Chapter 96
96. Mom's Life 2022.03.30.
Ji-heon confided in Jeong-o about the past. A story from the distant past, when Ji-heon was a Go prodigy, a time that was only vaguely remembered.
“It’s embarrassing, but that’s how my mother was. She would nonchalantly interfere and control me, all while throwing in the word ‘love.’”
I love you, son. I’m doing this all because I love you. With a mother who constantly used the word love as a means of manipulation, his own understanding of love was bound to be distorted. The word love was pressure, it was heavy, and sometimes it was so artificial that it was worthless. He regretted not being able to say that word to Lee Jung-o. Perhaps, after meeting her seven years ago, the form of love he knew had changed. Love was truly becoming love-like, but due to that accident, all of it disappeared. He would never lose it again.
“So, it’s actually really cringey for me to say this.”
“……”
“Still, I love you.”
He thought that he should say it often now. Jeong-o, who had all her questions answered after seven years, wiped away her tears and hugged Ji-heon. It was around the time they were wrapping up work that they found out something had happened to Guk-soon. After receiving a call from Guk-soon, Jeong-o rushed home with Ji-heon and searched the video site to find the problematic video. The part about Guksun's Home-style Meal was short. Guk-soon's restaurant appeared at the very end of a BJ's restaurant exploration video. The BJ ordered three servings of Guksun Baekban, and when the BJ was looking through the stew, a piece of trash was found. It was half of a long coffee mix wrapper. The video ended with the two companions who found the trash quietly expressing their shock. Guk-soon's face turned pale after watching the video.
“I’ve never even used that coffee…”
Jeong-o could immediately recognize the person in the problematic video. Although they were mosaic-ed, the acquaintance sitting across from the BJ was clearly Chae Eun-bi. That day when Chae Eun-bi came to Guksun Baekban, ordered three servings of Guksun's Home-style Meal, and left without even taking a bite. It was the day she gave Yena 50,000 won. Jeong-o sighed bitterly after watching the video.
“So, this is what it was.”
“Do you know the whole story?”
Ji-heon asked.
“We’re not that careless. It’s recorded on our restaurant’s CCTV.”
Jeong-o found the CCTV footage that she had saved separately and showed it to Ji-heon and Guk-soon. That day Eun-bi visited Guksun Baekban, Jeong-o was belatedly cleaning up the restaurant alone and checked the CCTV footage. After the food came out, the three of them looked around, took something out of their bags, put it in the stew, and stirred it. Jeong-o was curious about what they were doing, but it turned out they were throwing trash from their bags. Ji-heon couldn’t understand.
“Didn’t they know there was a camera? There’s even a sign saying CCTV is installed. Why did they do that?”
“Look at their gazes. They only found one camera.”
Jeong-o pointed to another camera revealed in the video. Indeed, the three of them kept glancing at the camera on the opposite side, and when they committed the act, they completely blocked that camera with their backs. They thought that as long as they weren’t caught by that camera, they would be fine. Thanks to only being careful of one camera, their crime was captured even better by the camera on the opposite side.
“It’s best to handle things like this as quickly as possible.”
Following Ji-heon’s suggestion, Jeong-o quickly created an account on the video site. The video of the BJ, who had about 100,000 subscribers, had already been watched by over 150,000 people. If they didn’t take action quickly, the number of viewers watching the false video would only increase. Jeong-o contacted Chief Park Young-gwang. Jeong-o asked him to help when she came to work the next morning, and Young-gwang, who had heard the whole story, rushed to the company after having drinks with Gi-hoon near the company. Ji-heon also returned to the company. Ji-heon and Young-gwang edited the CCTV footage so that it could be compared with the problematic video, and Jeong-o created a statement. Ji-heon added a clause to the statement about taking legal action. Even while they were editing, the number of viewers of the problematic video continued to increase. Furthermore, other creators who had seen the problematic video began to create secondary videos. Eventually, hardcore subscribers who found out the name of Guksun Baekban posted the address of Guksun Baekban in the comments.
“Mom, don’t worry. It’ll all be taken care of by tomorrow morning.”
Jeong-o calmed Guk-soon, who was trembling, and posted the video and statement around midnight. She also left the address of the edited video post in the comments of the BJ’s video channel. Jeong-o monitored the BJ’s channel and her own channel all night. About an hour after Jeong-o’s video was posted, the number of views began to increase. The BJ must have realized the existence of the CCTV footage, as he deleted Jeong-o’s comment posted on his channel. However, another subscriber reposted the address of Jeong-o’s channel, and Jeong-o’s video slowly spread. After a few hours, reactions began to appear on the BJ’s channel as well. Harsh comments targeting the BJ followed one after another. - The restaurant owner uploaded CCTV footage. But it’s quite different from the video uploaded here. Please reveal the truth. - This is manipulation. Everyone, please check out the CCTV footage. - Did you manipulate the video to attract attention? Crazy. Crazy. - Who is this fraud? If there wasn’t CCTV, a perfectly good restaurant would have been ruined. Eventually, the BJ deleted the problematic video after strong criticism from subscribers. It was resolved four hours after Jeong-o posted the CCTV footage.
\ Soon, a peaceful morning arrived. Jeong-o, who hadn’t slept well, felt sluggish. While she was leaning back in her office chair, dozing off, Gi-hoon, who had come to work, spoke to her.
“Ms. Jeong-o.”
“Oh, Gi-hoon.”
“Are you okay?”
He had such a devastated expression yesterday, but today he appeared with a refreshed face and even asked about Jeong-o’s well-being. It seemed Gi-hoon had overcome everything overnight. It was a relief.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“I checked that video too. When I tried to check it again this morning, it had disappeared. That crazy bastard must have taken care of it himself, right?”
“Yeah, that video is gone, but since then, secondary edited versions have been created, so I’m contacting them one by one. Some people are taking down the posts, and some are posting apologies, but the most common thing is people editing and uploading our CCTV footage.”
“It’s going to become a big deal.”
“I’m okay, but I’m worried about my mom.”
In response to Jeong-o’s answer, Gi-hoon sighed as if it were his own problem. Jeong-o carefully asked.
“Gi-hoon, are you feeling okay?”
“Ah, me? Well…”
Gi-hoon made an awkward expression at Jeong-o’s question.
“Ms. Jeong-o’s story is really something for international news.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner, Gi-hoon.”
“No, it’s okay. I was so shocked that my head was blank, but I’m fine now.”
“……”
“Actually, I stopped by the company again last night. I watched Chief and Director editing that CCTV footage, and I was overwhelmed by Director’s gaze.”
The gaze of someone who is in a love that no one can stop. The moment Gi-hoon saw it, he realized.
“I think Director is a good person.”
That he could never beat Jeong Ji-heon. \ The day passed without any major incidents. Jeong-o worked overtime as usual and left work around 9 PM. She had heard from Yena that her grandmother was at the restaurant again today, so she was inwardly worried. Late at night, after Yena had fallen asleep, Jeong-o went into Guk-soon’s room and spoke to her.
“You should have rested today.”
“I didn’t work today. I just went to clean up.”
“……”
“I put the restaurant up for sale.”
Jeong-o’s heart sank at Guk-soon’s answer.
“……Why?”
“Why do you think? I just thought it was time.”
Thinking that my mom was sacrificing again because of me, because of Chae Eun-bi, a surge of sadness washed over me. Jeong-o held back her tears and tried to persuade Guk-soon.
“Is it because of that video? Mom, that’s all been taken care of now. It’ll be okay.”
But Guk-soon looked at her with a smile, as if that wasn’t the problem.
“Do you want me to keep working?”
“……”
“If that’s what you want, I’ll keep doing it.”
Jeong-o couldn’t say anything to her mother’s question. It was as if someone had lightly tapped her on the head. At some point, she had thought that her mom was working because she liked it. Her mom had taught Jeong-o to live doing what she liked and what she wanted to do. She had assumed that her mom would be the same because she liked working. It was her daughter’s narrow-minded thinking. Jeong-o retorted as if she was complaining.
“Why are you asking for my opinion? What’s good for Mom comes first.”
“Your opinion is always the most important to me.”
“……”
“It was a job I started to raise you, and then to raise our Yena after returning to Seoul. But now that I’ve met Yena’s dad, I should wrap things up too.”
Many things had happened in the past few days. Finding the child’s father, talks of marriage with the son of a wealthy family, her granddaughter collapsing, and she herself being suddenly framed. After experiencing many incidents, Guk-soon thought about what she could do. Insisting on continuing the restaurant business was not the answer. She realized that she had to protect her daughter in other ways. She couldn’t let her daughter suffer from the gossip that came with running a restaurant in a corner of the market.
“I wanted to get a chef’s license when I was younger, but I didn’t have time. In the old days, being good at cooking wasn’t a big deal, but these days there are jobs like culinary researcher, professional cooking BJ, and stuff like that. When I see people around my age on TV cooking stylishly and people admiring them, I get so envious and it looks so good.”
“……”
“I don’t know how much I can do starting now, but I just hope my daughter will support me. That’s what I need the most.”
After much deliberation, I found an alternative that could satisfy everyone. It was just words now, but this turning point in my life might lead me to a path of greater happiness. I thought it was a good choice.
“I felt bad and sorry that Yena was always commuting to and from the restaurant, so this is good. Now I can cook for Yena at home and take care of her.”
“No, Mom.”
“……”
“I was wrong. You don’t have to worry about Yena. You should live your own life, Mom.”
Mom spoke with a constant smile, but the child's face was tearful. The thought that I had made this child cry again brought tears to Guk-soon's heart as well.
“I’m sorry. I only thought of myself. I’ve been living in luxury my whole life. Now, do everything you want to do, Mom. Learn everything you want to learn, like I did, and even study abroad.”
“……”
“If there’s a good man, date him, introduce him to me, and get married. You should do that too, Mom.”
“Why are you crying while saying such nice things?”
Sob sob. Guk-soon gently stroked the back of her daughter, who was kneeling in front of her, wiping tears on her pants.
“Even if you want to send Mom far away, Mom can’t go far anymore. Mom’s whole life is inside you.”
Soon, Guk-soon bent down and reached out further to pat Jeong-o's bottom. Just like when she was young, when Jeong-o was just Jeong-o's age, like she did to the infinitely lovely child Jeong-o. Even as time passed, the child was still infinitely lovely. There were times when raising you was so hard that I thought I would die, but even so, I always gained the strength to live through you. I love you. I love you. My beautiful daughter. My love is too shabby to give to you, but I still love you so much.
