NILWM - 54

The reply arrived a day later.

[Let’s talk later. I’ll be in the U.S. for a few days starting tomorrow. My cousin’s getting married.]

Ah, right. He said he was going to apply for and get permission for overseas travel for a close relative’s wedding. Was that next week?

[Okay, Sunbae. Have a safe trip.]

Tears streamed down her face as soon as she sent the reply. While she was relieved just to have received a reply, the belated response was followed by a chilling anxiety.

He’s not... trying to break up with me, is he? No, he’s not. No way.

She didn’t remember how she finished her final exams. In her desperation not to lose her scholarship, she thankfully hadn’t messed anything up. Perhaps it was because her mind and body had been under extreme tension, but she collapsed again on the day the semester ended and was sick for a whole day.

She couldn’t rest properly because of the loud music, games, and TV sounds that were blaring in the living room all day. Her twin brother, Jeongwoo, had come home for summer vacation yesterday.

• Yeseo. Just like last time, give your room to Jeongwoo and you can share the master bedroom with me. Okay? Jeongwoo has been suffering all alone in a foreign country, so let him rest comfortably during his vacation. I only sleep at night, so you can use the room freely during the day.

She had even given up her room... but no matter what it was, he could have just closed the door and done it in the room.

Yeseo held her head, which was throbbing to the core, and got up, sighing several times. She had told him to turn down the volume many times, but it was no use.

“Haa... I really want to move out.”

• Just move out of your house. I’ll look for an empty unit in our officetel building. Don’t worry about the money.

• Huh? ...No, it’s okay, Sunbae.

Last winter, he had said that when she had a loud argument with her mother and ran out of the house. It didn’t sound like he was just saying it. But she thought it was out of the question to be indebted to Sunbae, so she had dismissed the idea.

Wham, wham, the sound of the music made her temples throb again. Yeseo pulled the blanket over her head and tried to think about her novel. But once again, her train of thought flowed inevitably to Han Juhyeok and settled in the middle of a memory with him.

• What books have you enjoyed reading, Sunbae? Who’s your favorite author?

She remembered the conversation they had while lying across from each other on the bed in his officetel before his enlistment.

• Hmm. Most recently, I enjoyed Michael Sandel’s <Justice> and <The Tyranny of Merit>, as well as John D. Rockefeller’s economic books... I don’t have a favorite author in particular.

• What about fiction? Do you... like fantasy literature, too?

• Not at all. I don’t read novels.

She remembered being speechless at his unexpected answer. The words she was about to say—that she was writing a fantasy novel to enter a web novel contest next year—had gone right back down her throat.

• Especially not fantasy. I watch movies to kill time, but I think reading novels is a waste of time. I don’t mean to disparage the genre, but far-fetched fiction is not my taste.

• Ah... I see.

Her gaze involuntarily went to his bookshelf across from the bed, which was packed with various humanities and economics books. Now that she thought about it, there were no novels among those many books. Not even classic literature.

She had been disappointed inwardly. She had wanted to tell him, and only him, about her dream that her family and friends didn’t know about, and get his support. But since he thought reading was a waste of time, she couldn’t say anything more.

Even as she groaned with the blanket over her head, her tears didn’t stop. The more she thought about him, the more a heavy sadness welled up, as if it was pressing harder on her heart.

As she sobbed silently, she remembered the laptop she had left in her room. She felt an urgent need to get it before Min Jeongwoo touched it, but her body wouldn’t listen.

It’ll be fine... We have the family computer in the living room, so he won’t use mine.

She reminded herself to go get it later and closed her eyes again. Thankfully, she didn’t hear any more noise. It seemed he had started focusing on something else.

She hated Han Juhyeok. He would lunge at her and only take her body as soon as they met and treat her however he wanted, and yet, when she pointed it out, he made her feel like she was the sensitive one. Not only that, but he had even given her a clear hint that he would break up with her whenever she criticized him or crossed the line.

Despite all that, even when she eventually humbled herself and apologized, he hadn’t said a word about it.

At first, she thought he was a warm and affectionate person. She had thought his cold demeanor before she fell for him was just an atmosphere he exuded on the outside. But now, she wondered if that first impression was the real Han Juhyeok.

Does Sunbae really like me? Why did I fall for someone like that? I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing by continuing this...

Beyond her subconscious, she felt a sense of helplessness, wandering in a maze that would never be solved. The helplessness soon led to the most painful and terrifying conclusion.

Is breaking up with Sunbae the right thing to do after all?

________________________________________

She shouldn’t have left her laptop in the room. She realized it was an irreversible mistake after Min Jeongwoo infected the laptop with a ransomware virus and all the files were gone the night before.

She hurriedly took the laptop to a nearby repair shop, but there was no way to recover the novel files. She had lost the USB she had been saving her work on and was just looking for a free cloud service when Min Jeongwoo had caused the disaster. The response from the remote recovery company was also hopeless.

• The file extensions of your important data have already been altered, and the documents and files on your laptop have been encrypted. Encrypted files can only be recovered with an encryption key. In some cases, files with traces left in a temporary file format can be recovered, but unfortunately, we’ve confirmed that your data is difficult to recover.

In the end, she only had two choices. Either she would lose all her data and format the laptop, or she would give the ransomware hacker the five million won they were demanding. But it was impossible for her to have such a large sum of money. The bigger problem was the recovery company’s opinion that even if the hacker handed over the encryption key, there was a possibility that the recovery would not be 100% successful.

“Are you crazy, really! We have a desktop in the living room, so why did you use my laptop! Without permission!”

“That one’s old, so I can’t play games on it. It’s so slow, so I was just going to use yours for a bit... It kept telling me to download something, and I just clicked without thinking. How was I supposed to know that would happen? I’m really sorry.”

Min Jeongwoo repeatedly apologized, but later he burst out in anger, “Ah, what do you want me to do! It wouldn’t have happened if you had backed it up sooner!” Her mother, who had just returned from the pharmacy to get her son lunch, heard the whole story and, not surprisingly, started taking his side.

“Well, it’s not in the middle of the semester, and you said you saved all your important assignments and schoolwork. So isn’t that enough? You can just write that novel or whatever it is from the beginning again.”

“I started writing it on the day I got accepted to college, and I’ve been writing it for over two and a half years. It’s over 500,000 characters; how can I just write that all over again...? Hic...”

And she asked her mother if she could borrow five million won. She pleaded with her, saying she would definitely pay her back after she graduated, but the pharmacist rejected her daughter’s plea as if she was dumbfounded.

“What? Five million won? Not fifty thousand, but five million. You’re asking for a whole five million won to save some ridiculous story. Honestly. That’s two months’ rent and living expenses for Jeongwoo.”

“Crazy, she’s crazy. A novel? What kind of fucking nonsense. And what’s a web novel contest?”

She felt as if her blood was rushing backward at Jeongwoo’s quiet whisper from behind the door as he clicked his tongue. When she came to her senses, she was lunging at him and shaking him by the collar.

“Min Jeongwoo, you... don’t say things you don’t know! What do you know about...!”

“Ha, fuck. Did you just grab me by the collar? Huh? You fucking bitch, where do you get off...”

They wrestled for a long time. It was her mother who broke up the fight. Pharmacist Lee grabbed Yeseo by the back of her head, pulled her away from her son, and screamed.

“What are you doing to your brother! Ugh, I can’t live like this! If you’re going to be like that, get out!”

Lee Gyeong-eun glared at Yeseo and wagged her finger at her.

“If it wasn’t for you, Jeongwoo and I would have no problems, but you’re always the problem!”

“Mom, I’m bleeding here.”

Min Jeongwoo went a step further, sniffling and pointing to the scratch on his chin. Her mother clicked her tongue and stroked her son’s chin, then snapped her head back toward her daughter.

“Like I said, if you had backed up your files properly from the beginning, it wouldn’t have happened! Was that laptop even yours? I bought it with my money, from the beginning. It’s already gone, so just give up and start over again! Everyone lives like that; what kind of dog’s name are you trying to give me, asking to give five million won to a hacker?”

“I bought that laptop with my own money.”

Yeseo, with her hair all disheveled from being pulled, glared at her mother. She was actually looking at Min Jeongwoo, who was standing behind her, but he quickly slipped into the master bedroom.

“I bought it from a used goods cafe with the money I earned from my part-time job. You probably don’t even remember.”

“So? Where have you been living and eating all this time? While Jeongwoo was suffering alone in America, you were living comfortably in this house!”

Her mother’s voice got louder as if she was getting angry.

“You, if you’re going to be like that to Jeongwoo, just get out! Get out of this house!”

“...Okay, I will.”

Yeseo took a sharp breath and gathered her clothes and phone. She also put the now useless laptop in her bag and left the house without looking back.

The anger toward her mother and twin brother was one thing, but the desperation to recover the files was even stronger. She couldn’t give up her novel manuscript no matter what. Luckily, she had saved her world-building data and files on a separate USB for school assignments, but the thought of not being able to save a single page of her extensive manuscript was driving her crazy.

She wandered from one recovery center to another without lunch and consulted with her friends, but there was no clear progress. Yeseo dragged her exhausted body and sat down in a cafe in front of her school. Just in case, she had rushed over when some computer science seniors offered to take a look, but the result was the same.

As dusk began to settle, she finally thought of Han Juhyeok while sitting in a corner of the cafe in front of her school. Yeseo fumbled to get her phone out of her bag. Come to think of it, he said he was going to the U.S. today. She figured he had already left.

Idiot. Stupid. Why did I only think of it now? Since he runs a security-related startup, maybe Sunbae would know a way...

After a moment of self-blame as tears gushed out, Yeseo shook her head. If the experts said it couldn’t be done, there was no way Sunbae would have a different solution. The best he could do would be to lend her the money to give to the hacker as cryptocurrency.

Right. Five million won.

Her tear-filled eyes finally sparkled. For the first time in hours, her face looked alive. Wouldn’t Sunbae lend it to me? I would definitely pay him back. With interest.

Yeseo hesitated while holding her phone, then tried to call him. Since he was likely on a flight, only a machine-like voice saying that the call couldn’t be connected came from the other end. Yeseo didn’t give up and sent a text message. He would be able to check it once he arrived at his destination.

[Sunbae. I know you’re probably in the U.S. right now, but I’m so sorry to send you this text.]

She briefly explained the whole situation and pressed the send button. Then, she opened her email account. She was about to reply to the hacker who had demanded money for decryption in clumsy English, asking them to wait for a few days, but she stopped.

She was afraid that her phone would get hacked if she exchanged emails with the hacker on it. She decided to wait until Han Juhyeok replied.