Chapter 11

Return (1)

Maybe it was because I wasn’t sleeping in my usual place.

I woke up before the alarm even went off.

‘I had it again today, without fail.’

But it wasn’t my usual nightmare.

I had safely rescued my daughters.

And in the end, I lost consciousness after feeling relieved.

It was hard to even call it a dream.

‘Because these things really happened before.’

It was a memory from the past disguised as a dream.

Perhaps because I had recently met my daughters again after such a long time, the memories of when I first met the children kept coming back to my mind.

“Ugh.”

Before getting out of bed, I lightly stretched to loosen up my body.

My right shoulder was a little uncomfortable, but I still tried to keep up with stretching and strength exercises as regularly as possible.

‘If I get sick when I’m old, I’ll only become a burden to my daughters.’

I wanted to avoid that, so I tried to take good care of my health.

And just as my older brother had said, being in my mid-forties still meant I had plenty of life ahead of me.

So even when my daughters told me to stop working and just rest comfortably, I didn’t want to do that.

If you stay still all the time, you actually get sick.

The old people were right about that.

‘Let’s see. What time did the girls say they wake up?’

The eldest wakes up around 7:30.

The second daughter had an early morning recording today, so she must already be awake.

The third daughter had said she usually wakes up almost exactly when the market opens, so she still had quite a while before getting up.

When I opened the door and walked into the living room, I heard someone washing in the bathroom.

As expected, it was the second daughter.

“Oh, you’re up early?”

“Just because. I woke up early. You said you had a shoot today, right?”

“Yes. It’s a drama shoot.”

“What was the name of the drama again?”

“It’s called Moonwol Resort. I play the female lead character, Lee Hyeyoon…… But Dad, didn’t you say you don’t watch dramas?”

I flinched.

She had hit the exact point I was trying to avoid.

But things would be different from now on.

“My daughter is playing the lead role, so of course I’ll make sure to watch it from now on.”

A very big smile appeared on the second daughter’s face.

“Watch it later and tell me what you think. Okay?”

“Okay.”

I would see for myself how good my daughter was at acting.

As her father, I decided I would personally judge her performance.

After seeing the second daughter off first.

I prepared breakfast for the eldest and youngest.

Exactly at 7:30.

Several alarms could be heard coming from the eldest daughter’s room.

After that, Jinhye slowly walked into the living room looking completely different from her usual self, with her hair all messy.

“……Good morning, Dad.”

Jinhye always had very low energy in the morning.

There was a special cure for moments like this.

“Go wash up and come eat. I made the egg toast you like.”

The moment she heard the words egg toast, the eldest daughter walked faster toward the bathroom.

If I set up toast and coffee too, Jinhye’s favorite breakfast would be complete.

‘The youngest liked cereal, right?’

Before coming to Seoul, I had already bought the chocolate-flavored cereal that Mihye always looked for whenever we went to the supermarket.

After washing up, Jinhye came out and saw the breakfast I had prepared.

As expected, she praised me, saying I really was her dad, without holding back.

“How do you know your daughters’ tastes so well?”

“I have no choice but to know. We lived together for so many years.”

It was only natural as their father.

From when my daughters were elementary school students, then middle school students, high school students, and university students.

We had always been together.

How could I not know?

People often asked me if it wasn’t difficult to prepare breakfast like this for three daughters.

Whenever they asked, I always gave them the same answer.

If the breakfast I prepared could help my daughters start their day feeling happy, that alone was enough for me.

Around 8:30.

The car Jinhye had called for me arrived in front of the house.

The youngest, who still had sleepy eyes, and Jinhye, who was completely ready for work, came out to see me off.

“Be careful on your way to Cheongju, Dad.”

“See you next time…… Yaaawn~!”

The youngest yawned while saying goodbye.

I couldn’t help but think she was adorable.

After loading all my luggage, I sat in the back seat and waved back at the eldest and youngest, who continued to see me off until the very end.

Once we had completely left the apartment complex, I asked the driver.

“How long will it take to get to Cheongju?”

“According to the navigation, it should take about two and a half to two hours and forty minutes.”

“I see.”

It was about the same as last time.

The city scenery passed quickly outside the window.

I looked outside and slowly fell into thought.

A dreamlike two-night, three-day journey spent with my three daughters.

The driver lowered the radio volume slightly and spoke to me.

“You must be very proud that all your daughters have become so successful.”

Everyone said things like that.

But there was a hidden story they didn’t know.

Traces of the past that only our family knew.

As the car entered a tunnel, the pages of those memories began to unfold one by one.

After I escaped the fire scene and lost consciousness, the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes again was a doctor wearing a white coat.

“Are you coming around?”

“……Where am I……?”

Nurses were walking back and forth.

There was also an IV drip right beside me.

Just seeing those things was enough for me to figure out where I was.

“A hospital.”

I had asked myself and answered myself.

The doctor nodded, confirming that I was right.

As soon as my coworkers heard that I had regained consciousness, they came to my hospital room one after another.

There was something I wanted to ask them anyway.

“What happened to those children?”

“You mean the children you brought out at the end?”

“Yes. Jinhye, Seonhye, and Mihye.”

Even I found it amazing that I could remember all three children’s names in the middle of all that.

The team leader gave a small laugh at this.

“Don’t worry, man. All three of them are safe.”

He also told me that there was nothing wrong with their bodies.

Only then could I finally relax.

But another concern came to me a little later.

“Um…… Team Leader.”

“Hmm? Why?”

When I was rescuing the children, I told the team leader about the body of the man who had died after being burned in the bathroom.

I told him that there had been the body of a man who seemed to be the children’s father.

When I said that—

“It’s not that he seemed to be their father. He really was.”

I already knew that.

But hearing it confirmed as reality made my heart feel heavy for no reason.

I had saved their lives, but from now on, the three children would have to live without their father.

“Did their mother take them?”

The only body I had seen at the time was the father of the three sisters.

I hadn’t seen any other bodies.

“I don’t know about that. We aren’t responsible for protecting the children after the rescue.”

He wasn’t wrong.

Our job was to rescue people from dangerous situations.

We weren’t responsible for supporting them or taking care of what happened to them afterward.

The government officials handling administrative matters would take care of that.

Even so.

“…….”

I couldn’t stop thinking about those children.

I didn’t know why.

I just……

Couldn’t stop worrying about them.

Perhaps he noticed what I was thinking.

The team leader lightly patted my left shoulder, which wasn’t wrapped in a bandage.

“After you’re discharged, go and check on them yourself. Until then, I’ll find out where the children are staying and at least get their address for you.”

“Thank you, Team Leader.”

“Don’t mention it. That’s how firefighters are. Once you’ve saved someone, you can’t help but wonder what happened to them. I was like that too.”

Then the team leader told me about a young boy he had rescued five years ago.

The boy was now in his second year of high school.

And even after five years, he still sent the team leader a letter every year to thank him.

“Maybe that’s why we can’t stop being firefighters. Once you experience the feeling of saving someone’s life, you can’t forget it.”

At those words, I slowly nodded.

I decided to believe that those children would also overcome their sadness with their mother and live well, just like the boy the team leader had saved.

That was what I chose to believe.

But who could have known?

That an even greater pain than the fire itself was waiting for those children.

Rumble!

The car shook hard once.

Because of that, I woke up from my light dozing.

Perhaps noticing that I had opened my eyes, the driver apologized.

“I’m sorry. I slowed down, so I thought it would be okay, but the speed bump was higher than I expected.”

“It’s okay. More importantly…… I guess we’re almost there.”

The familiar scenery began to appear instead of the unfamiliar one.

After passing through the toll gate and driving along the tree-lined road for about two kilometers, my house would begin to come into view.

“You should turn right here. The navigation says to go straight, but there’s usually a lot of traffic that way. Turning right is faster.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Sometimes a local person’s opinion was more helpful than the navigation.

The driver seemed to know that as well, because he turned the steering wheel without arguing.

“See that blue roof over there? The house after that is where I live.”

“Then I’ll park the car up ahead.”

After briefly parking in the alley.

The driver personally took my luggage out of the trunk.

Before he left, I handed him a health drink I had prepared in advance.

“You worked hard coming all the way to Cheongju.”

“Not at all. If you ever need to go up to Seoul again, call me anytime.”

“Yes. Drive safely on your way back.”

After the car left.

I was just about to carry my luggage upstairs to the second floor where I lived.

Then the landlady peeked her head out.

“Young man…… No, Gichan, you’re back?”

“Why did you almost call me a young man?”

“You said you weren’t a bachelor. You told me you have three daughters.”

“I’m still unmarried, though.”

A proudly(?) unmarried man.

I just happened to have three daughters.

“You said you were moving out in two months, right?”

“Yes. Ah, right. I’ll give you the rent for now.”

I was about to pay her in cash right away.

But the landlady shook her head and stopped me.

“It’s okay. Was it your eldest daughter, Gichan? That tall young lady. She paid all the remaining rent for your room until the end of the contract.”

“When?”

“When she came down here with her younger sister.”

That must have been the day after Seonhye came down to Cheongju.

I hadn’t noticed it at all.

If I had known, I should at least have thanked her before leaving.

‘I should call her, at least.’

Since she had already paid, it felt awkward to return the money to my daughter and tell her to take it back.

There was nothing I could do, so I simply said I understood and carried my luggage toward my room.

Click.

The moment I opened the front door.

The empty house welcomed me.

A feeling of emptiness and loneliness washed over me.

I had only been away from my daughters for a short time, yet I already missed them.

“Ugh.”

A sigh escaped me before I even realized it.