#079
The unrelenting media attention, the cold stares from employees, and Lee Sung-ha’s interest in Jung Hwi-kyung. These factors maximized Gyo-ha’s already impressive decisiveness.
“You want us to go to America?”
“Yes. Haven’t you worked abroad before?”
“Just once. I worked for a multinational company in Shanghai.”
“How was it?”
“No one could pronounce my name correctly, and salaries differed based on race.”
“…”
“I thought only Korea was terrible, but other countries were just as bad.”
During the fifth round of his fourteen regressions, Jung Hwi-kyung tried working abroad. He decided that going overseas was the only option, given the abundance of black companies in Korea.
The salary itself was certainly higher than in Korean companies. The high labor costs initially made him think that working abroad was successful.
Providing company housing for workers to live comfortably in a foreign place was also a benefit. Although it was a dormitory-style shared by several people, it saved on living costs.
However, working abroad wasn’t entirely positive. Understanding the local culture was necessary, and no matter how hard he studied the language, it was impossible to understand idioms and slang like a native speaker.
Moreover, there were an overwhelming number of Chinese characters. Some had the same shape as those learned in Korea but different meanings, or even different shapes… Despite knowing Chinese, Hwi-kyung only spoke English during his stay in Shanghai. The tones often led to miscommunication, and even within Chinese, regional differences sometimes made understanding difficult.
They say Korean is the most difficult language in the world… but to Hwi-kyung, a native Korean speaker, every language except Korean seemed incredibly difficult. Whenever his colleagues couldn’t understand his Chinese, Hwi-kyung prayed for Korean to become the world’s common language.
Additionally, as the saying goes, “leaving home leads to hardship,” life in a foreign land was new but not always enjoyable. The feeling of being on a trip lasted only a month. Life was similar everywhere, and high labor costs meant equally high living costs.
Shanghai, in particular, was more expensive than other regions. Without the dormitory, the money left in Hwi-kyung’s hands wouldn’t have been much different from Korea.
Even if all this was viewed positively, there was another problem with living abroad. The biggest obstacle was that while Hwi-kyung was in China, Ok-ja was hospitalized in Korea.
Due to health insurance and visa issues, Hwi-kyung had to leave Ok-ja in Korea. Although Ok-ja was proud of her grandson’s overseas job and said she’d be fine alone, Hwi-kyung worried about her throughout his time abroad.
He frequently made international calls to his grandmother, but he did feel homesick without anyone to lean on in a foreign land. After failing to be by Ok-ja’s side during her final moments due to physical distance, he stopped considering overseas options.
“If you’re worried about your grandmother, I have a solution.”
“What solution?”
“Airlines take as much care of elderly passengers as they do pregnant women. If we fly first class…”
“But it’s still a twelve-hour flight. There are also visa issues.”
“We can’t do anything about the flight time, but money can solve the visa problem.”
“What?”
“I’m a second-generation chaebol, remember?”
In a capitalist world, there are few things money can’t solve. Although the twelve-hour flight was concerning, Hwi-kyung was swayed by the prospect of more specialized treatment in America.
Since he was already considering changing jobs or transferring, it wasn’t a bad idea to wrap things up at BK International and send resumes to overseas companies. Writing resumes for overseas jobs wasn’t difficult, as he had plenty of practice during his fifth regression.
“If we can take grandmother with us, well… America doesn’t sound bad.”
“Right? I’ll take her sightseeing too. Most importantly, there’s no Lee Sung-ha in America.”
“That does sound good…”
Looking back, during all that time, Hwi-kyung had never been abroad except for Shanghai, China. He hadn’t even gotten a passport except during the fifth regression.
Strangely, he always felt reluctant about going overseas. It wasn’t that he was afraid of flying. Because of this, Hwi-kyung had never even been to Japan, a place Koreans visit more often than their own country.
Places connected by land, like China or Russia, were fine, but crossing the sea somehow felt wrong. Even now, having decided to go to America after Gyo-ha’s persuasion, he felt uneasy.
“I guess I need to get a passport first.”
Despite saying this, he was already worried about flying. Ok-ja would be accompanying them on this trip to America, so it was a subtle feeling that couldn’t be dismissed as just concern for his grandmother.
“Um, I’m just asking this in case…”
“Yes?”
“Can’t ghosts cross water?”
“What?”
“When I decided to go to China, it wasn’t this bad, but now that I’ve decided on America, I’m feeling unwell.”
True to his words, Hwi-kyung’s face had suddenly turned pale. Gyo-ha reflexively grabbed Hwi-kyung’s shoulders. The moment their bodies touched, the tingling sensation he had felt when they first shook hands flared up.
Although he wasn’t bleeding or fainting, Hwi-kyung complained of nausea and dizziness. Both of them could easily guess where this sudden symptom originated from. The system window popped up, making it impossible to ignore.
Inadequate condition:
Inadequate condition: Not yet
Inad■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■: Not yet ■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■.
Do ■■■ ■■■■ to regress?
Whether it was trying to say something personal, the irritating Hamchorom font started to break and fail to display. Hwi-kyung dry-heaved at the chilling sensation running up his spine.
* * *
Since ancient times, when bears and tigers who had made eye contact were trying to become human by eating mugwort and garlic for racial unification, there have been people who “wish” for things.
Please let our tribe hunt well… Please let only me succeed… Please let me date a handsome man with a good body…
Those who spoke their desires to something formless occasionally succeeded in “making wishes.”
But the tribe that succeeded in hunting alone while all other tribes failed was invaded by the starving other tribes. The person who begged to be the only one to succeed gained wealth but disappeared like dew on the execution ground when their past misdeeds were revealed. The person who met an exceptionally handsome man with a good body soon realized that the man was a con artist who came to exploit them.
So wishes must be made very specifically. If made vaguely, problems often arise after fulfillment. The same was true for Jung Hwi-kyung. Didn’t he end up in this situation because he focused on “a good place” when he wished, “Please let me get a job at a good place.”
But there was one person who made an even more extreme wish before Hwi-kyung. It was a woman who wished for her young child not to die, and her wish was this:
‘Don’t die.’
Jung Hwi-kyung became a body that couldn’t die even if he hanged himself. It wasn’t what he wanted. His mother probably didn’t intend it to this extent either.
But as mentioned earlier, whatever granted people’s wishes always took an unexpected price in return for fulfilling them. Wishing to something formless is always dangerous. Because you never know how it will grant your wish.
“What do you mean you can’t go to America?”
“It means exactly what I said, I can’t go to America.”
“Are you crazy?”
“I’ll go to China instead. Somewhere without crossing water.”
Jung-hye narrowed her eyes at her younger brother. She was bewildered, as it was just a few days ago that he had cheerfully said he would go to America with Jung Hwi-kyung.
“Why on earth are you doing this? Do you even know Chinese?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. How can you know Chinese when you’ve never even been to a Chinese language academy?”
“I have my own study method that you don’t know about, sis.”
The regression study method… In reality, Lee Gyo-ha was better at Chinese than Jung Hwi-kyung. Unlike Hwi-kyung, who struggled with speaking, Gyo-ha could speak like a native.
However, Jung-hye, unaware of her brother’s language skills, just slammed the table. This bastard, trying to fool his heavenly sister! Gyo-ha felt heartbroken because Jung-hye wouldn’t believe him no matter what. I really can speak Chinese…
“Jung Hwi-kyung says he can’t go to America?”
“…”
“Well, I guess it wouldn’t be easy to take an elderly person all the way to America.”
“It’s not exactly because of that.”
“Then what?”
“It’s just Hwi-kyung’s personal reasons.”
That system window attached to him… whatever it is, god or ghost, it’s lying down saying it can’t cross water… Of course, Gyo-ha couldn’t say this. Even if he did, Jung-hye wouldn’t understand.
“Father is in China right now, so I’ll just go to China too.”
“I’ve already registered you for graduate school, what nonsense is this?”
“I can’t go to America without Hwi-kyung.”
Jung-hye, who had been trying to be patient, finally threw something at her brother who kept repeating “I can’t live without Jung Hwi-kyung.” The quick-reflexed Gyo-ha dodged the flying tissue box just by turning his head.
“Just go to America without Jung Hwi-kyung!”
“No!”
“You immature brat!”
In the end, Lee Jung-hye had no choice but to turn her arrows towards Hwi-kyung, leaving her stubborn brother alone. She concluded that if she couldn’t persuade Lee Gyo-ha, she should at least convince Jung Hwi-kyung.
