Chapter 227:

The entrance to the banquet hall was heavily secured as if it were a restricted area. Nonetheless, Kwon Chae-woo entered without hesitation.

The dim lighting created an unusual ambiance, and he couldn’t help but think of how odd it felt. However, his gaze was wide open as he desperately searched for So Lee-yeon.

The well-dressed guests, with their pupils dilated, were uncomfortably visible in the gloomy atmosphere. But when he spotted Kwon Ki-seok and So Lee-yeon, standing side by side, faces close to each other, his mind went completely blank.

For some reason, they seemed to stand out, as if a special curtain had been drawn around them.

“Oh...”

Kwon Chae-woo nervously shoved the drink in his mouth, even more annoying than getting shot.

He couldn’t help but feel furious when he saw So Lee-yeon in a white dress. Is she supposed to be his sister-in-law now?

Seething with anger, he emptied his glass of the cold sweat-inducing drink and, relying on his crutches, began to walk.

Then, at a peculiar angle, he slipped the crutch between the closely spaced faces.

“Both of you, separate a bit.”

At that moment, it felt as if the ground was bouncing up and the ceiling was about to collapse. A strange sensation gripped him, like his body tilting and then flipping over.

Though it felt bizarre, Kwon Chae-woo firmly pressed the crutch against the white wall as if he could feel the pressure.

But as if his skull was splitting apart, a severe headache struck him, and suddenly, the banquet hall disappeared. A new scene unfolded.

The drug was beginning to affect him.

Back when he was poor but had a mother and music.

Kwon Chae-woo extended his now smaller hands, looking around with his newly reduced eye level. A sudden gust of fresh air filled his nostrils.

At the same time, the girl who used to hide beneath the trees and sob quietly every afternoon began to gradually overlap with So Lee-yeon’s image. In an instant, Kwon Chae-woo was absorbed into their shared past, a time when they were thirteen years old.

“Did you wear your school uniform today?”

He slowly blinked, asking innocently. He had no idea what he was saying; he merely surrendered to the familiar and hazy sensations of longing.

“Did you not want to hear me play today?”

Kwon Chae-woo sensed, almost instinctively, that their irregular daily life was about to be torn from now on.

“Do we have to run away right now?”

“At least we need to go somewhere else; the problem isn’t staying here.”

With a determined face, Yoon Joo-ha took his hand, leading him. Kwon Chae-woo followed as they fled the forest. His legs ached, and he struggled to catch his breath after their mad dash.

Gruff men pursued them from an unexpected direction, shouting things like “Young master Kwon” and “Young master Chae-woo.” Kwon Chae-woo realized instinctively that their unusual life was on the verge of disintegration.

“Why are we running?”

“For now, let’s go anywhere; it’s not safe here.”

Yoon Joo-ha pulled his arm roughly as if he were pulling the child’s shoulder bone.

Kwon Chae-woo’s mother, who was leading the way, turned to keep an eye on them. She had firmly grasped her son’s shoulder and seemed reluctant to let go. The rugged terrain made Kwon Chae-woo’s face distort with a mixture of fear and exhaustion, making him appear almost beastly.

This time, it was the boy who pleaded with his mother to act.

“Mom, please, you run first!”

“Kwon Chae-woo, snap out of it!”

“Those men know my name. Not my mom!”

Mom, you see, why can’t I go to school? Why can’t I make friends? Why do we have to hide and live like this? Mom... What did we do wrong?

Once and for all, he wanted to stop hiding.

Suddenly, the then young Kwon Chae-woo remembered the lonely girl he used secretly plays music for.

“That girl lives in the house right below the mountain. Mom, go to that house first, not anywhere else. If she hesitates because she doesn’t know you, tell her that this is the payment for all the music she heard from me!”

“Chae-...”

“I buried my favorite CD under the tree. It’s the tree I play under, that’s the proof! Go quickly, we’ll meet again soon!”

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