Chapter 10.1 – Confession

Writer Hong let out a short gasp.

It was unclear whether he was startled by the lightning or by Kwon Gi-jo, who seemed to regard his own son as an enemy to be eliminated. His heart pounded unpleasantly.

“There’s no time. Let’s get started right away.”

“Yes… I’ll begin the recording now.”

Kwon Gi-jo calmly resumed the story he had left unfinished last time.

He began from the moment he realized his love for Seol-hwa, the best friend of his fiancée.

“…I couldn’t hide the love I had awakened to. Above all, I despised the idea of a loveless arranged marriage. I didn’t want to pass down that dreadful loneliness to my child.”

So, he mustered the courage to confess his feelings to Seol-hwa. She rejected him. Her reasons were that she couldn’t take away her friend’s fiancé and that Kwon Gi-jo’s family would oppose it.

“You like me too. I refuse to go through with an arranged marriage, even if it kills me. You’re the only woman I’ll ever love in my life. I swear on my life, on my soul, that I’ll love only you. Let’s just run away together.”

After persistent persuasion, he won over Seol-hwa’s heart. However, their sweet romance was short-lived. He had to enlist for military service.

Ironically, the military made it easier for them to date away from prying eyes. They exchanged letters daily, and whenever he was on leave, they secretly met in other regions.

Seol-hwa worked diligently at Sowon Savings Bank to save money for their elopement. On the day of his discharge, she fled Seoan County and met him at Seoul Station.

They rented a small monthly apartment in a remote neighborhood of Seoul. Though they couldn’t register their marriage for fear of being discovered, they were so happy they felt they could die without regret.

Then came a Wednesday. Kwon Gi-jo still remembers the day of the week even now. Every Wednesday, the “Rocking Horse Man” would come to their neighborhood.

On Wednesdays, Seol-hwa always stood in front of the local supermarket, watching the children ride the rocking horse.

Seol-hwa loved tulips and children the most.

That day, Kwon Gi-jo, who had left work early, met Seol-hwa in front of the supermarket. She looked different from usual, her face flushed with excitement.

“Do you think this Rocking Horse Man will still come to this neighborhood when our soon-to-be-born child grows up?”

“Soon-to-be-born? Are you… are you pregnant?”

Seol-hwa shyly nodded and continued speaking.

“Do you remember the letter I sent you before? If it’s a boy, we’ll name him Jeong-hyeok, and if it’s a girl, you’ll choose the name.”

The sound of children laughing as they rode the rocking horse blended with her words, making Kwon Gi-jo feel as though his heart might burst.

“If it’s a girl, let’s name her Eun-sol. Yes, Eun-sol it is.”

At his response, Seol-hwa reacted playfully.

“What? Did you just make that up on the spot?”

“No, I didn’t. I came up with it back when I was in the military. It’s a pure Korean name, meaning to grow clear and green, like an evergreen pine tree all year round.”

Seol-hwa was delighted by the meaning.

“I’d be happy with a son too, but if it’s a daughter who takes after you, Seol-hwa, that would be even better. I’ll protect her for life so she can smile brightly like the evergreen seasons.”

Imagining the child who would grow up to ride that rocking horse filled him with excitement.

***

Evening arrived. Seol-hwa, nodding off, eventually fell asleep.

He couldn’t sleep. At that moment, a neighbor from the second floor invited him over for a drink.

He didn’t wake the soundly sleeping Seol-hwa. Quietly, he slipped out of the house.

The drinks went down smoothly, and he became heavily intoxicated. On his way home, he hummed and sang softly.

“I’m going to be a dad!”

Returning to their honeymoon room, he embraced the sleeping Seol-hwa. She felt stiff, unlike usual, but he thought it was because she was being cautious due to her pregnancy.

However, the dawn that broke revealed a horrifying reality. When he opened his eyes, the woman lying next to him was not Seol-hwa!

“…H-Hye-rin?! How… how are you here? Where’s Seol-hwa? Where is she?!”

Even decades later, the shock still made his hands and feet tremble.

“Seol-hwa is safe. Your father took her away somewhere for a little while.”

Hye-rin’s nonchalant response made her seem like a devil.

“You… are you insane? How could you do this?!”

“Well, I don’t feel sorry for Seol-hwa. After all, she’s the one who stole my fiancé and ran away in the first place.”

Hye-rin’s calm tone carried a sense of anger and resentment.

“Don’t look at me like that. Do you even know how I felt being left behind? Do you have any idea what it’s like to be abandoned by both your best friend and the fiancé you loved at the same time?!”

He couldn’t understand how things had come to this. Who was the victim, and who was the perpetrator? Everything was a complete mess.

“No matter how you felt, how could you orchestrate something so absurd?”

That night’s events had been a scheme between his father and Hye-rin.

The next day, Seol-hwa returned unharmed, but the two of them could never be the same again.

Above all, that night’s events changed the fates of two women forever. Because of that night, Hye-rin became pregnant, and the shocked Seol-hwa suffered a miscarriage.

One night, Seol-hwa silently left him. Kwon Gi-jo searched for her across the country. During his search, his father somehow found him and handed him an ultrasound photo.

“It’s a boy.”

It was the child Hye-rin was carrying—the child that had replaced the son he had lost with Seol-hwa.

“I can’t take responsibility for that child. Tell her to get rid of it.”

“You heartless bastard! Who do you think you are? That child is my eldest grandson! No matter what you say, I’m going to protect my grandson.”

“It’s not about the grandson—it’s about using him as leverage to expand your business, isn’t it?”

“What? Do you think I’m doing this for myself? Anyway, they’re saying Hye-rin’s health is weak, and if she aborts the baby, she might never be able to conceive again. Keep this up, and you’ll end up in prison!”

At the time, such matters could lead to imprisonment under laws like the crime of seduction under the pretense of marriage.

“I don’t care. I’m going to live with Seol-hwa. Only the child Seol-hwa carries is my real child.”

“Don’t you realize that the more you act like this, the more danger you’re putting Seol-hwa in?! She left of her own accord. Let her live a new life.”

“Father!”

“If you keep pushing me, I have no choice. You know, don’t you? If I set my mind to it, it’s nothing for me to send people to sell her off to some remote island.”

It wasn’t an empty threat. In the end, he had no choice but to marry Hye-rin.

A few months later, the product of their sins was born.

“My goodness, look at that forehead and nose—this baby looks exactly like his father!”

The nurse at the obstetrics clinic’s words sent chills down his spine. That such a thing resembled him was horrifying and repulsive.

“What should we name the baby?”

Hye-rin asked.

“You can decide… No, let’s name him Jeong-hyeok.”

“Okay. That’s a good name.”

Hye-rin, unaware of anything, smiled faintly. She didn’t know that it was the name Seol-hwa had chosen.

It was a punishment he gave to the absurd schemer Hye-rin, and a punishment he gave himself.

From that moment on, Kwon Gi-jo lived without a soul. He raised a deeper silence than the stepmother he had hated so much.

The product of their sins grew up quickly. Though the child resembled him in appearance, his personality was a carbon copy of Hye-rin’s.

A child who resembled his scheming mother. Whenever those pitch-black eyes looked at him and called out, “Dad,” he felt an urge to dump the child by the seaside.

But he endured it. The only reason he tolerated that dreadful son was because of his name. Because the boy’s name was Jeong-hyeok—the name Seol-hwa had chosen, Jeong-hyeok.

By the time Jeong-hyeok graduated from elementary school, Kwon Gi-jo’s father, who had threatened him using Seol-hwa’s safety, passed away due to illness. Gi-jo inherited Sowon Finance.

From that moment, he began searching for Seol-hwa. After two more years of relentless searching, he discovered that she had married someone and was living in Gangwon-do.

He had no intention of interfering. He simply wanted to hear that she was living peacefully and well.

“Ms. Park Seol-hwa’s husband is currently serving time for gambling. Their family’s financial situation is in shambles, as you can imagine. She has suffered greatly, and her health has deteriorated. The hospital says she won’t live past five years.”

The person in charge of the background investigation delivered these words, and Gi-jo’s heart shattered into pieces. It was all because of Hye-rin. And it was also his fault.

She must resent me. She must hate me.

I had hoped that when we died, we could reunite as husband and wife in the heavens. But now, even in death, I wouldn’t have the face to see you again.

“And Ms. Park Seol-hwa has a daughter with her husband.”

The employee, seeing Gi-jo weeping sorrowfully, handed him a photograph.

“She’s ten years old now. This photo was taken by her homeroom teacher at school on the day they had a class making paper carnations for Parents’ Day.”

In the photo, there were several children. Gi-jo immediately spotted Seol-hwa’s daughter in the picture.

The child resembled Seol-hwa, but more than that, unlike the other children holding carnations they had made, this one was holding a tulip she had crafted. It was such a fitting action for Seol-hwa’s daughter, who loved tulips.

“What is this child’s name?”

“Kim Eun-sol.”