Chapter 38
How to Fix a Psychopath Episode 38
“Then what about that uniform…?”
“School uniform? What uniform?”
“I’m talking about the uniform you wore every day as if it were your own.”
“Ah. Yejin’s high school uniform?”
He pretended to know, as if he had remembered what I was asking about. Then he just chuckled.
“Just…….”
“Just?”
“I picked it up at a cafe.”
Cafe? Pick up? School uniform?
Ahhh……
‘Can you give me your phone number?’
‘Why were you so late?’
‘No. I thought you went out with a guy whose number you just exchanged.’
‘Whom are you looking for?’
‘An acquaintance?’
‘No, he’s a really handsome guy.’
Eunwoo Lee smiled brightly without any guilt as he saw my expression of complete understanding.
By the way, have I ever seen Lee Eun-woo go to school? Lee Eun-woo always wakes up first, wakes me up in his school uniform, and prepares breakfast for me. I’ve never seen him go to school. I’ve never even seen him with a school bag.
He always made me go to school first, so I didn’t think about what would happen after that. I just assumed he would take care of it.
The night shift was the same. Eunwoo Lee was so smart, and I
thought he just… … didn’t do it because of me. So, of course, he finished school first… … . I thought he would come first and wait for me. In reality, he was just pretending to go.
Yeah. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen Eunwoo Lee’s uniform with a name tag on it…
Why did it have to be that way?
Although her mind was in a jumble, Eunwoo Lee continued to reminisce about the past without stopping.
“It hasn’t been that long since the surgery, So-young, after you were discharged… … . From then on, I spent the whole day at the PC room looking for you. Since you didn’t take the CSAT, I naturally assumed you would take a test to get into a foreign university. When I checked the site, it came up right away. Everything I thought was right. Ah- Those were really convenient times. As long as I had So-young’s resident registration number, there was nothing I couldn’t find. I was the class president all through middle school, and the teachers thought they wouldn’t know anything, so they showed me things like student records.”
It’s become a lot harder now because he has to get a phone verification number.
My mind started to dizzy, but then I felt as if I had been hit hard
and became firm.
How did you find me so well? How did you find me like a monster?
Eunwoo Lee had things he believed in. There was nothing he didn’t know.
The reason he called me on purpose in high school wasn’t because he didn’t know where I was. It was just a warning of sorts. A warning that Eunwoo Lee would come to me soon.
“I was trying to get discharged quickly because I had to go there too, but my father, who didn’t care about me, was there with the police. I was supposed to stay in the hospital room, but I wasn’t there, so he got angry and asked what I was doing, so I just told him the truth. So, well, I ended up going to a mental hospital.”
Eunwoo Lee wiggled his eyebrows briefly as if he was talking about nothing. It looked like a snake that had been trampled and was writhing strangely. That was how it looked to me.
“That’s why I asked him to look after me. I’ve never begged in front of my father before, but I was begging him while crawling on the floor. I can’t do anything if I go to a mental hospital. While I’m in the mental hospital, I don’t know with whom you’re talking to or what you’re doing… … I can’t let you look away. I begged
him, saying that it would be better to just die. But my father, who wanted to do something to me so badly, couldn’t suddenly feel pity for me, who was crawling like a dog. He threw me in a mental hospital without looking back.”
“……ah…….”
“But sometimes, Dad forgets that I’m his son. He thought I wouldn’t know how to get out of the mental hospital, so he just completely lost interest in me. But I got out. In return, I reported him to the police.”
Ah… … . I think I vaguely remember it.
“Domestic violence. You know? Besides that, when my mother was hospitalized, I said that my father pushed her off the roof and killed her. I also said that my mother died of shock as if my father had killed her. I said that the reason was that he wanted to collect the insurance money. That’s how all the rich people in our country are. Even if they have a lot of money, they always look for a way out. I said that. When I said that, things just went their way without me doing anything. The insurance company guys came out and hired a lawyer to get me my mother’s money back and helped me out. But going to prison wasn’t as easy as I thought. But the police went to investigate my father right away. My father lied, but he went crazy because he thought what I said was true, and he ended up in a mental hospital. But I guess he
adapted better than I thought. I did well.”
I was out of breath.
“… … Originally, if he hadn’t stopped himself from doing this, I would have taken care of him until he shit on the wall. It’s all my father’s fault. And that’s just the end of it. I went to court to get my father’s assets, which were tied up under my stepmother, back to me, and then I went straight to the military… … . I came looking for you.”
After a while I was able to answer.
“……I see.”
A thin, trembling voice came out as my throat trembled.
I felt the soft velvet carpet on my palm as I slowly swept the floor. When Eunwoo Lee’s large fingers touched my fingertips, I lifted up my four fingers and closed them.
The soft, warm flesh touched my palm like velvet.
I slowly patted it with my hand, the kind of tap that encourages a baby to suckle and burp.
“I see.”
I said it again.
Eunwoo Lee turned his palm over and held my hand tightly.
The hand that was held tightly seemed like that of a child trying not to get lost. The calm-looking black eyes looked at me without wavering. Those eyes were looking straight at me.
What did I do for two years? Did I live a life of hectic studies and part-time jobs? I was so busy that I couldn’t even remember a single detail of what I did. Sometimes, I spent my days thinking about Lee Eun-woo.
Eunwoo Lee was also the same, moving around without resting, going to hospitals, police stations, PC rooms, mental hospitals, courts, and the military alone, but 80% of that was a life that moved because of me. The only place I wasn’t included in was the military.
Really… … If I were the only one missing, Lee Eun-woo’s life might have been ordinary. No, I’m not sure because of Lee Eun-woo’s family environment. If I hadn’t been there, he might have found someone else to be obsessed with. Or, he might have lived like his father, remarried, divorced, and eventually died alone.
He was admitted to a mental hospital after being sued by his
own child who was born by mistake.
“What about Soyoung?”
Eunwoo Lee asked while holding my hand.
“Soyoung, have you thought about me for two years?”
For the past two years, Eunwoo Lee has lived only for me, constantly thinking of me, looking forward to meeting me.
But I wasn’t. I tried not to think about Lee Eun-woo.
Eunwoo Lee was like a swamp. Once I started thinking about him, it grew uncontrollably and made me reminisce about the day I first met him. It made me bring up all that dark and sloppy past.
Kim Seung-chan, stalking, puppy, sleeping pills, and even attempted confinement. How many times have I shivered alone in my murky past? How much did I think of myself when I allowed myself to have such a past?
Eunwoo Lee and I were completely different. For two years, I was curious about what Eunwoo Lee had done, while Eunwoo Lee was curious about how much She had thought about him for two years. Because he probably knew that no one was by my side for
two years.
On the surface, it’s the same thing to be curious about something that is completely unknown, but the essence itself is different.
What would have happened if I had completely forgotten about Lee Eun-woo and had someone else by my side? No. Let’s not think about it.
I nodded slowly to Lee Eun-woo’s question. It’s not that I didn’t do it, so it’s not a lie.
“Really? How much?”
Eunwoo Lee came closer to me with a slightly surprised expression. His slightly excited voice sounded like a child who had received a definite answer from his parents that they would buy him a toy. His slightly excited face, like that of a sensitive child, was filled with anticipation.
“Sometimes.”
Really rarely.
“……Sometimes.”
Eunwoo Lee followed my words. Where did the expression of a guy in love go? Eunwoo Lee’s face hardened into a slightly stupid expression.
“Sometimes… … I wish.”
Eunwoo Lee put more strength into the hand he was holding. I grimaced at the force that seemed to be squeezing my hand.
“I wish you could think of me sometimes. Why couldn’t you?”
Unlike his slightly resentful tone, his expression was full of resentment. No, was it a hurt expression? Eunwoo Lee relaxed his grip again while looking at my face that was in pain. When her tingling hand slightly narrowed her eyebrows in pain, he glanced at me. Was it a momentary tantrum?
He took my hand and placed it on his cheek. Eunwoo Lee’s cheek, soft as if he had never grown a beard, touched the back of my hand. His black eyes, tilting his head and looking up at me, looked a little wet, but he was not crying at all.
“I think about Soyoung all day long. I miss her. … … Did you miss me?”
For the past two years?
“No.”
Eunwoo Lee kept his mouth shut.
“Really? I thought you were dying to see me.”
Lee Eun-woo, who unexpectedly accepted it calmly, immediately got up. Lee Eun-woo’s scent descended over my head like fog. Lee Eun-woo smiled quietly.
“I will try hard, Soyoung.”
I looked up and looked at Eunwoo Lee.
“What?”
“So that you can miss me every single day.”
“… … .”
“Are you hungry? It’s already dinner time. Let’s eat.”
Eunwoo Lee said, looking at the watch on his wrist. It’s evening. I looked back at the clock hanging on the wall. But again, the electricity wasn’t connected.
What happened today? I woke up, ate some rice cake soup,
used the bathroom in front of Lee Eun-woo, Lee Eun-woo’s father. And the events of the past two years. And… … I orgasmed in front of Lee Eun-woo alone.
I looked up at Eunwoo Lee again.
If Lee Eun-woo were to trample on me like this, she would crumble to pieces, looking so huge. But Lee Eun-woo wouldn’t do that.
“I’ll bring you some food.”
Eunwoo Lee said that and left the room. Since he was so tall and big, she couldn’t see the hallway very well whenever he went out. The only thing she could see was the ceiling, which was a little taller than Eunwoo Lee, but there wasn’t much to see there.
He didn’t even miss the annoying act of locking the door every time. He said that once the hallway was completed, she could now walk around the house except for the door leading out.
I lowered my gaze that had been persistently trying to look outside. There will come a day when I can walk around freely without having to look outside. Except for the complete outside world. Will I be able to go outside? Will I be able to breathe and feel the sunlight beyond this building?
Click, it wasn’t long after Lee Eun-woo left that the sound of a lock opening was heard.
