MLBOWM Chapter 125

Posted by Alina, Released on January 4, 2025

Chapter 125

“Dad, can’t you stay home today?”

The little girl rushed out and clung to the man’s leg.

As the girl looked up at him with her round, sparkling eyes, the man smiled helplessly.

The middle-aged man was the girl’s only family tied by blood.

He crouched down and spoke gently to her.

“If we just get through today, we can finally live normally. You can go to school, make friends, and go to the zoo and amusement park.”

The girl’s face bloomed like a flower at his words.

“Really? It’s really true?”

“Of course. Have you ever seen Dad lie?”

The man ruffled her hair and laughed.

Unable to contain her joy, the girl bounced up and down. Her blue eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Amusement park! Let’s go tomorrow!”

The girl’s world was confined to a one-room space, a ceiling with mold, and a dark alley ready to swallow her whole.

But her father filled her world with dreams of a life beyond that.

Every night, he whispered to her, a command reflected in her ocean-like eyes.

We’ll escape from here.

“Okay? Not allowed?”

We can live differently from now on.

“Yeah, let’s go! I’ll get ready for the amusement park until Dad comes. Got it?’

We’ll be happy.

“Okay! Hurry back! I love you, Dad!”

The girl embraced her father tightly with her small arms. He held her gently in return, whispering.

“I love you too, Ivy.”

If only today could pass.

If only today passes, we’ll have a new life.

But he could never hold her again.

After today passes, he vowed to hold her in a clean, blood-free life.

He turned away from her like that.

The night they reunited was on that painful night, in the dark alley beside the blindingly bright hotel.

The pitch-black darkness opened its jaws toward the girl.

Terrified, she let go of the precious coins tightly held in her hand.

They were her years of savings to prepare a lunchbox for a visit to the amusement park.

Fortunately, the sound of coins falling onto the scattered clothes on the ground was muffled by the wind.

Clink!

Suddenly, the sound of a can being kicked echoed. The girl turned her head toward the direction of the sound.

She then walked into the alley as if entranced.

“How dare you.”

A low, mocking voice flowed into the girl’s ear from beyond the wall.

“You mentioned Baek Cheon.”

The girl crouched down and peeked cautiously over the wall.

Under the streetlight’s glow, she could see two men. The rich orange hair, bathed in the yellowish light, captivated her gaze.

One man appeared to be much older, while the younger man with dyed orange hair sat atop the older man.

From her vantage point, she couldn’t see exactly what they were doing.

“I can handle almost anything, but messing with what’s mine… I can’t stand that.”

Thud, thud.

All she could hear were the sounds of struggling legs scraping against the ground.

“Come here. You forgot the promise, didn’t you?”

The younger man motioned toward the opposite alley. From the shadows, someone slowly trembled and stepped forward.

“Got something else to take too.”

The streetlight flickered as it illuminated the face of the trembling man.

“There should be someone sitting in that spot.”

Dad.

The girl silently moved her lips. She wanted to run into his arms, but her feet felt glued to the ground.

The younger man shoved the muzzle of his gun into the older man lying beneath him.

“Ugh! Mmm… mmh…!”

“This mouth belongs in hell, don’t you think?”

At that moment, the girl saw the pale, laughing face of a man. She couldn’t even scream.

Bang.

The gunshot echoed, spraying blood onto the man holding the weapon.

The man, soaked in blood, pushed his orange hair away. Once vibrant orange, it had turned a deep red.

“Sir… Doshiyu.”

The man, wiping blood from his stained clothes, slowly turned his head at the call.

“I was promised the debt would be erased after this…”

The older man’s voice trembled as he spoke.

“That’s right. The promise will be kept.”

The man twirled his gun with a bright smile. With every spin, the barrel pointed toward the older man, and each time, the girl’s father clenched his fists tightly.

“You can’t ask for payment from a dead man anyway.”

In the darkness, the orange eyes glowed crimson red like blood.

The girl pressed her hands against her mouth, trembling with fear. Her instincts took control, making her limbs move involuntarily.

“What? What do you mean by that…”

The man tugged his mouth into a smirk, then pulled out paper and a pen from his pocket, handing them to the older man.

“No. Just write this down. For the sake of secrecy. Since I’m erasing the debt, I can’t just let you go.”

The older man hesitated to take the paper at first, but the man added,

“This is the last job.”

“…”

“You mentioned you had a daughter, right? You and your daughter can live somewhere nice.”

The older man had no choice but to comply. He knew better than anyone that he had no options left.

“I’ve written it all.”

The man beamed as he took the paper.

“Well done.”

The girl’s father suddenly thought the man with the smug smile looked like a reckless boy preparing a gift for a girl he liked, envisioning such a specific scenario.

Even though the man was the new head of the infamous Do family.

The man raised his gaze from the paper and looked at the girl’s father.

“But you’re a lefty.’l”

The man’s orange eyes curved mischievously.

“Are you going to hold the gun with your left hand?”

“…Huh?”

The man chuckled softly and picked up the gun with his left hand.

“It just feels fun to do it this way, pretending to be you.”

The girl’s father watched the movement without thinking much. The man had always pulled the trigger with his right hand, and there was no time to question the strangeness of it.

The man, having fully loaded the gun, laughed widely, his teeth showing, as he whispered,

“And maybe I can get a little closer to your signature I’ve chosen.”

Bang!

A small bullet tore through the girl’s world.

The girl’s father fell to the ground, unable to even close his eyes.

In the darkness, the girl’s vision turned entirely crimson. She couldn’t breathe.

The girl fainted on the spot.

That day, in her dream, the girl saw many things—amusement parks, zoos, delicious picnic lunches, and bright faces laughing joyfully under the sun.

And when she woke from that dream.

“…Why am I sleeping here?”

The girl had nothing left.

Jumping up, she gathered the scattered coins from the floor and returned home.

“Did Dad not come home yesterday?”

She didn’t understand why the house was empty. She only felt her head throbbing and an empty feeling deep inside her chest.

“…We were supposed to go to the amusement park.”

The girl waited all day in the house. As the sunset spread across the world, her hunger got the better of her, and the girl stepped outside.

With the coins she had planned to spend on a picnic lunch, she wandered through the market streets.

But she couldn’t bring herself to spend them, instead looking longingly at the food displayed in the shops.

“…”

The growling in her stomach made her pause in front of a poster on the wall.

amor eterno.

Beneath the red letters was a drawing of a picture. The girl’s gaze lingered on the picture, then dropped her eyes downward.

Gallery Curator Doshiyu.

A small picture of a man appeared in the corner. The girl, mesmerized, reached out her hand.

“Someone who knows where my dad is…”

The girl resolved to find this man.

She felt inexplicably drawn to him, as if he were a magnet pulling her toward him.

Following the map drawn on the torn poster, the girl headed toward the gallery.

Meeting Doshiyu, she felt certain she would find her father.

“I need to see him. I need to ask where my dad is. He broke the promise, so we should go to the amusement park together.”

The girl stayed near the gallery for days, unwilling to leave.

“…Dad.”

“…”

“Dad is gone.”

For the first time, the girl clutched the warm hand extended toward her and finally met the man who had been in her thoughts all along.

“So, who’s this little girl?”

Light orange hair. A chaotic pattern but clean clothes without a single dirty spot. A warm, gentle smile.

“Ivy? With this face, you’d be more like an older brother.”

The sound of her pounding heart echoed in her ears.

“This mouth is better off in hell. Right?”

The image of a blood-covered face overlapped with the face before her as their eyes locked onto the orange eyes.

“And maybe I can get closer to your signature I’ve chosen.”

The foundation supporting the girl shattered. Unbearable memories rushed in like a tidal wave, engulfing her.

But instinct held the girl paralyzed. Just like that night in the alley.

“Ivy, are you okay? If you’re uncomfortable, we can go somewhere else.”

They’re going to kill me.

“Ivy, are you hurt? Was there something before coming to the orphanage?”

If I speak, they’ll come to kill me.

“You shouldn’t go out without a teacher!”

I have to run. Somewhere safe, to where Dad is.

But…

“…Dad is dead.”

There was nowhere for the girl to go in the shattered world. She cried and ran aimlessly.

Far, farther—anywhere the man could not find her.

“Aaah!”

Breath was stolen as she ran, tripping over her own fear. The overwhelming terror suffocated her small body.

“Ivy?”

From the darkness, a voice called her name.

“…Ivy! A…!”

A blurred voice emerged through the breaking sunlight. Ivy whimpered and tossed in her bed. The soft touch of the blanket was beginning to soothe her.

“Ivy!”

Hearing her name screamed from someone, Ivy’s eyes shot open.

“Did you have a bad dream?”

The face she saw at the end of the nightmare was right there in front of her.

“It’s okay. I’m here.”

Ivy trembled violently, breathing heavily. The cold sweat from her nightmare soaked the blanket beneath her.

Angel gently patted her back. The soothing touch was familiar and comforting.

Ivy clung to Angel, tears streaming down her face.

“Why are you like this? What happened?”

Angel asked with concern, holding the small girl tightly.

“…Brother.”

In his warm embrace, Ivy gradually calmed down. Her breathing became more steady. The little voice spoke softly.