The Good Times, Before It All Went Wrong

"Free food~ free food~" Yeo Ri hummed as she skipped back to her home. Jang Mi had generously allowed her to bring back the leftovers. She planned to share it with Gun, seeing as he rarely ever bought such things for himself.

As soon as she arrived home, the first thing she did was look around for Hyuk's motorbike.

"He's not home," she muttered. It was as expected; he was probably out working or hustling with his friends.

Shaking her head, she quietly entered the house. At this time, no one was usually home except for her so she never bothered saying 'I'm home'. Yeo Ri sighed, feeling rather lonely.

She properly arranged her shoes on the shoe rack. She paused, examining them. They were her only pair. While they were old, she maintained them quite well. Thankfully, she stopped growing a while back and did not have to change her shoes again.

Yeo Ri headed towards the kitchen, thinking to store away the spicy rice cakes for Gun's midnight snack.

In the sink, she noticed, was a pile of unwashed dishes. Yeo Ri placed down her bag and rolled up her sleeves, intending to wash them. She glanced at the dining table, hoping that one of the dishes belonged to Hyuk. She worried that he might not have gotten enough to eat; he was always busy working. Some days he even skipped meals so he could work.

While washing the dishes, Yeo Ri noticed a crumpled up note on the floor. It was the pink post-it note she had given Hyuk. She paused her chore and picked up the note.

'Thanks,' was jotted behind it, but the more noticeable detail was that the note was covered with scratched out words. 'How sweet and thoughtful,' she thought. It must've taken him a while to think of something to write. She turned to look at the trash bin next to the sink counter, and noticed that there was already multiple crumpled up notes thrown inside the bin. She couldn't help but chuckle, "So cute," she mumbled. She imagined Hyuk sitting on the table, scratching his head and writing down some words for her. Then, as if he was unsatisfied with them, he crossed them out, and re-wrote them. In the end, he simply wrote a word of thanks. However, feeling rather embarrassed for taking it too seriously, he trashed it.

She pocketed the note and went back to washing the dishes, humming happily.

There was not many dishes to wash, so she finished them all in a flash. Done with the dishes, she returned to her room, preparing to wash and change into casual clothes.

"Homework, laundry, clean the bathroom, and sweeping..." Yeo Ri counted her chores.

Once changed, she immediately started her chores.

Since she was the only female in the house, the task of taking care of the house inadvertently fell on her head. She had been doing it for the past few years, so she easily finished most of them in the span of a few hours.

All that was left was the final task of the day which was to sweep the floor.

She grabbed her trusted broomstick and began sweeping the living room. There was not much dust seeing as she cleaned the house frequently, but for the sake of cleanliness, she still dutifully executed her task.

"Yeo Ri! Dad's home!"

As she was sweeping, a loud, booming voice suddenly called out from the entranceway, giving her a fright.

"Dad?" She called out in surprise. She glanced at the clock. It was a few hours too early for him to come back and she wondered if something was wrong. "Did something happen? Why is Dad home so early?"

The man grinned, and drunkenly stepped into the house. However, his steps were unsteady and he almost fell.

Yeo Ri quickly helped him stand up and supported him. Smelling the alcohol, her nose wrinkled. She frowned, "Dad, have you been drinking? What about work?"

"Work? I took a day ooooff~!" He chuckled.

"What?" Yeo Ri's eyes widened. They were barely making ends meet, and he took a day off? Even if he just came back from a business trip, that was no excuse to skip work. He didn't even go that far; his business trip had only been two towns away! What's more, it seemed like he had spent a lot of money on drinking. Yeo Ri wanted to cry out and felt indignation rising in her heart, but kept it in. Who knew what he might do if she went and sounded him out in this condition.

Yeo Ri sighed, "Forget it. Dad, I'll help you to your room." In any case, it wasn't like the man was ever so generous with his money when it came to household matters. He'd only give her money for bills when he remembered to.

Along the way, Lee Do Joon, her father, kept babbling about one thing or another.

"Dad, where are your keys?"

Lee Do Joon had always kept his own room locked away from his children, as if there was something he was hiding. Hyuk, in his childhood, had once tried to enter the forbidden room, but he was found out and their father had beaten him with an inch of his life. Back then, she cried so much that she ended up with a fever the next day.

"Riiiight heeeere," in his inebriated state, it took him a few moments to take out his room key, and even longer to put it in the right place.

Finally, the door was unlocked and she finally got a chance to look at the forbidden place.

The room seemed rather normal. It was neither too big nor too small. A cabinet was placed on one side of the room and a folded-up table leaned on it. On the opposite side of the door was a closed window. All in all, there was nothing unusual about the room on the surface.

The bed was already laid out on the floor. Clearly, he never bothered making his bed.

Yeo Ri helped him sit on the bed, then prepared to leave. However, a hand stopped her. Lee Do Joon suddenly grabbed his daughter's arm tightly.

"You."