A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 127

Following Bae-il’s suggestion to go outside, Ji-heon followed him. They sat on the stairs behind the police station.

For some reason, trivial things kept reminding him of his childhood: plopping down anywhere, even without a chair; plopping down on the dirt. He remembered a time when he didn’t worry about getting his clothes dirty and believed he could stay up all night if he could just keep playing with his friends.

He vividly remembered having fun together, but after they drifted apart, he didn’t know what his friend had gone through.

They occasionally ran into each other in the hallway lined with classrooms, but at some point, even those awkward encounters disappeared. He heard the news of Bae-il’s transfer belatedly.

*How have you been? Why did your name change? How did you become a police officer?*

As if considerate of Ji-heon, who was curious about many things but couldn’t bring himself to ask, Bae-il spoke first.

“When I was in the third grade, my mother passed away, and I was adopted into my aunt’s family.”

“So, that’s why your name changed.”

“It’s because of the family’s generation naming convention. My uncle’s generation had the character ‘Su’ in it, so I couldn’t use that name.”

“……”

“It was just my mother leaving me, but my life changed so much.”

Ji-heon couldn’t say anything. He couldn’t even begin to fathom the magnitude of that sorrow and loss.

“I’m used to this name now. It feels like living with my old name was just a dream.”

Bae-il spoke in a detached tone, as if he were talking about someone he had known briefly a long time ago. Even though his voice was devoid of emotion, it felt like a lonely wind was blowing through an empty house.

*She passed away a long time ago.*

“How are you doing now?”

“As you can see. I’m a police officer, and I live alone.”

“I never thought you would become a police officer.”

“Did you think I would become a Go player or something?”

Bae-il replied with a faint smile. The joke-like question felt heavy, like a bird’s cry.

“You got married this time, right? Congratulations. And congratulations on having a daughter as sensible as Ye-na.”

“I had amnesia.”

Ji-heon also opened his heart to his old friend, volunteering information he hadn’t been asked. Perhaps he didn’t want to give Bae-il, who knew Jeong-o separately, the impression of being a heartless father.

“It’s not that I didn’t try to find Jeong-o on purpose, but I lost my memory and lost everything.”

“Is your memory all back now?”

“No. I just traced the past and found Jeong-o and Ye-na. I’m still trying to recover my memories.”

Bae-il nodded silently and asked after a long while, “What was it like to lose your memory?”

“It was empty. I don’t think I had any fun for seven years.”

“……”

“What’s really strange is that I lost the memories of seven years ago, but the memories of my childhood are becoming clearer.”

“……”

“I think I was meant to meet you. I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Bae-il’s eyes widened at Ji-heon’s sincere voice. He looked at Ji-heon with a surprised expression. His face looked like the child he was back then, defying time.

It was a painful certainty for Ji-heon. His friend seemed to remember the pain he had received from their relationship.

“I’m sorry if you were hurt because of me.”

“……You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’ll apologize on behalf of my mother for hurting you, too.”

Bae-il then lowered his head, as if he couldn’t bear to look at Ji-heon, or perhaps it meant that the apology he was hearing now was meaningless. He couldn’t tell.

Ji-heon immediately dropped the heavy topic and changed the subject.

“When are you free? I’ll invite you to my house. I’ll introduce you to Jeong-o and Ye-na……”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

“……”

“I’m leaving soon. I applied for a transfer to the provinces.”

“When are you leaving?”

“As early as next week. The date hasn’t been set yet.”

“……”

“I don’t know if I can take care of the Ye-na case until the end. I’m sorry.”

Ji-heon wanted to continue this relationship somehow, but Bae-il politely refused.

“Anyway, thank you for finding out.”

Ji-heon felt heavy again at his friend’s refined smile.

* * * * * * *

Waiting for her husband, who said he had something to do and didn’t come back, Jeong-o kept thinking.

On the day Ye-na was lost, Jeong-o found a note in Ye-na’s kindergarten bag. It was a note with the logo of Seryun Group [a large South Korean conglomerate], drawn in a casual manner, and a meaningful sentence:

– Looks like the mother, personality like the father. A child who resembles both by half.

Today, Jeong-o handed over the original note to Bae-il. Someone might think it’s a joke, but it was something a child’s mother could never overlook. If that woman’s words were true, then that director would be the culprit.

But are that woman’s words true? Isn’t it all made up?

Anyway, we can assume that someone knew about the relationship between Jeong-o and Ji-heon from the beginning.

*It can’t be Ji-heon’s mother, and it can’t be Chae Eun-bi…… Chae Eun-yeop?*

Jeong-o shook her head after a moment. If Chae Eun-yeop was the culprit, he wouldn’t have just scared them and ended it. Chae Eun-yeop would have done something more vicious.

Could it be a third party?

*Come to think of it, I’ve never seen Ji-heon’s brother.*

Jeong Ji-heon’s half-brother, the CEO of Seryun Foods, Jeong Ji-tae. The talent who will take over the Seryun Group after his father, Jeong Jae-gwang. Unlike Ji-heon, he is a person who is immersed in work…….

Since they are half-siblings, there may be conflicts between them. If he knew early on that Ji-heon had a child, he might have tried to keep him in check.

*No. Our family isn’t a great family either.*

When Jeong-o shook her head once more, Ye-na, pouting her lips like a duck, approached.

“Mom, I’m upset.”

“Why?”

“Because Dad isn’t coming.”

“Are you upset with Dad?”

“Yes. Dad must have forgotten that Ye-na is waiting.”

Ye-na shrugged her shoulders with a sulky face. Ye-na had an overwhelming day today and hadn’t yet resolved her feelings with her lifelong Go friend, her father.

Still, she thought Dad must be busy and waited silently, but as it approached 10 o’clock, she seemed to be bursting with anger.

Jeong-o understood Ye-na’s feelings and hugged and comforted her.

“I know. Why isn’t Dad coming?”

At that moment, the sound of the front door opening was heard. Ye-na, who was being comforted in her mother’s arms, quickly pushed her mother away and ran towards the entrance. She didn’t let go of her sulky face. She was going to confront her dad, saying she was angry with him.

“Bad Dad……!”

“Ye-na, what’s this?”

But Ye-na soon changed her expression when she saw the bag in her dad’s hand. Ye-na’s eyes lit up at the sound of a few ice snacks dangling.

“Thank you, Dad!”

Ye-na quickly snatched the bag from Ji-heon’s hand. By the time Jeong-o hurriedly came to the entrance, Ye-na had already torn open the ice snack packaging.

Jeong-o glared at Ji-heon.

“How can you buy ice cream at this hour?”

“It’s just ice, ice.”

Ye-na also chimed in at Ji-heon’s reply.

“That’s right. Just ice! Fruit-flavored ice!”

It was cute to see the child with her cheeks full of ice, munching and making noises.

“Still, don’t buy so many at once. She eats them all in one sitting. If you don’t let her eat them today, she’ll wake up early tomorrow morning and eat them all secretly.”

“Okay.”

Ji-heon replied to Jeong-o’s nagging. She couldn’t nag for long. The expression that had been dark when he left the police station seemed to have improved a lot now. Before Jeong-o could ask what had happened in the meantime, Ji-heon spoke.

“Jeong-o.”

“Yeah.”

“I met a friend from 24 years ago.”

“Is that what you were talking about earlier? A friend from the second grade of elementary school?”

Jeong-o asked, welcoming it as if it were her own business.

“Who is it? Did you meet him at the competition today? Is he a supervisor? Or a police officer?”

“A friend who I thought would become a Go player, but he became a police officer.”

“Did you meet him at the police station today?”

“It’s Detective Kwon Bae-il.”

The voice that had been excited and high suddenly subsided.

“……Huh?”

“Detective Kwon Bae-il was my friend.”

“You didn’t recognize him at first, did you? Did you remember him later?”

“His name has changed. It used to be Yu Su-il.”

Yu Su-il. It was a name that Jeong-o had heard from Ji-heon sometime ago. Ji-heon’s Go prodigy class friend from the second grade of elementary school. The smart friend who his mother separated him from because they didn’t get along.

The description of the friend Yu Su-il that Ji-heon had told her at that time and the current appearance of Kwon Bae-il were so different that Jeong-o was also surprised.

“If his name has changed……”

“His mother passed away, and he was adopted into his aunt’s family, so he changed his name.”

As much as his life had changed, so had his name. How painful those times must have been.

“What was his expression like?”

“He seemed calm.”

“……How do you feel, *oppa* [term used by a woman to refer to an older brother or male friend],?”

“It was just, strange.”

Ji-heon, who was conveying his feelings at that time, also had a calm expression. But Jeong-o seemed to see the emptiness at the end of that word. That feeling when the regret is greater than the joy of meeting someone precious again. Jeong-o knew that feeling well too.

“I realized that fact again. Even if you get back something precious, you can’t go back to that time.”

“……”

“You just have to do your best to live now.”

Jeong-o also nodded quietly at Ji-heon’s words. In the meantime, Ye-na, who had gone far away, came back. Ye-na, holding an ice snack container in one hand and hugging her dad’s waist, suddenly tapped the floor and said.

“Dad, sit here.”

Ji-heon sat on the floor as instructed. He was roughly at eye level with Ye-na, who was standing. Ye-na put her mouth to Ji-heon’s ear and said.

“I’ll give you ASMR [Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response – a tingling sensation some people experience in response to certain auditory or visual stimuli].”

Ye-na put a mouthful of ice in her mouth and crunched it into Ji-heon’s ear. It was a sound she only made for people she liked. Ji-heon covered his face with one hand and made a puffing sound, as if he couldn’t bear the ticklishness and humor.

“Ye-na, stop playing around and brush your teeth and go to bed.”

“Okay.”

Ye-na Princess, who had been making her dad laugh for a long time, quickly emptied the ice container at her mom’s nagging and went into the bathroom.

It was late at night, so Ye-na fell asleep quickly.

Ji-heon, who came out to the living room after putting Ye-na to sleep, suddenly lifted one foot and did jumping jacks with his head tilted. Jeong-o, who burst into laughter at Ji-heon’s funny behavior, asked.

“What is that? Why are you doing that?”

“When Ye-na gave me ASMR earlier, ice got into my ear.”

Jeong-o’s expression hardened, who had been laughing without knowing why.

“It doesn’t seem to be coming out yet.”

“You should have told me right away if ice got into your ear!”

“I thought that’s how it was supposed to be.”

Ah, this fool.

Jeong Ji-heon is not just a daughter’s fool, he’s just a fool.

No one told him that a dad should stay still even if ice gets into his ear, but Jeong Ji-heon is living his best life, so much so that he couldn’t live any better.

“If the ice has melted, it might have become a bit viscous. Will it be okay?”

“Yeah. It didn’t go in deep. It’ll come out when I wash up.”

Ji-heon answered lightly to Jeong-o’s belated worry and went into the bathroom.

While Ji-heon was washing up, Ji-heon’s cell phone, which was placed on the dining table, rang. She let the first call go, but when the phone rang again, Jeong-o chased after the phone. The name ‘Father’ was on the screen.

*I can answer it for him, right?*

Jeong-o answered the phone with a happy heart.

“Yes. Father.”

[Is that my daughter-in-law?]

“Yes. Ji-heon is in the bathroom right now. How have you been.”

[Yes. Yes, yes.]

She heard a bright voice from the other side as Jeong-o welcomed him.

“I’ll tell Ji-heon to call you right away when he comes out.”

[No, no. Daughter-in-law can tell Ji-heon.]

“Yes, Father. Then I’ll tell him. What’s the matter?”

[If you’re free on Sunday, I think it would be nice to come visit here.]

It was a call to invite Ji-heon’s family to the main house. Before Jeong-o could answer, Ji-heon approached. As soon as he heard the word ‘Father’, he rushed over. Ji-heon took the cell phone that Jeong-o was holding.

“Father. What’s the matter?”

[Yes. Yes, Ji-heon. Why don’t you bring your family home on Sunday?]

At Jae-gwang’s suggestion, Ji-heon looked at Jeong-o’s face. Sunday is the day after tomorrow. It was such a sudden suggestion that he thought Jeong-o might be in trouble.

Jae-gwang added one more word to Ji-heon, who didn’t answer easily.

[Your brother said he’s coming to see you too.]

“My brother?”