Real Man

When he was in the second year of middle school, Park Won-seok was the tallest and strongest in his class.

He had pale skin that contrasted with his large frame and deep dimples that were memorable.

What did he look like now?

Curious, Yoo-hyun walked quickly to the lobby on the first floor and went outside.

Among the many people passing by, there was a man who stood out for being a head taller than the others.

It looked like Park Won-seok, but his side profile was very different from Yoo-hyun’s memory.

His skin was dark and his eyes were sunken, and he was too thin.

As Yoo-hyun approached hesitantly, the man raised his hand first.

“Yoo-hyun! Over here.”

Yoo-hyun pretended to know him, and Park Won-seok smiled with a grin.

“Of course. How come you still look the same as before? You’re still handsome.”

His dimples were clearly visible.

He had the same smile as the young Park Won-seok that Yoo-hyun remembered.

But why did he feel so uneasy?

It felt like he had met Park Won-seok here in the past.

“You still have the same smile, but you seem to have lost some weight.”

“I lost a lot. Anyway, I’m glad to see you. It’s been too long.”

“Indeed. I’m glad to see you too.”

Thump.

The moment Park Won-seok grabbed Yoo-hyun’s hand, a forgotten scene flashed in Yoo-hyun’s mind.

-Yoo-hyun, can you lend me some money?

That’s right.

Around the same time in the past, Park Won-seok had come to borrow money.

He looked so desperate that Yoo-hyun reluctantly lent him some.

He didn’t say it out loud, but he hoped he wouldn’t come back.

What happened after that?

He felt like there was something important he couldn’t remember.

He frowned as he tried to recall.

Park Won-seok asked him.

“Are you sure you came out for me? You must be busy.”

“No, I have some free time. Don’t worry about it. Let’s go inside and talk for a bit.”

“Hey, don’t bother. I just stopped by. Seeing your face is enough.”

Park Won-seok waved his hand, but Yoo-hyun didn’t intend to let him go.

He had a strong feeling that he shouldn’t.

“Let’s have a cup of coffee. I’m happy to see you.”

“But it’s your working hours. You know how strict Hansung is, right?”

“I can spare some time for a friend. Don’t worry, I won’t get fired.”

“It’s not that…”

Park Won-seok hesitated and looked at Yoo-hyun.

He had a very cautious expression, so Yoo-hyun waited patiently.

He could tell by his face how much he had struggled to come here.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He seemed to have made up his mind, and he called Yoo-hyun.

“Yoo-hyun.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have some money by any chance?”

“Money? How much?”

“Uh, well, just 300,000, no, 200,000 won? The reason why I’m trying to borrow money is…”

Park Won-seok lowered the amount, worried that it might be too much for Yoo-hyun.

Then he added an unnecessary excuse.

He could have just said it.

Yoo-hyun was about to answer, when Park Won-seok stopped talking and looked embarrassed.

His phone in his hand was ringing.

Yoo-hyun smiled and gestured.

“Answer the phone and then we’ll talk.”

“Huh? Oh. Sorry.”

Park Won-seok turned his body and answered the phone quietly.

“Uh, Won-young. I’m at work right now…”

Judging by the tone of his voice, it was his sister’s call.

But why did he look so nervous?

Yoo-hyun tilted his head.

An important memory that he had forgotten popped into his mind.

He didn’t know exactly when, but it wasn’t long ago from now.

A strange woman had come here.

-Thank you so much for extending a warm hand to my brother. Thanks to you, he was able to go with a smile on his last journey.

She returned the money that Yoo-hyun had given up on, and told him about her brother’s death.

Her brother was Park Won-seok.

Yoo-hyun felt bitter even as he took the money.

Why did Park Won-seok die so miserably?

Was it an accident?

Or was he sick?

He furrowed his brows as he tried to remember.

Park Won-seok spoke to him.

“Sorry. It was an important call.”

“It’s okay. You have to answer it. And Won-seok, I have the money, but I need to get it.”

“Oh… Then it’s okay.”

Park Won-seok seemed to take it as a refusal and tried to back away.

Yoo-hyun grabbed his arm.

“No, I mean I can give it to you now. I just need to withdraw it, so let’s walk together.”

“Uh, uh.”

He was tall but so skinny, and Park Won-seok was easily dragged along.

Yoo-hyun used the excuse of getting the money to take Park Won-seok to a coffee shop.

He followed reluctantly and looked very sorry.

“You don’t have to waste your time for me.”

“No, I really have a lot of time.”

“Still.”

“Never mind. Let me lend you the money first.”

Yoo-hyun handed him an envelope and went to get the coffee he ordered.

In the meantime, Park Won-seok checked the amount and was surprised.

“500,000 won? You can give me this much?”

“You said you’ll pay me back when you get your salary. Just take it.”

“Thank you.”

“I gave you a little more, but whatever.”

“I’ll definitely pay you back. Just a second.”

Park Won-seok took out a document from his bag and wrote a promissory note for Yoo-hyun.

It was a simple form, but it had everything that was needed.

Was he always like this?

He must have had it even if he didn’t get it from Yoo-hyun.

His sister came looking for it later, after all.

Yoo-hyun carefully examined Park Won-seok, who was busy writing.

As he had felt when he first saw him, his complexion was very dark and his eyes were sunken.

His face was so thin that his cheekbones protruded.

It was clear that he was not healthy, just by looking at him.

He saw a medicine pouch in his slightly opened bag, so Yoo-hyun asked.

“Won-seok, are you okay?”

“Do I look bad?”

“Just. You seem to have lost some weight.”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing. Just at work…”

Park Won-seok tried to change the subject.

He seemed to be hiding something, so Yoo-hyun didn’t ask any further and listened to his words.

Most of his stories were about his life in Seoul, where he had moved up.

He said he had joined a small company and was in charge of accounting.

He sounded proud, as if he wanted to show that he was doing well.

“It’s not a big company, but there were several times when things would have gone wrong without me. I blocked the tax audit properly, found the leaking money and saved the company.”

“That’s impressive.”

“Impressive? It’s nothing compared to you, who work in a big company.”

“Here, I can’t do anything like you. I just do what I’m told.”

“Like me… Well, I did. Because I had to.”

Park Won-seok stiffened his expression for a moment and then continued.

After exchanging a few more words, he got up from his seat.

He seemed to feel awkward even though Yoo-hyun said it was okay.

He kept apologizing at the end of his sentences.

“Thanks for making time for me today, and I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry.”

“I’ll pay you back for sure. I’m sorry.”

“Okay. Then let’s make an excuse and see each other again.”

Yoo-hyun smiled, and Park Won-seok smiled back.

After sending Park Won-seok off, Yoo-hyun sat on a bench in front of the company and thought about his old memories.

‘He must be sick for sure…’

Park Won-seok had hidden it, but his complexion was terribly bad.

He was sure he was ill, seeing the medicine pouch and the hospital logo on it.

Of course, he didn’t know if Park Won-seok had died from it.

He couldn’t remember anything about the cause of death.

There was someone he could ask at times like this.

It was his friend Kang Joon-ki.

He was in the same class as him in the second year of middle school, and he was so popular among his friends that he was called a jack-of-all-trades.

He obviously knew more about Park Won-seok than Yoo-hyun.

Sure enough, when Yoo-hyun called and asked, he told him about Park Won-seok.

-Did Won-seok go to you too?

“Yeah. He came to see me for a while.”

-Did he borrow money from you?

“You too?”

-Yeah. There are a lot of people who lent him money. Recently…

It seemed that Park Won-seok had borrowed money from other friends as well as Yoo-hyun.

Kang Joon-ki also guessed that Park Won-seok had been fired because of the bad situation of his company.

Apart from this and that, Yoo-hyun had a question.

“But why did you and everyone else lend him money?”

-He’s Park Won-seok, man.

“I know he’s Won-seok. But why?”

-Don’t you remember, Yoo-hyun? How he was in middle school?

“What about it?”

Kang Joon-ki clicked his tongue at Yoo-hyun’s question.

-You have no conscience. He even paid for your milk when you lost your money.

“Did he?”

-That’s not all. He fought with the kids who bullied our classmates. He helped the ones who were struggling, bought them food, and more…

Kang Joon-ki spat out Park Won-seok’s achievements without a break.

Yoo-hyun’s blurry memory gradually cleared up, and the memories of his childhood became vivid.

Park Won-seok, who was famous for his tall height since the second year of middle school, was a crusader for justice.

He took good care of his friends, maybe because he came from a wealthy family.

Yoo-hyun had owed him a lot too.

He was not only rich, but also loyal.

He was the first one to come when Yoo-hyun got into trouble with some thugs from another school.

He even carried him home when Yoo-hyun sprained his leg playing soccer.

He remembered how reassuring his big back was.

He transferred to another school in the third year of middle school.

They lost contact after that, but he was still grateful to him.

‘No wonder.’

He finally understood why he, who didn’t care about his surroundings in the past, had lent him money.

Leaving aside the word death, Park Won-seok was a friend who meant a lot to Yoo-hyun.

Yoo-hyun, who had sorted out his thoughts, asked what he had guessed.

“Joon-ki, by the way, is Won-seok sick or something?”

-He didn’t say anything like that to me. Why?

“Just, he looked very thin and pale.”

-Well, he did look a bit haggard. But I think it’s mostly because of stress.

“Why?”

-I told you before. He seemed to have some problems with his company. Well, I don’t know for sure, but that’s what I think.

That was all Kang Joon-ki knew.

It was awkward to dig deeper, since Park Won-seok had denied it.

After recalling his memories of Park Won-seok through Kang Joon-ki, he felt more worried.

He still heard his sister’s words in his ears, who had come looking for him.

He couldn’t just sit still, knowing what he knew.

Should he go to the hospital and check?

It was the most certain way, but the problem was that it could be an unwanted meddling that Park Won-seok didn’t want.

“What should I do?”

As he was lost in thought, Park Seung-woo, his senior, passed by in front of Yoo-hyun.

He was surprised to see Yoo-hyun and asked.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was waiting for you, sir. The sun is nice, why don’t you sit down?”

Yoo-hyun said shamelessly and tapped the bench.

Park Seung-woo looked dumbfounded.

He looked like he was going to scold him, but his actions were different.

“Hey, I’m not your senior who sits down when you tell me to.”

“You’re really my mentor, sir.”

“Of course. Do you want some coffee?”

Park Seung-woo, who sat down, handed him a takeout coffee that he had brought.

“What’s this for?”

“Park, the deputy head, told me to buy one when he came back from his business trip.”

“Then you should give it to him.”

“It’s okay. He’s addicted to caffeine. He shouldn’t drink too much.”

“Haha! Thank you.”

Yoo-hyun laughed at his neat explanation.

Park Seung-woo was a senior who made him feel comfortable just by being with him.

Thanks to him, he felt a little lighter after being heavy for a while.