episode_0221

Time passed, and before long, it was time to conclude the funeral.

‘What should I do?’

Yeji was still stuck with the same concern.

Should she hold onto the lingering attachment to Alien Game? Or should she start over completely from the beginning?

While she was lost in thought, numerous mourners came and went, and they all left Yeji with the same words.

“Your father was the most respected man I knew.”

“He was a strong man….”

“You and your father look so alike; you’ll become a great person too.”

Perhaps it was because her mindset had changed.

Yeji suddenly became curious about her father, now that it was too late.

What kind of person was he?

‘What does it mean to be a great person?’

She decided to let go of the past where she avoided burdensome things. Yeji now wanted to become a great person too. Especially a great writer.

But what exactly is a great person?

‘Is it something you’re born with? Or is there a method to become one?’

…What was her father like to receive such words?

With Yeji’s worries, the funeral ended.

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That night.

Yeji followed her mother to the hospital room where her father had spent his entire life. Of course, her mother was angry.

“You shameless thing! Coming only now…!”

Yeji admits it.

It might be shameless to take an interest in her father only now. But she steeled her heart. Her father inflicted tremendous poverty upon her, didn’t he?

So, let’s just call it even.

*Swish swish-*

Afterward, Yeji silently helped with packing up the belongings.

Nominally, it was cleaning, but she wanted to find items that could give her information about her father. Asking the people around her was ineffective. They only repeated that he was a great person.

‘That doesn’t help. What I need is information that can reveal my father’s sincere heart.’

I wonder if there’s anything like that around here.

And at some point.

‘Huh?’

Under the bed, a notebook caught her eye.

It was well-worn, and when she opened it slightly, it was filled with content written directly in pen. Yeji instinctively realized it. This was her father’s diary.

“…”

Yeji quietly hid it in her arms.

What kind of person was her father, really?

Also, what does it mean to be a great person?

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Yeji returned home and immediately took out the diary.

‘Now that I think about it, it’s the same as my father’s memento.’

Her father’s death still doesn’t quite register. Because they were in a relationship where they never even shared a greeting or a conversation.

Yeji first looked at the first page.

‘Mom’s photo from when she was young?’

A faded photograph was attached, which Yeji could easily recognize. It was a photo of her mom from a long time ago.

She looks so young. Around Yeji’s age now.

Yeji read the words written in a row below.

— My wife is pregnant.

— I have become the head of the household. I must take responsibility.

— To be honest, I’m not sure if I’m happy.

— I’m scared to become a father. I’m not mentally prepared, and I don’t have any savings.

That’s how it started.

Yeji was already surprised.

‘He’s ordinary?’

Extremely ordinary. It seemed far from the words left by a person called a great man.

— I told my wife that everything will be alright in a roundabout way. Reassuring my wife comes first. Yes, I guess I can worry about the practical problems on my own.

— I started working at a factory.

— Let’s work our bones out and feed them somehow. I intend to take responsibility for my woman and my child, no matter what.

For a while, the content was filled with resolves.

Fortunately, her father seemed to be a responsible person. He didn’t write any bad things about her mother.

Only content about providing for them was written.

— I’m slowly getting used to working at the factory.

— It’s just simple repetition, so my body is tired, but it’s not that difficult. It seems like the salary is better than I expected.

— I think the people at the factory like me.

— I made a mistake, but I was praised for doing a good job. Why?

— During the company dinner, I told the team leader to stop drinking, and he praised me instead. He said thank you for caring about his health. I just didn’t want to take care of a drunk superior….

— I received a bonus. Why?

…What is this, a familiar daily life seems to be appearing.

It’s not something Yeji experienced, but why does she feel like she knows it?

Anyway, Yeji was still tilting her head.

‘He’s not exactly a great person, is he?’

Impregnating a woman out of the blue, and just a common man living day by day, going from factory to factory to take responsibility.

Isn’t that all there is to it?

— The factory’s situation has worsened.

— My salary is delayed. I guess they’ll give it to me next month.

— The situation is really bad. As much as three months’ worth of salary is delayed. My wife is impatient, and I’m starting to feel anxious, so I can’t concentrate on my work. What if I can’t get paid in the future?

“…”

Yeji narrowed her brow.

The handwriting noticeably changed as if it were scribbled.

It’s clear that he’s mentally shaken a lot. Since his salary was delayed for a long time at a time when he needed money, it was understandable.

— They say they will go on strike and demonstrate from tomorrow.

— I’m scared. I just want to work normally and get paid. Why do I have to do this to get paid….

— Somehow, I became the leader of the strike. I couldn’t help it because the people around me recommended me.

The scribbled writing continued wildly.

Just once.

A line written very neatly appeared.

— My daughter was born. I was worried about how to pretend to be happy in front of my wife, but there was no need to pretend. I was genuinely happy. It feels like I have the whole world.

After that, it was scribbled writing again.

— The strike is getting more and more intense. Today, we burned a lot of tires to block the police from entering.

— I’m worried. I’m going crazy.

— Let’s just give up the three months’ worth of money without any regrets. Shouldn’t I look for another job? My wife and daughter are important. Nothing else matters.

— …But what about the factory workers? They must have families like me, too. They must have wives and children.

Yeji paused reading around this point.

“Crazy, he endured every day in this state of mind?”

Anyone would not have been able to endure it. It looked like his mind was worn down and on the verge of collapsing.

Then suddenly, Yeji felt a chill.

Because a sharp hypothesis came to mind.

“…Wait, so what choice did he ultimately make?”

Her father is a vegetable.

He was injured at the factory, she was told. She didn’t know why.

“Could it be, like what I’m thinking…?”

Yeji reopened the diary.

After that, the problems her father struggled with and the voices shouting that he wanted to run away filled the pages. That content continued for as many as three pages.

However.

Eventually.

— I am a weak person.

— I don’t have great abilities, and I’m a weak person who can’t do anything for my wife and daughter.

— I readily accept it when people mistakenly think good things about me, but I hate it when they mistakenly think bad things. Also, I always only think about running away.

— I’ve always lived like that.

— But…. Why?

— This time, I can’t abandon these people.

— I don’t know anything, I don’t have abilities, and I’m not a righteous person, but I want to try until the end.

— I should go to bed now. The strike tomorrow will be more intense.

— I want to become a husband my wife can be proud of.

— I want to become a father my daughter can be proud of.

The diary ended like this.

*Thump thump thump-*

Yeji’s heart was beating.

Yeji’s speculation, which she had only imagined, was correct.

Her father upheld his sense of responsibility as the leader of the strike.

“Wait, what was the name of the factory my father worked at….”

As if possessed, Yeji sat in front of the computer and immediately searched the internet portal.

She felt like she knew why the diary ended here.

Because there was an article that briefly flashed by Yeji in the past. As Yeji remembered, her father wouldn’t have been able to write in his diary after that day, even if he wanted to.

Because he would have been in a state where he couldn’t write in his diary.

Soon, she found the articles.

[Do you remember the ‘Hanyoung Factory Incident’…. “Transitional Stage, Government’s Economic Murder”]

[Hanyoung Factory casualties occur…. Strike leader seriously injured. Loses consciousness after being hit on the back of the head with a steel pipe.]

[Casualty Effect? Supreme Court ruling invalidates dismissal. ‘Workers can receive their delayed wages and go to work.’]

“Ha….”

Yeji burst out laughing hollowly.

“Ha…. Hahaha….”

Because she knew what kind of person her father was.

“Indeed, you were the trash-like parents I thought you were.”

He jumped into a dangerous job even though he had a wife and daughter to support. He could never be a good parent.

Yes, that thought still hasn’t changed.

But.

“But….”

But why?

Again and again.

Again and again.

She foolishly felt like she was going to cry.

“…You’re a great person, I admit it.”

Her father was an ordinary, immature man.

He suddenly got a woman pregnant, and he just worked at a factory because he needed money. He was also a pure person who knew how to be happy when lucky coincidences happened from time to time.

How heavy would the crown of strike leader have been for a person with no talent and nothing to do except for simple repetitive tasks? How much would he have wanted to run away?

And yet.

He didn’t run away. Until the end.

“Thanks to you, I know now. What it means to be a great person….”

This was also the answer Yeji was looking for.

“…A person who can move forward even while holding fear.”

The world is full of wonderful people. So, there must be people who are born with greatness. People respect and follow these people.

However.

Even such people are not omnipotent. Even such beings may need help someday.

A person who can lend a hand at that time.

A person who is willing to help even though they know they are weak and even though they know that the outcome will be unfavorable to them.

Even if their head explodes.

Even if their shoulders are crushed.

…A person who endures the weight of the crown, come what may.

Yeji knows what the world calls such people.

A hero.

The man who made her live in poverty and made her mother lonely for the rest of her life was also someone’s hero at the same time. A difficult person whom she hated but couldn’t bring herself to hate.

“Damn…. You damn dad….”

Yeji wiped the tears from her eyes with her hand.

She smiled with her mouth but cried with her eyes. Emotions welled up now. Perhaps, if Yeji and her father could have talked, they would have become close.

Because their lives had so many similar parts.

Then at some point.

“Ah?”

Suddenly, a memory surfaced in Yeji’s mind.

A memory that was too shocking and hurtful at the same time. So, she turned a blind eye to it and ended up forgetting something.

It was the memory of the part where writer Lee Geum-suk advised her on her first manuscript. She now remembered the rest of it.

— This writing lacks confidence.

— Your tendency to avoid things is very strong. I can tell that you wrote this to escape from something, whether it’s reality or something else. It seems like it would be really great if you didn’t have just this one thing.

— I want to tell you to have confidence. Don’t be afraid and bump into it. With all your strength. To the point of breaking.

Yeji froze.

“…”

It felt like she had been hit in the back of the head with a hammer.

“…”

After being still like that for a while.

She took out a pen as if possessed by something.

*Plop. Plop plop.*

Dirty traces smear over the already stained diary. It’s ultimately because of the few drops of tears that flowed down.

But Yeji had no intention of stopping.

“Dad, I’m sorry. Not only did I look through it without permission, but I even dirtied it. But, but….”

Yeji laughed and moved the hand holding the pen.

“…Just once, I’ll dirty it just one more time.”

Below her father’s last record.

She writes a new line.

— I want to become a father my daughter can be proud of.

— I want to become a daughter my father can be proud of.

A line that will never be erased forever.

◈◈◈◈◈

Early the next morning.

The Soo-Ah Association was startled.

“Huh?”

Kim Yu-han, sensing something unusual, vigorously shook Wi Ji-hye’s shoulder. It was no use, so he ended up kicking her butt very hard.

*Whack!*

Wi Ji-hye woke up in a panic.

“Kaaaaa! Is the Rebirth of Cheonma here! Where is it! Where is it!”

Kim Yu-han thought. How can she be the greatest under the heavens, waking up in a daze while drooling? But the urgent thing right now isn’t that. He pointed to the special features.

“Halmeoni, look at that!”

“Uh, u-uh?”

[Alien Game]

▶ Sufficient Implementation Elements

▶ Special Class: Rare

▶ The grade is fixed at ‘Special Class: Rare’.

The grade increased and was fixed.

◈◈◈◈◈

At the same time.

“Hoo.”

Yeji finished cleaning her room.

She put all the coins she had exchanged to put into the arcade game into the piggy bank. Now that she thinks about it, rhythm games weren’t something she truly liked.

Yes, she had just depended on rhythm games as an escape.

‘I won’t do that anymore.’

Things will be different from now on. She will directly confront the cause.

At the same time, she won’t leave behind any regrets.

“I’m nervous because I’m going to write it properly.”

Will it fail? Will it succeed? Yeji doesn’t know either.

But she now knows one thing.

That a weak person also means that they are a person with the potential to become a great person.

Also, the way to become a great person is simple.

‘Just keep moving forward even while holding fear.’

Fear is natural.

So, don’t think that you have to fight fear. Let’s just move forward while holding fear tightly.

Let’s bump into it so hard that our whole body breaks. It’s good if we succeed, and if we fail, at least we won’t have any regrets left.

Yes, so let’s not run away!

No matter what kind of outcome we face, we won’t be defeated by fear! Because if we tried in the end, we won!

*Tada da dak—!*

Yeji’s fingers began to tap on the keyboard.

The confidence that Lee Geum-suk mentioned.

She has it.

The weight of Nexflix’s flagship work.

It’s not heavy.

Even if it’s heavy, she will endure it.

She is prepared to do so even if her ankles break, her knees buckle, her head explodes, and her shoulders are crushed. Just like the man who made her exist did at the last moment.

Soon.

The long-awaited Alien Game.

The first line of the manuscript, which had been empty all along, was finally written.

[Starting the game.]

At the same time, her Yeon Cheon Kyung, overcoming (克服).