After my grandmother passed away, while I was in a daze preparing for the funeral, a man came to see me.
"I'm the person your maternal grandfather sent."
He was Mr. Ha, who had come down from Seoul at the direction of my maternal grandfather.
"Chairman Cheon wishes to meet you after the funeral procedures are completed."
"All the funeral expenses and paperwork will be handled by us, so please come with me to Seoul after the funeral."
At Mr. Ha's firm tone, I simply nodded.
That's how I met my maternal grandfather, who was known as Chairman Cheon or the Old Man.
At our first meeting, he said only one thing.
"I know you've been living like a delinquent. Get into a university in Seoul within exactly three years. If you do, I'll give you a big gift."
With that, the conversation between us ended.
After that, I lived in a small apartment that my grandfather had arranged for me and attended school.
I gave up friends, girls, and everything else, determined to gain my grandfather's approval and live the life he wanted.
My ties with my friends were severed at that time.
In the first semester of my second year of high school, I was assigned to a different class from Myeongsoo. While I was focused on my studies, Myeongsoo's legs were shattered by the relentless violence of the delinquents.
Not long after, Myeongsoo left school.
Lost in thought as I watched Myeongsoo's figure growing distant, I returned to the emergency room.
The doctors and nurses were preparing to move my grandmother's bed to a hospital room.
"Student, we'll admit her to room 703. Can you go home and bring some undergarments and other things she'll need?"
I held my grandmother's hand as she lay there looking at me.
"Grandma, I'll be right back."
"What if you're too tired?"
"Don't worry, I'll be quick."
Leaving behind my grandmother, who was still worried about me, I registered at the administrative office and decided to pay the fees the next day. Outside the hospital, the sky had darkened.
The slum with poorly lit streets. I climbed the stairs with difficulty and arrived home.
In the room with no proper furniture, I found my grandmother's undergarments, socks, and some clothes to change into.
Seeing the box of my grandmother's undergarments, I shed tears.
And the few clothes my grandmother had.
It was completely different from the box of my own clothes and undergarments.
My grandmother, who had worked hard to earn money to buy clothes, undergarments, and shoes for me. Why didn't I realize it before?
I gathered a few decent undergarments and left the house.
Returning to the hospital, I opened the door to the room where my grandmother was admitted and entered.
The other patients in the same room looked at me all at once. Ignoring their gazes, I sat next to my grandmother's bed.
"Yeah. Is Grandma okay now?"
"Not really. Don't worry about me, go home."
I felt warmth from my grandmother's hand.
It was so good that I no longer felt the coldness that had been there when she collapsed.
I organized the things I brought from home next to her bed.
"Sure. Grab something to eat while you're out."
I went out of the room and climbed the stairs to the rooftop.
When I opened the door to the rooftop, a few people were smoking.
I sat in a small chair in the corner and began to slowly sort out what had happened to me.
'I don't know what the situation is, but I've come back to the past. I prevented my grandmother's death in 1990. Before she died, she had contacted Chairman Cheon to prepare for her own death. Mr. Ha will probably come down again this time.'
As my thoughts became clearer, the anger and frustration I felt before I died surged up again.
Cheon Suwan and Cheon Suhan, the two brothers.
My mother's older brothers.
They had no ability but a lot of greed, and ultimately joined hands with the Cheongpung Society to eliminate me.
And the Cheongpung Society...... a force that operates behind all the power, violence, and wealth in South Korea. I don't know the exact number of members, but it's a group that has existed since the military dictatorship era.
Although the name has changed over time, its predecessor included the military dictatorship forces and the descendants of pro-Japanese collaborators, centered around the coup force known as the Hanahoe.
'If I've come back, I'll infiltrate the core and destroy them. I'll slowly take control of their lives and end them.'
I don't know if it's God, Buddha, or Allah, but could this be what the entity that sent me back wants?
With a goal in mind, I decided to slowly formulate a detailed plan.
As I was about to leave the rooftop, a man called out to me from behind.
I turned around, still holding the door handle, and looked at him.
"I'll pluck out your eyes. Come here."
"Who else would I be talking to? Who did I call? You're a funny guy."
"Hey, you bastard. Come here when I call you. You talk too much."
"Ha ha ha, bro. What are you doing with this kid?"
As I approached, his face became visible in the dim light of the cigarette.
I had seen this face somewhere before. Who is he?
A tattoo on his neck was faintly visible above his hospital gown.
"Young guys shouldn't smoke. You shouldn't smoke."
"Really? Then why did you climb up here?"
"I came to sort out my thoughts. Can I go down now if you're done talking?"
"......You're a brave one."
"Do you know me? I think it's the first time I'm meeting you."
"Ha ha ha. Embarrassing!"
The guys next to him snickered, and the man glared at them.
"Ha ha ha. You're a funny kid. Nice to meet you, I'm Park Dongsoo."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Park Dongsoo. Can I go down now?"
Although I tried to appear calm, I immediately recognized the name Park Dongsoo.
Park Dongsoo, the deputy leader of the Saseong faction, one of the two major violent organizations in Busan that controls the Jung District.
He will be arrested and sentenced to life in prison during the upcoming war on crime. He will take the blame for all the crimes of the leader, Lee Saseong......
"Ha ha ha! What school do you go to?"
"I'm a first-year at Dongseong High School. My grandmother is admitted here, so can I go down now?"
"Sure, sure. See you next time."
I nodded and turned around.
Early in the morning, Myeongsoo came to the hospital.
"Hey! Aren't you going to school?"
"I have to. What brings you here so early?"
"Are you really Muhyuk? Why are you speaking in Seoul dialect and acting weird?"
"Stop it. What brings you here?"
Myeongsoo took out an envelope from his bag and handed it to me.
"It's 500,000 won. I borrowed it from my dad. It's for the hospital fees and my grandmother's medicine."
I alternated my gaze between Myeongsoo's face and the envelope of money.
"What? You'll pay it back. I'm lending it to you, not giving it to you."
"Thanks. I should refuse, but I don't have the luxury. I'll definitely pay you back."
He finally smiled as I took the envelope.
"Let's go to school. Have you eaten?"
"Let me see my grandmother eat and then I'll go."
After helping my grandmother with her breakfast, I went to school with Myeongsoo.
When we arrived at school, the office called me. It was the homeroom teacher who answered my call yesterday, known among the students as 'Viper.'
"She's fine. Thanks to you, she's out of danger."
"Hey, you should tell me right away if something like this happens."
"Alright. Do you have the hospital fees?"
"Yes, Myeongsoo's dad helped."
"Good. Let me know if anything happens."
"Go. Prepare for class and don't cause any trouble."
I opened the back door of the 1st grade, 8th class and entered. The noisy classroom suddenly became quiet.
I sat at my seat by the window at the back, and Myeongsoo ran over.
"Hey! What did Viper say?"
"He asked if my grandmother is okay."
"Damn, he's pretending to be nice. If you knew how much he takes from our dads, you'd be shocked."
The classroom, which had become noisy again, fell silent. Everyone was looking at me curiously.
"Who are you? Where's Muhyuk?"
Myeongsoo, with a strange expression, grabbed my head and shook it.
I couldn't help but laugh.
"You're crazy. Why are the kids looking at me like this?"
"......Are you really okay? You've been acting weird since yesterday."
I had forgotten over the 30 years. Before meeting the Old Man, how much of a delinquent I was.
As the homeroom teacher, Viper, entered, the noisy classroom became as quiet as a temple in a forest.
"Next week is the exam, right? 10 swats for every point below the average. Don't forget."
"And, don't get caught smoking. If you do, you're really in trouble."
I couldn't believe I would have an exam right after coming back.
I looked at the blackboard with a sense of helplessness.
As soon as school ended, I returned to the hospital. I went to the administrative office to pay for the tests and then went up to see my grandmother.
My grandmother, lying in bed, greeted me.
"You're busy with school, you don't have to keep coming to the hospital."
"I come because I want to."
"My child...... When did you grow up so much?"
Tears welled up in my grandmother's eyes.
I left the room and went up to the rooftop. I felt the gap between the 48-year-old me and the 17-year-old me.
While looking outside and trying to compose myself, someone called out to me from behind.
"Hey! You there, student."
I turned around to see a familiar face smiling at me.
"Do you smoke? Be honest."
This guy is really persistent.
"I do, but not in the hospital."
"Right? I could smell the cigarette on you, stranger."
"Hmm, did you come to visit your grandmother after school?"
"You're a good grandson. How did such a good person come from a slum? Can you fight?"
Park Dongsoo chuckled, and the big guy next to him snickered.
"Ha ha ha. Look at my brother, he's flustered. You can fight!"
The two of them didn't look like gangsters.
I remembered an article I read about the lineage of Korean organized crime.
'He took good care of his younger brothers......'
Even during his life sentence, his younger brothers continued to support him.
"This kid is funny. What's your name?"
"Kim Muhyuk? That's a good name."
"Did you hear my name yesterday? If the big guys bother you, use my name. Since we met, let's be friends."
I continued the conversation with them, finding them increasingly likable.
'......He might be useful.'
I thought he could be helpful in dealing with the Cheongpung Society's henchmen.
"Sure, sure. See you next time. Dongsoo."
"......I'm a bit too old to be called a younger brother."
"Ha ha ha ha! You're a funny guy. Am I scary?"
"Why would I be scared? You're like a neighborhood uncle."
"Ha ha ha! Right, a neighborhood uncle."
I said goodbye and went down to the first floor.
I was so distracted by Park Dongsoo that I couldn't even sort out my thoughts. I sat on a bench where no one was.
'The exam is next week......'
As I was thinking about the future, a shadow fell over my feet.
A familiar face was smiling at me.