Unrequited Love Thresher-Chapter 31: Longing and Love

The second blessing—and Nam Taekyung’s younger sibling.

That is, Nam Taekyung’s mother, who had lost her child, was no longer in her right mind. She didn’t sleep, didn’t eat, and just stared endlessly at her child’s photo with vacant eyes as she cried.

She regretted it, over and over, thinking that she should never have let go of the child’s hand at that moment. The scene of the child lying on the cold ground, bleeding, wouldn’t leave her mind.

The blaring horn, the stopped car, the screams erupting from all sides.

For days and nights, she relived the moment her child died—and then, all at once, she recalled Nam Taekyung. The first thing she saw when she turned her body was Nam Taekyung, standing right beside her.

He had been standing there, staring blankly at the road. His sibling had just been hit by a car in front of his eyes—he must have been in shock, unable to move.

But what she remembered belatedly was the expression on his face.

Without a doubt—

“He smiled...”

Even though his sibling had been hit by a car, he had smiled so broadly that his dimples had sunk deep into his cheeks. A family member had died, and that was the reaction he showed in front of them?

Driven to the edge of her sanity, she stormed into Nam Taekyung’s room and grabbed him.

“You were smiling, weren’t you...? Why were you smiling? Your sibling got hit by a car—why were you smiling!”

“Stop it! What are you saying to the kid out of nowhere! Taekyung’s having a hard time too!”

“...”

Her face must have slipped—did she see it?

Nam Taekyung clicked his tongue inwardly as he looked at his mother, whose eyes were bloodshot. His mother, screaming and shouting at him like that, looked to him like nothing more than someone desperate to blame someone else.

Nam Taekyung, who was about to enter middle school, understood her feelings to a degree. The feeling of needing something, anything, to blame.

But Nam Taekyung had no intention of accepting it. Naturally—he didn’t think he’d done anything wrong. All he did was hit the ball. Wasn’t the idiot the one who chased after it? If he hadn’t chased after the ball, he wouldn’t have died that day.

No—in the first place, if Mother hadn’t given birth to him, they could’ve remained a happy family. This was all her fault. But Nam Taekyung didn’t say it out loud. The cunning child bowed his head, just like he had at the funeral.

“...I’m sorry.”

The child who let tears fall like droplets looked to anyone like a boy tormented by guilt, convinced he had caused his sibling’s death. His mother’s grip loosened slightly.

“You...”

“Stop it! Do you think you’re the only one who’s sad? What’s going to change if you keep acting like this! What about Taekyung!”

His father dragged his mother out of the room, and Nam Taekyung ended up living apart from his mother for the time being. His father, having judged that her mental state was unstable, sent her to her parents’ home, and Taekyung stayed with him.

His father poured even more love and attention into Nam Taekyung, apologizing again and again—and Taekyung was pleased by that affection.

At last, he had found what was his.

But not his mother. When she returned from her family home, she only approached Nam Taekyung when his father wasn’t around.

“Taekyung, tell me the truth. You smiled, didn’t you? Why was your sibling’s ball even there?”

“Taekyung, this is the last time I’ll ask. Tell me straight. Why did you smile?”

“Why did you hate your sibling at first? Were you afraid that if a sibling was born, Mom and Dad wouldn’t love you anymore?”

Day by day, her words shifted from suspicion to conviction, and the gaze she cast on Nam Taekyung no longer held even a shred of affection.

As her interrogations grew more frequent and forceful, Nam Taekyung couldn’t take it anymore. Middle school was starting, and he was busy enough as it was—he didn’t want to waste time on something like this. He had to make the decision he’d been putting off: he didn’t need a mother who didn’t love him. He’d only held back because he didn’t want to be looked down on by teachers and classmates over his parents, but if things were this bad, it was better not to have one at all.

That day, just like always, she took the chance to confront him when his father was out. But unlike the usual blank expression, Nam Taekyung had a smile on his face.

“Taekyung, you’re really not going to tell me the truth?”

“You already know, so why do you keep asking?”

“What? Are you...”

“It was funny. Like a dog chasing after a ball I threw.”

Watching Nam Taekyung’s lips curl upward as if amused, her face collapsed. And yet—wasn’t this the very thing she’d wanted to hear?

Nam Taekyung continued, smiling.

“I hated everything about him from the start. The way he cried so loudly, drooled all over himself, came into my room, touched my stuff—it was all so disgusting I couldn’t stand it.”

“You... how could you! He was your sibling! He loved you so much!”

“So what? That’s supposed to be a reason for me to leave him alone? I didn’t want to share a single thing with him. But that little bastard kept stealing everything from me.” freeweɓnovel.cѳm

“You, you...!”

“Then who told you to have something like that? Did I ever say I wanted him? If you loved him so much, you should’ve kept your eyes on him. Why’d you look away? He died because of you, so why do you keep blaming me?”

Watching his mother break down, screaming and sobbing like a lunatic, Nam Taekyung only smiled. Having decided she was nothing to him anymore, her reactions only amused him. He looked over at the teddy bear on the couch—the one his sibling used to cling to every day, and which his mother now hugged nonstop.

Nam Taekyung picked it up and threw it, deliberately.

“Spend the rest of your life hugging that filthy teddy bear.”

“AAAAAH!”

Unable to hold back, his mother grabbed his neck with both hands. Her grip tightened, and her bloodshot eyes made it clear—she meant to kill him.

Even as his breath was cut off, Nam Taekyung grinned. Just as he thought. She didn’t love him anymore. That filthy wad of cotton was more important now. His mother had abandoned him. And she, too, would be abandoned by the person she loved.

“What the hell are you doing!”

The moment his father opened the door and saw what was happening, he rushed in, shoved the mother away, and pulled Nam Taekyung into his arms.

A father who witnessed his mentally unstable wife strangling their child—who he would choose was obvious. He, too, had grown weary of a wife who did nothing but cry over photos of the dead child.

Nam Taekyung told his father that he should’ve died instead, and his father burst into tears. Then he went to his wife and declared he wanted a divorce. Though she screamed that Nam Taekyung had killed their child, his father didn’t believe her. He just yelled at her to go get herself admitted to a mental hospital.

Having abandoned her child, the mother was in turn abandoned by the man she loved. And the father chose his child over his wife. Exactly the outcome Nam Taekyung wanted.

Because of the rumors that spread in their neighborhood, Nam Taekyung moved to another area with his father. Even there, he still longed to be special—and he spared no effort or means in dragging down those above him. He believed that as long as he had attention and love, his place would never change.

But right before graduating middle school, his life once again changed direction.

That day, he was walking home from school later than usual and happened to pass in front of Hwaguk High School. It was dismissal time, and groups of male students were pouring out of the school gates.

Nam Taekyung scanned them with indifferent eyes. Just a regular liberal arts high school—nothing special. He planned to attend a foreign language high school, so it was only natural he had no interest.

And then—he saw someone.

“...!!”

Even when he saw celebrities or handsome idols, Nam Taekyung °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° never cared much. But only then did he understand what it meant for someone to look like a sculpture—like a work of art.

They were all wearing the same uniform, but he stood out. No—he shone. Unlike the others, who were grinning vulgarly, this one wore a bored expression, fiddling with his phone.

Nam Taekyung stared, dazed, at his back as he passed by without sparing him a glance.

He couldn’t move from the spot until the boy got into a car and disappeared.

Was that what I’d been dreaming of all this time? It felt like he was staring at the real form of a childhood fantasy—his heart was pounding.

“Ha Dohoon...”

He memorized the name on the tag and immediately began gathering information about him. Social media posts, overflowing rumors.

Ha Dohoon was the eldest son of a quasi-chaebol family. They lived in a mansion in the most expensive neighborhood. He should’ve gone to an elite school—why a regular liberal arts high school?

Apparently, the two friends beside him lived in the same area.

Compared to anyone he’d met so far, this person was overwhelmingly superior.

That bored face, those arrogant eyes—he couldn’t forget them. Most of all, when he saw someone better than himself, he usually felt jealous or wanted to bring them down. But this time, he didn’t.

A longing for something unreachable. The desire to be noticed. A wish to be embraced in that person’s arms. For the first time in his life, Nam Taekyung fell in love. Though he’d received countless confessions, he had never fallen first. He had only ever loved himself—until now.

Nam Taekyung changed his plan and chose the liberal arts high school. He followed Ha Dohoon and enrolled there. He even scored high enough to be the freshman representative—so maybe he was already on Ha Dohoon’s radar, he thought.

When Ha Dohoon appeared in the first-year hallway, he convinced himself it was because he’d come looking for him.

“What, he’s not here...”

But Ha Dohoon coldly passed Nam Taekyung by. Not even a glance. How could he not look his way even once...? He was offended, and at the same time curious. Just who was he looking for? So much that it made him jealous.

And before long, he saw him. Ha Dohoon’s younger brother.

Ha Giyeon.

Even though they were in the same class, Nam Taekyung hadn’t even known he existed—his presence was so faint. Was this guy really Ha Dohoon’s brother? Average looks, speech, personality. There was nothing remarkable about him. If Ha Dohoon hadn’t acknowledged him, Nam Taekyung would’ve gone his whole life not knowing.

And he was the kind of ordinary bastard Nam Taekyung hated most.

That thing shared blood with Ha Dohoon—it made him boil with rage. And that was the start of something vicious between Nam Taekyung and Ha Giyeon.