Return To The Building Owner [EN]: Chapter 92

Sunday morning.

Someone was especially busy from early in the day.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“What do you mean…?”

It was my father.

The head of the family, my father, was making everyone feel dizzy, pretending to be busy going here and there, even though he didn’t have anything particularly important to do.

I don’t know how many times he’d been in and out of the kitchen this morning alone.

My mother looked at my father and asked, “Are you that happy?”

“Why, is it that obvious?”

“Are you even saying that now? Go look at yourself in the mirror. You were fine even when you were dating, but now you’re blushing just because you’re going fishing with your son. I’m just dumbfounded…”

That’s right.

My father had decided to go fishing with Hyun-sung today. That’s why he’d been making such a fuss since this morning.

My father asked again, “But is this guy still sleeping?”

“Sleeping? He already woke up and went for his morning exercise. He’s always busier on Sundays.”
“Is that so?”

As my father was about to leave the kitchen, my mother called out to him.

“Eat this before you go.”

“What is it?”

“What else could it be? A special meal. So you can catch a lot of fish with your son today…”

My mother cracked a raw egg into a rice bowl, added a drop of sesame oil and a little salt, and handed it to my father.

It’s a special meal that my mother occasionally makes for the family.

Back then, eggs were precious. We raised chickens at home, but that didn’t mean we could eat all the eggs.

We had to collect them and sell them at the market on market day.

Slurp!

My father emptied the rice bowl with relish.

At that moment.

Huff, huff!

Hyun-sung was running along the reservoir bank.

On weekdays, he exercises by riding his bicycle to school, but on Sundays, he comes to this reservoir bank to run.

The bank is over 500m long. It’s long, but there’s grass planted, so there’s no better place to run than here.

This bank is quiet now, but in the future, it will be crowded with tent campers on weekends.

In my past life, I wanted to run but couldn’t. I was weak since I was young. Moreover, as I got older, my heart became weak, so I couldn’t exercise even more.

The best thing about regressing [reincarnating or returning to a previous point in one’s life] was that I could run as much as I wanted.

Huff, huff!

It’s the fourth round trip. That’s 4km in distance.

It’s not a short distance at all. But my breathing is still steady. That’s proof that I’m healthy.

The reason why Hyun-sung pays so much attention to basic physical strength is simple.

It’s because he knows too well that you can’t do anything if you’re not healthy. Hyun-sung knew the value of it better than anyone else because he had already experienced it in his past life.

The value of simply knowing something in your head and the preciousness gained from experience were definitely different.

That’s why Hyun-sung runs vigorously today.

Hyun-sung was coming down from the reservoir and was almost home.

“Hello?”

“Are you coming back from exercising?”

“Yes, Chief.”

It was the village chief, Choi Min-seok. Come to think of it, he was quite the figure. He may be the village chief now, but 22 years from now, he will have the honor of being elected as the 18th National Assembly member [a member of South Korea’s unicameral legislature].

In April 2008, when he was elected, it was not only his personal honor but also a festive atmosphere for the entire village. It was literally a dragon rising from a ditch [a metaphor for someone achieving great success from humble beginnings].

Choi Min-seok looked at Hyun-sung and said, “I was going to visit your house this afternoon anyway, but it’s good to see you.”

“Yes? Are you talking to me?”

Hyun-sung, who thought that Choi Min-seok would have no reason to meet him, tilted his head as if he was surprised and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“It’s about Chairman Park.”

“Are you talking about Park Hee-cheol?”

“Uncle?”

From Choi Min-seok’s point of view, it must have felt strange that Hyun-sung called Park Hee-cheol “Uncle.” Because most people have been calling him “Chairman” for some time now.

Hyun-sung said again, “Yes, I do… but what does that uncle have to do with me…?”

“Well, it’s up to you how you call him. Have you heard that Chairman Park donated to the village?”

The story was gradually going off track.

Even if I think about it briefly, there’s no intersection between Park Hee-cheol’s donation and himself. Of course, Park Hee-cheol’s actions were taken because he changed Hyun-sung’s fate of dying, but he wouldn’t have told Choi Min-seok about that.

But the fact that he’s telling him that means there’s something he doesn’t know.

Hyun-sung looked at Choi Min-seok and said, “I’ve heard about that.”

“So, Chairman Park, you see…”

Choi Min-seok looked at Hyun-sung and began to explain in detail what Park Hee-cheol had said.

Park Hee-cheol donated five million won [approximately $3,700 USD] to the village.

It was unexpected.

When I first heard the rumor that he had donated, I expected it to be about one million won at most.

At this time, the tuition fee for a local national university was about 300,000 won [approximately $220 USD]. That means that the amount of one million won is by no means a small amount.

But Park Hee-cheol donated five million won.

It’s not an amount that you would donate willingly just because your fate of dying has changed. Moreover, if it’s Park Hee-cheol that Hyun-sung knows, the expectations would have been even lower.

But Park Hee-cheol acted differently from Hyun-sung’s expectations.

Then the conclusion is one: Hyun-sung’s judgment was wrong. Perhaps Park Hee-cheol is a bigger person than Hyun-sung thinks.

Of course, whether he’s generous or not, we’ll find out in the future.

Choi Min-seok’s explanation continued.

The words were long, but the gist was this: The amount is too much to have a village feast, so when he asked Park Hee-cheol how he would like it to be used, he said that the use should be discussed with Hyun-sung himself.

Hyun-sung was just dumbfounded after listening to Choi Min-seok’s explanation.

‘Why?’

Only one word, ‘Why,’ was spinning in his head.

“…”

Hyun-sung, who was thinking silently for a moment, looked at Choi Min-seok and said, “I don’t know why, no matter how much I think about it.”

“I’m sorry, but I agree with that. But the important thing is that Chairman Park definitely said that himself.”

Sigh!

A sigh escaped Hyun-sung’s mouth.

This is the first time in my life that I’ve had such a worry. It was ridiculous to worry about how to use someone else’s money when it’s not even my money.

It would have been less of a worry if it was my money.

Moreover, this money is not an individual’s money but the village’s common money. That means that there are more than one or two things to be careful about than you think.

That’s why Hyun-sung’s worries are getting deeper.

Hyun-sung looked at Choi Min-seok and asked, “Do you have any other ideas in mind?”

Hyun-sung was curious about Choi Min-seok’s thoughts first.

Then Choi Min-seok shook his head.

“To be honest, this is the first time for me, so I don’t know even if I think about it.”

That means Choi Min-seok also has a lot of worries.

Hyun-sung continued, “I don’t think it’s a problem to decide right now, and I think we need more time to think about it in the future.”

“But there’s not much time left.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“As you know, Chuseok [Korean Thanksgiving] is not far away.”
“That’s true.”

Hyun-sung was curious as to why it was a problem that Chuseok was not far away.

Choi Min-seok said again, “Because we have to report the future plans to the villagers while having a village feast.”

“Ah, yes…”

“I think we need to come to a conclusion by next weekend at least. So, do you have any ideas, even roughly?”

“Even roughly?”

“I think it’ll be easy after that if we just set the direction first.”

I fully understood what he meant. Direction is important in everything. If the direction is set, the method will not be difficult.

But a question arose in Hyun-sung’s mind.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Did Mr. Park tell you to report this issue to the villagers by this Chuseok?”

“No, no, I just thought I should…”

Choi Min-seok was so rushed that I thought Park Hee-cheol had told him to do so. If that were the case, Hyun-sung would no longer cooperate.

Because I thought that was not right.

Donation is literally a donation. Just because you made a donation doesn’t mean you have any rights. If you make a donation and claim any rights, it means that there may be another purpose.

It’s not a pure donation.

But fortunately, Park Hee-cheol didn’t do that.

In the end, that means Choi Min-seok made that decision alone.

This is an issue that should not be concluded in a hurry. And the most important thing is the opinions of the villagers.

If that process is missing, there is always room for problems later.

Hyun-sung looked at Choi Min-seok and said, “I’m sorry, but I think it’s better to postpone the reporting time to the end of the year, not this Chuseok.”

“To the end of the year?”

“Yes, I don’t think we should rush this issue. Above all, I think the most important thing is the opinions of the villagers.”

“The opinions of the villagers…”

Choi Min-seok pondered Hyun-sung’s words.

It seems like he made a mistake.

I wanted to finish it quickly. I wanted to show my ability as if to show off. The part I thought about when I became the chief for the first time this year was speed in handling work.

Before that, I was always dissatisfied that everything was too late no matter what I did. So I boldly submitted my application, and luckily, I was elected as the chief at a young age in my mid-30s.

There’s an old saying that too much is worse than too little. I thought I was exactly like that now.

Why didn’t I think of that?

I was trying to skip all the processes because I didn’t have time.

When I thought about it, no one forced that time either. I just set it arbitrarily, and I was trapped in that time myself.

Choi Min-seok looked at Hyun-sung and said, “So, you’re saying that we should take our time and go through the process slowly?”

“I think the process is more important than the speed in this issue.”

“The process is more important than the speed…, I think that’s the right answer. When I think about it, I almost made a mistake this time.”

Choi Min-seok nodded.

Hyun-sung, who saw that, asked again, “Have you finished planning the village feast?”

“Of course. Do you know how many nights I couldn’t sleep because of that?”

“So, did you do that alone too…?”

“I did it.”

I didn’t want it to be, but Choi Min-seok’s answer was too simple.

Hyun-sung was dumbfounded by his answer.

I wondered if it was because of his age. Park Min-seok probably just passed his mid-30s this year. So, if you say it nicely, he’s full of enthusiasm, and if not, he just feels like a clueless colt.

Of course, I know he doesn’t have any bad intentions.

Then Choi Min-seok said, “Would you like to see the plan?”

“Yes? Now?”

“It’s not officially made, but it’s organized in a memo format, so there won’t be any problem seeing it.”

Choi Min-seok proudly took out three sheets of paper from the document envelope and handed them to Hyun-sung.

You could tell how much Choi Min-seok had suffered just by looking at the memos written all over the paper. The event was composed of a total of three parts.

It was a smooth event progress that anyone could see.

There was nothing to criticize, and it seemed that he paid a lot of attention to the food in particular.

However, the only regret was that Choi Min-seok had suffered alone for several days to do all of that.

Everyone has a different working style. Some people do everything from A to Z by themselves, while others make good use of the people around them.

Choi Min-seok seemed to be the former. Of course, there are pros and cons, and it’s hard to say which method is better.

Hyun-sung returned the paper to Choi Min-seok and said.