After my grandmother passed away, I was out of my mind preparing the funeral when a man ca to see .
“Are you Kim Muhyuk?”
“...Who are you?”
“I was sent by your maternal grandfather.”
“...What?”
He was Manager Ha, sent down from Seoul under my grandfather’s orders.
“Chairman Cheon would like to et you once the funeral proceedings are complete.”
“...”
“All expenses for the funeral and related docunts will be taken care of by us. After it's over, please co with to Seoul.”
At Manager Ha’s firm tone, I could only nod in silence.
And so, I t my maternal grandfather—known either as Chairman Cheon or Old Man Cheon.
At our first eting, he said just one thing.
“I heard you lived like a delinquent. Get into a university in Seoul within three years. Then I’ll give you a great reward.”
That was the extent of our first and only conversation.
After that, I lived in a small apartnt he had prepared for and attended school.
I gave up friends, girls—everything—and decided to live the life he expected from , determined to earn his recognition.
That’s when I cut ties with all my friends.
In the first sester of my second year in high school, Myungsoo and I were placed in different classes. While I buried myself in study, Myungsoo had his leg crushed under the brutal violence of the school bullies.
But...
I didn’t care.
Shortly afterward, Myungsoo left school.
* * *
I had been lost in thought, watching Myungsoo’s figure fade into the distance, when I returned to the ergency room.
The doctors and nurses were getting ready to move my grandmother’s bed into the ward.
“Student, she’ll be admitted to Room 703. Can you go ho and bring her underwear and a few essentials?”
“Yes.”
I took her hand, lying limply on the bed.
“Grandma, I’ll run ho real quick.”
“You’ll wear yourself out...”
“It’s nothing. I’ll be right back.”
“Did you eat?”
“Ah, seriously!”
Leaving my ever-worrying grandma behind, I registered the admission at the admin office and agreed to pay tomorrow. By the ti I stepped outside, the sky was already dark.
The slum streets had no proper streetlights. I climbed the stairs with effort and finally reached ho.
In the near-empty room, I gathered her underwear, socks, and a change of clothes.
As soon as I opened the box with her undergarnts, tears welled up.
Worn-out underwear.
Socks with holes in them.
And only a few old clothes to her na.
It was a stark contrast to my own box of clean, well-kept clothes and underwear.
She had worked herself to the bone to buy clothes, shoes, everything. Why hadn’t I realized it before?
I took what seed passable and left the house.
Back at the hospital, I opened the door to the ward where Grandma was now staying.
The other patients in the room all glanced up at once. Ignoring the stares, I sat down beside Grandma’s bed.
“You’re back.”
“Yeah. Grandma, are you feeling okay now?”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about —just go ho.”
“No. I’m sleeping here.”
Her hand was warm.
The coldness I had felt when she collapsed was no longer there. That alone filled with indescribable relief.
I put away the things I brought by her bed.
“I’ll step out for a bit.”
“Okay. And eat sothing while you’re out.”
“Yeah.”
I left the ward and climbed the stairs up to the rooftop.
When I opened the rooftop door, a few people were smoking there.
I sat at a small chair in the corner and began to slowly piece things together.
‘I don’t know how, but I’ve co back to the past. I prevented Grandma’s death in 1990. Back then, she had contacted Chairman Cheon right before she died. Manager Ha will probably show up again this ti.’
As my mind gradually cleared, the fury and resentnt I had felt right before dying surged back up.
Cheon Sooman. Cheon Suhan.
My mother’s older brothers.
Talentless and greedy, they joined hands with the Cheongpunghoe and beca the main culprits behind my death.
And the Cheongpunghoe...
A secret group operating behind every political, financial, and violent power in Korea. I don’t know exactly who’s in it, but it’s an organization that’s existed since the military dictatorship era.
Their na changed over the years, but their origin lies with the coup forces, especially the Hanahoe group, and the descendants of pro-Japanese collaborators.
‘Now that I’ve co back... I’ll dig into the very heart of it and destroy them. Slowly, I’ll wrap my hand around their throats... and cut off their lives.’
God, Buddha, Allah—I don’t know who turned back ti for , but maybe that’s what they wanted.
Now that I had a goal, I would take my ti building a plan.
I stood from the chair and was about to leave the rooftop when soone called out from behind.
“Hey, kid. Co here a second.”
I turned to look at him, my hand still on the rooftop door handle.
“I’ll pop those eyeballs out if you keep staring. Co here.”
“Are you talking to ?”
“You think there’s anyone else around, kid? Who else would I be calling? What a funny punk.”
“What do you want?”
“Hey, you little shit. When soone tells you to co, you co. Quit yapping.”
“...”
“Kekeke, boss, what are you doing with a punk like that?”
As I approached, I saw his face more clearly in the glow of a cigarette.
I had seen him sowhere before. Who was he?
A glimpse of a tattoo peeked out from the collar of his patient gown.
“Young kids these days, smoking already? That’s not good, not good.”
“I don’t smoke.”
“Oh? Then what’re you doing up here?”
“I had things to think about and ca up to clear my head. If you’re done talking, may I go back down?”
The man let out a dry laugh.
“...You’ve got guts, huh.”
“Do I know you? I’m pretty sure this is the first ti we’ve t.”
“You don’t know ?”
“No.”
“Pfft. Boss, he doesn’t know you!”
The guys next to him chuckled until the man glared at them.
“You really don’t know?”
“No, sir.”
“Hahaha. You’re a funny one. Na’s Park Dongsu.”
“Nice to et you, Mr. Park Dongsu. May I go now?”
I pretended to stay calm, but the mont I heard the na Park Dongsu, I imdiately rembered.
Park Dongsu—second-in-command of the Saseongpa, one of the two major cri syndicates that control central Busan.
In the upcoming governnt crackdown on organized cri, he’ll get arrested and sentenced to life in prison. He took the fall for his boss, Lee Saseong...
“Hahaha! You’ve got balls, kid. What school?”
“Dongsung Technical High, first year. My grandma’s in the hospital, so I’d like to head back down now.”
“Alright, alright. See you next ti.”
I gave a half-hearted nod toward his smiling voice and turned to leave.
* * *
The next day.
Myungsoo ca to the hospital early in the morning.
“Hey! Aren’t you going to school?”
“Of course I am. What are you doing here so early?”
“You really are Muhyuk, right? Why the hell are you talking in that stiff Seoul accent?”
“Cut the crap. Why’d you co?”
Myungsoo pulled an envelope out of his bag and handed it to .
“It’s 500,000 won. I asked my dad to lend it to . For the hospital bill and so tonic for your grandma.”
“...”
“Take it already. My arm’s getting tired.”
I looked between his face and the envelope.
“What? What is it? Pay back. I’m lending it, not giving it.”
“Thanks. I should say no, but I can’t afford to. I’ll pay you back, I swear.”
When I accepted the envelope, he finally smiled.
“Let’s get to school. Did you eat?”
“Let help Grandma eat first, then I’ll co.”
“Alright. I’ll wait.”
I helped Grandma with breakfast, then headed to school with Myungsoo.
When we arrived, the office called in. It was the horoom teacher who picked up my call yesterday—the one everyone called “Snake.”
“How’s your grandmother?”
“She’s alright. She’s out of danger, thanks to you.”
“Kid, if sothing like that happens, you should tell imdiately.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No need. Do you have money for the hospital bills?”
“Yes. Myungsoo’s dad helped us.”
“Good. If anything else happens, tell right away.”
“Yes.”
“Go. Get ready for class. And no more trouble.”
“Yes, sir.”
I opened the back door of Class 1-8 and walked in.
The noisy classroom instantly went silent.
I sat down in my usual spot at the back by the window, and Myungsoo ran over.
“So, what’d Snake say?”
“Asked if Grandma was okay.”
“Pfft, acting all nice. You’d fall over if you knew how much that bastard takes in bribes from my dad.”
“Shut up. Study.”
The classroom, which had started buzzing again, quickly went silent once more. Everyone was eyeing curiously.
“Who are you? Where’s the real Muhyuk?”
Myungsoo made a weird face, grabbed my head, and wobbled it side to side.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’re nuts. But seriously, why’s everyone looking at like that?”
“Huh?”
“Just a feeling.”
“...Are you really okay? You’ve been acting weird since yesterday.”
That’s when I rembered.
In those 30 years... I had completely forgotten how much of a thug I used to be before I t Old Man Cheon.
“Why the hell is it so noisy in here?”
When the horoom teacher—Snake—walked in, the classroom turned as silent as a monastery in the woods.
“You all know exams are next week, right? If your average drops even one point, you get ten hits. Don’t forget.”
...What?
“And anyone caught smoking is dead. Got it?”
Of all things, exams right after I co back?
I stared at the blackboard in dismay.
As soon as school ended, I rushed back to the hospital. I paid for the tests at the admin office and went up to see Grandma.
She welcod from her bed.
“You’re busy with school, you don’t need to keep coming.”
“I want to co. That’s why I’m here.”
“My baby... when did you grow up so much.”
Her eyes welled with tears.
I left the ward and went up to the rooftop. I could feel the gap between my 48-year-old self and my 17-year-old body.
As I stood gazing «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» out, sorting through my emotions, soone called out from behind.
“Hey, student.”
I turned around.
A familiar face was smiling at .
It was Park Dongsu.
“You smoke, don’t you? Be honest.”
This guy was like a goddamn barnacle.
“I do, but I don’t smoke at the hospital.”
“Thought so. I could sll it on you, even though we just t.”
“...”
An awkward silence passed.
“Ahem. Visiting your grandma after school?”
“Yes.”
“You’re a good grandson. Who’d have thought a decent guy would co out of a shit town like this? You any good with your fists?”
“...Yeah, a bit.”
“Heh.”
Park Dongsu let out a dry laugh, and the big guy next to him burst out laughing.
“Haha! Look at our boss getting flustered. ‘I’m pretty good,’ he says!”
The two bickering like that didn’t seem like gangsters at all.
I rembered sothing I read in an article that covered the history of Korean cri syndicates.
‘He was known for really looking out for his underlings...’
Even after getting life in prison, his boys stayed loyal to him to the end.
“You’re a funny one. What’s your na?”
“Kim Muhyuk.”
“Kim Muhyuk, huh? Good na.”
“Thank you.”
“You heard my na yesterday, right? If anyone sses with you, just drop my na. This must be fate—let’s stay in touch.”
“...Okay.”
We chatted idly. The more we talked, the more he felt... familiar.
‘...He might actually co in handy.’
He might be useful against the hounds of the Cheongpunghoe soday.
“I’ll head down now.”
“Sure, sure. See you again, brother.”
“...Calling ‘brother’ is a bit much, isn’t it?”
“Puhaha! Funny little bastard. You not scared of ?”
“Why should I be? You seem more like a neighborhood uncle.”
“Wahaha! A neighborhood uncle, huh?”
“Well then, I’ll get going.”
I bowed and headed back down to the first floor.
Thanks to Park Dongsu, my thoughts were all jumbled. I sat down on an empty bench.
‘Exams are next week, huh...’
As I thought about what lay ahead, a shadow fell across my feet.
“Kim Muhyuk?”
I looked up.
A familiar face smiled down at .
It was Manager Ha.
End.
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