Chapter 2: Return

When I was preparing for the funeral in a dazed state after my grandmother passed away, a man came to visit.

"Kim Mu-hyeok?"

"…Who are you?"

"I'm someone sent by Mu-hyeok's maternal grandfather."

"What?"

He was Chief Ha, who had come down from Seoul on my grandfather's orders.

"Chairman Cheon wishes to meet with you once the funeral procedures are over."

"…"

"We'll take care of all the funeral costs and paperwork separately. After the funeral, let's go up to Seoul together."

I just nodded at Chief Ha's firm tone.

That's how I came to meet my grandfather, known as Chairman Cheon or Old Man Cheon.

At our first meeting, he said just one thing.

"I heard you've been living like a delinquent. If you get into a university in Seoul within three years, I'll give you a big gift."

With those words, there was no further conversation between grandfather and grandson.

After that, I lived in a small apartment my grandfather provided and attended school.

Friends, girls… I gave up everything and decided to live the life my grandfather wanted, to gain his approval.

All ties with my friends were cut off then.

In the first semester of 11th grade, Myeong-su and I were assigned to different classes. While I was focused on studying, Myeong-su's leg was shattered by the merciless violence of the school bullies.

But… I didn't care.

Not long after, Myeong-su left school.

* * *

Lost in thought as I watched Myeong-su's retreating figure, I went back into the emergency room.

The doctor and nurse were preparing to move Grandma's bed to the inpatient room.

"We're moving her to room 703. Can you go home and bring some underwear and other things your grandmother will need?"

"Yes."

I held Grandma's hand as she lay there looking at me.

"Grandma, I'll be back from home real quick."

"Ain't it hard for you?"

"No, I'll be back soon."

"Have you eaten?"

"Oh, right!"

Leaving Grandma who was worried about me till the end, I registered at the administration office and agreed to pay tomorrow. As I stepped out of the hospital, a darkened sky was waiting for me.

I climbed the steep steps of the slum area with barely any streetlights and arrived home.

In the room with hardly any furniture, I searched for Grandma's underwear, socks, and clothes to change into.

Tears fell as I looked at Grandma's underwear box.

Underwear worn thin beyond repair.

Socks with holes.

And the few clothes Grandma had.

It was completely different from the box with my clothes and underwear.

Grandma, who struggled to earn money to buy clothes, underwear, and shoes for me to wear. Why didn't I realize it before?

I packed a few pieces of underwear that were still wearable and left the house.

Returning to the hospital, I opened the door to Grandma's room.

The other patients in the same room all turned to look at me at once. Ignoring their gazes, I sat down next to Grandma's bed.

"You're back."

"Yeah, Grandma. Are you feeling better now?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me and go home."

"It's okay, I'll sleep here."

I could feel the warmth in Grandma's hand.

I was so glad that I could no longer feel the coldness I had felt when Grandma had collapsed.

I organized the things I'd brought from home next to the hospital bed.

"I'm going to step out for a moment."

"Alright, make sure you eat something while you're out."

"Okay."

Leaving the room, I took the stairs to the rooftop.

As I opened the rooftop door, I saw a few people smoking.

I sat down on a small chair in a corner of the rooftop and began to slowly process everything that had happened to me.

'For whatever reason, I've come back to the past. It's 1990, and I've prevented Grandma's death. Grandma, who was preparing for her own death, had contacted Chairman Cheon back then. Chief Ha will probably come down this time too.'

As my thoughts began to clear, the anger and frustration I felt before dying surged up again.

Cheon Su-man and Cheon Su-han, the two brothers.

My mother's older brothers.

With no ability but plenty of greed, they ended up joining hands with the Cheongpung Group and became the root cause of my elimination.

And the Cheongpung Group… a force operating behind all of South Korea's power, violence, and wealth. I don't know exactly who's involved, but it's an association that has existed since the military dictatorship era.

Though they changed their name with the times, at their core were the descendants of the military dictatorship forces, including Hanahoe which was behind the coup, and pro-Japanese collaborators.

'Now that I've come back like this, I'll infiltrate their center and crush them. Slowly, I'll grasp their lifelines and end their lives.'

Whether it was God, Buddha, or Allah, isn't that what the being who sent me back wants?

Now that I had a goal, I decided to work out the details of the plan slowly.

As I was about to leave the rooftop, a man called out to me from behind.

"Hey, kid! Come over here."

I turned my body, which was holding the rooftop door handle, and looked at him.

"You want me to rip your eyes out? Come here."

"Are you talking to me?"

"Well, you're the only kid here, aren't you? Who else would I be calling? Funny guy."

"What do you want?"

"Ya, you little shit. When I tell you to come, just come. Why so many words?"

"…"

"Hehehe, boss, what are you doing with the kid?"

As I got closer, I could faintly see his face in the light of the cigarette.

It was a familiar face. Who was it?

I caught a glimpse of a tattoo on his neck above the patient gown he was wearing.

"Young punk, you shouldn't be smoking cigarettes already. You shouldn't smoke."

"I don't smoke."

"Huh? Then why did you crawl up to the rooftop?"

"I had some things to think about and came to sort them out. If you're done talking, can I go down now?"

The man chuckled.

"…Fearless bastard."

"Do you know me? It seems like this is the first time I'm seeing you."

"You don't know me?"

"No, I don't."

"Hehehe, boss, how humiliating!"

When the guys next to him snickered, the man glared at them.

"You really don't know?"

"No."

"Hahaha, interesting kid. Nice to meet you, I'm Park Dong-su."

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Park Dong-su. Can I go down now?"

On the outside, I tried to appear calm, but hearing the name Park Dong-su, I immediately remembered.

Park Dong-su, the deputy leader of Saseongpa, one of the two major violent organizations controlling the Jung-gu area of Busan.

He'll be caught soon in the upcoming war on crime and receive a life sentence. Taking the blame for all the crimes of the leader, Lee Sa-seong…

"Hahaha! You're a man, a real man. Which school are you from?"

"I'm a first-year at Dongseong Technical High School. My grandmother is hospitalized, so can I go down now?"

"Sure, sure. Let's meet again."

I bowed my head slightly towards the voice filled with amusement and turned around.

The next day

Myeong-su came to the hospital early in the morning.

"Hey! Aren't you going to school?"

"I have to go. What brings you here so early in the morning?"

"Are you really Mu-hyeok? Why are you speaking in that awkward Seoul accent?"

"Stop messing around. What did you come for?"

Myeong-su took out an envelope from his bag and held it out to me.

"It's 500,000 won. I borrowed it from my father. It's for the hospital bills and your grandmother's medicine."

"…"

"Take it. My arm's getting tired."

I silently looked back and forth between Myeong-su's face and the envelope of money.

"What? Why? I'm lending it to you, not giving it to you. You have to pay it back."

"Thanks. I should refuse, but I don't have that luxury. I'll definitely pay you back."

As I took the envelope, he finally grinned.

"Let's go to school. Have you eaten?"

"Let's just watch Grandma have her breakfast and then go."

"Okay, I'll wait."

After helping Grandma with her breakfast, I went to school with Myeong-su.

As soon as we arrived at school, I was called to the teachers' office. It was my homeroom teacher, known as 'Viper' among the students, who had answered my call yesterday.

"How's your grandmother?"

"She's okay. Thanks to you, she's passed the critical point."

"Ya, you should tell me right away when such things happen."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Do you have money for the hospital bills?"

"Yes, Myeong-su's father helped out."

"Alright. If anything happens, tell me immediately."

"Yes."

"Go on, prepare for class and don't cause any trouble."

"Yes."

As I opened the back door of classroom 1-8, the noisy classroom suddenly fell silent.

As I sat down at my seat by the window in the very back, Myeong-su rushed over.

"Hey! What did Viper say?"

"Just asked if Grandma was okay."

"Bullshit. If you knew how much bribe that bastard takes from our parents, you'd be shocked."

"Shut up and go study."

The classroom that had gotten noisy fell silent again. Everyone was looking at me strangely.

"Who are you? Where's Mu-hyeok?"

Myeong-su, who had been making a weird face, grabbed my head and shook it left and right as he spoke.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"You crazy bastard. But why are the kids looking at me like this?"

"Huh?"

"It just feels that way."

"…Are you really okay? Why have you been acting like this since yesterday?"

I remembered belatedly.

Over the 30 years, I had forgotten how much of a delinquent I was before meeting Old Man Cheon.

"Why is it so noisy?"

As our homeroom teacher, Viper, entered, the noisy classroom became as quiet as a secluded temple in the forest.

"You know there's a test next week, right? For every point the class average drops, it's ten lashes. Don't forget."

…What did he say?

"And those of you who smoke, don't get caught. If you get caught, you're really dead."

I never imagined there would be a test right after I came back.

I stared at the blackboard with a bewildered heart.

As soon as school was over, I returned to the hospital. I went to the administration office to pay for the examination fees and then went up to see Grandma.

Grandma, lying in the hospital bed, greeted me.

"You don't have to keep coming to the hospital when you're busy with your studies."

"I come because I want to."

"My baby… when did you grow up so much?"

Tears welled up in Grandma's eyes.

I left the room and went up to the rooftop. I could feel the disparity between the 48-year-old me and the 17-year-old me.

As I was looking outside, trying to compose myself, someone called out to me from behind.

"Hey! Student over there."

When I turned around, a familiar face was grinning at me.

It was Park Dong-su.

"You smoke, don't you? Be honest."

This guy is really persistent.

"I do smoke, but I don't smoke in the hospital."

"Right? I could smell cigarettes on you, even though you're a stranger."

"…"

Silence fell.

"Ahem. You came to visit your grandma after school?"

"Yes."

"You're a good grandson. How did such a good kid come out of a shitty technical high school? Are you any good at fighting?"

"…Yes, I'm pretty good."

"Huh."

As Park Dong-su let out a dry laugh, the big guy next to him cackled.

"Hahaha! Look at our boss's surprised face. 'I'm pretty good!'"

The bickering between the two didn't look very gangster-like.

I remembered an article I once read about the genealogy of Korean organized crime.

'He was said to have cared a lot for his younger brothers…'

Though he got life imprisonment, I heard his brothers continued to serve him faithfully even while he was in prison.

"This kid's interesting. What's your name?"

"Kim Mu-hyeok."

"Kim Mu-hyeok? Good name."

"Thank you."

"You heard my name yesterday, right? If those thugs bother you, use my name. Since we've met like this, let's be friendly."

"…Okay."

I continued the pointless conversation with them. The more I talked, the more approachable he seemed.

'…This could be useful.'

I thought he might be useful in dealing with Cheongpung Group's hunting dogs.

"I'll be going down now."

"Alright, alright. See you next time, little bro."

"…I'm a bit too young to be called little brother."

"Puhahaha! Funny kid. Aren't you scared of me?"

"Why should I be scared? You're just like a neighborhood uncle."

"Hahaha! Right, right. Just a neighborhood uncle."

"Then, I'll be going."

After saying goodbye, I went down to the first floor.

I was so preoccupied with Park Dong-su that I couldn't even organize my thoughts. I sat down on an empty bench.

'The test is next week…'

As I was thinking about what to do next, someone's shadow fell over my feet.

"Kim Mu-hyeok?"

I looked up.

A familiar face was smiling down at me.

It was Chief Ha.

Chapter Summary

Kim Mu-hyeok, a 17-year-old deliquent, finds himself back in 1990 after his grandmother's near-death experience. He meets his estranged grandfather, Chairman Cheon, who challenges him to enter a Seoul university within three years. Mu-hyeok decides to change his life, cutting ties with friends. At the hospital, he encounters Park Dong-su, a gang leader, and receives money from his friend Myeong-su for hospital bills. Returning to school, Mu-hyeok struggles to adjust to his past self and learns of an upcoming test. The chapter ends with Chief Ha's arrival at the hospital.