Chapter 171: Happy Girl (4)
These days, I no longer have nightmares.
Ever since I came to Kim Jin-woo’s house…
His family treated me as if I were someone precious.
But I’m a child who doesn’t deserve any of it…
Every time I sat across from them, talked, and ate together, a strange tickling feeling spread through my chest.
I knew exactly what this emotion was.
It was the happiness I had longed for so desperately when I was little.
But what if I actually became happy—and because of that, they became unhappy?
The memory flashed back: the entire village pointing fingers at me, shouting that I had no right to be happy.
Was I really not allowed to be happy?
Instead of joy, fear began to grow.
Fear that the people treating me so kindly might become unhappy because of me.
That they might lose their lives… just like my mother…
So today, once again, I forced down the emotions that threatened to spill out.
***
Just as Kim Jin-woo had calculated, the villagers quickly banded together and gathered people to stand against the gangsters he had called in.
But there was one fact they had completely overlooked.
The difference between gangsters and ordinary people.
The gap in experience and mindset was massive—and it showed clearly in the results.
Early in the morning, villagers began gathering one by one in front of Kim Jin-woo’s house.
Kim Jin-woo immediately contacted the gangsters. Not long after, everyone involved in this incident—except Choi Soo-yeon—had assembled in front of the house.
“Sigh… some people just never learn.”
The gangster leader shook his head as if pitying them.
“You… you bastards! Get out of our village right now!”
“You should be the ones preparing to move. I’m starting to get really annoyed…”
“This little punk—!”
At Kim Jin-woo’s words, one villager charged forward shouting—but the gangsters immediately beat him down.
“Hey, mister. Did you really think you could just yell and swing pipes around and everything would end?”
“Arghhh!”
Under the gangsters’ relentless assault, the villagers began to panic.
“H-help…”
Even as one of them cried out for help, no one moved.
“I… I’m done.”
Eventually, one person tried to flee—but once they had come here, there was no escape.
“Where do you think you’re going…? You haven’t paid the bill yet.”
“W-what bill?”
“Those things in your hands—gasoline and lighters, right? You were planning to set this house on fire, weren’t you? Then you should receive the same in return. Let’s end this with full-body third-degree burns.”
“S-save me… p-police…”
“If you call the police, you die.”
“Hic…”
A nearby fist proved far more effective than expected.
“So… shall we go settle the bill now?”
“S-settle?”
Kim Jin-woo led the large group of villagers toward the construction site.
When they arrived and stepped out of the vehicles, a police car happened to pass by.
“P-police! H-help!”
The villagers screamed at the sight of the patrol car, but the officers only glanced over before silently driving past.
“W-what…?”
In truth, the police couldn’t help them.
If they did, their own lives would be ruined.
All their illegal activities and corruption had already been exposed, leaving them powerless—and pressure from higher-ups had come down accordingly.
“This can’t be… we clearly made eye contact…”
Even the police had abandoned them. The villagers’ eyes quickly lost all light.
“So… where should we start talking?”
“I-I’m sorry. I won’t come near your house again.”
One villager hurriedly begged Kim Jin-woo for forgiveness, but that wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear.
“You have two choices. Either get buried in cement right here and die, or move to another region.”
Kim Jin-woo’s words didn’t sound like a bluff at all. One after another, the villagers shouted that they would move.
“Then sign here.”
The villagers received affidavits handed out by a lawyer.
“This is a lawyer, so don’t even think about backing out later.”
After hurriedly signing, the villagers fled the construction site.
“Jin-woo. Is it over now?”
“No… um… it’ll probably take about another month to wrap up.”
“Yeah, got it.”
One month later.
Countless villagers had moved away, and the atmosphere in the town changed in an instant.
No one dared to touch Choi Soo-yeon—or Kim Jin-woo—anymore.
“Soo-yeon-ah.”
“Yeah?”
“Wanna go out and play today?”
“Huh?”
Choi Soo-yeon was startled by Kim Jin-woo’s sudden suggestion to go outside.
She knew exactly what would happen if she left the house—so she hesitated at his words.
Noticing her reaction, Kim Jin-woo quickly reassured her.
“It’s okay. Nothing like what you’re thinking will happen.”
“…”
“I’m serious. Don’t you trust me?”
“Okay.”
In the end, Choi Soo-yeon followed Kim Jin-woo outside—and couldn’t believe her eyes.
The people who used to curse at her and torment her now looked at her with fear and quietly avoided her.
“How is it? See? Nothing happened.”
“Yeah… you’re right.”
She wanted to ask how this was possible, but Choi Soo-yeon didn’t.
After all, she would be leaving Kim Jin-woo soon anyway…
“Soo-yeon-ah. Wanna move with me?”
“Huh?”
“Of course, no one in this town will bother you anymore, but… wouldn’t a fresh start somewhere new make you happier?”
“Can I… really be happy?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course you can.”
At Kim Jin-woo’s words, Choi Soo-yeon opened her mouth as if making a confession.
“You think the rumors about me are lies, right? But… what if they’re not?”
“Ah…”
“When I thought I was happy—even for a moment—my father’s business collapsed, and my mother got a terminal illness and died. The first day he hit me, my father won the lottery. If I become happy… I don’t know what might happen to you, or your parents… I’m already satisfied right now. I’m not happy, but at least I’m not miserable anymore.”
After finishing her story with her head bowed, Kim Jin-woo responded as if he had already expected it—calmly, without making a big deal.
“Then how about just the two of us leave? I might not look like it, but I’m actually pretty lucky. Let’s compare—whose misfortune is stronger, yours or my luck? It’s a little hard right now… so let’s do it after we go to university together. What do you think?”
“…”
No matter how much she pushed him away, Kim Jin-woo kept coming closer—and Choi Soo-yeon couldn’t help but start to hope.
Every single word he said was slowly tearing down the thick walls she had built around her heart.
“I’ll… think about it.”
At Kim Jin-woo’s persuasion, Choi Soo-yeon gave a vague answer to close the topic.
After that, for the first time in a long while, Choi Soo-yeon ate out, bought new clothes, and enjoyed things she had never been able to before.
“Aren’t you spending too much money?”
“Nah, it’s fine. I get a big allowance. My family’s kind of rich.”
“Still…”
Kim Jin-woo couldn’t stop smiling at how cute her worried expression was.
“Hey? Jin-woo!”
“Hyung-nim.”
While out on a date with Choi Soo-yeon, Kim Jin-woo ran into one of the gangsters he had called in.
“…”
Choi Soo-yeon, who had bad memories of loan sharks, quickly hid behind Kim Jin-woo at the sight of the gangster.
“Ah! Hyung-nim, step back. Soo-yeon’s scared.”
“Huh? I didn’t do anything…”
“Guess your face is scary.”
“…That’s a bit harsh.”
At Kim Jin-woo’s words, the gangster took five steps back.
“It’s okay. He’s someone I know.”
“…”
Hearing Kim Jin-woo, Choi Soo-yeon slowly peeked out and looked at the gangster.
He had an awkward expression, and since there was no hostility in him, she stepped forward again.
“Ooh… no wonder Jin-woo fell for her.”
“Right?”
Living at Kim Jin-woo’s house had helped Choi Soo-yeon gain some healthy weight—she now looked genuinely pretty. All the bruises had faded too.
She was far more beautiful than when Kim Jin-woo first met her.
“Hello.”
“Uh… yeah. Hello. Uh… Jin-woo, don’t fight with her—get along, okay?”
“That’s not very hyung-like of you…”
“Quiet. Anyway, since I got a greeting, I can’t just leave empty-handed…”
The gangster pulled out his wallet and took out ten 50,000-won bills.
“Here, take this. Buy something delicious with it.”
“Thank you.”
“Hyung, what about me?”
“You’ve got more money than me. Soo-yeon-ah, he’s loaded—ask him to buy you something expensive.”
After the gangster left, Choi Soo-yeon looked down at the cash in her hand and spoke in a small voice.
“Can we take chicken home today?”
“Huh? Of… of course. My parents will love it too.”
They stopped by a chicken shop, where Choi Soo-yeon ordered several different flavors and brought them back home.
She thought—hoped—that from now on, she would continue sharing these small moments of happiness with Kim Jin-woo’s family, eating chicken together.
But misfortune arrived far faster than she expected.
One day, out of nowhere, Kim Jin-woo’s father ended up in the hospital.
“No… this can’t be… it’s because of me. It’s my fault…”
“Calm down, Soo-yeon-ah.”
Kim Jin-woo hurriedly tried to soothe Choi Soo-yeon as she fell into sudden panic, but she couldn’t calm down no matter what.
“It was just a minor traffic accident.”
“It’s because of me…”
Kim Jin-woo already knew who had caused the accident—and that it had nothing to do with Choi Soo-yeon—but her trauma ran far too deep to be resolved in a short time.
‘She still can’t pull herself together… I need to drive the wedge in deeper. But first, I have to calm Soo-yeon down…’
After thinking for a moment, Kim Jin-woo came up with an idea and pulled out his smartphone.
“Yeah.”
He turned it on and video-called his father.
Ring ring ring.
After a few rings, his father answered.
– What is it… son?
Surprisingly, Kim Jin-woo’s father looked perfectly fine. He was lying in a hospital bed, eating fruit.
“Dad, hold on a second.”
Kim Jin-woo showed his father’s face to Choi Soo-yeon, who was still blaming herself.
– S-Soo-yeon-ah? Why are you crying?
“I’m sorry… It’s all because of me…”
– What are you talking about? It was completely the other driver’s fault… You didn’t do anything wrong.
“Yeah, you didn’t do anything wrong.”
After both sides comforted her for a long while, Choi Soo-yeon finally calmed down.
Then, perhaps embarrassed by her earlier state, she fidgeted and apologized again.
“I’m sorry… I’m really sorry.”
– No, no. I’m just glad you’re calm now. Anyway, if you’re bored, why don’t you come visit me at the hospital? I’m craving some bread.
“Yes. We’ll come right away.”
“…”
– Why does my son look like he doesn’t want to come…?
“Really?”
At his father’s words, Choi Soo-yeon glanced at Kim Jin-woo. He quickly wiped the annoyed look off his face and smiled.
“No, of course we’ll go. Let’s head to the bakery first.”
“Okay! Then we’ll be there soon.”
– Alright, come carefully.
Thinking he was putting his son to work, Kim Jin-woo’s father ended the call with a bright smile.
After stopping by a bakery to buy various breads, they arrived at the hospital. There, they found Kim Jin-woo’s father looking perfectly healthy—along with his secretary, driver, and mother.
“We’re here.”
“You’re here.”
“Yes. But seriously, you should’ve been more careful. Soo-yeon was really worried because of you.”
“Ah… sorry.”
“I told you to just get discharged…”
“No, I wanted to take a break legally for once…”
“Pfft…”
“…”
Seeing him get scolded from both sides, Choi Soo-yeon couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
“Ah… sorry…”
– No, it’s fine. You laughed—that’s enough for me. And really, it wasn’t your fault at all, so stop blaming yourself.
“Anyway, we brought bread, so I’ll head out for a bit. I’ve got something to take care of. Soo-yeon-ah, why don’t you stay here with them? Wouldn’t that make you feel better?”
“Um… okay.”
After leaving Choi Soo-yeon with his parents, Kim Jin-woo stepped outside and made a phone call.
“Did you catch him?”
– Yeah, we got him.
“I’m on my way.”