Chapter 01

` The Secret Garden

---

I was sick of it.

“I’m going to stay at Grandma’s house.”

The sound of the rain was bitterly cold.

My mother stood beneath her umbrella, looking at me as I stood alone in the downpour.

Shouldn't a mother at least share her umbrella with her daughter?

The thought came instinctively, and I almost laughed at myself.

When had she ever held an umbrella over me?

“What are you going to do there all by yourself? It's the kind of house that looks like it'd be haunted.”

Behind her glasses, my mother's eyes were as cold as ice.

A haunted house?

For the first time in my life, I was grateful I wasn't holding anything.

If I'd had my phone in my hand, I would have thrown it straight at her.

“A haunted house? Do you even know where we are, Mom?!”

I screamed like a spoiled child.

I could feel passersby staring at us, but neither of us turned to look. We stood our ground, stubbornly pretending no one else existed.

I raised my voice even louder for everyone to hear.

“How can you say that at Grandma's columbarium?! She hasn't even been laid to rest for an hour! How could those words even come out of your mouth? Are you really her daughter? Are you even human?”

She was the kind of person who had never once brought me an umbrella on a rainy school day.

Still, I'd been fine with that.

She was busy.

After all, my mother was Oh Su-hee—the country's famous star instructor.

She hadn't attended a single one of my school ceremonies.

Not my elementary school entrance.

Not middle school.

Not high school.

Not even my university entrance ceremony.

Back then, I had thought that even for someone as busy as the nation's top lecturer, that was going too far.

But eventually I got used to it.

And more importantly...

I had my grandmother.

Whenever my mother abandoned me to chase after her brilliant career, Grandma was the one who hugged me, comforted me, and filled the empty space she left behind.

Grandma always said,

“Your mother simply has too soft a heart. But she's a wonderful girl... and she loves you very much.”

I believed her.

Mom loves me.

She's just busy.

She feels so guilty that she's afraid she'll break down if she shows it in front of me.

That's what I'd convinced myself.

But after Grandma passed away...

After watching my mother spend the entire three-day funeral appearing only long enough to collect paperwork, pay the bills, and disappear again...

I finally understood.

Grandma had told me a kind lie.

My mother didn't love me.

She didn't even love Grandma.

She didn't know what love was.

Even as her own daughter sobbed helplessly beneath the rain...

She was the kind of person who only cared about keeping herself dry.

“I think it'd be best if we didn't contact each other for a while.”

“Why? Worried you'll run out of money if you cut me off forever?”

Her mocking laugh left me speechless.

I looked straight into her eyes.

Tears streamed down my face, yet she didn't seem to notice.

Was it because of the rain?

No.

Even if I'd been crying beneath bright sunshine, she would have worn that same expression.

A face so cold it looked as though not even a needle could draw blood.

“Fine.”

“Let's just never see each other again.”

I didn't even want to call her Mom anymore.

I turned my back on her and walked away.

They'd said the shuttle bus from here would take us back to the funeral hall.

Thankfully.

My mother had come in her own car, and she would surely leave the same way.

That meant I wouldn't have to see her again.

The one who had died was my grandmother...

Yet somehow it felt as though I was saying goodbye to my mother forever.

---

Getting to Grandma's house wasn't easy.

I was soaked from head to toe.

The driver scolded me when I boarded the funeral shuttle, and the passengers on the subway gave me uncomfortable looks the entire way.

Seriously...

I knew acting on emotion always came with consequences.

Yet every now and then, I completely lost control of myself.

Cursing myself under my breath, I finally dragged my exhausted body all the way to Grandma's house.

By then, night had already fallen.

Walking down a road without a single streetlight on a rainy evening was terrifying.

I kept imagining serial killers lurking somewhere nearby and found myself constantly glancing over my shoulder.

Grandma's house was in a quiet rural town in Gyeonggi Province.

Though peaceful, it was surprisingly close to a subway station.

She'd probably chosen the location because she knew I'd be visiting often.

"Close," however, still meant a thirty-minute walk from the station.

Still...

At least I could get there by subway.

The moment I got inside, I opened my backpack and checked the condolence envelopes.

I hadn't been able to earlier.

The funeral had been chaotic, and I was handling everything alone.

Thankfully, my friends had taken turns staying with me throughout the three-day funeral, greeting visitors whenever they arrived.

But I was the only chief mourner.

I couldn't leave the funeral room even once.

Mother had paid the funeral expenses.

Before we departed for the burial site, I'd handed her every single condolence envelope.

She'd merely replied,

“Keep it. You can have it.”

She hadn't even tried to touch them.

Then, while I boarded the funeral bus, she climbed into her own car without another word.

From the driver's seat, her manager looked at me with obvious pity and gave me a silent nod.

I barely managed a small bow in return.

I was so angry with my mother that I couldn't even bring myself to greet the people who worked for her.

“Where's your mother?”

“She isn't here.”

“Oh dear... Professor Oh, honestly... You're Professor Oh's daughter, aren't you? Here. Buy yourself something nice to eat.”

None of Mother's acquaintances seemed surprised she wasn't at the funeral.

Instead, they only looked at me with sympathy.

Many of them secretly slipped me spending money.

More than the money itself...

I found myself wondering how they knew my mother.

But the one person who could have answered that question wasn't there.

Halfway through counting the cash, I suddenly became frightened and stopped.

It had already exceeded fifty million won.

Can I really keep all of this?

I turned my phone on to ask my mother one last time...

Then immediately turned it back off.

I didn't want to contact her over something like this.

Especially not after our final conversation had ended with her talking about money.

In the end, I left the phone untouched and quietly finished counting every bill.

That night...

I learned that money has a surprisingly strong smell.

---

The total amount of condolence money came to 86,750,000 won.

I deposited every last won into a bank in town.

Oddly enough, carrying that money to the bank was the scariest part.

No one knew I had nearly eighty-seven million won with me.

Even so, my hands wouldn't stop shaking.

After making the deposit, I couldn't bring myself to leave immediately.

I sat inside the bank for quite a while, trying to calm my trembling nerves.

Then I stepped outside...

Only to discover an even bigger problem waiting for me.

On the way there, I'd been too nervous to notice.

Now the August sun was blazing overhead.

The town was a full thirty minutes away from Grandma's house.

“I am so dead...”

A sigh escaped me.

I bought an ice cream from a small convenience store and slowly ate it while walking home.

Somehow I managed to make it back.

The ice cream left a sweet taste in my mouth, while sweat soaked the rest of my body.

After taking a shower and changing into pajamas, I grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

As I stood in the kitchen drinking it, I looked through the window...

And saw Grandma's garden.

Garden...

Or perhaps courtyard would be a better word.

It wasn't very large, but every corner had been lovingly decorated.

It was charming.

No matter where she lived, Grandma always created a garden.

When I was little, we'd sit outside together and have tea.

Whenever we sat beneath the warm sunlight, sipping tea and admiring the flowers...

The whole world felt as warm and gentle as that little garden.

The garden hadn't changed at all.

It looked exactly as it had back then.

Yet somehow...

I still couldn't accept that Grandma was really gone.

It felt as though if I walked outside...

She would appear carrying a tray of tea.

She'd smile and hand me a mug of cocoa, saying,

"It's my puppy's favorite."

I couldn't believe those days would never come again.

During the hot summers, she'd often make fresh lemonade for me.

Sure enough, there was homemade lemon syrup and sparkling water waiting in the refrigerator.

I mixed myself a quick glass and headed for the back door.

My personal slippers were still neatly lined up exactly where she'd always left them.

I slipped them on and stepped outside.

Then I sat in one of the iron garden chairs...

Waiting for Grandma.

If I waited here long enough...

Surely she'd come.

But she didn't.

“Grandma...”

I called out softly.

It felt as though she would answer.

She never did.

Tears rolled down my cheeks.

I knew I was being pathetic.

But I didn't know what else to do.

This was the first time someone close to me had died.

And that person...

Had loved me more than anyone else in the world.

Perhaps...

She'd been the only one.

What was I supposed to do at a time like this?

How was anyone supposed to endure something like this?

Restless, I wandered through the garden until I stopped in front of Grandma's vegetable patch.

A small laugh escaped me.

The garden was surrounded by a tiny wooden fence barely fifteen centimeters high.

The funny part was...

There was a tiny gate built into one side.

Who would ever bother opening a gate in a fence that low?

I'd never opened it before.

Well...

Almost once.

“Grandma, why did you even put this here?”

When I'd reached out to open it, she'd lightly slapped the back of my hand.

“It's there because it looks nice. Don't touch it—you'll break it!”

Grandma had always cared more about style than she'd admit.

Squatting in front of the tiny gate, I smiled at the memory.

There was no one left to stop me now.

So I opened it.

Stepped through.

And in that very instant—

A brilliant flash exploded before my eyes.

The world changed.

Stretching endlessly before me was a vast sea of emerald-green grass.

A powerful wind swept across the open plain, bending the grass low against the earth.

Above me spread a sky far higher than any I'd ever seen.

When I turned around...

There was a forest.

A dense forest of towering trees.

Though it was broad daylight, the woods were so thick that the interior lay swallowed in darkness.

Grandma's house...

Was nowhere to be seen.

“...Where am I?”