USED TO BE ONE OF THE ROTTEN ONES,
AND I LIKED YOU FOR THAT.
???????????? .? Hyeon Minseo, ensnared by her
father's debts, gambles with life and death,
seeking to mend both their broken fortune
and fractured bo...
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ONE A Burning Hill I AM A FOREST FIRE
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MINSEO NEVER UNDERSTOOD FATE. She never understood whether she was a reincarnation of evil, her future carved out of malice to pay for her past sins; or whether she was the controller of her own destiny, the one to tighten or loosen the reigns that directed the drive of her life. Whatever made up the fate of Hyeon Minseo's life had never been kind, a pressure always pushed down on every decision, including the one that led her to the road that rainy night.
The air was bitter, the wind harsh and rain spitting down like hellfire as Minseo shivered, eyes alert to catch sight of the car that was supposed to appear any time soon. She stood in the exact spot she was told to, her mind repeating the password like a mantra.
Midst the mindless repetition of the password, a small thought slipped between the cracks of her head. It was unwanted, sudden, and bit her brain so harshly that Minseo forgot the password almost immediately. Where's my uncle? Where's my uncle?
Pre the divorce of his late wife (Minseo's father's younger sister), Seong Gi-hun had been Hyeon Minseo's role model. His humour always managed to make her laugh, even on the darkest of days. She remembers the days after school where she'd run to his house, where her aunt and younger cousin would be waiting upon her arrival with steaming Dakjuk in hand. The face of her blood father had been replaced with that of Gi-hun. Whenever the mention of a dad would appear in conversation, Gi-hun always coming at first thought.
Gi-hun had never given up on Minseo. Even after the divorce with her aunt, he kept in contact and invited her every Saturday to spend the afternoon with him and his beloved mother, who adored young Minseo more than anyone. With her uncle Gi-hun, Minseo involuntarily let down the invisible barricade which had been built up since young, allowing her inner child to relish in the comfort of a father figure. Well, until his disappearance little under three years ago.
At first, Minseo had been inconsolable. Taesuk was rarely home as he was in his last year of university, prepping for medical school with every thought focused on his studies and school. Her father, who despised Gi-hun with a burning passion, had been utmost dismissive and even guaranteed his absence was a blessing. Of course, Minseo had protested. She found herself often in the company of her aunt and step-uncle ━who, sure, was nice. . .but not as nice as Gi-hun━, and younger cousin/Gi-hun's daughter, Ga-yeong.
