Chapter 47

#47 <The Son of Refusal (2)>

“Our class president, Jin-hyeok, got perfect scores in all subjects in the midterm exams this semester. Shall we all give him a round of applause?”

Clap clap clap-.

A familiar and all-too-familiar situation. Jin-hyeok, not wanting to seem arrogant, stood up and bowed to the teacher and his classmates in gratitude. His face remained expressionless.

Perhaps his demeanor was intimidating, as both the teacher and classmates flinched.

Chae Kyu-ho secured the seat next to Jin-hyeok. It was a different dynamic from the beginning of the semester when he had been forced to be his desk mate due to being pushed around by others.

“Class president, can you explain what this means?”

Kyu-ho, who had a strong desire to study, said that Jin-hyeok’s tutoring stuck in his head better than the actual classes. Jin-hyeok gladly helped his friends with their studies. He was already teaching Shin Woo-sung and Lee Seung-hoon, so adding one more desk wasn’t a big deal.

Jin-hyeok lived a life no different from any other rural middle school student, leading an ordinary life.

‘My legs, my legs are tingling.’

During breaks, he would take walks or compete with friends to see who could do the most pull-ups. At lunch, they played soccer. Sports were the best.

‘Is it because of hormones? My body feels restless.’

He also glanced at the adult magazines other kids brought, but he particularly liked the one brought by a friend who had a cousin living in Japan.

“Class president, take this.”

Perhaps sensing Jin-hyeok’s interest, the friend cut out a vividly colored page from the glossy magazine and handed it to him. It was a bribe to get closer.

“I’m good.”

After one last glance at the model’s alluring pose, Jin-hyeok refused.

It was a tough decision. His eyes followed the fading image as it moved away.

‘It keeps coming to mind.’

Jin-hyeok’s house was far from school, so he didn’t attend the math and English academies most of his friends went to. In his previous life, he hadn’t even been near an academy, but he didn’t need one anyway. He was naturally good at studying, so the teacher didn’t force him to attend night self-study sessions. Thinking about it, it was both funny and strange.

Self-study?

They call it self-study, but they take attendance and scold you if you’re late or skip. What a weird world. Well, I don’t feel like arguing about it.

‘As long as I don’t get scolded, it’s fine.’

And so, Jin-hyeok seemed to be slowly adapting to the world.

He helped Shin Woo-sung and Lee Seung-hoon with their studies even more diligently than before. The boys were briefly intimidated by Jin-hyeok, who was scarier than the wrestling team captain, but being good kids, they quickly adapted. Even if out of fear, they focused intensely, and it seemed like they were getting better grades than Jin-hyeok remembered from his past life.

Woo-sung, rubbing his sleepy eyes, mumbled.

“Class president, we have to go to practice.”

“Alright. Be careful not to get hurt.”

With the competition period approaching, Woo-sung and Seung-hoon got busier. So, they couldn’t spend as much time with their old friends. It was a pity, but there was nothing Jin-hyeok could do about it. Well, they weren’t the type to stick together all day even in the past.

They had a mutual understanding and a complementary relationship, so even if they didn’t see each other often, they remained friends.

‘Peaceful, huh.’

The new daily life felt like a gift or a reward.

【You’ve been through a lot. I’ll send you back······】

Blah blah.

Even though it was a voice he heard in a dream, every time he recalled it, it felt like his skull was vibrating.

‘Whatever.’

Let it flow peacefully and quietly like this.

But history, once touched, tends to twist in unexpected places, and Jin-hyeok, aware of this possibility, couldn’t feel entirely at ease.

Even if he was prepared, dealing with it was another matter.

***

It was on the way to the classroom after morning exercise.

‘Oh crap······.’

Jin-hyeok quickly hid behind the building and took a deep breath.

He had spotted Hwang Ga-young on her way to school.

Jin-hyeok had to calm his startled heart. The mark left on his soul wasn’t easily erased.

‘Oh my, that scared me. Am I done with that family now?’

Since the future has changed, will I never see them again?

One might ask if he’s being too stuck in the past, but for Jin-hyeok, it was an important issue.

People who are PTSD personified. Even though he had given them a good blow in his past life, it wasn’t something Jin-hyeok had intended.

···

During his college years, Jin-hyeok passed the judicial exam but didn’t attend the interview. His uncle, who had borrowed money from various places using Jin-hyeok’s exam success as collateral, was stabbed to death by a debt collector, and his aunt and sisters disappeared without a trace.

Jin-hyeok believed he had a serious disqualification for the judicial exam interview.

The guilt-by-association system.

It had been abolished, but he couldn’t be sure it was completely gone. Not because he didn’t trust the country, but because the psychological pain he endured was that severe. His aunt always had the word “commie” on her lips. She called Jin-hyeok a commie’s child, and her whispers went like this.

Kim Eung-nyeo, who was supposedly his mother’s half-sister, had a different surname. They weren’t just half-siblings; they had different fathers. Jin-hyeok’s maternal grandfather, Han Ho, was a local figure who, unable to have children with his first wife, took a second wife who had a daughter. It was an old man’s desire for a son, something hard to explain otherwise.

‘Back then, such things were common, so I can’t resent it.’

But the second wife didn’t conceive, and instead, the first wife, Jin-hyeok’s maternal grandmother, gave birth to his mother, Han Yu-young. His grandfather, though not having a son, cherished his daughter from the first wife and even provided her with a high school education. Then, one day, men in suits and police officers stormed into their quiet home, publicly declaring they were taking his grandfather away for being a “chairman of a spy ring.” That was when Jin-hyeok’s mother was eighteen.

That was all Jin-hyeok had heard from Kim Eung-nyeo about his past life.

So, Kim Eung-nyeo called Jin-hyeok a commie’s child without hesitation. What era is this, calling someone a commie two generations later?

‘Ignorance knows no bounds.’

He might have passed, but do things ever go as planned? The interviewers are human too, and they might fail him based on the guilt-by-association system. In fact, Jin-hyeok didn’t even want to be a civil servant.

He just used his talent in the most realistic way to stand on his own.

‘The aptitude test results pointed to being a judge······.’

It was a simple reason.

In a way, giving up the interview led him to meet Hong Ki-jun in the past, and being in his car brought him back to the past. So, wasn’t it a good choice after all?

The flow of consciousness is terrifying like this, making him recall the Kim Eung-nyeo family after seeing Hwang Ga-young and trace the causality of returning to the past. It was somewhat amusing, but there was some gain.

‘Maybe I can live without seeing them again.’

For Jin-hyeok, who still shudders at the thought of that time, it’s a hopeful hope. He thought he wouldn’t see those people unless he deliberately went to a tea house.

***

It was good not to see Kim Eung-nyeo, but strange people were lurking around the school.

“Ah, come on, just let us see that student once!”

“Let’s just do a ball-throwing test!”

Korean society’s connections. School ties, regional ties, blood ties. The harm caused by these connections was significant, making the term distasteful to hear, but for those with connections, it was a useful tool. The rush of academy sports officials connected to the Korea Sports Council and the Athletics Federation continued.

“Why are you blocking school visits in a democratic country!”

“I’m also from this school!”

“I’m a 70th graduate from here!”

Regardless of their tone, Taeyang Middle School, which opened during the Korean War, had just over 40 years of history.

They packaged it as a visit for athlete selection and talent scouting, but their real goal was to meet the elementary school 100-meter and 200-meter Korean record holder. The athlete’s parents had put up a strong defense, so they came to the school.

Because of this, the security guards had no peace. They even joked about needing to park a tank on the playground.

Finally, Lee Byeong-se brought it up at a faculty meeting.

“Principal, why don’t we persuade the student······.”

“Mr. Lee. The student clearly said no. As a teacher, shouldn’t you be thinking about protecting the student instead of saying such things?”

Lee Byeong-se tilted his head.

The principal wasn’t usually like this; it was strange that he was considering student rights.

‘Didn’t they recently conduct some large-scale human rights investigation? Is that why?’

Academy sports officials were investigated nationwide, and some were even arrested. It happened simultaneously across the country, targeting leaders who took bribes or were excessively violent.

‘The wrestling team coach and assistant coach got axed then.’

Many teachers, being regular physical education teachers rather than specialized coaches, breathed a sigh of relief, and Lee Byeong-se was one of them.

“But if they keep coming like this, it will disrupt the study atmosphere······.”

Study atmosphere, my foot. Honestly, Lee Byeong-se was curious too. I also want to see that kid’s test! But he couldn’t say that. As Lee Byeong-se racked his brain for the next words, the principal’s sharp voice cut in.

“Mr. Lee, do you know how much it costs to run the track and field team? Equipment, uniforms, meals, snacks. Do you know how much money that takes?”

“Ah······, yes.”

At the mention of money, Lee Byeong-se’s neck shrunk.

Taeyang Middle School was a rural public school. It didn’t have a wealthy foundation like private schools, nor did it have enthusiastic parent support like schools in populous, wealthy cities. Even squeezing the school’s finances, it was hard to maintain one sports team.

The wrestling team had history and tradition, so it was supported by alumni donations, but running a track and field team with sprints and marathons required a separate budget. Money was Lee Byeong-se’s Achilles’ heel, with no winning records to show.

“Administrative director, explain it to Mr. Lee.”

“Yes.”

Why is the mic suddenly being passed to the administrative director?

Lee Byeong-se, with a wronged expression, alternated his gaze between the principal and the administrative director.

“The funds needed to run the track and field team are sponsored by Son Jin-hyeok’s parents. I was surprised when they inquired about sponsorship, even though the student isn’t an official member. When I asked, they said they were also sponsoring Taeyang Elementary School through Teacher Kim Young-tae. Their son graduated from a different rural school.”

Lee Byeong-se’s mouth hung open.

The wrestling team coach had the same reaction. The parents of the kid who always rode his bike to school early for practice were that wealthy? He thought the kid was delivering evening newspapers with how quickly he pedaled home after school, saying he had a younger sibling to take care of.

The principal narrowed his eyes at Lee Byeong-se.

“I don’t know if it’s true, but there’s a rumor that over ten percent of Taeyang County’s land is owned by that family. Don’t upset them. Even the county mayor visits them every season to pay respects. Last year’s local election candidates lined up to visit them, right?”

“Yes. I heard that too. The event vehicles and snack trucks during the sports festival were also sponsored by Jin-hyeok’s father.”

The administrative director added.

“And it must never reach Jin-hyeok’s ears. The moment the son finds out, the sponsorship ends.”

What does that mean? If the father’s sponsorship is interpreted as pressure to play sports, it might burden the son.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Even the clueless Lee Byeong-se quickly understood the message.

Don’t burden my son. It was a warning from a local figure.

Gulp-.

Lee Byeong-se could only swallow dryly, vowing to be at the forefront of driving away all outsiders invading the school.

The administrative director looked at Seong Bu-hyeon.

“They also sponsor the wrestling team. The training ground construction costs were covered by the student’s father. This is also a secret.”

“Yes!”

Wrestling team coach Seong Bu-hyeon also vowed.

The administrative director’s words seemed endless.

“They also sponsored a significant portion of the teachers’ dining expenses and school trip costs.”

The other teachers straightened up in their seats.

Money really is the best.

But is Son Jin-hyeok a late-born child?

Usually, rural tycoons aren’t that old. Maybe he’s a beloved late-born child, and his parents do everything for him? Lee Byeong-se thought Jin-hyeok’s father might be a white-haired old man and carefully closed his notebook.

***

At the wrestling arena, Son Kwang-yeon, brushing Jang Gun-i’s fur, irritably scratched his ear.

He squinted one eye tightly.

“Ah, damn it’s itchy. Did a flea get in?”

“Hehe, did daddy eat a flea?”

Giggle-.

Yoo Jin, holding a shovel and digging into the sandpit, pointed at her dad and laughed.

Han Yu-young came out with a tray of coffee.

“Brother, the school called saying they want to give you a plaque of appreciation.”

“Oh my, what’s with the plaque?”

We didn’t spend a single penny. Son Kwang-yeon swallowed the rest of his words.

In front of his wife, he always maintained his dignity as a Seoul man. If Son Kwang-yeon did anything, it was just squeezing his friends for favors for his son. It was a manly secret he could never reveal to his wife. He had also tightly sealed Hong Ki-jun’s lips.

‘If you’re going to send cheerleaders, at least give me a heads up.’

Jin-hyeok must have seen them. Lucky him.

He must have been happy.