Maeum at times wondered if her father had known where her brother was and was keeping an eye out for him. After all, he had put eighteen years of work into him. Even at a cost benefit analysis, it seemed more worthwhile to make him work and use that to repay the loss he had caused. But once he left, she wasn’t sure whether her father would have still cared. She knew deep down he probably did but he wouldn’t dare show it. It seemed for Hwangsun, Lee Daehyun had died the day he booked his one way ticket out of Busan. Rather than taking responsibility, when he had fled, leaving the rest of them to pick up the pieces of the family he had shattered. Things had hardly been perfect in the Lee household but they had been good. They had worked. Their father was hard on them and he expected a lot, but she had always sympathized with him. He saw them as prodigies who would take over the company. Was it so wrong of him to want his children to be excellent so they could continue the work he did? The pressure was great and it was suffocating but it was bearable so long as the load was distributed. Despite all the difficulties, the Lee children had still produced success. How many years had it been since there had been even a single smile on the faces of her parents? Her own smile had been buried with her dream of bringing her brother back.
This was not the same warmhearted, apologetic welcome she hoped to give Daehyun years ago. It was spiteful, angry. One where she would demand that he take responsibility. Tracking him down, if she had kept up with his whereabouts for years would have been much easier. But there was nothing money couldn’t buy and she had bought his location. Never before having lied to her parents, this was the only time she dared defy them. After all, at least one of their children had to support them right? And she wasn’t sure what she had expected. Maybe she wanted to see her brother thriving. She wanted to see him full of life, living in a way that was superior to the life they had back in Busan. But all she saw was shoddy bartending and measly tips. So what was he living for now that was so superior to the life he had left behind? Maybe she wanted to see that there was a reason beyond his own anger towards their father that kept him grounded in this present life but she saw absolutely nothing. Hair shrouding her features, she sat down at the far end of the counter. “Whatever costs the most on your menu, I’ll have that.” She ordered in English, deciding to taste his newfound skill herself. After all, he always had an affinity towards expensive liquor.