world with a mask. Sometimes I wished Dae-Hyun had been my father instead, even by being reckless and short tempered, he still had a soft spot just for me and Min. Promising us that even after leaving the family, he would still be there for his siblings. As the years passed though, he no longer sent us phone calls or postcards. He had changed.  Rumor had it, he had become a father. Eventually me and Min realized we really had no father figure in our lives. I knew that Min would grow up to be like my father so I would hide him away from the outdoor evils. Knowing that people would make fun of him and my father would set bad examples, I locked him up in my room and took care of him by myself. Min was always strange though, he had these imaginary friends he would talk to while I was gone for school. He would tell me of the "fun" things he would do with them. I always ignored it until one day he signaled me that a friend of his told him to "get out".

(Min Ho), as previously noted, my little brother Min had imaginary friends as a result of me locking him up and away from the world. Not with cruel intentions but to protect him from the evil of the world. Besides he was already mute, it was not like he would need to talk to people or have a social life. Min was always a strange child. He claimed he saw things through sign language and he would stare at all the doors in Mr. Jung's home. One time he began to cry and wail, pointing at the door but there was nothing. I shook it off and laughed at him signaling that there was nothing there and he should not be worried. Slowly through time, Min convinced himself there was nothing in the home. 

With that being said, here begins the story of the "House Of Charades";

My family and I moved into Mr. Min Tae Jung's multi millionaire mansion after his sudden death from a suicide. My grandmother worked for him as a caretaker and he spent 99% of his days with her. She would follow him on business trips, business parties, and assist him while traveling. Halmoni got the job through a mutual friend and from there, the two had met and halmoni would be there for Mr. Jung till the day he died. Halmoni never said anything when it came to the death of Mr. Jung, she had always said it was such a nuisance that he had everything in the world; the money, the fame, the luxuries of life, free health care, the most beautiful of women, the most expensive cars, and universal acknowledgment. How could he have ever wanted to leave the world?. My brother had always said the house he lived in was cursed. He remembered picking up halmoni after her night shift and he had sworn he saw halmoni come out of the back door but she was instead arriving in a car with Mr. Jung. Another instance, Dae-Hyun claimed that the doors were quite odd, Dae-Hyun while inside the house had planned to steal one of Mr. Jung's awards and sell them; however while entering into Mr. Jung's room he had instead found himself in the attic. When halmoni came to check up on him though, instead of seeing the attic, the room of Mr. Jung had appeared. Dae-Hyun from then swore to never go back into the weird house. Little did he know we would have to live there.