Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 484

486

“…….”

As Lee Jung-woo finished his explanation, Hyun-sung simply stared out the window, silent.

When he’d first heard Jung-woo was “sick,” he’d worried it was a complication from his previous surgery.

That’s why he rushed over.

But after arriving and hearing the story, that wasn’t the case at all.

The reason Jung-woo said he was sick wasn’t physical pain, but mental anguish.

It had been two years since he started his life as a civil servant.

At the time, he had barely passed the civil service exam after graduating from high school, and his joy was immense.

He even said he cried on his first day of work.

And until the last time Hyun-sung saw him six months ago, everything seemed fine.

But recently, he’d heard something troubling from him.

The truth was, things had been difficult for him for the past year.

The core reason? Life as a civil servant simply didn’t suit him.

It was something Hyun-sung couldn’t even imagine.

That’s why Hyun-sung was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t say a word after hearing the story.

“……I’m sorry, Hyun-sung.”

Lee Jung-woo spoke with difficulty when Hyun-sung remained silent for a long time.

“I know. I know how immature I sound right now. Actually, that’s why I tried to endure it, but I can’t anymore…….”

Lee Jung-woo couldn’t continue.

Hyun-sung, watching him, remained silent as well.

The two were quiet again for a long time.

After a while.

Gurgle.

Hyun-sung poured soju [Korean distilled rice liquor] into his empty glass and emptied it in one gulp. Then, he turned his head, looked at Lee Jung-woo, and slowly asked, “Did you just say that being a civil servant doesn’t suit you?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s what it… seems like.”

Lee Jung-woo’s answer lacked conviction.

Then Hyun-sung tilted his head and asked immediately, “‘Seems like?’ Did you just say ‘seems like’ that? That means you’re not sure yet, right?”

“Sure?”

“Yeah, that’s what you’re saying, right? If you had really made that decision, the word ‘seems’ wouldn’t have come out. Isn’t that right?”

“Huh? That’s…….”

Lee Jung-woo couldn’t easily answer.

Then Hyun-sung seemed to think for a moment and immediately said, “Jung-woo, I’m going to ask you some questions one by one, so you have to be honest.”

Just a moment ago, when he heard that Jung-woo was worried that his life as a civil servant didn’t suit him, he was simply dumbfounded.

That’s because he hadn’t expected it at all.

But a strange word had slipped out: “…seems.”

Didn’t that mean he wasn’t sure right now?

Lee Jung-woo was now twenty-seven years old.

It might seem like a lot or a little, but Hyun-sung’s judgment was the latter.

He decided that he was still too young to make such a decision, so he decided to ask him questions one by one to find out exactly what situation he was in.

He knew all too well that quitting a civil service job wasn’t something to be decided on a whim.

Lee Jung-woo answered, “Huh? Uh, yeah, I got it.”

“When did you start thinking like that?”

“To be honest, at first, I didn’t know what was what, so I didn’t know if this life suited me or not. But after about a year…….”

“A year?”

Hyun-sung’s voice grew louder without him realizing it at the word “year.”

Of course, a year wasn’t a short time. But he had worked hard for several years to barely get in, and now he was saying he’d had such thoughts after only a year, so his voice rose involuntarily.

Lee Jung-woo paused for a moment at Hyun-sung’s loud voice and then continued, “Uh, of course, that one year isn’t a long time, but it wasn’t a short time either.”

“I know that too. Then let me ask you one more question. How many years after graduating from high school did you pass the exam?”

“………… 5 years.”

Lee Jung-woo’s answer was noticeably delayed. That meant that Lee Jung-woo himself was thinking about that five-year period to some extent, acknowledging that it wasn’t a short time.

“Yeah, it was 5 years. If you subtract the 1 year you spent in the hospital undergoing surgery and rehabilitation training from those 5 years, the time you spent studying purely is 4 years, right?”

“No, that’s not true. Actually, I kept studying even while I was in the hospital after the surgery. Maybe I studied harder when I was in the hospital, so it’s right to include that period as well.”

“Okay, then let’s make it 5 years as you said. How was it during those 5 years?”

“How was it? What does that mean?”

Lee Jung-woo looked at Hyun-sung as if he didn’t understand.

Then Hyun-sung immediately asked again, “How was it while you were preparing for the civil service exam? Your heart, I mean. Were you happy? Or was it hard? Or…….”

“I was happy.”

“You were happy?”

“Yeah, I was. Of course, it was hard to go to the academy in Noryangjin [a district in Seoul famous for cram schools], but I was still happy.”

It was a slightly unexpected answer for Hyun-sung.

In fact, Lee Jung-woo was a special case. He hadn’t studied well in high school, and he hadn’t considered becoming a civil servant himself.

The reason he started preparing for the civil service exam was entirely because of Hyun-sung’s suggestion.

In his previous life, he ran a supermarket. Of course, after graduating from high school, he first got jobs in factories here and there. But in the end, he couldn’t adapt to any of them and came back to his hometown and opened a small supermarket.

That was by no means an easy task with an uncomfortable body.

Above all, working 17 hours a day from 7 a.m. to 12 a.m. was difficult for him, who was physically limited.

But he had no choice because he couldn’t live otherwise.

So, in this life, Hyun-sung recommended him to become a civil servant.

He thought that was the best choice for him.

However, it wouldn’t have been easy for Lee Jung-woo, who had only graduated from high school, to prepare for the civil service exam.

But Hyun-sung was surprised that the process was happy.

Hyun-sung asked again, “You mean you were happy even though it was hard?”

“Yeah, I was. Thinking about it now, I don’t know where that passion came from. Usually, at that time, I only slept four hours a day and didn’t even feel tired.”

It was a fact he didn’t know. He knew to some extent that he worked hard, but he didn’t know it was to that extent.

Maybe that’s how it was possible.

Of course, he prepared for 5 years, but with Lee Jung-woo’s skills at that time, it wouldn’t have been an easy challenge even if it was just level 9 [lowest rank of civil servant].

In the end, he confirmed today that Lee Jung-woo was able to pass the civil service exam because he had that much passion and effort.

“As expected, there was a reason why you passed. To be honest, I didn’t know you worked that hard.”

“You told me to.”

“Huh? Me?”

“Don’t you remember? The day I was discharged from the hospital, you told me that. You told me to go all the way if I was going to do it anyway. Then you told me ‘You can do it’.”

Of course, that’s true.

It was during winter vacation of my freshman year of college. He said he was being discharged after finishing all the treatments, so I naturally went to the hospital that day.

Then, the place he took him after he was discharged wasn’t his house but a boarding house in Noryangjin.

The last thing he said when he parted ways at that time was that since he was a man, he should see the end of it once he started. At the same time, he said ‘You can do it’ as encouragement.

Hyun-sung asked again, “Was it really because of that?”

“I knew it.”

“Huh? What?”

“That it would be impossible for me to pass. But when you didn’t give up until the end and said that to me, I couldn’t help but think that maybe it was possible. Then I got angry.”

“Angry?”

“Yeah, let’s do it. Like you said, I wanted to see the end of it once I started. And I thought, why would you take me to a boarding house when I was being discharged? I decided at that time. I decided that I would not leave this boarding house until I passed, even if I died.”

The reason why he took Lee Jung-woo, who was being discharged, to the boarding house instead of his house at that time was one.

He wanted to change his destiny. In his previous life, he ran a small supermarket with an uncomfortable body until he was over 50, but this time, he wanted to get out of that destiny no matter what.

To do so, he thought he needed some kind of shock therapy. So, the method he chose was to take him to the boarding house when he was discharged.

It was a kind of confinement.

The contract period with the boarding house at that time was 5 years.

He wondered if he was doing the right thing while calculating the 5-year prepayment, but at that time, he thought it was the best.

And the important thing is that Lee Jung-woo eventually overcame all the obstacles and passed the civil service exam with dignity.

It wasn’t something anyone could do. It was only possible to achieve such a result because he endured with all his might, desperately.

But now it doesn’t suit you?

No matter how I think about it, this doesn’t make sense.

“Hoo……!”

Hyun-sung sighed deeply and then picked up the soju bottle.

“Lee Jung-woo, take a glass.”

“…….”

Lee Jung-woo received the alcohol in an empty glass instead of speaking.

Then Hyun-sung handed the soju bottle back to Lee Jung-woo and held out his empty glass.

“Give me a glass too.”

Gurgle.

Lee Jung-woo quietly began to pour alcohol into Hyun-sung’s glass.

Hyun-sung, who filled the glass with alcohol, held out the glass forward.

“Let’s toast. This glass means thank you.”

“Thank you?”

“Yeah, let’s solve the problem about aptitude later, and I want to say thank you first. In fact, I had a lot of worries about whether I was really doing the right thing when I forced you into the boarding house that day. But you didn’t give up until the end and you did it, right? I’m so grateful for that. Come on, let’s drink.”

Hyun-sung raised his glass again.

Then Lee Jung-woo nodded as if he understood and held out the glass to the same height.

Clink!

The two people’s glasses collided in the air, and the two people emptied their glasses in one gulp as if they had promised.

After a while.

Lee Jung-woo was the first to speak.

“Hyun-sung, I’m really sorry. You worked so hard…….”

“What are you sorry for?”

Hyun-sung cut off Lee Jung-woo’s words and asked immediately.

Then Lee Jung-woo scratched his head and continued, “You were the one who suggested the civil service exam to me when I was a high school student who didn’t know anything, and you were the one who took me to the boarding house after graduation. Of course, you were the one who prepaid the boarding house fee for 5 years. And you were the first person I contacted on the day I finally passed the exam.”

“And?”

“In the end, I’m finishing it like this…….”

“Like this? What’s ‘like this’?”

Hyun-sung asked again, cutting off Lee Jung-woo’s words.

Then Lee Jung-woo looked at Hyun-sung’s face once and then continued, “I think I’ll have to quit within this year.”

“‘Think?’ You said earlier that it ‘seems like’ it doesn’t suit you, but this time you’re saying that it ‘seems like’ you’ll have to quit? In the end, that means that neither of them is confirmed yet, right?”

“Huh? Uh, not yet…….”

“Then that’s it. There’s still a chance, right? Isn’t that right?”

“Chance?”

“Yeah, a chance to change your mind. From now on, I just need to take advantage of that opportunity to persuade you, right? And honestly, I don’t know yet which path is best for you. But I think I know one thing for sure.”

“Huh? What…….”

Lee Jung-woo looked at Hyun-sung, curious.

Then Hyun-sung looked at Lee Jung-woo and poured alcohol into the glass in front of him instead of speaking and drank it. Then, he put pork trotters on lettuce, dipped plenty of garlic in the sauce, and brought it to his mouth.

Crunch crunch.

As Hyun-sung ate heartily, Lee Jung-woo, who saw the scene, smiled and asked, “Were you very hungry?”

“No, that’s not it, but I think I’ll have to talk a lot, so I’m replenishing my energy. Okay, shall we start slowly now?”

With those words, Hyun-sung sat facing Lee Jung-woo. Then he immediately continued, “Okay, let’s just check one more thing. Earlier, you said that it ‘seems like’ it doesn’t suit you, but what’s the standard?”

“Standard?”

“Yeah, if you made that judgment, there must have been some standard, right? Why did you say it doesn’t suit you?”

“Huh? That’s…….”

Lee Jung-woo couldn’t continue right away.

Then Hyun-sung asked immediately, “What? Don’t tell me you just said it roughly without any standards?”

“Huh? That’s not it, it’s too simple.”

“Simple?”

“Yeah, at first I didn’t know anything, so I didn’t know, but after about a year…….”

“Oh, just do whatever you want.”

Hyun-sung cut off Lee Jung-woo’s words.

He thought there might be another reason. But when the word “simple” came out of his mouth and he said “about a year,” he didn’t want to listen anymore.

Hyun-sung opened his mouth again.

“Hey, Lee Jung-woo. Since when did you like complicated things? What, you don’t like it because it’s simple? Are you saying that now? If a guy who’s been there for a year says that, what are the civil servants who have been there for 20 or 30 years? Are those people amoebas? Are they single-celled? Huh?”

Hyun-sung was dumbfounded.

Still, he thought there might be some special reason for saying that. But the reason is that the work is simple—is that even possible?

That’s when it happened.

More absurd words came out of Lee Jung-woo’s mouth.

487

Becoming a Building Owner After Regression