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Prologue
A clear blue sky without a single cloud.
Brilliant, shining sunlight.
Rustling leaves.
Inside such beautiful nature.
Between the green leaves and brown branches, various birds of different colors sit and sing. On the ground, a blue puppy and a yellow cheese-like cat lie down, using a giant tree root as a pillow. A light green hamster and a pink rabbit chat amiably.
- “It’s Yeon-woo-ham! Are you making us something delicious today-ham?”
- “Uuung~ Yeon-woo-ya~~.”
At that moment, as Yoon Yeon-woo entered the Spirit Realm, the spirits looked at him and smiled.
A parrot looked at Yeon-woo and breathed fire through the tufted feathers on its head to create a heart. A softshell turtle, which had been sleeping in the lake, blew water from its mouth and flew toward him.
This is the Spirit Realm.
A place where deceased pets wait to return to their owners once again.
Chapter 1
Middle school, high school, and even the military.
He enlisted at twenty and was discharged at twenty-one, but Yoon Yeon-woo had never once found “what he wanted to do.” He didn’t know what he should do, and there was no one to tell him.
So, following a friend’s recommendation, he entered a factory at twenty-two. Now, having turned thirty in February, he made up his mind to quit. He was exhausted from running without rest for several years, and…
“Wooooooo!!”
It was because he had won the lottery he bought as a joke while drinking.
“No way… am I dreaming?”
Yeon-woo pinched his thigh to check if he was dreaming.
Zing!
A sharp pain shot up from his thigh. His eyes welled up slightly from the pain, but no tears fell.
“Jackpot…!”
No, seriously! Just how much is this?
When he looked it up online, he found that because there were few first-place winners, the amount was higher than average. Usually, first place is around 2 billion won, but right now, it was about 4 billion.
Hehe.
the corners of his mouth rose automatically. He had been feeling down at the thought of having to go to work since dawn, but thanks to the staggering amount, he felt great instead.
“Ugh… what’s all the noise so early in the morning?”
“Ah, sorry.”
He had shouted without realizing it. Lee Yoon, who was lying on the top bunk, let out a groan. He looked extremely tired, having finished work in the early hours.
“Yoon-ah, I’m quitting my job now.”
“When are you actually going to quit…? I’ve heard that for years.”
“It’s for real this time.”
Three years ago, a twenty-year-old younger brother joined the dormitory. That was Lee Yoon.
Usually, it’s hard for young kids to last long in a factory. This is because they have to wake up and prepare since dawn and perform manual labor from the early morning. On days with overtime, they go to work at 6 AM and return at 9 PM, leaving no time for themselves. If they even have to work weekends during such a week… they earn some money, but they lose all leisure.
For those reasons, almost no one lasted more than two months. However, this guy was the only one who defied such simple predictions.
Furthermore, he was more polite and thoughtful than expected, which Yeon-woo liked. So, whenever he had time, Yeon-woo would buy or cook him delicious food, drink with him often, and listen to his worries. Well, at the very first meeting, he did wonder if the kid was rude, but now he knew the reason why.
“…Are you serious?”
“Yeah. For real.”
“Really? If you leave, hyung-nim, how—no, how will I get by?”
The guy said as he poked his head out from the second floor. He was smiling.
“You say that, but the corners of your mouth are dancing?”
“I’m a little worried, of course. But there’s something even happier than that!”
“What is it?”
Yeon-woo answered while sitting on the bottom bunk. The guy smiled.
“Didn’t you find what you want to do?”
What he wanted to do.
Yeon-woo shook his head.
He still didn’t really know.
Still, he did have a desire to try cooking.
“Well, it’s not that yet.”
“Ah, really? You said last time that you’d definitely quit once you found it, so I thought that was it.”
A slightly disappointed expression.
Simultaneously, he made a face as if he realized something.
“Gasp, then…?”
A nod.
“Crazy!”
Besides what he wanted to do, there was something else he had been saying all along.
– If I win the lottery, I’m definitely quitting.
Nonsense he often said when he was drunk.
Who would have known that would actually come true?
“Did you really win the lottery?! Wow! Amazing!”
The guy was as happy as if it were his own success.
“Right. That’s how it turned out.”
“Then, with the numbers I recommended last time…?”
“Bingo!”
Last week, after drinking, Yeon-woo had bought a lottery ticket with the numbers Lee Yoon suggested. The first-place ticket was exactly those numbers.
“Wow… I should have bought one too. I’m really regretting it.”
As he said he was disappointed, he let his body go limp and slumped down.
“Should I give you some? They were the numbers you recommended, after all.”
It was money he wouldn’t have won if it weren’t for Lee Yoon. He wasn’t sure what the taxes would be, but since he’d receive over 2 billion won, wouldn’t it be okay to give him about half?
“Um, no. It’s a bit a shame, but I didn’t buy it myself. It can’t be helped.”
Lee Yoon shook his head.
“Just buy me a meal before you quit. That’s enough for me.”
“Are you sure that’ll be enough?”
“Ayy, I told you it’s fine. What you’ve done for me is easily worth 4 billion won. What am I saying? It’s probably worth more than 10 billion.”
“Kid, what did I even do?”
“You helped me when I was struggling. I didn’t know a simple ‘Are you okay?’ could be so heart-warming when times are tough. I realized it thanks to you.”
The kid smiled.
Yeon-woo felt it occasionally, but Lee Yoon was quite a mature fellow. How should he put it—he had a lot of composure for his age? From his behavior to his way of speaking, it went without saying. Even when someone made things hard for him, he would smile and move on rather than badmouthing them. Of course, the first meeting was a bit different.
Yeon-woo thought it was a relief that such a guy came as his junior. At the same time, he felt worried about the kid staying behind alone.
“Then, when are you going to quit?”
“I have to hand in my resignation right away. I won’t be able to leave immediately just because I say so, though.”
That’s how company work is. He can’t leave until they find someone to fill the position Yoon Yeon-woo held. Well, if he’s lucky and a replacement is found quickly, he’ll be out soon.
That day, he kept the lottery win a secret and handed in his resignation. The boss’s offer to raise his salary slightly if he stayed, the disappointed look when he refused, and the words of gratitude for working hard all this time seemed to comfort the hardships he had faced. He didn’t expect to hear such things, so his heart felt tickled. He felt a bit sorry, but he wanted to rest now.
Now, he wanted to go down to his hometown, Haenam, to be a good son to his parents and meet his friends. He wanted to walk the country roads like he did as a child and breathe in the fresh morning air unique to the countryside.
And he wanted to try cooking.
Not that he meant to do it professionally, but he wanted to make delicious food and share it. Whether it was with friends, family, or others, it didn’t matter.
Two days passed, and it was Wednesday.
Coincidentally, since Wednesday and Thursday were his days off, Yoon Yeon-woo headed to Seoul.
Clatter! Clatter!
The rhythmic sound of the subway moving.
Normally, he would have put on earphones to listen to music or watch Nutube, but today he didn’t put anything in his ears. Since it was the last time, he wanted to keep it as a memory.
‘I guess taking the annoying subway will be over in a few days too.’
Coincidentally, he got a call from the boss this morning. He said they had found a replacement, so he would just need to do the handover.
‘Ah, I should get off.’
As the bank got closer, his heart went thump-thump!
He got off at the station.
Glance, glance.
He secretly turned his eyes to check the surroundings. On the day he won, he had looked up posts like “When you win the lottery?” He saw warnings that there might be people in front of the headquarters trying to get a share of the winnings from first-place winners.
‘Phew, no one’s here.’
Was he lucky?
Fortunately, there was no one, so he entered the bank headquarters. Everything went smoothly. First, he showed the winning ticket and his ID. After verifying it was real, he received the prize money through a VIP account. They asked if he was interested in investments or savings, but he said no. The total amount received was about 2.7 billion won.
“Wow…”
Almost half was taken away, but 2.7 billion won still remained.
“With this, I could live for the rest of my life and still have some left.”
If he lived in Seoul with 2.7 billion won, it might be a bit difficult, but it was different in Haenam. While the cost of living itself isn’t necessarily much cheaper than Seoul, housing and other things are definitely cheaper there. His parents had mentioned that the apartment they moved into the year before last, which was about 28 pyeong, cost around 90 million won.
And back then, to help out, he had looked up houses on the internet. In the case of old houses, you could buy them for around 100 million won. Well, old houses are listed cheaply because of remodeling costs, but that’s a story for the town area near the county office. If he went to a village, he could buy a newly built house for 200 million won.
“Ha! Now I’m free.”
Buying a house was a story for a bit later. For now, because the tension had released, his stomach was growling, demanding food. He needed to go back quickly and eat something delicious. And say goodbye to Lee Yoon as well.
“Oh, you’re here?”
“Huff, huff, did you wait long?”
Before he knew it, Yoon Yeon-woo, who had returned to the dormitory with beef, saw Lee Yoon. Perhaps because he was called suddenly after work, the guy who ran over was panting for breath.
“No, I didn’t wait long.”
With a smile, he made Lee Yoon sit down. Then, he handed him a cold soju glass.
“I have to go to work early tomorrow morning, though.”
“I know. Let’s just have one drink. This might be the last time I drink with you like this.”
Lee Yoon said his hometown was Seoul. He mentioned he had never even been to Haenam in his life. Not just Haenam, but he had never been to the Jeolla-do region at all. So, this might be their last drinking session.
“Ehey! Don’t say such disappointing things! Of course, if hyung-nim calls, I’d even go down to hell.”
“Haenam is further down than hell? Hey, you punk.”
“Eh?! That’s not what I meant!”
Yeon-woo’s mischievous prank.
Lee Yoon burst into laughter and picked up the soju glass without hesitation.
“Fine. Let’s drink that much!”
Glug, glug, glug!
The soju filled the glass with a distinct sound.
Through the clear glass and the soju, he could see the guy’s face. He was smiling, but his eyes looked quite sad. It made sense.
Though it was a short three years, the two had shared many stories and listened to each other’s worries. The feeling of losing the person who supported you is harder than one might think. Yeon-woo knew this very well because he had felt that way when his own mentor moved to another job. And now, he felt he understood how that mentor felt.
“Hey, don’t worry too much. You’ll do well enough even without me. Who did you learn from? You learned from me.”
“Tsk, hyung-nim, you’re really too quick-witted.”
“That’s how I survived in this place.”
Starting with such trivial talk, the two men’s chopsticks and glasses moved busily.
Clink!
The glasses hit each other, and gulp!
He let the bitter, alcohol-scented soju flow down his throat. It felt as if he had swallowed hot water; the alcohol could be felt the entire way down the esophagus to the stomach. At first, he really hated this feeling, but now he actually liked it because it felt like swallowing hardship and bitterness together.
“Eat a lot.”
“They say when you’re feeling down (low pressure), go in front of meat (high pressure). That saying is true, and it’s even beef. Kya! It tastes even better since hyung-nim is grilling it himself.”
The guy picked up five pieces of well-cooked beef at once. The regret of Yeon-woo leaving and the loneliness of being left alone—Lee Yoon put those two emotions into a wrap with lettuce, meat, and garlic dipped in ssamjang, chewed and swallowed them, and soothed the lingering feeling with soju.
“Contact me if things get hard. If anyone treats you badly, I’ll definitely sort them all out.”
“You can’t even do that. Haha! Okay. I’ll definitely call. Hyung-nim, you call too if country life gets tough. I might not be good at other things, but I’m good at listening to worries.”
“Punk, you’re all talk. One more drink!”
Cheers!
The two glasses clinked again.
After finishing the handover by working through the weekend, it was the following Monday. Having quit his job, Yoon Yeon-woo headed to the terminal.
