Disgustingly poor parents escaped one by one over the years. From the life forms they had created.

He was found eating expired ramen in an abandoned house. Skinny and taller than his peers, he was even more unattractive and awkward.

Fortunately, things improved a bit after he entered the orphanage. At least he could eat cooked ramen. The orphanage was a place full of corruption. The director gulped down the donated goods and money, and the teachers engaged in harsh discipline following the director’s orders.

So he survived there for four years.

“Now we’re your mom and dad.”

At the age of ten, Kwon Kijoo was adopted by a seemingly harmonious couple. Into a household with the same last name. It was even more amazing because he had neither charm nor cuteness. It wasn’t until he held the hand of the couple and saw his adoptive brother for the first time, that he could accept it.

“Is he my brother? Wow.”

They looked like brothers to anyone. So they had to take him. They treated him well, like their own child, and his brother did the same. There were no battles over toys, and the sleeping arrangements were not uncomfortable, even with several people sharing a blanket.

His adoptive parents praised him every time he took an exam, getting a perfect score. He felt peaceful, having heard praise for the first time in his life.

And that moment seemed natural.

His brother died.

“My brother died, killed by Chairman Song.”

The voice was calm, as if telling the weather. However, even so, Chairman Song couldn’t say anything, feeling like Kijoo’s voice was piercing him like a knife.

Kijoo, who clearly revealed his identity, stared at Chairman Song, whose expression seemed to be frozen. The gradually distorting face of the chairman spoke volumes.

How much does he know?

Why does he speak as if he knows everything?

Kijoo willingly answered.

“I told the site manager to cut off my brother’s airway.”

The initial report was a missing person. His brother hadn’t come home for several days. The last destination was the construction site where his stepfather worked.

So when the site manager became a suspect in the kidnapping case, Kijoo went to the manager’s house. It was in a suspicious atmosphere, with the front door wide open and tools scattered outside. When he checked inside through a broken window, he heard a sobbing conversation.

‘What are you doing? Honey, what’s wrong? Huh? He just got hurt while pushing. Then it’s the boss’s fault for telling us to definitely kill him.’

‘Yeah…… That kid could have survived. If I hadn’t listened to the boss’s words…….’

‘Ugh…….’

‘If the body is found, I’ll be executed. Maybe a few decades in prison, or life imprisonment. Instead, the boss said he would take care of our family’s livelihood until we die.’
‘Huh… let’s run away. We shouldn’t run away, honey.’

‘… Take good care of our Seonyul so that he doesn’t feel his father’s absence.’

Kijoo, who came out of that house with a creaking sound after the image of a man and a woman embracing, felt queasy inside. It was not a story that someone of his age could handle.

Nevertheless.

Nevertheless, he gathered the courage to try to reveal the truth in the world. But the words of the boy who had just graduated from elementary school were not taken seriously by anyone. The director committed suicide, and Song Myunghwan, who had already coordinated his alibi with the director, was perfect.

The peaceful house was turned upside down. It was no longer important ‘who killed’ and ‘how they died.’

Adoptive parents became bereaved parents only by the fact that the brother was no longer in this world. They didn’t provide Kijoo with food, nor did they show affection. Therefore, he became nothing to them.

So he must have taken his own life.

He left no suicide note or will. Even though the child they brought and loved was alive.

“I don’t remember the expression, actions, or any habits of my dead brother anymore. But Chairman, you should remember. After all, he’s a murder teacher.”

“You, you…!”

Song Myunghwan, trembling his lower jaw, stepped back and fell backward, tripping over the wheel of the car. Forgetting the absurd sight of him falling, when he looked around again, he seemed to know exactly where he was. The container office was no longer there, but he could still pinpoint where it used to be.

Deep horizontal wrinkles appeared on Chairman Song’s forehead.

It’s been 13 years already.

One day, a man from the personnel office for sending workers to the site came and bothered him, asking for the overdue money. So, he hired someone to beat him up and send him away. But the next day, the son of that house came again.

‘Apologize to our dad!’

Although he was wearing a nearby high school uniform, his build was no different from a middle school student. But this little guy kept coming back, even when he tried to send him away nicely. He even boldly demanded that he be paid his overdue wages, giving up only after being beaten up.