“Is there still no news from that bitch, your mother?”
And just like he always did in the past, he brought up mom. No matter how much he asked, I didn’t know anything either.
I’d heard that she left home when I was young, married another person, and had two children with that person. Come to think of it, the last contact was about 5 years ago when she said she was sick and needed something called hematopoietic stem cells. Even that contact wasn’t from mom but from my half-sibling.
I thought it would be okay to donate. Not because I had any lingering affection for mom, but conversely, because I had no attachment to myself. Whether it was cells or organs, I had nothing to regret even if I gave them to her.
So I got tested, but later they said they found another donor with a matching tissue type, so my donation procedure ultimately fell through. That brief encounter was all there was. It’s already been 5 years since then. I don’t know how mom is doing now.
“I haven’t heard from her in a long time either.”
“I know full well she already set up house with another bastard.”
“……”
“Really, does she think I’m an idiot just because her husband is in the slammer?”
I stared at my father as he spewed curses harshly just like in the old days.
“You disrespectful punk, not even answering when an adult is talking to you. Do you think I’m a pushover too, huh?”
My father was certainly still taller than me, but he was gaunt, and all the bulging muscles had disappeared, leaving him flat. Even the tattoos that seemed to writhe vividly before my eyes had faded in color like my father’s complexion.
After checking each of these in turn, I felt my slightly stiffened body relax. Even though I was in front of my father, my pulse no longer beat faster, and I didn’t feel like avoiding him.
I was no longer afraid of my father.
“Fuck, if only I hadn’t fallen for those words back then, I wouldn’t be stuck here like this. Waiting around just to get my hands on some money….”
“……”
“I should’ve just sold off that kid’s organs or ransom early on. Then instead of being here, I’d be living it up by now. I wouldn’t have been disrespected by the bitch who abandoned her child and ran away, or by a vermin bastard like you. Right?”
When I showed no reaction, my father muttered to himself self-deprecatingly.
“Dad.”
I swept my eyes over each wrinkle deeply embedded in my father’s skin one by one as I spoke into the receiver.
“Do you know where President Choi is?”
Then my father, who had been complaining about his situation, flinched.
“What?”
“Among the people you worked with, there was someone named Choi Hyeonggeun.”
Noh Seungmin had also washed his hands of it, and I didn’t have the skill to dig into people’s backgrounds. I had even less connections. So now all that remained was to ask my father directly.
“How do you… know about that bastard.”
Seeing my father’s disturbed reaction, at least it was certain that a person called President Choi existed. The name seemed to be Choi Hyeonggeun too.
And perhaps, if I wasn’t just having pipe dreams, he might really be an accomplice.
“Do you know? Where he is now?”
“You crazy bastard. The only blood relative you have comes to visit after 10 years just to ask such trivial shit?”
“Please tell me.”
My father seemed to think for a moment, then changed his attitude and shook his head.
“I don’t know who that is.”
“If you have even the slightest bit of guilt left about that child, please tell me.”
“Fuck, what kind of son are you. Huh? Living well all this time without showing your face to your old man once, and now what nonsense are you spouting? I was wondering who it was when they said someone came to visit….”
“Dad.”
I cut off his words and gripped the receiver tightly. Then I looked straight into my father’s eyes and said,
“A person like that shouldn’t be walking around in society.”
“Shut your mouth. Did a blockhead like you become a cop or something? A vermin who couldn’t even speak properly, just because you’ve grown a bit, you come here spouting this bullshit…!”
“Inmate Hyun Taesoo. Please refrain from profanity. This is a warning.”
As my father glared at me and shouted, a correctional officer approached and immediately stepped in to stop him.
Unable to contain his anger, my father stirred his body to say something more, but I had no intention of listening further. Judging that I’d gotten a rough answer to what I was curious about, I stood up from my seat.
“Take care.”
The last face I saw of my father was still filled with rage. Just like before.
***
2 weeks later.
[Location: Laforet House 3rd floor, Seheon-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, Time: Until 6 PM]
Absentmindedly checking my phone during break time, I paused. A text had arrived from Kwon Yujin a few hours ago.
Looking at the content, it seemed to mean let’s meet today. At the villa we’d seen before.
I’d thought he would have finished his training camp and returned to Korea by now, but I didn’t expect to be contacted so soon.
[I can’t today. Right now I’m not in Seoul but in Sokcho…]
I was about to send a text saying I couldn’t go right away because I wasn’t in Seoul, but I gave up midway because my typing speed was slow and the content was complicated.
Instead of sending a text, I called Kwon Yujin. If the region had at least been Gyeonggi-do, I would have somehow finished work quickly and gone, but it was quite a distance from Seoul. Moreover, since the entire team had booked lodging in Sokcho and was working, it was difficult for me to leave in the middle.
“He’s not answering.”
The phone just kept ringing with no response. How frustrating.
I held on for a while like that, and eventually it went to voicemail.
I had no choice but to leave a voice message. Right now I was out in Sokcho, so even if I left for Seoul right after today’s work ended, I’d arrive late at night. Still, I was planning to finish the site and return before the weekend, so I summarized as briefly as possible asking if we could meet then.
But even after leaving the message, I felt really uncomfortable. Should I just go up there now? He hasn’t gotten sick again, has he?
If I could find someone to replace me, I would have gone right away, but when moving as a team, it wasn’t easy to find replacement personnel. Since we didn’t pick and assign people from a labor office but moved around with a small number of people who had worked together before, same-day recruitment was nearly impossible.
I kept checking my phone for several hours, but there was no additional contact from Kwon Yujin. I’d feel less anxious if he’d at least reply with something.
In the end, I couldn’t concentrate on work and ended up doing other things in between. I stopped in the middle of installing a door frame and searched for news about Kwon Yujin on my phone.
[It is known that player Kwon Yujin has returned to Korea after achieving results beyond expectations at the Australian training camp. An official stated, “Both his records and condition were maintained stably even during intense training.” They also added, “His technical perfection has also risen to another level.” It is an evaluation that the effects of the local training have clearly appeared.]
If the article was true, fortunately his condition didn’t seem to be bad. I wonder if nothing happened for those 2 weeks.
Since I couldn’t get in touch, I couldn’t be completely reassured even after seeing the article. There was just over a week left until the competition now, and I worried whether something had happened in the meantime.
“Kid. Are you done with today’s work?”
While I was readjusting an angle I’d made wrong in the middle due to my scattered concentration, I heard the foreman’s voice from behind. I turned my head while holding the impact driver.
“There’s a bit more left.”
“Really? Hurry up and finish it, what were you doing that made you late?”
The foreman clicked his tongue. It sounded like they’d already finished over there and were cleaning up.
“We’re going to simply grab a drink of raw fish and soju before heading back. You’re not coming anyway, right?”
“No.”
“Alright, then finish your work and head back first. See you tomorrow.”
“Yes. See you tomorrow.”
Soon the workers poured out. If you drove a bit from here, there was apparently a big raw fish restaurant, so they seemed to be planning to eat there.
Since I avoided eating out anyway, I leisurely finished the remaining work.
It was only after it had gotten completely dark that work finally ended. The surroundings had long since become quiet.
I took off my work clothes covered in dust, put them in my bag, and went outside where fairly chilly air swept past my cheeks.
Because it wasn’t near the ocean, there weren’t many buildings around here. It was a somewhat remote place, but for that reason there were few construction noise complaints and trucks could come and go freely, making it a convenient place to work.
The downside was that there were almost no restaurants to order food from at this hour. It seemed you had to drive a bit further out to reach a restaurant cluster area. It wasn’t a big problem. I was fine with grocery shopping and then going to the lodging to cook dinner.
With that plan for today too, I left the site and headed toward where the mart was. Or rather, I was about to head there. Until I spotted a familiar figure.
“Kwon, Yujin?”
