Chapter 3
A World Still Worth Living In
Looking at the ruined Dongfang Secret Manual, I felt awful inside, but there was nothing I could do. I was just relieved it hadn't been torn or crumpled.
“Whew. Don't tell me the Danhwan too??!!”
I opened the refrigerator door and checked on the Danhwan I had placed to one side. Fortunately, the Danhwan was intact.
My younger son, at an age full of curiosity, would open everything and put it in his mouth. What if he had put the Danhwan in his mouth? I couldn't let the children eat something when I didn't even know what kind of medicine it was. The younger son must have played with his crayons and then watched TV with his older brother.
“The medicine is one thing, but the old book too……. Should I just throw them away?”
I tried to throw the Danhwan and the Dongfang Secret Manual into the trash bag, but my ancestor's final words kept lingering in my head, and I couldn't bring myself to discard them.
“Th… this… how am I supposed to eat this…….”
I pondered for a moment, then gripped the Danhwan tightly and tossed it into my mouth. Thinking that it couldn't be bad since it was given by my ancestor, I did the foolish thing of swallowing the Danhwan whole. But contrary to my worry that it would get stuck in my throat, the Danhwan melted smoothly, leaving a refreshing taste.
‘Huh? What is this? A fatigue recovery pill?’
I couldn't quite explain it, but I felt the fatigue that had enveloped my body melting away.
Flash!
“Aaaack!”
At that moment, the Dongfang Secret Manual I was holding suddenly began to emit light. Not only that, but the manual, which had been scribbled on with crayons, began to melt and flow into my body.
“Huek! What's going on with this!”
Normally, I wouldn't even raise my voice for fear of startling the children, but I was so flustered that I let out a loud shout without realizing it.
“Da… Da… d?”
Yul, who had been watching TV, looked at me at the urgent cry.
“S… son!!” “Dad! Dad! Dad!”
Yul was so shocked to see my body emitting light that he just kept screaming for dad.
“Dada? Da? Daaaad~~~”
Geon, my younger son, followed his brother and started shouting while looking at me. It took no time at all for the single room to turn into a chaotic mess.
The older son burst into tears, not knowing what to do at the sudden situation.
“Uwaaaah! Daaaad~~~” “Daaaaaad~~~~~”
Geon started crying too when his brother cried.
I needed to comfort the children, but I couldn't approach them because my body was still emitting light. If this was a dangerous symptom, I had to at least save the children. But contrary to my worries, once the melting Dongfang Secret Manual was completely absorbed into my body, my glowing form gradually began to lose its light.
“Dad!!!”
As soon as the light disappeared, Yul finally ran to me and clung on.
“Daaaaad~~~”
The younger son also came running into my arms with his toddling steps.
“It's okay. Dad's okay.” “Uwaaah! It was scary. Dad!!” “Yeah. Dad is fine. Look. I'm fi… ne… right??”
To show that I was okay, I rolled up both arms, and the moment I checked them, I trailed off without realizing it. At that moment, Yul's piercing scream echoed.
“Dad!!!!”
My arms were densely engraved with incomprehensible Hanja characters and geometric patterns that had been written on the Dongfang Secret Manual.
“What is… this…….” “Dad! Are you okay? Does it hurt? Does it hurt?” “Yeah. I'm okay. I'm okay. You were really surprised, right? Dad is okay now.”
I comforted Yul, but honestly, I was very surprised too. And despite the situation, I realized that it was getting late to take the children to daycare.
“Since Dad is okay, let's hurry to daycare. We're late.” “Yeah……. You're really okay, right? Huh? Huh?” “Of course! Dad is strong!”
I flexed my forearms with all my might, making a gesture that I was fine.
‘Huh? Were my forearms always like this……??’
My arms, which had been so damaged that you couldn't find any muscle, looked thicker than usual.
“Wow! Dad is the best!”
Yul hung on my arm and joked around, and I hugged him.
“Let's go now.” “Yeah!”
Yul, having confirmed that I was okay, showed a brave face and headed toward daycare.
“Dada. Dada~”
Geon, the second child who had learned to say “dad” before “mom,” nestled in my arms and stroked my face.
“It's okay, Geon. Our Geon, have a good day.” “Daaaaad~~~”
After setting Geon down and sending both Yul and Geon to daycare, I hurried back home and took off my clothes.
“It's not like I'm some gangster or anything…….”
Small Hanja characters and geometric patterns were densely positioned from around my wrists to my ankles. Seeing the characters engraved so as to avoid my neck, shoulders, and collarbone line, I worried about what I should do.
“I can't even go to the hospital, damn it…….”
In my position, where I had to worry about the monthly rent in just a few days, the hospital was a luxury.
“But… my body…….”
My body had been skin and bones. But the body with the engraved characters was clearly different from before. Not to mention the six-pack that had disappeared long ago, my whole body was covered with firm, compact muscles. Hidden by the characters, but if not for them, they would truly be admirable muscles worthy of exclamation.
“Is it because I ate the Danhwan……. Or because the Dongfang Secret Manual entered my body? I don't know, and it's driving me crazy.”
It was definitely one of the two, but no matter who I explained this to, they would just call me crazy.
“Ugh. The bath
room it is.”
Having been out of it in the morning and unable to properly take care of my bodily functions, I headed straight to the bath
room.
“Th… this…….”
The Hanja tattoo engraved even on my precious thing was incredibly vicious.
“The bathhouse is ruined.”
Shwaaaaack!!!
In an instant, an enormous stream began striking above the space I wanted it to go.
“Urk! Uk! What is this!”
After hurriedly readjusting(?) with my hand, the violent(?) stream finally stabilized and went where I wanted. The stream was so powerful my body swayed. No virility drug in the world could cause something like this.
I tried to finish up quickly, but the stream that came out as if to drain all moisture from my body refused to subside.
“Kuaargh. Stop, you bastard!!!!”
I began to fear that an unprecedented event of collapsing from exhaustion while urinating would occur. Just as that fear filled my throat, the stream returned to normal and finished.
“Huff, huff…. What the hell is this…….”
A strange, rotten stench wafted from the toilet that had suddenly suffered the affront. I hurriedly turned on the shower to clean it. A man covered in tattoos crouched down cleaning the bath
room—if anyone saw, they would have no choice but to think I was a gangster cleaning up an accident scene.
“What a mess. Sigh…….”
Before I could properly contemplate the phenomena happening to me, I heard a knocking sound at the door.
Knock, knock!
“Huh? Who is it??”
Since I was undressed, I hurriedly came out of the bath
room and put on clothes.
‘It shouldn't be the landlady. It's not even rent day yet…….’
At least I had paid the rent without falling behind, so I didn't get harassed, but court officials would occasionally visit the house to deliver documents. Thinking someone had come to deliver court documents for my bank debt, I opened the door.
“Huh? Sang… cheol? It's Sangcheol, right?”
When I opened the door, Sangcheol, a high school classmate, was standing there.
“You punk!”
Swoop!
Sangcheol hugged me without warning.
“Hey. Hey! What's with you.” “I heard about your situation recently. Geez. You should have contacted me earlier. How could you not invite me to your mother's funeral! What the hell!”
I hadn't been able to invite friends to my mother's funeral. I had been out of it, and my pride wouldn't allow me to show my fallen state when I had once been doing so well.
Until high school, I had been an unrivaled existence. No, even for a while after getting married, I had been noticeably successful. Handsome looks, a prestigious university graduate, a job at a major corporation, a pretty wife, and kids. Having never known what it meant to envy others, the sudden fall mentally destroyed everything.
“First… come in…….”
Unable to keep standing in front of the front door, I brought Sangcheol inside.
“Here. Take this.”
Sangcheol came in carrying a large box he had put behind him.
“What's all this…….”
Opening the box, it was filled carefully with diapers and formula, snacks that looked like treats for the children, and new clothes and underwear that didn't look expensive but were indeed new.
“Th… thank you…….”
In that moment, I choked up without realizing it.
“What are friends for. No matter how hard and difficult it is, you have to tell your friend.” “I'm sorry…….” “Forget it. I know your situation, so let's go to work starting today.”
Before even sitting down, Sangcheol grabbed my outerwear hanging on the coat rack and threw it to me, saying we should go to work.
“You wouldn't want to just take money either. Then you have to work. We'll be done before the kids get back, so let's go!” “Huh? Ah… okay.”
At Sangcheol's rapid-fire words, I put on my outerwear and followed him out.
[Margin Delivery]
They were the letters on the car Sangcheol had come in.
“So you're doing delivery work.”
“Yeah. Don't tell me you're looking down on it?”
“No way!”
I waved my hands and denied it. I knew that delivery work, though hard, earned money in proportion to how hard you worked.
“I recently took charge of this neighborhood route. That's how I heard about your situation.”
“I see…….”
“Dongfang Shuo!!”
“Huh?”
“Cheer up! The Dongfang Shuo I knew was always confident and full of vigor. But now, not even thirty years old, are you going to sit down and give up on everything?”
“…….”
“You can just start over.”
“Thank you…….”
We hadn't been close enough to be called childhood friends, but he was a friend who used to come over to my house, eat with me, and even sleep over. I had never imagined that a high school friend I had completely forgotten would come and offer such help.
“Let's go. There's a lot of work today. But I'll make sure to pay you well for it.”
Sangcheol explained that the neighborhood I lived in was made up of small villas, making it a difficult area for delivery unlike apartments.
“True, the neighborhood is like that.”
I did as Sangcheol told me without complaining and started carrying loads and delivering.
“Oh~ you've got some strength? I thought we'd have to deliver until tomorrow, but thanks to you, we'll finish quickly.”
Maybe because my body had gotten better, I didn't get tired even when running at full speed. Even after Sangcheol and I split up and delivered all the packages loaded in the truck, there was still time left before daycare pickup.
“If I'd known this, I would have found you sooner. Thanks.”
“No need to thank me. Just what you gave me is already so much…….”
“That's a housewarming gift. This is today's wages.”
Sangcheol took out an envelope from inside his clothes and stuffed it into my outerwear.
“Normally I should refuse…… but I can't bring myself to. I'll gratefully accept it.”
If it had been a few years ago, I would have firmly refused, saying I didn't need such an envelope, but that pride had disappeared long ago.
‘Even though it's a day's wage, I only worked half a day, so did he put in about 70,000 won? What am I saying, even 50,000 won is something to be grateful for!’
Even in that brief moment, I was thinking about how much was in the envelope in my pocket. It was something I should feel self-loathing about, but even self-loathing was a luxury.
“This was a load that would have taken until the weekend to deliver, but thanks to you, I can rest for the first time in a while. I'll ask you again next week.”
“Next week too?”
“Why? Do you have plans?”
“Ah… no……. I have plenty of time. Don't worry.”
“Hahaha. Good. Then have a good weekend, and I'll come to your front door on Monday.”
“Alright. Thank you, Sangcheol.”
“Then I'm off!!”
A warm, unknown heat lingered in the spot where Sangcheol had left, and my heart felt warm for the first time in a while.
“Delivery work… how long can I do it…….”
If every day was like today, I felt like I could do it forever. I took out the envelope Sangcheol had put in and checked its contents.
“Gasp!!!”
Inside the envelope were twenty 50,000-won bills and a small memo.
[Sak. I'm not good with words so I can't write anything long. Hang in there. This is the condolence money I couldn't give at your mother's funeral, so don't feel burdened.]
It wasn't a long message, but I could feel the warm affection contained within.
“Sangcheol…….”
Today, for the first time in my life, I felt the kindness of another person. I felt as though I had gained another strength to live on.
“Yul! Geon!”
“Dad~”
“Daaad~”
While picking up the children from daycare, I handed over the new diapers and formula that Sangcheol had bought. The teacher made a surprised expression, but I ignored it and just took the children.
“Today, let's eat meat, meat!”
“Woooah~~~~”
“Ahhhh~~~~”
Yul shouted excitedly at the word meat, and when his brother shouted, Geon shouted along excitedly too. I bought a generous amount of pork belly at the mart with the money I received from Sangcheol.
I spread out the job ads I had been desperately looking at just yesterday to prevent the oil from splattering, then started grilling the pork belly in a frying pan. Since it was a cramped single room, the smell of meat quickly spread.
“Let's eat!”
“It looks delicious.”
Yul cut the meat into easy-to-eat pieces, and I also ate meat for the first time in a while. Geon held his bottle and kept smiling brightly at us, not knowing what was so good.
‘Yes……. If only every day were like today… just today……. Because it's still a world worth living in.’
I had lived without knowing such small happiness before. Watching my smiling children, I vowed to work even harder.