Real Man

Yoo-hyun tapped his shoulder with a smile.

“You should smile more if you’re happy and grateful. Why are you ruining the mood?”

“Yeah, oppa. Smile a little. You look so gloomy on camera. It’s not good.”

Park Wonyoung also chimed in, making Park Wonseok wipe his eyes with the back of his hand, pretending to be embarrassed.

“Ugh. Why am I like this today? It’s so awkward.”

“Do you want me to buy you a drink?”

“No. I’m fine.”

Park Wonseok shook his head at Yoo-hyun’s offer and suddenly stood up.

Then he gestured to the others above him.

“What are you talking about?”

His friends looked at him incredulously, but they soon got up as well.

Park Wonseok smiled brightly and shouted like he used to when he led his childhood friends.

“For our awesome friends!”

“For our friends!”

Clang. Clang. Clang.

They clinked their glasses and laughed loudly.

“Hahaha!”

Their cheerful faces were captured by the camera.

Some time passed.

Yoo-hyun sat comfortably on the living room floor as usual, eating a rice cake.

Crunch.

It was so delicious, probably because his mother made it with care.

As Yoo-hyun munched and watched TV, his mother was cutting some fruits.

His father glanced at her and said.

“Honey, don’t you think it’s time for Yoo-hyun to go up? Maybe we can have a drink or two?”

“He drank enough yesterday. Don’t push it.”

“I’m not saying it for me. I think Yoo-hyun wants it too.”

His father looked at him eagerly, but Yoo-hyun couldn’t take his eyes off the TV.

The drama had just ended and the commercials were about to start.

His mother clicked her tongue in disdain.

“There he goes again. He always uses Yoo-hyun as an excuse.”

“I’m not, I swear.”

“Both of you, wait a minute. It’s starting now.”

“Where, where?”

At Yoo-hyun’s words, his mother and father came closer to the TV.

A familiar face popped up on the screen.

“Jang-woo, that guy.”

It was the first commercial that the champion who returned to Korea had filmed.

Yoo-hyun snickered and looked at Lee Jang-woo, who had a naive look in his eyes on the ring.

He was sparring with the thugs who came from all directions, sweating profusely.

His mother admired him as she watched.

“Wow, I can’t believe that amazing champion bought so much side dishes from us.”

“He still orders from us, right?”

“Of course. He’s so loyal and generous. Thanks to him, our side dishes are also popular at the kimbap shop. Oh my!”

She was startled when she saw Lee Jang-woo fall on the ring.

“Mother, it’s just acting.”

“Still. It looks so real.”

Then, Lee Jang-woo got up, sniffling.

He saw the ramen on the ring and went over to it, blowing on it and slurping the noodles.

He looked very happy.

He gave a thumbs up as he ate, and his father was baffled.

“Why is there a fighter in a ramen commercial?”

“You know. Lee Jang-woo said in an interview that he wanted to eat ramen so badly when he was on a diet.”

“So he gets to film a commercial just because he wants to eat it?”

This time, Yoo-hyun answered.

“His fans requested it to the ramen company. They said Lee Jang-woo, who loves ramen, should be the model.”

“His fans? Is that even possible?”

“That’s how cool Lee Jang-woo is. Besides, what do you know?”

“What do you mean, what do I know? There’s no one as cool as me.”

“What kind of confidence is that?”

His mother looked at him incredulously, and his father pounded his chest.

“I told you. I’ll make you the wife of the world’s number one brick factory owner.”

“This guy is not even drunk, but why is he talking nonsense?”

“Don’t you know? I dug the ground at the construction site. Once the factory is built there, we’ll be the number one in the country. What’s next?”

“Yoo-hyun, why is your father like that?”

“I don’t know.”

Yoo-hyun shrugged, and his father raised his voice.

“I’m not just saying this. My friend Andrea, who is a world-class architect, told me clearly that our bricks are good enough for the world.”

“Really. You wouldn’t even know who he was if it wasn’t for Yoo-hyun. How can you call him a friend? Do you even understand each other?”

“We do. Right, Yoo-hyun?”

“Yes. It seemed like that.”

He wasn’t sure if they really understood each other, but it was true that they became close.

Andrea Gurski came down several times and gave advice on the new factory.

Thanks to him, the rumor was that the construction company in charge of the factory was very nervous.

“See? I’m a global man.”

His mother rolled her eyes at his father, who was confident until the end.

“I don’t know what he’s going to do when Yoo-hyun goes up.”

“He’ll go up when he goes up. But Yoo-hyun, do you have a place to stay when you go up?”

“Of course. I’ll stay at my place.”

His mother looked worried when she heard his answer.

“It must be messy. There must be a lot of dust.”

“Jaehui comes over and drinks from time to time, so it’s okay. He said he’s going to clean today.”

“Why does he keep going to your place and drinking alone?”

“He must be stressed out.”

Yoo-hyun ate a rice cake and recalled what Han Jaehui had said a while ago.

-Why are they redesigning the Hansung Note app again? I’m going crazy!

Because of the sudden work at the company, his sister had gone up with a lot of stress.

He felt sorry for her, since she had a hard time even during the vacation.

‘I should take care of her.’

As he made a resolution, his mother grabbed his hand.

“Yoo-hyun, what am I going to do when you go up? I’ll miss you so much.”

“What’s there to miss?”

“It means I’m losing my buddy. You were my only joy.”

Yoo-hyun had a lot of conversations with his mother while he was helping his father’s company.

Now they could talk about their daily lives as comfortably as friends.

That time was a great pleasure for Yoo-hyun as well.

Yoo-hyun stroked his mother’s hand and smiled.

“I’ll come often.”

“Next time you come, you know you have to bring your girlfriend, right?”

“Of course. That’s obvious.”

Yoo-hyun nodded confidently, and his mother teased him.

“Good. And don’t come with just two, come with three.”

“What are you talking about?”

Ignoring Yoo-hyun’s dumbfounded expression, his father approached his mother.

“Honey, how about we have a third child instead…”

“This man must be crazy.”

Thwack!

His mother slapped his father’s back with a stern face.

It was time for Yoo-hyun to excuse himself, so he quietly got up from his seat.

Clang.

A smile appeared on Yoo-hyun’s lips as he entered his room.

He felt warm seeing his parents, who had become much closer lately.

He thought he would like to have such a happy family with Jeong Da-hye someday, as they looked so lovely together.

‘Although my father seems to be working too hard.’

Yoo-hyun chuckled and walked towards his desk.

That’s when he noticed a small paper bag that wasn’t there before.

What is this?

Yoo-hyun opened the paper bag with curiosity.

Inside, there was a white box and a postcard.

Swoosh.

-Yoo-hyun, I achieved a lot thanks to you. Thank you so much. I’ll try to be a father you can be proud of.

The postcard had his father’s handwriting on it.

It was the first time Yoo-hyun received his father’s gratitude in his life.

“…”

Yoo-hyun opened the box with a heavy heart.

He wondered what it was, and it turned out to be a luxury brand wallet.

It was such a high-end product that he could hardly believe his father, who always saved and cherished everything, bought it.

Yoo-hyun uttered a needless remark without thinking.

“Why did you buy something like this?”

Thud.

As he opened the wallet, a photo fell out.

It was a photo of him and his father taken in front of the brick factory site a while ago.

Yoo-hyun overlapped his childhood memory with the image of the father and son standing side by side.

His young father, who was at the same place, had told his little Yoo-hyun about his dream.

-Yoo-hyun, I’m going to build a huge brick factory on this wide site. And I’m going to make this company, named after you and Jae-hee, the best in the country.

That dream, which he had forgotten for a while, had now become a reality.

By this time next year, his father’s dream would be built on the empty site.

That alone made Yoo-hyun feel worthwhile staying in his hometown.

He felt that his life was slowly getting back on track.

Creak.

Yoo-hyun’s mouth curled up into a long smile.

A few days later, Yoo-hyun finished his work in his hometown and got behind the wheel.

He set his destination to Seoul and drove off.

The clear sky stretched over the open road without a cloud.

The cool breeze coming through the window told him the change of time.

He had left Hansung before the cherry blossoms bloomed, and now summer had passed and autumn was approaching.

A lot had happened to Yoo-hyun in the meantime.

He met Jeong Da-hye in Texas, and had a happy time with her in New York.

He reconsidered the meaning of money in San Francisco.

And he sorted out his thoughts in his hometown.

How was he going to live from now on?

He didn’t find the answer, but he knew it was time to move.

-Hansung Electronics announced that it has partnered with the luxury fashion brand Channel ahead of the launch of its next-generation smartphone ‘Unique’. Experts commented on Hansung’s new marketing strategy…

Yoo-hyun stepped on the accelerator as he listened to the news on the radio.

Vroom.

His car slid along the road.

Yoo-hyun arrived in Gangnam on time for his appointment.

Maybe it was because he hadn’t been there for a long time?

The street that was so familiar to him felt strangely new.

Yoo-hyun left the sunset behind him and entered the pub he used to frequent.

Screech.

As he opened the door, Kwon Se-jung, who was already there, waved his hand.

“Yoo-hyun! Over here, over here!”

“Manager, long time no see.”

Jeong Hyun-woo came running and hooked his arm around Yoo-hyun’s.

Yoo-hyun chuckled at his lively junior.

“I’m not a manager, dude.”

“You still have your promotion left, don’t you? Then you’re a manager, right?”

“Geez. You’ve been well, right?”

“Why don’t you ask Se-jung hyung how well I’ve been?”

Yoo-hyun turned his head, and Kwon Se-jung sighed deeply.

“Sigh! Let’s sit down first. Let’s talk while sitting.”

Shuffle.

Yoo-hyun took a glass of liquor and looked at the two people sitting across from him.

He could tell how hard they had been just by looking at their dark circles.

Yoo-hyun asked Kwon Se-jung, who slumped his shoulders.

“Didn’t you say you’ve passed the ninth peak of the smartphone development? You must be breathing easier now.”

“It’s just enough to breathe, but it’s still killing me.”

“Hyung is right. It should be settled by now, but the issues keep popping up.”

“Not just the issues, the atmosphere is also fierce.”

Kwon Se-jung was in charge of not only the planning, but also the overall aspects of the smartphone in the integrated TF.

He had more than 100 people moving under his command.

And the smartphone was not a simple component like a display, but a finished product.

Plus, there were political issues involved, so he couldn’t help but feel pressured.

But this was also an experience, so Yoo-hyun didn’t make a big deal out of it.

“You’ll still go home, right? Don’t overdo it.”

“Overdo it? Hey, why don’t you go and say that to the team leader. He’ll curse you out.”

“Why?”

“Why? The team leader is already mad at you, and if you say something like that, he’ll get even angrier.”

“Huh? The team leader is mad at me?”

Nado-yeon team leader had told Yoo-hyun not to come back when he left.

He couldn’t believe that such a prideful person would resent him behind his back.