Chapter 6
Looking back, I wasn’t particularly close to my father.
It wasn’t like I suffered domestic violence or went astray during my youth.
It was just that my father was always busy late into the night, and I prioritized other things over my relationship with him, whose face I rarely saw.
We only saw each other once or twice a day.
At some point, it became difficult to talk to him, and our conversations naturally ceased.
We were just at the point of exchanging occasional greetings.
‘We were both… so awkward.’
Myself, and my father too.
Back then, I couldn’t understand my father.
No, I didn’t even try to understand.
Because I already knew.
The reason why my father became less talkative after my mother passed away.
The reason why he stayed late at the restaurant every night.
Despite knowing, I avoided facing him.
Because I had more urgent matters to attend to, because I could tell him later.
I subconsciously believed that my father would always be there, waiting for me.
A mistake and a misconception that everyone realizes too late.
However, I was more fortunate than others in that I was able to return after I had passed the age of realizing it.
To a time when I could still see my father.
“This place has changed a bit.”
Kang Taehan muttered as he got off the bus and looked around.
The Daejeon Dong District Integrated Bus Terminal.
The scenery near my studio apartment in Seoul remained the same in my memory, but unlike my recollections, there were often unfamiliar signs here.
The reason was simple.
Even excluding the sixty years in Murim, it had been a long time since I had returned to Daejeon.
If I remember correctly, this was my first time back since I was discharged from the military.
‘I thought this cafe would never go out of business… Hmm? This store has come to Daejeon too?’
A road so familiar that I could walk it with my eyes closed.
However, Kang Taehan slowly walked along the road, picking out the parts that were slightly different from his memories.
From the main road to a smaller road, from a smaller road to an alley.
If you keep walking like that… you’ll find a Chinese restaurant as old as its worn-out sign.
Taehan Restaurant.
What’s there to hide?
The two characters on that sign were taken from his own name. Kang Taehan stared at the sign for a while before slowly opening the door and entering.
“I’m home, Father.”
“…Yes. You’re here.”
Looking around, there was no one in the restaurant.
Only his father’s short reply came from the kitchen.
Kang Taehan moved towards the kitchen.
“Did you have dinner?”
“No.”
“Then eat first.”
Kang Hoyeon, Kang Taehan’s father, replied nonchalantly, quietly lighting the stove and placing a pan on it.
⟢⟢⟢⟢⟢⟢
Pour cooking oil and stir-fry pork in it.
When the meat is almost cooked, add onions and stir-fry together, seasoning with soy sauce and oyster sauce to enhance the flavor.
The savory smell of the meat as it’s stir-fried.
When the onions turn brown and start to release a sweet aroma, add the remaining vegetables and pre-fried black bean paste, and stir-fry until the sauce is slightly reduced.
The appetizing, salty, and sweet smell of jajangmyeon.
Now, stir-fry until each vegetable is evenly coated with the sauce and has a nice shine, then pour the reduced sauce over the noodles, and it’s done.
“It’s ganjjajang?”
“You like it, don’t you?”
“…That’s true.”
Kang Taehan stared intently at the ganjjajang in front of him.
Ironically, even though he had been in Murim, which is essentially China, for a long time, the food he missed the most was Chinese food.
Especially this ganjjajang, freshly cooked by his father.
He missed this ganjjajang so much.
Kang Taehan silently mixed the ganjjajang and lifted a large mouthful with his chopsticks.
The noodles, deliciously mixed and glistening with sauce.
Kang Taehan’s chopsticks headed straight for his mouth.
“Does it taste alright?”
“…Yes. It’s delicious, Father.”
“I recently changed the black bean paste, so that’s good.”
Kang Hoyeon said as he brought a plate of kimchi.
He silently watched his son eat, and Kang Taehan quickly finished the entire bowl of ganjjajang.
“…Have you been starving yourself?”
“Not really, it’s just that it’s been a long time since I’ve had this.”
“I guess they don’t have ganjjajang in Seoul.”
It had been literally sixty years since he last had ganjjajang, but there was no way Kang Hoyeon would know that, nor could he explain it.
Kang Taehan just grinned.
“No matter how many Chinese restaurants there are in Seoul, you can’t find freshly cooked ganjjajang like yours, Father.”
“…You’ve become quite the smooth talker after going to Seoul.”
He replied gruffly, but the corners of Kang Hoyeon’s mouth twitched slightly.
It was a subtle change that he wouldn’t have noticed in the past, but Kang Taehan could clearly perceive it now.
And that wasn’t all.
Kang Taehan knew that his father had brightened up when he entered the restaurant, even though he hadn’t even peeked out from the kitchen, and that the corners of his mouth had kept twitching while he was making the jajangmyeon.
‘I should have come to see you sooner.’
Looking back, he had thought he needed to achieve something grand and impressive before returning.
What was the need for that?
His father was this happy just by his son visiting him, just by feeding him a meal.
A slow smile spread across Kang Taehan’s face.
“So, what brings you all the way here?”
“Nothing special. I just missed you, Father.”
At Kang Taehan’s unfamiliar answer, the corners of Kang Hoyeon’s mouth twitched again.
This time, it was a clear reaction that anyone could notice.
“…You rascal. Are you sick? Did something happen?”
“No? Why?”
“Well… it’s strange. The way you’re calling me is strange too.”
“The way I’m calling you is strange?”
“You’ve always called me ‘Dad,’ but you’ve only called me ‘Father’ twice. When you came home on your first leave from the military, and when you were going back after your first leave.”
“Was… that so?”
Now that he thought about it, that seemed to be the case.
Huh. Kang Taehan chuckled involuntarily.
It was the most awkward he had felt in decades.
“Well… if there’s nothing wrong, that’s fine. I don’t dislike being called ‘Father.'”
Kang Hoyeon finished speaking and took a sip of water for no reason.
His intention was to hide his expression.
“How long are you staying?”
“I’m leaving early tomorrow morning. I have something to do tomorrow.”
“So you’re staying the night.”
“Why? Don’t you want me to?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t want you to. Rather…”
Ahem.
Kang Hoyeon, about to say something, cleared his throat and swallowed his words, turning his head to the side.
At that sight, the corners of Kang Taehan’s mouth twitched mischievously.
“By the way, Father, turn your back to me.”
“Why my back?”
“Let me give you a shoulder massage, like other sons do for their fathers.”
“Huh, really… Are you sure you’re not sick?”
Even as he said that, Kang Hoyeon slowly turned his back.
Kang Taehan got up from his seat and approached his father.
A bitter look suddenly appeared on his face.
‘…Father.’
A body forged by years of hard work in the kitchen.
A solid physique with no trace of fat.
However, that was just the outward appearance.
The internal structure was stiff and hardened in various places, having lost its vitality and weakened long ago.
‘This is the complete opposite of what I saw in Seoul…’
If you don’t move your body enough, the vital energy can’t circulate and stagnates, ruining your health. On the other hand, if you don’t get enough rest, your vitality gradually depletes, and your energy dries up.
Kang Hoyeon’s condition was… like dried firewood.
This was a state where even after his vitality had been depleted, his body had been overworked for so long that it had adapted and hardened in that state.
His body, hard on the outside but dried up on the inside, seemed to embody his father’s life so far.
Raising him alone, silently working.
‘He used to hand-pull the noodles himself.’
When he was young, the sound of his father hand-pulling noodles always echoed loudly in the restaurant.
People walking down the street would stop at the sound, and the restaurant would be packed with customers.
‘…When did the ‘hand-pulled noodles’ characters disappear from the sign?’
He thinks it was probably after his right shoulder surgery.
He had heard that his father’s shoulder tendon was so worn out that it could have completely ruptured.
The surgery went well, but he hadn’t heard the sound of him pounding hand-pulled noodles since then.
He hadn’t realized it at the time, but it must have had a significant impact on the restaurant’s sales.
The hand-pulled noodles, which were the restaurant’s signature dish, were gone.
‘Father’s sighs became more frequent too.’
But even so, he had kept persevering.
Kang Taehan placed his hand on Kang Hoyeon’s right shoulder.
The spot where Kang Hoyeon had surgery before.
It looked fine on the outside, but the muscle connection on either side of the internal scar was slightly misaligned.
It wouldn’t be a problem for daily life, but it would inevitably hinder him when he suddenly exerted a lot of force or raised his arm high.
‘This level of misalignment should naturally heal over time…’
It was an injury that could have been healed if he had rested properly during the recovery period and if vital energy had been consistently supplied in a stable state.
However, Kang Hoyeon rarely rested properly, and in the end, his body stiffened as he missed the recovery period.
Aftereffects had remained.
‘With this condition, even just holding a frying pan in his right hand must have caused him pain…’
Was he enduring the pain by force, or had he become so accustomed to it that his sense of pain had dulled…
Kang Taehan’s chest ached with pity.
The reason Kang Hoyeon had endured such pain was none other than Kang Taehan himself.
“Oh, right. Come to think of it, you said you learned things like massage at your university, right?”
“…Yes.”
“I’m glad I sent you to college. My son even gives me shoulder massages now.”
Hahaha.
Kang Hoyeon laughed heartily.
Kang Taehan smiled along with his father’s laughter.
“I’ll give you massages more often from now on, Father. I’m actually certified, you know.”
“Oh my, then you must be skilled.”
“Of course. You might even be able to hand-pull noodles again soon.”
Kang Taehan said with a smile on his face.
His words were not an exaggeration.