Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 429

Kim Hansol saw the cake peeking out from behind her son’s small hand, which was frantically trying to hide it. She finally understood why the father and son had gone to the mainland so early that morning.

“You went to the mainland because of my birthday?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I took the bus all the way from Seoul with the cake to give it to Mom and Dad.”

“No, why is that darn birthday so important? You know I don’t care about celebrating birthdays.”

“I care. I don’t like your birthday just passing by. You take care of all the family’s birthdays, so why do you always skip your own?”

“Why are you acting like this is something new? I was like this even when we were dating.”

“That’s why I’m saying let’s celebrate your birthday this year.”

Kim Hansol meticulously remembered and celebrated the birthdays of her entire family, from her parents’ side to her in-laws’ side, never leaving anyone out. Yet, she was always indifferent to her own birthday.

Watching his wife buy a cake that the children liked, even on her own birthday, Lee Junhyuk resolved to properly celebrate her birthday this time.

“Anyway, I’m going to properly prepare your birthday today, so stay in the room with the kids and rest.”

“Dad? Jisang is going to help too.”

“Okay. Let’s do it together with Dad.”

“Jiyoonie will do it too.”

“Our princess will do it too? Then let’s all do it together.”

Lee Junhyuk, whose emotions had swung between hell and heaven in just a few hours, headed home happily with his family.

Kim Hansol and Lee Junhyuk were born in Heorakdo in the same year, and they left the island to attend university in Seoul.

The two, who worked as an architectural designer and a museum curator respectively, nurtured their love as each other’s first love and eventually got married.

After getting married, the two, who had been diligently devoted to their work, became tired of the busy city life that felt like a hamster wheel. So, they packed up everything and returned to the island.

The two, who had always enjoyed cooking, obtained Korean cuisine licenses and then opened a restaurant on the island, continuing their happy life with their son and daughter.

Back home, Lee Junhyuk prepared a birthday party with his son for an hour.

“How is it, son?”

The father and son, wearing aprons side by side, smiled contentedly as they looked at the birthday table.

“Do you think Mom will like this?”

At Lee Junhyuk’s words, the child’s gaze swept over the table.

There were plenty of dishes to stimulate the appetite, from seaweed soup filled with seafood to japchae [glass noodles stir-fried with vegetables and meat], bulgogi [thinly sliced marinated beef], and grilled abalone with butter.

“Yeah! Dad, you’re the best.”

The child praised his father, raising both thumbs up.

“I think Mom will really like it. Dad? But I did a good job assisting you today, right?”

“Of course. Jisang helped Dad make the food today, so I was able to do it quickly. Thank you, son. Shall we call Mom now?”

“Yeah, let’s call Mom.”

“Then, Jisang, go get Mom.”

“Okay.”

Knock- knock-

The child took the pointed party hat from his dad and knocked on the master bedroom door.

“Mom? You can come out now.”

“Oh my! What is all this?”

Kim Hansol, emerging from the room with her daughter, seemed genuinely surprised, taking in the living room decorated with balloons and birthday greetings.

“You did all this while Ji Yoon and I were in the room?”

“This is nothing, really.”

“Mom, balloon over there.”

“Oh, yes! Dad and Oppa [older brother, a common Korean term of endearment] put up a lot of balloons that Ji Yoon likes. Ji Yoon, isn’t it pretty?”

“Yeah. Pretty.”

“Mom, wear this on your head.”

The child handed her mom the pointed hat with a very excited expression.

“Is this for Mom? It’s so cool! How is it? Does it suit Mom?”

“Yeah. It suits you.”

“Enough with the touching moments, Kim Hansol. Come and sit down quickly.”

“What? Did you make all this yourself? When did you make it all?”

“I prepared everything early this morning while you were sound asleep.”

“Really? I was so knocked out yesterday that I didn’t even realize you went out at all.”

“How is it? Do you like it?”

“Of course. It’s all my favorite things.”

“Mom, I made this egg roll.”

The child, sitting on the dining table chair, puffed out his chest proudly and pointed to the egg roll on a heart-shaped plate.

“How did you do so well? Mom almost can’t bear to eat this.”

It was so misshapen and terrible that it barely resembled an egg roll, but in Kim Hansol’s eyes, it was a precious egg roll filled with her son’s love.

“No, Mom, you have to eat it. I worked hard with Dad to make it for Mom.”

“Okay. Mom will eat it all.”

“Here comes the cake!”

Lee Junhyuk, who had briefly gone to the kitchen storage, came back holding a cake with lit candles.

“Mom, there’s a picture in the cake!”

“Ji Yoon, this is Dad, Mom, Oppa, and Ji Yoon. It’s our family.”

“Shall we all sing Happy Birthday for Mom together?”

“Okay.”

“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Mom.”

“Whoo!”

Kim Hansol blew out the candles happily, receiving congratulations from her family.

“Mom, did you make a wish?”

“Yeah. I wished that Jisang, Ji Yoon, Dad, and Mom would all be healthy and that our family of four would live happily ever after, just like now.”

“I wished for that too.”

“Really? Good job.”

“Honey, happy birthday. This is a gift the three of us prepared together.”

Lee Junhyuk gifted his wife a necklace and bracelet that he had prepared with the children.

“Mom, Ji Yoon and I gave Dad our allowance to pick out a gift together.”

“That’s right. Ji Yoon also contributed a thousand won [approximately one US dollar]. Dad, Ji Yoon contributed, right?”

The youngest daughter, who had been captivated by the colorful party hats, looked at her dad and said with a proud expression.

“Of course, our princess contributed her allowance.”

“Jisang and Ji Yoon used their allowance to buy Mom a gift? Mom is so touched.”

Kim Hansol looked at her two children, who were speaking proudly, with a touched expression.

It wasn’t an act to deliberately show how happy she was to the children who were looking at her with eyes full of anticipation, but she was genuinely moved.

Lee Junhyuk and Kim Hansol were giving their children allowance, but they didn’t just give it to them freely.

Although they were still young, they gave them allowance for doing chores to teach them the value of money.

They mainly gave them one hundred, three hundred, or five hundred won [approximately 10, 30, and 50 US cents, respectively] each time they did extremely trivial and simple tasks such as organizing shoes, tidying up toys, or clearing their finished bowls.

Although it was just small change, the children knew the value of money and liked to save it carefully each time they received it.

They used to buy toys with the money they had saved for a year.

But the fact that they contributed such precious allowance to buy their mom a birthday present made her feel so loved and grateful.

“Mom, I can’t bear to wear this because it’s too precious. What should I do?”

“No, you have to wear it.”

“You shouldn’t feel bad about using gifts. I’ll fill it up for you.”

Lee Junhyuk carefully took the necklace out of the box and put it around his wife’s neck.

“How is it? Does it look good on you?”

“Of course.”

“Mom is so pretty.”

“Pretty? I feel good because you said Mom is pretty.”

Kim Hansol genuinely liked the gift that her children and husband had prepared together.

“Is it okay to have a birthday party?”

“It’s not just okay, I love it. Thank you, honey. Thank you, Jisang and Ji Yoon too.”

“That’s right! Honey?”

Lee Junhyuk, who was cutting the cake for the children, looked at his wife as if he had remembered something.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Actually, there were people who helped me when I was looking for Jisang earlier.”

“That’s right. The uncles stayed with Dad so he could find me, and they even won me that carp.”

The child, who had cream smeared on their mouth as they happily devoured the cake, seemed to remember Tae-kyung and his friends. As soon as their dad finished speaking, they excitedly chimed in,

“I would have had a hard time waiting for Dad alone if it weren’t for those uncles.”

“Who are they?”

Lee Junhyuk provided a detailed explanation to his wife, who was curious about who the men were.

“With a drone? I’m so grateful. Honey, you said they came to the island? If you have their contact information, let’s invite them to our restaurant later. They helped find Jisang, so we should treat them to a meal.”

Kim Hansol wanted to offer even a small token of appreciation to the people who had found her son, who was more precious than life itself.

“I don’t have their contact information, but they gave me their business cards on the boat earlier and told me to come. I don’t know if they’ll come.”

“Really? Should I leave them a message to make sure they come? Ah! You said you don’t have their number? I hope they come.”

“Me too. Hurry up and eat your cake.”

“Okay. The bread is really soft. You eat too.”

The couple shared the cake, concluding their happy birthday party with their family.

* * *

At that same time, Tae-kyung and his friends, having arrived on the island, were touring it in a private taxi.

“D-Driver!”

Lee Jaehyun, descending the stairs with difficulty, called out to the driver standing next to the taxi.

“Oh, our doctor gentlemen have finally arrived. Did you have a good look around?”

“Yes, we went, but, well…”

“How was it? Isn’t the scenery amazing, just like I said? If you want to enjoy the scenery of Huiraek Island, you have to go up to the Sparkling Lighthouse. I’ve traveled quite a bit around the country in my younger days, and there’s no place like this.”

“It’s nice, but the path is too difficult.”

“Difficult? What are you talking about?”

“Guys, my legs… Ugh!”

Park Junseok, who had practically slid down the stairs in a sitting position, was about to throw up as he spoke, so Tae-kyung patted him on the back.

“Tae-kyung, is this really supposed to be healing? I thought I was seeing my ancestors. I saw my grandfather who crossed the River Jordan [a biblical reference to death or a major life transition].”

The three had visited a place called the Sparkling Lighthouse, recommended by the driver who had lived on the island his entire life.

The problem was that the lighthouse was located on the highest point of the island, and they had to climb stairs to get there from an already high location.

From a distance, it didn’t seem that high, so the three had confidently set off for the lighthouse, but their legs were shaking by the time they came down.

“Now that I see it, you didn’t go up there because it’s too high, right, Driver?”

“Of course. If I went up to a high place at my age and my knees gave out, it would be a disaster.”

“If it was that high, you should have told us in advance.”

“Actually, they say you can see sparkling stars if you go up there, so it’s called the Sparkling Lighthouse, but… It is a bit high, but aren’t you young people being a bit dramatic? It’s not that bad, is it?”

“It wasn’t dramatic, it was really hard. Have you ever been up there, Driver?”

“I live and eat on this island, so we go up there as often as we go to get spring water on the weekends.”

“Every weekend? You’re amazing, Driver.”

“That’s why I’m so healthy, even past sixty. But wasn’t the view incredible? It’s the best in Korea.”

“It really was.”

Although it was as tiring as climbing a mountain, all three felt it was worth it, having enjoyed a wonderful view that money couldn’t buy.

“Since we’ve worked up an appetite, shall we grab some snacks? There’s a place here famous for squid ink hot dogs. Sound good?”

“Sounds great!”

After sampling the island’s famous hot dogs, the three tried their hand at sea fishing with the driver’s guidance.

They stared intently at the water, completely engrossed, but with no natural talent for fishing, they eventually had to give up, empty-handed.

Before they knew it, the sun was setting, casting a red glow across the entirety of Heorak Island, and evening soon arrived.

“Hey, are you guys getting hungry?”

“Starving! Let’s make sure we have something really delicious for dinner.”

“Then, shall we head to that place [referring to Lee Jun-yeok’s restaurant]? I’ll contact the owner.”

Park Jun-seok said, waving the business card he’d received from Lee Jun-yeok that morning.

“Hyung [older brother or close male friend], why don’t we go somewhere else?”

“Why? I thought we were going there.”

“If we go, I think the owner will definitely try not to charge us. He could earn more if he served other customers, so I’d feel bad.”

“Tae-kyung’s right. They probably have to get food supplies by boat in a place like this, so it’s a loss if a table goes unused.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“Let’s go somewhere else instead.”

“I guess we have no choice. Let’s do that.”

The three were grateful for the offer, but they didn’t want to feel indebted, so they decided against going to Lee Jun-yeok’s restaurant after all.

“Have you decided where to go for dinner?”

The driver, who had been listening to their conversation, asked cautiously.

“Not yet. Please give us a recommendation, Driver.”

“Please recommend the most delicious and famous place on Heorak Island.”

“We’re really craving something delicious for dinner.”

“All the restaurants on our island are good, but there is one that’s truly exceptional… Shall I take you to that place?”

“Yes, Driver!”

It was said that the real *mat-jib* [a Korean term for a restaurant known to locals for its exceptional food] are the ones known to the people living in the neighborhood.

Encouraged by the driver’s confident words, the three headed to the restaurant without hesitation.

And after a short drive, the taxi stopped in front of the restaurant that the driver had so highly recommended.

“We’ve arrived. The restaurant I was talking about is this one.”

“Here?”

The three got out of the taxi, looked at the sign, and asked the driver again.

“Driver, is this really the right place?”