VDN Ch 68

Nam-woon opened the rice cooker to measure the amount, then unfolded a small dining table set against one wall. Meanwhile, Seo-oh was tapping on his phone, searching for something.

– Hello, the pillars of the household who work hard for their families, our parents! Today, we’re going to make pickled lettuce, which is perfect when there’s no other side dish available!

A cooking YouTube channel played to start the morning. With a serious expression, Seo-oh poured soy sauce into a spoon. He hesitated several times while pouring the soy sauce, then tasted a small piece of lettuce. His complexion darkened momentarily, but he sprinkled sesame seeds over the lettuce with an expressionless face.

While Seo-oh struggled with the pickled lettuce, Nam-woon placed bowls of rice and kimchi on the table.

“Hey, eat.”

Kim Haeng-won slowly moved his butt towards the dining table. As Nam-woon sat opposite him, Se-han, who had been fidgeting, naturally took his place on Nam-woon’s lap. Nam-woon gently pinched the child’s chubby cheeks without hurting him and informed Kim Haeng-won.

“We’re going to leave right after eating this.”

Haeng-won picked up his spoon and then put it down again before asking Nam-woon,

“Did you visit grandfather often when I wasn’t around?”

“Not often.”

“Grandfather really hates you.”

“I know, man.”

He glanced at Nam-woon for a moment and then began to scoop up the rice. Soon, a third of the rice bowl was empty. Haeng-won chewed his food as he looked at Seo-oh standing by the sink and asked,

“Did you suddenly become nice because of your boyfriend?”

“Boyfriend?”

Nam-woon frowned as if to say, What are you talking about, and Haeng-won whispered,

“Aren’t you dating that guy?”

Then Se-han, sitting on Nam-woon’s lap, raised his head while his cheek was held in Nam-woon’s hand and asked,

“Dating Hyung?”

While Nam-woon was still not answering the question, Seo-oh, who had approached the table, put down the pickled lettuce. Seo-oh, who must have heard Haeng-won’s words and didn’t say anything, looked at Nam-woon and asked,

“Are you going to eat the lettuce salad too?”

“Of course. It looks delicious. Right, Se-han-ah?”

“Yes! It looks like it’s going to be delicious!”

Nam-woon moved his butt to the side and tapped the seat next to him.

“Seo-oh, come here. Let’s eat together.”

“Ah, it’s already cramped.”

Kim Haeng-won grumbled as he moved to the side. Seo-oh quickly took the seat next to Nam-woon. However, due to the tight space, Seo-oh had to sit a little behind. Seo-oh picked up a piece of the lettuce and gently placed it on Nam-woon’s rice bowl.

“Try it. I added a bit more soy sauce at the end.”

“I’ll enjoy it.”

Nam-woon scooped up a large spoonful of the lettuce with rice and filled his mouth. Chew chew. Seo-oh couldn’t take his eyes off Nam-woon’s moving lips. After a while, Nam-woon nodded and said,

“Mmm, it’s good. It’s delicious.” 

“Let me have a bite too!”

At Se-han’s request, Nam-woon wrapped some rice in lettuce with chopsticks and put it in his mouth. Se-han eagerly licked his lips at first, then suddenly stopped mid-bite. Seo-oh looked at him and asked,

“Se-han, why. Does it taste strange?”

“Oh, no, it’s not that it tastes r-really good, hmph.”

The words at the end were strange. But Nam-woon didn’t notice and praised Seo-oh, saying, “You did well for your first time, didn’t you?” Seo-oh’s eyes visibly softened as he looked at Nam-woon.

Kim Haeng-won moved his hand and glanced at Nam-woon and Seo-oh discreetly. No matter how you look at it, it’s a couple vibe. Kim Haeng-won stared at them and popped a piece of lettuce into his mouth, then gasped,

What does this taste like?

The kid’s awkward expression was understandable. It tasted like shit.

***

[Haengwon Restaurant]

Nam-woon, Seo-oh, and Haeng-won stood in front of the restaurant. Kim Haeng-won had said he was scared to see his grandfather and kept saying he would go tomorrow, but they finally managed to force him here.

Seo-oh, standing next to him, tapped Kim Haeng-won’s back. Then Kim Haeng-won slowly moved and opened the restaurant door.

“Who’s there…?”

Seeing the face of the old man, his eyes widened and he quickly went inside. When he came back out, he was holding a long, thick green onion in his hand.

“You bastard! Come in here!”

He slammed the green onion down on the man’s body, and it broke into pieces. Kim Haeng-won screamed in pain and tried to dodge, but the grandfather didn’t care. After beating his grandson for a while, the grandfather suddenly gasped for air and clutched his heart. Nam-woon quickly supported the staggering grandfather.

“Oh dear, oh dear.”

The grandfather groaned several times, holding back tears, and grabbed Kim Haeng-won’s forearm. His anger seemed to have subsided somewhat as he asked a series of worried questions. Didn’t you think of your grandfather at all? Why didn’t you call and only come now? Your face looks so gaunt. Did you eat three meals a day? As the grandfather’s endless questions continued, tears also welled up in Kim Haeng-won’s eyes.

“Grandfather, I’m sorry.”

Kim Haeng-won murmured in a choked voice, tears dropping. The grandfather tightly hugged his grandson’s back with his wrinkled hands. Standing a step away, Nam-woon, who had been quietly watching them hug and cry, told Seo-oh it was time to go.

That’s when it happened. The grandfather, with a teary face, approached Nam-woon and grabbed his hand.

Mr. Seok, you really…. I don’t know how I can ever repay you for this.

“…….”

“You’ve had a hard time looking for my grandson, haven’t you?”

“No. I just happened to be passing by, and…”

Nam-woon chose his words, then added, rolling his eyes awkwardly.

“And, in a way, it’s because of me.”

The reason Kim Haeng-won was in charge of withdrawing money was probably because of Seok Nam-woon. He must have decided to get involved in such a thing because he couldn’t handle the growing debt. And tried to run away with the money as well. However, the grandfather shook his head.

“I was always worried that something terrible would happen to him. This time too, since he was so late in returning… I really thought he might have been locked up in a cell or something.”

The grandfather slurred his words with tears streaming down his face.

“Maybe it’s because I’m old, but I thought people never change. In the past, whenever I saw Mr. Seok, I only thought about when that guy would die or if someone would finally run him over with a car. But lately, seeing Mr. Seok, I’ve started to doubt. I wonder if I’ve been wrong all along, if even irredeemable human trash can change like they’ve become a new person.”

He wiped his face and continued,

“I’m grateful for all the help Mr. Seok has helped me with the restaurant and it’s the same today.

“…….”

“Mr. Seok is a good person.”

At that, Nam-woon’s expression hardened. The palm of his hand, which had become rough like the bark of a tree over the years, stroked Nam-woon’s hand again and again. Feeling the warmth, Nam-woon stood still for a moment, then wordlessly bowed his head and walked out of the shop.

Seo-oh, who followed him out of the restaurant door and lowered his head to check Nam-woon’s face. Then he asked,

“Hyung, are you crying?”

Nam-woon squeezed his eyes shut and sniffed. Then Seo-oh gently stroked the corner of Nam-woon’s eye with his thumb and said,

“Don’t cry.”

Seo-oh in a gentle voice, causing Nam-woon to stop and look up.

”It makes you uglier.”

But knowing he was lying, Seo-oh whispered mischievously and walked forward. Nam-woon, with a smirk, approached his side and said, “Shall we make ramen for dinner tonight? Se-han wanted to eat that spicy chicken ramen.”

“That’s too spicy for Se-han.”

“It’ll be fine with cheese and eggs.”

They walked slowly, chatting with their shoulders close together.

***

The next day, while doing the dishes, Nam-woon perked up his ears to the bustling voices. In the restaurant hall, Seo-oh and the grandfather were having a hushed conversation.

“What grade was it?”

“Well, when I saw him in his third year of high school, he had, like, a 9 on the mock test.”

“In all subjects?”

The grandfather nodded.

“It’s going to be tough, isn’t it?”

“It will take some time, but it’s possible to improve. If it’s 9, there’s no lower to go.” Hearing that answer, which seemed to hold hope, the grandfather asked in a brighter voice,

“Do you think it’s possible to do it alone?”

“He can’t do it alone.”

Seo-oh, placing a tray on the table, said indifferently,

“Tell him to come to our house on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I have the workbooks I used for tutoring before, I’ll start teaching him from the basics.”

***

“Did you memorize all the words?”

“…Roughly.”

Seo-oh, softening his expression, pushed a notebook towards him and told him to check. After a while, Kim Haeng-won began to write down the English words that Seo-oh was calling out. He continued to scribble with his eraser, which showed that it wasn’t going smoothly.

Se-han, who had been staring at them, opened the yellow backpack in the corner and took out a math workbook. He then sat right next to Seo-oh, opened the book, and held a pencil. After scribbling for a moment, Se-han looked up and scanned the room.

Hmmm, since Hyung is busy. Se-han’s gaze turned to Nam-woon sprawled on the floor. While everyone else was studying, he was lying down, propping his head with one arm, chuckling as he watched a game video. Se-han approached on his knees, placed the math book in front of Nam-woon, and said,

“Wooni hyung.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t really understand this.”

Nam-woon’s expression stiffened slightly. He sat up with a serious look and looked at the book, asking, “Where?” He began to read the sentence Se-han was pointing to slowly.

“Junie played at the playground for 1/6 of an hour in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon.”

Nam-woon thought hard and gave an answer, but it was wrong. He said gruffly,

“Why do they even represent time as a fraction in the first place?”

“Exactly!”

Se-han strongly agreed. Hearing Nam-woon’s angry voice, Kim Haeng-won stopped writing down words and snickered, asking mockingly,

“Did you graduate from college, boss?”

“I didn’t.”

To Nam-woon’s confident response, Kim Haeng-won sneered,

“I thought so. You even got a primary school problem wrong. You’re so fucking ignorant. He sneered and buried his nose in his notebook again.

Look at this?

“Hey, do you think you have to graduate from college to be successful? There are so many successful people who didn’t go to school like me. And haven’t you heard that happiness isn’t ranked by grades?”

“So, did the boss succeed because of that? Why are you talking like you’re some successful person?”

Haeng-won grumbled discontentedly. Nam-woon retorted,

“So are you saying it’s acceptable that you got all 9s? Even I didn’t get that bad in high school.”

Haeng-won retorted, “Then show me your report card. I want to see it with my own eyes.” As the two continued to bicker, Se-han, who was nearby, defended Nam-woon.

“Wooni Hyung doesn’t need to be successful or go to university! He has to play with me!”

Then he clenched his fist and added,

“And I’m not going to college like Wooni Hyung either!”

“What? Why wouldn’t you go to university, Se-han?”

Surprised, Seo-oh asked.

“Ugh, why? Can’t I not go? Wooni Hyung didn’t go, and he seems to be having fun.”

Se-han threw the question back at his brother as if asking what the problem was. Nam-woon burst into laughter at his words. Truth be told, there had been many difficulties in his past life and now. But hearing Se-han’s last comment made all those experiences feel insignificant.

Nam-woon hugged Se-han and rolled around on the floor.

“Gyaa!”

“You should go to college if you can, Se-han.”

“Why?”

“So we can have a party to celebrate Se-han’s college admission.”

“A celebration party?”

Surprised, Se-han sat up to meet Nam-woon’s eyes and asked,

“Will you throw me a celebration party if I go to college?”

“Of course. Just get admitted anywhere. Let’s order lots of delicious food and have a party with your Hyungs.”

Then Nam-woon looked at Seo-oh and grinned.

“We can wait as long as it takes until then, right, Seo-oh?”