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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Family Is an Inspiration, Too
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"Ah, Eomma, it's Hyunsoo. Are you busy?"
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"Ah, yes, I finished it up just fine. Eomma, are you and Abeoji both home this weekend?"
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"Then is it okay if I come home today?"
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"No, no, Eomma, I'm not busy. If you're both okay with it, I'll head over today. I want to rest at home for a bit. If I leave now, I should get there around… 6 p.m. for dinner. Let's have dinner together for the first time in a while."
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"Okay, okay, I understand. We can just have a simple meal, so don't go to too much trouble. See you later, Eomma."
I hung up and took a shower.
I put on the most presentable clothes I had and, for the first time in a while, used gel to slick my hair back neatly in a pomade style.
It's been half a year since I last saw them; I should at least look neat.
Before heading to the bus stop, I stopped by a nearby supermarket and bought a Korean beef gift set.
'It's nice to have money.'
The price was 130,000 won. In the past, my hands would have trembled buying it, but now, it didn't feel like a huge amount.
My destination was Danyang, in Chungcheongbuk-do.
From the Seongnam Express Bus Terminal, the ride takes exactly one hour and fifty minutes.
As the bus sped along, instead of closing my eyes, I found myself lost in thought, gazing at the scenery beyond the highway.
The endless mountains and the blue sky seemed to ease some of my frustration.
'Why am I so excited just to be going home?'
The success of the indie game, the offer of a PD position, the cash that would soon fill my bank account…
Was it because my situation had changed so much from just a few months ago?
I was simply returning to my hometown, but for some reason, I felt proud and excited.
After getting off at the bus terminal, this feeling intensified as I walked home, making my steps feel lighter.
At last, I arrived at my family home.
I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.
*Ding-dong—*
A moment later, a familiar voice came through the intercom.
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"I'm here."
*Ziiiing—*
The door clicked open, and beyond it stood a middle-aged woman with a gentle face.
My mother, approaching with her arms wide open.
"Oh, my baby, it's been so long."
I stepped forward to meet her and gave her a light hug.
It felt so comforting.
It wasn't just my mother's embrace; the nostalgic scent of the house I grew up in and the unchanged view from the window melted away my feelings of suffocation and despair.
I could immediately tell that choosing to spend the weekend at home was a good decision.
"You're here, Adeul! Your noona is at the guesthouse getting some things ready. She said she'll be here in about ten minutes."
"Okay, Appa."
While I was hugging my mother, my father, wearing reading glasses, spoke to me from behind her with a gentle smile.
"I bought this so we could eat it together."
I pulled away from my mother's embrace and held out the Korean beef set I was carrying.
A pleased smile spread across both their faces.
"My goodness, why did you buy something so expensive? We were just going to have pork belly for dinner, but we can have this with it. Come on, take off your coat, wash your hands, and let's eat."
I folded my coat and tossed it on the sofa, then headed straight for the dining table.
Soybean paste stew, wild greens, rolled omelets, seasoned dried squid, and a grill…
It wasn't what you'd call a grand feast, but it was a table filled with my mother's care and love.
I drank a cup of water from the table and waited for my sister to return.
"Oh, Jo Hyunsoo, you're here? What are you doing here on a weekend?"
"Do I need a reason to come see my family?"
A moment later, my older sister arrived.
Jo Hyunmi was home.
She runs a guesthouse by the Danyangcheon stream, about a ten-minute walk from the house, so it seemed she worked on weekends too.
"You little punk, saying the right thing for once. Welcome, welcome."
Apparently pleased with my response, my sister expressed her affection by ruffling my hair.
Feeling the warmth of my family for the first time in a long while, I felt a lump form in my throat.
'Wait, this feeling… could I possibly use this?'
Just then, an idea flashed through my mind.
"So, is everything going well at your company these days?"
During the meal, my mother casually started a conversation.
As I grilled the meat, I replied with a slight smile.
"It's going well. I might even get a promotion soon if I'm lucky."
"Oh, my son is so capable, isn't he?"
Well, I didn't feel the need to go on about how the game was a huge hit or that I might become a PD.
I wasn't so thoughtless as to raise my parents' expectations, and even if I told them, they wouldn't easily understand.
"Ooooh, Jo Hyunsoo. Look at you, doing so well."
"What do you mean, doing well…"
My sister chimed in, exaggerating my mother's words.
"Hey, that is doing well. You should know this. It's not common for people to make a living doing what they love, you know? In this day and age, you've basically achieved your dream."
"What I love… I guess that might be true."
As the conversation started flowing, my father naturally added his thoughts.
"Aigoo, Hyunsoo, do you know how much we worried when you said you wanted to do that game scenario thing…?"
"Oh, you did?"
"Well, it's all worked out now, but would people our age have ever thought you could make money from that? You said you were writing, so we thought you'd be cooped up in some dusty room like an old scholar, starving. If I had my way, I would have broken your legs to stop you, but your mother and sister kept telling me to let you do what you want, so I stayed quiet."
In a way, it was to be expected.
Parents want their children to have stable jobs, and they already had a negative perception of games.
"Then I guess I should thank Eomma and Noona."
"You bet you should!"
My sister said playfully again, and I replied with a "Thank you~" as I placed a few pieces of perfectly grilled meat on everyone's plates.
Laughter filled the dining table for a moment.
Just then, a thought crossed my mind.
'A dream. So, I was a person walking toward my dream after all.'
Until now, I thought I hadn't achieved my dream.
I thought a dream was just a destination, a race that ends once you arrive.
But in that brief conversation, I found myself reconsidering what a dream really is.
'Maybe I've been mistaken about something.'
I had always thought I hadn't achieved my dream.
Even after getting a job as a game scenario writer, even after succeeding with *The Forgotten Andersen's Story*…
Because I hadn't reached that finish line, the exact nature of which I didn't even know, I thought I hadn't succeeded.
But my family was telling me I had succeeded in achieving my dream.
It suddenly occurred to me that maybe a dream isn't about reaching a destination, but about the journey itself.
'Family and dreams…'
I thought I had achieved my dream of becoming a game scenario writer all by myself, but when I thought about it, my family's support had been there all along.
I decided to dig a little deeper into this.
"Since we're on the topic, I'm curious. What were all of your dreams?"
"A dream? Well, for our family to be healthy and live happily together, and it would be nice to make good money, things like that."
"No, not that. What you wanted to be, Eomma. What was your dream?"
"Me? Well, I liked clothes, so I often thought about becoming a fashion designer. I even worked as an assistant at a dressmaker's shop for a few months."
The moment I heard that, I felt a surge of emotion welling up inside me.
I had always thought my parents weren't particularly interested in my dream, but I realized that it was me who hadn't been interested in theirs.
"Then why did you quit?"
"Why are you asking things like that in the middle of a meal?"
"It's interesting. Just tell me."
"Well, I got older, married this man here, and then you kids came along, so I was too busy to even think about it."
"What about you, Appa?"
"Me? I liked to draw, so I thought about becoming a painter, but how would that make any money? I had to raise you kids, so I looked for work that paid, and before I knew it, here I am."
As the mood seemed to dip slightly, my sister chimed in.
"Aigoo, you both worked so hard raising your kids."
"If you know that now, you'd better be good to us."
"How can I be any better than I am now?"
"Honestly, all your filial piety is just talk."
Both of them had given up their dreams to raise their children.
They spoke of it like a joke, passing it off as something natural, but I saw a faint, wistful emotion in my parents' eyes.
'I think I have a rough idea of the story I want to tell.'
Sooner than I expected, I felt I had found the story I wanted to tell, and it was close by.
I would need to flesh out the specific form it would take, but I had a vague confidence that I could shape the complex emotions I was feeling right now into a game.
"That was a delicious meal!"
A little while later, dinner was over.
My sister cleared the table, and I stood at the sink and did the dishes.
In the evening, we gathered in the living room and spent time chatting while watching the trot audition program my parents enjoyed.
Perhaps because it was my first time home in a while, my head, which had felt blocked and ready to burst just this afternoon, felt a little calmer.
And so another day passed. The next day, I bought lunch at a nearby braised seafood restaurant.
"Aigoo, it's nice having a son who earns money. To think we're being treated to a meal by Hyunsoo."
"See? It was a good thing we just let him do that game stuff, right, Appa?"
"Well, how was I supposed to know things would turn out like this?"
The gentle sunlight shone down on all of us.
To kill some time, we sat at the café attached to my sister's guesthouse and each ordered a drink to our liking.
The view of the Danyangcheon stream and the hang gliders soaring in the blue sky was a pleasant sight.
With a relaxed heart, I slowly began to speak.
"I'm curious again, what else did you do in your early twenties, Eomma?"
"Why do you keep asking things like that since yesterday?"
"It's just interesting."
As I gave a vague excuse, my sister, sitting next to me, nudged our mother with her elbow.
"Eomma, I think he's trying to use this for his writing. Just tell him some stories. Right, Jo Hyunsoo?"
"Well, something like that."
Thanks a lot.
I had avoided asking so directly because I was worried I'd get contrived answers.
"Oh, really? What's there in my story to be of any use? But if my son needs it, I should tell him. You should speak up too, dear. Our son needs it, he says."
"Ahem, hold on a minute, woman. If we're going to talk about the old days, I need to properly jog my memory."
Once my sister laid the groundwork by saying it was for my work, my parents readily began to share stories of their youth.
People rarely dislike being the center of a story, so while they pretended to be reluctant, they seemed to be quite enjoying the situation.
I listened intently, chiming in at the right moments, and whenever an idea struck or I thought of something I could use as material, I jotted it down in a chat room on my phone as if taking notes.
'This is actually pretty fun.'
I'd always thought my relationship with my parents was decent, but this felt like an opportunity to get to know them on a deeper level.
About an hour or two passed like that.
"Phew, it's been a long time since I've talked so much my mouth feels dry."
"Still, thanks to my son, it wasn't bad getting to talk all about myself like this."
My sister, tired of listening, was leaning back in her chair, her head bobbing, and my parents looked relieved, as if they had said all they needed to say.
"Hyunsoo, when are you heading back to Seoul?"
"I was thinking of going home to pack my things and then heading up."
"Why? Can't you sleep over and leave early tomorrow morning?"
"I think I'd be too tired. I should probably get to the office early, too. I'll come again soon."
"Alright then, if you have to go, you have to go."
Leaving my sister, who had to work at the guesthouse, we returned home.
As I was about to leave after packing my clothes and phone charger in my bag, my mother handed me a small paper bag.
"I packed some side dishes, so put them in the fridge as soon as you get home and eat them whenever."
"Aw, you don't have to pack these for me."
"Just say thank you and take them when I give them to you. When you're living alone, you're too busy to eat properly, aren't you? At least if you have side dishes, you can have a simple meal at home. Or what, are you hiding a wife at home who can cook for you?"
"...Eomma, you know your son doesn't have a girlfriend, right?"
"You think I don't? Then you should find a nice girl somewhere and get married already."
"...Okay."
I felt like I'd been sucker-punched from a completely unexpected direction.
"I'll get going then."
The bus stop was less than a ten-minute walk from the house, so I left on my own.
5:30 p.m. The sky was already blushing red as the sun began to set.
The sunlight hit the Danyangcheon stream, scattering into jewel-like fragments, and the sight of hang gliders cutting through the air felt like a painting.
At that moment, a flash of inspiration struck me.
'…The ending scene should have that kind of feeling.'
I immediately raised my phone and frantically snapped several pictures of the sky.
"Hey mister, the bus is about to leave. Aren't you getting on?"
"Ah, sorry. The sunset is just so beautiful."
Urged on by the driver, I lowered my hand and boarded the bus.
Then I leaned against the window and continued to gaze at the scenery outside.
Parents, dreams, sunset, youth, and so on. The emotions, keywords, and images I had felt over the weekend swirled complexly in my mind, vaguely shaping the form of something I wanted to create.
I didn't have a concrete image yet, but since the first step is always the hardest, I was quite satisfied with my current situation.
'It was a good idea to come down here.'