My Secret Daddy

Chapter 6

1.

The moment Seonmi pulled up in front of the house, the gate opened, and Ruby appeared in a peach-colored spring coat.

“Grandma! Did you come because you missed me?”

Seonmi got out of the car, laughing merrily like a little songbird.

“Of course. I figured you might be running out of side dishes, too.”

“Wow! Thank you! All the side dishes you make are delicious, Grandma.”

“Really? I made all the seasoned vegetables myself.”

“Really? You have to teach me sometime!”

“So you can make them for your dad?”

“Yes!”

“You should be studying. Seonghyeon was telling me how worried he is about you being a senior in high school. Are you on your way somewhere?”

“I’m going to buy tofu for kimchi stew tonight.”

“So children these days go out to buy tofu, too. Then get in. Let’s go together.”

“It’s just around the corner. I’m going to the convenience store.”

“Still, get in. It’s cold, and Grandma doesn’t feel like walking.”

“Should I drive?”

“You have a driver’s license?”

“Oh, right. I don’t.”

“Honestly, you.”

Seonmi burst into laughter once again.

2.

Seonghyeon had thought it would be an important meeting, but when it was over, he realized they had talked about nothing but the welcome party for Ha Seonghyeon.

Despite his repeatedly reminding them that he had retired eight years ago, the professors did nothing but express their unchanging admiration for him.

As soon as Professor Jeong Hyoseok, the youngest member of the music department, finished his boisterous greeting, Professor Gu Eulyong began making a fuss. Approaching fifty, Professor Gu was a former conductor of a symphony orchestra.

“How about holding the welcome party on Friday? We’ve already booked a hotel and contacted the reporters. Just give us the go-ahead, and I’ll call them right away…”

Seonghyeon was at a complete loss.

What on earth was going on?

“A welcome party? That’s entirely unnecessary. I’m just an ordinary person now. Why would you invite reporters?”

“Well, you know, we have to give you a proper initiation! You’re a renowned performer who spent twenty years abroad…”

“I just told you that I’m an ordinary person now.”

“Once a performer, always a performer! You’re a living virtuoso of our time. Just think of everything you accomplished during your active years…”

“If you insist, why don’t we just have a beer together with our colleagues? I’m saying this because I’d feel uncomfortable with anything more.”

His voice was quiet, but his attitude was so firm that it left no room for negotiation. An instant silence fell over the conference room.

Dean Kim Yongseon continued to sit silently, still wearing his smile.

Yongseon was a small man, fifty-four years old. Having studied on a scholarship from the Hwaeum Foundation, he was acquainted with Seonghyeon.

Seonghyeon knew that this small man always had a smiling face. Whether he was happy, sad, or angry, his eyes behind those large glasses were always smiling.

At last, Yongseon opened his mouth.

“If he says he would be uncomfortable, we can’t force him. All right, professors. Let’s give up on the welcome party and have a get-together at a nearby beer hall instead.”

The professors all began muttering at once.

“But, Dean! We’ve been preparing for this for two months…”

“We need to make a strong start if we want to keep the issue in the spotlight.”

“This isn’t just a matter of whether one person feels uncomfortable. It concerns the entire music department. Please reconsider…”

Seonghyeon sat sipping his tea, his gaze fixed on the wood grain of the table. His attitude made it clear that he had already said everything he intended to say.

Yongseon smiled a little more, as though he found the situation amusing.

“Now, now! You all know how quiet he was even when he was performing. We should accommodate him as much as possible. Strictly speaking, something like this isn’t even included in his contract, so if he says he doesn’t want to do it, we can’t force him.”

“Good grief! A contract? Are we in America? You can’t go through life doing everything according to a contract!”

3.

After the first meeting, which seemed to herald nothing but cloudy skies ahead, Seonghyeon hurried out of the building.

Someone hurried after him. It was Professor Min Hyeongseop from the vocal department.

“Senior! Wait a moment!”

“Oh, Hyeongseop.”

Hyeongseop tilted his short neck backward to look up at Seonghyeon, who was a full head taller than him.

“Huff, huff! Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for today? How could you just rush out like that?”

“Ah, I was planning to have lunch with you in a little while.”

“Really?”

Hyeongseop beamed as he adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his round nose.

He was a junior who had studied at the same university as Seonghyeon in Germany. They were only two years apart in age, but Hyeongseop was a full seven years behind him at the university.

“I went to Munich entirely because of you, Senior, but I was so disappointed when you left for New York as soon as I enrolled. Then again, who in the music world back then wasn’t your fan? It would’ve been wonderful if you’d held a concert with Eunbin as a duo before retiring… Ah!”

Hyeongseop clapped a hand over his mouth, realizing what he had just said. Fortunately, Seonghyeon showed no particular reaction.

“The atmosphere in there was pretty intense, wasn’t it? Everyone has such high expectations.”

“Expectations?”

“With the number of music students dwindling, your arrival is a huge deal. Everyone’s excited because they think you’ll breathe new life into the department.”

Seonghyeon glanced at Hyeongseop, looking as though he found it difficult to understand.

“Who listens to classical music these days? Every time you open your eyes, there’s another idol singer making a debut. Meanwhile, we’re still studying what to do with Bach.”

“If you don’t like that, you can become an idol singer.”

“Oh, come on, Senior. You’re so cold! Everyone remembers your heyday. You didn’t come to Korea back then, but the impact you made was incredible. Classical music was never as popular as it was then. They think you can create that same sensation here at Hyein.”

“This is a school.”

“A school has to make money to provide an education, too. I understand your personality, Senior, but if you could just step forward a little for the sake of the music world…”

Hyeongseop clapped his small hand over his mouth again.

“Oh, dear… I was being presumptuous, wasn’t I? I just talk too much…”

“You certainly do. You’ve always been good at talking nonstop, even back then.”

Unfazed, Hyeongseop immediately launched into another stream of chatter.

“Isn’t it interesting that you and Go Eunbin are here together? You’ve met Go Eunbin, haven’t you?”

“Yeah. Is that brat studying at all?”

“Go Eunbin? Studying? Not a chance!”

“What do you mean?”

“He barely scrapes together enough attendance to pass. He’s late all the time, and he sleeps through lectures…”

“What? You’re letting a student like that get away with it?”

“Well… you’d have to see his spectacular reports.”

“Reports?”

“That kid is a monster. And he’s handsome, too. He even has a fan club.”

“A fan club? Impressive.”

“What are you talking about? You have tons of fans yourself, Senior.”

Seonghyeon had a suspicion about that, so he asked with a somewhat uneasy expression,

“What kind of music does Go Eunbin compose?”

“Totally experimental stuff. His fan club even performs it. They record the performances and put them online, and they’re incredibly popular.”

“Performances? On the piano?”

“No, he doesn’t even touch the piano. Anyway, he’s got girls trailing after him everywhere. He’s practically Casanova. Do you know what the professors call him?”

A quiet voice spoke from directly behind them.

“I suppose you’re talking about me.”

Hyeongseop spun around and let out a startled scream.

“Oh my goodness! Go Eunbin! Make some noise when you walk!”

“We’re outside. Should I knock first?”

Seonghyeon, practically dying of curiosity, urged him on.

“What’s Eunbin’s nickname?”

Hyeongseop waved his chubby hands and began backing away.

“The Boy Genius, of course! Ha-ha! Well, I’ll see you at the get-together!”

4.

With a cup of warm tea in each hand, Seonmi and Ruby left the convenience store and slowly made their way toward the entrance of the alley where the car was parked.

“Seonghyeon told me you like musicals.”

“Yes! I’ve watched all the operas you appeared in, too, Grandma.”

“You watched those old videos? They’re so dated that I can hardly bear to watch them myself.”

“You were so beautiful that I nearly fainted! I was so moved. I couldn’t believe someone like you was my grandmother.”

“You certainly know how to say pretty things. Let’s go see a musical together sometime, and go shopping, too. Grandma will buy you some pretty clothes.”

“Wow! Really? Grandma, you’re the best!”

Ruby affectionately threw her arms around Seonmi’s arm.

“I like you a lot, too. If Seonghyeon remarries, come live with Grandma. All right?”

“What?”

“If your dad remarries, there’ll be no reason for your grandfather to hate you. I know it’s a lot to ask a child your age to understand, but that’s how adults are. Once their children’s affairs are settled, they can finally turn their attention to other things. Your dad came back to Korea intending to remarry, too…”

“Daddy… came to Korea intending to remarry?”

“That’s right. There are plenty of Korean women in New York, too, but your dad probably thinks his real bride is here. He’ll be looking for someone like Hyejeong. Hyejeong was understanding and wise. She knew how to consider other people, and she was diligent in her own work. Your dad needs a woman like…”

Seonmi suddenly stopped speaking and looked down at the arm that had become strangely light.

When she turned around, she saw Ruby standing some distance behind her, her face as white as a sheet and her body rigid.

“What’s wrong?”

“Grandma… I thought you were on my side.”

“What did you say?”

The bag and cup fell from Ruby’s hands.

The still-steaming tea spilled across the pavement, and Ruby collapsed on top of it, like a broken wooden doll.

5.

The two men strode briskly across the quiet campus.

Eunbin was asking about five questions with every step.

“You rented a house? Why aren’t you moving back into your own place?”

“Yeah, just because.”

“How can you live in a house all by yourself? Would you like me to move in and keep you company?”

“Uh, well…”

Eunbin suddenly stopped walking and looked up at his teacher.

“Wait. Do you have a woman?”

“A woman? Well, that’s a little complicated. When we get home, I’ll…”

Just then, a phone rang in Seonghyeon’s coat pocket.

“Oh, Mother.”

Seonghyeon answered the call with a bright face, a lingering smile still on his lips.

Eunbin watched him suspiciously.

As far as he knew, three years wasn’t all that long for Seonghyeon. Eunbin was certain that he wasn’t the kind of person who could give his heart to someone else so easily.

Especially after witnessing such a horrific accident…

Seonghyeon’s face stiffened until he looked like a corpse as he listened to the phone.

Seonmi’s voice, which Eunbin knew well, came through the receiver.

“Should I have her admitted to the hospital?”

“No. More importantly, please turn up the boiler and switch on the heater, too. I’m coming home now.”

Seonghyeon knew all too well what it meant for the world to go black before your eyes.

He had thought he was already used to it.

But there were some things you could never get used to, no matter how many times you experienced them. No—instead, the more you experienced them, the more terrified you became of the possibility that they might happen again.

Seonghyeon felt that he was turning into a miserable coward, yet even his heart was trembling.

Eunbin’s voice sounded distant, and his own voice seemed to belong to someone else.

“What happened? Is someone sick? Teacher!”

“Eunbin. Go to the office and tell them… tell them something came up and I went home…”

“Teacher! Please call me! You have to!”

Before he could finish speaking, Eunbin spotted Seonghyeon’s phone lying on the ground by his feet.

He ran as fast as he could, but Seonghyeon’s car had already left the parking lot and was about a hundred meters away.

“Damn it! Didn’t he say he hardly ever runs? He’s practically flying! Did he memorize my number? The speed limit on campus is twenty kilometers per hour!”

Eunbin turned on his phone, intending to call Seonmi.

The moment the screen lit up, he stared at it with wide eyes.

A young girl’s photograph filled the screen.

A sharp flash of insight streaked through Eunbin’s mind.

When the screen went dark, he hurriedly pressed the button again.

The same vision he had thought he’d imagined appeared once more.

It was a girl with peach-colored skin and large brown eyes. She looked no older than eighteen, at most. Her large eyes, gazing at the screen, were moist with an almost heartbreaking tenderness.

It was as though a sweet voice were spilling from her parted lips.

I love you.

By Eunbin’s standards, this was unmistakably a woman he was sleeping with.

He glared at the screen as though he wanted to devour it, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Seonghyeon wasn’t careless enough to get involved with a child. Eunbin knew very well just how ruthless a man he was.

“Did the shock of what happened to Hyejeong noona freeze his brain or something?”

Muttering to himself, Eunbin kicked the trunk of a nearby tree with all his might.

“Ow, ow! No way!”

Eunbin believed, almost as a matter of religious faith, that no matter how hard people struggled, they could never abandon their true nature.

6.

An ash-gray sedan sped down the road, ignoring the traffic lights at an intersection.

The blaring horns followed it like a chorus of angry accusations, but Seonghyeon could hear nothing except his mother’s voice.

“Does Ruby have something like epilepsy? She suddenly collapsed, and it scared me half to death. I called her attending physician, but he thinks it might be psychological.”

Seonghyeon knew those symptoms all too well.

He had received a diagnosis of there being nothing wrong with him seven times.

“Usually, these symptoms appear during childhood. Falling unconscious and then falling asleep can be understood as a form of self-defense against fear. She’ll grow out of it as she gets older.”

And yet Seonghyeon was devastated, as though he had already lost Ruby.

At some point, he had become consumed by a persecution complex.

The terror that someone was coming after the one lifeline he had left…

Seonghyeon gripped the steering wheel so tightly it seemed he might tear it out, repeating a single thought like a prayer.

If you take Ruby away from me, too, then you’re no god at all!