Chapter 04
The moment she saw us, she let out a sigh of relief.
“So it was you! You scared me.”
“What’d you steal? Why are you hiding around like a thief?”
At Dad’s teasing, Mrs. Bang shot him a glare.
“Don’t even start! I’m going crazy these days…!”
She frantically looked around as if someone were chasing her, then hurriedly dragged us into the elevator.
Seeing that, even Dad’s expression turned serious.
“Bang Suk-young. What’s wrong? Did something actually happen?”
“It did! I’m telling you! Choi Cham-byeol! I don’t know what got into that kid, but he keeps following me around!”
Cham-byeol?
Why was his name coming up here?
I was simply confused, but Dad’s thoughts had gone in a completely different direction.
Having never heard the name Choi Cham-byeol before, the devoted husband’s face darkened instantly.
“Who the hell is that bastard?”
At the moment, he wore the friendly mask of a salesman.
But before that, he’d been a Special Forces soldier.
When Mom had once suggested breaking up, he’d written a blood letter while crying. When she agreed to date him, he’d driven five hours round trip every single day between Seoul and Changwon.
This man was completely insane when it came to love.
You really shouldn’t push the button that activated his romantic side.
Realizing he was about to embrace his dark side, I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Cham-byeol oppa? Why? What’s wrong with Oppa?”
“…Oppa? Princess, you know him too?”
Oops.
That had made things worse.
Mr. Seo Shin-hyun’s face became even darker.
Fortunately, Mom was as oblivious as ever.
Completely unaware of her husband’s invisible fury, she stomped her feet and began venting.
“I don’t understand what his family’s moving has to do with me! Everywhere I go, he pops up talking about the new town, the school district, how the apartments are brand-new, how nice the parks are… He follows me around muttering the same thing every single day! I’m going insane! I even told Cham-byeol’s mom, but she just said, ‘Really?’ and didn’t do anything about it! Mother and son are exactly alike!”
“A neighborhood kid?”
“Of course he’s from our neighborhood! Who else would he be? Cham-byeol! Singa’s friend!”
Only then did Dad realize this wasn’t the scenario he’d imagined.
A peaceful smile bloomed across his face.
“So you’ve been hiding from… a six-year-old? Hahaha!”
“He’s seven!”
“Oh, Suk-young… honey…”
Standing beside my parents, I burst into laughter too.
Looks like the Cham-byeol seasoning was working perfectly.
Apparently, Mrs. Bang was especially vulnerable to straightforward persistence.
And at this point in time, before years of financial hardship and disappointment had worn her down, Mom was still innocent enough for it to work.
“But you know… after listening to Cham-byeol, he actually made some good points.”
“You actually listened to him?”
“Well… his mom said Cham-byeol and our daughter are each other’s only friend at kindergarten. If a child like that says something, how could I just ignore it?”
“What? Didn’t you tell me Princess was the most popular kid in kindergarten?”
“I thought so too… Ugh, I don’t know! This little rascal never tells me anything! I always end up hearing everything from the other moms!”
“No way. How could our daughter only have one friend? What’s wrong with kids these days?”
“Right? I can’t believe it either.”
My parents had once again wandered completely off-topic.
I hurried to steer the conversation back.
“Mom! Isn’t Bundang where Uncle lives?”
“Hm? No. Your youngest uncle lives in Yongin. It’s the town next to Bundang.”
“Really? Then why doesn’t he live in Bundang? I heard Bundang is amazing! They say, ‘After Heaven comes Bundang!'”
“What? Where did you even hear something like that, you little cutie?”
“So you like it there, Singa? Do you want to move?”
The instant Dad casually asked, I nodded at lightning speed.
Yes!
I want to!
I really, really want to!
My enthusiastic response clearly surprised Mom.
After thinking for a moment, she carefully spoke to Dad.
“Maybe… maybe we should move. My youngest brother said the same thing. He asked how long we planned to stay here now that the kids are growing up.”
“He’s only saying that because he lives there by himself and gets lonely. Move where? My company is here. Your mother left us this house.”
Exactly the response I expected.
Dad wouldn’t make such a decision easily.
My father, Seo Shin-hyun, had practically been abandoned by his own family.
When he married Mom, he had come with absolutely nothing.
Which meant that the house Grandma had left them was essentially the family’s entire fortune.
As her son-in-law, he couldn’t make decisions about it lightly.
But—
We’re going to move anyway! So let’s just do it now!
What was the point of Grandma saving up to buy this house?
What was the point of everything my parents had struggled to earn?
If we stayed here…
We’d lose it all.
Every last bit.
Had they ever heard of a loan guarantor?
Back in the ’90s, if you wanted a bank loan…
You absolutely needed a guarantor.
Unlike the future, where loans were based on credit scores, back then it was basically:
“Bring me another person whose neck I can put on the line with yours.”
That was the requirement.
A wonderfully reckless system that fit the 1990s perfectly.
If the borrower couldn’t repay the debt, the guarantor became responsible for the entire amount.
From a modern perspective, it was completely insane.
Yet before the IMF financial crisis, workplace loan guarantees were incredibly common.
Because people believed in “lifetime employment,” refusing a coworker’s request made you look selfish.
That ridiculous joint-guarantee system reached its peak before the IMF.
And in my previous life…
Dad lost everything because of it.
If we didn’t leave while he was still struggling to fit in at work…
Instead of building up starting capital, we’d be starting from below zero.
“Honestly, you’ve been having a hard time here too,” Mom continued. “You said your coworkers look down on you because you used to be in the military.”
“Come on… why bring that up again?”
“I’m saying we should seriously think about it. Cheong-song has been born now. Starting fresh somewhere new wouldn’t be bad. Bundang is right below Seoul. My brother lives nearby, Singa already has a friend there… Why can’t we move? People say if you look far ahead, you’ll go far. I don’t want my son and daughter to spend their whole lives trapped inside this little well.”
Why had Mrs. Bang suddenly become so wise?
Was this Cham-byeol’s influence?
Seeing that Mom had landed a perfect uppercut, I decided to deliver the finishing blow.
I grabbed Dad’s sleeve tightly.
Then I loaded my eyes with giant teardrops.
“Daddy… if you don’t want to move… it’s okay…! S-Singa really, really wants to… but… for your sake, I can give it up. I’ll sacrifice it…! Daddy is the most important person to me…”
“M-My daughter!”
The deeply emotional Shin-hyun immediately hugged me tightly.
“What are you saying? No! Why should you be the one giving something up? My little princess doesn’t have to sacrifice anything! Daddy will make it happen!”
His strong arms squeezed me so tightly I could barely breathe.
With my tiny, Doraemon-like fists, I patted his broad back.
Father…
Believe me.
This is my way of being a good daughter.
♧
“Waaah… sniff… sob…!”
“Stop crying, Oppa.”
“H-How can I… sob… not cry? I-I have to… sniff… leave you!”
“We’re not saying goodbye forever. Singa’s moving too, right?”
While Dad looked rather dissatisfied at the sight of a little boy crying as though the world had ended while clinging to his daughter, he immediately picked me up after I spoke.
“That’s right, that’s right! It’s not like you’ll never see each other again. Hmm… but if Cham-byeol wants to be a real man, shouldn’t he learn to handle goodbyes? You’re not even family, so there’s no reason you can’t—”
“Honey! What are you saying to a child?”
Even while my parents bickered, Cham-byeol never took his tear-filled eyes off me.
Yoon I-re smiled bitterly and shook her head.
“Singa, this is our phone number and address. Promise you’ll come visit us, okay? Otherwise, I’m afraid my son might drown in his own tears.”
“Yes! Don’t worry, Auntie!”
I gave her a shy smile.
Having finally completed her divorce and watched the moving truck pull away, Yoon I-re looked far lighter than before.
She looked much closer to the Yoon I-re I remembered from the future.
She gently patted the top of my head.
“Let’s meet again.”
Of course.
We absolutely had to.
The mobile phone commercial she would later land through what people called a “neighborhood connection” would become a nationwide sensation…
And earn me an enormous amount of money.
The summer of 1996.
With the sound of cicadas echoing in the warm air, I waved sincerely at Yoon I-re and Cham-byeol as they disappeared into the distance.
Everything was going perfectly.
♧
San Jose, California, USA.
The Fairmont Hotel.
A luxury hotel located in the southern part of Silicon Valley.
Unlike the glamorous hotels of the 2000s, it was still somewhat modest, and downtown San Jose felt more peaceful and cozy than like a bustling metropolis.
But he preferred it this way.
Every passing moment reminded him that he was living in the past…
Not in the horrifying future.
“Chairman, Team Leader Jin Gu-bon from the Second Support Team of the Strategic Planning Office is here.”
“The Second Support Team? Send him in.”
The Second Support Team was the division within Strategic Planning responsible exclusively for that matter.
The young man quietly entered, gave a respectful bow, and placed a thick file on the desk.
“Did you find something?”
“Yes, sir. We still haven’t found any registered child born in 1996 named Seo Singa… However, although it doesn’t perfectly match the conditions you specified, we did discover one detail that may be worth investigating.”
