Chapter 52
When the four guys entered the house, what they saw shocked them.
Hyunsuk whispered, “I think I’ve seen something like this before…”
Jiwoo replied, “Yea, I know. I saw it in a documentary when I was in Canada.”
Hyojun tried to reassure them, “I know what you guys are thinking, but… well, I’m glad I’m not the only one who is worried here.”
Inside the kitchen, there were bags and bags of groceries on the floor. It seemed like Hyoyoung had cleaned out a supermarket. Without turning to the guys, Hyoyoung continued to cook as she announced, “Go wash your hands first.”
It was like she had eyes on the back of her head. The four guys quickly followed her order. They washed their hands and returned to the dining room. They sat down and waited for her, when Hyojun nervously offered, “Umm… do you need some help?”
“Nope, I’m fine. Just stay there.”
Hyojun sat back down awkwardly and glanced at the other members. All the guys looked at each other anxiously, trying to figure out what was going to happen.
“This… must be our last meal.”
“That documentary I watched… about cannibals getting ready to eat their prey. It’s just like this situation.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking…”
“Well, at least we will die with full stomachs.”
“Dammit! I am so sick of the tension and stress! Why is she cooking such a huge meal? Look at all that food!”
Hyojun shushed everyone and warned them, “Just shut up, all of you. At this point… I can see that she is really pissed off. Based on my experience, I think she is a level 10 on the Richter scale.”
Jiwoo shivered. “But Hyojun, level 10 would be… like when the buildings crumble to the ground and stuff?”
Hyunsuk whispered, “To me, it feels like she is at level 12… but if this is only level 10… Just how much angrier could Hyoyoung get?”
Hyojun replied, “Well, she is cooking up a storm right now, which means…”
He lowered his voice and whispered, “When Hyoyoung gets stressed, there are a few things she does. The first thing she starts doing is eating.”
Jiwoo agreed, “Yeah, I noticed that. She’s been eating a lot lately.”
“Well, actually, that was just her eating regularly. When she gets really stressed, she craves sweet and salty things. She eats A LOT. She would dip her steak in salt and she would put wasabi on top of her chocolate. She can even eat tteok-bokki and ice cream at the same time. Once, I saw her eat cheesecake sprinkled with salt.”
“Is that even normal…?”
“That’s up for debate. Anyway, the next level is sleep. When she is angry, but can still think logically, she sleeps. A LOT.”
“That… sounds familiar. She slept all day yesterday, right?”
“She would sleep like a corpse. You can shake her and scream at her, and she wouldn’t respond. The next level would be…”
“Yeah?”
“She becomes cold and indifferent. She pushes her anger down deep inside of her and becomes unemotional like a robot. And she starts to work like a robot as well.”
“Like a robot…?”
“For example…?”
“Like the way she is cooking right now?”
“Exactly.”
“Oh…”
“She would cook, clean, quilt, do calligraphy… Anything she can use her hands to focus. She becomes immersed in it. The more stressed she gets, the more things she dabbles in.”
“Like she would cook and clean at the same time?”
“Yes, just like that.”
“So, since she is only cooking right now, it’s ok?”
Suddenly, Hyoyoung appeared in front of them. When the guys looked up slowly, she was waiting with a pot in her hand. She looked indifferent as she ordered, “Put the rest on the table for the pot.”
Without a word, the members moved quickly. They quickly set the table as well, and when everything was in place, Hyoyoung ordered, “Eat up.”
Inside the pot was spicy stir-fried pork with vegetables. It was enough to feed at least ten people.
Hyoyoung added, “Wait a second. There is more.”
The members looked down at the plentiful food and Kiwook wondered quietly, “That basement… Her castle… Us using that space is causing her this much stress?”
Hyojun sighed and explained, “Well, the thing is… I can’t explain in detail, but here it is. Hyoyoung doesn’t have many memories of her childhood. After she had a pool accident, she lost her memories, and so she doesn’t remember much of anything that happened before she was eight years old.”
Hyojun glanced at Kiwook quickly, and Kiwook remained silent.
Jiwoo exclaimed, “Oh my god… my poor Hyoyoung…”
Jiwoo was the only one who didn’t know the whole story, so he seemed sympathetic. But the other three, including Hyunsuk, stayed silent.
Hyojun continued, “When she was in grade 3, she came back home from school and sat in front of our parents with a very serious face. Our parents were concerned and asked her what was wrong, and Hyoyoung asked for them to build her own personal space.”
“Wow, in grade 3?”
“Yeah. Later, we learned that she talked to her friends about their childhoods. You know, what you liked to play with and such. Hyoyoung couldn’t remember anything and she became upset. So she asked our parents to make her a personal room, just for her. She also asked for them to buy her baby toys.”
“Oh, so she wanted a childhood memory room?”
“Yes, something like that, I guess. For a little while at the start, I played with her in that room too. But after a few years, she banned anyone from entering her space.”
“Completely?”
“Yup. No one was allowed in. She even put a lock…”
“So she separated herself completely from your family.”
“Yes. There were many weekends when she would not come out from that basement other than for meals. Our parents got worried for a while there. Then one day, she asked them to soundproof the basement. They agreed and that was when we were allowed in to work on that room.”
“So before that time, you and your parents never went downstairs?”
“Nope.”
“And?”
“And when we went in, we were shocked by what we saw.”
“What?”