Riser
patreon
21-12
🕑 Added 2025-03-13 02:11:39 +0000 UTCChapter 12: Dad Kang Tae-gu's
Let's skip ahead in time here.
Due to strict heavenly laws, I can't express the thoughts I've had about my mom while growing up.
So I'm going to turn the story to the year I became a high school senior.
Actually, it doesn't matter if we skip.
Because even after several years...
Our family was still living in the same semi-basement studio apartment, continuing to live a messy life without change.
Especially despite so much time passing, our family... specifically our proud parents hadn't changed at all.
Dad is still in the process of transitioning between being an incompetent unemployed person and a thug with an unknown source of income. A K-science dad who freely quantizes between unemployed when mom wants money and thug when it suits him.
I'm sorry... I think I'm not in my right mind lately due to academic stress.
And mom...
Surprisingly, mom's first digit changed to 32, but her face value still looked like early to mid 20s, like a college student. Since I was in middle school, she's been working hard on maintaining her figure, even going to free swimming classes provided by the community center, and thanks to that she still maintains a toned body without any excess fat.
And... the couple's married life hasn't really changed either. Shouldn't it cool down after 17 years of marriage? They still do that stuff every night even with their grown daughter and son sleeping right next to them.
Thanks to that, as my puberty lasted quite long, I find it hard to look at mom's face these days.
"Hey. Aren't you being too cold to mom lately?"
"What do you mean?"
"You don't even look at mom properly and talk halfheartedly these days"
"....."
Mom must feel hurt, but honestly it's just too embarrassing.
Even now she's wearing tight dolphin pants that reveal almost half her butt, how can I not be embarrassed?
"Hello mother!"
"Oh my, Gyu-tae is here. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Haha. I want to come over more often but this guy always says he doesn't like it"
"Why?"
"I'm not sure either. Maybe because you might fall for me?"
"What are you saying, why would an ajumma like me be appealing?"
"Ajumma? You look even younger than my cousin noona"
And Gyu-tae also keeps coming over to our house whenever he has the chance. Surprisingly, we were assigned to the same elementary, middle, and high schools, becoming even closer friends than before. Since he's the only friend who's been coming over since we were young, he's become quite close with mom too and chats comfortably with her.
Now that we've both grown up, we've realized it's embarrassing to talk about porn with each other, but we still hang out together at game rooms and stay close friends. We have similar hobbies, tastes, and thoughts, so we get along well.
Except for how he keeps glancing now...
"...Hey, you crazy bastard, stop staring"
"Sorry..."
At least now he knows it's wrong, so when I can't stand it anymore and say something, he quickly lowers his head... but it's really annoying.
"Oh Gyu-tae came again"
"Are you crazy? Call him oppa Gyu-tae"
"Are you insane? We're the same age"
"He's your oppa's friend, hehe"
Mi-hyun has also become more feminine since becoming a high school student. She went to the same high school as me and Gyu-tae, and seems to have inherited the genes of our quite good-looking dad (though he's a thug) and mom, as she's apparently super popular at school. I'm not interested though.
But Mi-hyun also doesn't seem interested in studying, maybe influenced by mom or dad. For a while now she's been coming home late and hanging out with some delinquent friends. When mom couldn't stand it anymore and told her to study, she even had the nerve to say to send her to an academy first before talking.
It was the opposite of me, who had some interest in studying and always got decent grades.
We grew up like this, but seeing how mom and dad haven't changed much, I guess a year for a child and a year for an adult are different.
Anyway
It was July. The height of midsummer with hot weather continuing.
That day, dad who had been out for several days finally came home. As I mentioned above, dad irregularly wandered around, staying at home for a few days and then going out for a few days, but this time he had been away from home for quite a long time, so I felt oddly glad to see him.
"Oh, dad's home"
"What's with the 'oh'? Aren't you glad dad's home?"
"Huh? Ah, no, that's not it"
Dad was a very complicated existence for me.
Objectively, he was someone who got drunk and used violence against mom and us, but that doesn't mean I only hated dad. Just like there are few parents that children only hate, no matter how incompetent a dad is, he's bound to be an object of love and hate for his son.
As they say humans are three-dimensional, dad was clearly an irresponsible thug and hooligan, but on the other hand, unlike typical dads, he didn't force me to study. If you think about it, it was just neglect, but in a way it was freedom.
So when dad wasn't drunk, at least to me, he wasn't all bad.
Even mom, who often got beaten by dad, never left him despite the beatings, which was mostly due to their sexual compatibility, but there must have been some other reasons too.
Anyway, that day dad didn't seem much different from usual. So after eating dinner, I deliberately pretended to be doing homework diligently in front of dad. I thought he might praise me for studying unlike himself.
Usually there was no special reward, it was just my own hope, but that day dad was a bit different. He stared at me studying for a while, then suddenly asked in an unexpectedly kind tone:
"Hey Hyeon-seong. Should I buy you a smartphone?"
"Huh? Really?!"
"Yeah"
Luckily that day, dad was in 'cool dad' mode. Mom, who was watching from the side, asked with wide eyes:
"Honey. We don't have money"
"What do you mean we don't have money. I've been going to work lately"
I still don't know how dad makes money, but it seems he sometimes got lump sums. Of course, even after earning like that he quickly blew it on alcohol and gambling, but on days when he got a lump sum like this, dad would become generous.
"Wow dad! Thank you!"
My feelings then? I felt like doing a handstand and bowing deeply. Other kids got smartphones from kindergarten as a matter of course, but I was so upset being the only one without one even in high school. I was sick of being teased as "phone-less" throughout middle school. But suddenly dad said he'd buy me one.
"Here's the mood. You too, Mi-hyun"
"Wow... really?"
That day dad was in such a good mood that he even gave us allowance, which was usually hard to get even once every six months. To my sister standing blankly next to me too.
My feelings? What can I say. I felt like I could fly. Not just because I got allowance... I was even happier because it was allowance and a gift from my lowlife father. In a way, I had hope that maybe dad was becoming a normal head of household now?
"Should we eat out for dinner? What's popular these days?"
"Honey, did you really make a ton of money? Why are you doing something you've never done in your life?"
"Shut up woman. Is it weird for me to act like a father?"
"It is weird... it's really strange for Kang Tae-gu to act like this"
If our good-for-nothing father Mr. Kang Tae-gu's personality was rolled on a die, it usually only came up 1-3, but very rarely it came up 6 today.
To see if buying me a phone wasn't a lie, we immediately went to a store and I finally got my first smartphone in my life. Afterwards, we even went to a family restaurant that's hard for us to go to often given our family's circumstances and ate a fancy meal... I still can't forget the taste of those pork ribs we had then.
Mom kept smiling brightly at the restaurant, happy to see dad acting like a family man for once, and even Mi-hyun, who's usually blunt and rarely shows emotion, had a slight smile.
Well. Of course it didn't last long, but still.
Getting my first expensive family restaurant meal and a phone as a gift.
It was still early summer but it felt like Christmas to me.
"Thank you dad!"
"Yeah kid. Study hard and make sure you become a doctor later, okay?"
"Yes!"
Dad smiled contentedly, seeming happy to be acting like a father for once, while mom poked his side and asked:
"Honey, are you finally coming to your senses?"
"What do you mean coming to my senses. Are you saying I was a good-for-nothing before?"
"Well... it would be shameless to say you weren't, right?"
"What are you saying, woman. Like you're so great"
Though the praise almost turned into a fight again, they were in such a good mood that another marital fight didn't break out. Instead it went in a different direction.
After leaving the family restaurant and taking a family walk in the park (this was also a first), we returned home at 11 PM.
"Kids, go to sleep quickly"
"Can't we play with our phones a bit?"
"No, do it tomorrow, tomorrow"
Since it was late at night, they quickly pushed us to bed and sent us to a corner of the room, then mom set up a modest drinking table. I pretended to sleep while watching.
"Oh. It's been a while since we set up drinks like this"
"I know. We haven't had many chances to drink just the two of us because of the kids"
At this rate, the two of them... will probably have sex again, going with the mood. Sigh... I'm so sick of this.
