Chapter 8
The moment I saw the news, my heart pounded like crazy.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
“Yes, I’m currently standing in front of the hospital where the fire accident survivors are being transported. The hospital emergency room remains in extreme chaos. Among the injured brought here…”
Behind the reporter, the emergency room looked like absolute pandemonium.
What was it Mom had said?
The voice I’d heard earlier lingered in my ears, mingling with the sound of my own pulse.
“Sob, sob… Unnie died…”
I shuddered violently. It felt as if my entire body had been plunged into freezing ice.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the television screen showing the breaking news.
I could see bodies covered in white sheets.
“This hospital especially has many high school students who were on a retreat. Parents keep calling out their children’s names in the hospital lobby and outside the ER. Some parents still haven’t learned whether their children are alive or dead, so they can’t leave the scene.”
My hands and feet trembled uncontrollably.
The ground beneath my feet crumbled endlessly, and I fell—down the steep ice, deeper and deeper.
“Unnie…?”
A title I could no longer reach. It scattered into the cold air.
It was an unforgettable memory.
Haeryeong Resort. That was the name of the retreat lodge where our school’s second-year students had stayed.
That day, half of the seniors in my sister’s class died.
The fire broke out in the east wing of the resort—the building where the students were staying.
Just as the entire nation was preparing to mourn the deaths of those young students, and just as anger was rising against Haeryeong Resort for its poor facility management, an unexpected revelation came through the public news.
“Regarding the resort fire accident, new suspicions have been raised about the cause. There are statements suggesting that some students may have used lighters inside their rooms.”
It was a story that could flip public opinion.
My parents set aside their livelihoods and began protesting in front of Haeryeong Corporation’s headquarters, alongside other parents.
They demanded that the company stop avoiding responsibility with inaccurate information.
But the media was on their side, not ours.
“If the students’ use of lighters is confirmed, the debate over responsibility could intensify.”
“What’s the reaction from the bereaved families?”
“The parents are expressing strong anger, saying, ‘Are you trying to pin the blame for this disaster on the children’s actions?'”
Day and night, my parents went out and wailed, demanding, “Give us back our child.”
Even though thug-like security forces dispersed them over and over, they stubbornly regrouped.
“Why go this far?”
I didn’t bother asking. Because I knew that anger was what kept my parents’ hearts beating after my sister’s death had stopped them.
After my academy classes, I would often run errands—buying kimbap or burgers from the snack bar and delivering them to my parents and the other parents.
Of course, we had no power. And public opinion gradually turned against us.
“The problem starts with them bringing lighters in the first place. Why blame the resort when they were smoking and caused the accident themselves?”
“Isn’t this just a natural death? I feel bad for the resort. The families should look at their own kids’ mistakes instead.”
“They’re just a bunch of greedy bastards doing this for money. Don’t give them a single cent—sue them for damages instead.”
Haeryeong maintained its position, mentioning the possibility of student negligence and saying they would wait for the investigation results.
The surviving students and their parents protested fiercely. Forensic results regarding the lighter found in the students’ room came out, but no specific student’s DNA was identified on it.
However, Haeryeong insisted it must have been the students’ doing, since it was found in the students’ area.
I kept going to my academy.
My parents still weren’t home.
Dust piled up in my sister’s room.
It felt like my heart was turning pitch-black and dying.
I knew it wasn’t the time to ask. If even I asked “why,” our family would completely fall apart.
But I kept thinking.
Why.
Why.
Why did my sister have to die?
Why did my family have to suffer like this?
“Why.”
The early news came back to me.
A firefighter’s interview saying the fire spread extremely quickly due to building flaws. Combustible interior materials in the rooms and hallways, and inadequate fire compartmentation, causing smoke to spread rapidly throughout the entire floor.
Half of the installed sprinklers didn’t work due to aging.
‘The structure itself was flawed from the start.’
Moreover, statements from students refuting the lighter use were coming out one after another, but media coverage was minimal. Everyone was too busy blaming the students.
The cause of the fire had already become “the students,” and Haeryeong hired experts favorable to their claims and let them shout through the media.
Unlike the parents, who lacked the resources to refute, Haeryeong had money and power.
I was just a high school student back then.
No power. No voice.
Public opinion had completely turned.
And then one truth was revealed.
[National Party Leader’s Cousin Confirmed as Resort Owner]
As the blame game continues over the responsibility for the major resort fire disaster, it has been confirmed that the owner of the resort is the cousin of the National Party leader, causing growing repercussions in the political sphere.
According to our investigation, the actual owner of Haeryeong Resort, where the fire broke out, is Mr. Ko, the cousin of National Party leader Representative Ko Chan-hyung. He is the largest shareholder, holding a majority stake in the resort.
Additionally, it has been reported that National Party lawmaker Ki Seung-chul acquired a portion of Haeryeong Resort’s shares one week before the accident.
Regarding the suspicion of student lighter use raised right after the accident, some are questioning, ‘Wasn’t the focus of responsibility intentionally shifted toward the students?’
The National Party held a majority of seats and was the ruling party. Representatives Ko Chan-hyung and Ki Seung-chul were political heavyweights.
For the first time, we learned just how enormous the whales were that we were fighting.
The day I realized it was a fight we could never win, something cool swept through me rather than despair.
We had fought for too long.
Now, we could accept it. We could go back to our places.
But we couldn’t.
It was impossible.
Because the place where a person disappears can never be filled by anything else.
“Dad and Mom have to live apart now. You should start preparing to become independent too.”
“But…!”
“I’m sorry.”
Father could no longer work. Mother, who had always been kind, was trapped in severe depression, unable to take care of anything around her. In the end, my parents couldn’t heal their wounds and separated.
Time passed. I crossed over one life. But still, it remains on my chest like the first garment I was born wearing, or perhaps like an organ.
The process of our once-harmonious family shattering into pieces—young and powerless, I could only watch.
“….”
Now that I’ve come to the past, and since I know the future—maybe I can change what will happen someday.
No, I will change it. No matter what.
In the darkness, my eyes gleamed clearly.
‘To do that, I need power.’
In a capitalist society, power equals wealth.
I will grow so massive that the political giants who hurt us won’t dare to touch us.
So massive that I can twist the world as I please.
I’m curious about a lot of things—what my family is doing right now, what the original me, who’s the same age as this body, is up to…
But just wait a little.
Just then, a white puppy on the screen in the corner came trotting over with a bone in its mouth, panting.
As if asking for praise.
And suddenly, a pink status window I’d never seen before appeared.
[A new function has been added as a reward for the achievement ‘First Step of the One Who Moves.’]
[Internet bank transfers and stock investments are now possible!]
Soon after, new windows appeared.
[Main Quest: Noah’s Recognition. Prove your abilities and establish yourself as the ‘true’ owner.]
[Reward: Noah Level 0 > Level 1 Upgrade Pack Applied ૮ ꈍﻌ ꈍა♥]
‘Noah’s Recognition? “True” owner?’
The meaning of these words was clear.
