Chapter 4: Marital Fight
"Well, um... you're already four months behind on rent"
"I'm so sorry... I've been looking for work..."
The landlord's voice softened, and mom responded with a coquettish, nasal tone. Though a mother of two, she was still in her mid-20s. Seeing her toned thighs and cleavage under the mini dress, the dizzy landlord quickly weakened.
"Well... but there's still a contract..."
"I know... I'm sorry. But it's rude to keep you outside... would you like to come in for some tea?"
"Ahem... a-alright"
The landlord hesitantly entered the basement studio and looked around, noticing us siblings in the corner.
"Oh, hello?"
"Who are you, mister?"
"Hm? Ah, I'm the landlord"
"Oh..."
"Haha... you're elementary schoolers? How old are you?"
"I'm... 10 years old"
"10? My, your mom looks so young"
Having just moved in, the landlord didn't know our family situation. Mom laughed awkwardly and fidgeted with her hair.
"Well... I had them quite young..."
"Is that so? How old are you now?"
"Me? I'm 24..."
"What?! How did..."
The landlord caught himself before asking rudely how she made such a mistake, turning away embarrassed.
"Well... young people can make mistakes... Anyway, about the rent that's months overdue..."
"...I'm so sorry. Our situation is really difficult..."
Mom bowed deeply, showing her cleavage as she apologized, but her shallow tactics didn't work this time.
"Look, I've tried to be understanding... but monthly rent is 450,000 won and you're four months behind. How much is that? It's... 1.8 million won already!"
"...I'm sorry. If you could just give us a little more time..."
"That's why I've been patient for four months... I've been very lenient because you're young, but..."
With nothing left to say, mom could only lower her head slightly and fidget with her hands on her thighs. The landlord's gaze lingered for quite a while on mom's thighs before finally looking away.
Noticing his gaze, mom glanced at the landlord and
"Ahem... ahem"
Suddenly coughing loudly as if embarrassed, the landlord looked around - especially at us siblings. Watching him, mom thought for a moment before quietly whispering:
"...It's hard to talk here because of the kids... How about we go to your place to discuss in more detail?"
"Huh...? M-my place?"
The villa we lived in was a 5-story building with the owner's home on the top floor and the rest rented out - 4 floors plus the semi-basement. Each floor had 4 studios, 2 in the basement, for a total of 18. Even in this cheap neighborhood, a building owner in Seoul would be quite wealthy.
I didn't know these details then, but mom probably did.
The landlord's pupils shook as he glanced at us again before quietly nodding.
At the time I naively thought it must be something serious, but now I can guess what they were up to.
"Hyeonseong, watch your sister. Mom will be back soon"
"Huh? To the landlord's place?"
"You don't need to know, kid"
The landlord went up first, fidgeting like a dog that needed to poop, and mom followed, holding her short dress as she climbed the stairs.
"Oppa, where's mom going?"
"Hm? You don't need to know"
I wonder what happened at the landlord's place that day.
I'm not sure, but we were just happy to have some time without mom in the empty house.
Mom returned about two hours later.
I remember the butt area of her thin gray dress was very damp, and her face was flushed.
"Mom! What did you do at the landlord's house?"
"Huh?"
"You were there for about two hours. What happened with the rent?"
"Hey. I told you not to worry about that stuff"
As she turned to scold me, I noticed something strange stuck to mom's lips.
"Huh? There's hair on your mouth"
"What? Oh..."
It was curly gray hair. Mom quickly wiped it off with a red face, then sternly warned me:
"Hey, Hyeonseong. This is a secret from dad, okay?"
"Huh? From dad? What...?"
"...That I went to the landlord's place today. Got it?"
"O-okay..."
"Promise me, okay?"
Of course I didn't understand when I was young. I just thought mom got some hair on her mouth somehow. But after that, the landlord started coming by often, and he rarely got angry about overdue rent anymore. Haha.
Just as mom wasn't a devoted woman, dad... no, dad was blatantly worse when it came to women issues.
About a week after mom came home with curly hair on her lips?
"Hey! Park Hwayoung spreads her legs and you just eat it up?!"
"Fuck, I made a mistake 'cause I was drunk!"
"What? Who said you can stick it in any hole when you're drunk?! Huh?!"
A fierce marital fight broke out that day, probably because dad got caught with another woman.
Our proud parents often fought openly in front of us siblings, but they fought especially viciously over dad's women issues.
It was confusing to me as a child - mom didn't seem to love dad that much, but she'd go crazy with jealousy when he was with other women. I didn't understand it.
The problem is, even when mom was 100% in the right, dad would just play dumb or act shamelessly brazen.
"Fine! I did it! I fucking did it! The bitch offered so I gave her a little poke, what's the big deal?!"
"Ha... Ha! Are you done talking?!"
As the argument escalated, it usually led to shouting, then dad's violence. That day too, as the fight dragged on, my sister Mihyun and I huddled in the corner trying to ignore it.
Sometimes I'd cover Mihyun's trembling ears with my hands. Though I was still young, my heart would pound like it would burst whenever they fought so severely. Mihyun seemed even more affected emotionally by these fights, maybe because she was a girl.
Smack!
Their argument peaked and finally led to violence.
"Ah! Why, why are you hitting me?! What did I do wrong?! You're the one who messed up!"
"Fuck, so what? I'll kill you, you fucking bitch!"
Slap! Smack!
"Aahk!"
There had been countless marital fights, and every time without fail, they ended with mom submitting.
"Huff... huff"
"Sob... hic"
Mom collapsed on the floor sobbing. Dad ran his hand through his hair, trying to calm his excitement. After cooling down a bit, dad took out a 10,000 won bill from his pocket and ordered us siblings huddled in the corner:
"Hey. Take Mihyun out and buy something to eat"
"O-okay..."
Why did he suddenly tell us to go out?
"Mihyun... let's go"
"Okay"
They had fought at 10 PM. The alley was pitch black, with insufficient lighting in the villa area on a hill, our building at the very edge. But we siblings walked through the dark alley to the nearest supermarket with the rare allowance from dad.
"What are you going to eat?"
"Ice cream"
"I want cola"
Usually we'd pass time playing games on our phones, but we were so poor that only mom and dad had smartphones. With nothing else to do after buying snacks, we headed back home.
It took about 10 minutes round trip? As we returned through the dim alley... we saw a shadow lurking outside our basement window.
"What the..."
"...!"
Noticing us approach, the shadow startled and quickly entered the villa entrance. What was it doing to be so surprised?
As we got closer to home, we immediately knew the answer.
"Haah... haah...!"
Mom's moans could be heard from outside the window.
"..."
Mihyun froze in place. Though she was used to hearing mom and dad's nightly activities, it seemed hard for her to understand hearing it right after they had viciously fought.
"Oppa, I'll wait in the empty lot over there"
"..."
"Aren't you coming?"
"Huh...? Oh... I'm too lazy, I'll just stay here"
"But I'm scared..."
"...Go alone"
Mihyun said she'd wait in the lot a bit far away, probably not wanting to hear the sounds, but I didn't want to go with her. In the end, Mihyun left alone for the dark lot... and after she was gone, I waited a while before quietly approaching the window.
Ah.
Why did I do that then? Though mom and dad did that stuff next to me every night, I hadn't actually seen it properly. Since they did it with the lights off, I mostly just heard sounds.
But bright light was leaking out from the window of our old basement room.
It was July and hot, so the window was open too.
Very carefully, I crept like a stray cat towards the window and peeked inside.
The bright room interior contrasted starkly with the darkness outside. As if they hadn't considered someone could peek from outside, mom and dad were tangled together in the middle of the room, in the most visible spot.
Mom's naked white body was riding dad's copper-toned skin, shaking her hips wildly. Her already pale skin glowed brightly under the fluorescent light.
"Hnng... hah... ah... oppa, it's so deep... ah!"
"Feel good? Huh? Does it feel good, you bitch? Ungh"
It wasn't a new sight at all. The same vulgar talk I heard every night. But right after fighting? Why were they clinging together like that after such a fight? To my young self, it was truly a mystery.