Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 38

Knock, knock.

Hyun-sung was startled.

He realized he’d been completely absorbed in math problems.

“Who is it?”

The door opened, and his father appeared.

“Oh? Father?”

“Yes, drink this while you work.”

His father held out a bowl to Hyun-sung.

The bowl was filled with honey water. His father had been raising native bees as a hobby for a long time, so they always had plenty of honey at home.

Hyun-sung took the bowl and looked at his father.

“Isn’t this honey water?”

“There’s nothing better when you’re tired. But what’s with the sudden studying?”

Hyun-sung suddenly staying up all night to study seemed strange to his father. It was understandable, considering Hyun-sung never even stayed up during exams.

However, Hyun-sung gave an unexpected answer.

“I don’t want to have any more regrets.”

“What?”

His father was taken aback by Hyun-sung’s sudden answer.

He had asked casually, but the response was surprisingly serious. Even more surprising was Hyun-sung’s demeanor as he said it.

It was a side of him his father had never seen before. His father was momentarily flustered by his unfamiliar, serious attitude.

Then, Hyun-sung spoke again.

“I won’t live a life of regret anymore.”

He was sincere.

Whether it was studying or anything else, he had learned countless times that putting things off leads to regret.

Regretting it later changes nothing.

Once was enough.

The same mistake?

Not anymore.

The same goes for having fun.

Later?

There is no later.

You can’t even have fun whenever you want. He belatedly realized that there’s a time for everything. By then, too much time had already passed.

Enjoying yourself to the fullest when you can is also a skill and a privilege.

If you miss an opportunity, it might not come again. That was the conclusion Hyun-sung had reached through his life.

Slurp.

Hyun-sung took a sip of the honey water his father had given him.

The sweetness flowing down his throat seemed to wash away all the fatigue in his body.

“Father, this is so good.”

“I’m glad. By the way, are you going to be okay for school without sleeping?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m young, you know. Hehe…….”

Even as he said it, he felt a little awkward and laughed.

His father smiled at Hyun-sung and closed the door as he left. No other words were needed. That’s his father. That’s why Hyun-sung used to misunderstand him, thinking he was indifferent.

But now he knew his father’s heart was filled with love for his family more than anyone else’s.

As soon as his father left, Hyun-sung finished the last drop of honey water.

Smack.

He looked slightly disappointed.

Hyun-sung looked at the empty bowl.

A soup bowl.

The simple shape reminded him of his father’s way of expressing himself, making him feel even more affectionate.

Hyun-sung put on his tracksuit and went outside.

“Physical fitness is effort.”

Having experienced the pain of being physically weak in his past life, he knew its importance. That’s why he put more effort into physical training.

Today, he planned to increase the distance a bit more.

He had run yesterday, but the distance felt too short. He thought gradually increasing it would be a good way to verify that his physical fitness had improved.

One, two.

Hyun-sung lightly warmed up in the yard.

“Achoo!”

He heard a sneeze from somewhere.

Hyun-sung moved a few steps towards the sound.

He saw his father in the distance, standing on the bank of the rice paddy. It was the very place his father had transferred the registration to his mother yesterday.

Even though it was only one plot of land now, it was still the land his father had talked about his whole life. The emotions must be powerful.

Hyun-sung quietly turned away, not wanting to disturb his father’s solitude.

Then, he quietly left the yard and began to run, cutting through the early morning air.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

“Was it this much?”

Hyun-sung was surprised at himself even while running. An hour had already passed, twice the distance compared to yesterday. But he felt fine.

His breathing was steady, and his speed hardly changed.

At first, he was only going to run for about 10 more minutes, but once he did, he wanted to keep going. That’s how it started, and now an hour had passed.

“Good!”

His physical fitness had definitely improved.

He wanted to confirm it.

He didn’t know if it was deodeok [a type of root vegetable] or wild ginseng, but he could feel that his physical fitness had improved after eating them.

Of course, he couldn’t know the exact numbers, but he wanted to check it roughly. That’s why he increased the running time today.

He figured that if his breathing became erratic or his speed decreased, that would be his limit.

But…

The results were very satisfactory.

He felt with his whole body that his physical fitness had improved to a level that couldn’t be compared to his past life.

“Up to here.”

Hyun-sung turned around and headed home.

Hyun-sung judged that it was enough since he wasn’t going to become a professional athlete.

When he returned home, his younger sister, Kim Ji-yeon, asked with surprised eyes.

“Oppa, what’s going on?”

He was an oppa [older brother] who hated exercising. So, it was natural for Kim Ji-yeon to find it strange that Hyun-sung had returned after exercising so much that his whole body was soaked in sweat.

“It’s good.”

Contrary to Kim Ji-yeon’s surprise, Hyun-sung was very calm.

Then, Kim Ji-yeon asked again.

“Are you really my oppa, Kim Hyun-sung?”

“I’m going to try to live properly now.”

Kim Ji-yeon didn’t know what to say. There were many things she didn’t understand these days: the high school career path problem last time, the money yesterday, and now even exercising…

But the important thing was that her oppa somehow looked cooler and cooler.

“That little rascal…….”

“What? Kim Ji-yeon!”

“It’s cute how you get defensive. Hoho…….”

“Cute? Me? Our Ji-yeon’s taste has changed a lot too. Haha…….”

He could only laugh.

At that moment, his mother came out of the kitchen and said.

“You’ll be late for school. Hurry up and eat breakfast.”

“Mother, I can’t take the first bus today anyway. So, eat with Ji-yeon first. I’m going to wash up.”

“Okay, I understand. What kind of exercise…, you should do it in moderation.”

His mother said she understood and went into the kitchen.

Hyun-sung took his toiletries and a change of clothes and headed to the stream in front. A privilege in the countryside—of course, he didn’t know it was a privilege in the past.

He only thought everything was inconvenient.

But now he knew very well that all of this was a privilege unique to the countryside that he couldn’t buy even with billions of dollars.

That’s probably why Hyun-sung’s steps were so light as he ran to the stream.

***

Arriving at school, Hyun-sung hurried to the classroom.

Creak.

Opening the classroom door and entering, it was noisy as expected.

“Yeah, good times.”

Hyun-sung muttered and went to his seat. Then he turned his gaze to the front row.

He wanted to see Lee Jung-woo.

But despite it being morning, Lee Jung-woo was lying face down.

“Is he sick?”

Hyun-sung got up and approached Lee Jung-woo.

“Jung-woo, are you sick?”

“…….”

“Lee Jung-woo, what’s wrong?”

Lee Jung-woo was lying face down and didn’t move at all.

That’s when it happened.

Flutter.

He saw Lee Jung-woo’s shoulder trembling slightly.

‘Could it be?’

In an instant, a very old memory flashed through his mind. The incident that Hyun-sung himself wanted to hide suddenly resurfaced.

It was one day after school started.

The bullies that every school has—the ones who didn’t study and only picked on the weak. There were some in Hyun-sung’s class too.

Kim Il-soo and two of his followers.

From the morning, they demanded money from Lee Jung-woo as if it were natural. When he said he didn’t have any, the three of them ganged up and beat Lee Jung-woo.

Then they even searched his bag and took his money.

What was Hyun-sung doing then?

He was watching. He was really just watching. He was afraid that he might make eye contact with Kim Il-soo, so he lay face down and secretly watched.

He had been through it a few times himself, so he was even more afraid.

Even while watching his best friend get beaten and robbed, he couldn’t do anything for his friend.

He knew it was cowardly, but he was scared and afraid, so he couldn’t say a word. It was a very old memory that he didn’t want to bring up.

Then why didn’t he see this situation today?

The reason was simple.

At that time, he took the first bus in the morning, so he could come to school early. But today, he came to school by bicycle instead of the bus. It’s a means of transportation that he inevitably uses when he misses the first bus.

It’s a little over 10km from home to school.

That’s why he used to use a bicycle only when he missed the first bus. Inevitably, he arrived at school about 40 minutes later than usual.

This incident probably happened 20-30 minutes ago. He couldn’t see it because he came to school late.

Hyun-sung turned his head and looked for Kim Il-soo first. But Kim Il-soo and his cronies were nowhere to be seen.

They probably went to the store in front of the school with the stolen money.

Hyun-sung called Lee Jung-woo again.

“Lee Jung-woo, lift your head.”

“Be quiet.”

“Are you okay?”

Lee Jung-woo’s face was fine.

They’re cunning bastards, so they don’t hit the face to avoid leaving traces.

They probably hit his legs or chest.

“Those sons of bitches!”

A curse suddenly came out of Hyun-sung’s mouth. The friends around him looked at Hyun-sung all at once, as if surprised.

And Lee Jung-woo was the most surprised of all.

“Kim Hyun-sung!”

“Jung-woo, I’m not going to put up with it anymore. Even if I get beaten to death, I’m not going to live cowardly anymore.”

“Why are you suddenly doing this?”

Lee Jung-woo looked at Hyun-sung.

This wasn’t the first time this had happened. Until now, no one had ever stepped up. Of course, he was the same when Hyun-sung was being bullied.

But why suddenly?

Lee Jung-woo was just dumbfounded by Hyun-sung’s actions.

Then Hyun-sung continued to speak.

“Jung-woo, I’m sorry for everything. I have nothing to say even if I had ten mouths about what happened in the past. But from now on, I’ll always be with you. Even if I get beaten to death, I won’t leave you alone.”

Clench.

It was the moment when Hyun-sung’s eyes changed.

Bang.

At that moment, Kim Il-soo and his cronies were coming in through the back door, munching on something.

Then the noisy classroom became quiet in an instant.

But that was only for a moment.

“Hey! Kim Il-soo!”

A single scream echoed through the quiet classroom. It was none other than Hyun-sung’s voice.

Then all the eyes in the classroom turned to Hyun-sung.

Heh!

A short chuckle burst out from someone’s mouth.

It was Kim Il-soo.

Toc toc.

Kim Il-soo tapped his chest with his thumb and said to Hyun-sung.

“Right now, you called me, right?”

“Yeah, you son of a bitch.”

“What? Hey! Kim Hyun-sung, is this bastard crazy? It’s me, Kim Il-soo.”

“Are you still robbing your friends of their money and bullying them? That’s why you graduate and scam your friends with jade mats [a Korean slang term for fraudulent schemes]. You son of a bitch.”

It’s true.

From some point on, rumors spread among friends: be careful of jade mats. Of course, “jade mat” was a euphemism referring to Kim Il-soo.

Kim Il-soo was dumbfounded by Hyun-sung’s words.

“What nonsense is this bastard talking about?”

“Nonsense? It’s not nonsense, it’s your future, you son of a bitch. So, get your act together.”

Hyun-sung was talking and slowly closing the distance with Kim Il-soo. He already knew that this situation wouldn’t end well with words.

In this case, the first strike is the best.

It is said that the first strike in a fight is already half the battle. That means it’s that advantageous. But the fighter was still different.