MTLNOVEL Chapter 237: He was 9 then
They say; Reassurance is a love language for people healing from Trauma.
How true is that?
Like I said before, Seo-Jun wanted some sort of validation to know that what he's doing is okay even if he knows that it might not be okay.
And since the people he was always with were those who wanted to use his influence and wealth to get big, he always got that validation... Even though they were all lies.
I'm sure he knew it but his ego did not allow him to see the truth. Just like how humans only chose to believe whatever they wanted to believe, Seo-Jun believed all the lies and filtered out the truth, honing his arrogant and 'I-don't-give-a-fuck' attitude.
He couldn't care less about how the world worked and focused on how it worked for him.
That was how he had been living his debauchery life this far.
But of course, he wasn't stupid either so he never actually fell for the trap of those who wanted to bring him down.
He just lived... A certain way.
Even I don't fully understand it.
Seo-Jun was once a happy child with no single insecurity.
A normal boy with loving parents.
But all that turned upside down when his mother died. He was 8 at that time. And then he got a stepmother.
His stepmother, though married to his father, did not relent from indulging sexually with the servants, both female and male.
This wasn't an environment suited for a child to grow up in, but his father was always away, trying to perfect the new computers he was building, and since he was still recovering from his wife's death, he was also struggling with his grief and depression.
He used this as an excuse to stay away from his child.
Whether he knew his wife was doing all these things or not, no one knew since it was not stated in the novel.
Anyway, the only reason he remarried was so his son wouldn't be neglected and lonely from losing his mother, not knowing he was giving Seo-Jun even more reason to feel neglected and lonely.
His new stepmother wasn't helping in any way and squandering the riches in her grasp, practicing no restraint.
Smart little Seo-Jun decided to ignore her. If he ignored her, it would be fine.
He just needed to pretend that his mother was out of the country for a while and his father was on a business trip.
And if he came across his stepmother, he would imagine she was a monster of the night trying to scare him for no reason.
He managed for a year, but as a child, he couldn't hold out for too long on his own, and before long, he started feeling the absence of his parents.
The maids took care of him but everything was so different now. He couldn't receive the same love he used to receive from his parents in the past, and the house was getting colder by the day, nights filled with noises he would rather not want to hear, and in the mornings... He'd see the faces of strangers leaving his house.
His stepmother was very out of control.
He decided to pick up a hobby or a sport that would take up more of his time, so that he wouldn't have to return home early.
That house felt like a burden on his shoulder, dragging him down so he decided to limit his time in the house.
He was 9 then. He picked up the hobby of reading. That was the age he dove into the world of literature and was very fascinated by it so he kept at it, spending most of his time in the library.
He wanted to try out sports as well since he felt he would become too lazy if he only spent his time in the library so he started playing ball with his friends at school more often.
After that, he would return to the library until it was very late and then he'd return home.
As if Seo-Jun's father had completely abandoned him, he did not appear in the mansion often and when he did, Seo-Jun didn't meet him because he was at the library.
This was how he missed his father's visit numerous times and while Seo-Jun wondered why his father did not simply call him, he realized his father might be ignoring him.
He couldn't face him for some reason and that was why he never tried to reach out to him.
The only way they could communicate was through texts and in those texts, it was about how he was so busy and couldn't come visit him.
Seo-Jun sat in the corner of his room, crying. He didn't want to cry, but there was only so much a 9-year-old could do.
He needed attention.
On the day he clocked ten, he waited for his father, who promised he would be there, but even as he waited, he had this feeling that his father would not come.
Noon came with the cake sitting perfectly in front of him.
"It's okay. He's only running late." He whispered to himself, sitting on the floor with his knees hugging his body.
He wanted to wait even if it would take a while, but even deep into the night, his father did not show up, and he did not let him know the reason why either.
Seo-Jun stared at the cake, crying.
He was alone.
He felt it would be better if he became an orphan and knew that he didn't have any parents than for him to actually live like this with expectations.
He flipped the table over, destroying the cake and everything on it, screaming as he threw a tantrum for the first time.
He had been a good kid this whole time so why was he being punished?
"What do you mean? Why are you being punished?" The voice of his stepmother sent chills down his spine, and he slowly turned around to see her leaning on the wall with her hands folded.
She had a sinister look in her eyes and her lips were curled in amusement.
She was the epitome of a lady who could cause the world to go mad with a single smile. Long black wavy hair, sharp eyes with long eyelashes, a pointed nose, and lips that were as red as an apple.
(A witch, if you ask me.)
She was very beautiful but at the same time, she lacked character. She was a golddigger, that was for sure.
But somehow, she had his father, who was depressed from his wife's death, wrapped around her fingers.
He did not believe that she was doing all these things, and his father had no clue.
He definitely knew but he was letting her do whatever she wanted.
"It's because you've been so naughty this whole time so your father doesn't want to see you." She said.
"What are you talking about?" Little Seo-Jun asked. "I've been good. I didn't do anything bad and I..."
"You've been ignoring your stepmother's feelings this whole time." She said and started walking in. "And you've been acting like I don't exist. Now, is that a good thing?"
She sat in the chair across him, crossing her legs and smirking.
"Now, if that's not something a naughty kid does, then what is?"
Seo-Jun turned away. He didn't see how ignoring someone like her made him a bad child, but what if she told her father this, and this was why he wasn't fulfilling his promises?
He received his birthday gift early that morning from his father's secretary but he still wished his father would come as well.
He didn't like this.
"If only you didn't ignore me and act like I didn't exist, your father wouldn't have been so mad at you." She added, her tongue slithering like that of a green viper. "But you never know. Maybe if we start 'bonding' now, your father will come visit you."
Seo-Jun didn't know about that. He wasn't sure.
What if his stepmother was simply trying to fool him? She didn't look like she was after his good.
But then, what if she was telling the truth, and it was because of her words that his father never came to see him?
He clenched his fists.
He wanted to see his father again.
"Then, what... What do I need to do?" Seo-Jun asked, causing this lady to smile sinisterly.
"Nothing difficult. Just accept this gift from me." She said and a maid came forward with a box. She took it from the maid and beckoned him closer. "Come, accept it."
Seo-Jun looked at the box. What could it be?
Slowly, he walked towards her and then stood in front of her.
"Here, take it."
Her smile was creepy. It gave him a bad feeling but... How bad could the gift be?
He gulped and then took it.
"And what do you say when someone gives you a gift?" She asked.
"T-thank you." He said but this only made her feel excited.
"Okay, hurry up and open it. I can't wait to teach you how to use them. We can 'play' a lot with them."
Her words, though sounding simple, made Seo-Jun wonder if she really had an ulterior motive.
He had no choice but to open the box. And it was from that moment he opened the box that his childhood went from ordinary to wrecked.
(What do you think he saw in the box? Guess in the comment section below)