Our Family Has Fallen

Yet they had entirely forgotten what they had abandoned and whose interests they were really harming. All of it was like a cruel joke...

The man used to live in a house, where he and his wife, along with their two children, all fit in—a family of four. But recently, the cost of living had become extremely abnormal, with necessary expenses skyrocketing while other prices plummeted. As a consequence for ordinary people like them, survival itself became an issue. Since the consortium was not paying wages, his family was expelled from their home.

They had no choice but to move to the docks because his parents were fishermen from the riverside, and they owned a small fishing hut here.

As for their possessions, they were continually diminished by the high cost of living. Everything sellable had been sold. Now, with absolutely nothing left, they were driven to desperation—otherwise, he wouldn’t have been the first to speak up earlier.

Gradually moving away from the urban area and onto the riverside docks, people driven out by desperation for various reasons made the already chaotic docks even more chaotic. The Gang that had sprung up even monopolized the fishermen’s trade. Anyone wanting to fish had to get their approval, which directly caused his parents to lose their jobs.

Upon entering, he quickly tucked his money pouch inside his clothes to conceal it, hugging his arms in front of his bent body as he moved forward. If anyone knew he carried money, he would likely be targeted and robbed. Fortunately, his disheveled appearance from the recent beating made him look more like a vagrant. No one paid any attention to him.

Passing by the riverside, the man saw corpses floating on the water, some swollen, with waves of foul stench wafting over. He had grown up by the river and had never seen anything like this before. Nonetheless, he seemed unfazed by it. Because lately, it was all too common to see bodies drifting down, each one a person driven to despair. ...but wasn’t he in the same position?

After walking a distance, he finally returned ”home”—a makeshift shelter by the docks built from abandoned planks of a boat. Looking around, he could see that many other fishermen were in a similar plight. Old and dilapidated, but this place was now his only haven.

”I’m back!”

No matter how destitute he appeared outside, he didn’t want to bring that pressure home at this moment. He was pondering how to explain the bruises on his body, intending to keep from them the fact that he’d lost his job...

But when he opened the door and walked in, he was not greeted by his family’s response. This type of fishing hut was too small. One glance was enough to take it all in. In that cramped space, he saw his wife sitting on the ground, dazed, her head resting lifelessly against the wall and tilted to one side, her eyes reflecting a look of helplessness and loss. She cradled their younger child in her arms, and on a bed hastily made from planks in the living space, their older child was curled up.

”What’s wrong with the kids?”

The man panicked, thinking something had happened to the children, and without hesitation, he pulled out the money pouch.

”Don’t be afraid, I’ve got my wages, we can go see a doctor.”

It wasn’t just the lack of food that was crushing him. His older son had had a low-grade fever for two days, and if they didn’t find a solution soon...

At that moment, the dazed woman snapped back to reality, her eyes long dry from tears, but the sorrow in her words was uncontrollable.

”When I woke up this morning, they were gone.”

Gone? What did she mean gone? The man was stunned for a second before realizing that his usually present parents were nowhere to be seen. He seemed to grasp something, and his heart clenched instantly—the money pouch he was tightly clutching slipped and fell to the ground.

At this time, what else could their disappearance mean? They must have not wanted to be a burden any longer. Perhaps in their eyes, having been of little help recently, with their son receiving no wages and their grandson ill, the only way for their grandson to survive was for them to leave, leaving the hope of life to the younger generation. And where could these two elderly people go at this time? Lately, the number of people jumping into the river had been increasing... Just the thought of the bodies floating near the bank made the man’s head spin, and he collapsed to the ground, powerless.

”Why didn’t you go look for them? Why didn’t you...”

The man’s long-suppressed anger seemed about to erupt, and it was directed at the woman. But just as he shouted, the child in the woman’s arms was startled awake, emitting a feeble cry. Who knew how long it had been hungry.

The man was taken aback.

Yes... Was he really suggesting a mother should abandon her own child?

Even if she found them, what then?

His rising anger vanished in an instant, and his despair turned inward, as the man could not help but hold his head and weep bitterly, issuing a mournful howl.

”It’s all my fault… I’m the one to blame for being useless…”

It’s all my fault. If only I had brought the money back sooner...

An almost suffocating despair enveloped this family, yet they were just one amongst countless others in this world, their experiences far from unique.

Just then, a commotion arose outside, the banging on the door nearly causing the house itself to shake. The man first thought it was the Gang and quickly hid the money pouch. But when he looked out the window, he saw an old neighbor he hadn’t seen in years—like his parents, formerly a fisherman.

”Your parents were caught sneaking down to the river to catch fish, and now they’re at the docks. Hurry and go see.”

After all, they were longtime neighbors, but this was already the extent of what they could do. Many fishermen in this area were constrained by the Gang. The neighbor merely delivered the message and left quickly, not giving the man a chance to say more, apparently fearing trouble.

The man was stunned when he heard this but quickly grasped what had happened. His parents, worried for their family, must have tried to catch fish in secret but were discovered by the Gang. But this news was anything but good, even plunging him back into a kind of dilemma.

If his parents had already made their decision, and his wife had made hers, now it was his turn. It was a choice between using the money to ransom his parents or to treat his child’s illness. But even more despairing was the fact that, even if he chose one of these options, success was not guaranteed. Because those people might not release anyone even with the money, and likewise, that money might not be enough to save his child’s life.

The accumulated pressure finally broke the man’s spine, plunging him into utter—despair!

There was no hope in this Hell, not even a sliver of it.

”Go ahead. Even if it’s to bring back corpses, the child and I will wait at home for you to return. Even if we have to depart, our family will leave together, whole and complete.”

As the woman soothed the child who had just woken up, she uttered words that sent chills down the spine. The ordeal of recent times had made her sick of this world. What was the use of living on? The most terrifying thing was this endless despair, with no end in sight. She did not want her child to live in such despair.

If anyone could understand her, it was surely the man. What others found frightfully morbid, to the man, it sounded like a release, a resignation.

”I understand…” The man looked towards his eldest son who had lost consciousness, picked up the money pouch, and stood up numbly, his face devoid of grief or joy, filled only with endless numbness and emptiness.

At that moment on the docks, a crowd of onlookers had gathered. Two elderly people in their fifties were strung up and tied to stakes, their heads lolling to the side, their breathing ragged and intermittent. Their bodies bore whip marks oozing with blood, clearly having suffered a vicious beating.

Those surrounding them were idle and disheveled, barely alive folks, but that did not stop them from gawking, relishing in others’ misfortune. Among them, a few looked distinctively more alert—clearly not full but not starving either—their hands holding various makeshift short swords and daggers. Without looking, one could tell these spirited young fellows were the Gang’s enforcers. Among them, one with a slightly sleeker complexion was evidently a lower-level boss.

Standing alone among them was a man in tattered clothes, thin and pale, wielding a whip.

”Beat them!”

The young boss spoke, and the man raised his hand, bringing the whip down on an elderly person again. But there was little reaction left, only a feeble moan escaping.

To the onlookers, this spectacle only provoked sneers, as if mocking the foolishness of these beaten individuals.