episode_0015

Today is March 1st.

March 1st is one of Korea’s five major national holidays.

The day when the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea announced the Declaration of Independence and announced Korea’s intention for independence to the world.

In other words, to put it simply, today is a public holiday.

Since tomorrow is the entrance ceremony, the holiday actually didn’t mean much to me.

Even if it wasn’t a public holiday, every day until the entrance ceremony was a day off for me, so it didn’t make a difference.

But the difference arose because of the presence of those around me.

-Pwuung

While sitting on the sofa watching the news, I hear a fart next to me.

Seriously, why is this happening? I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard this fart sound when I’m sitting right next to him.

“Dad. Aren’t you going out?”

“Yeah. Are you going to play at home?”

“Dad, don’t you have any friends?”

“Yeah. Jaehoon isn’t here either.”

“…Who said that? I have a lot of friends?”

“Mom said that? Minjun is the only one?”

“…..”

“Minjun, don’t you think he’s more of a neighbor than a friend? Haha.”

“…..”

“Ye-eun has a lot of friends, but doesn’t Jae-hoon have to tone down his personality a bit to make friends?”

“…..”

I felt like something bad would come out of my mouth if I listened any longer, so I quietly got up and headed to my room.

“Hahahaha. I have nothing to say, so I’ll go into my room.”

“…..”

I lay in bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.

I started first and lost.

Even thinking about it now, it was a natural attack.

But I never thought that I would immediately admit that I had no friends and then counterattack.

And why did I say I have a friend who doesn’t even acknowledge me like my dad does?

Why didn’t I expect this? Is this what it means for the body to dominate the mind? Is it that my thinking has become difficult?

Strangely, when I talk to my family, things don’t go as I expected.

In the end, I ended up being convinced by my mother’s logic a month ago, and my registration for the three major mixed martial arts – Taekwondo, boxing, and Judo – was canceled.

I tried to bring it up several times, but it didn’t work. The mother didn’t want to see her son beat his father and get him hospitalized.

But when I think of my dad just now, I realize even more that what my mom said wasn’t wrong.

No matter what, I would never hit my dad.

I’m not 100 percent sure, but I don’t think that will happen.

A month has passed, but I can’t give up on exercising.

Now that Mom and Ye-eun are at the mart, wouldn’t it be possible to ask Dad to register for her?

The worry didn’t last long.

“Dad.”

“Haha. Jaehoon without friends appeared?”

“…..”

“So why did you call me, son?”

“I want to learn how to exercise. Come out with me now and sign up.”

“Are you going to hit Dad?”

“No. Why did you hit Dad to learn some sports?”

“I think I’m going to hit you?”

“I told you not to hit me!”

“Did you get permission from your mom?”

“No. So let’s go out together and register first.”

“No. If you do it without telling mom, you’ll get scolded by dad and mom.”

“Just register so I can take care of it for you.”

“Jaehoon, will you take the hit instead? Don’t you know how hot your mom’s fist is?”

“….?”

I don’t know what this is talking about.

Is it because I’ve never been married that I don’t understand?

“Your mom doesn’t teach you sports because she thinks if you learn it wrong, your dad will die.”

“Are you living with your mom and dad?”

“Very rarely?”

“…..”

“Anyway, if you get scolded for no reason and get hit by the wrong person, you’ll be in big trouble. Get permission from your mom first.”

“If you get permission from your mom, you can go to your dad with your mom. When did you say that men should help each other?”

“Jaehoon.”

“Why.”

“I don’t want to be hit by Dad. I’m scared of Mom.”

“…..”

After seeing my father’s expression, I headed to my room without saying anything.

Is this how it is normally? Are other houses like this too?

I’ve been thinking lately, is it an illusion that there’s something strange about my house?

It’s very likely true that my dad gets hit very occasionally. The first thing I thought when I heard it was that he was joking, but I saw with my own eyes the look of fear on his face at the end.

I suddenly had the thought that I should argue to my mother that since she hits me, I too have the right to hit her, but even I think it’s too far-fetched.

Is there no way?

Should I just lie on the floor like a normal elementary school student?

But your son won’t hit you, right?

Now that my motivation was rekindled, my thoughts were short and my actions were quick.

If possible, it would be better to lie down outside rather than at home.

I changed into slightly tattered clothes, thinking I was going to lie down, and left the house, heading toward the supermarket my mom often goes to.

There is only one way for Mom to go to the mart and come back.

There was no possibility that we would have differences after going together for several years.

Just then, I ran into my mom, who was holding a shopping basket in one hand and Ye-eun’s hand in the other.

“Brother~!”

“Hey! Son~ Are you here to help me carry my luggage?”

“Oh, really?”

“Here! Here! Our son is filial~”

“…..”

I should be lying down, but since I just heard the sound of filial piety, it was hard to bring up the topic of exercise.

“Where’s Dad?”

“Watching TV at home.”

“Learn from watching your son. Dads are immature. Sometimes, I think it’s like having two sons.”

“Mom, I thought about it really seriously. Is it really true that since I won’t hit Dad, I shouldn’t learn sports?”

“Oh, that’s right, learn it! Mom said that she’s learning one by one these days.”

“Huh? Suddenly? Really?”

“Yeah, I looked into it because Jaehoon was acting like he never used to. Let’s go and register with mom after he gets admitted.”

What the heck? Permission was suddenly granted out of nowhere.

Anyway, since we succeeded, we didn’t have to lie down on the floor, so we carried the shopping basket and headed home with our mom, Ye-eun, and the three of us.

“Honey, are you here? Jaehoon went out and came with you?”

“You’re coming out to help Jaehoon with his luggage, so why don’t you watch and learn?”

“Haha. Okay. I’ll help you next time.”

“Oh my.”

“Jaehoon asked me to register for a workout without telling his mom, so I told him no. Did I do a good job?”

Dad’s sudden nagging.

Even though I had already received permission, I looked at my father with bewildered eyes.

“I gave you permission just now. My son is going to learn sports. Don’t do anything that will make him get hit, okay? ”

“Haha. Jaehoon doesn’t have any friends, so his dad is the only one who will play with him. Are you going to hit him? Haha.”

“Oh my.”

Although I had attacked first, I realized that it was time to get revenge for the humiliation I suffered today due to the constant attacks.

“Mom!”

“Huh? Son, your eyes are suddenly sparkling?”

“Dad is scared of Mom.”

“Huh?”

“My mom sometimes hits me, and when she scolds me and I get hit wrong, I get in big trouble. She says that sometimes she hits me so much that it hurts and it scares her. She says her fists are really hot?”

“…..”

A house filled with tranquility.

My slightly embellished remark made my father look at me with vain eyes, and eventually he lost his way for a long time, and my mother looked at my father as if to ask if this was true.

“Honey. That’s not it.”

“Did that really happen?”

“…..”

“Jaehoon, do you want to take Ye-eun to your room?”

“Ye-eun, let’s go to the room and play with oppa.”

“Yeah!!”

I felt refreshed and headed to the room holding Ye-eun’s hand.

Today was another peaceful day at our house.

***

The next day.

Today is March 2nd. It is the elementary school entrance ceremony day.

It’s Saturday, but he’s a dad who took a vacation from work because the company now operates a six-day workweek.

Dad, who seemed a bit lethargic today, dropped Ye-eun off at kindergarten and came home. He then headed to elementary school with Mom and me, who were both getting ready to go out.

“Put. Dad, you look a little down today?”

“Does Jaehoon, who doesn’t even have friends, know that?”

“…..”

“Both of you stop and go quietly?”

““…..””

As I entered the elementary school, which was located not far from the apartment complex, I saw street vendors selling flowers and it was bustling with new students with their parents.

“Jaehoon, should I buy some flowers too?”

“Mom. If you’re going to buy flowers for that little while, give me money.”

“Hehe. Then let’s just go~”

She was a cool mom who knew how to pass on things like flowers.

I went into the auditorium, the parents stood behind me, and I went to my assigned class seat and sat down among the children who were joking around.

It started with the singing of the national anthem, and ended with the opening ceremony, declaration of admission, introduction of the first-year homeroom teacher, a speech by the principal, and singing of the school song, and then we moved to our classrooms with our parents.

When I entered the class, there were about 34 people, and the gender ratio was about equal. There were a few kids I had seen in kindergarten.

The entrance ceremony ended with the teacher coming in to greet the students and explaining the school hours.

“Jaehoon is now an elementary school student?”

Ignore my father’s words.

“Mom. Let’s go.”

“Okay, let’s go eat Jjajangmyeon. You too, stop talking nonsense and come quickly.”

When we arrived at the Chinese restaurant, it was bustling, as is the rule for Chinese restaurants during entrance ceremonies, and luckily we were able to sit down right away.

“My son likes Jjajangmyeon?”

“Yeah.”

“What about you?”

“Hey, it’s been a long time since I’ve been to a Chinese restaurant.”

“Please give me three of our Jjajangmyeon and one Tangsuyuk!”

Mom ordered from the waiter without asking Dad twice.

“I said I wanted to eat Jjamppong?”

“When you say nice things, just eat it.”

“Yeah.”

Today, our family was at peace again.