Chapter 1 – Meeting My Mother

‘I can’t come to real estate with 010…’

Dang.

“Hello”

“Hey… Is this Junwoo’s phone…?”

“Who are you?”

“Hey… It’s mom”

“Yes?”

I was more dumbfounded than surprised.

“How did you get my number?”

“The number… Hasn’t changed… I don’t know what to say first… Should we talk face to face?”

My heart was beating like crazy. A sense of betrayal, an unknown sense of immorality, and a desire to see each other arose, and at the same time, I became angry.

“When?”

“When is the best time…?”

I don’t know why you’re talking so condescendingly.

“… It’s tomorrow evening. Where would you like to see it?”

I couldn’t speak well. First, I didn’t understand why she suddenly contacted me after not contacting me for several years.

A long time passed and suddenly my mother called, and we were reunited suddenly. I had so many questions that I stopped thinking about why she asked me to meet her and why she contacted me after not hearing from me.

“Well… Then mom, I’ll go there first… Can you send me the address?”

“Okay”

“… I’m sorry for calling you so suddenly… I’m just thinking about my son right now… Let’s talk tomorrow…”

It seemed like something was happening, but even so, it felt bad.

Drop.

“Gasp… Gasp…”

My heart kept pounding that I was on the phone with her mom. I felt pressured as if I was going through an interview, and I was confused by so many thoughts.

I once called her mom when I was young. But every time she did that, all she heard was a mechanical sound asking her to leave a voice message.

I was angry that he abandoned me and only now contacted me, but the thought that there must be a reason made me feel weak again. First, I headed to the hair salon.

A phone call with my mom, whose face I haven’t really remembered since I was in middle school. Ordinary daily life has been completely changed by today’s phone.

—

I got my hair done at the beauty salon. I styled my hair upright and tidied it up neatly. And then I went to the department store and bought a suit.

‘Is it too much…’

When I looked in the mirror, I felt excited without realizing it and then became irritated.

‘It’s done.’

I bought a suit, but I just left it in my room and chose cotton pants and a neat t-shirt.

And so it was the next day.

Nothing has changed, but a lot has changed. I was mentally anxious and walked back and forth around the house all day. I was worried about skipping meals because I couldn’t even eat properly.

‘Why did you look for me… Did you really miss me… Then why did you only want to see me now, or did you find me because there was a problem?’

There was no answer. When she met her mother, she had so many questions to ask. And the time has come.

Even though it was summer evening, the streets were brightly lit. I went into the café and ordered coffee first.

“Would you like to order?”

Alba welcomes me brightly.

“Please give me a glass of iced Americano and… Um… Fruit juice, please.”

“Yes, we will help you order right away!”

The part-time job said she would come out soon, and she asked me to wait a moment. Full-length mirror behind the café.

There is a handsome face thanks to the genes of her once beautiful mother and her father’s tall height.

And there I was, who became strong through daily exercise that I did because I had nothing to do.

“The drink you ordered has arrived!”

“Am I going to eat here?”

Alba put a drink in her carrier and stopped while giving it to me.

“Oh, I’m really sorry… I didn’t even check… I’m really sorry…”

“No. Just take out the cup, please.”

“If we want to eat at the store, we have to change the cup… I’ll do it again. Could you please wait at a comfortable spot? I’ll bring it to you myself.”

“Yeah… What…”

It was so awkward. I thought it would be good to just get it quickly and sit down.

While I was spending time like this, there was a woman looking around in the café.

A woman wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt that is a bit tight to the baggy pants that other people usually wear. Big breasts that can’t be hidden behind wavy black hair. She was a woman that everyone could not help but stare at.

She caught my eye without even thinking it was my mother.

She made eye contact with the woman, but the woman looked at me and then looked somewhere else, as if looking for someone.

I was sitting in my seat and looking outside.

People coming home from work are walking down the street in groups.

Tirolong~ding ding

“Hello”

“Junwoo, where are you…? I came to the café you mentioned…”

“The person wearing a light blue t-shirt at the end of the café”

“Ah… Ah… I’ll go right away”

They didn’t even recognize me.

“Oh my, it was Junwoo…”

She was the woman I saw earlier

“I didn’t know you were a mother”

“Me too… A bird I haven’t seen has changed a lot”

Her mother sat down in her seat and stroked her hair.

As time went by, he got a little older, but he was still young.
It wasn’t clear what kind of life she had been living.

“So far… Have you been well…?”

“Yeah…”

I’m sure I have a lot of questions to ask, but it’s so awkward. But I didn’t want to leave.

“How’s your mom doing?”

“Mom… I’ve been fine…”

Mom kept trailing off her words and avoiding my eyes.

“So why did you come looking for me?”

I asked straight out of frustration.

“Well… I was wondering if it would be nice to reconnect with her mom…”

“Suddenly?”

“Yeah… I suddenly thought of Junwoo a lot…”

“Then why did you contact me only now?”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you… Only now…”

She didn’t cry, but as she lowered her head and told the story of the contact, a part of her felt relieved.

“I will give you the drink you ordered~”

Alba suddenly intervened, left the drink and ran away.

“…”

“Mom, eat this. I didn’t know what you would like, so I ordered fruit juice.”

“Yes… Thank you…”

Mom sipped her drink without saying anything.

“Where do you live, Mom?”

Next question to break the silence.

“Oh… My mom lives in Wonju, Gangwon-do.”

“Did you come all the way here from Gangwon-do?”

“Yes, but it’s not far. Gangwon-do is also close to Seoul.”

“How long did it take?”

“Two. Two hours? Hehe”

Even when I looked at my mother’s smiling face, she didn’t look like my mother. My mom’s face matched my memory, but I didn’t even know she had this type of personality.

“Then can you go home today?”

“Isn’t there a bus today?”

“Go to sleep for a day.”

“Huh? Is that okay?”

Mom’s mood suddenly changes to become angry.

“Yes, there are many places to sleep. Let’s go to my house to talk.”

“Have you eaten dinner?”

“Yes”

It was a lie. I actually felt like I would feel embarrassed if I had dinner with my mom.

Maybe she thought she hadn’t eaten since it was 6:30 in the evening, but her eyes were in a strange place for the unexpected answer.

“Mom, you haven’t eaten yet? Do you want something to eat? I’ll buy it for you.”

“Oh… No… Mom, you don’t have to eat it.”

“Why is it okay? I can make a living now.”

“Yeah…”

Her mother trailed off, and she said no more.

As she entered the house, she ordered pig’s trotters and chicken that her mother wanted to eat. Mom followed me into my house without saying anything else.

Dang. Ding, ding, ding. Ding. The front door is open~

“Wow~ Are you home?”

My mother was amazed as she looked up at the sky at the entrance to the apartment.

I just smiled and went in first.

Dang. Ding ding. Dang. Tirori~

When I opened the door to the house, my mother kept looking around and came in.

“Now sit here. Would you like a beer?”

“Yes, just give me one.”

Mom sat quietly and answered in a much more relaxed tone.

Chi profit. Kak!

I opened a beer and made a toast. With the thought that alcohol would make things easier between the two.

A few minutes after my mom drank the beer, her face got a little red, and she received the chicken and pig’s feet she ordered, which she enjoyed.

“Hohoho~! I was riding the bus and the person next to me said that~”

“Haha~ Really?”

The two of us suddenly became close friends, laughing and exchanging updates and jokes.

“Haa…”

Mom suddenly sighs and says something she has been hiding.

“Actually… My mom is having a hard time right now…”

“Difficult? What?”

“Mom… Her husband committed suicide”

“Uh… Yeah.”

I wasn’t interested in my husband. Because he’s the fucking guy who took her mom.

“But that guy took out a loan… How…”

Mom leaned over while sitting and spoke loudly.

“Is there no money at home?”

“I don’t have any money… And the debt… Is huge…”

“It’s so huge?”

“I think I’ll probably get kicked out of the house…”

“Well…”

She said that her mother was having a hard time, but it didn’t make sense to her. Not only did she not know about it for nearly 10 years, but it was even worse because she suddenly heard it like this.

“I contacted my ex-husband, and he said he had already passed away~”

“So… You came to see me? Because you need money?”

“…”

Mom couldn’t continue her words.

“Mom, do you need money?”

“Ah… Can’t my son help me just once?”

“If it wasn’t for the money, you wouldn’t have come to me, right?”

“… Someday… I’ll find you… And meet you and apologize…”

“Wait. I’ll bring you more alcohol. I can’t listen to you sober.”

Actually, I was very angry. I wanted to destroy everything. She didn’t expect it, but she thought she had found her mother again. But it’s because of money

“Fuck!”

As I took out the soju, I held the refrigerator door and thought for a few more seconds.

‘Why did you suddenly come…’

Crackling. Karak!

Open the soju and pour the whole bottle.

“Son… If you drink like that…”

“Fuck! Are you going to be a mother now?”

“Ah… No…”

“Am I still like my mother’s son?”

“… Still, I gave birth…”

“Shut up! Just say what you said earlier! You came to me for money, right? No?”

“…”

“… Answer me”

“I’m sorry Junwoo… Sooooo… I’m so… So sorry… Oh, my… Oh, my… So much… Huh,~”

Mom suddenly burst into tears and grabbed my shoulder.

“Suddenly he came and started talking nonsense… And give me money?”

“It… It’s not like that… It… It’s… Something like that…”

“First, explain the situation.”