He is a legendary prison guard

Episode 25
Father

“What on earth happened?”

Shi-hyun asked with a serious face as he rushed to the hospital room of the university hospital in Chuncheon, accompanied by his younger sibling. His father had been hospitalized.

At a glance, his father’s condition did not look good. His head was wrapped in bandages, and there were bruises all over his face.

When their eyes met, his father made a stiff expression and scolded his mother.

“Why did you tell the kids? I told you not to say anything!”

“How can you not tell them when the head of the family is injured?”

“Come on…”

“What’s your condition, Father?” His younger sister Ha-young asked with a worried look.

His mother sighed and replied, “Your father fell down the stairs while he was drunk. Luckily, it wasn’t a high staircase, or it could have been a disaster.
He lost consciousness due to a concussion, but thankfully someone passing by called an ambulance, so he survived.”

“So how badly is he injured?” Shi-hyun asked.

“Fortunately, they say it’s a mild concussion. But he hit his head on the sharp edge of the stairs and had to get dozens of stitches. When I got the call and rushed over, his clothes were soaked in blood. I was so scared, oh, my.”

“Seriously, making a fuss over something trivial.”

His father spoke nonchalantly as if it were no big deal. Shi-hyun accepted that, knowing it was typical of his father.

However, one thing weighed on his mind: the fact that his father had drunk enough to get completely wasted again.

His father had been known among acquaintances as a heavy drinker since his youth. He loved drinking so much that he would have drinks with meals and then continue drinking afterward, even having hangover remedies the next day.

On days he didn’t work, he almost always had drinking parties. Even on working days, he often drank.

The only time his father significantly reduced his drinking was when he was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis during a health check-up. The doctor warned him that if he wanted to live longer, he needed to cut back on alcohol, so he decided to quit drinking almost entirely.

That was about ten years ago.

But now he had drunk enough to get completely wasted again? He felt there must be a reason behind it.

“But Shi-hyun, isn’t it your working hours? How did you come here?” his mother asked with a puzzled expression.

“Oh, I’m on vacation for a week starting today.”

“A week? Can you take that much time off?”

“I’m preparing for a promotion exam. I took about five days off last year too.”

“Is that so?”

“What’s a promotion candidate doing here? You should be studying,” his father interjected.

“It’s okay. I know almost everything, so I just need to review before the exam.”

“Don’t get too complacent and end up failing. Don’t worry about me; go study.”

“Yes, Shi-hyun, go back and study. This is an important exam in your life. Your mother is here, so don’t worry.”

Shi-hyun put on a face that said he was truly fine.

“I can’t just leave after coming all this way. I’ll stay here today. It really won’t matter if I take one day off.”

“Ugh, your brother will manage just fine. Don’t worry about him; focus on your father’s health. When can he be discharged?” Ha-young asked.

“They said we need to monitor him for a bit since he still has some headaches. But the test results show there’s nothing major, so I don’t think he’ll be here long.”

“Thank goodness.”

“It’s nothing serious. You shouldn’t have called and worried the kids.”

Once again, his father scolded his mother.

Shi-hyun could read that his father was not in a good mood. Of course, who would feel good being a patient? But it seemed like there was another reason.

“By the way, you kids haven’t eaten yet, right? You must be hungry. Go get something to eat.”

“You should go out and have lunch with the kids too. You’re fine, so you don’t need to be taken care of. I’m going to rest a bit.”

With that, his father closed his eyes.

—

The three of them had a simple meal at the hospital cafeteria.

“Father, is there something going on?” Shi-hyun asked during the meal.

Ha-young nodded in agreement and looked at their mother.

“Huh?”

“It seems like something is bothering you. You haven’t been this drunk in nearly ten years.”

It was indeed strange that his father, who had almost completely quit drinking for health reasons, had gotten wasted again.

Ha-young seemed to think the same.

“Ugh…”

Their mother sighed deeply, her expression filled with concern.

It certainly seemed like something was wrong.

Shi-hyun decided to wait patiently for his mother to gather her thoughts before speaking.

Ha-young silently stirred her spoon, as if thinking the same.

Their mother put down her spoon and took small sips of cold water before finally speaking.

“First, keep what I’m about to tell you a secret from your father.”

“What’s going on?”

“Sigh, it’s so infuriating that I can barely say it. Your father got scammed and lost all his savings and retirement funds.”

“What?”

“Mom, what do you mean?”

Shi-hyun and Ha-young looked shocked at the unexpected news. They had seen so many scammers in prison that they had become numb to the word “scam,” but hearing that their father had been scammed made it suddenly feel heavy.

“I don’t know the details either. I heard it vaguely from your father. He invested in a new company introduced by someone he knows.

They advertised that if you invest 100,000 won, you’ll receive 25,000 won weekly, and the more you invest, the bigger the profits. Ugh… So your father.”

Their mother sighed heavily as she continued to explain.

They claimed that investments were backed by the government and even included enticing photos and a cable advertisement, tricking thousands of investors nationwide.

Unfortunately, their father was one of them.

At first, he received the promised dividends regularly. So he increased his investment. But that was just a ploy to lure in more victims.

By the time he realized it, he had already poured all his savings and retirement funds into it.

“….”

Shi-hyun held his head in his hands.

It was a typical multi-level marketing scam.

He had thought about how someone could fall for such a scheme when he had seen scammers in prison, but he never expected his father would be one of the victims.

Ha-young also looked pale and found it hard to speak.

Shi-hyun asked in a heavy voice, “So what happened to the scammer? Did he escape abroad?”

The habits of scammers were predictable. Most of them try to flee abroad after committing their crimes, knowing they could easily get caught in such a small country.

There were reports that nearly 500 scammers had fled abroad and were still at large.

“The guy who was the chairman fled abroad. The others, about a dozen, were caught.”

Their mother replied with a gloomy expression.

Shi-hyun cursed inwardly.

Damn it.

It seemed that the main culprit had escaped with most of the money he scammed.

This meant proper compensation was out of the question.

“Anyway, your father has been under a lot of stress lately because of this. He drank to the point of getting wasted because of it. And then this happened.”

Shi-hyun gulped down some cold water.

“So, does your father have any living expenses right now?”

Farming in Yeongwol was merely a side job for his parents, not a source of income. If they had lost their savings and retirement funds to a scam, it would be tough to manage living expenses.

“Right now, your father is living off his national pension.”

“Isn’t that just a small amount? It’s only a few hundred thousand won, right?”

“That’s true. But your father is looking for a job soon, so don’t worry too much.”

“No way, that money was saved for a comfortable retirement! But now he has to go back to work? I’d rather help with living expenses so you can live off the pension and take care of yourselves.”

“Hey, why am I out of this? Mom, my income is pretty good too. I can help with living expenses, so please tell Dad not to work. He has back and knee problems; how can he work?”

Their mother looked at her children proudly but shook her head.

“I appreciate your thoughts, but your father wouldn’t want to accept money from his children. He’s too proud to admit he got scammed, and he told me not to tell you.”

Shi-hyun knew well how his father was.

So he decided to take a step back for now.

“I won’t say anything today since your father isn’t feeling well. But when he gets discharged, I’ll persuade him.”