Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 104

104

Hyun-sung left the faculty office and dashed to the public phone booth in front of the school.

“I’ll get whoever did this.”

Hyun-sung’s expression was completely distorted.

How could it not be?

All thanks to one glass of beer, he had to run fifty laps around the track.

From Hyun-sung’s perspective, what angered him now wasn’t simply the track laps. He could run that much with a smile now.

He had more than enough stamina for that.

What angered Hyun-sung now was the sheer vileness of whoever was behind this. How could someone demand disciplinary action for just one glass of beer?

Hyun-sung judged this as pure malice.

In the end, it could only mean that someone close to Hyun-sung was responsible. This could never happen without personal spite.

“Just who the hell is it…”

Di-di-di.

As soon as he dialed the number, it rang, and Park Hee-chul answered the phone right away.

– Hello.

“Uncle, it’s Hyun-sung.”

– Oh, what’s wrong with you calling at this hour? Did something happen?

“Yes, something did happen.”

– What do you mean?

“Yesterday, while having dinner at the restaurant…”

Hyun-sung began to explain in detail to Park Hee-chul what had just happened. When Hyun-sung finished his explanation, Park Hee-chul shouted.

– What kind of crazy bastard would do that!

“That’s why I’m saying let’s catch him. Are you free today?”

– If I’m not, I’ll make time. Don’t worry and focus on your classes. I’ll move as soon as I hang up, so don’t worry about it.

“Okay, I’ll see you later then.”

– By the way, when are you going to run those fifty laps?

“I’ll just think of it as exercise. Don’t worry about me, and please catch that guy. I’m really curious who it is.”

– Alright, leave it to me. I’ll hang up now. I need to get moving right away.

“Yes, I understand. Then…”

Click.

Hyun-sung’s expression after hanging up was much more stable than before.

Finding out who it is won’t be difficult anyway.

Especially with Park Hee-chul.

Finding out that much would be nothing for him.

At that moment.

Giggle.

Oh Sang-chul was laughing to himself.

“I’ll get you, you little punk. How dare a nobody like you…”

At first, he thought it was just some rude kid who was acting out, so he tried to find out who he was. That’s why he went to the store that was about to open.

But there, he learned something unexpected.

It was none other than his relationship with Park Hee-chul.

He realized that the two were closer than he thought.

Park Hee-chul.

A man who had been living with an old grudge from his school days. From Park Hee-chul’s perspective, he might not think much of it, but from his own perspective, it had become a lifelong resentment.

Pride.

There was no way to recover his shattered pride.

In the end, it had become his lifelong Achilles’ heel [a metaphor for a fatal weakness].

He would wake up in a cold sweat just thinking about Park Hee-chul.

Enough time had passed that those feelings should have dulled, but human emotions couldn’t be controlled by willpower, and he couldn’t get over his crushed pride.

Oh Sang-chul frowned, and the deep wrinkles on his face became even more pronounced.

Shakes his head.

Oh Sang-chul slowly shook his head from side to side.

“No matter how I think about it, it’s strange.”

Oh Sang-chul had people investigate their relationship.

In the end, he found out a few things.

But the problem was that the information he found out only made him more curious.

It was last night.

He met Choi Min-sung at Miso Restaurant.

A junior [a younger colleague or acquaintance] he would occasionally call to do work and buy a meal. Of course, he would sometimes give him a reward depending on the importance of the work.

And the reason he chose Miso Restaurant was because it had private rooms, making it the perfect place to have secret conversations.

This was the second day after he had instructed Choi Min-sung to investigate the relationship between Park Hee-chul and Kim Hyun-sung.

Oh Sang-chul asked Choi Min-sung first.

“So, did you find out anything?”

“Yes, hyung [an honorific term used by younger males to address older males they respect]. But I found something interesting.”

Choi Min-sung said, puffing out his chest as if he had done something great.

Then Oh Sang-chul sat closer and asked.

“What is it?”

“He donated land.”

“What, land?”

“Yes, hyung. That cheapskate donated a whopping two thousand square feet to a young friend named Kim Hyun-sung.”

Oh Sang-chul’s head immediately turned to the side.

The Park Hee-chul he knew was not that kind of person. He was so obsessed with money that he wondered if he needed to live like that, even if he was a friend.

But a donation… and two thousand square feet at that.

Oh Sang-chul asked Choi Min-sung again.

“Did you find out the reason for that?”

“Hyung, who do you think I am? I found out. But what’s even stranger is…”

Choi Min-sung began to explain the information he had gathered so far.

It started with Park Hee-chul’s tour.

He was originally supposed to go on a tour, but he didn’t go. But because he didn’t go on that tour, Park Hee-chul lived.

If he had gone, Park Hee-chul would have been finished that day. Because the tour bus that Park Hee-chul was supposed to be on had a crash in Hange Pass. It was such a major accident that everyone died.

Hearing this, Oh Sang-chul couldn’t stand it any longer and asked.

“Why didn’t Park Hee-chul go on the tour that day?”

“It wasn’t that he didn’t go. To be exact, he couldn’t go.”

“Couldn’t go? What do you mean?”

“Someone pulled Park Hee-chul off the bus to prevent him from going on the tour. By force, too.”

“Could it be…”

Oh Sang-chul grabbed his head.

If it was developing like this, then that someone would be that young Kim Hyun-sung. Because that’s the only way the subsequent events could be explained.

Choi Min-sung nodded and continued.

“That’s right. It was that young friend, Kim Hyun-sung.”

It didn’t make sense.

That tour wasn’t just any tour. It wasn’t an ordinary tour that you could go on just because you wanted to.

Even Oh Sang-chul himself couldn’t go on that tour.

He still remembered it clearly.

It was the last Sunday of August.

He was watching the news in the evening and was shocked. Normally, he would have thought it was just an accident, but that day was different.

Because of the list of the dead. The list of the dead included some people he knew.

But what was strange at that time was that one person was missing. It was Park Hee-chul.

He found out later.

That Park Hee-chul didn’t go on the tour that day. That’s why he was able to save his life.

But the reason was because of that young friend…

Now, he only had one question.

How did that young friend know in advance and stop Park Hee-chul from going on the tour?

Oh Sang-chul looked at Choi Min-sung and asked again.

“Did you find out the reason for that?”

“That’s something I…”

“Hmm… I guess so. That’s something only he would know. What do you think?”

It wasn’t a question he wanted an answer to. Oh Sang-chul himself was frustrated because it was a situation that didn’t make sense no matter how he thought about it.

Choi Min-sung didn’t say anything more either.

Whatever the reason, Park Hee-chul saved his life.

And that’s why Park Hee-chul gave Kim Hyun-sung that land as compensation.

“How did he know?”

No matter how much he thought about it, Oh Sang-chul couldn’t understand it. It wasn’t like he had any precognitive abilities, so how could he know about the accident in advance?

“Hmm, anyway…”

A bitter smile spread across Oh Sang-chul’s face again.

He couldn’t help but laugh when he thought about Hyun-sung running fifty laps around the track today.

He couldn’t allow a student to blatantly drink alcohol in a restaurant. Of course, it wouldn’t have been a problem if it wasn’t Kim Hyun-sung.

To be more precise, it was because of Park Hee-chul. If he wasn’t related to Park Hee-chul, he wouldn’t have gotten involved in such a thing.

Moreover, it was just one glass of beer.

It was nothing, but when he thought about Park Hee-chul, he couldn’t allow even a sip, let alone a glass.

At that moment, someone opened the door and came in.

The person who opened the door was Oh Sang-chul’s younger sister, Oh Sang-mi.

“Oppa [an honorific term used by younger females to address older males they respect], did you call me?”

“Yeah, come and sit down.”

“Why? What’s going on that you’re calling me from this early in the morning?”

As Oh Sang-mi sat across from him, Oh Sang-chul handed her a coffee and continued.

“We need to hurry things up a bit.”

“Hurry things up? What do you mean?”

“The business. It looks like we need to start the business right from the beginning of next month.”

“From next month?”

Oh Sang-mi’s voice grew louder. That’s because it had been previously agreed that they would start the business around mid-November.

But if they were to follow Oh Sang-chul’s words now, it would mean moving up the timeline by a month and a half.

That didn’t make sense.

The reason was obvious. The existing snack bar’s lease expired at the end of October.

As Oh Sang-mi looked puzzled, Oh Sang-chul continued.

“Something came up.”

“Something?”

“You heard about the ramen shop opening in the alley across the street, right?”

Of course, she knew about it. But Oh Sang-mi couldn’t understand how that was related to opening their store.

“What does that have to do with it?”

“No, it does. You know Park Hee-chul, right?”

“Park Hee-chul… you mean that person who was your classmate and your nemesis?”

“Yeah, that bastard.”

Crack.

Oh Sang-chul clenched his teeth.

Then Oh Sang-mi asked.

“Don’t tell me that person is opening that store?”

“Of course, it’s not him doing it, but it’s pretty much the same.”

“What kind of talk is that? It’s either he’s doing it or he’s not. What do you mean by ‘pretty much the same’?”

“Well, it’s like this…”

Oh Sang-chul began to briefly explain to Oh Sang-mi about Park Hee-chul and Hyun-sung.

When Oh Sang-chul finished his explanation, Oh Sang-mi said, sounding dumbfounded.

“Oh Sang-chul, you’ve really fallen.”

“It’s not like that…”

“What do you mean it’s not like that? You’re basically saying you’re going to fight with that kid. I understand how you feel, but how can you try to fight with a stinky high schooler?”

Oh Sang-chul suddenly became a pushover.

He opened his mouth again.

“I want to crush him from the start.”

“Oppa, I’m Oh Sang-mi. I may have gone bankrupt after guaranteeing someone’s debt and came back to the countryside, but I used to run a large restaurant in Seoul. Are you saying you don’t trust me now?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that you have to cut off the bud from the beginning. Listen to me this time.”

Oh Sang-mi was dumbfounded.

From what she heard, the opponent was a sophomore in high school. Of course, she didn’t understand how he was running a business at that age, but she was even more dumbfounded by Oh Sang-chul, who was trying to overdo things again to deal with such a kid.

But she couldn’t ignore Oh Sang-chul’s words.

That’s because she knew Oh Sang-chul’s personality better than anyone else.