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Looking back, I didn’t have a good relationship with my father.

It wasn’t that I was subjected to domestic violence, or that I wandered around as a teenager. It’s just that his father was busy until late at night, and Kang Tae-han prioritized other things over his relationship with his father, whom he couldn’t even see.

I can only see your face once or twice a day.

At some point, it felt difficult to talk to her, and the conversation naturally cut off. It was just that kind of relationship, where we only exchanged greetings from time to time.

‘Indeed… It was clumsy.’

myself and my father too.

At that time, I couldn’t understand my father.

No, I didn’t try to understand.

Because I already knew then.

The reason why my mother died and my father’s words decreased.

The reason why you stayed at the store late every night.

Even so, he avoided facing his father.

I have more urgent matters, so I can tell you later.

He had secretly thought that his father would always be there, waiting for him.

A mistake and an illusion that everyone realizes belatedly.

The only thing that was more fortunate than others was that Kang Tae-han was able to come back after he was old enough to realize it. When I can go see my father.

“It’s a little different here.”

Kang Tae-han, who got off the bus, muttered as he looked around. A complex terminal in Dong-gu, Daejeon. The scenery around my room in Seoul was the same as I remembered, but here, unlike my memory, I often noticed signboards I had never seen before.

The reason was simple.

Excluding the 60 years in Moorim, it was because it had been a long time since he returned to Daejeon. If I remember correctly, it was the first time I came back after being discharged from the army.

‘I thought this cafe would never fail… Well? Did this store come to Daejeon as well?’

A road so familiar that you can walk even with your eyes closed. However, Kang Tae-han slowly walked along the road, pointing out the parts that had changed little by little from his memories.

From the main road to the small road, from the small road to the alley.

If you walk like that… A Chinese restaurant as old as the old signboard appears.

Taehan Spot.

what to hide The two letters on that signboard were taken from Kang Tae-han’s own name. Kang Tae-han stood there for a while, staring at the signboard, then slowly opened the door and entered.

“I am here, father.”

“… okay. Are you here?”

I looked around and there was no one in the store. I only heard my father’s short reply from the kitchen. Kang Tae-han moved into the kitchen.

“Did you have dinner?”

“no.”

“Then eat first.”

Kang Tae-han’s father, Kang Ho-yeon, who answered indifferently, quietly lit a fire and placed a fan on it.

* * *

Add cooking oil and fry the pork on it.

When the color of the meat comes up, add the onions and stir-fry them together, seasoning them with soy sauce and oyster sauce to enhance the flavor.

The savory smell of roasted meat.

When the onion is browned and a sweet fragrance begins to rise, add the rest of the vegetables and chunjang that has been stir-fried in advance and stir-fry on your own.

The salty yet sweet smell of jjajang that draws your taste buds.

Now stir-fry each vegetable until it is shiny and colored evenly, and pour the stir-fried sauce on the noodles, and it’s done.

“Is it soy sauce?”

“You like it.”

“… It does.”

Kang Tae-han stared blankly at the soy sauce in front of him.

He stayed in Murim, or China, for a long time, but ironically, the food he missed the most was Chinese food.

Especially this ganjajang that my father freshly stir-fried.

I missed this snack so much. Kang Tae-han silently rubbed the soy sauce and raised one chopstick.

Noodles that are nicely rubbed and glossy.

Kang Tae-han’s chopsticks went straight into his mouth.

“Does it fit in your mouth?”

“… Yes. It’s delicious, Father.”

“Recently, I changed the chunjang, so it’s good.”

Kang Ho-yeon said as he brought kimchi on a plate. He silently watched his son eat, and Tae-han Kang emptied a bowl of soy sauce to the floor in an instant.

“… Where are you starving?”

“It’s not like that, it’s been a while since I’ve eaten.”

“I guess there is no Ganjjajang in Seoul.”

It was the first soy sauce eaten in sixty years without exaggeration, but Kang Ho-yeon could neither know nor explain it. Kang Tae-han just smiled.

“No matter how many Chinese restaurants there are in Seoul, I can’t eat the ganjajang freshly fried by my father.”

“… After going to Seoul, your speaking skills have improved.”

He replied bluntly, but Kang Ho-yeon’s lips moved slightly. It was a subtle change that would have gone unnoticed in the past, but now Kang Tae-han was able to fully notice it.

Is that all?

When he entered the store, he did not even look up, but Kang Tae-han knew that his father had turned red and that the corners of his mouth were twitching while he was roasting the jjajang.

‘I had to visit right away.’

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Looking back at that time, I thought I had to come back after achieving something plausible and grandiose.

where is the need Just seeing his son come over, just feeding him a meal makes him so happy. A smile slowly spread across Kang Tae-han’s lips.

“So, what brought you here?”

“No big deal. I just want to see my father.”

The corners of Kang Ho-yeon’s mouth twitched once more at Kang Tae-han’s unfamiliar answer. This time, it was a clear reaction that anyone could tell.

“… this guy where are you sick? What’s going on?”

“no? why.”

“no… It’s strange. It’s strange to call.”

“Is it strange to call you?”

“I always called him dad, but he was called father only twice. When you first went on vacation, and when you return after your first vacation.”

“Yes… was it?”

When I heard it, it seems that it was.

haha. Kang Tae-han burst out laughing involuntarily. It was the most embarrassing feeling I’ve had in decades.

“What… It’s okay if it’s not a big deal. It doesn’t feel bad to be called father.”

After Kang Ho-yeon finished speaking, he took a drink of water. The purpose was to hide the expression.

“How long are you going to stay?”

“I’m leaving early tomorrow morning. I have work tomorrow.”

“Then I will go to sleep.”

“why. Do you like it?”

“I never said no. rather… … .”

greatness. Kang Ho-yeon, who was about to say something, swallowed his words with a cough and turned his head to the side.

The corners of Kang Tae-han’s mouth twitched at that sight.

“Rather than that, Father, turn your back.”

“Why the back?”

“I’ll rub my father’s shoulder like everyone else does.”

“Heh heh, really… Aren’t you really sick?”

Even so, Kang Ho-yeon slowly turned his back.

Kang Tae-han gets up from his seat and approaches him. In an instant, a bitter look appeared on his face.

‘… father.’

A body built from long hours of grueling kitchen work.

It is a solid body that cannot be found in flab.

However, that is only an outward appearance. Inside, the interior has long since hardened and lost its vitality.

‘It’s the exact opposite of what I saw in Seoul… … .’

If you don’t move your body enough, your vitality won’t turn around and it will stay in place and ruin your body.

Kang Ho-yeon’s condition is… It looks like dry firewood.

This is because the overwork continued for a long time even when the vitality was already depleted, and the body became adapted to it and hardened.

The body, which was hard on the outside and dry on the inside, seemed to show the father’s life in itself. He raised himself alone and worked silently.

‘In the past, you pulled out the shave by hand.’

When I was young, in my father’s shop, the sound of hand-picking noodles always rang loudly. The sound made people walking on the street stop, and the store was also full of customers.

‘… Since when, the letters disappeared when I was beaten on the signboard.’

It must have been after he had surgery on his right shoulder.

Did you say that the shoulder tendons were so worn out that they could have been cut off altogether? The surgery went well, but I haven’t heard the sound of tapping on the face since then.

I didn’t know it well then, but it must have had a big impact on the store’s sales. Hand-made noodles have fallen out of the house where hand-made noodles were a feature.

‘My father’s sighs have also become more frequent.’

However, you continued to persevere.

Kang Tae-han put his hand on Kang Ho-yeon’s right shoulder.

The place where Kang Ho-yeon had surgery in the past. It looked fine on the outside, but the connection between the muscles on both sides was slightly dislocated based on the inside knife seat.

There would be no problem in daily life, but it was a structure that inevitably became an obstacle when suddenly applying great force or raising the arm.

‘A crack like this will naturally recover over time… … .’

It is a wound that could have been repaired if he had properly rested during the recovery period and had been supplied with vitality in a stable state.

However, Kang Ho-yeon rarely took a proper rest, and in the end, her body stiffened as she missed the recovery period. The aftereffects will remain.

‘At this rate, even holding a frying pan with your right hand would have been painful… … .’

Are you forcibly enduring the pain, or have you become accustomed to it and have dulled your sense of pain? A corner of Kang Tae-han’s chest felt numb.

The reason Kang Ho-yeon endured this pain must have been none other than Kang Tae-han, himself.

“Oh. Come to think of it, you said you were learning something like massage in the department, right?”

“… Yes.”

“It was good that you sent me to college. My son rubs his shoulders like this.”

heh heh heh

Kang Ho-yeon laughed lightly. Kang Tae-han also smiled at that laugh.

“I will massage you often from now on, Father. Since then, I have a certificate.”

“Oi, then you must be good at it.”

“sure. Sooner or later, you will be able to pull out hand-tipped noodles as well.”

Kang Tae-han said with a smile on his lips. His words were by no means exaggerated.