11 Virtues A Hero's Civilian Friend Must Uphold - Chapter 51

“Young master, do you really not know where our Hee Won is staying?”

Although I came prepared to hear this, my sister-in-law’s shrill voice is still hard to get used to even after decades.

Ji Hwan put a few pieces of sashimi in his mouth and responded with a cheeky smile.

Mrs. Kim sighed deeply and took a sip of water somewhat irritably.

Ji Hwan, who meets with his brother’s couple about once a month for meals, has been suffering from headaches lately because of his sister-in-law who keeps asking him about his nephew, who has been out of contact with his parents recently.

Mrs. Kim, who remembered well that her eldest son would at least pretend to listen to his uncle even if he didn’t listen to his parents when he was young, knew Hee Won’s situation better than expected, as he was closer to his uncle than his parents even as an adult.

The family dinner with just the three of them – her, Ji Hwan, and Ji Hwan’s older brother Jung Hwan – in a neatly decorated room always led to Mrs. Kim’s lamentations, as usual.

“We raised him so well, but I don’t know what’s lacking that he’s still doing this… Dear, don’t you know anything?”

Jung Hwan, who had been silently eating next to Mrs. Kim, just quietly shook his head.

He was so taciturn that he would have said everything if he spoke three words a day, and he didn’t seem interested in where his son was or what he was doing.

Mrs. Kim vented her frustration that neither her husband nor her sons seemed to move according to her wishes.

“We only have two sons, show some interest. Do you know that Hee Won, that brat, hasn’t even graduated from school yet?”

Jung Hwan had no answer.

And about 1 minute later, after very slowly swallowing the food he had been chewing, he only added quietly.

“He’ll figure it out.”

Mrs. Kim, as if she had expected this, pressed her left hand that wasn’t holding chopsticks to her forehead as if she had a headache.

Ji Hwan found this scene he had been seeing for decades both amusing and surprisingly impressive, how his brother and sister-in-law were living well together despite being so incompatible.

“This won’t do. I’ll make sure he graduates by next year somehow, so you make a position for him in your company.”

Mrs. Kim said with a determined expression, as if she had made up her mind.

The younger one would be taking the college entrance exam soon, so it would be better for Hee Won, the older brother, to secure a position in the company first.

Mrs. Kim, as if assuming her husband would naturally accept her opinion, laid out her plans for the future.

“Since others will be watching, he’ll start as a regular employee, and as soon as he’s hired, I’ll find him a match.”

Seeing Mrs. Kim ready to start arranging meetings, Ji Hwan stopped eating and looked at his brother.

Even Jung Hwan, who had been half-listening to his wife’s words, raised his head that had been lowered towards the table.

“Sister-in-law, he’s not even thirty yet, why are you in such a hurry?”

Ji Hwan tried to reason with her, but Mrs. Kim was adamant.

“It’s enough that we’ve let him play until now. The youngest daughter of XX Distribution is two years younger than Hee Won, and when I saw her last time, she seemed quite nice and decent.”

Here we go again. That matchmaking of hers.

It was Mrs. Kim’s specialty to push even when the person in question had no interest. She turned to her husband, seeming to have made up her mind.

“Dear, this time, don’t you dare take that boy’s side. If he doesn’t graduate by next year and keeps wandering around like that, I’ll cancel all the cards he’s using and make him completely penniless. We raised him so preciously, but he doesn’t even appreciate his parents and acts like this. You too, young master. Later, even if Hee Won asks for help, absolutely not. We need to correct his behavior this time.”

From the mindset of needing to correct the behavior of a 27-year-old son, it seems wrong from the start, sister-in-law. If you wanted to correct it, you should have done it much earlier.

That thought almost escaped his throat, but Ji Hwan managed to hold it back.

Besides, what his sister-in-law didn’t know was that the kid already had a job.

Even if he couldn’t openly tell others, he was a working adult receiving a regular salary, albeit not a large amount compared to his work.

Moreover, Ji Hwan was the kid’s boss at the workplace where he worked.

Given the nature of the job, there was no chance of getting fired, and with room and board provided at the center, even if he was kicked out of home, he wouldn’t become completely penniless as Mrs. Kim imagined, just unable to live as luxuriously as before.

Unaware of all this, Mrs. Kim was caught up in her own fantasy of her eldest son crying and begging, “I’m sorry, Mom.”

As the dinner time with his taciturn brother and talkative sister-in-law was coming to an end, and Mrs. Kim excused herself to go to the bathroom, only the two brothers were left in the large room.

The older brother, who was quiet whether his wife was present or not, was silently chewing on the rice cakes served as dessert.

Ji Hwan spoke to his brother.

“Brother, I need some money.”

To this very abrupt and somewhat rude request, Jung Hwan, after finishing chewing and swallowing the rice cake, slowly responded with a question.

“How much.”

When Ji Hwan mentioned the minimum amount he needed, he took a sip of plum tea and picked up his phone.

He finished a brief call with his assistant secretary and put down his phone. Jung Hwan always preferred to answer with actions rather than words.

Ji Hwan found his brother impressive yet incomprehensible and chuckled.

Towards his brother who immediately executed and handed over such a large sum without even asking for a reason, he asked.

“As a sponsor, don’t you have anything to say?”

The center that Ji Hwan had established over a decade ago was built on enormous capital.

The source of that capital was sponsorship from a major corporation.

Unlike his wife, Jung Hwan, who shared all the secrets of his younger brother Ji Hwan and son Hee Won, always expressed his interest by simply observing.

This time was no different.

“Take care of yourself.”

At his brother’s concise expression of affection without unnecessary words, Ji Hwan just laughed softly.

[This is the timeline separator]

The college entrance exam is only a few weeks away. From a tutor’s perspective, it would be beneficial to have more lessons to earn more money, but Na Eun wasn’t like that.

She said that during the remaining time, she needed time to study alone and prepare personally, and her employer Hee Won agreed with her.

Eventually, about a month before the exam, Na Eun had her last lesson with Jae Won.

“Today is the last lesson, but if you have any questions while solving problems on your own, feel free to ask me through messenger.”

Na Eun, who had thoroughly reviewed wrong answers even in the last lesson, said with a bit of regret.

After encouraging Jae Won for his hard work during the short time, she rummaged through her bag and pulled out a bunch of papers.

“These are modified and edited versions of past exam questions, done by famous hit teachers, so they should have high accuracy. Make sure to solve these about a week before the exam. Ask if there’s anything you don’t understand.”

Jae Won’s eyes widened at the unexpectedly valuable gift.

“How did you get these?”

“I stole them from the academy where I work.”

Jae Won laughed at the bold, almost brazen answer.

Thinking that his smile was much cuter than his sullen expression, Na Eun smiled back.

“Actually, I’m close with the manager at our academy. I asked for a favor and got them.”

She didn’t forget to urge him to make sure to solve them, as she had obtained them by using all her charms, existing and non-existing, on the manager who had jokingly told her to use her aegyo if she wanted them.

Jae Won said with an awkward expression towards Na Eun.

“…I feel even more sorry when you put in so much effort.”

“Hm? What are you sorry for?”

Na Eun tilted her head as she was organizing the school supplies on the desk.

Jae Won fiddled with the test papers Na Eun had given him and said.

“Because no matter what, I won’t be able to get into a good university.”

“…”

“I can’t even dream of going to the same university as my brother.”

Na Eun closed her mouth. Seeing her being considerate through silence, Jae Won smiled bitterly.

“I’m not really upset about it. I’ve been playing around all this time, so it would be thief’s logic to expect good results.”

“…”

“It’s just… I’m feeling a bit depressed thinking about how useless I’ll be at home from now on.”

It’s not your fault, teacher. I’m sorry for showing it unnecessarily.

Jae Won, who was apparently treated as somewhat of a problem child at home, apologized unnecessarily with an incredibly gentle face.

Na Eun just looked at Jae Won without saying anything.

“You might have met my mom, but she’s a bit… scary. She’s probably thinking about either making me retake the exam or sending me straight to the military if I get into a university that doesn’t meet her standards.”

Jae Won, who was about to take off his school uniform and become a 20-year-old adult, felt depressed and sad at the fact that he might become a useless person when he was no longer a student.

An awkward silence passed over the desk where Jae Won and Na Eun were sitting for a moment.

Jae Won glanced at Na Eun’s expression.

He didn’t know why he had shared these worries with her, something he had never done with his parents or brother.

As he was regretting making the atmosphere awkward, suddenly Na Eun opened her pencil case and took something out of it.

Jae Won blinked and stared at it.

It was a small hair tie that he had often seen in Na Eun’s pencil case whenever they had tutoring sessions. It was broken.

“This hair tie, I’ve been using it since elementary school.”

It seemed so.

The hair tie with a red cherry shape attached to it looked a bit childish, and he had thought it might look awkward if she, an adult, wore it.

Though it was already broken and couldn’t be used anywhere.

“I loved this so much when I was young. So I wore it every day, and even when I entered middle school, I kept wearing only this, which made my mom frustrated. So she threw it away in the trash can without me knowing.”

Na Eun suddenly started talking about her past. Jae Won listened quietly, having shared his own story.

Na Eun smiled, looking down at the hair tie as if reminiscing about memories.

“So I cried my eyes out. It was probably the first time I cried like that until middle school.”

Mom Soo Hyun didn’t know that Na Eun was so attached to that hair tie, so she was surprised by the aftermath, and since all the trash in the house had already been put out for disposal, it was impossible to find it.

Even now, when Soo Hyun recalls that day, she laments, “I became a traitor in the house just for throwing away one hair tie.”

And coincidentally, dad Seok Hoon, who had come home early from work, discovered the whole situation.

Seok Hoon comforted his young daughter who was crying as if the world had ended, then went out to the front of the house where the garbage was collected.

Given the large size of the mansion where several employees lived in addition to the three family members, there were an enormous number of garbage bags.

Na Eun’s father Seok Hoon, who had just returned from work, rolled up only his sleeves without taking off his expensive suit and opened each and every one of those many garbage bags.

Despite the employees’ attempts to dissuade him, Seok Hoon persisted and finally found the cherry-shaped hair tie that his young daughter loved among all that garbage.

It was an achievement earned after hours of struggle, until his well-groomed hair was soaked with sweat and his expensive shirt was soiled by the garbage heap.

Jae Won, who had been listening to Na Eun’s entire story, blinked, not knowing how to react.

Na Eun was smiling, looking down at the hair tie preciously.

“That’s how we finally found it, and I promised Dad to wear this hair tie only until 7th grade, and not after that.”

Na Eun, being a good daughter, kept her promise with her dad strictly. From 8th grade, she no longer wore this hair tie.

However, just because she didn’t use it didn’t mean she could throw it away.

She kept thinking about her dad who had searched alone through the garbage heap to find the hair tie for her that day.

Eventually, she wore it on her arm like a bracelet, and when the string broke and she could no longer wear it on her arm, she kept it in her pencil case. Even now.

She caressed the hair tie preciously and said. Jae Won-.

“Even if it’s useless, it can still be precious.”

“…”

“And I don’t really think you’re useless at all.”

For a high school student, the college entrance exam is such an important moment in life, but it was too hasty to determine one’s worth solely based on that.

She put down the hair tie and rummaged through her bag to take out something.

Jae Won looked at Na Eun’s two arms extending towards him with a slightly dazed feeling. It was a box full of chocolates, candies, etc.

“I’m giving this to you early in case we can’t meet before the exam. For good luck on your exam.”

Jae Won looked down at the gift silently. Na Eun smiled.

“You’ve worked hard being tutored by me all this time. Good job for always doing your homework diligently.”

She reached across the desk and patted Jae Won’s shoulder lightly.

The small body, infinitely smaller than hers, hunched its shoulders as if unaccustomed to praise.

“Contact me after the exam is over, okay? I’ll treat you to something delicious.”

Towards Na Eun who was smiling as if to say that at least to her, he had become precious now, Jae Won bit his lip and bowed his head deeply, feeling somewhat comforted.

His fingers trembled faintly as he fiddled with the box of chocolates he had received from her.

It felt like for the first time, his feelings, which no one had understood since entering high school, were recognized by someone.

[This is the timeline separator]

After the tutoring ended, Jae Won, who was heading home faithfully keeping his promise with Na Eun instead of going to the PC room, fearlessly sent a message to his brother that day.

[Brother.] [I was too scared to say this honestly before.] [But no matter how I think about it, teacher Na Eun is too good for you.]

It was the honest truth from Jae Won, who was timid but couldn’t lie.

And soon after, a reply came immediately from his brother, whom he had expected would read and ignore it.

[I know, so shut up.]