Chapter 55

Chapter 55

“Have you been here before?”

Bada was pretty amazed watching her brother navigate Dongdaemun market like it was his home .

Dongdaemun market . It was the place to be if you were short on cash but still needed clothes . Bada was planning on coming here with friends before summer break ended, but they had a hard time scheduling . She gave up on going with them and came with her big brother instead .

‘Come to think of it, I’ve been to a lot of places with him . ’

It was almost as if her brother became an entirely different person after going to high school . She found it cringey and weird at first, but at some point she became used to it . After the break started, she even went out to watch a lot of movies with him . Lots of restaurants, too .

Her brother was the one who asked her to go . At first, when she told her friends about it, they all thought he was planning something . But when this treatment continued, her friends’ words changed .

Your brother’s so kind . Or nice . Or both . To be honest, Bada was pretty proud to hear that . At the same time, she wondered even more as to why he became like this .

“A few times,” her brother answered her .

A few times? When? Bada stuck close to her brother . There were too many people here, and she didn’t want to get lost in the crowd .

“If you want to go somewhere for clothes, go to apm, doota, or migliore . The people over in this part of the market don’t like dealing with students . They tend to just overcharge and be done with it . ”

“But you’re a student too . ”

“I have experience already, you know?”

Maru stepped into the market with a grin .

Later that day, Maru entered a restaurant near the market . After ordering some food, he inquired while watching his sister admire her new clothes .

“Satisfied?”

“Of course! I should definitely come with friends next time . I got everything for so cheap! Thanks . ”

“Make sure to only go to the places I told you about, then . ”

“Sure . But by the way, are you really fine using all your money like that?”

“You can always pay me back when you grow up . Also, when you need more allowance from now, just come to me . You know how hard mom’s working, don’t you?”

“Ah, yeah . ”

Bada’s excited expression immediately fell .

“Don’t get so sad all of the sudden . You can do whatever you want . ”

The lady at the kitchen brought them the food Maru ordered . When Maru handed Bada a fork and a plate, she looked at him a bit strangely .

“Um, brother?”

“What?”

“You’re not sick, are you?”

She seemed incredibly worried about him . How cute .

“I’ve just turned seventeen . Why’d I be sick?”

“No, you’re just treating me too well . ”

“So, you don’t like it?”

“No, of course I like it . ”

“Well, that’s fine then . Let’s eat . We should go back before the sun sets . ”

Bada started eating with a nod . She happily munched on some fries, seemingly forgetting about her worries . Maru watched her for a bit before turning to look at some of his own spoils . They were leather gloves and a hankerchief for his dad, and a coat for his mom . They were on sale right now, so Maru didn’t hesitate to grab them . Since he was able to haggle down the price a little bit more with the lady who had them, he considered this a great success .

‘Bada’s happy, too . ’

He still remembered hearing about how his sister was divorced in his past life . He also remembered his distinct lack of empathy . Back then, the relationship between the two was practically that of strangers . No, even worse . He probably would’ve felt more sorry for a divorced stranger . In this life, his sister was smiling at him very happily .

‘Perhaps this is why god likes to give people second chances . ’

He silently thanked the grandma who gave him the chance to live again . If not for her, his sister would still be a stranger to him .

“Want more?”

“Yeah!”

Maru ordered another serving of food from the lady in the kitchen .

* * *

Maru’s mom couldn’t say anything even after looking at what was inside the paper bag .

“You don’t like it?”

“No, of course I do . Where did you get the money, though?”

“I work, remember?”

“You should’ve used that money for yourself . ”

“Bah, just take it . I know how few clothes you have in the closet . Just try it on during winter . It’s not that expensive, but you can even show it off if you want to . Also, this is for dad . ”

Maru’s mom felt her heart tighten a little . Since when did her son become this mature? She wouldn’t feel worried even if she ended up letting him go right now . He looked like he would be able to take care of himself . On the other hand, she was a little sad . To think her son wouldn’t need her help anymore… Her nose started to tingle a little bit . Tears threatened to stream down her face at any moment .

“You should rest . ”

Maru stood up and left the room . He knew exactly what was going through her mind . Maru’s mom started wiping off her tears just as the door closed . After a few more seconds, she fumbled around to find her phone, and began calling a friend of hers .

“Oh, hey, Yoonji’s mom? Yeah, it’s me . No, it’s nothing serious . But my son recently bought me this coat . Yeah, with his money . It’s amazing . I tell him I don’t need stuff like this, but he keeps giving me more . First he gets third place in his class, and now this… hohoho . ”

Maru’s mom continued calling all of her friends after this . The beginning of the phone call was always the same .

“You see, my son . . . ”

* * *

“I worked pretty hard,” Maru said, looking at a calendar on his table .

He had three days left until school began . He stopped working two days ago, and his manager ended up tacking on 200 won more on his hourly wage for his last paycheck .

[You worked hard . ]

The manager was a rare person to see . From a manager’s perspective, it was difficult for them to care so much about a part-timer . They should know better than anyone how scary an extra hundred or two hundred won on an hourly wage could be .

[We should eat together some time . ]

Perhaps that was why one of the most commonly used lies in Korea didn’t sound so light this time . Maru took out the white envelope he put in his drawer .

“400,000 won left, huh . ”

He should probably be fine until winter break, as long as he didn’t waste too much money . He wasn’t going to get a job during the summer, but he changed his mind after watching his mom hurt her hand . Having some money was better than having none, after all .

After previewing some of the material he would be learning in the second semester of school, Maru laid down on the floor . He had texts from a few of his friends asking to play games, but they were ignored . He decided not to play anything outside of a set time .

As he was scrolling through the pages of a book in his hand, his phone began to ring loudly .

[Instructor Miso]

He stared for a few seconds before turning the phone down to silent mode . He got back to reading a book .

“To further one’s greed, and to return to propriety . ”

He hadn’t thought about that phrase in a long while . It was a sentence derived from Confucius . Back in his past, he spent considerable amount of time thinking about what humanity was because of it . Especially back when he worked as a road manager .

“Do not watch what is improper; do not listen to what is improper; do not speak improperly, and do not act improperly . ”

After speaking what sounded like a chant, Maru smiled .

“I still remember it, huh . ”

He ended up memorizing the words at some point . It was a quote from Confucius, to ignore all that was improper . Those words spoke to him quite deeply back in his road managing days . But…

“To further one’s greed, and to return to propriety . ”

Those words didn’t resonate with him so deeply this time around . Was it because of the times, or was it because he fundamentally changed as a person? Maybe it was because he realized that reality wasn’t kind enough to let people chase after ideals . As he thought, he turned another page of his book .

Right then, his phone started vibrating . It was Daemyung . Looking at his clock, it was already past 9pm .

‘Why’s he calling now?’

He put his phone next to his face as he thought this . At the same time,

- Oh, so you’re willing to ignore MY call?!!

Miso’s screams hit him straight in the ears .

* * *

‘Pretty cool tonight . ’

Maru stepped out of the house dressed in a brown cardigan, white shirt, shorts and slippers . If he just lost those cardigans, he’d look like an old man on the streets .

[Come out . You have ten minutes . ]

His ears were still ringing a little from Miso’s shout . To think she’d call him with Daemyung’s phone… He really couldn’t ignore him . She even said she was near his home . How’d she know that?

“I wonder if Dojin told her . ”

Maru stepped into the streets with his slippers . Every convenience store on it was opening their parasols and were selling beer . Pubs were doing great . It was a cool friday night, after all . As Maru walked down the road for a bit, he found a bbq store . One that sold thin-sliced pork . Even from here, he could hear loud noises coming from one of the outdoor tables .

“Ugh,”

It was the acting club . He got the message about them getting first place around two weeks ago, winning 300,000 won . Were they celebrating?

Soyeon was the first to notice him . The girl raised her chopstick hand a little awkwardly in greeting . The other members of the club all looked at him as a result .

“Hey! Maru!”

Miso waved him closer with a shout . Instead of stepping right in there, Maru assessed the kids for a little bit .

Awkward smiles .

Expressionless faces .

A little bit of hostility,

and a few apologetic looks .

Everyone had different expressions on their faces .

‘Well, I did expect this . ’

Maru walked towards the table . He said hello to Miso, then gave a nod to the second years .

“Why did you ignore my calls?”

“I was tired . ”

“Why didn’t you ignore Daemyung’s?”

“I wasn’t that tired . ”

“You!”

Miso tried to get Maru into a headlock . Maru just stepped back a little to avoid it .

“Oh?”

“Did you drink?”

Maru could smell the alcohol from the woman’s mouth . Her face was pretty red, too . Come to think of it, she said she called Taesik out to talk with whenever she got drunk . Did she talk a lot whenever she drinks?

‘Then again, she talks a lot even without alcohol . ’

Maru ignored Miso and sat down on the table . He wasn’t planning on making things awkward for himself, so he started eating immediately .

“So, who’s paying?”

“The instructor is . She wanted to see us before school began . ”

“Aha . ”

Maru nodded . They must’ve used the money they won from the competition already . He should’ve expected this . Miso was the only person who’s willing to call on him now . Maru took a few bites of the food, thinking that he should leave after eating a little bit . Dojin tried to talk to him, but Maru just shook his head in response .

The entire table had become quiet . Maru told the lot of them ‘congrats on winning’ and ‘the food is delicious’ before putting down his chopsticks .

“Thank you for the food, instructor . ”

He stood up from his seat . The entire club looked at him .

“I’ll be leaving . You guys can talk now . ”

He noticed a few members twitching their mouths, visible indications that they had something to say . Maru decided to ignore them . There was one reason why many people hated social gatherings . Because they’d have to eat food with people they disliked . And…

Right now, that person everyone disliked was him .

‘Well, at least I feel pretty full . ’

Maru stepped out into the road with a satisfied smile . But before he could take another step, someone grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back . He was pulled with enough force to make him lose his balance, yet he was able to backpedal and turned around easily .

“ . . . . . ”

As he expected, it was Miso who pulled him . The woman was looking at him with difficulty written across her face .

“Can we talk?”

“You know you can’t leave them right now . You’re the center of the club’s attention . If you want to talk, just call me . I’ll take it this time . ”

Maru turned back around, ready to go back to his house . But .

“ . . . Let’s talk . Ugh, please! I’m sorry! I’m sorry . I’m so sorry . I… Waah . I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!”

Miso sat down on the sidewalk and started crying . Watching a woman nearing her thirties cry in the middle of the road was… quite a shocking and confusing sight . Especially if that said woman was pulling on your shorts!

“I-Instructor! My pants are going to come off!”

“Waaaah! I said I’m sorry! I did!”

She was way more drunk than she made herself look out to be, huh . Maru quickly turned to look back at the restaurant . The club members were all looking away with an embarrassed expression . This only made Maru more embarrassed in turn .

In the end…

“Fine, fine . I’ll talk, so please let go . Before you actually take my pants off . ”

“Really?”

“Yes . ”

“Sniff . ”

Miso stood up, pretending as if the last thirty seconds didn’t happen . It was so ridiculous to see that Maru almost let out a laugh .

‘She must make a ton of people tired when she drinks . ’

Maru couldn’t help but think of Taesik for a second . To think he had to deal with this for ten straight years?

‘He’s the reincarnation of Buddha . He must be . Or Jesus . ’

Maru shook his head as he propped Miso up with his leg .