A Chairman Who Has No Regrets - Chapter 23



Only Krnovel

The Chairman Who Doesn’t Regret Episode 23 – Hey, You Can Go to College Too (4)

The road from the academy to my mother’s shop was quite busy. However, since the district office was nearby and it was a central area connecting Sanggye, Junggye, and Hagye-dong, there were many cars passing by and pedestrians coming and going.

—In the middle of the night- I was thirsty so I opened the refrigerator-

As I was passing by, I heard the sound of a song being played by a vendor selling cassette tapes from a cart. There was even a joke that the cart was called the Billboard Chart. It was said that a song had to come out of there to be a real hit song. High-end LPs or expensive tapes sold by licensed record labels were not things that anyone could buy.

—I can hear my mother snoring- softly-

The corners of my mouth go up automatically.

I used to live without really knowing what music was, but yeah, there were songs like that.

Is it because I have more free time?

Music that I had never heard of in my entire life somehow comes to me as a pleasure. Listening to music was a luxury for me. Come to think of it, I think we definitely had a radio at home, but I don’t remember anyone using it.

I stopped walking for a moment and listened to the music coming from the cart for a while. There were quite a few people in front of the cassette cart, whether there were many people like me or people who enjoyed music.

—When did you leave and don’t come back? You left a leaf behind.

The lyrics of this song are really good.

Even if I didn’t know the song, I could tell who sang it. It was Kim Cheol-su’s song, the only one to challenge Jo Yong-pal’s stronghold during the gap period when the king of singers, Jo Yong-pal, had declared retirement, saying that he would do bad things to his juniors.

—On the branch- that- leaf- is- one-leaf-

It’s a strange song with lyrics that remind me of myself and my mother. Well, it’s not strange that I naturally listen to this song since it contains the pain of the present times.

The title itself is, “A Flower That Has Not Fully Bloomed.”

It has such a resonance that even I, who had no interest in music, stopped in my tracks.

Why do I miss my sisters and mother more?

I stood still and listened to the whole song, and only then did I start walking. I wanted to see my family again, quickly.

After walking for a while, when I reached the vicinity of Nowon Station, where night construction was underway, I was able to spot my older sister crossing the bridge connecting Jungrangcheon Stream.

Thud, thud.

Somehow, my older sister’s gait seemed strange. It felt like one of her feet was dragging on the floor, as if something was uncomfortable.

My sister was frowning as if she hadn’t noticed me yet.

Now that I think about it, my older sister should be leaving school at this hour, but why is she passing through Jungnangcheon? It’s the exact opposite direction from school.

“Sister!”

My older sister, who was looking at the ground, suddenly lifted her head.

“Puppy!”

Why is she smiling so brightly when she sees me? I smiled, waved, and approached my older sister.

“Where are you hurt?”

“Huh? Oh, that’s not it. Your shoes are weird.”

He lowered his head at his older sister’s words and looked down at the shoes she was wearing.

The soles of the market shoes were completely open, showing my older sister’s small, sock-clad feet.

“Did you walk all the way here wearing this?”

“Oh my – so it was too late.”

“Oh my, you foolish bear.”

At my words, my older sister giggles and pats my head as I sit down on one knee.

“Our river has grown a lot, you even say that to your older sister.”

I thought it was more frightening that my younger sister’s calm and composed tone was different from her deathly warning. That’s what I thought when I was little.

But now that I hear it, I can almost feel the affection. My older sister has always been someone who gives me love.

As it happened, the rubber band that I had gotten from my older sister Suyeong was wrapped around my wrist.

I’ve been feeling lucky all this time.

I was lucky to have met a quick-witted person named David, and I was also lucky to have the rubber band wrapped around my wrist.

“For now, let’s take this as a temporary measure and then go buy a pair of shoes, sis.”

“Oh my – what kind of shoes should I buy? I have a lot at home.”

That’s a lie.

In my eyes, the shoes in our house were nothing special. In a house that didn’t even have a shoe rack, there were only a few pairs of shoes.

“Okay, lean over here first.”

I made my sister lean against one of my legs and took off her shoes. My sister’s feet were very cold.

On this cold day, the cold wind must have been blowing through the shoes with the soles off. There really is no such thing as a foolish bear. Why is my honest eldest sister so cruel to herself while being so generous to others?

Iron Fist.

I sat down on the floor and held my older sister’s feet in my arms.

“Oh my- the puppy is dirty.”

“Hey, what’s so dirty? Just do the laundry.”

“No, not the floor. I mean your feet. There must be dust all over them.”

“are you okay.”

I ignored my sister’s words and looked at the shoes here and there. I kept seeing the yellow glue where the sole and the shoe meet, hard and hard. It seemed like the sole had been falling off for more than a day or two. I don’t have that many shoes at home.

Surely my eldest sister would put glue on the soles again when no one was watching. I moved my lips but soon gave up on speaking. I never knew that my eldest sister was the most stubborn person in our house.

I tightened the yellow rubber band around my wrist several times until it was just about to snap, securing the sole together with the instep.

It was something that would only take a few seconds, so I could have finished it already and put on my sister’s shoes, but I spoke to her anyway.

“You didn’t go to school today, sis?”

“Yeah, the exams are over now. It’s almost vacation time, so I’m skipping today.”

“Is that okay? Shouldn’t I be receiving an attendance award?”

“Oh my – how can that be easy while working? Sometimes you have to take a break depending on the circumstances.”

“I see.”

“Aren’t the shoes ready?”

“Just wait a little longer.”

My older sister’s feet, which I could still feel in my arms, were cold.

“Ah- What is that in your hand?”

As I was looking for something to talk about, my eyes were drawn to a plastic bag held tightly in the hand of my sister, who was wearing colorful mittens.

“Ah… Hye-ri’s gift.”

“A present for my little sister?”

“huh.”

My older sister, for some reason, keeps an eye on me.

Do you really think I would be upset with my older sister for not preparing a gift for her?

I kept talking to him.

“How was work today? You got off work really late.”

“Yeah, well, it’s the same every day.”

“You must have a lot of work, Sister. That’s fortunate.”

“Yeah, it seems like the company is doing well.”

Soon now.

I know that the textile market is coming to an end, but fortunately, my eldest sister’s company seems to be doing fine. I remember that my eldest sister changed jobs around this time, but I can’t quite remember what she did.

“Is there anything you want to do, sister?”

“Huh? What do you want to do?”

“Yeah, it was just a dream.”

“Well… I don’t know?”

Looking at my older sister’s two eyes looking down at me, I could tell that she definitely had something she wanted to do. Eyes don’t lie.

I nodded as if I understood and put on the shoes that I had roughly fastened with a rubber band on my older sister’s feet, which were now warm.

“Thank you, my brother.”

“I am more grateful, my sister.”

My older sister, who was giggling, put her arm around mine.

“When did you grow so big? Jeon Kang?”

A question asked with a bright face.

Now that I think about it, I’m about the same height as my older sister.

“You’re growing up right now.”

“Haha- these past few days, our river has been acting like an old child?”

“The real old man is my older sister.”

“Without saying a word?”

Was my older sister also such a talkative person?

The only things I remember are things like, “Study, go to bed early, be careful, pack your lunch.” But he was a person who said a lot of other things.

While they were having a casual conversation, my older sister suddenly asked cautiously.

“Did you have a good time at school?”

I nodded with a bright face.

My older sister’s face looking at my bright face is mysterious.

You could say that worry and joy coexist.

“Really? That’s good.”

“Well, it seemed interesting.”

“That’s right, isn’t studying fun?”

As I look at my older sister walking forward, I can feel her eyes sparkling. When she says the word “study,” she looks like that. My older sister is serious about studying.

“Do you enjoy studying, Sister?”

“Well, I guess what’s fun is what’s hard. Doesn’t studying get hard for Kang-i? He sleeps late every night, and when he opens his eyes, all he does is study. Our Kang-i.”

okay.

I used to live like my older sister said.

Of course, I don’t intend to live like that this time.

“It’s a bit easier these days.”

“Huh? Is studying easy?”

“Uh- Should I say I realized something? It’s like that with math, when you just memorize the formulas, you don’t understand, but when you get through the principle, you say “Ah!” and realize it.”

The older sister nods her head in agreement, her eyes sparkling.

“That’s right! That’s what real math is!”

Your eyes sparkle whenever you talk about studying.

I thought I had a rough idea of ​​what my older sister wanted to do.

“Do you want to go to college too, sister?”

At my words, my older sister opened her eyes wide in surprise for a moment, then quickly erased her expression and shook her head as if to say no at all.

“Hey, what college am I going to? I’m still a freshman in high school, so I still have a long way to go.”

“Well, I still have a long way to go before I graduate.”

“So we can graduate together with Kang. Right?”

“Is that so?”

My older sister asked me again, as if she wanted to change the subject.

“So what did you learn at school today?”

“I just spoke English.”

“conversation?”

“Yeah, speaking English.”

“Oh my- that academy teaches something unique?”

Yes, English conversation would be a unique education in this day and age. I think most of the conversation people study is English written in Konglish from pop songs on illegal cassette tapes.

As we continued our conversation, we arrived at my mother’s store. As I kept up with my older sister’s pace, which was slow because of her shoes, it was well past closing time for the store.

Knock knock.

As I opened the door and went in, my mother looked at me and my older sister with worried eyes.

“Oh my – why are you so late?”

I laughed, knowing that my mother’s nagging wasn’t nagging at all, and my older sister quickly turned her head and said.

“Are you done finishing it?”

“Yeah, Hye-ri helped me a lot.”

The older sister smiled happily and walked over to the younger sister who was sitting by the fireplace and put down a plastic bag.

“this.”

The younger sister looks at the older sister as if asking what this is.

“What is it?”

“Hye-ri, you’re making a fuss because you don’t have any clothes.”

My little sister opened the plastic bag with a rustling sound and took out its contents.

Navy blue sweater.

It wasn’t the colorful sweater I was wearing, but a sweater woven from a single thread. It would have been more perfect if the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the waist were navy blue, but there were a few different threads woven into those parts as if they were accents.

“Did your sister get married?”

The older sister heads to the kitchen without saying a word, looking embarrassed.

That must be why my older sister skipped school today. She must have been busy knitting a sweater with leftover yarn from the wool mill. How much effort must she have put into gathering yarns of the same color?

“Should I check if the finishing was done well?”

Making excuses.

I think I know why my older sister gave my younger sister a sweater.

My older sister, who still doesn’t know about my academy, must have wanted to comfort my younger sister, who gave up her studies for her younger brother.

“Sister!”

The little sister quickly gets up from her seat.

My older sister, who was just about to enter the kitchen, looks back in surprise.

“I’m going to college!”

The little sister who screams loudly.

The older sister opened her eyes wide and looked at the younger sister. After a moment of pause, the older sister smiled brightly and said.

“Yeah, you thought about it well, Hye-ri. You should learn it while you can.”

The older sister praises the younger sister.

The eldest sister glanced at her mother and continued speaking.

“You missed school today anyway, sis. It was so hard to do both work and school. I think I’ll just focus on work from now on.”

The older sister was yielding to the younger sister.

To help out a little by saving up for my night school tuition.

“Oh my, Hye-rin, stop talking like that and graduate from high school! These days, if you don’t graduate from high school, you won’t be treated like a human being!”

The eldest sister opened her eyes wide in disbelief at her mother’s words.

“Since Kang-i decided to go to the academy on a scholarship anyway, Hye-rin, you should know that.”

My older sister quickly turns her head and looks at me as if to ask, “Is that true?”

I nodded.

My older sister smiled brightly as if everything went well.

I shouted inwardly at that older sister.

‘Hey, you can go to college too.’