THE TRUTH MANSION'S
Chapter 20's
The old man's estimate is correct. The perpetrator of the fire was an L, which means Citizen. He was just an ordinary pensioner of sixty years old. He was not drunk at all when he committed the crime.
After working as a civil servant for the rest of his life, the man spent his retirement doing volunteer work in the information section of the county office. He likes to say controversial things. He told everyone willing to listen, whether staff or visitors, that Town was not the real country, that it treated its inhabitants like a supermarket guarding its inventory, that the anonymous system of the Council of Ministers should be eliminated, and that Town should be obliged to join international organizations and follow international law. The man was not too old yet and he was also not a fool who knew nothing about the world, so his words could not be considered as old man nonsense. Regional office officials had already given him multiple warnings after receiving complaints from Residents, but the man had not changed at all. It just gets rough.
This man had never set foot outside of Town. He was born in the small town of what is now Town, spent his childhood here, passed the civil service test in Town, got a job in Town, married a woman from Town, and live in Town. He started acting strange three years ago, right after his father's death.
His father, who had lived a long time, died of liver cancer. Although he was too old and fragile to undergo cancer treatment, his father did not feel sad or confused. His father controlled the pain with narcotics and prepared everything before death before he made sure his house, books, and property were donated.He said goodbye to his family and friends, his friends, cooked for his grandchildren, and his children, and poured the whole process in photos and writing, which then became the script “Kitchen Grandpa Kanker Lever”. Following the advice of his granddaughter, he removed the words “cancer lever” from the title so that the final title of the manuscript was “Kap” Kitchen Before finally closing his eyes, he thanked his son-in-law, he said, reminding his grandson not to cause trouble, and asking his granddaughter to publish the manuscript.
To his son, he said, “There is only one thing I regret in this life, and that is why I regret my whole life.”
No one in his family knows what his only regret is in life. Even his son, who admired his father yet never chatted with his father, knew nothing at all.
After taking care of the funeral ceremony quietly, the man continued to work in the information section of the county office with the usual friendly bonnet. However, at night, he downed four or five glasses of whiskey that he had never done before. His wife did not harass him for thinking the man was still grieving over his father's death, until one day he fell down in the restroom of the county office while clutching his stomach. He was immediately taken to the ER. Three hours later, when he regained consciousness, the first words he said to the doctor were, “If the doctor does not treat the sick, can they still be called doctors?”
The best-case scenario is when it is sued for arson. If he is found guilty of violating the Special Law, no one knows how severe the punishment will be. Special Law has no standard, basis, and chance of appeal. His family confirmed that the man had worked as a civil servant for Town all his life, had been disabled in youth due to a car accident while at work, experiencing a great shock after his father died, since then, he has suffered from depression. His actions were considered either a desire to die or the result of an insane mind.
The next day, when Jin-kyeong was about to return the rubbing medicine, the old man glanced at Jin-kyeong's arm. The bruise had already turned yellow, but it had not completely disappeared.
“No need to be returned.”
“But it's yours.”
“You want me to take back the medicine that already has your sweat marks?”
“This medicine also has your sweat marks since the beginning.”
“I don't sweat.”
Jin-kyeong opens the lid of the rubbing medicine tube and rubs it against her own arm. The alcohol in the medicine made his skin feel cold.
News of the fire is being broadcast on television, Without Distracting from the television, the old man grumbled, “Basic of madmen.” The perpetrator wore a large mask and a baseball cap to cover his face, but he could not hide his round chin. Shaved neatly, white, and plump. He looks like a person who lives life comfortably and adequately. Jin-kyeong rubs her own chin onto her bruised arm. His skin felt stiff and rough like a towel that was too long dried in the sun.
Without saying anything, the old man grabbed the remote control and turned off the television. After being silent for a long time, words slid slowly from his mouth as if by force. “And I don't understand why people like us, who won't lose anything, don't do something like that? Butterfly Revolution is the first and last occurrence.”
During the early days of Town's independence, many protests broke out among the L2 and the Saha in an attempt to resist the new government. People call it protests, riots, and revolutions, but only the old man calls it “Revolution Butterfly”. Somehow Jin-kyeong feels that the old man was involved at the time, but Jin-kyeong doesn't ask. Then he thought to himself, Really, why don't we do something like that?
They searched the entire apartment again, and another day passed. The cops are equal! start to be relaxed and wander around the Saha Mansion in a bored style. Jin-kyeong grips the iron crossbar and looks down blankly at the front yard. A pair of slender legs with sky blue nail polish on the thumb appeared caught by the corner of Jin-kyeong's eye. Apparently Sa-ra. The long and delicate Jemari Sa-ra clasped Jin-kyeong's hand. Jin-kyeong snorted and pulled back her hand. Every time he sees Sa-ra, Jin-kyeong's heart feels heavy. The whites of Sa-ra's eyes are as white as the glacier and her blue pupils glisten gently. Beautiful eyes, but only next door. Jin-kyeong doesn't flinch from Sa-ra's eyes, but it seems Sa-ra thinks so.
Sa-ra again clasps Jin-kyeong's hand and says, “Do-kyeong Oppa is at my house.”
“What?”
Sa-ra bowed and looked around once. “Maybe because I'm a single woman living alone, they didn't search my place carefully. Do-kyeong Oppa hiding in refrigerator.”
“He's okay?”
“Ya and no. I-i know. Do-kyeong Oppa and the doctor once came to my bar.”
Jin-kyeong, who had calmed down, was nervous again. What is Do-kyeong thinking about having to hide in the fridge? Jin-kyeong squeezes Sa-ra's hand. “Don't see me again now.”
Sa-ra looks Jin-kyeong in the eye. “But, Eonni, I'm scared too.”
Jin-kyeong pulls Sa-ra up a staircase that is invisible to anyone in the front yard and hugs her. “I beg you,” said Jin-kyeong.
Oppa Is a Call by a woman to an older man; Big Brother.
Sa-ra nods a few times, then runs down the stairs. Sa-ra was born without a right eye. She started wearing blindfolds when she was six and never let go. When his mother died, at the time of the death ceremony, when he signed a form to express his consent handed over his mother's body to the research center because he could not afford the funeral costs, he said, Sa-ra did not cry at all so that her blindfold would not get wet.
Many people sympathize with Sa-ra, both inside and outside the Mansion, but Sa-ra rejects them all, because of Jin-kyeong. However, Jin-kyeong is unaware of Sa-ra's feelings, as well as her own, when she hugs Sa-ra and asks Sa-ra to look after Do-kyeong.