MDMG 13

Chapter 13

Chapter 5. Return (2)

It was an ordinary morning, no different from any other.

For the two years since I had sent my daughters to Seoul, I had been greeting mornings like this all by myself.

I had thought that after two years, I had finally gotten used to starting my days this way.

‘But I guess I hadn’t.’

Since last night, loneliness seemed to have been pressing down on me over and over again.

Even so, I felt sorry about telling my daughters to come down to Cheongju every now and then just to see me.

‘Just like last time, I can go up to Seoul a few times. If I do that, I’ll only have to endure it for two months.’

Two months.

Of course, that wasn’t a short period of time.

But once I started preparing to leave Cheongju, those two months would pass quickly enough.

While getting ready for work, I remembered what the landlady had told me yesterday.

Jinhye had paid all the remaining rent before moving out.

“I should thank her.”

Jinhye must have to get ready for work too.

Would it be a little awkward to call her in the morning?

“I can call her in the evening.”

I had heard that she got off work around six.

I could call her after that.

That was what I decided.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat,

just as I was finishing getting ready to leave for the apartment, a text message arrived.

Could it be Jinhye?

Had our telepathy somehow connected?

‘……No, it isn’t.’

It was a message from someone else.

Hwang Jiwoon.

He had been my team leader back when I worked as a firefighter.

I wondered why the team leader was texting me first thing in the morning, so I immediately checked the message.

[Gi-chan. How about we grab some samgyeopsal and soju tonight? It’s been a while. My treat.]

He was looking for a drinking buddy.

Even after I quit being a firefighter, whenever I received messages like this, I would occasionally meet up with the team leader, talk about the old days, and have a drink together.

The timing was perfect.

‘There was something I wanted to talk about anyway.’

In two months, I would be leaving this place.

Before then, I had planned to have a meal with the people I had gotten to know in Cheongju, one by one.

Today, Hwang Team Leader would be the first.

[All right. But I’ll pay for the drinks.]

[It’s fine. Your income isn’t exactly great. I should pay. Don’t worry about it. Just come.]

“My income isn’t exactly great……”

It wasn’t wrong.

Even though the 500 million won Jinhye had given me was still sitting untouched in my bank account.

Late that evening.

After changing shifts with the night-duty crew, I boarded a bus heading toward City Hall.

When I got off at a nearby bus stop, a man called out my name loudly.

“Gi-chan!”

It was Hwang Jiwoon, the team leader I was meeting today.

“Hello, Team Leader.”

“Hey. How long has it been since you quit being a firefighter, and you’re still calling me Team Leader? I told you to just call me hyung comfortably.”

“I want to, too. But I called you ‘Team Leader’ for so long that I guess it became a habit. The word ‘hyung’ just doesn’t come out easily.”

That was why habits were so frightening.

Jiwoon hyung and I had worked together as firefighters in Cheongju.

The two of us had faced the brink of death several times. We were comrades among comrades—people who had survived together on the very boundary between life and death.

Today, we decided to have a few drinks at a samgyeopsal restaurant that was also one of Jiwoon hyung’s regular spots.

“Boss! Three servings of samgyeopsal and one bottle of soju here…… No, make that two bottles!”

The owner gave a big nod as if to say he understood and headed into the kitchen.

Normally, when ordering soju, the owner would ask which kind we wanted.

But Jiwoon hyung and I came here so often that there was no need to ask.

We always drank the same kind.

“Here are your two bottles of cham×seul.”

“Thank you, Boss.”

“You’re welcome. By the way, it’s been a while since you two came by, hasn’t it? You should come more often. At this rate, I’m going to forget what you look like.”

“I’d like to come more often too. But my little brother hasn’t been giving me much time lately, so I haven’t been able to.”

At those words, I gave an awkward smile.

Because I couldn’t deny what he had said.

The owner excused himself, saying he would bring the meat shortly.

In the meantime, we decided to pour our own drinks.

“Here, hyung.”

“Thanks. You have one too.”

Glug, glug, glug.

The small soju glasses were filled in an instant.

“Let’s have a drink first, then we can talk. Cheers!”

Clink!

With a sound that always felt good to hear, we emptied our first glasses.

By then, pieces of meat were already being placed one by one on the grill.

They looked absolutely mouthwatering.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that samgyeopsal and soju were the greatest combination ever created in Korea.

“By the way, what have you been doing lately? I could barely get in touch with you. Is it because of your security guard job?”

“That’s part of it. There was something else too.”

“What else?”

I still hadn’t told Jiwoon hyung about my daughters.

Since we had met today, I thought I would tell him how they had been doing.

‘He used to see Jinhye, Sunhye, and Mihye from time to time when they were young.’

After I became their father, he had seen them a few times.

In fact, both Jinhye and Sunhye remembered Jiwoon hyung.

Mihye had been so young when she saw him that she said she didn’t remember him.

“I had some business in Seoul for a few days, so I went up there.”

“Seoul? Why? Were you thinking about finding a new job up there?”

“No. My daughters contacted me. They asked if I would come up to Seoul and live with them.”

“Really? Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen your daughters since they were little. What are they doing these days? Have they all gotten jobs?”

Getting jobs wasn’t the issue.

They were doing things far beyond that.

As if on cue, Sunhye’s song was playing in the restaurant.

Perfect timing.

“The song playing right now was sung by Sunhye.”

“Sunhye sang this song? Young people listen to this one all the time.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then what about the oldest and the youngest?”

“The oldest is running a business. You know that big café building downtown? The one called Ifrit.”

“That place? My wife really likes that brand. Don’t tell me……”

“Yes. That’s exactly what you think.”

Jiwoon hyung’s mouth dropped open.

“No way! That belongs to Jinhye?”

“Yes.”

“Th-then, what about the youngest?”

“Mihye is trading stocks.”

For a moment, I considered telling him about winning first prize in the lottery, but I decided to keep that a secret.

You shouldn’t go around casually telling people you know that you won the lottery.

It could lead to all sorts of problems.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Jiwoon hyung, but there was always the possibility of ‘what if.’

“Wow! I had no idea they had that kind of talent! I never knew!”

It was understandable that Jiwoon hyung didn’t know.

But I had known for a long time.

I had always been able to tell that the kids were going places.

Ever since she was a college student, the eldest had set herself the goal of opening her own store and had steadily studied business.

The second had also worked hard to achieve her dream of debuting in the entertainment industry.

As their father, I knew that their success today hadn’t happened overnight.

Then what about the youngest?

Honestly, I hadn’t expected it.

Still, in the end, everything had worked out well, hadn’t it?

All three of them had grown into wonderful adults who could now live well without their father’s help.

“It’s amazing. Those tiny little girls have already grown up that much…… Still, I’m glad to hear they all succeeded. That’s great.”

“Yeah. It really is great.”

I placed a clove of garlic dipped generously in ssamjang on top of a well-cooked piece of meat.

After emptying my second glass, I brought it to my mouth.

Only now had I finally been able to sit here and laugh while talking with my hyung.

“But before that…… it was really…… really hard.”

It was a story from my past that I had rarely been able to bring myself to tell others.

Jiwoon hyung quietly put down his glass and listened to every word I said.

After being discharged from the hospital,

when I returned to work, the team leader handed me a small note.

“What’s this?”

“That thing I told you I’d look into while you were in the hospital.”

“Oh, is it the address where those kids are living?”

“Yeah.”

But the team leader’s expression didn’t look very good.

“Actually, I went there myself first. But……”

He trailed off before shaking his head firmly.

“No, rather than me telling you about it, it’ll be better for you to see it yourself. You have some time right now, so go take a look.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah. It won’t take long from here.”

What on earth had he seen that made him say something like that?

Curious, I decided to go and see where the children were living for myself.

Just as the team leader had said, the place written on the note wasn’t far from where I worked.

About fifteen minutes on foot.

It was close enough to reach without any trouble.

But then……

“Why am I going farther and farther into these alleys?”

After passing through such a gloomy alley that I wondered whether a place like this even existed in Cheongju,

I came across a very small vacant lot.

And at the far end of that lot stood an old house.

It looked so old that it was impossible to even estimate how long ago it had been completed.

“The kids are living in a place like this?”

I couldn’t believe it.

Every time I took a step, things like rats and cockroaches scurried out.

Garbage was scattered everywhere.

It was immediately obvious that the place wasn’t being properly maintained.

“Excuse me.”

The front gate was wide open.

Just in case, before stepping inside, I knocked several times on the already-open gate.

But—

‘Is no one here?’

There wasn’t even a response.

“Kids! Are you there? It’s the firefighter who rescued you last time!”

I deliberately raised my voice.

I thought perhaps they couldn’t hear me because I wasn’t speaking loudly enough.

Then.

I sensed the faintest sign of movement from inside.

Someone was definitely there.

As I approached the house,

rattle.

A sliding door opened.

I had been hoping to reunite with the children.

But—

“……Who’re you?”

An old woman I had never seen before was the one who greeted me instead.