Chapter 28
Kim Seokchun's childhood wasn't particularly affluent.
His father was a day laborer.
His mother only worked for the family.
A rude, chatty little sister, but cute nonetheless.
And the youngest brother, still just a snot-nosed kid.
It was a poor but happy family.
"Big brother! I got this from next door!! Big brother, you've never had this before, right?"
A child with bobbed hair and a strikingly pale face.
A child who was so cheeky she always startled the family.
"Get lost. You damn brat."
Whenever he was with his lively little sister, he always spoke with all the affection he had for her.
His little sister always laughed brightly at his grumbling.
He thought that happiness would last forever.
What shattered that boy's hopes was the merciless barrage of artillery.
The Korean War.
The barrage that began in the North was enough to utterly shatter his poor but happy life.
He fled.
South, then farther south.
With his father having been drafted, Kim Seokchun, as the eldest son, took his mother and two younger siblings and fled.
Then.
From Seoul to Cheonan, from Cheonan to Daejeon.
The evacuation was painful and agonizing.
And then.
What hurt the most was.
"Sukyung!! Sukyung!!"
He lost his little sister's hand.
There was nothing he could do.
He had to avoid the charging People's Army.
Even so.
Even so, the little sister he lost in the crowd.
He could never forget her until the end.
When he reached Busan as a refugee, he couldn't just wallow in despair.
His ailing mother, his youngest brother crying that he was hungry.
He had to carry out the duty of the head of the family entrusted to him by his father before he went off to war.
In Busan, he did everything he could.
Shoe shining, newspaper delivery.
Even running petty errands while hanging around American soldiers.
He did everything to feed the family that was left behind.
Days so busy he didn't even have time to breathe.
But.
He never forgot his little sister for a single moment.
Then he received a proposal from an American.
To go to Japan.
To do business in Japan, and to come with him if he trusted his diligence.
But what about his sister?
How was he supposed to find the little sister whose hand he'd lost back then?
But if he stayed like this, his mother and youngest brother would die too.
Opportunity or little sister.
He had no choice but to choose, so he took the offer.
He followed him to Japan with his family and built up enormous wealth there.
Even when he was despised as a "Joseon whelp."
Even when he was mocked as a money-crazed fiend.
He kept working hard.
Even so.
Even so.
He never once gave up on finding his sister.
Even if he couldn't do it himself, he hired people.
He always spent more than a fixed portion of his income on finding her.
He got married.
He had children.
He saw his grandchildren.
Even after his mother passed away and the wife he loved died.
It was then.
"Mr. Kim. I met a worthy person this time."
At Han Junho's words, the chairman of Saseong, with whom he had long been acquainted, tilted his head.
Is there really anyone that nasty old man would call a worthy person?
And he met a worthy person?
Recently his eldest son had been driving him up the wall by skimping on rebar during an apartment project, so it must have been quite the headache.
"What, did you meet some great businessperson in America?"
Indifferent.
Kim Seokchun was an old man who no longer cared much about worldly affairs.
He'd raised his children well.
His grandchildren had grown up well too.
The company was running itself well under his son and the professional manager, so what was there left to care about?
The sister he'd searched for over decades still hadn't been found.
By now, he only thought of her as dead.
All he did was run a small business to cover the cost of searching for her.
For someone like him, a professional manager or a worthy person wasn't worth paying attention to.
"That's not it. There was someone who told me my son was skimping on rebar."
"An internal whistleblower? It's good to take care of whistleblowers."
In times like these, someone with a conscience.
Such a righteous person would certainly be worthy of being called a benefactor.
Kim Seokchun nodded, but Han Junho immediately shook his head.
"Not an insider."
"Hmm. Then?"
"An outsider."
"...An outsider did that? Hah. Someone who knows construction well?"
"No. That's not it..."
Han Junho showed him his phone.
It was some kind of internet broadcast popular with young people these days.
I thought it was ridiculous at first, but the more I watched, the more shocked I became.
A fortune teller.
Someone who could learn a person's past and future just by flipping cards.
"...I-Is that really true?"
"Yes. You said it before, didn't you, sir?"
The younger sister he lost in the war.
He said he had no other wish than to see her just once before he died.
Maybe.
Maybe this person could find her.
In his old age.
When he was just waiting for the day he would die.
Hope had come to him.
***
Kim Seokchun's future came into view.
He was standing alone in a small graveyard.
I could see him falling into despair after finally finding his sister, only to learn she'd died a couple of months earlier.
If only he'd been a few months earlier.
I could see him sobbing that if he'd only known she'd been here, he would have come looking sooner.
"...Where, where is she? Where's Sukyeong..."
"You're in Yangpyeong."
I told him exactly what I saw in his future.
Since I could even see myself going to the house where Kim Sukyeong lived with her family, it wasn't hard to tell him.
"But really, would you be all right?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your little sister might resent you."
Kim Seokchun's body stiffened.
As much as he was delighted at the thought of finding his sister, he had always feared that she might resent him for the rest of her life.
"...Even so, I want to see her."
The people beside him, Han Junho and Han Yuna, were in awe.
Regardless, old man Kim Seokchun grinned and downed the soju in one shot.
"So, if you don't mind, could you come with me?"
"That's not difficult, but why me...?"
What on earth would I do if I went?
If I could at least drive, I'd take the car, but I still didn't even have a license.
"Well. If you were there, I think I'd find courage."
Am I some kind of totem?
"Isn't that thanks to you? Actually, I did try my own way to find my sister too."
But I couldn't find her.
Someone lost in the war.
How could I ever find someone like that again?
I tried desperately, but I couldn't even get a clue.
"You."
His eyes met mine.
"If it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't have found Sukyeong."
So you give me courage.
Because you're someone who accomplished effortlessly what I couldn't manage.
Hm.
When he put it that way, it was a little hard to refuse.
"Then let's go together."
I should clear my schedule tomorrow.
.
.
.
The next day.
By morning, a car had arrived in front of the house.
It was old man Kim Seokchun.
"Setting the old man aside, why are you here, Ms. Yuna...?"
"I took the day off. My father told me to go along and see it too."
"Sir. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Then let's go in your car."
His driver looked troubled.
But after just a few words of instruction, he quietly got into the car.
"Let's go."
"Before that, have some of this."
"...Why Cheongsimhwan?"
"You'll need it."
"Hah. You're treating me like an old man."
And he was one, after all.
In the end, he obediently took the Cheongsimhwan I gave him and put it in his pocket.
He just didn't eat it.
But he would.
He was going to be muttering over and over in the car about how his heart was pounding and he felt like he was going crazy.
"I'll take you. The address is... yes."
Han Yuna, who had entered it into the navigation, started driving.
Sitting in the passenger seat, I looked out the window and said,
"Before we go, let's buy coffee or something. I want a café latte. If there's anything you want, pick it. I'll pay."
"I'll have a matcha frappe."
"A choice that doesn't suit your age at all...!!"
"My granddaughter really likes it. We tried it together, and it was pretty good. Ah. By the way, are you married?"
"I'm twenty."
"That's exactly the right age! My granddaughter is twenty-four now! A four-year gap isn't even enough to check compatibility. And I'm not saying this just because she's my granddaughter, but she's very pretty!"
"Ahem!"
Han Yuna cleared her throat awkwardly.
"I can drink anything."
"Ms. Yuna, green tea with whipped cream and lots of chocolate chips..."
"......."
"I'm joking, so don't stare at me like that. Get a latte. A latte."
Latte's good.
Anyway, we parked in the lot, bought our drinks at the café, and came back.
Old man Kim Seokchun, sipping his cool matcha frappe, let out a sigh while looking outside.
"Going like this makes me a little uneasy..."
"Take the Cheongsimhwan."
"Hmph. I told you, I'm not an old man yet."
Let's see how long he can hold out.
.
.
.
This time too, what I saw in the future was spot on.
Not only did he chew on the straw, but he even started picking at his thumbnail.
After opening and closing the window over and over in his anxiety, he eventually took the Cheongsimhwan I gave him.
He should've taken it sooner.
"We've arrived."
And so we arrived at a small house in the countryside of Yangpyeong.
A beautiful place with a small stream beside it.
Though it was a small house, it was beautifully pastoral and charming.
"Hoo..."
"Sir. Are you really all right?"
When I took out another Cheongsimhwan, he shook his head.
"Let's go."
Swallowing hard, he walked ahead.
And pressed the doorbell.
-Ding-dong~!
"Who's there~!"
The door opened.
Out came a boy who looked like a blond-haired mixed-race kid.
Kim Seokchun squeezed his eyes shut.
And quietly opened his mouth.
"Is there a grandmother named Kim Sukyeong here?"
"There isn't anyone like that here."
".....!!"
Kim Seokchun whipped his head around.
A terrifying glare.
So I said,
"Isn't Grandma Charlotte Theresa here??"
"Huh? You know my grandma?"
Only then did old man Kim Seokchun's expression relax.
"Right. Could you tell her Kim Seokchun is here...?"
"Yes~! I'll go ask her!"
The boy ran inside in a hurry.
His questioning gaze was sharp.
"She was separated from her family because of the war and was adopted in the United States."
"...I see. You. You're truly amazing."
Nothing amazing about it.
I just heard it while talking with her family in the future.
Hmm...
Come to think of it, reading the future itself is amazing, so I guess that is amazing enough.
"Grandma says to come inside!"
At the boy's words, we went inside.
It was a clean house.
A place that seemed to be very carefully maintained.
Kim Seokchun took a deep breath and followed the boy.
We met in the kitchen.
***
Ah.
She's really gotten old.
Wrinkles had been carved into her forehead like furrows in a field,
and her face had faded with the traces of time.
But she was still there.
That bright, mischievous girl's image.
That lively, mischievous girl who used to tease her big brother like he was a toy.
Kim Seokchun squeezed his eyes shut.
The fear he'd carried all his life slowly welled up.
What if she resents me?
For losing her.
For saying I'd lived my whole life in pain.
What if.
What if she says I abandoned her to take care of Mom and the youngest brother?
What would I do if she said that?
Even though the countless harsh words from the Japanese hadn't bothered him,
the thought that he might hear those words now was terrifying.
"S, Sukyeong..."
The gently aged old woman before him.
Go Hee-ae.
The old woman whom Kim Seokchun knew as Kim Sukyeong grinned as she held out a drink made from plum syrup.
"Big brother! I got this from next door!! You haven't had this before, right?"
"...Ah."
Drip.
From the old man's eyes,
the boy's memories flowed down.
Watching him, the old woman
The girl in his memories smiled, letting tears she had held back spill out.
"Brother... I missed you. Truly..."
It was a reunion after decades.