Chapter 198

<Part 2>

Yoo Myung-sun, with a dazed expression, seemed oblivious as Cheon Gil-ryong swung his arm.

“I thought I’d get some noodles early, so I went to the chapel that pops up along the way, you know.”

As Cheon Gil-ryong moved, Yoo Myung-sun followed, diligently using the walking stick Cheon had handed him.

This senior has a knack for making even the smallest stories interesting. In his old age, where excitement and curiosity are rare, he found a good source of amusement and couldn’t let it go.

“Ah, at first, they gave me a Bible, a hymnbook, and even a cross.”

“Ah, yes.”

“But since last year, they stopped giving noodles at lunch. Something about insufficient donations or whatever.”

“Oh dear, that’s…”

“Noodles are something you can always get at the market, so it wasn’t a big loss. But then I thought, why not try the church in town?”

“Ah, I see.”

Huff, huff.

Even though Cheon Gil-ryong walked slowly, keeping up with his pace wasn’t easy for Yoo Myung-sun, who was breathing heavily. Amidst this, a strange sensation pricked his temples.

‘Is there something wrong with my body?’

He couldn’t feel his own weight, and the pain in his knees had vanished as if washed away.

It was truly a bizarre experience.

Perhaps the saying about walking on clouds refers to moments like this.

“They treat you to jajangmyeon. This old man doesn’t even know if it’s a donation or cash. They’re well-educated folks, aren’t they? Hahaha! And that priest, he’s in a similar situation as me. Living alone, they say. Hahahaha!”

“Ah, hahaha…”

Cheon Gil-ryong laughed, holding his stomach at the mention of living alone.

Yoo Myung-sun laughed along, though it didn’t feel like his own business. Still, he didn’t feel lonely with Cheon around. He thought it might be a good idea to conditionally open the training center, as Cheon suggested.

“Uh, senior. What about… instead of the church, how about a temple?”

As he aged, Yoo Myung-sun’s stomach weakened, and he didn’t like greasy food.

“Don’t even mention it. There’s a temple called Jaksa halfway up Gubongsan. I climbed all the way up, and all they gave me was noodles. What kind of temple serves noodles? If you climb all that way, they should at least give you some meat soup and rice. How can they expect you to climb the mountain after just that? Those monks who practice illegal acts and seek enlightenment are just hopeless.”

This senior is so detached that he seems to have the world’s laws beneath his feet.

Unable to argue, Yoo Myung-sun kept his mouth shut.

“When will you come down?”

“Probably around April.”

“When you do, I’ll make you a light and sturdy walking stick. There’s plenty of good bamboo where this old man lives.”

“Wasn’t this what you were going to give me…?”

“You’re talking nonsense.”

That’s a man-eating walking stick, you fool. Cheon Gil-ryong clicked his tongue.

“But senior, don’t you have any external events except on weekends?”

“What kind of events would an old man waiting for death have?”

“Huh…”

Though Cheon Gil-ryong seemed too lively for someone waiting for death, Yoo Myung-sun didn’t press further.

Cheon’s lonely gaze as he laughed lightly made him hesitate.

Then Cheon’s eyes sparkled.

“Ah, right. I plan to attend an initiation ceremony.”

“Oh, an initiation ceremony, you say…”

“There’s this guy named Yoo Jin who’s entering the nuclear school, and he insisted I come.”

I must attend personally.

It’s not just anyone; it’s Yoo Jin.

“Ah, it’s the daughter of President Son, so the chairman must know her.”

“Hahaha, of course.”

The same kid who slapped Yoo Myung-sun the first time they met.

That little one is already going to school; time flies.

Children grow, and the old grow older.

– “How old is Habiji now?”

Hahahaha.

Recalling the pleasant meeting, laughter mixed with chest pain burst out.

***

“Ulululu~. Peekaboo!”

“Kyaaa~! Kekekeke~!”

Just like Yoo Jin, Jeong Won-i laughs a lot.

When you play peekaboo, he laughs so hard his eyes disappear, then he carefully examines his brother’s face, his eyes filled with anticipation, urging him to do more.

‘That face is asking for more tricks.’

A cute baby is cute no matter what, especially when crying.

That’s why Mom used to deliberately make Jin-hyuk cry when he was a baby.

Jin-hyuk also found joy in teasing his siblings, but playing with babies is the best. Like now.

“Ulululu~. Peek~!”

“Kyaa~.”

But Jeong Won-i isn’t an easy baby.

When his brother stops playing peekaboo, he tries to laugh but quickly puts on a serious face.

“Baby daddy, boo boo! Yap yap!”

Slap slap~!

“Ouch ouch~.”

Careless, he got his mouth slapped by the baby’s sharp hand.

Probably meaning, don’t mess around and do it properly.

As he rubbed his stinging lips, Yoo Jin handed him a notebook.

“Brother~. Why do you write ‘ji’ here?”

Looking at the notebook Yoo Jin handed him, he saw crooked handwriting practice.

It looked more like ancient scribbles than letters, but it’s impressive that he’s copying without being taught.

“Sit on the chair.”

Why write ‘ji’?

Jin-hyuk couldn’t answer immediately. He didn’t know.

Though it’s a distant past, how could he forget that character?

It’s the only character eight-year-old Son Jin-hyuk got wrong in dictation.

“Hmm. Yoo Jin. It’s better to just memorize it.”

“Why not write ‘hi’? Ah, ‘hi’.”

“When sitting on a chair or the floor, you always write ‘ni’ and ‘ji’ together. I also got it wrong once and just memorized it.”

“Oh? You got it wrong too?”

As if someone hit the back of his head, Yoo Jin’s eyes widened.

“I also got confused and wrote ‘an-da’ instead. After getting it wrong once, I memorized it by pronunciation. That way, I never got it wrong again. So, sometimes it’s necessary to experience failure.”

Even if it’s not failure, sometimes making mistakes is okay.

You can learn from taking the wrong path and correcting it, or from solving problems incorrectly. Failure might not be the mother of success, but mistakes could be allies of perfection.

“Yoo Jin, you don’t have to learn too quickly. You’ll get it all in time.”

If only I had known earlier that it’s okay to take it slow.

Then I could have learned to enjoy life and understood the world more.

Anyway, it’s okay to take it slow and enjoy when you’re young.

Jin-hyuk hoped Yoo Jin would grow up happily, playing without pushing himself too hard.

“I want to learn quickly so I can write reports like you.”

This stubborn kid insists, but Jin-hyuk didn’t feel like persuading him otherwise.

Yoo Jin likes it, and Jin-hyuk likes it too, expressing affection by rubbing foreheads.

When they press their foreheads together, Yoo Jin crows like a crow, enjoying it.

“Our Yoo Jin, do well at the entrance ceremony tomorrow.”

“I wish you could come too…”

Jin-hyuk can’t attend his younger sibling’s historic elementary school entrance ceremony.

Because Jin-hyuk’s entrance ceremony is at the same time in a different place.

Coincidentally, the nine-year age gap means the brother and sister are entering high school and elementary school simultaneously.

Jin-hyuk decided to attend the high school entrance ceremony with Choi Mi-kyung’s family.

He had already told his parents, who were worried about which ceremony to attend, that they should take care of Yoo Jin.

Thinking about it several times, it was a no-brainer.

‘I also want to go, but oh well.’

He looked at Yoo Jin intently after separating their foreheads.

‘Wow. When did Yoo Jin grow so big?’

That baby is entering elementary school.

Since the renaming to elementary school is next year, Yoo Jin will be the last ‘national school’ student.

Come to think of it, Jeong Won-i is already three years old.

“Baby daddy, boo boo!”

Thud~!

Usually quiet, but when he sees his uncle, he becomes a spirited little boy.

Listening to his shouts, it’s like he’s scolding his uncle, treating him as his dad.

“Baby boo~.”

Jeong Won-i, who slapped his uncle, raised both arms.

He’s grown enough to wrestle with the doll his sister cherishes and win by technical fall.

He might tear the doll’s side again.

***

Vroom~.

A black mid-sized sedan with no tint slowly drove down a country road.

Choi Mi-kyung, a high school girl in a neat navy uniform, chirped like a nightingale from the back seat.

“Mom, why is the entrance ceremony always on March 1st?”

“What’s that, uh… wasn’t yesterday Independence Movement Day? Since they did the independence movement, students should go to school and study instead of playing at home. Something like that, right?”

After rolling her eyes and coming up with a reason, Kim Soon-bok laughed, finding it absurd herself.

“Pfft, what’s that? I don’t want to go to school~. I want to go play at the molehill.”

“Stop messing around and study hard~. I don’t expect you to be like our Jin-hyuk.”

Hearing his name, Jin-hyuk, sitting quietly in the passenger seat, flinched.

Why drag me into this? It’s burdensome.

“Hey, our Jin-hyuk is here, so the car is full~. Jin-hyuk is used to good cars, so how does he feel about this one?”

“Dad. Don’t say that. He rides a bike, so this is a luxury for him~.”

Both Choi Jang-hwan and Choi Mi-kyung were right.

They planned to take the bus, but getting a ride in a car is a treat.

It’s Jin-hyuk’s first time in Choi Jang-hwan’s car.

A rear-wheel-drive car with a Holden 1900cc engine, it’s comfortable and has excellent ride quality.

“The car is really nice. The name ‘Prince’ suits it well.”

“Hehe, nice my foot~. But it’s decent for a mid-sized car. It even has ABS~.”

Car enthusiasts can’t help but praise their cars.

Jin-hyuk has that much sense too.

“It guzzles gas. The sticker says 12.8 km per liter, but it barely makes 10 km~.”

Shifting the manual 3-speed gear, Choi Jang-hwan complained while boasting about the car.

Men.

If they only list one good point, they’re not Korean men.

“Being rear-wheel drive, when it’s icy in winter, it’s like stepping on a pebble and your butt sways~. Your face turns pale~. ABS, SBS, none of it helps~.”

You have to admit even the flaws that could be considered defects.

“If it weren’t for me, someone else would have been in trouble~.”

In the end, it’s all about self-praise.

Choi Jang-hwan laughed, recalling sliding on ice after heavy snow.

Choi Mi-kyung, uninterested in men’s adventures, grumbled.

“If we had a preliminary gathering, why do we need another entrance ceremony? What an inconvenient country.”

As Choi Mi-kyung complained, Kim Soon-bok slapped her thigh.

“Hey, you brat. If students want to go to school, let them. Why are you whining?”

“Mom! Jin-hyuk is here, why are you calling me a brat?”

“It’s not like Jin-hyuk cares!”

Jin-hyuk’s cheeks bulged as he watched Kim Soon-bok and Choi Mi-kyung argue in the back seat. In the past, he would have been nervous without doing anything wrong, but now he knows their behavior is just a normal part of daily life.

‘They’re such warm people.’

Choi Mi-kyung is like a friend with her mom.

They go to the sea and fields together and even scrub each other’s backs at public baths.

Even though they don’t need to go to public baths, they can’t give up the fun of switching between hot and cold baths.

‘Will Yoo Jin do that too?’

Yoo Jin also has the environment to bathe at home, but as Choi Mi-kyung said, there’s fun in it.

“Mom and Dad will drop you off and go to the medical center, so take the bus back, okay?”

“Yes, thank you for the ride.”

As if they never argued, Kim Soon-bok held Choi Mi-kyung’s hand and stroked it.

“Oh, our daughter is already a high school student. How time flies. Soon, she’ll be getting married.”

“Stop talking nonsense. I’m not getting married~. Don’t you know about singlehood? I’ll live with Mom.”

Seemingly moved by her own words, Choi Mi-kyung’s voice wavered.

You brat, do you think this old lady will wash your underwear when she’s old? Jin-hyuk finally burst out laughing at Kim Soon-bok’s scolding.

Snort~.

‘You like singlehood, huh? You married a banker, remember.’

Though it’s her life to decide, I hope she doesn’t meet that guy again.

But actively interfering in someone else’s life seems wrong too.

Choi Mi-kyung tapped the passenger seat.

“Jin-hyuk. After the entrance ceremony, you’ll stop by the class, right?”

“Yeah. That’s what I heard.”

It’s called an entrance ceremony, but it’s just seeing the homeroom teacher and classmates from the preliminary gathering one more time.

“Ha. If Son Jin-hyuk were a girl, we might have gone to middle school together. What a companion~.”

Born in the same neighborhood, attending kindergarten to high school together except for middle school. That’s enough to call them companions.

After the entrance ceremony, should I eat a hamburger or jajangmyeon with Choi Mi-kyung…

While pondering this trivial dilemma, I heard giggles from the back.

“Hey~. Uh-huh. Don’t do anything weird on the first day~.”

“Something weird? Like what?”

“Don’t you remember what happened on your first day of elementary school?”

What happened?

About to ask, Jin-hyuk bit his lip.

‘Oh man. I remember.’

Anyway, it’s Dad’s fault.