Chapter 18 - You Are Too Flawed

This meant, of course, that Kyung Min’s mother found out. He had once absentmindedly told Sun Ha, “Even speaking as her son, my mother is a really violent person. The moment she blows her lid, no one can stop her.” So it was unsurprising that she chased Sun Ha all the way to campus and then proceeded to spit every kind of insult she could at her to try and split them up.

For Sun Ha, it was no different than suddenly being hit by lightning in the middle of a sunny day.

There was one thought in Sun Ha’s mind after Kyung Min’s mother had laid her life story bare in front of a crowd of students. How could Kyung Min know exactly how bad-tempered his mother was and still act so carelessly? If he couldn’t see this coming in the first place, that was quite a problem in itself.

Seeing Kyung Ming hurriedly arriving at the front of the lecture room, Sun Ha couldn’t do anything but let out a dry laugh. He must have heard the news late.

She lamented ever opening up to him about her past or telling him about her parents’ deaths. She’d told him about it because she liked him, there was no deeper reason, but she was angry at herself for trusting him. After all, Sun Ha had experienced many times just how violent and selfish people could be. If she hadn’t opened up to Kyung Min, she wouldn’t be in this situation.

After the incident with Kyung Min’s mother, all her fellow classmates, even seniors and juniors, began talking about her circumstances. Sun Ha had always tried to ensure she was smiling when she was at school. Before, people would always compliment her, talking about how she’d clearly grown up in a loving home. But now when she looked happy, she was insulted for it. When she laughed, people would accuse her of faking it. 

They kept saying they felt like she was making them feel like fools, that she was just trying to keep up appearances to gain people’s favor and pretend she was from a great family.

Sun Ha didn’t know what to do. ‘If I’m a dirt poor orphan with a disabled mother and a criminal father, does that mean I always have to live like a zombie and my soul’s been crushed to pieces?’

It was all because of Kyung Min’s mother that everyone knew about Sun Ha’s past, but nobody was angry with the woman. Everyone simply said that she was just a mother who was a little ignorant and overflowing with love for her son. This sentiment repeated a few times before completely disappearing. Probably because there were more interesting topics to talk about when it came to Yu Sun Ha.

One day, a baseless rumor began to spread around the campus. Because Kyung Min’s mother had talked about Sun Ha’s father being a criminal, someone concocted a story about how he had been a murderer and had died while serving out his sentence. They even claimed that her father had raped her disabled mother, resulting in Sun Ha. When she’d heard that, it made her feel like she was going to throw up.

When she saw all the people who had been positive and friendly towards her act the complete opposite after learning about her background, it didn’t surprise her too much. This was something she had experienced many times when she was young after all.

The person who made her fall to her knees in despair was Kyung Min. When he came to her house, she’d told him that she wanted to break up. He didn’t accept it and tried to persuade her to not let his mother’s actions come between the two of them. He admitted he’d messed up, but, when he saw that she still wouldn’t forgive him, he revealed his true colors.

“Sun Ha, you’re too flawed to be a good marriage candidate. Honestly, I even feel uncomfortable telling you this, but there probably isn’t any household that would be willing to take someone like you in.”

“…What?” she asked.

“Honestly, what my mother said to you was all true. Can’t you understand that? If you wanted to marry me, you’d need to endure at least that much. What kind of household do you think would welcome someone like you? You said your dream was to have a happy family in the future. Do you think that kind of dream is possible for you? You think someone besides me is willing to marry you?” he asked her.

“Have you been thinking like that the whole time while listening to my dreams? You laughed and reassured me that it would happen in the future, but on the inside you were laughing at me, thinking it was impossible. You should have just been honest with me in the first place. You’re worse than the seniors making up rumors about me.” Sun Ha told him.

“Don’t say that. I’m different from them. I honestly wanted to accept every part of you. Even if my parents were to turn their back to me, I was going to marry y—!”

“Who in the world wanted to marry you anyway?!” Sun Ha snapped.

The fact that Kyung Min was saying he will marry her as if he was giving alms to the poor made her heart feel like it was being clawed apart. 

This was outrageously unfair. ‘Just why am I always the one that’s being hurt by others?’ she thought. Her heart ached more and more with the realization of just how unfair the world was.

After that terrible and messy fight, they broke up and Sun Ha decided to take a break from school. She felt as if all her effort to live her best life was in vain. Even after Kyung Min graduated, she wouldn’t be able to endure all of the glares of pity and hatred from the other students.

It took quite a toll on her to earn enough to pay her bills and go to school at the same time, but she had been greedily pushing herself to graduate college as soon as possible. She had to stop, though, and she consoled herself by saying that it would be better for her to simply use this chance to take a break from college and save up some money.

It was two years before she returned to school, but her new classmates had heard the rumors about her and treated her differently. In fact, the rumors had traveled further and become even worse. There wasn’t a single person who would listen long enough for Sun Ha to dispel the rumors.