The Hero Has Returned

Chapter 10 - The Old Man and the Young Man

At the suggestion to make a suit, Kkalkki pursed his lips.

“……Oh!”

He clenched his fists and breathed heavily through his nose, as if excited.

And for good reason.

Kkalkki was a huge fan of the American publisher .

Spitting-Spider Man, Captain Soldier, Iron Suit, etc.

The kid had consumed every superhero work that had gained worldwide popularity.

Then again, was it just Kkalkki?

The saga of a valiant hero saving people was the very romance that made men's blood boil.

It was the same for me, a passionate fan of the dark hero 'Jin Shark' since childhood.

For reference, Jin Shark doesn't belong to Kkalkki's favorite, .

He's a character born from , which forms one of the two great pillars alongside Atlic.

"A hero suit, that's so dope! If yer gonna make one, somethin' like Bulk Up's would be cool, right-y?"

Kkalkki mentioned the hero who represents .

I shook my head with a serious expression.

"No. The Purple Devil's motif is Jin Shark."

Kkalkki snatched a green pepper that was lying on a lettuce leaf.

He shot up to his feet, pointing it at me.

"Whaaaat? Jin Shaaark? Don't tell me you mean that gloomy loser bastard? Cap'n! I'm so disappointed. No way you were a Jin Shark stan?"

At this point, I couldn't help but get pissed off too.

"Bulk Up is just a pig with a big body and a brain full of muscle. He wouldn't last a single punch against Jin Shark."

"Oh my god! You don't seriously think that way, do ya? Have you forgotten Bulk Up's special move? Poweeeer Tackle!!"

Kkalkki threw the pepper and attempted to take me down.

Not to be outdone, I grabbed him and we got into a big scuffle.

Of course, we weren't actually fighting for real.

We were both drunk, playfully engaging in a childish battle of pride.

Two grown-ass men.

"Jin Shark's super special move, here I come. Absorb...!"

"Don't be ab-surd! Power Tackle!!"

How much time had passed?

We were panting heavily, sprawled out on the factory floor.

"Aigo... gettin' old is so ha-ard. Right, Cap'n?"

"Tell me about it. Every day feels different."

In reality, I was full of energy, but I played along appropriately.

Kkalkki pushed himself up from the floor.

"So ya want me to make a suit?”

"Yeah."

"Got a design figured out, have ya?"

I brought a pen and paper from a shelf.

On the drawing paper, I drew a figure with a masked face, draped in rags.

"This kind of vibe?"

"......"

Kkalkki looked at the sketch and opened his mouth.

"Cap'n, you're so fuckin' bad at drawin'."

This little punk.

"I know that. I just sketched it out roughly. Can you tell what kind of feel I'm going for?"

"Uhm... I think I'm gettin' the gist of it? Kinda like Jin Shark, right?"

"That's right."

"Yeah, I'm gettin' a rough idea of the image!"

Kkalkki had a talent for understanding things perfectly even if they were explained terribly.

"How long will it take?"

"It'll probably take a few months, don'tcha think?"

A few months, he says.

That takes too long.

"What about a prototype?"

"Well, for that, a day or two is more than enough, y'know."

The factory was fully equipped with the materials and equipment to make all sorts of gear.

Was it like quickly finishing a chair in a workshop with plenty of wood?

However, there was one thing that bothered me.

"The cost of materials will be pretty high, won't it?"

Hunter equipment incorporates all kinds of special materials.

Naturally, the price was bound to be high.

Kkalkki shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

"What's there to worry about? Raw materials are everywhere here."

The kid picked something up.

That was a piece of a panel infused with wyvern scales.

It possessed the properties of being both strong and light.

The helmet that Seo Gwang-pal had worn was also made of that.

Kkalkki continued.

"That bastard boss. He doesn't even pay our wages right, so it's fine to skim a little somethin' for ourselves, right?"

Skimming off the top, huh.

Could there be a more realistic Korean word than this?

When you think about it, it's not even skimming.

When you calculate the unpaid overtime wages the president owes us up to now.

"It's a very reasonable transaction."

"Bingo!"

Kkalkki held out his fist.

I made a fist too and gave it a light bump.

And then we simultaneously slapped our open palms together with a smack!.

At some point, this had naturally become our own high-five motion.

"Cap'n! In that case, you gotta make up a call name for me too, won'tcha!"

"A call name?"

"The Cap'n is the Purple Devil, so. As your sidekick, I gotta have a name too, y'know!"

Kkalkki's eyes sparkled.

'I've never even thought about something like that.'

This kid, he's more serious about this hero business than he looks.

"Hmm, how about Brahma?"

I just threw out the first thing that came to mind.

It was from a story Kkalkki told me once.

I took the idea from Brahma, the Nepalese god of creation.

"Brahma. You say Brahma...? That's fuckin' awesome?!"

Kkalkki's eyes shone brighter than ever before.

He quickly stood at attention and raised his voice.

"Purple Devil! Pray, grant Brahma his first mission! We'll start makin' the suit tomorrow! What should I be doin' for now, then? Should we go out and beat up some robbers together or what?"

Good grief.

He's overly motivated.

But I can't just disappoint him either.

After some thought, I looked around and then pointed at the floor.

"Alright. Brahma. Effective immediately..."

Waiting for my command, Kkalkki's face flushed with excitement.

"Let's clean this up."

It was the spot where we laid down newspapers to eat pork belly.

"Since we're done eating."

"...Yessir."

Kkalkki and I cleaned up, an anticlimactic feeling in the air.

Kkalkki mumbled to himself as he moved his hands busily.

"To think the first mission for Purple Devil and Brahma is just... cleanin' duty. How can this be."

But then he burst out laughing.

"Puhaha! That's right! Savin' the world starts with the little things, y'know! But of course!”

Kkalkki even started whistling, bobbing his butt to the rhythm.

I could roughly guess.

The reason why the kid was so happy.

For Kkalkki, who had come all the way to a distant, foreign land, he didn't really have anything you could call a hobby.

During his breaks or after work, he had nothing to do other than stare aimlessly at his phone.

Just as I had lived a life like a hamster on a wheel.

Kkalkki must have also spent his days lonely and solitary.

Perhaps my suggestion to become heroes had become the driving force that breathed life into his existence.

"Should we go to karaoke, too?"

"But of cour-sey! Cap'n!"

No, I hope that's what it becomes.

......

"It's pancreatic cancer," the doctor said.

It was the day my grandmother received the results of her health check-up.

As her guardian, I had come along, and my grandmother stayed in the seat next to me.

The doctor lowered his gaze and continued.

"The tumor is quite large. It has also metastasized considerably. I am truly sorry to have to deliver this news."

He bowed his head as if he was sorry for saying such things.

This was actually quite a gentle way of putting it.

In my past life, the doctor had berated me, asking why we had let it get to this stage.

At the time, that remark had been quite effective at planting guilt in me.

I believed that my grandmother's death was my fault.

And I thought I had to be punished.

That's why I whipped myself onward, working nonstop at the factory.

For a whole 30 years.

They say life is a comedy when seen from a distance.

Looking back now, even the past that I'd considered tragic had many funny parts.

For instance,

Things like the name in the doctor's name tag being Kang Do-beom*.

[TL/N: Kang Do-beom (강도범), is written and pronounced identically to the Korean word for "robber" (강도범)]

"Hoo. Aigoo-ya."

I turned my head toward the sound of ragged breathing.

My grandmother was struggling to maintain a calm expression.

The mental shock must have been great, as she was tightly clutching the fabric of her pants near her thigh.

"Here now, Doctor. Whatcha talkin' 'bout? Nothin's wrong with me! Why, just the other day I was pullin' my cart just fine! Huh? And another thing..."

My grandmother's voice, growing louder, trembled.

My grandmother was a strong person.

I know that better than anyone.

She never once knelt before miserable poverty.

She raised me and my younger brother splendidly all by herself.

That was something more amazing than any hero I admired.

Back then, I never realized.

That a being greater than Jin Shark was right beside me all along.

"That's right! Th-There must be some kinda mistake. Ain't that so? Maybe you got me mixed up with someone else, or maybe...!"

I raised my hand and covered the back of my grandmother's hand, which rested on her thigh.

A coarse but warm texture filled my palm.

"It's okay, Grandma."

I finally faced the thing I absolutely had to do.

I looked at the doctor.

"What do we need to do?"

"It's not too late even now. There's chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and besides those..."

I was suddenly grateful for the point in time to which I had returned.

What a relief.

It's such a huge relief.

That I came back to a time before my grandmother left my side.

"Let's use the heavy-ion therapy machine."

I said resolutely, cutting the doctor off.

"I heard that a new heavy-ion therapy machine was brought into the Sejong Cancer Research Center. Is that correct?"

"...Yes. You're very well informed."

At the Sejong Heavy-Ion Therapy Center, there was a super-massive cancer treatment machine, built at a cost of 400 billion won, that spanned from the 5th basement floor to the 7th floor above ground.

It was a method where the particles would emit radiation only after reaching the cancer cells, destroying only the area around them.

As the saying goes, spend three years at a schoolhouse and even a dog can recite poetry.

After working in a factory for over 30 years, my knowledge of chemistry and mechanics had built up on its own.

Heavy-ion therapy uses carbon ions, which are 12 times heavier than hydrogen, to exert a powerful force in cancer treatment.

The machine exists in only six countries worldwide, such as Germany and Japan.

Therefore, not a few cancer patients went abroad for treatment expeditions.

However, even if they spent a fortune to go abroad, it was common for them to pass away there.

This was because heavy-ion therapy was not effective on metastasized cancer.

But that, too, was a thing of the past.

With the introduction of the 3rd generation heavy-ion therapy machine in Korea, a device was invented that could cleanly treat even metastasized cancer.

Three years from now.

This technology would be recorded as an innovative invention, causing nations from all over to pay attention to Korea.

"I will have my grandmother admitted there to receive treatment."

"Yong-gi-ya."

My grandmother rubbed the back of my hand.

Having lived with her for so long, I had figured out her habits.

Usually, when she was feeling hale, she would bellow, "You damn son of a bitch!"

When she used my name, it meant her heart had grown weak.

The doctor leaned his body forward.

"Certainly, if she receives treatment there, she will recover quickly. However, Guardian-nim. The 3rd generation heavy-ion therapy machine..."

"I'm aware."

At the present time, the 3rd generation version of the heavy-ion therapy machine had just finished its clinical trials.

And, it required an expensive treatment fee.

"The cost is substantial, I'm just concerned if it will be a burden..."

The doctor trailed off.

The cost for the 3rd generation heavy-ion therapy machine is a staggering 100 million won.

It was an amount that poor people couldn't even dream of affording.

Three years ago.

If I had known about this method, could I really have saved my grandmother?

I don't know.

At the time, I didn't even have that kind of money.

And I had neither the credit nor the ability to borrow it.

I sold the variant mutant mana stone I acquired after defeating Big Lava.

I had over 100 million won on hand.

"We will proceed with the admission process immediately. I'll pay the treatment fee right away."

"I understand. We will proceed with that, then."

As we left the doctor's office, my grandmother said nothing at all.

As we exited the hospital building, the weather was exceptionally bright and clear.

"Grandma. You hungry? Let's get something delicious to eat before we go home for the first time in a while. How about some hot beef soup?"

"......"

My grandmother remained silent before opening her mouth with difficulty.

"Truth is, I knew. I knew my body wasn't right. I was just pretendin' not to know."

Was it really just my grandmother?

The days she spent groaning and moaning every night.

It might be that it wasn't just my grandmother, but that I pretended not to know, too.

Just as I thought.

My grandmother's death really was my fault.

However, in this life, I will never repeat that mistake.

"I just didn't wanna make you kids worry…”

I hugged my grandmother as she lowered her head and sobbed.

A familiar musty smell came from her body.

For some reason, smelling it put my mind at ease.

"Yong-gi-ya. But. The treatment money, how..."

"Let's talk after we eat."

I took my grandmother's hand and led her.

"You've gotta eat a proper meal if you're going to be admitted. Beef soup, call?"

Seeing me talk so nonchalantly, it seemed my grandmother's tension had eased a bit as well.

"...Aish, you damn son of a bitch! Your granny makes you beef soup day in and day out, and you still wanna go stuff your face with it?!"

"Ayy. You call it beef soup, but it's nothing but fat!"

"Oh, look at this little punk! You always gobble it down just fine, and now you're complainin' about the food!"

My grandmother aimed a kick at my butt with her short leg.

I skillfully dodged and put my arm around her shoulder like a loving couple.

Under the dazzling sunlight.

The old woman who had regained her vitality and the young man walked through the city.