The Famous Millionaire

Duyoung Jang, Hyunwoo’s father, was passionate about teaching the kids at the alternative school. The teachers and the students were so excited about his teaching that they kept asking him questions.

“If you can’t use the fuel because its explosive power is not enough, why don’t you back it up with an electric motor?”

“Do you really need an engine there? Can’t we make a machine-like muscle like in the human body to move it?”

Duyoung was sometimes stunned by the students’ terrific questions because they proposed extraordinary ideas that he had never thought of before. Regardless of the practicality of their ideas, the fact that they could think of such an idea surprised him.

And he suddenly realized one thing.

I have lived a conceited life up to now.

Now, the kids were much better than him. Though he was far advanced in technological knowledge, he was far behind them in terms of imagination and creativity. After class, he went back home with his wife. During the ride back home he never said anything until he reached home. Though his wife tried to initiate a conversation with him, he didn’t respond as if he heard nothing.

When they arrived home, he kept thinking hard.

Maybe I can not realize my dream, but the kids can.

By the time that Hyunwoo arrived home, it was already 9 pm.

His father was still agonizing over what to do with his dream. He quietly called Hyunwoo into his room and said, “Can I see you, son?”

“Yes, daddy,” said Hyunwoo and went into the main bedroom where his father and mother were waiting.

Duyoung said resolutely as if he was announcing something, “I think I have to resume my research.”

“Did you find the answer, daddy? Are you confident?”

Duyoung looked at Hyunwoo, with spirited eyes as if he felt confident, “I can succeed under any circumstances. This is something I can never fail.”

His reply was a bit unexpected to Hyunwoo, who wondered what made his father so confident.

As if he heard Hyunwoo’s question, he continued, “It’s only the matter of time. If I’m lucky, I can make my dream come true on my own. If I am not, my students will be able to achieve my goal someday.”

At that moment, Hyunwoo felt shocked as if he was struck by lightning. Though his father said few words about on his dream, Hyunwoo could read his father’s mind.

“So far I’ve tried to achieve my dream on my own, but I’ve realized something today: even if I can’t achieve it by myself, I can still make it come true.”

In Hyunwoo’s mind, his father woke up to the matter of success. Namely, the degree of success he was talking about. For example, if someone assumed that the completion of his or her dream was 100, they should achieve it completely, and his father belonged to this kind of people, but he began to think differently now.

“I can only make the effort to the best of my ability, and my students will take care of the rest.”

Hearing that, Hyunwoo smiled brightly and asked, “How can I help you, daddy? If you need anything, please let me know.”

“You don’t have to hurry. I think I have to open an office. I’ll ask Mr. Kuroda if I can use the side room of his house.”

“Don’t you think it’s too small? And you will find it difficult to step up and down on the floor. Let me build one for you. Building a container style room is not expensive, and it gives you a lot of space. With a little bit of work on the entrance area, you can freely move in and out of it in a wheelchair.”

“If you can do that for me, that couldn’t be better. If you build one, why don’t you make another one for Mr. Kuroda’s research? It looks like he feels uncomfortable because all the rooms in his house are small.”

“Got it. I have no problem with building another container house. What kind of research equipment do you need?’

“For the time, being I don’t need any. I would like to start with the research data I prepared before. After I’m done with that, I will develop a new hypothesis and approach it step by step, and then experiment.”

“Do you need your past research data?”

“Yes. Though it is useless because somebody else applied for a patent on it, I still think I can make a quick start, based on my previous research material.”

“Then, let me return it.”

His father’s eyes widened when he heard Hyunwoo’s remarks. As far as he knew, his research material was all lost because of the fire in his office.

“Returning my material? Did you…?”

With a light smile, Hyunwoo nodded his head and said, “I smuggled it out at the time.”

Suddenly, Duyoung’s eyes sparkled. He could shorten his research time at least by several years with that material. He was also surprised by Hyunwoo’s action. When the fire broke out, Hyunwoo was a middle school boy. How could he think of smuggling out his research material at the time?

“Actually, I set a fire to the office. I felt that the Singyong Co. guys were trying to steal your research material at the time, so I set the fire to make it look like all the research material burnt away with fire.”

Duyoung’s jaws dropped at that. In fact, he felt so thrilled to see the blazing fire in his office, but Sanggi Mo, his close aide and top researcher, felt so sorry for the lost material because of the fire even though it was Sanggi who had betrayed him and sold the research material to Singyong.

“Then, where is the material?”

“It’s in the side drawer of my desk”

“Side drawer? You mean that drawer containing lots of love letters?”

“It was a lie.”

Duyoung could not help but burst into laughter. Hyunwoo wouldn’t let him open it, citing his privacy, and now it turned out that it was because it contained his past research material.

“Oh, I see. I didn’t know that. Hahaha,” said Duyoung with a hearty laugh.

In the meantime, Hyunwoo hurriedly called the president of a construction company that he knew well. When Hyunwoo called him, he gladly picked up the phone though it was late at night.

“Really? Let me come to you now.”

“You don’t have to come. I’m not in a hurry. You can come tomorrow.”

“Well, I was kind of bored because I had no drinking appointment this evening, and it’s been a long time since I said hi to your daddy.”

“Okay, then. Let me prepare some drinks and snacks.”

“Nope. Let me bring some, so don’t prepare anything. I’d be uncomfortable if my visit bothers your mother with that.”

“Hahaha. Got it. See you then.”

A little later the president of the construction company came to Hyunwoo’s house. Though it was late at night, the moon was bright and the house’s lights were on, so he had no problem checking the site of the container house.

“So, you want a couple of container houses here, right?”

“Yea. I think you can secure the space enough for two if they’re built crosswise. You need to install a heating and air conditioning system, and one container house should be easily accessible by wheelchair.”

“I guess your father wants to use the container. By the way, how come he wants it all of a sudden?”

“He just wishes he had one,” said Hyunwoo vaguely. Nobody knew about his father resuming his research except for his family members, “Do you think it will take long to build them?”

“Well, there are many such container houses available. Flooring work won’t take a whole day, so I guess I can build them within several days. If you’re in a hurry, I can finish the work faster.”

“No, we’re not in a hurry.”

“Okay, then. Let me ask around. Depending on the quality, the prices vary from one shop to another.”

“Sure, I trust you.”

Several days later, on Saturday, the construction was done.

“Sir, I’m done,” said the president of the construction company, calling for Duyoung.

With an expectant look, he came out of his house, helped by Hyunwoo and Hyunmin.

The container house was clean with a desk and the shelf. He could immediately start doing research as soon as he got his research material. The other container that had been built for Mr. Kuroda was also neat and clean like Duyoung’s.

“Thanks a lot. Offer him a drink, Hyunwoo,” said Duyoung.

“Of course, will do. Shall we move the stuff in? Let me contact Mr. Kuroda.”

Everyone moved the packages into the container houses. Duyoung’s packages seemed full of books, just like Mr. Kuroda’s. In fact, Hyunwoo was interested in Mr. Kuroda’s research because fuel, his father’s main research area, and engines, Mr. Kuroda’s research area, were inseparable. If he had his way, Hyunwoo wanted to unpack Mr. Kuroda’s boxes and look into his research work, but he couldn’t mention anything related to his research because Mr. Kuroda might misunderstand it as his impure intention.

“Phew~ We’ve moved them all now.”

“Good job! Thanks, everyone!”

The president of the construction company left the place with his staff, and Mr. Kuroda went into his container house, saying he needed to unpack the boxes.

Only then did Hyunwoo call Hyunmin.

“Hey, Hyunmin, come with me. I’ve got some boxes I need your help with.”

“Yes, brother!”

Hyunmin followed him into the room, and they moved the side drawer to Duyoung’s container hosue. Duyoung seemed quite excited to see that.

“Be careful. Okay, let’s put it down here.”

“Okay. Hyunmin, you can back to whatever you were doing.”

“Yea, brother.”

Hyunwoo opened the side drawer and began taking out the research materials one by one.

Duyoung received it with an anxious look on his face.

Hyunwoo cautiously asked, “Don’t work too hard, daddy. As you told me yesterday, please try to maintain your original intention.”

“Of course, son. I won’t take any revenge on anybody with this. I’ll only focus on research.”

Hyunwoo found his father clenching his fist before he knew it. He could feel his father’s pent-up passion for the past 20 years in his fist.

You’ll surely succeed this time. You’ll achieve your goal by yourself. I believe so.

Hyunwoo looked at him with a satisfactory smile.

Duyoung and Jisuk Han, Hyunwoo’s mother, also wore happy smiles, looking at each other.