I Died Afraid My Broken Arm Burdened Them

After a malfunctioning machine at the factory mangled both my arms, I called my mother.

“Mom, what if I lost my arms and could not work or make money anymore?”

She thought I joked, yet her voice stayed deadly serious.

“Then your dad and I will take care of you for the rest of your life. We will beg if we have to. We will dig through trash, sell our blood, even sell our kidneys. We will find a way to keep you fed.”

I had known since I was little that our family stayed desperately poor.

My parents had sold everything they could and worked themselves sick just to raise me.

That was why I refused to become a burden to them.

After I transferred the compensation money to my mom, I spent my last ten dollars on a bottle of pesticide. I swallowed it with half a bread roll left over from yesterday.

The very next second, my father called me back.

“Congratulations. You are only nineteen, and you already made 3,000,000 dollars. You passed the trial. You finally met the standards we set for our perfect heir. So, Daddy has a confession to make. Our family is actually the richest family in South City. Surprised? Happy?”

All those years, I had worked myself to the bone trying to make money. I believed I had to hold our family together, and I believed I had to become their pillar.

In the end, it had all been nothing more than a test.

‘Dad, Mom, I cannot be happy anymore. I am going to die.’
Chapter 1
“Landon? Why were you not saying anything? Were you so happy you went speechless?”
That familiar laugh sounded in my ear.
I struggled to swallow the last trace of bitterness in my mouth, as though I had hurriedly swallowed a lifetime of pain along with it. There were no tears, nor any trace of pain, only a bone-deep chill that seeped through the very marrow of me.
“I knew this kind of surprise was no different from getting rich overnight. It was perfectly normal that you could not take it all in right away.
“But you had to understand, we did all of this for your own good. Without this test, would you have ever made this much money? Would you have grown into such a strong and capable man?”
He laughed even more happily.
“Landon, every hardship you endured was worth it. You were about to inherit billions in assets and stand at a height most people could never reach in their entire lives.”
Then I heard my mother’s delighted voice in the background.
“Your dad and I are coming to your apartment right now. We will be there soon.”
I lay on my hard mattress, staring at the dim, yellowed ceiling light.
After a long silence, I finally let out a quiet laugh.
“So, it was all fake? Even when I was nine and Mom was diagnosed with leukemia and needed medication for the rest of her life, when Dad broke his spine and could never work again, was all of that fake too?”
The first half of my life had been nothing but suffering.
It began when I was nine, when my mother fell ill and my father had to quit his job. They said poverty forced children to grow up too soon. I was ripped from childhood and forced into adulthood before I ever had a choice.
Desperate to raise enough money for their medical bills, I knelt until my knees were bloody and raw. Not a single person was willing to lend me money.
I looked at my mother’s reddened eyes and my father’s graying hair. I swore to the heavens that either I died, or I made something of myself.
For ten years, I scavenged through garbage, I delivered food, I hauled bricks at construction sites, and I worked until I passed out and pushed myself until I vomited blood.
I even knelt before wealthy people and let them humiliate me for their amusement. Poverty had worn away every sharp edge of my pride. I did not care.
All I wanted was to hold this family together, was for my parents to live good lives, and for them to be safe and healthy.
“Fake. It was all fake. Those were just excuses we came up with to put you through hardships. After all, a person only truly grows after experiencing suffering.
“Landon, you did not disappoint your mother and me.”
My mother did not hear the tremor in my voice. Nor did she think, even for a moment, that deceiving me for all those years had been wrong.
The pain in my stomach began to twist and tear. My vision slowly blurred. The poison was taking effect.
For a moment, I even wondered if the pesticide had made me hallucinate. Perhaps the billions, the test, and all of it were fake.
It was not until my silence finally exhausted my father’s patience.
“Actually, you had an older brother. We spoiled him rotten from the moment he was born. He always spent money like it meant nothing. Even now, he dropped millions on sports cars and luxury watches without a second thought. All he knew how to do was waste money. He had no sense of responsibility whatsoever.
“So after you were born, we started to reconsider. If we raised you the way we raised him, giving you everything you wanted and showering you with love, you would have ended up just as spoiled and useless.
“Then what would happen to the company? Who would inherit the family fortune?
“You should at least try to understand why we had to do this.”
So I had an older brother who had been loved and spoiled his entire life.
All of this was real.
“Landon, we were already downstairs.
“From now on, you would never have to do those exhausting, miserable jobs again.”
I was just about to answer when a mouthful of black blood spilled from my lips.
All at once, my body felt strangely light. It was as though I had finally set down the weight I had carried on my shoulders for years. I floated freely in the air.
I really would never have to do those exhausting, miserable jobs again.
It was because I was already dead.

Chapter 2
A knock sounded at the door.
My spirit drifted outside.
Mom and Dad were standing in the hallway, dressed in expensive suits and custom-tailored formalwear.
The diamond necklace around Mom’s neck alone was worth more than I could have earned hauling bricks for the rest of my life.
“Disgusting. Hurry up and get our son out here. Even a dog would not live in a place like this, and he actually managed to stay here.”
“These heels are brand-new. They cost more than five hundred thousand.”
Mom covered her nose and mouth. There was no sympathy in her gaze, no trace of remorse, only undisguised disgust and contempt.
I heard words like these countless times from the mouths of wealthy people.
Almost instinctively, I dropped to my knees and reached for her shoes.
‘I am sorry…’
My severed hand passed straight through her body.
Oh, I was already dead.
Compared to their mansion, this place really was filthy and miserable.
However, to me, it had been the only place I had to escape the wind and rain.
My family was poor. Mom’s chemotherapy cost thirty thousand a month, and Dad’s physical therapy cost another ten thousand dollars.
I never had time to complain about how dirty or foul-smelling it was. I certainly never had time to dwell on how hard my life was.
Now, my heart felt like it was drowning in a bitterness deeper than anything I had ever known. No matter how hard I tried, I could not push it down.
The poverty had been a lie.
Yet every bit of suffering I endured, every humiliation, every look of contempt had been real.
If only I had not been so obedient.
If only…
However, there were no ifs.
When there was still no sound from inside, Mom began to panic.
“Do you think something happened to him?”
“What could possibly happen? He has been running around on his own since he was nine. Nothing ever happened to him out there. What could possibly happen to him now that he is at home?”
Dad impatiently twisted the doorknob until it creaked.
“Landon, how long are you going to keep pretending you do not understand?”
“So what if we put on an act and deceived you for all these years?”
“We did it for your own good. That billion-dollar fortune is going to you, not some stranger. What right do you have to be angry with us?”
Still, there was nothing but silence.
A flicker of disappointment crossed Dad’s eyes.
“Do you really want me to become completely disappointed in you over something this trivial? You used to be so obedient. So sensible.”
I still said nothing.
Dad finally lost his temper and ordered his assistant to bring an axe so they could break down the door.
Mom stopped him.
“Enough. This was probably too sudden for him. He just needs some time to process it. Let us give our son a little more time. He will come around eventually.”
Dad took a deep breath.
When he spoke again, his voice was calm.
“Only weak and incapable people obsess over every little detail. Does the process really matter? What matters is the result. You are being handed a fortune that other people could not earn in several lifetimes without having to lift a finger. Do not be so ungrateful.”
After they left, my spirit followed them home.
The mansion was enormous. It was far bigger than anything I had ever dared dream of.
A maid brought a package to Mom.
I recognized it instantly. It was the birthday present I bought for her.
To afford it, I begged my supervisor for an advance on a month’s wages. In exchange, I promised to work two extra hours of overtime every day.
I never imagined that the machine would malfunction and tear both my arms apart.
I thought Mom would be as delighted as she had sounded on the phone.
“Thank you, sweetheart. I will treasure it.”
However, she barely glanced at the gift before tossing it into the trash.
“Cheap and poorly made, but at least it proves our trial worked. He endured hardship and bought it with money he earned himself. He did not get it for free. Unlike his older brother. He just sent me a birthday message, then casually blew two million on me.”
There was disdain in her voice. Yet her eyes were filled with unmistakable affection.
Suddenly, I understood that I was the protagonist of their little test, the heir they had placed all their hopes on, and the blade they had tempered through endless hardship until I became the sharpest weapon they could forge.
However, I was never the child they truly loved.

Chapter 3
I did not want to stay there anymore.
As I left the mansion, my older brother, Jaxon, came home. He was dressed head to toe in designer clothes. His skin was fair and flawless.
Then I caught my reflection in the floor-to-ceiling window. That was a face roughened by years of hardship, skin cracked and weathered.
I was wearing a pair of faded jeans washed nearly white, cheap rubber shoes with the soles coming apart, and two empty sleeves where my arms used to be.
Yet we were both our parents’ sons.
“Why has not Landon come back?”
“He will come back once he figures things out.”
Mom took Jaxon by the arm and scolded him for racing cars and running wild outside. Then came the endless questions. Was he hurt? Was he hungry? Was he tired?
Every word felt like a thousand knives twisting in my chest.
I had never heard any of those words meant for me. What I heard most often was,
“Landon, our family is poor. You have to work hard. You have to make something of yourself. You need to make your parents proud. We cannot let other people look down on us.”
It was always the same thing.
I never dared complain and say I was tired. I made myself the obedient one. I never gave them a reason to worry.
Still, did that mean I did not deserve their concern?
“Now that Landon is coming back, you guys are not going to play favorites and let him drive all my cars, are you?”
Jaxon pouted unhappily.
Mom laughed and tapped him on the forehead with her fingernail.
“Landon is sensible. He would never fight you over anything. Once he inherits the company, he will take care of you just like Mom and Dad do. Stop overthinking everything.”
I let out a bitter laugh. Then I turned and walked away from the mansion.
The next day, Jaxon came to pick me up.
I thought that once he opened the door, they would cremate my body. Perhaps then I could finally be free. From that moment on, I would never have to suffer again.
However, he did not even try to open the door. He simply leaned against it and lit a cigarette.
His voice dripped with sarcasm, “We are handing you a fortune worth billions, and you are still unhappy? You will not even open the damn door. If you really have the guts to reject it, then come out and tell Mom and Dad to give the company to me.”
I lay silently on my hard mattress. Not far away, my body had already begun to decompose. Yellow fluid seeped from the corpse and slowly trickled beneath the door.
Jaxon stepped in it, and in a fit of rage, he slammed his foot into the door.
“Landon! Get your ass out here! You did this on purpose, did you not? What the hell is this filthy, stinking yellow liquid? It got all over my shoes. Do you have any idea how much these cost? They are limited edition. They cost five million dollars. You could not even make five million in ten years, and you still dare to ruin my shoes?”
The kick knocked a wooden beam loose from the doorframe. It came crashing down onto Jaxon’s head.
His vision went black. He reached up to cover the wound, but the moment he saw the blood, his face turned pale.
I watched as he called Mom and Dad.
Half an hour later, they arrived.
“Mom, Dad, I only told Landon to come outside, and he attacked me with that piece of wood!”
Mom immediately pulled Jaxon into her arms, clearly distressed over his injury, then angrily pounded on the door.
“Landon, Jaxon had no idea about this trial. He knew nothing about what we were doing. Why would you hurt him? If you are angry, take it out on us. Come out now and apologize to your brother.”
There was still no response from inside.
Dad’s expression darkened.
“Landon, if you keep acting like this, then everything your mother and I have done for you all these years, all the effort we put into raising you, all the hopes we had for you, will have been for nothing.
“You are being selfish and petty. When you inherit the company, you will have the responsibilities of countless people resting on your shoulders. Are you going to throw tantrums like this every time something does not go your way?”
He ran out of patience and started instructing his assistant to break the lock.
I quietly closed my eyes. Slowly, the noise outside faded again.
The smell of my rotting body began to spread. Jaxon started retching violently.
Mom was worried about him and decided to take him to the hospital first.
Not one of them recognized where the strange smell was coming from.
Dad even assumed it was another one of my childish attempts at rebellion.
“These tricks might work in the business world, but you do not use them against your own family. When we get back from the hospital, you had better stop this nonsense. Our patience has limits. No matter what happens, we are still your parents. We are still your family. We are doing all of this for your own good.”
I waited another two days in that tiny rental apartment.
Finally, the door opened.

Chapter 4
However, the people waiting at the door were not my parents.
It was Cyrus Grant, a coworker from the factory.
Downstairs, the landlord’s curses echoed through the building.
“Go and ask Landon what the hell he is doing. Is he dead in there or something? The whole place stinks to high heaven, and I am the one getting yelled at by the tenants downstairs every damn day.
“If I had known you poor bastards would treat the place like this, I never would have rented it to you. You finally have somewhere to live, and you do not even know how to take care of it.”
Cyrus said nothing.
He walked shakily over to the table and picked up the bottle of pesticide. Then he suddenly broke down sobbing.
“I was worried you might do something stupid, so I came to check on you. I just never thought… If I had known this was going to be your last meal, I would have advanced you some of your wages and taken you out for a proper meal.
“You were always so careful with money. You never let yourself eat anything good. And now you are gone without ever getting to have a decent meal.”
So there really was someone who genuinely cared about me.
However, I was already a ghost.
There was nothing I could do. I could not even comfort him.
Cyrus cleaned up my room and carefully placed my body into a bag.
“I will take you back to our hometown, Landon. You belong back where you came from.”
He hoisted the bag onto his shoulder.
Fortunately, I had been nothing but skin and bones after years of poverty, so it was not too heavy for him.
I followed behind him, unable to stop myself from rambling.
‘Keep your money and use it to find yourself a wife. Whatever you do, do not waste it on a coffin for me. Just wrap me in a straw mat and bury me somewhere.’
After nearly twenty years of living in poverty, my life was worth so little. I could not bear to let him spend his hard-earned money on me.
After we descended one flight of stairs, I suddenly heard Mom and Dad complaining.
“Was not everything we did for his own good? If we handed that kind of fortune to anyone else, they would be on their knees thanking us. And he still has the nerve to throw a tantrum at us, forcing us to come to this dump over and over again. Now he has gotten Jaxon hospitalized with a respiratory infection. If anything happens to him, I swear I will never forgive Landon.”
Cyrus had never met my parents before. Yet he knew at once that these were wealthy people he could not afford to offend.
So he lowered his head and stepped aside to let them pass.
The stairwell was narrow. The bag inevitably brushed against Mom’s hair.
“Are you blind? Did you not see that you hit me? Honestly, what is wrong with you poor people? Why are you all so damn rude? Or are you trying to scam me for money?”
Mom’s shrill voice drew the attention of the neighbors, who began opening their doors to see what was happening.
Cyrus’s face flushed crimson with embarrassment.
“I am sorry…”
He bowed to Mom, nervously tightening his grip on the bag over his shoulder.
Perhaps she was simply sick of having to come back to a place that disgusted her, or maybe she was furious because my disobedience had gotten Jaxon sick.
Whatever the reason, she shoved Cyrus hard, dumping all her anger onto him.
“You think saying ‘sorry’ makes everything okay? Did I say I forgive you? You poor people always think you can escape responsibility with one pathetic little apology, do you not?”
Cyrus lost his footing and tumbled down the stairs. His arm scraped against the steps, blood immediately running from the wound.
“I am sorry. I really did not mean to. I will pay you back.”
He knelt on the floor and pulled every last bill from his pocket, pleading desperately.
“Could you please leave me a thousand? I need to buy my friend a coffin.”
I tried to pull him to his feet, but my hands passed right through him. I could not touch him.
Mom was still sneering, her voice light and condescending.
“Poor, and you still want to waste money on a coffin? Just burn him and scatter the ashes in some filthy ditch. It will save you the money.”
Her words were cruel and cutting. She was insulting Cyrus, but were they not just as much an insult to me?
Mom, do you know?
Just because we were poor, I had to scrape together enough money for your medical bills and Dad’s treatment…
I had heard people say things like that to me, too. They told me I was born with a worthless life. That my very existence was a waste of air, and that even dying would only waste a patch of earth.
“Enough.”
Dad rubbed his temples, clearly irritated. “Getting our son is more important.”
Mom was still seething.
Then she noticed Cyrus’s ashen face, and the way he was clutching that bag as though his life depended on it.
She stormed over and yanked it away.
“What are you hiding in there? Some kind of treasure? Did you steal something?”
Then Mom’s eyes fell unexpectedly on my bruised, purple face.
I drifted toward her and looked at her calmly.
‘Mom, are you satisfied with the results of this little trial you put me through?’