16 Unshed Tears

Kwak Shujin's back was aching. That morning, she had chased Gayoon around the house once again for failing to go on another blind date that the old woman had set up for her. The girl was giving her a lot of trouble for not being able to get married and settle down. At that point, the grandmother did not even care as long as it was a partner. Hell, even a girlfriend would do!

But the silly girl was only fixated on work. Despite having the morning off, Gayoon had run off to investigate some murder uptown. Her dedication to work irritated Kwak Shujin to the core. The old woman grumbled as she climbed the stairs to her neighbor's house with breakfast. She rattled on the door.

"Master Hwang!" she called, knocking on the door. "Master Hwang!"

Hwang Junho opened the door to find the old woman standing outside.

"Ahjumma!" he exclaimed, carrying the breakfast tray from her hands. "How many times have I told you not to climb the stairs by yourself! You could have called me downstairs."

"Ah don't worry!" she laughed heartily. Compared to the trouble Gayoon gives me, this is nothing."

"Come in," Junho offered, stepping aside. The old woman entered the house and groaned.

"You really need to clean up around here," she commented. "It's a mess!"

There were books on paranormal activities and supernatural scattered all over the floor while heaps of newspapers were clumsily stacked in another corner. The bed was unmade and the kitchen was also a mess.

"I told that girl to come and clean up here but she's off to party with dead bodies up town!" she complained, sitting down on a chair.

"She is a hard working girl," Junho said. "You've raised her well. Her mother would have been proud of her."

"Ah well," Shujin shrugged. She noticed the closet was open and inside it, the scribblings were also visible. Junho was unpacking the tiffin boxes. There was rice with oyster soup and egg benedict. The side dishes consisted of kimchi and fried sausages dipped in spicy chilli sauce.

Junho, who was extremely grateful for the food, did a little prayer before digging into the food with his chopsticks. For many years, he had been hiding at Kwak Shujin's house and he was indebted to them for their kind hospitality. They had taken care of all his needs and it made him very guilty that he was unable to repay them back.

Shujin noticed that Junho was very quiet. "What happened, Master Hwang?" she asked. "Is the food not good?"

"It's excellent as usual, ahjumma," he assured her. "Gayoon is really a good cook."

"If only she would use this skill of hers in her own household," the old woman lamented. "With her husband and child. But the accursed kid only keeps on giving me headaches."

"She's a good kid," Junho chuckled. "A little feisty but has a good heart. If I wasn't on the run, I'd probably have taken her in as my daughter-in-law!"

Shujin sighed. "The statute of limitation ended many years ago," she said. "Why don't you try to call your son and tell him the truth?"

Junho, who was about to take a bite from the rice, froze. He lowered his eyes, feeling ashamed and in pain at the same time.

"What do I tell him?" he asked.

"The truth," Shujin insisted. "The truth about what really happened that night! Why were there so many bruises on your wife's body! That you are not the wife murdering maniac that everyone thinks you are!"

"It's not so easy," Junho said, shaking his head. "That night...I can't explain in words the truth about that night…"

A chilling shudder ran through his spine. The memories of that awful night were as fresh in his mind as if it all happened yesterday. Everything he believed and had faith in came shattering down within one night.

Until that night, Hwang Junho used to think of himself as an invincible man whom no one could hurt. He was a ruthless businessman who only valued everything in terms of money. He held his family close to his heart and would do anything to protect them. His wrath was infamous and many of his business rivals went bankrupt if they dared to cross any lines beyond professional rivalry. He was truly unbeatable.

And then that one night changed his entire outlook on life. There were many signs which he ignored. He thought that there was no such thing as ghosts and spirits. But on that night, he did not simply see a ghost. He saw the devil himself.

"I can't face my family," he firmly stated. "Not until I find that thing and end it. After that, I will tell them everything. They can send me to jail and keep on hating me. But at least I'll be able to face my wife in the afterlife and tell her that I have avenged her death."

He gulped back the unshed tears. All this time, there was not a single day when he did not look for that spirit which was wreaking havoc in the lives of many people. But no matter how much Junho searched for him, the spirit kept on escaping. It was like air; the more one tried to catch it the more it got away.

If it was not for Gayoon's mother, Hwang Junho would have been caught many years ago for a crime he did not commit. Her mother, Jeon Yeeun, was Suna's best friend and was pregnant with Gayoon when Suna was killed. She had tried her best to warn Junho about the danger his wife was in but Junho brushed her off as a crazy person.

It was not until that night he truly believed her and immediately ran to her doorstep after the spirit killed Suna. He left behind his old life and sought shelter at their house in anonymity. A few months later when Yeeun died in childbirth, he promised her to take care of Gayoon in any way he could. Since then, he had been helping Kwak Shujin raise Gayoon and even secretly paid for her education through the money he had managed to extract from his old bank accounts.

"That night changed all of our lives," Shujin sighed. "Sometimes, I wish our family never had this ability. Especially Gayoon. She doesn't deserve this."

The old woman dabbed her eyes.

"What's going to happen to her?" she asked out loud. "Because of this power, she had to resort to surrogacy. She gave up her only child and is now suffering all by herself."

Junho patted her shoulder. "She'll be fine," he told her.

He had seen the kid grow up in front of his eyes. The amount of suffering she went through because of her powers had destroyed what should have been a beautiful childhood. When he heard that Gayoon had taken such a desperate step to get rid of her abilities, he could not help but sympathize with the girl. He knew how she suffered and it was her only option. It had devastated her and she was still reeling from the depression. But he, too, hoped that Gayoon would get to meet her child someday.

"We're all waiting for this nightmare to end," he said.