Real Man

Chapter 128:

Chapter 128

Yoo-hyun had never fit in with his family, and his mother had always found him difficult.

But things were different now.

Swish.

His mother casually linked arms with him, and flashed a playful smile.

The look of worry that she always had was gone.

And then.

-Is this Mr. Han Yoo-hyun? Ms. Kim Yeonhee has been hospitalized due to an accident. She is looking for her son. Can you come here?

He never thought that the contact he received after a long time would be a death notice, just like that day in the past.

Come to think of it, the first place he visited after returning from his mother’s funeral was the soup restaurant.

He wanted to feel his mother’s scent from the restaurant owner.

But when he visited the place after a long time, it was completely demolished due to redevelopment.

Yoo-hyun regretted a lot then.

He regretted not taking care of his mother’s last moments, pushing for redevelopment despite the residents’ opposition, and not being able to see the restaurant owner who had always taken good care of him again.

He didn’t realize then that he was losing his precious connections one by one because he only looked ahead and ran.

Creak.

As the door opened, a familiar voice greeted him.

“Oh, Yoo-hyun. You came early today.”

“Yes. I came with my mother today.”

It was the moment when Yoo-hyun introduced his mother to the restaurant owner.

“Mother, this is the aunt I told you about.”

“No way, you are?”

“Huh? You!”

The restaurant owner and his mother pointed at each other at the same time.

Then they exclaimed with shocked expressions.

“Kim Yeonhee?”

“Lee Okbun?”

“…”

Even Yoo-hyun, who had faster judgment than anyone else, took a few seconds to understand the situation.

He blinked his eyes and looked back and forth between the two people.

Whoosh.

“How long has it been! Sob.”

“I’m so glad to see you.”

The two people hugged each other.

An unbelievable thing happened before his eyes.

The two people who sat across the table smiled brightly.

“I can’t believe it.”

“This kid. Hohoho.”

Soon, the glasses were emptied one after another.

His mother was already on her second drink, and the restaurant owner didn’t seem to care about her business as she kept clinking glasses with her.

They must be really happy to see each other.

His mother and the restaurant owner were classmates in middle and high school.

They even met a few times after they got married.

It was when Yoo-hyun was very young.

“I knew it when I saw Yoo-hyun. I felt so close to him. Why didn’t I remember his name?”

“I can’t remember your youngest daughter’s name either. What was it?”

“Yeseul.”

“Right, Yeseul. She was toddling around when Yoo-hyun saw her.”

In that old story, his mother recalled her friend’s youngest daughter, Jeong Yeseul.

The restaurant owner also remembered Yoo-hyun from when he was a little kid.

“I remember. Yoo-hyun used to hug Yeseul and stuff. He was so pretty back then.”

“Yeah. It was really a long time ago. It’s been 20 years.”

“Yeah, time flies by.”

Yoo-hyun listened quietly to their conversation.

He suddenly thought of something.

If today hadn’t happened, would they have ever remembered this?

Maybe they would have never remembered it.

“By the way, did Yoo-hyun introduce Yeseul’s tutor to her?”

“Oh, did he? Is Yeseul old enough to get tutoring?”

“What are you talking about? Yeseul is in her senior year of high school. Senior year.”

But even if today hadn’t happened, his connection with the restaurant owner would have existed.

The same goes for his connection with Jeong Yeseul, who had grown up so much.

The current connection was flowing like water, separate from the past.

“Really? How did the baby grow up so fast? Time really flies by. Right?”

“Yeah. It’s amazing. What’s more amazing is that I met you again like this.”

And today.

The past connection and the current connection met and became a new connection.

It was a miraculous thing, as the restaurant owner said.

“It’s thanks to Yoo-hyun. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have thought of coming here.”

“You said you wanted to come, mother.”

“I have a good intuition. Hoho.”

His mother smiled at Yoo-hyun.

Yoo-hyun also smiled.

He still felt like it was just yesterday when there was not a single blade of grass around him, only barrenness.

That’s how deeply his life at that time was ingrained in his body.

But he knows it’s not like that now.

He has his mother who smiles at him next to him, and the restaurant owner who warmly takes care of him.

Not only them, but also the connections he had missed in the past were spinning around him like satellites, making his life richer.

Chirp. Chirp.

Yoo-hyun filled his mother’s empty glass with alcohol and lifted his own glass.

“I guess we meet again after going around.”

“Oh, Yoo-hyun speaks so nicely.”

“He’s my son.”

It was a bit embarrassing, but he wanted to say it.

He said it because he had lost this precious connection before, and because he had regretted it so much.

Like this, he came back 20 years and met again.

No, he came back 20 years and that’s why the previous 20 years continued to today.

It was the result of Yoo-hyun’s choice to live a different life.

“Shall we toast?”

Yoo-hyun intended to keep this feeling for the future.

“Hoho, sure.”

“Okay, cheers.”

No matter what happens.

Clang. Clang.

The sound of three glasses clinking was as cheerful as laughter.

A few days later.

At the office, Yoo Hyun checked the email he received from his younger sister, Han Jae Hee.

It was a new draft.

She had learned from the experts and produced a much better result than before.

It looked almost good enough to be used as a product.

Yoo Hyun shared his thoughts over the phone.

“This one is much better, but…”

-What? You want me to fix it again?

“I think it could use some more polishing. But if you don’t agree, we can stop here.”

-…Where do I fix it?

Yoo Hyun calmly gave his order to the irritated Han Jae Hee.

“The background color and the icon color are too similar, so they don’t stand out. So lower the icon transparency a bit.”

-And then?

“The clock and the alarm icons are too alike, right? Make them distinct.”

-…

Even when Han Jae Hee was silent, Yoo Hyun asked for more.

“Oh, I’ll send you a different font for the text, so change that, and also the image…”

-Sigh… Just send me an email. I’m hanging up.

Han Jae Hee had changed.

She used to curse or hang up without a word, but now she was much softer.

She didn’t even say to stop.

She seemed to accept and resign herself to his demands, knowing that they wouldn’t work.

He didn’t say it out loud, but she seemed to know to some extent.

She must have felt that her skills had improved by repetition.

Everyone had the desire to do better.

Yoo Hyun immediately called another place.

It was his friend Kang Joon Ki, who was in charge of the semi-electronics mockup.

He had been calling him often lately, so he didn’t even ask how he was and just spoke roughly.

-Why again? What do you want me to do?

“What do you mean, what do I want you to do? You’re working for Chan Ho sunbae.”

-Fine. Cut the crap and tell me what you want.

“Do you have any engineers who can develop a mobile platform for phones?”

Yoo Hyun’s question changed Kang Joon Ki’s voice.

-Huh? Why do you ask that all of a sudden? How would I know?

“Well, if you don’t know, I’ll call Im sunbae.”

-No, no. I’ll find out. Customer requests should be responded to promptly.

Click.

Hey, the customer request wasn’t over yet.

Yoo Hyun chuckled at the hung-up phone.

He used to hesitate at first, but now he jumped at any work.

He was stimulated by the last meeting at Han Sung Tower and had been proactive since then.

Thanks to that, he got praised at the company and gained a reputation.

This series of events would surely make him grow more.

That was enough.

It wasn’t just the two of them who changed.

Many people around them changed.

There was one person who changed the most among them.

That person over there.

Yoo Hyun turned his head and saw Manager Kim Hyun-min approaching with big strides.

He grabbed Yoo Hyun’s hand.

“Yoo Hyun, let’s go.”

“Exhibition meeting?”

“Exactly. You were thinking about it too. The thread follows where the needle goes.”

Why?

As he sighed inwardly, Lee Chan Ho next to him spoke up.

“Manager, I can go instead.”

“Nah, you stay here and work. No need to go and get pressured.”

“But I feel like you’re pushing yourself too hard because of me.”

“No. Stay here. It’s hard to get rid of Byun gwa-jang if you join. Yoo Hyun is still on OJT, so I’m taking him with me. He needs to gain some experience.”

Nope.

He was clearly just taking him along.

Not only this time, but Manager Kim Hyun-min also took Yoo Hyun with him to other meetings.

“Huh? Yoo Hyun, you look unhappy. You finished all your OJT assignments. Why did you finish so fast?”

“You said to finish quickly and go comfortably.”

“Hmm. This is an extension of that. Do you have anything else to do?”

“I still have to sort out the mockup images.”

He understood his intention well enough, but Yoo Hyun had something else to do.

He had to prepare for Lee Kyung Hoon director’s sabotage after passing the contest.

It wasn’t urgent, but he didn’t have any reason to attend the meeting either.

“Come on, it only takes a few minutes. You don’t know how the contest results will turn out. Right, Park daeri?”

“…”

Manager Kim Hyun-min turned his head sharply and called Park Seung Woo daeri .

But he was silent.

He had his face buried in the monitor since morning.

“That guy is really serious… Anyway, let’s go.”

“I don’t have anything to do there.”

The reason why he dragged him to the meeting was obvious.

“I’m bored if I go alone.”

“That’s a convincing reason.”

“Kid. You only learned weird things from your mentor.”

Yoo Hyun looked at Manager Kim Hyun-min’s smiling face and thought.

‘Anyone would think he’s teaching the new employee the meeting atmosphere for OJT.’

But no.

He was just bored and took care of Yoo Hyun.

The reason why he could say that with confidence was shown in the meeting room.

Manager Kim Hyun-min spoke bluntly in front of the staff preparing for the European exhibition.

“Why do we have to do that? We already finished verifying the mobile panel display list.”

“Manager, that’s not it. We have to arrange the exhibition hall, and book the trip for the development team. There’s a lot of work.”

“Why does Chan Ho have to do that? He doesn’t have to, so don’t tell him to.”

He slammed them down.

His posture, sitting crookedly, and his attitude, twirling his pen while talking, were not educational at all.

Byun Jin Woo gwa-jang ‘s face across from him turned red and blue.

“We’re preparing together, aren’t we? Chan Ho is also in charge.”

“Byun gwa-jang , speak properly. Who called the development team one by one and secured and verified the panel display list? Wasn’t it Chan Ho?”

“That’s what the product planning team was supposed to do.”

“Yeah. So you should praise him for doing well, not pile more work on him.”

Yoo Hyun didn’t tackle Manager Kim Hyun-min’s meeting.

He had his own style, having experienced it.

“This is not something one person can do…”

“Oh, so you guys ate something delicious with the exhibition preparation support money?”

He had the guts to bring up such a sore point without hesitation.

“What? That was originally…”

“Anyway, Chan Ho is done with his work, so Byun gwa-jang , you do the rest. Why are you making that face? Do you want me to do it?”

“…”

He didn’t hesitate to push them with his rank when words didn’t work.

“And if you have any chores, don’t tell Chan Ho to do them. Use your team people. If you really want to use him, come to our team.”

“Manager, if you keep doing this, I’ll have to talk to our team leader.”

“Go ahead. Then I’ll go now.”

“…”

He didn’t even blink at the other’s threat that wasn’t a threat.