Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Saving Mother

Hands that had shrunk to the size of bracken ferns trembled uncontrollably.

My mind was clear, but these short little limbs wouldn’t move as I wished.

It was something I had experienced once before.

‘Coal gas poisoning!’

Carbon monoxide is heavier than air, so it sinks downward; once absorbed by the body, it reduces the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity and leads to suffocation.

“Mom, wake up!”

Snoring is a symptom that appears when carbon monoxide poisoning is severe.

I shook Mother with all my strength.

“Mom, open your eyes! You’ll die if you sleep like this without a care in the world!”

No matter how much I shook her, Mother wouldn’t come to her senses.

Then, behind the curled-up Mother, a pitch-black shadow flickered.

It was the underworld messenger who had taken me away.

[One hour left until the Yellow Springs path.]

“No!”

It was literally the underworld messenger’s death sentence.

“I can’t lose Mom like this!”

Back when I was only seven years old.

In the past, I didn’t know what to do and cried my heart out for a long time.

Not knowing that I was wasting Mother’s time in vain.

But now it’s different.

‘First, ventilation!’

I jumped up and opened the room door.

Rattle!

I opened every single door there was.

Whoosh.

Late December, north wind and snow.

Sleet mixed into the bone-cutting cold wind.

‘This isn’t enough! Turn on the fan too!’

Instead, to prevent body temperature from dropping, I wrapped the blanket tightly.

I took out every thick coat from the wardrobe and piled them on Mother.

‘This is something I’ve never seen before.’

A jewelry box hidden deep inside the wardrobe.

This was an item that hadn’t been on the list of Mother’s belongings in the past, something that looked far too precious compared to our household’s circumstances.

‘This isn’t the time to get distracted by things like this. I have to get Mother outside the room somehow.’

But with this body, it’s impossible.

‘I need to get help.’

I dashed outside the house.

I didn’t even have the presence of mind to put on socks or shoes.

A midwinter night with sleet falling.

The dirt ground was muddy, and my bare feet stung with every step.

“Help! It’s coal gas! Someone’s dying here!”

Whoosh.

My hoarse voice kept getting scattered by the cold wind.

So I grabbed the coal tongs left nearby and pounded on the sash door wildly.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

At that sound, the neighborhood dogs all started barking at once, and one by one, lights began turning on in the dark shantytown.

I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“Save us! Help, someone!”

Rattle!

“Jeong-hyeok?”

The landlord’s window opened, and the landlord’s grandmother leaned her body out.

Huh, this grandmother is someone who doesn’t wake up even if you carry her away once she’s asleep?

“Oh my, heavens! Why are you out in just your underwear in this cold? Where’s your mom?”

“Coal gas······!”

“Coal gas? Oh my, what on earth is going on?”

The landlord’s grandmother immediately rushed over and shook Mother.

“Jeong-hyeok’s mom, come to your senses! What am I supposed to do!”

The landlord’s grandmother put her arms under Mother’s armpits and struggled to drag her outside.

“I woke up startled because the underworld messenger appeared in my dream, and it seems that fellow came to take Jeong-hyeok’s mom!”

Behind the landlord’s grandmother, the underworld messenger appeared like a ghost and gave a thumbs-up.

[57 minutes.]

The grandmother dragged Mother out.

Halfway out of the single-room house.

That was the grandmother’s best.

Panting, the grandmother shouted loudly.

“Neighbors! Help, someone! Come outside!”

It was a voice far louder and more resonant than anything a young child could produce.

The grandmother was the most capable and loudest-voiced person in this neighborhood.

“Chang-sik’s dad! Min-ho’s dad! Yong-gwon’s dad! Hurry and come help!”

The uncles from the neighboring houses who had been directly called out by the landlord’s grandmother opened their windows and leaned out.

“Help, someone! It’s coal gas! We need to get her to the hospital quickly!”

This was a time when there were almost no ambulances.

Until the fire department established the 119 emergency service and began emergency operations in 1981.

Only some large hospitals in Seoul or Busan independently transported emergency patients during nighttime curfew hours.

It was faster to take her directly to the hospital by taxi.

[53 minutes.]

Every time the underworld messenger said a word, my heart sank.

“Grandma, I’ll call an ambulance from the public phone! If that doesn’t work, even a police car!”

This is the Guro shantytown.

The shantytown where people barely scraped by on factory work had many especially poor households.

In an era when telephones weren’t widely available, everyone often used public phones.

I ran into the room and grabbed Mother’s bag.

Just in case the money wasn’t enough, I stuffed the jewelry box into the bag as well.

“I’ll catch a taxi!”

“Jeong-hyeok, it’s curfew time right now. There’s no way taxis are out and about.”

The landlord’s grandmother massaged Mother’s limbs and sighed like a lament.

“On a day like today, why hasn’t our Cheol-gu come home yet!”

Uncle Cheol-gu was the landlord’s grandmother’s only son.

Built like a brown bear, he was always busy running around claiming he was catching spies.

He drove the most expensive jeep in the neighborhood.

Going out at dawn and coming back at dawn, or often staying out overnight, was everyday life.

“Let’s see. Jae-ho’s house should have a truck······.”

“I know where Jae-ho’s house is! I’ll go beg them!”

“Yes, go ahead first. I’ll follow as soon as people arrive!”

It was reassuring.

I ran down the alley without looking back.

Alley entrances with half-melted snow piled up, and coal ash crumbs scattered everywhere.

In the shantytown alleys where industrial complex workers lived together, a few streetlights flickered.

* * *

Because of the coal gas.

My body was as heavy as wet cotton.

I kept staggering and swaying.

But right now, I had to run.

Tatatatat!

In the past, whenever I ran on paths covered with coal ash, I would trip and fall several times.

But today, I somehow ran without falling even once.

Luck was on my side.

Feeling a chill on the back of my neck, I looked back, and the underworld messenger was following like a ghost, mouthing the words.

[47 minutes.]

“If you’re not going to help, shut up! If our Mother dies like this, I’ll slit my own throat and go to the underworld to grab King Yama by the collar first!”

This is different from the promise!

“You told me to ask Mother! Then you shouldn’t do this to me!”

I glared at the underworld messenger.

“Right now, I can’t see anything! This time, let’s properly settle the accounts one by one, starting from the heavenly punishment!”

I’m the type who does what I say.

For some reason, the underworld messenger, who had a startled expression, pretended to zip his mouth shut.

‘The closest Taeseong Hospital is a 15-minute drive from here.’

I gritted my teeth and ran.

‘Am I not going to be able to get a ride on Jae-ho’s truck again this time?’

In the past, that was the case.

Jae-ho’s father had coldly refused my request.

He had turned his back harshly, telling me to ask someone else.

‘Thanks to that, I learned that requests must always be accompanied by sincerity.’

I glanced at the Mother’s bag I had brought.

The money in the wallet was at most 9,850 won.

An amount that would make one sigh.

“Damn it.”

A sigh came out for another reason.

Because I couldn’t trust Jae-ho’s father’s character.

If he were the type to listen when appealed to with compassion, he wouldn’t have ignored Mother in the past.

“First, try begging. If that really doesn’t work, I’ll have no choice but to cut off a finger and throw it at him.”

Then he’ll have no choice but to take her to the hospital.

He wouldn’t want to be framed as a vicious criminal who cut off a child’s finger.

“If I can save Mother’s life with just one finger, what choice do I have? I’ll cut it.”

If I had known it would come to this, I should have brought an axe from the shed first.

“Even with the nighttime curfew, there’s nowhere to borrow a car like this!”

That was the era.

In South Korea, the my-car boom only happened in the 80s.

In a time when even trucks used at factories had to return their keys after commuting as a principle, where could one borrow a car?

‘Public phone!’

Just then, I spotted a public phone booth at the alley entrance.

How much was one public phone call at this time.

Had it recently gone up to 10 won per unit?

“Ugh!”

I stood on tiptoe to insert a coin.

Jumping was useless.

I couldn’t reach.

‘Too short!’

I remembered the jewelry box I had brought.

If I placed it vertically and stepped on it, I might just be able to insert the coin.

My hand slipped, and the jewelry box opened with a thud.

‘Bankbook, notebook, men’s highest-grade luxury wristwatch.’

Under the yellow streetlight.

I gathered the treasures Mother had hidden.

‘Ha, Vacheron Constantin Patrimony 1970 Special Edition.’

A highest-grade brand product from the Swiss watch company that was the industry leader until Patek Philippe rose as the king of watch brands in the 1990s.

A luxury watch of a level that the counterfeit masters of this era’s South Korea could not imitate.

With our household’s circumstances, we could never buy it even if we died and came back to life.

Being able to import this, or purchase it directly from abroad, meant he was an enormous man of wealth.

‘It seems our father really was a second-generation chaebol?’

Then why are Mother and I living like this.

‘With this, I can borrow Jae-ho’s truck.’

Since he’ll covet the expensive watch, the money-grubbing Jae-ho’s father will lend the truck.

Honk honk!

I turned my head at the sound of the horn.

The jeep window rolled down smoothly, and a man in his thirties stuck his head out.

“Kid, what are you doing there right now?”

It was Uncle Cheol-gu, the landlord’s grandmother’s son.

“Uncle!”

I was so glad I could cry.

Of course, the jeep!

“Are you trying to report a spy by any chance?”

“Mom collapsed from coal gas! We need to go to the hospital quickly!”

“Get in!”

Before the words were even finished, the jeep’s passenger door flung open.

I quickly got into the car, bringing the jewelry box and everything.

Vroom.

The jeep raced down the alley without hesitation.

‘Luck is good!’

The memory of desperately stamping my feet trying to catch a taxi on an empty night street in the past flashed through my mind.

Back then, no matter how much I screamed, not even a single ant passed by, let alone a taxi.

What was the point of that damned nighttime curfew.

I had resented the heavens and sat down on the street sobbing.

‘This time will be different. I can save Mother!’

The landlord’s grandmother had come out to the front gate and shouted loudly.

“Hurry and take her to the hospital! Her breathing has returned properly, and she’s regained consciousness!”

It seemed the village people had gathered and properly performed emergency measures in the meantime.

We put the staggering Mother into the jeep and headed to the hospital.

*

Corridor of Taeseong Hospital’s intensive care unit.

I had to sit in a chair with a hospital blanket wrapped all around my body and wait.

‘The underworld messenger stopped the countdown and withdrew. So she should be okay.’

I let out a long breath.

It was a sigh of relief.

Only then did my gaze go to the jewelry box bulging on top of Mother’s bag.

‘Her taste in choosing watches is quite high-class and splendid. Who on earth is our father?’

I became curious.

‘The surname Cha is not a common surname in Korea. Moreover, among chaebol families, there’s only one household that uses the surname Cha.’

I closed my eyes.

‘Taeseong Group?’

Taeseong Group.

Electronics, chemicals, construction, automobiles, distribution, hotels, hospitals, food, fashion, and so on.

A massive chaebol group ranked 5th in South Korea’s business world.