Reasonable Loss - 0 - Prologue

Chapter 0: Prologue

“Let’s end it here.”

Dokwon said in an emotionless voice. If the place had not been the bedroom, if Eunsu had not been naked, it would have been believable even if it was a remark made after a meeting ended.

“……Yes?”

Eunsu, who could not understand his words at once, asked back. However, Dokwon did not give him an answer to that. But, he came to understand it in another way.

Dokwon picked up his jacket and got out of bed. While doing so, he said it as if letting it flow.

“Bomi, no, the child, erase it.”

“……What did you say?”

Eunsu made a face as if he had been hit hard on the back of his head. He looked like a person who had been scammed out of his entire fortune in one breath, and he also looked like a person who had accidentally learned the fact that the end of the Earth would come tomorrow.

Bomi, the child, erase it. The moment Eunsu heard those words, he felt the same shock as when he had heard the news of his parents’ death long ago.

What to erase?

Bomi?

Why?

Why? How could you say such a thing? How, could you say that to me? To me, who had no lack as great as family, now that a family had finally come into being, how could you say to get rid of it?

While Eunsu was opening and closing his mouth, not knowing what to do, Dokwon, unable to wait for an answer, personally explained it.

“If it is not my child, then whether you erase it or not is none of my business. If it is my child, then erase it.”

“……”

“Do not bother me later.”

“……”

“I will give you as much money as needed. That dating play, it was fun, after all.”

“……Fun?”

Eunsu echoed Dokwon’s words in a hollow voice.

If it is my child, then erase it. Do not bother me. I will give you money. Dating play. Fun.

The sentences that Dokwon had spat out one after another broke into words, into syllables. In the end, they separated into consonants and vowels and fell over Eunsu’s head like fist-sized hailstones, plop plop. At the same time, thick tears also fell dully.

What, how, what, this, now……

His mind was a complete mess. Eunsu just sat there blankly frozen. Because of the shock that was too great, because of the despair that was too vast, he could not even react rashly. The only things that moved were his eyeballs, twitching rapidly from side to side, and the tears that fell without pause. From some moment on, he was not even breathing.

While Eunsu was falling down an endless cliff, Dokwon squatted down by the bedside. After that, he quietly met eyes with Eunsu.

“Do not see an ugly sight for no reason, let’s end it here. Mr. Yoo Eunsu.”

It was a tone like soothing a child. Even in the midst of that, drawing a line with polite speech was heartless.

“……”

Eunsu could not say anything.

Dokwon stood up. And he turned his back without any lingering attachment. The bedroom door opened and Dokwon left. Thud thud, his footsteps that grew distant trampled Eunsu’s reason and thoughts.