We Do Business In Full Auto [EN]: Chapter 18

018

Moving (2)

After giving the work orders, I return to the motel.

I sent eight workers to clean up the shanty town and six to do the move-in cleaning.

It wasn’t strictly necessary to clean that much, but I wanted to finish the job thoroughly. Since building cleaning was off today anyway, and I still had to live in Mangwon-dong for a bit longer, I planned to clean up nicely before moving.

When a person has money and leisure, they start to consider their image. That’s how it seemed to me, anyway. When I was struggling because I had no money, I couldn’t even afford to think about appearances; just making a living was hard enough. But now that I have some breathing room, I’m starting to think about the future.

I plan to bring my family out of the motel. By the time we move in, everything will be perfectly organized.

Then I’m faced with a happy dilemma.

I suddenly have 20 million won [approximately $15,000 USD]. How should I spend this money to get the best results for my family?

“First of all, we don’t have any decent appliances. We’ve been repairing and using discarded ones. I need to buy clothes for my wife and kids, and stop by the store to get disposable diapers. We didn’t have many baby supplies, did we? I should buy a stroller. Soo-jung doesn’t have any decent toys either. I should buy her a dollhouse. Ah! I should buy my wife a coat too.”

Listing them out, there was no end.

The things I’m thinking about now are essential items. That means I haven’t even been able to afford the basic necessities until now.

How much my wife must have suffered until now.

While I was running around looking for work, my wife was doing all the housework alone. Even washing cloth diapers in cold water.

This isn’t the 80s, and I even brought her from England, yet I’m making her suffer like this. I feel like I’m failing as a husband again.

When I enter the motel, my wife and child greet me.

“……Pa!”

“Huh?”

“……Pa!”

“Honey! Did the baby just say ‘Papa’?”

“There’s no way, is there? It’s too early for her to say ‘Papa’ yet.”

“No, she did. Our baby must be a genius! It seems like she already understands words!”

Soo-ah definitely said ‘Papa’ to me.

My senses have become more sensitive from the training, so there’s no way I could have missed Soo-ah’s words.

“Hahaha! You little rascal! Aren’t you a genius too?”

Could Soo-ah be a genius too? Or am I just being a doting fool?

The previous thought that I didn’t want my second child to be a genius has flown far away.

“You’re something else. There’s a Korean saying, ‘팔은 안으로 굽는다 (pal-eun aneuro gupneunda, the arm bends inward),’ right? You’re exactly like that [meaning you naturally favor your own family].”

That’s what she says, but my wife seems happy too.

“Where’s Soo-jung?”

“It’s time to go pick her up.”

“Great! Get ready quickly.”

“Pardon?”

“Because today is shopping day.”

“Suddenly shopping? We’re already swamped with moving.”

“No. Things went well, so I got an extra 20%. So don’t worry about the money and get ready!”

“Okay.”

My wife doesn’t seem to dislike it either.

However, there’s a slight worry on her face. She’s lived without enough for too long, so she probably has a compulsion not to spend money.

I gently stroke my wife’s face as she prepares to go out.

“You don’t have to live like that anymore.”

“I’ll believe you.”

* * *

In front of the kindergarten.

My wife and I were waiting for Soo-jung, dressed up for the first time in a while.

Before coming to the kindergarten, I bought a stroller at the baby supplies store, and I almost fell backward when I saw the price.

A cheap stroller was 300,000 won [about $225 USD]. A stroller with heating went for over 1.5 million won [about $1125 USD]. My choice here was naturally the latter.

First of all, my wife needs a stroller to go grocery shopping. It was almost essential. I wondered if heating was necessary, but it’s definitely needed in the middle of winter. I knew very well that it would be painful if the child got sick for no reason.

I took the plunge and bought it, and my wife kept saying it was okay, but I insisted on my own.

Buzzing.

Even though I’m just waiting for my child in front of the kindergarten, the surroundings are buzzing with conversation. Especially the fathers; they can’t take their eyes off my wife.

“Look at that family. The woman is a foreigner.”

“I wonder if he got lucky with an international marriage?”

“Why would a woman be so pretty and marry without even looking at the groom’s face? It must be a love marriage.”

“It’s too much of a difference to see it that way.”

I can hear the whispering.

These guys, if they’re jealous, they should just say they’re jealous. Why do they have to be like that? My wife is royalty, no less. What do you know?

I straightened my shoulders.

Soo-jung finds us and runs over.

“Mom! Dad!”

Soo-jung, who was running with quick steps, hugged us.

When a doll-like child runs and hugs you, the buzzing spreads even more around. It’s probably the first time my wife has come to Soo-jung’s kindergarten, right?

First, a kiss for me.

“I missed you, Dad.”

“I missed Soo-jung too.”

“Mom too.”

“Did you study well?”

“Hehe, there’s nothing to learn at kindergarten, so I just played well.”

She rubs her face against her mother’s face too.

After a long reunion, Soo-jung looks at us.

“Wow! Mom and Dad are all dressed up. What’s going on?”

“Today is shopping day.”

“Shopping!?”

Soo-jung’s eyes sparkle.

Right, Soo-jung still doesn’t know that I received 20 million won as a bonus.

I casually let that story slip.

“The main office said the construction was satisfactory, so they gave me 20 million more.”

“Wow!”

Soo-jung jumped for joy.

She was still young, but she was a daughter who thought like an adult. So she knew very well how big that amount of money was.

Soo-jung took our hands.

“Today, this maiden will serve you! Please take my hand!”

My wife and I chuckled at the historical drama-style speech we saw on TV. That must be Soo-jung’s own charm. Although it’s going against the times.

Mangwon-dong Hello General Electronics Mart.

Soo-jung seemed to know the geography of this neighborhood very well.

I had vaguely seen it while passing by, but I didn’t know exactly where the electronics store was. But Soo-jung guided us without a single error.

“Here it is!”

“Oh, have you had your eye on something for a long time?”

“Yes! I thought that someday when Dad made a comeback, we should come here. But I’m happy that day came so quickly!”

Soo-jung was still jumping up and down.

It’s an action that doesn’t suit the title of genius. That’s how happy she is.

A dedicated employee stuck to us.

Today, we’re all dressed up, and handsome (?) beauties have visited, so the employee is treating us kindly. Something that would have been impossible in the past.

A young man with a clear atmosphere of a salesperson greets us with a smile.

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a perfect family in my life. The boss is really capable, isn’t he?”

“Hahaha! I was just lucky.”

“The children’s beauty is outstanding, resembling the madam. You must be very happy.”

‘Hey, what about me?’

It’s a story I’ve always heard, but would it hurt to include me?

The new employee catches even the slightest expression on my face.

If I get upset here and leave, it will be a minus for the salesperson.

“Since the boss has the financial resources, the madam is beautiful, right?”

“Ah, enough, let’s look at some things.”

“Hehe, what are you looking for?”

That’s the power of money.

Korea becomes generous in front of money and cruel in front of poverty.

I found out that the world is like that after becoming poor. The humans who were bowing down in front of me turned savage in an instant.

You have to have money.

‘I have to earn more in the future.’

“First, a refrigerator, a drum washing machine [front-loading washing machine], a dryer, an oven range, a vacuum cleaner, an air purifier, a TV, right? Soo-jung, don’t you need a computer?”

“Gasp! Really?”

Soo-jung’s eyes become as big as marbles.

Immediately, my wife goes on the defensive.

“Honey. I think it’s too much. We can use a top-load washing machine, and we don’t need a dryer. A refrigerator should be a small size, and I think an oven is a luxury. We can just sweep with a broom for the vacuum cleaner, and we’ve lived well without an air purifier until now, right? There was a TV attached.”

“Ihehe…….”

Sweat flows on the employee’s forehead.

So, in the end, my wife meant to buy only a small refrigerator.

If it was as I said, the estimate would easily exceed ten million won [about $7500 USD], but my wife’s estimate was only several hundred thousand won [a few hundred USD].

From the employee’s point of view, he must be thinking, ‘What kind of people are these?’

I briefly take my wife’s hand.

“Honey. I earn a lot now. So it’s okay to spend this much. You can think of it as going back to the way things were before without thinking too deeply.”

“But…….”

It’ll be difficult. I know that too.

In fact, I’ve thought dozens of times about whether I can really spend this much money.

But as the private loans were cleared and the debt was integrated into the first financial sector through the government support program, the monthly interest was drastically reduced to about 800,000 won [about $600 USD]. Moa Construction said they would continue to push work, and in fact, if I had this much ability, I could make a living even if I did manual labor somewhere.

The conclusion is that it’s okay to spend money.

“It’s okay. It’s unconditionally okay, so don’t worry. If it’s because of the debt, you don’t have to worry even more. I’m going to pay off 50 million [about $37,500 USD] this time.”

My wife nodded.

Paying off 50 million out of 300 million [about $225,000 USD] would be impossible if I didn’t have that much leeway.

The employee gave a thumbs up.

“Amazing! You’re paying off 50 million in one go.”

“……I’ll do as you say.”

“Great. You choose the products. Think about using them for about 10 years and choose.”

“Okay.”

My wife took awkward steps.

She was so used to saving that it wasn’t easy to choose a single product. Even Soo-jung’s computer was added here.

Who said shopping is boring?

If you’ve ever starved because of money, shopping will never be boring. Like me now.

After shopping for appliances, we went to the mart and the baby supplies store once more.

After that, even winter clothes at the outlet.

My wife frowned every time. A person who usually doesn’t ask me more than twice asked me about whether it was okay to really spend this much about 10 times.

Soo-jung even stepped in to stop my wife every time, and it was a mess.

By the time we came to the restaurant after all the shopping, it was 10 PM. We had been shopping for several hours. But it was a very beneficial time.

At the restaurant, my wife seems to have given up completely.

We order pasta, pizza, steak, and salad, and accompany it with wine.

Today, my wife decides to have a glass of wine too. She said she had already breastfed, so it’s okay to have a glass today.

Soo-jung filled her glass with cider, and our family clinked glasses in the air.

Clink!

“For our family’s future!”

“Thank you for your hard work all this time.”

“Dad, Mom, you’ve worked hard too!”

Now I feel like I’m living like a human being.

No, it feels like I’m alive. Until now, I was just breathing, but it was hard to see it as a human life.

A difficult life where even the minimum quality of life was not guaranteed.

I’m just grateful to my family for enduring in the midst of it.

After a glass of alcohol, my wife’s face turns red. She used to be able to drink well when she was a maiden, but she hasn’t drunk for several years due to pregnancy and breastfeeding, so she seems to be getting drunk quickly.

“I was out of my mind today. My quality of life suddenly improved, so I can’t adapt.”

“I know that feeling well. Okay, listen up.”

My wife and Soo-jung’s big eyes were focused on me.

“We’re going to move towards higher places from now on. Thank you for your hard work and thank you again. Thank you for believing in this incompetent husband.”

Suddenly, my wife and daughter’s eyes seemed to be getting wet.