Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 107

107

That afternoon.

As soon as class ended, Hyun-sung was swarmed by his classmates.

They all started chattering at once.

“Hey, how can you run 50 laps? And who ratted you out?”

“Seriously, the principal is going overboard. Making you run around the field just for having a beer after someone reported it?”

“If you were going to do that, you should have had more to drink! What’s with just one beer? You’re embarrassing us!”

“Hey, Hyun-sung, just run a few laps and then pretend to collapse. Don’t be a stubborn fool and run them all, okay?”

Hyun-sung smiled, watching his friends fuss over him.

They were good guys, really. He used to be teased by them, but now they were at least worried about him.

As the chattering group dispersed, someone approached Hyun-sung.

Looking up, he saw Lee Jung-woo.

He was grinning.

Lee Jung-woo was smiling.

Hyun-sung looked at Lee Jung-woo, dumbfounded, and asked, “What? Everyone else is worried, why are you smiling?”

“Isn’t 50 laps a bit weak?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean, 50 laps? For someone like you, it should be at least 100. The principal probably doesn’t know you well enough, don’t you think?”

*Whisk.*

In an instant, Hyun-sung’s hand lashed out.

*Thwack.*

Lee Jung-woo collapsed, clutching his side.

Hyun-sung looked down at Lee Jung-woo and said, “You son of a bitch, your *Hyung* [older brother or respected male figure] is about to run around the field, what’s with all the nonsense?”

“You… you bastard, still resorting to cowardly tactics…”

“Then why are you asking for it? Don’t mess around. I’m going to run around the field, so you can exercise on the horizontal bar. Let’s go eat ramen after I’m done.”

“Don’t talk nonsense about ramen.”

Hyun-sung was about to turn around with his bag when he felt something strange.

*Swoosh.*

Hyun-sung slightly lowered his head.

*Whizz.*

Lee Jung-woo’s bag swept over his head.

“What?” Lee Jung-woo shouted, dumbfounded.

“Didn’t you know? I have eyes in the back of my head. So don’t do stupid things from behind in a cowardly way. That doesn’t work anymore.”

“It’s really strange. Damn it! My side…”

“If you hang on the horizontal bar, you’ll be fine soon, so don’t exaggerate and get up quickly. I’m going to run.”

“Wait!” Lee Jung-woo called Hyun-sung back, then immediately asked, “Can you really feel it?”

“What?”

“I mean, getting hit from behind. You dodged it like a ghost last time too when Young-min was trying to prank you.”

“This bastard doesn’t believe me. I’m telling you, I really have eyes in the back of my head.”

It was true.

He had been feeling it for a while, but he could definitely feel it these days. If someone tried to prank him from behind, his body dodged it like a ghost on its own.

It was so strange.

And there was something else.

Taste.

Originally, he liked to cook, so he used to make various things at home. He mainly made them when his sister was around, but the taste had improved so much that it was amazing.

At first, he thought it was just polite praise from his sister.

But as it was repeated, he became suspicious.

‘Is it real?’ he thought.

What he discovered was Hyun-sung’s own heightened sense of taste. He wasn’t this sensitive before. But from some point on, he was unknowingly sensitive to taste.

Especially sweet and salty tastes.

It was just amazing. Fortunately, it was helpful in his daily life. So these days, his mother sometimes called him to taste the soup.

He had to observe it more, but for now, he was satisfied with that much.

The two went out to the playground.

Hyun-sung looked at Lee Jung-woo and said, “I’m going to run around the playground now, so you go to the horizontal bar and exercise. By the way, how many pull-ups can you do these days?”

“Hehe, I can barely do fifteen these days.”

“Oh, that’s pretty good. Let’s just increase it to exactly 50.”

“Me, 50?”

“Why, do you think you can’t do it? Strength increases as you do it. If you do it steadily every day, you’ll definitely be able to do it.”

“Okay, I’ll try as much as I can. Then I’ll go first…”

Lee Jung-woo smiled and headed for the horizontal bar.

A smile was already spreading across Hyun-sung’s face as he watched him.

Lee Jung-woo’s back as he walked away was definitely different from before. In the past, his upper body shook a lot because he didn’t have muscles in his legs.

But now, his upper body didn’t shake much even when he was walking. If he steadily trained his lower and upper body like this, he would be able to climb the mountain in front of him before winter came.

As Lee Jung-woo left, Hyun-sung started to warm up lightly.

*Crack.*

He loosened both shoulders, lightly shook his legs, and even loosened his neck.

“Shall we start now?” Hyun-sung was about to begin when he heard a friendly voice from behind.

“Are you okay?”

Turning around, he saw Principal Park Sang-hyun.

Hyun-sung quickly bowed his head to greet Park Sang-hyun.

“When did you come out?”

“Just now, but are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I can think of this as light exercise and run.”

“That’s a relief. I was worried about what to do if you were just cursing me.”

Principal Park Sang-hyun’s face seemed more relaxed than before.

Hyun-sung didn’t feel too bad either. Anyway, it was his fault. He thought it was fortunate that it ended like this.

Hyun-sung bowed his head to Principal Park Sang-hyun.

“Thank you for resolving it with running laps.”

“Haha, I’m really grateful that you said that. I felt like I had committed a crime.”

“And also, I will visit the principal’s office tomorrow at lunchtime. I have something to tell you about the restroom issue.”

“Really? That’s great. I’ve been feeling frustrated just thinking about that issue…”

Hyun-sung was also frustrated.

The problem was ultimately money.

The estimate was roughly around ten million won [approximately $7,500 USD]. That was the estimated price that minimized labor costs and equipment rental fees. That meant there was no possibility of going lower from there.

Then the conclusion was reached.

He would start if he was confident in making that money, and if not, he would give up cleanly.

It was a headache, but if he thought about it carefully, he thought he could see the answer, and anyway, he thought he should discuss it with the principal a little more.

How much time had passed?

*Hoo hoo!*

Hyun-sung was running around the playground.

It was his tenth lap.

But his breathing was still steady without any shaking. He once again realized that his stamina had definitely improved.

Who would have known that the time he spent wandering in the mountains to dig up wild ginseng would be the foundation of his stamina?

At that time, he only had wild ginseng in his head. As he wandered around the mountains like that, his body had become lighter before he knew it.

In a way, he had gained something as precious as wild ginseng.

“Huh? That bastard…”

Hyun-sung was just turning the corner when he heard *Thump thump.*

Someone was running towards Hyun-sung.

It was Kim Il-soo, no matter who looked at him. Because he was bulky, he could tell who it was just by looking at him from afar.

Kim Il-soo approached Hyun-sung, panting.

Hyun-sung looked at Kim Il-soo and asked, “Hey, what’s this all about?”

“Loyalty!”

He didn’t know if his tongue was short, but anyway, he was a good guy without any nonsense.

“Am I supposed to be touched right now?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Just run. If I talk a lot… I can’t… run because I’m tired. Huff…”

Hyun-sung glanced at Kim Il-soo.

It was just the beginning, but Kim Il-soo was already panting. Come to think of it, Kim Il-soo was terrible at running in his past life as well. But he was surprisingly fast in short distances.

So he was the guy who tried to get out of middle and long distance classes during physical education class.

That guy ran up to him, saying it was loyalty.

And now that he had run up to him, it meant that he had been watching Hyun-sung himself from somewhere. Now that it was his tenth lap, it meant that he had been watching for at least 30 minutes.

Hyun-sung looked at Kim Il-soo and asked, “Hey, have you been watching me without going home until now?”

“Yeah.”

“You didn’t have the confidence to run from the beginning?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think it’s possible now?”

“I don’t know!”

That was the correct answer.

There were still 40 laps left. It was an impossible distance for Kim Il-soo, no matter how you looked at it.

That meant…

There were many worries and conflicts before he decided to run out. He had somehow endured up to ten laps, but he couldn’t endure any longer.

He didn’t have the confidence to run to the end, but he ran out anyway, so how conflicted must he have been?

The fact that he ran out despite that meant that he was still a pure Kim Il-soo.

Hyun-sung looked at Kim Il-soo running next to him.

How much would it be if a bear ran?

*Huff huff.*

He was already out of breath.

As a result, Hyun-sung’s speed was already adjusted to Kim Il-soo’s speed.

A problem had occurred.

At this speed, it would take 5 hours to complete the remaining number of laps. No, the problem wasn’t that, but Kim Il-soo would collapse after only a few laps.

Then… this wasn’t it.

He had to stop Kim Il-soo. He just had to acknowledge that pure heart.

*Swoosh.*

Hyun-sung looked at Kim Il-soo again.

He was still moving his feet with effort, determined to run.

Hyun-sung looked elsewhere. There, Lee Jung-woo was working hard on the horizontal bar.

Hyun-sung nodded and called Kim Il-soo.

“Hey, Kim Il-soo.”

“Why?”

“Did you make up with Jung-woo?”

“…”

Kim Il-soo couldn’t answer. That meant that these two guys still hadn’t made up.

Hyun-sung’s words continued.

“Aren’t you going to apologize?”

“Are you talking about an apology?”

“Yeah!”

“Do I really have to do that? We’re friends, so if time passes…”

Kim Il-soo couldn’t finish his words. Hyun-sung interrupted him.

“You crazy bastard, who says that? That it will be resolved if time passes. Would you be able to forgive him if you were him? After being treated like that…”

“…”

“You, do you admit that you did wrong?”

“That’s…”

“Then apologize. That’s the least you can do for a friend. You may not care, but it will remain a lifelong regret for Jung-woo. You have to resolve it now. That’s good for you too.”

That’s what Lee Jung-woo and Kim Il-soo were like in their past lives.

Of course, at that time, Lee Jung-woo was tormented by Kim Il-soo until graduation. Anyway, it was a wound that would never be forgotten from the victim’s point of view.

It was like a thorn under his fingernail, an ache that felt prickly whenever he touched it.

*Stop.*

Kim Il-soo stopped running.

Then he looked at Hyun-sung and asked, “Did you say manners just now?”

“Yeah, you idiot. There are minimum manners to keep even between friends. And there’s a time for that too.”

“Time…?”

Kim Il-soo didn’t say anything more.