A Chairman Who Has No Regrets - Chapter 4



Only Krnovel

The Chairman Who Has No Regrets Episode 4 – The First.

Even though I hadn’t done anything wrong, whenever my little sister wandered around the utility room or brushed past my bag, I flinched. I stopped what I was doing and kept concentrating.

They say that even someone who has eaten meat knows, but since I have never done anything good in my life, why am I this awkward?

Thump, thump, thump.

At the sound of knocking on the iron front door, the younger sister answered in a loud voice and hurriedly left the room.

“Hey! Get out-”

It seems like he knows who it is just by hearing the knock.

“Who is it?”

My little sister, who was about to open the yellow door when I asked her a question while standing in front of the mirror, looked at me with a strange look.

“Who are you? It’s Suyeong.”

“Swimming? Ah!”

The owner’s famous daughter, Suyeong’s older sister.

Now that I think about it, my little sister and the owner’s daughter were the same age.

“How can you not know that Suyeong comes every day? You only know that.”

I have no words to say in response to my older sister’s words that hit my bones painfully. It’s even stranger to have excuses when she’s just reciting facts one by one. After all, I’m just a guy who only knows myself, just like my older sister said.

I quickly turned my head and looked at myself in the mirror. I couldn’t think of a proper answer, so I had no choice.

“Ugh.”

My little sister, shaking her head, hurried to school. I glanced at her, pretending to check her clothes, as she hurriedly opened the yellow wooden door and went out.

I was nervous and anxious, wondering if someone might look inside my bag or check it.

My little sister grabbed her bag and hurriedly left the front door without even thinking about checking it.

Sigh, the corners of my lips go up in the mirror.

Creak.

“What? Is something good happening to the river?”

My older sister, who had already put on makeup and came out of the room, asked me while looking at my face in the mirror.

“Everything is good.”

Everything was good.

My older sister’s tacky-looking makeup, this shabby house, and my younger sister’s nagging.

“Isn’t our river really special today?”

I can’t help but snicker at the sight of my older sister looking puzzled. When I laugh, my older sister seems pleased as well, and she takes out a thousand won bill from her handbag that she knitted herself and hands it to me.

“ruler.”

“Huh? Why?”

The older sister tilts her head.

“Why? Isn’t it time you bought the ticket?”

Ah, the right to withdraw.

It was a word I hadn’t heard in a long time.

I don’t know if I need a refund or not, but I didn’t want to accept the thousand won that my older sister offered me. I couldn’t just accept it because I knew exactly how she earned that money.

“No, there is.”

My older sister opened her eyes wide at my answer and quickly took a notebook out of her handbag.

“What, why are you here?”

Sharaksharyak, my older sister quickly turned the pages of her notebook and suddenly handed it to me.

“It’s written here? December 6th, the river ticket is 1,000 won.”

“Uh huh.”

“What day is it today?”

Is there anyone who counts the days while dreaming? Of course, I didn’t know what day it was today. Fortunately, I saw a calendar behind my older sister’s head.

I recited the two-digit number written in large letters.

“The 16th?”

“The 17th! How can you, a student, not even know the date?”

“Oh, that’s right. It’s the 17th.”

“Oh my! Okay, look. A middle and high school student coupon costs 90 won, so if you get 1,000 won, you get 11 coupons, right?”

“uh.”

“But how did you have the right to recover it? Tell me the truth.”

Pick burst out laughing.

“You’re right, you’re the oldest sister. You’re very meticulous.”

My older sister, who had been giving me a sharp and stinging look, continued speaking like a machine gun.

“Are you betting with your friends on the tickets? Or do you cut them into 11 tickets and give them to them in smaller amounts?”

“······”

Well, since I said that out of the blue, I don’t even know if I have the right to collect or not. I have no answer, so I can only keep my mouth shut.

“Didn’t your sister tell you not to do that? You shouldn’t get too involved in things like betting.”

“Uh huh.”

“And if we divide the 10-ticket coupons into 11, what are we going to do about the salaries of the bus drivers who work so hard?”

“······”

The thought crossed my mind that it was just a single ticket. However, I could not see any error in what my older sister said. Every word of it was right.

“Do you think the adults don’t know? The bus drivers know that you secretly cut them down a little, but they still let it slide because they think of the students as good. And I don’t like it when my younger sibling acts so unscrupulously.”

“That’s right, big sister.”

“Right? What you said is right, right?”

I nodded vaguely, even though I didn’t mean it that way.

My older sister is meticulous, careful, and honest.

My older sister was this kind of person, the kind of person who had to protect what she had to protect even if she had to live without it.

Rustle.

My sister puts a thousand won note in my hand. How many times must my sister have turned a sewing machine to earn this money?

“Sister, you’re going! Study hard! Lock your books well!”

My eldest sister, who kept nagging me until the end and wore worn-out market-brand sneakers.

“Take care on your way-”

“Okay-”

My eldest sister, who answered like a mother and a man, strode out the front door. She must have done nothing wrong, so she can walk with such confidence. What did I learn from that kind of person? Or did I ever think about learning something?

They say there is no gain under a rich man, but it seems that saying is not always true.

Crunch.

The front door closed and silence fell over the house. I stared intently at the crumpled thousand-won note clutched in my hand in the mirror.

Is this really a dream?

What kind of dream in the world is this detailed? I really don’t know because I don’t usually dream.

I feel like slapping him hard in the face, but I worry about what will happen if I wake up in this happy world.

“Hoo-”

It wasn’t a problem that could be solved by thinking about it alone, so I let out a deep sigh and walked towards the calendar reflected in the mirror.

Tsk tsk.

The yellow flooring sticks to my bare feet and falls off. I must have been absent-minded because I prepared myself to do so, but I’m still barefoot.

That would be true.

Because I can’t tell if I fell asleep in the hospital room, or if I died and returned to the past, or if I just saw my entire life in a dream.

December 16, 1984.

I stared at the calendar that had that written on it.

Shh, I reached for the calendar.

Today is the 17th, not the 16th. Shouldn’t we tear up the calendar?

Shiver shiver.

The hand that stretched out to tear the calendar trembled like an aspen tree.

I’m scared.

I was scared.

I was so scared that I wouldn’t have 18 days.

Kwak.

I held the thin calendar with my thumb and index finger.

I know.

It was my greed to want this opportunity. I thought I had forgotten everything and thrown it all away, but it seems I was still greedy.

At first, I thought I was happy enough with this dream. But it seemed that human greed was truly endless.

Chomp!

I ended up tearing up the calendar.

And then the 17th was revealed.

There may be a tomorrow, but let’s live today, the 17th, without regrets.

With that thought in mind, he put on thick cotton socks and got up from his seat. He walked briskly, held the front door open, thought for a moment, looked around the empty house, and shouted loudly.

“I’ll be back!”

Sure, sure.

I’ll be back soon.

Rattling.

I opened the front door forcefully, turned the key, and locked the door. Then I put the key under the flower pot that I had put out there to get some sun.

“Just wait a moment.”

After speaking to the key that had no answer, he left the front door and started walking down the path where the charcoal ashes had been spread.

A bus stop appears after walking down the hill for about 20 minutes.

Strangely enough, I remembered the length.

I was worried that I might not know the way, but even though I couldn’t remember it in my head, I was able to get here naturally as if my body knew the way.

“Hey.”

Yeah, the bus stop at that time looked like this.

There are no chairs for waiting people or waiting areas to protect them from the wind and rain, and the only thing that indicates that this is a bus stop is a sign with peeling bus numbers written on a pipe standing alone.

There was a long line of people waiting, so I naturally joined them and waited for the bus.

As luck would have it, I didn’t have to wait long before the bus I was supposed to catch stopped with a loud squeak of brakes.

“Okay, line up this way!”

People start lining up in response to the words of a female employee called a bus conductor or a bus attendant.

I too approached her one seat at a time from the middle of the long line.

“Prepare your ticket in advance-”

Ah, the right of withdrawal.

I put my hand into my bag and looked around, and I caught a small piece of paper.

I took it out and was speechless.

“ah…”

Just like my older sister said.

I guess I was a really conscientious person, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the ticket I took out was almost half full. It was probably the last one left.

What should I do?

Should I buy a new coupon with the thousand won in my pocket?

As I hesitate, the bus conductor approaches me and snatches my ticket away.

She frowned as soon as she saw my ticket.

Her eyes were not bright, so I lowered my head slightly with an awkward expression. It was a truly embarrassing moment for me, who had lived for over half a hundred years.

“Hey, let’s do this quickly.”

As the bus conductor refuses to let me pass, I hear the unpleasant voices of office workers on their way to work from behind.

The bus conductor thought for a moment, then came closer to me and whispered softly.

“You’re only letting me go today because I’m cute? You won’t let me go next time either?”

Suddenly.

My body froze at those words.

Words like “thank you” and “sorry” were on my lips, but I couldn’t bring myself to say them.

“Can you give me back that ticket?”

“what?”

The bus conductor looks at me with a puzzled look.

Rustle.

A thousand won note is felt in the pocket.

I could have honestly paid the money and bought a ticket, or I could have just gotten on the bus since the bus conductor let me off the hook, but I didn’t want to do that.

“Just get in, don’t you see there are people behind you?”

okay.

This is definitely not it.

I shook my head.

“No, then it’s the same.”

“What are you saying?”

“Then it’s the same, then and now.”

The bus conductor tilted her head as if she had no idea what was going on. I took my ticket back from her.

“I’m sorry.”

I apologized politely to her and the office worker who was frowning behind me, and then turned away from the bus stop without hesitation.

I think it was called a three-day resolution.

Just a moment ago, I had clearly decided to live today without regrets, but I almost repeated the same mistake.

Life is a series of choices.

Wasn’t I the one who made the wrong choice in that series of choices? Since the same choice will always lead to the same result, I should make a different choice.

A new day.

It shouldn’t be the same person who desperately hopes for another tomorrow to come.

Then nothing will change.

“It’s good because it’s exercise.”

The school is about 15 minutes away by bus or 40 minutes away by foot from this stop.

How long will it take to run?

Pabat.

As I push the floor with my feet, my body shoots forward as if it’s shooting up.

It’s good to be young.

“This is it.”

The wind was cold and the hazy breath obscured my vision, but I felt so refreshed.

Boooooooo.

The bus I was about to get on races past me, and the bus attendant sticks her head out from her seat, looking at me with a peculiar expression.

I smiled and waved brightly. Then, she quickly smiled and waved back at me, with a look of “what is that?”

I know you may have felt bad because of me, but I hope you feel a little better. Because thanks to you, I feel so good right now.

“Exercise, gasp- hard, gasp- must be done.”

If only I had a tomorrow.

You have to take special care of your health so that you don’t get cancer or something like that.

There will be tomorrow.

Yeah, let me have some hope too.