Absolute Regression Chapter 449

449
Father started cleaning the fish.

I watched him fidget from a little distance as he skillfully removed the fish’s intestines and scales.

“I will do it, Reverend.”

“It’s okay.”

At this time, I couldn’t help but say something.

“The loyalty of the old man who tries to pull the fish out can’t do anything about my fishing skills.”

I won the big fish fishing competition with my father.

“It’s a natural result. Just because my father is holding a wooden sword doesn’t mean he can’t kill someone with a treasured sword, right?”

Father glanced at Hwi.

Hwi smiled awkwardly at the expression on his face that said, “Can’t you do something about that mouth?”

My father was serious about cooking.

As if to prove it, he extended his hand toward the carriage again.

“What is it this time?”

Then the hatch opened and something else flew out from inside. It was a number of small bottles. Surprisingly, they were bottles containing seasoning.

I was touched once again. My father had even prepared seasonings for cooking on this trip.

The food my father cooked that way was truly excellent.

“It’s delicious. It really tastes better to me than what the chefs made.”

I could sense a proud look on my father’s face. It seemed like he would be happier receiving praise for his cooking than his martial arts skills.

That night we camped.

We were lying around a campfire, and this prank couldn’t be missed.

Unlike the first day, I slept far away from my father.

Then my father glanced at me.

“Didn’t you say you would endure the smell of blood and sleep with it?”

“Did I do that?”

“If my nose disappeared, I would smell less, right?”

My father picked up the knife he had been using to cut the fish.

When my father turned to me, I had already moved to the bed right next to him and was lying down.

“Aren’t you sleeping?”

My father smiled faintly. I could feel my father’s joy in that fleeting smile.

My father also lay down next to me. The distance between me and my father was much closer than when we went hunting.

“Actually, there’s no smell at all.”

“embrace.”

Just as if he were driving away the effects of alcohol, my father had already dissipated the fishy smell into the air.

I turned my head while lying down and looked at my father. He was looking up at the night sky without saying a word. What is he thinking right now?

What are you thinking? It’s revenge.

“Let’s go night fishing again.”

I laughed out loud. My father would never have regrets if he had lost in a martial arts match. But fishing was different.

“Are you serious?”

“I’ll catch a lot this time. Instead, I’ll change my fishing rod. I’ve never liked that old man, Donghae Eo-ong, since then.”

This is my father. I really like the way my father acts, not by seeking better conditions because he lost, but by willingly accepting the disadvantage when he wants to have another game after losing.

“great.”

My father and I got up from our seats and grabbed our fishing rods. My father grabbed the fishing rod I made, and I grabbed the Donghae Eoong fishing rod. It was light and fit comfortably in my hand, so it was a good fishing rod.

“Uncle Whee. I know it’s boring, but Dad is making a fish dish for breakfast tomorrow too!”

* * *

The next morning, my father was cleaning the fish.

Night fishing was also a triumph for me. I literally caught fish wherever I casted them. I caught so many that I released them all except for enough to eat.

“The Donghae Eoong fishing rod in my hand is just like the Cheonmagum in my father’s hand.”

I teased him on purpose. If I hadn’t teased him like this, my father’s pride would have been really hurt.

“I know you lost on purpose. If you let me cook, you’ll have a bad breakfast. Right?”

My father’s knife, which was cutting the fish, stopped. From a distance, Whi shook his head, telling me to stop. If that knife is flying at me, it won’t just have a fishy smell.

As soon as I closed my mouth, my father’s knife started moving again.

“Today is a day of rescue.”

I said it loudly.

“I’ll light the bonfire.”

So I ate grilled fish that my father cooked himself for breakfast.

You might say that grilled fish is just so-so, but don’t say that if you haven’t tried Cheonma’s grilled fish. My father was also very good at grilling fish.

As we were finishing our meal, our eyes turned to one place.

I felt someone coming towards me.

His father stopped Hwi from getting up from his seat.

“Just stay there.”

My father had already figured out the invisible opponent.

After a while, someone appeared there.

The man who appeared limping was on the verge of collapse.

“Water, please give me some water.”

He relaxed when he saw us and collapsed on his seat. He had met three unmanned people in a remote place, and although it was a situation that should have made him even more nervous, he was not in the right frame of mind to understand the situation.

I gave him water first. His clothes were torn and he looked like a mess, as if he had wandered around the mountains. His injured ankle was especially swollen.

“How long have you been starving?”

“Three days? Four days? I’m not sure.”

I gave him some rice and the remaining fish.

“Chew it thoroughly.”

“thank you.”

He was so hungry that he ate without hesitation.

After I finished eating, my father examined my body. He watched me like that without saying a word.

“You hurt your leg.”

Then the man said to me.

“I got hurt when I misstepped on the mountain.”

“It seems like it would be difficult to get to the village by that bridge. Let me take a look for you.”

Fortunately, no bones were broken. I treated his sprained ankle and applied a splint with a branch. His expression became as relaxed as my skills.

“Thank you, thank you very much.”

Only then did the man feel relieved. He was now free from the fear that he might die.

“How did you get lost?”

“I was looking for herbs and that’s how it turned out.”

No matter how I looked at it, his behavior didn’t look like that of a herbalist.

“Is anyone in your family sick?”

“no.”

His circumstances were completely unexpected.

The man’s name was Lim Gye. He said he was running a school in the village to teach children how to read and write.

“My father worked as an unmanned employee at Cheonmasin Church, but he resigned this year.”

Not far from the main temple, this is the territory of the Cheonmasin Church.

It is said that his father never learned proper martial arts, so he spent his entire life as a low-ranking warrior before retiring.

And this year just so happens to be my father’s 60th birthday.

Lim Ki-geun wanted to make his father happy by inviting the head of Zidane, the club his father used to play for, to his 60th birthday party. He thought his father would be really happy if Zidane came to celebrate.

“But he said that it would cost fifty nyang to invite Jidanju.”

“Who is it?”

“There is a person in the village who is in touch with the Jidanju. He said that it costs money to invite Myeongsuk to a banquet. The amount varies depending on the value of the name. It also varies depending on the length of stay. He said that if the Jidanju comes for a moment to congratulate her and leave, it costs fifty nyang.”

I glanced at my father and asked.

“How much does your father get paid?”

My playful question brought a smirk to my father’s lips.

Would you move if your father gave you a hundred thousand nyang, or would you move for a million nyang? He is a man you wouldn’t be able to call even if he gave you ten million nyang.

In that sense, if you were to calculate the cost of this trip in monetary terms, it would be an amount that would be beyond imagination.

“Even if you give him that money, Zidane probably won’t come.”

Lim Ki-geun was surprised by my words and asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“If it is revealed that a high-ranking member of the religious order has taken bribes and made private moves, he will not only be removed from his position, but he may even be locked up in a prison. But he would never move for fifty nyang.”

“Oh, I see. I’ve spent my whole life studying, so I’m not familiar with the ways of the world.”

He lowered his head. It seemed as if he believed what I said. Do you know who I am and believe me?

“That guy will take the fifty nyang and later say, ‘I suddenly have an important appointment with Jidanju.’ What will you do then? Will you go and argue with him? Will you give him back the money even if you argue with him?”

The world is full of people who steal money from innocent people.

“If I have a good heart, I think others will have a good heart too. But that’s not the case in reality, right?”

The sigh of relief deepened.

“My father worked hard for his family his entire life. I wanted to do something for him, but as time goes by, it’s not as easy as I thought.”

“Do we really need to go out of our way to invite Zidane? Even if he comes, I don’t think he’ll sincerely congratulate us.”

“That’s right. Zidane probably doesn’t even know his father’s name.”

That’s the reality. There are hundreds of unmanned personnel in Zidane, so how can they know the lower-level unmanned personnel?

“But why?”

“Whenever my father had a drink, he would often say this. Even though I live as a lowly civilian, even though I am lowly, even though I do not have a big role.”

In those words, I felt the regret of wanting to shout at my child at least once, but ending up not being able to do so.

“So I wanted to have someone high up come and brag in front of me. I wanted to have him brag in front of my family, relatives, and the townspeople. Rather than saying thank you for your hard work, I just thought that was the way to go for my father.”

How can I not know his heart?

In terms of wanting to do something for my father, he and I on this trip were not much different.

“I heard that if you dig up a hundred-year-old ginseng, it will easily be worth over a hundred nyang. Even though I knew that something so precious would never catch my eye, I couldn’t just stay at home.”

Tears welled up in his eyes.

“I’ll be going now. Today is my father’s 60th birthday party, and if I hadn’t met these precious people, I almost wouldn’t have been able to attend. You are my lifelong benefactor. Thank you so much.”

He bowed his head several times and then left where we were.

* * *

Fortunately, Lim Ki-woo returned home without being late.

“Brother! What the hell happened?”

He said he would be out for a few days, but his younger brother had been worried because of his unusual behavior.

“I’m sorry. It just happened that way.”

“Are you feeling okay?”

“It’s okay. Are you ready for the birthday?”

“My aunts came and helped me.”

His father, Im Hak, looked at him and spoke bluntly.

“Now that you’re here, it’s okay.”

I didn’t know it before, but as I got older, I could feel my father’s heart. His worry and relief.

‘sorry.’

I began to think that perhaps the reason I wandered around the mountains for a few days was not for my father, but for myself. To ease my mind. To say that I had tried this hard.

Family and relatives gathered, and people from the neighborhood were also invited.

But my father did not invite Zidane’s people. He did not invite them at all, saying that they would be a bother to his old colleagues.

I could sense my father’s concern. Who would be interested in a 60th birthday party for a retired low-level military man? If he invited no one and they didn’t show up, it would be hard to endure the humiliation in front of his children.

And when many people gather, there are always people like this.

“I guess no one from the Demonic Cult came?”

He was a local official who ran a military office in the village. No matter how low-ranking he was, he was someone who could not act recklessly when his father belonged to the Cheonmasin Church.

But after leaving school, his eyes and attitude changed.

“I didn’t call you on purpose. I’m just bothering people who are busy working.”

“It’s not like I called you but you didn’t come?”

Rather than saying that my father had bad intentions, he was someone who would often say negative things like this. Aren’t there people like that? People who make you feel bad even if you say the same thing.

But please bear with me today. But I can’t show my displeasure. After all, he was a military leader who had properly trained in martial arts.

“Just kidding, just kidding. Why are you so serious? People get more timid as they get older.”

He was a nuisance to the end.

It was just then.

The door opened and a group of guests came in. As the sword-wielding warriors rushed in, the room became quiet.

Lim Hak was surprised when he saw them.

“Your Majesty!”

Surprisingly, Zidane’s colleagues and Zidane’s owner came to visit him. Not only Lim Kye, but also the villagers were surprised.

“Im Mu-in, it’s your 60th birthday, right? I came to congratulate you.”

Imhak was so surprised and embarrassed by those words that he didn’t know what to do.

His juniors who had worked with him came to congratulate him. Some of them were close to him, but there were also some who were not so close to him.

“Please sit here.”

“No, you are the main character today, so sit at the head of the table.”

Zidane was an example. I wondered how this person knew and why he was being so polite, but at the same time, I felt great joy.

It was in front of his son and daughter. The townspeople were also watching. The head of the military government, who had been talking nonchalantly, was watching this scene with a very intimidated expression.

“If you have any problems in the future, please contact me at any time.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Imhak was happy, but at the same time he couldn’t understand the situation.

I’ve worked as a low-level unmanned person and have met many landlords, but I’ve never had a private conversation with them. This landlord is no different. He’s someone who doesn’t even know my name.

The secret is now out. Zidane also spoke cautiously with a puzzled expression.

“How did you know to send this?”

Zidane carefully took out a small box from his bosom.

Imhak became nervous as he watched his hands tremble. What on earth is that?

“Okay, take it and open it.”

Limhak opened the box, which he had received without thinking.

Surprisingly, what was inside was a hundred-year-old ginseng.

“You gave me such a precious gift!”

Lim Hak’s hands, holding the box, trembled. Not only Lim Gye, but also the villagers came over to look at the hundred-year-old ginseng.

But what would surprise Limhak was from now on.

“It’s not my gift.”

At Zidan’s words, Imhak unfolded the paper that was in the box.

Imhak, who confirmed the contents, opened his eyes wide. Lim Gye-gi saw his father so surprised for the first time. Lim Gye-gi, who was standing next to him, screamed after confirming the contents. The villagers were also terrified.

Imhak put down the box and bowed. Lim Gye-do also bowed.

Tears flowed from Imhak’s eyes and fell onto the wrinkled back of his hand. He had lived a difficult life since he entered the religious world at the age of seventeen.

In order to feed my children, I endured the pain and lived through hardships to the point of death. In fact, I almost died several times.

And the short note on the note washed away all the hardships of the past.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to you for your dedication to our school.

Cheonmasingyo leader, Geum Woo-jin.

Absolute Return Episode 450