Chapter 145: Kim Gi-ryeo
“Mom?”
Wait a second. Mom? Does Kim Gi-ryeo have a mom?
Sure, biologically speaking, she must exist. But that’s not what I meant!
I’m not sure about the facilities and systems, but didn’t Gi-ryeo say he had no family?
I was momentarily taken aback by the other person’s words.
Family. To a mage who had stolen another’s body, it was an annoyingly troublesome concept.
“Um, can you provide some proof that you’re my family…?”
I cautiously asked, just to confirm the truth, and the woman on the other end of the line chuckled awkwardly.
She introduced herself as Lee Hwa-young, 49 years old, and said that if we met, she would recognize him by face anyway.
‘Lee Hwa-young?’
I jolted.
Hearing that name triggered something in my brain.
It felt like certainty. My body was signaling that this name and age matched the information about Kim Gi-ryeo’s mother.
‘So it’s true then.’
I felt memories resurfacing and adjusted the receiver, at which point Lee Hwa-young suggested meeting up briefly tomorrow.
Of course, I accepted without hesitation.
Meeting family could be a dangerous thing, but honestly, the curiosity about the body’s owner’s information outweighed that risk by a lot.
“Yes. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
– Our son has grown so much that he even speaks politely to his mom now?
“Uh, that’s! I was… outside.”
There would be many crises, but if it comes to it, I could always chalk it up to amnesia.
Finished with my thoughts, I hung up the phone and looked up. At that moment, a weird sensation hit my right eye.
“Ugh.”
…Ahn Yoon-seung turned around in shock.
“Hyung?!”
Drip.
Suddenly, transparent water began pouring from one eye.
The water streaming from my tear duct wet my dry face in an instant.
I belatedly realized something was off and tried to stop it.
But I failed to control it. The tears wouldn’t stop.
It was as if bodily fluids erupted out like a deep cut from a kitchen knife.
With a blank expression, I was crying profusely, and it looked pretty bizarre on the outside.
“Are you okay?!”
This is strange.
I’m not sad right now! Just a moment ago, I was talking fine and suddenly I’m sobbing—something’s definitely wrong.
Then this bizarre reaction must surely come from…
‘The body…?’
My thoughts didn’t finish. Suddenly, fragmented memories poured out through my half-closed eyes like a deluge.
“……!”
If I had to put it metaphorically, it felt like I was yanking a doorknob in a room packed with stuff.
Memory is truly fascinating.
How do we store experiences and emotions in just a few chemical molecules?
Vivid memories resemble a completed painting.
Even with my eyes closed, they flickered behind my dark skin.
*
Kim Gi-ryeo’s first memory is of a playground.
“Waaaaah!”
“Haha!”
“Hey, what are you doing? Don’t be sneaky!”
I recall watching other kids playing together on the colorful monkey bars from a distance.
【White Light Orphanage】
Kim Gi-ryeo was an orphan.
He was so young he didn’t remember how he ended up there, but at least he understood why he had come.
– Hey! Have you finished saying everything?
– Uh, yes. I’m done. Damn it! Hit me, hit me!
His parents, who fought every day, had divorced not long ago, and both had given up custody.
But surprisingly, life at the orphanage was quite satisfying.
He had been lucky enough to get into a decent and conscientious care facility.
They fed him well and let him sleep comfortably.
On top of that, there were cultural activities like movies and camp outings.
At this point, he felt it was more abundant than living with his parents.
They often ran out of money and would share a 1,000-won baguette from the nearby mart with him.
Anyway.
Thanks to the nation and the orphanage’s support, he was able to enroll in high school without a hitch.
It would be a lie to say he hadn’t faced challenges during this growth process, but he had come this far in good health, so it wasn’t all bad.
Kim Gi-ryeo stood in the auditorium, dressed neatly in his school uniform.
– Ahem, can you hear me well? We will now begin the 20XX academic year’s entrance ceremony.
Soon after, the announcement for the national ceremony sounded.
The scent of the aged wood in the auditorium was a memory that still lingered.
But recalling the events that followed vividly is a bit distressing. When he became a first-year high school student, an unprecedented incident hit the world.
*
Dungeon Shock.
Yes. Anyone living in today’s world would remember.
Monsters marched around as if stepping out of a movie, and a sea of flames unfolded before their eyes.
Who would have expected Seoul to be in such a state for non-war reasons?
[Breaking News. The operation to reclaim the northern border of Seoul was successful thanks to the new Awakened, Choi Jin (22)…]
However, the silver lining was that Earth, thanks to the emergence of Awakened beings, managed to restore its social system more quickly than expected.
In the early days of Dungeon Shock, there were only a handful of gates.
Around the following year.
Korean educational institutions slowly resumed, eventually implementing normal school attendance.
From Gi-ryeo’s perspective, he was just beginning to take high school seriously by the time he became a second-year student.
“Hey guys, it’s our first lesson in person, right? Let’s take it slow.”
Eating school lunches, playing soccer with friends, and doing homework at the orphanage after school.
At this point, it seemed like a perfectly ordinary school life.
But why did the memories from this time appear to have a faded hue?
<New Mail>
[Sender: Gu Seo-hyeong]
[Subject: Are you doing well?]
One day.
The high school student Gi-ryeo noticed that Gu Seo-hyeong sent him a message to his email address.
However, Gi-ryeo could never reply to that email. In fact, he didn’t even open it.
‘Seo-hyeong…’
Sorry, but Gu Seo-hyeong wasn’t exactly someone he was eager to hear from.
‘So Seo-hyeong is doing well.’
Gi-ryeo had kept others at a strange distance for a long time.
He was introverted, and after being bullied throughout elementary school for not having parents, he harbored an unwarranted inferiority complex.
Gu Seo-hyeong’s family appeared stable on the surface. Seo-hyeong himself was a pretty successful child actor.
So how would someone like him appear to Seo-hyeong?
Perhaps he looked pathetic to the point of being laughable?
“…”
Gi-ryeo suddenly felt embarrassed. Logically, Seo-hyeong wouldn’t think that way, but he was scared and ashamed of how she would perceive him.
This feeling was similar even among friends he made in high school.
After feeling that his family background was a weakness, he feared being looked down upon by others and kept his feelings bottled up.
“Kim Gi-ryeo! Wanna hit the PC room after school?”
“Can’t do it~ My parents said to come home early today.”
Yet he couldn’t vent this heavy heart at the orphanage.
The kids with similar wounds would only end up hurting each other more.
Perhaps because it was a gathering of many little kids, violence among peers happened often at the orphanage.
Peace-loving Gi-ryeo couldn’t help but feel out of place in an environment where the strong held power.
‘So frustrating.’
It was a true catch-22.
Throughout his school days, Kim Gi-ryeo felt an uncomfortable sensation he couldn’t quite place.
Later on, he would realize it was loneliness.
He had come to think that having no family didn’t matter anymore.
But really, that was just a self-deception. His heart was not strong; it gradually grew weaker and more ill.
“Ah, crazy.”
“Why?”
“I had a fight with my mom this morning. I mean, during vacation, she said she wouldn’t give me allowance because I’m not going to school. Is that normal?”
“Wow, not even a penny?”
“Ugh~ I seriously want to run away from home. For real.”
On a cloudy day.
Kim Gi-ryeo, while overhearing his classmates converse, suddenly became curious about his biological parents.
But even now, what would be the point of looking for them? He quickly pushed the thought aside.
*
And then, graduation day arrived.
“It has been three years since we entered with the excitement of a new beginning. Now, we are going out into society…”
As the student council president delivered the graduation speech, one student suddenly thought, ‘Big trouble.’
‘Society.’
In truth, his grades were… not great.
Perhaps because there was no one to guide him right away? Or maybe he was just a little slow?
Despite his exemplary behavior, Kim Gi-ryeo’s academic performance was fairly low. So he gave up on going to college.
Because of that, he would be kicked out of the orphanage soon, which made everything more troublesome.
‘How will I live alone from now on?’
In the meantime, he had saved up some money from part-time jobs, so perhaps he should find a place near a factory first.
Once the graduation ceremony ended, Kim Gi-ryeo exited the auditorium with a casual stride.
The playground was full of students taking pictures with their families, holding bouquets, but at this point, his jealousy had worn off to the point where he felt genuinely indifferent.
“Phew…”
But who would’ve thought his graduation day would end up like this?
“Gi, Gi-ryeo!”
Rustle.
As he stepped out of the school gate, Gi-ryeo stopped in his tracks at the sight of a soap flower bouquet shoved in front of him.
“D-Did you have a good graduation ceremony? Congratulations.”
“Who are you?”
“Um… who else would it be?”
And the middle-aged woman presenting the bouquet said,
“I’m your mom. Do you remember me?”
Wait, what?
*
She introduced herself as Lee Hwa-young.
She then pulled out several old photos to show to Kim Gi-ryeo, who was seated across the table.
Images of a toddler awkwardly nestled in the woman’s embrace.
The woman in the photos looked remarkably like the one standing before him.
“I’m sorry for being late.”
The woman wearing burgundy lipstick spoke next.
She explained that putting him in the orphanage wasn’t her choice, and her circumstances were so dire she couldn’t face him.
“How chaotic is the world right now? So many people have died. But I couldn’t help wondering if you were okay in the meantime…”
And it seemed that Lee Hwa-young came looking for her son due to the impact of the Dungeon Shock.
She explained that after experiencing a global disaster, she mustered the courage to seek him out, fearing she might never see him again if she delayed any longer.
“I still can’t say my issues are completely resolved, but even so, I really missed you, Gi-ryeo.”
Lee Hwa-young made her appearance only at the tail end of his school years.
Hearing this news, the orphanage friends chimed in together.
“Isn’t she just after that settlement money?”
1,000,000 won self-sufficiency settlement fund for children who leave care.
Sadly, there were cases where mothers returned to swoop up their children just for that.
“Someone who hasn’t shown their face until now just appears on the day of discharge. No matter how chaotic it was with the Dungeon Shock, this just seems off…”
“Exactly.”
“The sister who left two years ago had a similar experience.”
They advised him not to trust the mother who came back.
Even the individual in question agreed with this viewpoint.
While his mother hadn’t visited him a single time until he turned 18, it was only natural to feel suspicious about her appearing at the time of the benefits.
– Gi-ryeo, do you want to live with your mom?
But for some reason…
Despite this suspicion, Kim Gi-ryeo couldn’t seem to push away the chance of having family.
– What?
– If you don’t have anywhere to go… come to me. In fact, I’ve been looking for a place for us to live together.
On the day of graduation, in a Galbitang restaurant, the other person cautiously broached the subject.
After explaining her circumstances, Lee Hwa-young asked if he wouldn’t like to live with her after leaving the facility.
Kim Gi-ryeo had decided to accept it.
Despite the numerous warnings from those around him, ultimately, the loneliness he carried in his heart led him to make that choice.
Kim Gi-ryeo, yearning for affection, decided to follow his mother.
‘It’ll be fine.’
If, as his classmates said, his real mother was indeed after that settlement money, then he could simply refuse to give her any money, right?
Besides, living with his mother would save him a lot on living expenses.
So, this was a financially reasonable choice as well…
After leaving the orphanage.
Kim Gi-ryeo moved into the rented room where his mother lived.
The reunited mother and son seemed a bit awkward at first, but after about a month, that awkwardness gradually faded away.
Lee Hwa-young didn’t bring up money even once during that time.
“Get up and eat, my son!”
Seaweed soup served in a homey bowl instead of a stainless steel dish.
How happy this modest meal made him!
“Eat well~”
Kim Gi-ryeo smiled sheepishly as he lifted the metal spoon.
For a while, he thought that his dream had come true. Living in a small room with family, this was all he needed in life.
