Hoon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
domesticanine) wrote2018-01-03 01:51 am
domesticanine) wrote2018-01-03 01:51 am
(no subject)
The entire ride into Seoul, Hoon had spent with his face pressed against the glass of the train, the occasional "ooh" escaping him as something new and especially impressive flashed by him. Mr. Ryu sat in typical stoic silence watching the boy overreact to every little sight and sound, while the people around them whispered amongst themselves. He'd been well aware the boy was a country bumpkin before, but it amazed him just how sheltered he really was.
This truth culminated when a particular aggressive driver had blared their car horn at Hoon as he attempted to step into a crosswalk before the signal prompted him, and the damn fool had actually had the audacity to laugh in delight. He seemed only slightly sheepish when Mr. Ryu had ripped into him for being so excited about almost being run over, but that was the way this kid always seemed to be. He got excited over the smallest of things, and never seemed to properly rattled by any setbacks or misfortune he faced.
These traits weren't so special that Mr. Ryu could say he'd never met anyone quite like him, he had lived long enough to have met several idiots who wanted to only see the good in the world, but Mr. Ryu could safely say Hoon was the first idiot of this sort that he'd allowed to enter into his life for more than a transient moment. It meant that Mr. Ryu could observe this kind of fool up close, and see that even idiots could let the world get them down. For as cheerful and friendly Hoon was on the surface, there was something strangely guarded about the boy. He seemed to struggle endlessly with wanting to be honest with the old man, and wanting to retreat deeper into himself. For the life of him, Mr. Ryu couldn't figure out exactly what had happened to the boy to make him like that, but whatever it was, it had affected him deeply.
It made getting to know Hoon, to really know Hoon, a struggle, and Mr. Ryu was never good at dragging secrets out of people. So the two had instead fallen into a mutual understanding. Mr. Ryu would not try to force Hoon to tell him where he came from, and why he was so ignorant about the most simple of things, and in turn Hoon would not ask Mr. Ryu about his complicated family situation.
That second part had clearly been very difficult for Hoon ever since Mr. Ryu had announced they were going into the city to meet with his estranged daughter. She'd left home almost twenty years ago now, and had found love overseas. It was rare his little girl was ever back in Korea, and even rarer that she reached out to her father to request a meeting. It didn't even matter to him that she'd expected him to come to her, there was something akin to hope still welling up inside Mr. Ryu that this would finally be his chance to reconnect with his child.
What he hadn't expected was for his daughter to immediately question his relationship with the young man who had moved into his small, countryside house.
"Tell him you won't give him any money. Lie if you need to and say you don't have any. It doesn't matter if it's true or not, he'll hang around you as long as he thinks he can get something out of you."
Mr. Ryu sighed, rubbing a hand over his chin as he looked sadly at the beautiful woman sitting in front of him, looking cold and detached. It had been over a decade since they'd seen each other, and this was not how he wanted their meeting to go.
"That boy might be a fool, but he's not that sort of moron. He can see for himself I have no money for him."
"You have your savings. Everyone in town knows you have a savings kept locked away, so you should tell him that you spent it all. You shouldn't be allowing thugs like that to hang around you. I can only imagine the worry you've caused the people in your town."
In his town... as if it wasn't her town too. She may have moved away, but it never stopped being her town. Mr. Ryu's voice became sharp as he sat up straighter. This conversation had been going on for the better part of an hour, and he had long since grown tired of it.
"Did you only call me out here to talk about money?"
His daughter's mouth tightened, her eyes cast to the floor. The old man barked out a humorless laugh.
"You accuse that boy of only wanting my money, and why did you bring me here? Doesn't your fancy husband make enough money to support you? Why do you need more from an old man with no wife to take care of him in his old age?"
With each question his voice grew louder and louder, until it became a yell.
"Where did your money go, Sunhee? Why? Is that man not taking enough care of you? Where is your money?"
---
In the hallway, outside the room, Hoon sat with his head down and his eyes closed. The two didn't need to raise their voice for him to have heard every word they said. His hearing was always much more acute than what human's possessed. He'd never met Mr. Ryu's daughter, Sunhee, before today, but his stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought that this woman held him in such strong contempt already.
More than that, while Mr. Ryu didn't like to show his emotion in his words or expression, Hoon could still tell that he'd been so excited to see his daughter again. Whenever he told stories about her there was such a sad pride and longing in his voice, but now he was yelling at her. It had been years since he'd been able to see her, and now he was yelling at her because of Hoon.
A large part of him wanted to take off right then and there, but he kept his instincts in check enough to keep himself seated where he was. He didn't know anything about the city, and the mixture of sounds and smells threw him off so much. Hoon wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to find his way around without getting lost. Besides, as upset as he was about all of this, it wasn't as if Hoon really wanted to leave Mr. Ryu's side. After losing his pack, Mr. Ryu had been the only person Hoon had really felt he could afford to trust. The man was angry and rude to the point of meanness, but he was honest. At least, Hoon never felt there was a moment that Mr. Ryu had ever tried to trick him, not once, and Hoon wasn't sure he'd be able to find someone like that again so easily. He liked the village they lived in too, and he liked the people there.
He didn't want to leave, but he hated that someone thought he was just after Mr. Ryu's money. Money he still only vaguely understood as a concept.
As the door swung open, Hoon's head jerked up in time to see Mr. Ryu slam the door shut behind him. The older man's face was red with anger, and his chest heaved violently as if he'd just run a marathon.
Without a word, Hoon stood up and waited for Mr. Ryu to storm past him, before following several feet behind. There was some trepidation there, in that Hoon wasn't sure if Mr. Ryu really wanted him to follow or not, but the old man didn't say a word to him, and by the time they were out the door and a cab was hailed, Mr. Ryu even held the door open for Hoon to get into the car.
After ten minutes of silence, Hoon finally risked speaking up.
"I don't want it. Your money. I didn't know... I don't even like money!"
Mr. Ryu sat for several long minutes, his head turned away from Hoon as he stared out the cab's window. Finally, after a torturous stretch of silence, Mr. Ryu's shoulders began to shake. A panic shot through Hoon as he leaned forward towards the old man, only for Mr. Ryu to turn around to face him at last, a wide smile on his sunbaked face.
"Anyone else... anyone else, and a statement like that would be such an outrageous lie."
Hoon watched him in silent confusion as Mr. Ryu leaned his head back against the seat and continued to laugh at some private joke Hoon didn't really understand.
"I have never seen a boy so averse to being handed a handful of money. You have to have your goddamn arm twisted just to admit you want more to eat, and you won't accept any other form of payment for your work. That girl... she doesn't know a damn thing. She's such a smart girl, but she wanted to grow up too fast, met too many greedy people, and now that she's an adult she doesn't know a damn thing..."
Wracking his brain for an appropriate response, Hoon came up short. He didn't really understand anything about what Mr. Ryu was saying about his daughter, so without words to help he did the only thing he could think of, he held out his hand to the old man. With a smile that broke Hoon's heart in two, Mr. Ryu took his hand, and squeezed it lightly, before turning to look back out the window of the cab.
This truth culminated when a particular aggressive driver had blared their car horn at Hoon as he attempted to step into a crosswalk before the signal prompted him, and the damn fool had actually had the audacity to laugh in delight. He seemed only slightly sheepish when Mr. Ryu had ripped into him for being so excited about almost being run over, but that was the way this kid always seemed to be. He got excited over the smallest of things, and never seemed to properly rattled by any setbacks or misfortune he faced.
These traits weren't so special that Mr. Ryu could say he'd never met anyone quite like him, he had lived long enough to have met several idiots who wanted to only see the good in the world, but Mr. Ryu could safely say Hoon was the first idiot of this sort that he'd allowed to enter into his life for more than a transient moment. It meant that Mr. Ryu could observe this kind of fool up close, and see that even idiots could let the world get them down. For as cheerful and friendly Hoon was on the surface, there was something strangely guarded about the boy. He seemed to struggle endlessly with wanting to be honest with the old man, and wanting to retreat deeper into himself. For the life of him, Mr. Ryu couldn't figure out exactly what had happened to the boy to make him like that, but whatever it was, it had affected him deeply.
It made getting to know Hoon, to really know Hoon, a struggle, and Mr. Ryu was never good at dragging secrets out of people. So the two had instead fallen into a mutual understanding. Mr. Ryu would not try to force Hoon to tell him where he came from, and why he was so ignorant about the most simple of things, and in turn Hoon would not ask Mr. Ryu about his complicated family situation.
That second part had clearly been very difficult for Hoon ever since Mr. Ryu had announced they were going into the city to meet with his estranged daughter. She'd left home almost twenty years ago now, and had found love overseas. It was rare his little girl was ever back in Korea, and even rarer that she reached out to her father to request a meeting. It didn't even matter to him that she'd expected him to come to her, there was something akin to hope still welling up inside Mr. Ryu that this would finally be his chance to reconnect with his child.
What he hadn't expected was for his daughter to immediately question his relationship with the young man who had moved into his small, countryside house.
"Tell him you won't give him any money. Lie if you need to and say you don't have any. It doesn't matter if it's true or not, he'll hang around you as long as he thinks he can get something out of you."
Mr. Ryu sighed, rubbing a hand over his chin as he looked sadly at the beautiful woman sitting in front of him, looking cold and detached. It had been over a decade since they'd seen each other, and this was not how he wanted their meeting to go.
"That boy might be a fool, but he's not that sort of moron. He can see for himself I have no money for him."
"You have your savings. Everyone in town knows you have a savings kept locked away, so you should tell him that you spent it all. You shouldn't be allowing thugs like that to hang around you. I can only imagine the worry you've caused the people in your town."
In his town... as if it wasn't her town too. She may have moved away, but it never stopped being her town. Mr. Ryu's voice became sharp as he sat up straighter. This conversation had been going on for the better part of an hour, and he had long since grown tired of it.
"Did you only call me out here to talk about money?"
His daughter's mouth tightened, her eyes cast to the floor. The old man barked out a humorless laugh.
"You accuse that boy of only wanting my money, and why did you bring me here? Doesn't your fancy husband make enough money to support you? Why do you need more from an old man with no wife to take care of him in his old age?"
With each question his voice grew louder and louder, until it became a yell.
"Where did your money go, Sunhee? Why? Is that man not taking enough care of you? Where is your money?"
---
In the hallway, outside the room, Hoon sat with his head down and his eyes closed. The two didn't need to raise their voice for him to have heard every word they said. His hearing was always much more acute than what human's possessed. He'd never met Mr. Ryu's daughter, Sunhee, before today, but his stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought that this woman held him in such strong contempt already.
More than that, while Mr. Ryu didn't like to show his emotion in his words or expression, Hoon could still tell that he'd been so excited to see his daughter again. Whenever he told stories about her there was such a sad pride and longing in his voice, but now he was yelling at her. It had been years since he'd been able to see her, and now he was yelling at her because of Hoon.
A large part of him wanted to take off right then and there, but he kept his instincts in check enough to keep himself seated where he was. He didn't know anything about the city, and the mixture of sounds and smells threw him off so much. Hoon wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to find his way around without getting lost. Besides, as upset as he was about all of this, it wasn't as if Hoon really wanted to leave Mr. Ryu's side. After losing his pack, Mr. Ryu had been the only person Hoon had really felt he could afford to trust. The man was angry and rude to the point of meanness, but he was honest. At least, Hoon never felt there was a moment that Mr. Ryu had ever tried to trick him, not once, and Hoon wasn't sure he'd be able to find someone like that again so easily. He liked the village they lived in too, and he liked the people there.
He didn't want to leave, but he hated that someone thought he was just after Mr. Ryu's money. Money he still only vaguely understood as a concept.
As the door swung open, Hoon's head jerked up in time to see Mr. Ryu slam the door shut behind him. The older man's face was red with anger, and his chest heaved violently as if he'd just run a marathon.
Without a word, Hoon stood up and waited for Mr. Ryu to storm past him, before following several feet behind. There was some trepidation there, in that Hoon wasn't sure if Mr. Ryu really wanted him to follow or not, but the old man didn't say a word to him, and by the time they were out the door and a cab was hailed, Mr. Ryu even held the door open for Hoon to get into the car.
After ten minutes of silence, Hoon finally risked speaking up.
"I don't want it. Your money. I didn't know... I don't even like money!"
Mr. Ryu sat for several long minutes, his head turned away from Hoon as he stared out the cab's window. Finally, after a torturous stretch of silence, Mr. Ryu's shoulders began to shake. A panic shot through Hoon as he leaned forward towards the old man, only for Mr. Ryu to turn around to face him at last, a wide smile on his sunbaked face.
"Anyone else... anyone else, and a statement like that would be such an outrageous lie."
Hoon watched him in silent confusion as Mr. Ryu leaned his head back against the seat and continued to laugh at some private joke Hoon didn't really understand.
"I have never seen a boy so averse to being handed a handful of money. You have to have your goddamn arm twisted just to admit you want more to eat, and you won't accept any other form of payment for your work. That girl... she doesn't know a damn thing. She's such a smart girl, but she wanted to grow up too fast, met too many greedy people, and now that she's an adult she doesn't know a damn thing..."
Wracking his brain for an appropriate response, Hoon came up short. He didn't really understand anything about what Mr. Ryu was saying about his daughter, so without words to help he did the only thing he could think of, he held out his hand to the old man. With a smile that broke Hoon's heart in two, Mr. Ryu took his hand, and squeezed it lightly, before turning to look back out the window of the cab.