ATTEW – Chapter 9

“Then where the hell did that little rat go? She’s got nowhere to go.”
“How would I know? Maybe another uncle snatched her first?.”
“Hmm…….”
“Anyway, if you catch that brat, make sure you tell me too. The cost of all the bread and ramen she stole from my shop is enormous. I need to get that money back. Ah—didn’t Hwajin’s shop still have some stock left?”
“Why.”
“Why do you think? I got done over too, so I’m thinking I’ll go grab some goods at least. Ugh, I don’t know why I only thought of it now. I should’ve gone earlier and taken it!”

Myeongok’s words cut off there. Maybe she’d fallen silent under the man’s pressure.

“Call me if you see the kid. Better yet, bring her to me. I’ll even pay you for the trouble.”
“Y-yeah! I will! If I so much as see a strand of that rat’s hair, I’ll call you, Uncle! I saw Auntie from House Three looking for her too. I won’t tell her—I’ll come straight to you!”

At Myeongok’s eager promise, Eunho’s heart dropped. She was only nine, but she was quick—quick enough to understand that more than one person was frantically searching for her.
If they found out she was inside this wardrobe—if Myeongok unzipped it, dragged her out, and pushed her in front of the man—

“…….”

As fear surged up, Eunho curled in tighter and hugged Hwajin’s pillow hard. She buried her nose in it, breathing in the familiar smell, trying to calm herself.

“Aigoo, stomach bug acting up again. Uncle, watch the shop a sec. Gotta hit the bathroom.”

“Bullshit. Lock the door and shit. Do I look like someone who watches your shop?”
“Come on—then hurry up and go. Even with medicine it keeps happening. How many times is this now!”

Jingle. After the glass door opened and shut, it went quiet for a while. But Eunho couldn’t let her guard down. She rolled her eyes in the dark, ears pricked, listening and listening.

Then she heard the sliding door to the back room open and close—and Eunho clapped a hand over her mouth. Until the moment she heard zzzip—the zipper coming down—she didn’t realize how hard she’d been trembling.

What if it wasn’t the super lady? What if it was House Number 7? Should she headbutt? The zipper would come down from the top—could she even grab his balls?

She stared into the slit of darkness as it opened—

“Shh. Be quiet and listen to me.”

The whisper was Myeongok’s. She pressed her index finger to her lips and glanced behind her, warning Eunho. Eunho nodded obediently.

“In a bit, the police will come. I nearly pissed myself thinking they might show up while that uncle was still here.”
“…….”
“I called them. Told them to come get you, since this place is crawling with bastards looking to grab you and sell you. Don’t know if they’ll actually come—cops around here might show up once for every five calls. Anyway.”

In a neighborhood where fights broke out constantly, the police filtered out the residents’ reports. So there was no guarantee they’d respond to a call about taking away one kid.

“Out of what you packed earlier, give me the piggy bank.”
“……Why.”
“Why? Because it’s heavy as hell to haul around, for one. And when the police come, they’ll take you and dump you in an orphanage. Then someone has to handle your mom’s funeral, right? Buying a coffin, cremation—do you think that costs a couple coins?”
“…….”
“Honestly, I don’t know how much. But it’s a lot. When my mom died a few years ago, it bled us dry. We used a better coffin then, so maybe that’s why…… I don’t even know if I can do it without those uncles noticing. Still. I’ll do what I can.”

Swallowing a sob that felt like it would burst, Eunho unzipped her bag. Myeongok’s words made Hwajin’s death land in her chest all over again. When Eunho pulled out the heavy piggy bank, Myeongok motioned for her to set it down on the wardrobe floor.

“They say that bastard Sanghyeon got away.”
“Who is that?”
“The pimp bastard who did that to your mom. Gil Sanghyeon. They couldn’t catch him.”
“…….”

Gil Sanghyeon. Eunho carved the three syllables into her mind. Someday, she would pay back the rage and grief Hwajin’s death had left behind—every last bit of it.

“No one knows where he ran. Other uncles got the call and rushed over, but he vanished like a ghost. I don’t know if someone hid him, helped him escape—maybe. Anyway, they say they reported it, but who knows if the cops will catch him.”
“…….”
“And……”
“…….”
“We’ll scatter her in the water. Your mom, I mean.”
“…….”
“Water’s all connected. If you miss her later, you can go to any water and find her. She didn’t give a damn if you starved or stole…… but you—you like your mom anyway.”
“……Why are you being nice to me?”
“What…?”
“You said I was a rat. Said I was a thief’s kid—said you hoped a cat would take me.”

It was a fair question. Myeongok cursed Eunho as a rat for stealing every few days. She’d fought Hwajin like that—so why was she hiding Eunho, trying to help her?

At Eunho’s question, Myeongok let out a sigh. Then she sniffled.

“You’re only nine. You have to live. You too.”
“…….”
“Hey. I had a son, once. He died not long after he was born, but if he’d lived, he’d be five years older than you, Eunho.”
“…….”
“You know why my husband wanders. After that happened, I turned into a seoknyeo¹ .* You know what that is?”
“…….”
“Fuck—why am I saying this to a kid. Anyway, I was a mom too. I carried one for nine months, gave birth, and tried to raise him.”

In the dark, Myeongok lifted her sleeve and wiped her wet eyes and nose.

“And Hwajin—she was a mom too, the damn thing. In the end, you must’ve been weighing on her. That House Number 7 uncle—he’ll be thrilled to sell off a kid whose mom’s dead and whose leash got cut…… How can I just watch that happen? God…….”
“…….”
“So wherever you go, live like a bastard. Survive like a rabid thing. Living—no matter how you do it—is winning, you hear? They say even rolling in a dogshit field is better than the afterlife.”
“…….”
“You need to believe there’s at least one adult in this world you can trust, or you can’t go on. You’ve probably only seen rotten bastards.”

That much was true. Every man Eunho knew was a fucking bastard. Women were… a little better, but the aunties who cooed over her and called her cute only did it when it suited them.
Plenty would send her out to buy sanitary pads and then cheat her out of her errand money. And when they felt sick or were in a bad mood, they’d take it out on Eunho and hit her—always behind Hwajin’s back.
There was even an aunty who got hooked on the fun of hitting Eunho while she cried, until Hwajin caught her and left bite marks all over both her breasts. Eunho knew because Hwajin bragged about it.

“Wherever you go, you protect your body. If anyone tells you to hand over your money, don’t. Can you do that?”

Eunho nodded slowly. Myeongok scratched between her brows, thinking.

“If I’m honest, I want to take you in. But… the truth is, I don’t know myself. I can’t promise I won’t change my mind and get greedy.”
“…….”
“So when you get to the station, before they send you to an orphanage, sort out your money first. The police are still better than the scum here, right? I’m not saying trust cops—just… those bastards at least have to keep up appearances.”
“…….”
“Anyway, live well. Live stubbornly. For your mom’s sake too—your mom who flailed around trying to live and died doing it.”

With that final warning, Myeongok pulled the zipper up again.

After she shut the door and went back out, Eunho heard the toilet flush. She also heard Myeongok mutter louder on purpose, “These damn runs won’t quit.”

That night, a miracle happened. The police—responding to Myeongok’s report—came to [Night Pass Super].

Whether they stopped in the course of a crackdown, or whether they were pretending it was a crackdown, the police swept through the Night Pass district from House 1 to House 16. Last, they came into [Night Pass Super]. Then, as if they were just customers buying something and leaving, they covered tiny Eunho with a jumper, carried her out, and put her in the car.