The Walking Dead: I Sell Arms as a Sixth-Rate Seller in the Apocalypse

8:35 am

Inside a hotel room in Woodbury.

Mihye-ja lectured Park Mi-ri.

"Mom, you've gone too far! How could you say such things about the man I've set my sights on?"

Just moments ago, Park Mi-ri was pleased with her daughter's skill in disciplining her husband when she saw Mi-hye-ja start criticizing her, which made her lose face. She retorted.

"What do you mean by 'your man'? Mieko, how old are you to be getting married? Your father and I had you by accident, otherwise do you think I would have gotten married so young?"

"But why are you interfering with my freedom to choose my own marriage?"

“Mihoko, you know your father’s temper, and you see our family’s situation. Your father, like Rick, is nine years older than me, but look at the life we’ve led since I got married. Do you think I don’t want to live a good life with your father in Macon? Do you think I came to Atlanta to open a restaurant on my own accord?”

Hearing Park Mi-ri's words, Mi-hye-ja fell silent. Indeed, in other people's eyes, their family's life was absolutely terrible. Her father ran a kendo dojo in Macon City, and her mother was said to have opened a barbecue restaurant next to their kendo dojo after giving birth to her.

Park Mi-ri didn't give Mi-hye-ja any time to think further; she continued to explain the facts to Mi-hye-ja.

“Mihoko, after I gave birth to you, for you and for this family, I sold the shop that my parents left me and opened a shop next to your father’s kendo dojo. The shop was more expensive but smaller. Even so, my family’s barbecue skills still attracted many old customers.”

Park Mi-ri paused, then began to speak eloquently, as if recalling that time.

“You were still young then, and your mother was carrying you on her back while doing business. I felt that was the happiest time of my life.”

As Park Mi-ri recounted her past, she became completely absorbed in the story.

Seeing this, Mihoko didn't want to disturb her, so she just listened to her tell stories about her childhood. Rick, who was standing nearby, also chose to stand aside and listen to Mihoko's childhood stories.

“Your father was initially unhappy about my business, but when he saw that I was using our own money to open the shop, he stopped saying anything. But from then on, every night after work, your father would go to a bar called “Rosa Connor” to drink, and he would get completely drunk every time. I was always the one who had to take him home. Once, when he was drunk, he mistook me for a hostess named “Sakurada Hina” at the bar. He cried to me about my shortcomings and regrets, and even hated me for not giving him a son to inherit his kendo dojo.”

"At first, I thought he was just in a bad mood because the kendo gym wasn't doing well and he needed to vent to someone. But who would have thought that since that night, he's been going to that bar every day to drink, and every time he's drinking with that woman named Sakurada Hina. He gets completely drunk every night. Meanwhile, I have to take care of the business at the bar and you. When I get busy at night, I don't have time to take care of him at all. But even so, the regular customers at the bar still helped me take your father home."

“Until one day, your father told me that I had to give him a son to inherit the kendo school, otherwise he would use you as a threat to sell the shop I worked so hard to build. I was unwilling at first, but seeing that you were still so young, I didn’t want you to have an unhappy family, so I agreed to his request. Your father started working day and night, and even stopped opening the kendo school. He only wanted a son. This situation lasted for two months until I got pregnant and then it stopped.”

Hearing this, Rick felt that this scene was exactly like those obsessed people in the countryside who favored sons over daughters, while Mieko, who was standing next to him, felt that it was stranger the more she listened. When she heard that her mother was pregnant, she couldn't help but interrupt.

"Mom, how is that child?"

Park Mi-ri acted as if she hadn't heard, and continued to recount the past to Mi-hye-ja.

"After your father found out I was pregnant again, he reverted to the way he was when I was pregnant with you. He often came to help out at my shop. At first, I thought he just wanted a son to inherit the kendo school, but it turns out I was too naive. During my postpartum period, he went to Rosa Connor's every night to drown his sorrows and often didn't come home at night. I couldn't bring him back in my physical condition, so I just left him alone. But when I found out he had actually stayed overnight at that woman named Sakurada Hina's house behind my back, I was furious. That night, a regular customer of mine told me that he saw your father walking towards an old residential building with someone in his arms. I couldn't hold back anymore. I entrusted you to the neighbors and went to the location the customer gave me."

“When I got there, I heard your father and that woman plowing the field outside a house, which made me very angry. After a while, the sound stopped, and the two of them started talking. When I heard what they were saying, I was furious.”

Just then, Rick interjected.

"Something juicy goings up? Tell me more?"

Upon hearing Rick's words, Park Mi-ri glared at him, while Mi-eko echoed Rick's words.

"Yes, Mom, what exactly did Dad say to that woman?"

Park Mi-ri paused and then spoke again.

"This is what happened."

Hina: Judge, when are you going to divorce that awful woman and marry me?

Judge: Hina-chan, be patient for a while longer, and then get a divorce after she gives birth to the child.

Hina: But what if she really gives birth to a boy for you?

Judge: It's alright. Even if she gives birth to a boy, I will divorce her, leave her with nothing, and then marry you and give you a grand wedding.

Hina: I don't care, Judge, I want her shop. You have to find a way to get ownership of that shop from her. Then I'll open a small bar, and the four of us will be together forever.

Judge: Listen to you, don't go to work at Rosa Connor for the time being. Just stay home and take care of your pregnancy. I'll give you the money, and I'll find a way to get my hands on that woman's shop.

Hina: Hmph, I don't care, you need to hurry up, I don't want to wait too long.

Judge: Hina-chan, have the results of the gender test you had at the clinic come back yet?

Hina: They're out! They're twins, a boy and a girl, both children are healthy.

Judge: Thank you, Hina. When that woman's child is born, if it's a boy, I hope you will treat him well. If it's a girl, I will make that woman and her family get out of here, including Mieko.

Hina: Gaji, you're not planning to keep Mieko's child either?

Judge: That's right, because Mieko is that woman's child.

Hina: Kamieko is also your biological daughter.

Judge: It's alright. I'm the only one left in the Nohara family line in America. I have to carry on the family line and not let the Nohara family's bloodline in America end with me.

Hina: So, will you treat me and our child the same way you treat that woman and her child in the future?

Judge: How could that be, Hina-chan? You are my everything. Our son will inherit my kendo dojo, and our daughter will be happy no matter what.

Hina: Judge, you're so sweet-talking. I love you the most, kisses...

"Hearing this, I couldn't hold back anymore. I didn't go in to catch you in the act because I was afraid your father would retaliate. I wanted to run home as fast as I could and leave this city that had broken my heart. But when I ran across the road, I didn't notice the cars passing by. I just felt something hit me and then I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was already in the hospital. The doctor told me I had been in a coma for a month. But when I looked down at my stomach, I found that my once round belly had become flat. When I asked the doctor, I learned that the baby in my belly had died that night. It was a boy."

Hearing this, Mihoko felt depressed. She had just been looking forward to having a younger brother or sister, but things had turned out this way, instantly plunging her from heaven to hell.

Park Mi-ri ignored Mi-hye-ja and continued talking to herself.

"The doctor said that my health was surprisingly good. Although I lost the baby in my womb, after a month of treatment and recuperation, I could still have children in the future. So I recuperated in that hospital for another month. When I returned home, I didn't see your father. Instead, I saw you abandoned to the side, starving and on the verge of death. This made me think of killing your father. Just as I was carrying you out the door, an ambulance drove past me. Through the glass, I saw your father sitting in the ambulance with a woman named Sakura Hina. I ignored them. I went back to the shop, made some food for you, and then opened for business."

"From that day on, your father disappeared. A week later, he came home with a full beard and didn't say a word to you or me. It wasn't until I opened the shop the next day that I learned that the woman named Sakurada Hina had suffered a severe hemorrhage during childbirth. Sakurada Hina died from postpartum hemorrhage after giving birth to her two children, and her two children died in the incubators before they even reached 24 hours old. After learning about this, your father went out drinking heavily for a week until he had spent all the money he had saved before he returned home."

“Since that day, your father has been beating and scolding me. I only endured his beatings and scoldings because of you. Until one time, he even wanted to sell you to get money to continue drinking. I couldn’t take it anymore. That noon, I sold the shop and chose a shop in North Atlanta to start over. However, that night, just as I was about to take you away from your father, the immigration officers came to investigate our family. I had no choice but to hide you at home and take a bus from Macon to Atlanta overnight.”

Hearing Park Mi-ri recount this, Rick felt heartbroken for Mi-eko's past once again. He vowed that he would never become an irresponsible scumbag like Nohara Gaji.

Thinking of this, Rick hugged Mihoko next to him and joined her in eating the gossip that Park Miri was about to reveal.