The Returnee Wants to Live Comfortably

Old Friends Reunited (2)

"To think I'd have to see that guy again, of all people."

After finishing work, Ma Jun-sang was only heading home late at night.

As he drove his car, old memories suddenly surfaced in his mind.

A few decades back from now, during the time when he was studying to have the same job he had now.

The students back then were just boys and girls nurturing their dreams without much worry.

At least, until that incident happened.

[Emergence of Young Awakeners]

[Korea's Education Scene Plunged into Chaos Beyond Control]

After the first gate opened, baby awakeners were born.

Most of those babies were the same age as Ma Jun-sang, belonging to the same generation.

But it wasn't purely joyous to see them.

Thanks to them, Korea's education system was forced to change.

[Yet Another Incident of Young Awakened's Tyranny.]

[Boy Awakened Unable to Control Trait.]

They too were just children, so it was natural for them to be somewhat unhinged.

Of course, there were plenty who criticized them, but they could never be abandoned.

Korea was no longer a safe haven from gates, after all.

[Revision of Education Laws for Young Awakeners.]

Somehow, they too were needed, so Korea changed its education system.

Everything was skewed to benefit them.

But it was ordinary students like Ma Jun-sang who suffered because of it.

Every benefit from studying went their way, while this side got nothing.

Scholarships, everything—only they could receive it.

Ordinary students from poor families ended up with no environment to study properly.

[Non-awakened subjects shut down except for Awakened Education.]

[Endless Complaints from Non-Awakened Students.]

[Testimony From a Student: "If you aren't an awakened, you're not even considered a person at our school..."]

[Awakeners Enjoy 21st Century Luxuries, non-awakeners Are Stuck in Colonial-Era Conditions.]

[Non-awakened Student Assaulted by Awakened Peer, released Despite Charges...]

[Mass Protest in Seoul Square.]

Eventually, the building anger exploded.

Yet, the desires of ordinary students were simple.

All they wanted was just a bit of attention too.

At that time, Ma Jun-sang couldn't endure his own harsh reality and participated in the protest.

—Is your goal the courthouse too? What a coincidence! Want me to buy you a meal later?

It was then that he first met Choi Seungjin.

After growing close, he spent most of his time with him.

Since they even became classmates at the training academy, their relationship was nothing but good.

However...

"I really thought it would last forever back then."

Ma Jun-sang pressed on the accelerator with a bitter thought in his heart.

His once-close friendship was long gone.

****

Ma Jun-sang was surprised for two reasons when he came home.

One, his son, for some reason, hadn't brought any friends home.

The other, a stray dog had somehow ended up in the house.

—Woof!

The dog barked the moment it saw Ma Jun-sang.

When his eyes met those of the purely innocent-looking dog, Ma Jun-sang's brow furrowed.

"Dad, this is our new family member! His name is..."

"Sang-gun."

"Yeah, Sang-gun! What do you think? Isn't he cute?"

His daughter, Yunhee, held up the puppy named Sang-gun and showed him off.

But no matter how he looked at it, he felt more like sighing than seeing cuteness.

"Who brought it here?"

"Oppa did."

"Why all of a sudden?"

"I'm not really sure either."

For some reason, he didn't think it was picked up off the street.

Just hearing that Seongjin had brought it filled him with a sense that this wasn't ordinary.

"Where's Seongjin?"

"He stepped outside for a bit. Said he had something to talk about with someone."

Seongjin left to speak with the shadow corps.

Since it was a secret matter, no one else knew about it.

"But, dad."

"Yes?"

"Do you not like dogs?"

"..."

Ma Jun-sang fell into thought at his daughter's question.

Looking at the puppy she was holding, an unpleasant memory suddenly came up.

Once, in the middle of a protest, a gate had opened in the area.

A monster leapt out of it, and he nearly died—unfortunately, that monster had been a massive hound-beast.

Ever since that day, he couldn't help but make a bad face whenever he saw dogs.

"We have to raise it quietly."

But Ma Jun-sang couldn't ignore his daughter's wish.

Yunhee had been pleading to raise a puppy for a long time.

Normally, he would have just ignored it, but now that they had the dog, he couldn't very well throw it out.

****

"What's with that puppy?"

"You mean Sang-gun?"

Late at night, as I was watching TV, dad spoke to me.

As expected, he didn't fail to bring up the topic of the puppy.

"As you can see, it's a dog."

"It doesn't seem like an ordinary dog, though?"

"Right."

His next questions were just like Mom's.

He doubted and asked how he could trust it wouldn't bite since I claimed it wouldn't.

For some reason, unlike Yunhee and Mom, dad wasn't charmed or distracted by Sang-gun.

"Who named it?"

"Ah-rin did."

Ah-rin was the first one to start caring for Sang-gun.

The moment Ah-rin saw the puppy, her eyes flipped in an instant.

Despite being a fox herself, it was rather ironic to see her so taken with a dog.

Until vacation came, Ah-rin doted on Sang-gun with all her heart.

"There was nowhere else to take him, so you brought him here, huh?"

"Right."

Dad poured himself a glass of beer, and I opened a bag of snacks.

On TV, a show called 'Hunter League Semifinals' was being broadcast.

There were lots of people interested in seeing which powerful hunter would win in a showdown.

Thanks to that, it was the program and event with the highest ratings.

"Is this really... an era where only awakeners exist?"

As he watched, dad suddenly spoke.

If awakeners hadn't appeared, the world would have ended long ago.

There were plenty of hunters who used that as an excuse to act superior and show off their narcissism.

"It might sound strange, but honestly, your father doesn't even know what kind of world this is anymore."

"Did something bad happen at work?"

"..."

Dad closed his eyes and hesitated for a moment.

After agonizing over whether to say it or not, he finally spoke.

"Seongjin, you'd probably understand easily, right?"

Knowing that I wasn't ordinary, dad decided to tell me.

He told me about his past.

It included things the rest of the family didn't know.

Like the time he almost died to a hound that appeared from a gate.

"That's a pretty good reason to dislike dogs."

"But it's not like I'm going to throw it out. Yunhee likes it so much."

"You're kind."

"And don't worry too much. I don't hate awakeners."

Ordinary students—including Dad—had their studies greatly disrupted.

He even joined a protest himself.

But at the moment he almost died to the hound, dad said he was saved.

"Awakeners are also people who saved my life."

He worked hard, aiming to stand in the courtroom.

When his studies were threatened, he naturally felt resentment.

But the moment he was helped by awakeners, he realized something.

"If they hadn't saved me... I probably wouldn't be sitting here now."

He would never have become a prosecutor, never married, never had children.

I wouldn't have been born as Ma Seongjin either.

"But most students who experienced those days don't think like your dad."

"Why is that?"

"In their minds, what they 'suffered' outweighs any 'help' they ever received."

Though Dad had suffered, he'd also been helped.

He held both realities in his mind, but not everyone was like him.

"Today at work, I met a friend from that crowd. I never thought I'd see him again, but he appeared like a ghost."

"What kind of friend?"

Dad took a sip from his beer before answering.

"Well... an example of a self-made man, I suppose?"

"That doesn't sound like a bad person."

"Well, of course. He became a lawyer all on his own."

That friend excelled at everything.

He was at the top in sports and academically as well.

But friends who learned only by the book also developed another trait—

They would dismiss the trouble children caused as 'kids being kids'.

Because of that, dad said he always argued with him.

"Growing apart from a close friend like that happened in an instant."

The protests back then were huge.

There were few awakeners, so obviously most students were ordinary.

But despite the overwhelming number of ordinary people, only awakeners were prioritized.

It was only natural for protests to erupt.

"But then, once the laws were revised again, the protests dwindled."

"So the protesters must have disbanded too? Since they had nothing left to protest."

At that, dad replied firmly.

No.

There was no more cause or reason to protest.

But strangely, they all felt empty.

At the same time, they felt the thrill of having achieved their wishes.

Everyone understood them, thanks to the protests.

"Even after the protests ended, they kept gathering until they graduated. They wanted to keep their movement alive."

Dad agreed with that part and kept meeting with them.

But then, his face turned as if he regretted what came next.

"They called it a movement, but it was really just a gang."

New students gathered in a kind of club—people Dad had never seen.

But if anyone had a visible mark, they'd get beaten the moment they walked in.

Just having an awakened as an older sister was enough to get attacked.

"And... if there was suspicion of possessing magic power, they'd get beat up. If you said you liked hunters, you'd get ostracized. Criticize them? You'd get dragged away."

Even worse, it was always his friend leading those actions.

After the group's increasingly twisted behavior, dad became disillusioned.

After being saved from the monster hound, his thoughts about awakeners changed for good.

Thanks to that, lots of people—including Dad—ended up quitting the group.

"But the friend at the head of the violence grabbed me."

The friend spoke, asking if even Dad was going to betray him.

At that, dad sighed and told him to cut it out.

Then, his friend's gaze changed.

—You think I'm wrong, too?

There's no way my judgment was wrong.

It couldn't be.

There was an indescribable storm of desire swirling in his friend's eyes.

Even so, dad had to say it.

—Of course you're wrong.

—...

—Sure, I get how you feel. All the privileges we deserved, the awakeners gobbled them all up. But this isn't right.

Just as the friend was desperately clinging, dad's voice was equally earnest.

—We're students, not gangsters.

—Traitor....

—What?

—You traitor!!

Right then, the friend suddenly turned on Dad, choking him.

Fortunately, other students came running at the sound and calmed things down, but in his friend's crazed glare, there was no sanity left.

Then the friend screamed.

Insisting that he'd done the right thing.

"Isn't he just insane?"

"Seongjin."

"Ahem... He really is a weirdo."

At that story, I couldn't help but let out a curse.

Dad seemed to understand my outburst, at least a little.

"Well, he really did lose his mind. Maybe he felt like his entire life was being denied."

"But still, anyone who strangles someone is already out of their mind."

"Because of that, I thought I'd never see him again. But we met again at the academy."

They weren't close anymore, and they ended up as fierce rivals.

They drifted apart after competing, but today fate brought them together again.

It was so abrupt, he said, it was like seeing a ghost.

"I hope nothing happens, if possible."

Just then, Sang-gun, who'd woken up, came over to Dad.

He climbed up onto Dad's thigh and fell asleep.

Dad stroked Sang-gun's head and let out a sigh.

"But... did you get him neutered?"

****

In a large house, a phone rang.

A middle-aged man answered, greeting the caller politely.

"This is Attorney Choi Seungjin."

—...

"Oh, it's you. I didn't recognize the number, so I wasn't sure if it was a client."

—...

"Haha, not at all."

Behind Choi Seungjin's kindly smiling face, a groan could be heard.

Frowning slightly at the noise, Choi Seungjin tried to ignore it and focused on the call.

—...

"Yes, that's right. I also miss Kang Minji, representative. She was your only advocate, after all."

—...

"Yes, of course. I'll be a representative myself soon. All of you who helped me absolutely deserve my help in return."

—...

"Thank you so much, truly!"

As Choi Seungjin hung up the call with a cheerful look on his face... his expression changed.

He picked up the golf club sitting on the table with menacing footsteps.

Then he stood in front of his son, who was lying down, groaning.

"What do you have to moan about? Hiding your report card and getting caught, huh?"

"Dad..."

"Quiet! And I hear you hurt your classmate today?"

"He started it, not me!"

His son insisted it was a kid who bullied him.

Yet Choi Seungjin let out a bitter chuckle at his son's plea.

"You think you're the only victim here? I had to endure those awakened bastards myself when I was your age and I made it through just fine."

"..."

"You're my son, and you still can't handle it?!"

Whack—!

"And as if hiding your report card wasn't enough, you failed your finals?"

"They kept interfering when I tried to study! They stole my notes and books..."

"What nonsense! From this moment you can forget about summer break!"

Whack! Whack! Whack—!

The loud sound resounded through the mansion.

The one making the noise was absolutely convinced it was deserved discipline.

The person at the receiving end could only scream and cry in pain.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Every child deserves to have parents, but not every parent deserves to have children...

I have Seungjin already...

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】