The Former Chaebol Heir Excels as President

Chapter 21: Turning Point (1)

Three months after my brother left.

I heard news as shocking as a bolt from the blue.

That day, I was sitting on a bench in front of the schoolyard, chatting with Ahn Jin-su after lunch.

Ahn Jin-su was the friend Woo Ah-mi had mentioned attending the same church with.

His short height and round features made me recognize him as Ahn Jin-su the moment I saw him.

His gentle eyes and round face, his thoughtful and calm tone.

Even his face radiated kindness.

I grew closer to him after we were paired together.

"You should come to our church too. You can see Ah-mi, and it'd be nice."

"I'm busy, you know."

Right now, I had to earn more money.

With the Olympics approaching and my delivery business expanding, I had no time to study.

So my grades dropped to third in class.

Making money and escaping the wretched shantytown was my top priority.

"About that delivery thing—do you think I could do it on weekends too?"

Coincidentally, Ji Jeongseok had stepped away to focus on studying.

"You can do it. Aren't you studying though?"

"I need the money."

"Your family’s not poor. Can’t you just ask for allowance?"

"I’ve got something I need to spend on."

"Then go ahead. You know where the office is, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

As soon as Woo Ah-mi’s name came up, I remembered naturally.

Two months ago, I went to the Han River with her.

She brought gimbap and fruit, and I brought a picnic mat—

We had a great time.

It was like a dream, and I wanted to make such memories again, but now we were both busy.

"Hey! The ball!"

A soccer ball rolled into the flowerbed.

Since it landed near us, one of the kids playing soccer asked us to kick it back.

Ahn Jin-su jumped up and went to the flowerbed to pick up the ball and threw it back.

Leading by example.

That word fit Ahn Jin-su perfectly.

If the class kettle was empty, he’d move before the duty student, and if he saw someone pushing a cart up a slope, he’d run over to help.

"Jin-su, aren’t you tired?"

"Of what?"

"You never sit still. They kicked it, so they should go get it."

"It’s not a big deal."

He scratched his short hair and smiled shyly.

So cute I wanted to bite him.

"You probably don’t even need to repent at church."

"I’m just trying to practice Jesus’s love. But it’s never hard. I do it because I want to."

"You’re not ordinary."

Having seen a lot of religious business in my past life, Ahn Jin-su fascinated me.

"Are you going to become a pastor?"

"I’m planning to decide after studying more at a theology college."

"You’ll be the second coming of Jesus."

"I’m not sure yet. I want to do something more active than being confined to church."

"You’ll do well at anything."

"Thanks."

While I was smiling, meeting his eyes—

"Kang Cheonmyeong!"

My homeroom teacher’s voice came from behind.

For some reason, it sounded so urgent.

Hearing it, I felt like I was sucked into a vacuum.

***

"Aigo\~ Aigo! He worked hard and now he’s gone."

"Aigo, aigo! Leaving the kids behind, how heartbreaking it must be."

At the front of the procession was the funeral banner.

Behind it, the bier climbed the mountain trail.

My father had collapsed suddenly and passed away.

The company only told us he fainted during lunch break and died before he could be taken to the hospital.

There was no way to do an autopsy, so we had no choice but to accept it.

"When you go now, when will you return!"

"Heave-ho! Oh-ho!"

"Leave all your regrets behind as you go to the land of the dead."

"O-heo-ya\~ di-he-ya!"

Why did the funeral songs sound so mournful?

The wails of my mother and relatives following behind the bier never ceased.

I couldn’t cry.

This unfamiliar scene just made me feel uncomfortable.

I had spent very little time with my father, and even those memories didn’t feel real.

"He’s going, going, he’s leaving."

"O-heo-ya\~."

"Leaving his beloved home far behind."

"Di-he-ya\~."

"Farewell, farewell."

"O-heo-ya\~."

"Leave without regrets for paradise and bliss."

"Di-he-ya\~."

As the funeral song grew more mournful, a pain started building in my chest.

And eventually—

When the coffin was lowered into the ground and covered with dirt by shovels, the tears came bursting out.

The trigger had gone off.

"Dad! Dad! Sob sob sob! Dad, you can’t die! Come back, Dad! Sob sob sob!"

When Yeonhwa collapsed to the ground and cried like a child throwing a tantrum, I couldn’t stop my own tears from flowing.

And with Kang Daemyung also wailing, I had no choice but to be swept into it too.

My eldest brother couldn’t come due to military training, so I had to serve as the chief mourner.

My great-uncle looked at me and spoke.

"Say what you want to say to your father. It’s his final journey, so his ears will be open."

What should I say?

I just said what came to mind.

"Father, you worked so hard. I’ll take care of the family. Please rest in peace."

"Daemyung too."

"Dad! Dad! Waaaaah! Sob sob sob!"

Kang Daemyung just cried.

There’s a saying.

That there’s so much crying at funerals because everyone pours out their own sorrow.

In other words, funerals are places that roll out the mat so you can cry as much as you want.

But this time, it was different.

Relatives and villagers alike sincerely mourned my father’s death.

What kind of life had my father lived?

That question was answered by my great-uncle and the neighbors.

"You worked like an ox your whole life. Once you left, we couldn’t even farm in the village. That’s how big your presence was."

"Junsik helped a lot with our farm too. Now he’s gone so suddenly before we could repay him, how can this be?"

"Taemyung’s father, please rest well now. We thought you’d do fine in Seoul, but why did you come back like this?"

My mother cried so much that her voice turned hoarse like metal scraping.

Even that strong woman had her emotional dam collapse in the face of my father’s death.

‘How pitiful, how pitiful.’

Mom’s wailing still rang in my ears.

The funeral ended as the burial mound was completed and covered with grass.

“Cheonmyeong, you’re the brightest kid in our village. Study hard.”

An elderly woman said that as she slipped a ten-thousand-won bill into my pocket.

Then some aunts and uncles followed, saying similar things as they placed five or ten thousand won into my pocket.

People whose faces were faint in my memory.

It wasn’t a huge amount of money to me, but the emotional weight it carried was heavy.

Flap—

A hawk flew through the sky.

I blankly watched the hawk fade into the distance.

It felt like it was carrying my father’s soul, heading down a road of no return.

That’s how I sent my father off.

***

The Olympics ended successfully.

Just as I remembered, our country won 12 gold medals and achieved an impressive fourth place overall, following the Soviet Union, East Germany, and the United States.

The media stirred up national pride with stories of Korea’s development after the Olympics and touching tales of medalists, but I didn’t care.

I focused solely on business.

With Songpa-gu separating from Gangdong-gu, I had to establish another branch of the delivery service.

Fortunately, Daemyung was safe at home playing with academy toys and didn’t get dragged into any vagrant facility.

And by November, as the family’s grief over father’s death began to settle—

We finally moved into a 30-pyeong apartment in Daebang-dong.

“Oppa, are we really living here? Really? I get my own room, right?”

Yeonhwa was so happy she was jumping up and down.

“You can have the room on the right.”

“Wow! Oppa! Wow…”

After checking the room, Yeonhwa was speechless.

Floral wallpaper, a single bed, a brand-name desk, and a chair.

I gently stroked Yeonhwa’s hair.

“Study hard.”

“It’s like a room from a fairy tale.”

Her eyes sparkled like stars.

“Hyung-ah, hyung-ah! Me! Me!”

Kang Daemyung urged me.

“You have to share with me.”

“Okay! Where! Where!”

He was so anxious he stamped his feet.

I led him to the left side of the living room.

“Here it is!”

When I opened the door, Kang Daemyung rushed inside.

“Woooow!”

A bunk bed and a desk.

The bookshelf was full of comics and toys.

He looked back and forth between the bed and the shelf, puzzled.

“They’re yours, so take them.”

“Really? Hyung-ah, thank you so much.”

For the past six months, I’d been teaching him to pronounce ‘ㅈ’ instead of ‘ㄷ’, and suddenly he got it right.

“Daemyung.”

“Yeah.”

“Say eggplant, earthworm. Try it.”

“Eggplant, dirthworm.”

“Earthworm.”

“E…arthworm.”

Got it.

It was still a little clumsy, but it was close enough to ‘ㅈ’.

Kang Daemyung went to the bookshelf and pulled out a comic book, and I headed to Mom’s room.

She was sitting in front of the vanity, head bowed deeply.

“Mom.”

She lifted her head and met my eyes through the mirror.

“Cheonmyeong, thank you.”

“It all worked out because you helped.”

“If your father had seen this, he would’ve been so happy.”

“We have to live happily now.”

“I feel so sorry for you. Your grades dropped a lot.”

“If I work hard next year, it’ll be fine.”

It was natural for her to worry since I’d dropped to fifth in class.

Before winter break ended, I needed to expand the business to Gyeonggi-do and Incheon, and even into shopping delivery, so getting into Hanguk University would be difficult.

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

“At the very least, I’ll get into the university my brother attends. Trust me.”

“Alright. Let’s pay off the loan first.”

“I’ll pay it off quickly and study hard.”

The emotion Mom felt, the joy of Daemyung and Yeonhwa—

It made me proud to have done something for the family.

Time flew by.

And near the end of winter break, Do Hyungmin came to see me.

***

A bench under the streetlight.

Do Hyungmin scratched the ground with his foot as he spoke.

“I just came back from sending off my father.”

“What do you mean?”

“My father passed away.”

He explained calmly.

His father, who had done day labor, went to the countryside for a railway job in the work-scarce winter and died in an accident.

Day laborers didn’t get compensation in this era—it was a meaningless death.

“Why didn’t you contact me?”

“We held the funeral quietly. Can I ask you a favor?”

“Tell me.”

“I want to do delivery work too.”

He now had the burden of caring for his sick mom and younger sister.

I thought our situations were similar, but even our fathers’ deaths were the same?

“How’s your mom doing?”

“She’s on medication. I’ll graduate soon, so I need to earn money.”

Him working wasn’t a problem.

I just hoped he could still graduate from high school.

“Hyungmin, you don’t need to go to school in the second semester because of the internship, right? Work after classes during the first semester.”

“Alright. Thanks.”

“By the way, I borrowed your clothes once. Just telling you now.”

Do Hyungmin looked at me, unsure what I meant.

“I wore one of your new outfits without telling you.”

“I see.”

“I’ll help with whatever I can. Mom, me, and Yeonhwa—we’re all friends with your family too.”

“Thanks.”

It was a small help I could offer.

But even at that, Do Hyungmin’s eyes welled up with tears.

If I hadn’t returned to the past, maybe Kang Cheonmyeong too would have been forced to live such a miserable life.

The shantytown, Dad’s death, Mom getting scammed, big brother taken to the army, a lacking second brother, and a young sister.

Just thinking about it made it hard to breathe.

“Hyungmin, hang in there.”

“Yeah. I will.”

Maybe there was a purpose behind me being sent back.

It was a night full of thoughts.