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Chapter 2
Lee Yoon watched from afar as Yoon Yeon-woo left in a taxi. Even though he had won the lottery, Yeon-woo insisted on taking the bus instead of the train.
“Sigh, how am I going to live now? It’s going to be so boring.”
The taxi was already gone. It had disappeared so far off that it was no longer visible, and Lee Yoon returned to the dormitory with a sigh. The room felt much emptier than he expected. Yeon-woo didn’t have many belongings, so the room hadn’t looked that different just a moment ago, but Lee Yoon realized that a person’s presence fills a space more than things do.
“I’m going to miss him.”
He felt a strange sense of loneliness, like a child becoming independent and leaving their parents’ side. It was then.
Ding!
Father: Come back home now, Yoon.
“Wow… the timing is unbelievable.”
Lee Yoon stared blankly at his father’s text. His father was the chairman of the Chilsung Group, one of South Korea’s representative conglomerates. For him to say “come back” meant…
Regaining his composure, he called someone.
— “Oh, Yoon-ah.”
“Director—no, Uncle.”
— “Yes. What is it?”
The person on the line was the president of the factory where Lee Yoon currently worked. To be precise, his uncle. This was a secret that even his closest friend, Yoon Yeon-woo, didn’t know.
“I think I have to go to my father.”
— “Right, I understand. You’re going earlier than expected.”
“Yes, that’s how it turned out.”
In truth, Lee Yoon had entered the factory at his father’s will. He wanted to go to a good university and receive a high education, but his father insisted that before university, he should work at a factory, receive military service exemption through technical labor, and learn directly from the workers. Though he hated it at first, over the past few years, he was able to feel the hardships of the workers who worked hard for the company. He saw with his own eyes how hard they worked, sweated, and struggled. Thanks to that, he also made a good connection.
He had experienced enough over the years and thought deeply about it. His military exemption period was over, and it was time to return.
— “Alright, I see. Say your final goodbyes to the people you worked with and wrap things up properly. They’ll probably be sad to see you go. I’ll lend you a credit card if you need it, so treat them well before you leave.”
First impressions and final goodbyes are how a person is remembered. They must be beautiful and kind for a person to be remembered as “good.” And that memory eventually leads to good things in the future. Especially for someone who is to sit in a high position, they must appear as a good person in the eyes of the vulnerable workers.
“Yes, thank you.”
With those words, he hung up. Then, he took one last look around.
The empty dormitory. Looking at the interior where emptiness remained.
“Hyung-nim, let’s meet again. Thanks to you, these past few years were fun.”
Heh.
Lee Yoon smiled. Where there is a parting, there is a meeting. Next time, instead of being treated to beef, he would buy the beef. With that thought, he began to pack his bags.
It was Monday, the day he quit and headed to his hometown. Yeon-woo felt a weight lift off his shoulders, yet he felt strangely sentimental. This feeling… felt familiar.
‘It reminds me of when I was discharged from the military.’
That was exactly the feeling. The regret of parting from comrades he had lived and suffered with for a year and a half. Even now, even with memories filtered by time, military life was truly hard. He remembered the faces of the officers and the dark expressions of the juniors who still had to endure their service. He remembered the Chief Master Sergeant’s joke—telling him that society is even harder, so he should just reenlist as a professional sergeant or second lieutenant. He remembered the Operations Officer who joined in, Captain Jeong who joked along, and Lieutenant Lee who told him never to reenlist. All those memories popped up one after another.
“Well… everyone will keep working hard even without me.”
There is no organization that collapses just because one person disappears. Especially in the case of this factory, it would run perfectly fine without Yoon Yeon-woo.
Feeling these emotions was proof of how much he had given and received in this place.
I should have been nicer to the people I disliked.
I should have repaid the people who were kind to me more.
If I had listened better, maybe there wouldn’t have been conflicts.
These regrets mixed with gratitude for everyone’s kindness. But he had done his best, so he had no real lingering regrets.
“Ah, the bus is here.”
He arrived at the terminal 10 minutes before departure. He hurried to boarding platform number 9.
[Seoul -> Haenam]
[Estimated time: 6 hours]
Seeing the platform, Yoon Yeon-woo let out a sigh of relief and slowly boarded the bus. Perhaps because the destination was Haenam, there were very few people. Most were grandmothers and grandfathers who had visited their children’s homes. They held various bundles in their hands, and families were gathered in front of the bus. A girl who looked like a granddaughter was crying, calling out to her grandmother not to leave. It was a pitiful yet cute sight. At the same time, he thought of his parents.
‘I should buy them something delicious.’
He was a son who, after being discharged, had gone up to Seoul just to make money and hadn’t gone back down for several years. Is there any other “bad son” like this? It would be too late to show filial piety when his parents are old and weak like those elderly people at the bus stop. So, let’s start being a good son now. Since he won the lottery, he had plenty of resources, didn’t he? Well, anyway.
“Hey, I’m heading down to Haenam.”
He contacted his friends living in Haenam. He didn’t contact his parents separately. If he told them he was coming down, they would surely rush to cook something, and that would be tiring for them. Also, he wanted to see their surprised faces. Ah, maybe this is another “bad son” behavior?
Click.
His best friend, Jang Hoe-cheon, answered the phone.
— “What? What brings you down here? You’re the guy who’s always telling me to come up to Seoul so a country bumpkin like me can see the city!”
“Hey, it’s true. When else would a country bumpkin like you get to see Seoul?”
— “?”
“Anyway, I’m coming down.”
— “You were born a country bumpkin too, you jerk! Anyway, why are you coming? Did you finally cause trouble and get fired?”
“Calling me a ‘human head-chopping executioner’… you sure talk scary.”
— “?”
— “Watch your words. It’s not ‘heads,’ it’s H-A-I-R. And I’m not an executioner, I’m a H-A-I-R-D-R-E-S-S-E-R.”
“Is hair a type of ‘Rock’ music?”
— “Do you want to get hit with a ‘Rock’?”
Casual banter between friends continued. It was always like this—making corny jokes or teasing each other for no reason. It was the kind of “rude” behavior possible only because they knew each other so well.
— “So, why are you coming?”
“I got fired.”
— “…Really?”
Jang Hoe-cheon, the hairdresser, went silent as if flustered. He made some noises as if practicing pronunciation.
“Just kidding, I quit.”
— “Why?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been working since I was discharged, so I just want to rest for a bit.”
He was exhausted, and since he won the lottery, there was no need to work anymore. Plus, this wasn’t Seoul but Haenam; 27 billion won was more than enough for three people—him and his parents—to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. Still, he planned not to tell anyone except his parents about winning the lottery. He could tell a friend, but if word got around, annoying things could happen. Especially in the countryside, rumors spread at an unimaginable speed.
— “Well, alright. Come on down. It’s your choice, so it’s not for me to say this or that. See you later.”
“Yeah.”
— “And let’s have a drink this weekend for the first time in a long while. I’ll buy some delicious snacks. You contact the other guys.”
With those words, the call ended. Afterward, he called the other guys before the bus departed.
On the way to Haenam by bus. Outside the window, mountains and greenery were everywhere. Several cars overtook the bus as if they were racing.
‘There’s quite a bit of time left. What should I do?’
It was a blank space of time that others might find boring. It might be unusual, but Yoon Yeon-woo liked being on the bus or subway. This is because it’s a time when you can do anything as long as you don’t bother others. Whether sleeping while listening to music or catching up on webtoons and web novels. You can do the things you couldn’t do normally because you were busy.
So, he chose to catch up on web novels. Reading web novels was a hobby he had recently grown to love. Specifically, Yeon-woo’s favorite genre was “healing” stories. Because work was hard and life was exhausting, he naturally sought out works that healed the soul.
‘Ah, so cute!’
In a healing story set in another world, he read about a blue dragon hatchling chirping and sitting on its owner’s head. As he read and imagined the hatchling messing up the owner’s hair because it was happy to be fed, the dark stains accumulated in his heart seemed to gradually fade away.
One episode, then two. By the time he had read about 25 episodes—the length of one volume—Yeon-woo felt his eyelids getting heavy.
‘I’m sleepy….’
He had only been reading for about two hours, but he was already starting to feel drowsy.
‘Should I read more or sleep?’
Usually on his days off, he felt like sleeping was wasting his free time, so he would inject caffeine and endure the sleepiness to read webtoons. But now, he had plenty of time to read. He was curious about what happens next, but since he was sleepy, sleeping seemed like a good idea. Yoon Yeon-woo surrendered his mind to his heavy eyelids and the drifting flow of consciousness.
·
·
·
— “Uuung~ He’s awake~!”
— “It’s a human-ham! A human!”
“Mmm….”
Yeon-woo opened his eyes to a cute sound nearby. It sounded like animal cries, but also like human speech. It felt like someone was whispering in his ear.
“Where is this…?”
— “The human opened his eyes-ham!”
Right in front of him, a giant hamster with light green fur was staring with wide eyes. Unlike a normal hamster, it was quite big. Uh, very big…. Next to it, a pink rabbit was covering its eyes with its ears as if shy. Besides them, at least hundreds of colorful animals were all staring at Yoon Yeon-woo. They all looked like they were seeing something fascinating.
Furthermore, the surrounding scenery was a natural landscape beautiful enough to be called a utopia. A wide plain, green grass and trees covering the field. A high mountain could be seen in the distance, and large clouds floated in the sky. The blowing wind was strangely sweet, and the air was incredibly fresh. But… it was a scenery he felt like he had seen somewhere before.
— “Uuung~. You’re awake~.”
The most uniquely shaped one among them. A creature that looked like cotton candy—not at all like a typical animal—floated in the air and stuck to Yoon Yeon-woo. He momentarily wondered if it would melt from human body heat, but the creature on top of his head didn’t melt.
— “It’s warm~.”
“Who are you…?”
The animals were so mysterious. A turtle standing on two legs and posing on the ground. A parrot with fire burning on a tuft of feathers on its head.
It was a dream-like sight that could never be seen in reality. Thinking it might be a weird dream, Yeon-woo asked the animals.
— “Uuung? We are~ spirits~.”
The white, fluffy one on his head spoke.
“Spirits…?”
It’s a dream. Yoon Yeon-woo concluded firmly at the ridiculous words. Because this was a scene that made no sense unless it was a dream.
