Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 122

About ten minutes passed as I walked, when a familiar song drifted to my ears from afar.

– Rowing a boat on the blue waters of the Tumen River…

It was my father’s favorite song, ‘Tears on the Tumen River.’

I chuckled.

The moment I heard the song, I couldn’t help but smile.

Singing meant that nothing serious had happened to my father; I knew it instinctively.

When I heard from my mother that my father had even bought alcohol and gone to see Choi Yun-shik, I thought something must have happened between them.

Step by step.

My pace quickened even more.

“Father!”

As I got closer, I called out to my father in a loud voice.

“Who is this? Isn’t it my son, Hyun-sung?”

My father stopped singing, looked at me, and opened his arms wide.

I was momentarily taken aback.

Judging by my father’s actions, the atmosphere suggested that I should run into his arms to complete the picture.

Of course, in my past life, I would have found this situation absurd.

But who am I now?

I was no longer the immature Hyun-sung of the past, so my hesitation didn’t last long.

I ran and jumped into my father’s arms like a child.

“Father!”

“That’s my great Hyun-sung!”

Before I knew it, the word ‘great’ had been added to describe me.

At times like this, I can’t help but marvel at how much the power of alcohol enriches a person’s emotions. Looking back on my memories from my past life, I had no memory of my father opening his arms to me.

He was a father who never even gave me a light hug.

Come to think of it, my father had changed a lot from my past life.

I stepped back from my father and asked.

“Did anything happen?”

“Anything? What could happen?”

“I heard you went to Mr. Choi’s house with alcohol.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

My father asked back as if it was nothing.

I was almost embarrassed that I had been so worried.

“I thought something had happened because you two weren’t on good terms…”

“So, that’s why you came running like this.”

“I was worried. Have you two made up now?”

“It’s not so much making up as my position has changed. Now there’s no reason to fight.”

I couldn’t easily understand what he meant.

Then my father said something strange.

“It’s all thanks to you.”

“Me? What are you talking about? What did I do?”

“Well, that is to say…”

My father began to tell me about what had happened with Choi Yun-shik. As my father’s words grew longer, my expression began to change subtly.

By the time my father finished speaking, I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

“So, until now, you and Mr. Choi have been fighting because of your children?”

Choi Yun-shik has a son named Choi Jong-min, who is the same age as me. He is currently attending school in Chuncheon [a city in South Korea]. That means he is basically a good student.

So, until now, Choi Yun-shik had been bragging about his son to my father. Each time, my father felt relatively inferior.

I asked again.

“What about now?”

“It’s different now.”

I looked at my father with a questioning look and asked again.

“What’s different?”

“I paid off the debt, bought land, and he studies so hard. What’s so special about going to school in Chuncheon when you have a ramen shop?”

My father’s shoulders were puffed up with pride. I was a bit dumbfounded, but I didn’t have anything special to say to my father.

Then my father continued.

“Today, I was the one who raised my voice, wasn’t I?”

“And then?”

“He couldn’t say a word. So, I went to see Mr. Choi on purpose today.”

Now I understood the whole situation.

As parents, there’s nothing more pleasing than seeing their children succeed. So, the two of them had been having a battle of pride over their children.

In a way, it’s ridiculous, and on the other hand, it’s childish, but this was another aspect of adults.

Just then.

My father suddenly turned his back to me and said.

“Get on my back.”

“What? Father, not this.”

“No, do you know how good I feel because of you today?”

“Father, even so…”

“No, I’m telling you.”

My father was adamant.

Now it was my turn to be embarrassed. Honestly, it wasn’t because I was doing well. It was only possible for me because I had regressed [reincarnated or turned back time].

My father, who had no way of knowing that, seemed determined not to give up.

A moment later.

“Then, just once.”

I couldn’t break my father’s stubbornness.

“Okay. Just get on my back.”

I had no choice but to awkwardly climb onto my father’s back.

It was my first time being carried on my father’s back. Of course, I might have been carried when I was very young, but I couldn’t remember that, so as far as I could remember, this was the first time.

That’s why I felt strange.

“Father!”

“Why?”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t say that. If we’re talking about being grateful, I’m much more grateful. Your father was incompetent, so you suffered a lot.”

Being carried on his back brought back old memories.

In winter, it was so cold that shoes would freeze in the morning. When I came out to go to school, my father would always come out of the kitchen with warm shoes.

He had warmed the shoes by the brazier [a heating device] in the kitchen. When I wore those shoes, my feet were so warm that even now, it warms my heart.

And my father would come to pick me up in front of the school on rainy summer days.

For the first time, I hugged my father’s neck tightly with both arms.

A moment later.

“Father, it’s your turn now.”

This time, I carried my father on my back.

Then I walked towards home.

The warmth of my father on my back felt so good. Come to think of it, I had never carried my father on my back in my past life.

After walking for a while, I called out to my father.

“Father!”

“Why, do you have something to say?”

“Have you ever heard of Angelica?”

I was going to tell my father about the Angelica story I had heard from President Kim Jin-yong earlier today.

When I asked, my father nodded and replied.

“I’ve heard of it, but why Angelica all of a sudden?”

“Would you like to try cultivating it?”

“Angelica, you mean?”

My father asked actively, as if he were interested.

My father got off my back and stood next to me, asking again.

“Tell me in detail what that means.”

“Well, that is to say, I went to Seoul today…”

I began to explain in detail to my father about the conversation I had with President Kim Jin-yong today. When I finished explaining, my father said again.

“So, what you’re saying is that you want me to try planting Angelica as a test?”

“Yes, the person written on this memo will teach you the cultivation method in detail.”

“No.”

“Yes?”

I was startled. I heard a completely unexpected answer.

I immediately asked the reason.

“No, do you have any reason?”

“Reason?”

“Yes.”

“Hyun-sung, listen carefully. I don’t know what you think, but the reason we’ve been able to feed our family until now is because of the potatoes and corn we grow on that land. But now you’re suddenly telling me to plant Angelica there?”

“Because the profit is much higher?”

I honestly couldn’t understand my father’s words. He was refusing to plant something else that would yield several times the profit. I couldn’t understand it at all.

I couldn’t say anything to my father’s unexpected behavior and just stood there quietly.

Then my father continued.

“I can’t experiment on my family, can I?”

“Yes? What does that…”

“Yes, let’s say we plant Angelica and make a lot of profit like you said, but what if the opposite happens…, are you going to starve them?”

“……”

I couldn’t say anything. No, I couldn’t.

I hadn’t thought about that. What if the Angelica farming goes wrong, like my father said?

That possibility is not impossible.

No, maybe the probability of failure is much higher.

Because it’s the first time.

No matter how much someone helps, my father has to do the Angelica farming anyway. In that case, the risk is entirely my father’s responsibility.

If that happens, the burden will inevitably fall on all the family members, including me.

That’s right!

Like my father said, this couldn’t be a test subject.

The risk was too great to gamble with the family.

I was thinking too easily.

It was a method that didn’t consider my father’s position.

A mistake.

It was a wrong method, a wrong judgment.

If my father had a little more leeway, the result would have been different. But my father didn’t have that leeway.

I looked at my father and continued.

“Father, I was short-sighted. I just…”

“No, how is that your fault? Poverty is a sin. You were trying to increase our income, but our situation was too tight, so don’t worry too much about it.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”

“No, and it’s not like there’s no way at all.”

“Yes? What do you mean by that?”

I tilted my head.

It’s not that there’s no way… Does that mean there is a way?

‘Wait!’

Yes, maybe that method…

Just as one method flashed through my mind.

My father continued.

“If it’s not the whole thing, but a part, wouldn’t that be different?”

“Not the whole thing, but a part?”

“That’s right, just plant it in one corner of the field. If we try planting it as an experiment, I think we’ll get the answer. What do you think?”