76. To Our Home

It took Soohyun quite a while to return to his daily life.

It was because of the smoke he had inhaled in the fire.

When Soohyun was rescued from the scene and taken to the hospital, Haerin was so shocked by his ravaged appearance that she almost fainted.

Dried blood clung to his disheveled hair, and his face, stained with sweat due to the black soot from the smoke, was entirely black.

She had thought he was brought in dead.

The attending physician repeatedly said it was truly a stroke of luck that the fire at the scene was quickly extinguished by the sudden downpour that day, but at first, she couldn’t even hear it.

Words about needing surgery for the laceration on the back of his head, words about it taking a long time for his lung function to return to normal. All she heard was that he was sick, and Haerin could only tremble and cry.

She finally calmed down only after hearing that Soohyun hadn’t gone outside the office, so his condition was better than she had thought.

Chairman Park’s office had many devices installed to protect the space in case of fire or other emergencies, including a large safe inside.

Even though the sprinkler hadn’t worked properly, there were multiple layers of fire prevention facilities to compensate, so the flames hadn’t quickly breached the inside of the office.

Moreover, although Soohyun himself didn’t know, by the time he left the office, the downpour had significantly quelled the flames.

The path he had chosen to give up on life had ironically saved him.

Soohyun said it was all thanks to Haerin. He repeatedly said things that sounded like compliments but weren’t quite, saying she had both killed and saved him.

Each time, Haerin glared at him and asked if it wasn’t a terrible memory, but Soohyun seemed indifferent. Rather, he smiled, saying he had gained a lot from experiencing the moment of death.

The best thing, he said, was having Haerin by his side.

When Soohyun acted so foolishly, Haerin had nothing to say and just kept her mouth shut. The terrible memory passed by, treated as something surprisingly insignificant.

Still, now they had the余裕 to joke about it, but at the time, everything was truly horrific.

Soohyun lying in the hospital bed with medical devices attached all over his body looked just like a deceased lover’s last moments.

Haerin wondered if she had been dragged back into a past she had already gone through, and she pinched her arm several times, crying and begging for it to be a dream.

She hadn’t sent him away so coldly for him to return in this state.

She had spent every night in tears.

The man lying unconscious, dependent on a ventilator, was unfamiliar, as if he wasn’t the person Haerin knew.

You probably don’t know how I survived that week.

Haerin watched Soohyun preparing to be discharged in front of her as if nothing had happened, and slowly exhaled the deep breath she had taken.

She was relieved that Soohyun was alive, and grateful that he had regained his health.

He strongly dissuaded Haerin from coming, saying he could be discharged alone, but Haerin insisted. She wanted to see with her own eyes Soohyun walking out of the hospital on his own two feet.

“Haerin-ah. I could have gone alone, why did you bother to come?”

Soohyun, who had changed out of his patient gown into regular clothes after a long time, looked as neat as he used to. Soohyun checked his phone once and then smiled at Haerin.

“Are you ready?”

“Yeah.”

Of course, it would take more time for his sunken cheeks and somewhat gaunt figure to return to their former state, but just seeing him standing on his own two feet filled Haerin’s heart.

“Let’s go. Chief Choi came himself.”

“Okay.”

Haerin linked her arm with Soohyun’s and led him. Then, after walking a few steps, she looked up at him.

“Ah, before we go, should we stop by and see Chief Seok?”

“Would you like to?”

Soohyun and Haerin turned their steps towards Chief Seok’s hospital room.

Knock knock.

When they knocked and entered, Seok Ji-hyung, who had been reading a book, greeted them with a surprised face.

“You’re being discharged already.”

Chief Seok, who had jumped into the flames to save Soohyun, had spent less time in the fire scene than Soohyun, but due to his age, his recovery was slow.

Chief Seok, who had even grabbed Soohyun by the collar to bring him to his senses, treated Soohyun with the same polite respect as before, as if nothing had happened.

“Yes. I’m being discharged a little earlier than you, Chief. How are you feeling?”

“I’m much better. Having lived a busy life, having the余裕 to read a book during the day like this, hospital life is more bearable than I thought.”

Seok Ji-hyung took off his glasses and chuckled.

Looking at Chief Seok’s somewhat gaunt face, Soohyun frowned deeply and then took Chief Seok’s hand and held it tightly.

“Chief, there’s no need to rush anything, so please rest well and recover fully. I’ll go ahead and prepare everything else.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

The two didn’t have a long conversation. However, Soohyun didn’t let go of Chief Seok’s hand, and Chief Seok also didn’t shake off Soohyun’s hand, and they looked into each other’s eyes for a long time.

Soohyun squeezed the hand he held even tighter.

This was the person who had come through the flames to save him.

He wasn’t blood-related, nor was he someone he had lived with for a long time, but the face of him crying, saying he had thought of him as his son, was still vivid in his mind.

Emotions he couldn’t express in words welled up in his chest. He had already said thank you too many times to say it again. He couldn’t bring himself to leave Chief Seok alone in the hospital room.

“Chief, you said you thought of me as your son.”

“...Just forget about that. I just said it in the heat of the moment.”

“How can I forget? That day, I gained another father.”

“......”

At Soohyun’s words, Chief Seok’s eyes welled up with tears.

“I will do better. I’m sorry for not being good with words.”

It was the best expression he could muster. He wasn’t naturally gifted at moving others with eloquent speech.

Soohyun looked at Chief Seok, hoping his sincerity would reach him. Chief Seok’s face, which had been expressionless, twisted subtly. He lowered his head to hide his glistening tears.

“...I understand. I understand.”

Chief Seok, who had been nodding repeatedly, pushed Soohyun to leave, urging him to go when Soohyun coughed slightly beside him.

“I’ll visit whenever I have time.”

Beside Soohyun, who was bowing, Haerin added a warm remark.

“Chief, please don’t read books until too late at night and get plenty of sleep. Okay?”

“Yes, yes.”

Click.

The hospital room door closed, and Chief Seok was left alone again, but he didn’t feel lonely at all. He picked up the book he had placed on his lap again and smiled faintly. It was the first time in a long while that his heart felt so full.

________________________________________

“Ah, CEO. The police called this morning and said they caught Im Seyoung.”

As they got into the car, Chief Choi reported as if he had been waiting.

Haerin and Soohyun, sitting in the back seat, simultaneously groaned, “Ah.”

In fact, many things had happened in the outside world while Soohyun was hospitalized.

First, after the fire was extinguished, Im Wooshik was found in the safe inside the office.

Some time had passed between Soohyun’s escape and the complete extinguishing of the fire, and when found, the safe had been ravaged by the intense flames to the point where part of the iron door was damaged.

The final conclusion was that Im Wooshik had died of suffocation inside the safe.

The investigating detective said that the inside of the safe was like a furnace, a living hell.

Wooshik’s discovered hands had all ten fingernails missing, as if he had scratched at the iron door to open it, and parts of his hands had severe burns, so much so that even his fingerprints were gone. It was a gruesome end.

Jung Daeho was eventually divorced by his wife and was exiled abroad with Jung Jae-eun as if they were fleeing.

Daeho and Jae-eun’s children were assigned to overseas branches and would not be able to set foot on Korean soil again until they achieved results there. And of course, the benefits they had enjoyed their whole lives besides their salaries were gone.

Soohyun only allowed them the treatment of ordinary employees befitting their positions.

So their departure was not as luxurious as before. The Jung Jae-eun family, who had always flown first class, ended up buying economy class tickets for the first time in their lives to save expenses.

Jung Jaehoon promised to live quietly and went down to the provinces. Jaehoon’s two sons joined the company as entry-level employees on the condition that they would not demand any special treatment and would start over from the beginning.

While these many people were adapting to the changed environment, Im Seyoung’s whereabouts remained unknown.

“For now, she will be charged with negligent homicide and arson.”

Chief Choi added a few words about the information he had obtained from the detective.

The police recovered some parts of the burned CCTV footage, which showed Im Seyoung setting fire to the house. Adding the charge of stealing items from the safe to the crimes of assaulting Soohyun and setting the fire, she was in a situation where she couldn’t avoid a heavy sentence.

“...CEO, but there was one surprising fact.”

“What is it?”

“Well, that...”

Soohyun noticed Chief Choi’s hesitation and covered Haerin’s ears with both hands. Whatever he was about to say, it didn’t seem like good news for a pregnant woman to hear.

“Im Seyoung’s cell phone was found among her belongings. And there was a video of the chairman on that phone.”

“Video?”

“Yes. It was a video of Chairman Park in the water.”

“Huh.”

Soohyun clicked his tongue.

The police presumed it was a video taken at the time Chairman Park had the accident. However, since the person who committed the crime was already dead, the case would be closed as is.

Seeing them not even trusting each other and stabbing each other in the back, the saying “birds of a feather flock together” came to mind.

It was only after reaching home that Soohyun released his hands from Haerin’s ears.

“What were you talking about?”

“Nothing good for you to hear.”

“Can I ask what it was?”

“No.”

Soohyun, who was holding Haerin’s hand with one hand and opening the front door with the other, smiled softly and continued,

“I’ll just listen to the bad things. You just look at good things and listen to good things. Even that’s not enough.”

“I’m curious.”

“Let’s go in. To our home.”

“Okay.”

Click.

The sensor light at the entrance flickered on.

Soohyun stood in front of the shoe rack for a moment, watching Haerin take off her shoes first and go inside. His gaze reached Haerin’s back and then the pair of shoes she had taken off.

He suddenly remembered the last time he had come home.

“Haerin-ah.”

“Yes?”

As soon as he called her name, Haerin answered and turned to look at him. Soohyun felt so much love for his wife standing before him, and the sight before his eyes was so overwhelmingly moving that he couldn’t believe it. He hurriedly ran to Haerin and hugged her tightly.

“We’re home now.”

“Yes. You’ve been through a lot.”