Real Man

Chapter 121:

Chapter 121

It was nice that he had prepared something for me, but he should have stopped there.

“I don’t have a boyfriend yet, but there is someone I want to date.”

“Really? Someone from work?”

“Um… not yet.”

“What does that mean?”

I just smiled at my mother’s reaction.

I could have lied to her, but I didn’t want to.

“I’ll show you later.”

“Really? You have to show me.”

“Of course.”

When I answered confidently, my mother didn’t press any further and nodded.

“Just bring him over. I’ll treat him like a daughter.”

“He’ll run away if you treat him like you did to Jaehui.”

“Oh, I won’t do that. I’ll treat him like a daughter in a drama. Hohoho.”

My mother laughed at my joke.

Looking back, I realized that I had never properly introduced her to anyone.

There was no formal meeting.

The only time we met face to face was at the wedding hall.

We didn’t even have a reception, so there was no chance to sit down and talk with my mother-in-law.

That was how it was at the wedding, and after that, it was even worse.

We barely kept in touch.

I was such a cruel son.

As I chatted with my mother about this and that, the sun set.

My father hadn’t come home yet.

“I wonder if he’s drinking somewhere again.”

“He’ll be back soon.”

“No. I have a bad feeling. He must have gone somewhere else. You don’t drink much, do you?”

“Of course not.”

I hid my embarrassment and nodded.

I wasn’t the type to avoid alcohol.

Whether it was at a company dinner, or with the gym people, or with my friends.

I enjoyed drinking with them.

Unlike before, I didn’t feel like it was a waste of time.

I rather liked opening up to people over drinks.

While I was talking to my mother about alcohol, my phone vibrated.

It was a message from my father.

‘Mother’s intuition is no joke.’

I quickly put my phone in my pocket and got ready to leave.

Then my mother rolled up her sleeves as if she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“I can’t take this. I’ll call him.”

“No, it’s okay. I have an appointment for dinner anyway. I’ll be back soon.”

“What about dinner? You said you were meeting Hyunsoo tomorrow.”

“I’m meeting another friend. I’ll eat outside and come back.”

“Okay. Be careful.”

My mother trusted everything I said, even if I told her that beans were made from rice cakes.

She looked at me without any doubt.

I held her hand tightly and said,

“I’ll be back soon.”

As soon as I got outside, I checked my father’s message again.

He wanted to have a drink with me.

What was going on?

I didn’t expect him to contact me first, even though he mentioned it on the phone last time.

I walked while thinking of various scenarios.

A few minutes later,

I arrived at the pork soup place that my father had briefly mentioned before.

He said there was an amazing place near his office?

He said that while my mother was scolding him for drinking too much.

I smiled as I remembered how his authority had dropped in front of her.

Thanks to that, the father who had always seemed cold and distant felt closer to me.

My father was standing in front of the pork soup place and said,

“You’re here.”

“You should have gone in first.”

“I just got here too.”

He obviously had been waiting for a long time.

I knew it, but I didn’t say anything.

He wanted to keep his pride in front of his son, even if he lost it in front of his wife.

I had a vague idea of what he felt.

The pork soup was quite tasty.

The spicy broth and the side dishes were clean and simple.

Clank.

I clinked glasses with him and smiled brightly. 

My father smiled awkwardly and drank his glass.

I wanted to tell him that my mother was worried about him, but I didn’t say anything.

Instead, I emptied my glass and poured him another one.

We exchanged some words along with the drinks.

Especially about the cancellation of the Woosang Construction contract last time. 

We talked a lot about that.

“That place looked really dangerous. People might ask why you didn’t take the contract, but I think you did well listening to me.”

“Thank you, father.”

“Kid. You’re the one who should be thanked.”

But that didn’t mean that the wall between us had completely crumbled down.

When we moved on to more casual topics, sometimes our conversation stalled.

“How do you feel about going hiking tomorrow, father?”

“Well, ahem…”

The silence flowed as the conversation broke off.

Then we drank to fill the awkwardness.

I understood why people liked alcohol so much.

Even trivial words made me happy, and meaningless jokes made me feel closer.

And.

It gave me courage that I didn’t have before.

“Father, do you have any regrets?”

“About what?”

I put down my glass and looked at my father’s face.

I threw out the question that I had buried in my heart for a long time, with the help of alcohol.

“About lending money to your friend.”

“…”

He didn’t ask me how I knew that.

He didn’t ask me how much I knew either.

He just drank his drink calmly.

I stopped him from pouring himself another one and did it for him instead.

After doing that twice, he finally opened his mouth.

“It might sound like a sorry excuse to your mother, you, and Jaehui, but I don’t regret lending him money.”

“Yes, father.”

There was no regret in his eyes, which had been chewing over the past for a short time.

“I owed him a big debt, and I just paid back some of it with money. That’s how I think of it.”

“…”

And there was sincerity in his voice, which he uttered calmly.

“Money can be earned again. I was thinking that I wouldn’t get it back when I lent it to him. It might sound like a lie, but…”

“No.”

It was fine even if it was a lie.

I just wanted to hear my father’s story.

Thud.

He put down his glass and asked me.

“Do you hate me?”

“No. Of course not.”

I looked at him without any hesitation.

He silently filled my glass with alcohol.

He had a regretful expression on his face for a moment, then he opened up to me.

“Do you know what I really regret?”

“I didn’t know… but I think I do now.”

He paused and looked at me, surprised by my answer.

I had never thought that I resembled my father.

But I saw myself in him a while ago.

I lent Kim Hyunsoo money without hesitation and thought it was okay if he didn’t pay me back.

I worried that he might get hurt when I saw him struggling to repay me.

The reason why I came to my hometown and wanted to see him was for Kim Hyunsoo.

Not just because of the huge debt he owed me.

He was a really precious friend.

What would I feel if I lost contact with him because of the money I lent him?

“I regret losing a friend because of money.”

“…”

“And I regret burdening him with guilt.”

My father drank his glass without a word.

He was a person who cared more about people than money or success.

That was why he took care of his employees first when his company went bankrupt.

I used to think that he was pathetic and incompetent for doing that.

But not anymore.

I felt like I could understand his heart.

Whoosh.

When I went outside, the wind blew fiercely.

It felt like autumn had passed by in a flash.

“Hiccup. Don’t tell your mother… that we drank.”

“How can she not know?”

“She’s the kind of person who would believe anything you say. Hehehe.”

I supported my staggering father.

I felt his warmth through his thin clothes.

“It’s cold. Let’s go quickly.”

“What are you talking about? It’s not cold at all. Puhaha.”

He pretended to be strong, but I could see that he was shivering.

He leaned on me when I wrapped my arm around his waist.

We walked close together like that.

We walked in zigzags, but we knew the direction to our destination.

The next morning,

I finished my breakfast and got ready to leave.

“Yoo-hyun, why don’t you rest a bit before you go?”

“I have to meet Hyunsoo.”

“Really? I won’t see you much then.”

“Mother, father is going hiking today.”

“I don’t know. I can’t guarantee that he’ll be able to get up.”

I chuckled and hugged my mother who was grumbling.

She sighed softly as she hugged me back.

“I would scold you for drinking with him if it wasn’t for this.”

“Please forgive me this once.”

“Next time, it won’t be okay. Are you alright? You smell like alcohol.”

“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

“How can you be so stubborn like your father?”

“I’m his son. I have to take after him. I’ll be back soon.”

I comforted my mother and went outside.

I had somewhere to stop by before meeting Kim Hyunsoo.

Today was the day of the couple’s meeting for my mother’s hiking club.

My father didn’t like mingling with strangers, but he decided to go with her this time with great determination.

-You know how your father is. He’s going to the mountain because he doesn’t want to waste the hiking clothes you bought him. It’s not because of me.

My mother said that, but I had a feeling that my father wanted to get closer to her by using the hiking clothes as an excuse.

I found it very endearing.

He looked much better now than when he was stiff and authoritarian in the past.

I wanted to do something for him as well.

That was why I moved faster than usual.

I stopped by a printing shop, then went to a mart.

I bought a lot of chocolate and drinks there.

It was a little more than the total number of people in the hiking club that my mother told me about.

It was better to have some left over than not enough.

<Gift> Harmony Hiking Club, Han Seungwon, Kim Yeonhee couple

I wrote a note and put it in the box with the gift.

It was a small gift, but it had my heart in it.

I imagined how happy my mother and father would be when they received it.

I hoped they would like it a lot.

Maybe it was because I drank too much soup, but a smile formed on my lips as I packed everything up.

I finished organizing and went to the car center to meet Kim Hyunsoo.

He was working even on Sunday.

He waved his hand at me with black oil on his face, and I felt a pang in my chest.

He greeted me with a bright face.

“You didn’t have to come. Why are you here?”

“I just stopped by.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Sit here and wait.”

“I’m fine.”

He didn’t listen to me.

“Eat something and sober up. How can you drink so much when you have to go up today?”

“Do I smell?”

“Yeah. It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“I just had a drink because I missed you. Do you want to have one more with me?”

“Are you crazy? I have to work.”

Kim Hyunsoo complained and opened a can.