Husband Role - Episode 44

“According to the photos, there seems to be some scarring near the leg. Is that correct?”

Jung-hyuk asked the convenience store owner.

“Ah… Yes. It seemed like his knee was badly injured back then. He disappeared while our employee went to get the first aid kit.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

Jung-hyuk hung up and started calling all the emergency rooms in Gimpo. Eun-seol followed suit, contacting every police station in the Gimpo area. She didn’t forget to diligently send Bong-cheol’s photo.

“Could he be badly hurt?”

Eun-seol murmured in an anxious voice.

“He’ll be alright, don’t worry. We’re almost there.”

Jung-hyuk said, pressing down on the pedal. Unlike his calm expression, he was just as anxious.

________________________________________

Eun-seol teared up as she watched the CCTV footage at the convenience store. It was him. It was definitely Bong-cheol.

Jung-hyuk took out his phone and called someone again. Thirty minutes later, CCTV footage of the area started arriving on his phone.

Jung-hyuk quickly transferred the videos to his laptop and scanned through them. Among them, he found the back of an old man wandering around a neighborhood called Seokmori. It was twenty minutes ago, according to the timestamp.

“Let’s split up and search.”

He said, getting out of the driver’s seat. Eun-seol followed. Several cars were already parked behind them.

They were all people sent by the SD Group chairman.

Two months ago, Jung-hyuk succeeded in opening up sales channels for eco-friendly container ships, which had been the biggest headache for SD. The SNG ship succeeded in preemptively responding to the shipbuilding and marine market, and a grand naming ceremony was held.

At that time, the chairman of the SD Group proposed a golf outing to Jung-hyuk. Jung-hyuk refused. He proposed a dinner again, and he refused again.

The reason was that he was too busy.

When asked if he wasn’t free on weekends,

‘I’m newly married.’

He gave an inflexible answer.

The chairman gave in, as if defeated, and told him to name one thing he wanted. Jung-hyuk replied that he had nothing.

The chairman, after much deliberation, handed him a gold business card, telling him to contact him whenever he needed his help.

Jung-hyuk took out that business card a few days ago in Australia.

He felt that his own power was insufficient, so he asked for help.

“From now on, it’s just a matter of time. Stay sharp.”

He said, cupping Eun-seol’s cheeks.

Eun-seol nodded and looked back.

A competent-looking woman raised her hand and told her to move to her car.

Eun-seol silently took her as a companion.

And all the vehicles scattered in an orderly fashion.

________________________________________

“Gimpo… Gimpo…”

Eun-seol rolled the place name in her mouth, then suddenly exclaimed, “Ah…” with realization.

Gimpo was the hometown of her maternal grandmother, whom she didn’t even know.

Why hadn’t she thought of that?

So, this was a town full of romantic memories for young Bong-cheol.

She had vaguely heard that he had many memories in Gimpo with her grandmother, who used to work at a sewing factory.

Eun-seol searched the internet for the location of the old sewing factory and shared the information with the woman who was said to be the secretary team leader of the SD Group.

“Then I’ll go there.”

She said in a clear voice. Eun-seol nodded. Just as they were about to arrive, Jung-hyuk called.

Eun-seol immediately answered the phone.

“Hello—!”

—I found Grandpa!

His voice was uncharacteristically excited.

Eun-seol gasped in surprise. Soon, a familiar back view came into Eun-seol’s sight.

“Excuse me… Could you stop the car?”

At Eun-seol’s request, the car stopped. Eun-seol quickly jumped out of the passenger seat.

“Grandpa—!”

And she ran as fast as her heart would allow.

Grandpa!

Dad!

Dad—!

Bong-cheol, who had been held back by Jung-hyuk and looked puzzled, slowly turned his head.

Bong-cheol, looking haggard, recognized Eun-seol and smiled brightly.

Eun-seol, her face already covered in tears, hugged Bong-cheol tightly and scolded him.

“Where did you go, really…? Why are you here, why?”

“When your mother was pregnant with you, she recovered at your maternal grandmother’s house… I thought I’d visit it after a long time. But why has it changed so much? Where is this, huh?”

“Did you eat…? Did you eat anything?”

“I’m hungry, geez, I’m always hungry!”

Then a man approached from behind.

The man, who was said to be a police officer from a nearby police station, confirmed that Bong-cheol had mostly satisfied his hunger with grass and berries in the nearby mountains and had been sleeping in abandoned rural houses.

“What happened to your face?”

Eun-seol sobbed and stroked Bong-cheol’s face repeatedly, but Jung-hyuk said with a serious face, “More than that.”

When she lowered her gaze in the direction he was pointing, she saw Bong-cheol’s leg, covered in scabs. Part of the shinbone was exposed, indicating a severe fracture.

Eun-seol asked Bong-cheol why he was like this, but Bong-cheol just got angry, saying he was hungry.

The couple quickly took Bong-cheol to Seoul Hocheon Hospital.

Bong-cheol sat in the back seat and devoured kimbap, bread, Melona ice cream, and sweet rice drink.

Eun-seol’s heart felt like it was tearing as she watched him.

________________________________________

In the end, there was no way to find out what had happened to Bong-cheol’s leg. It was difficult to even guess because the person himself kept talking nonsense.

The problem wasn’t the reason. It was the fracture. His condition was much more serious than expected.

The doctor said that judging from the wound alone, it seemed to have taken more than 72 hours.

The problem was that the patient was old, so surgery involving anesthesia was difficult.

In other words, it was too late.

Therefore, all they could do in the current situation was to give him painkillers and antibiotics and watch.

Bong-cheol was admitted to the VIP ward.

Caregivers and family members frequently visited him. Among them were the Mok Dae-hyuk family.

Bong-cheol shouldn’t have remembered anything, but strangely, he hated Dae-hyuk whenever he saw him. He even urged the caregiver to sprinkle salt to drive away evil spirits.

He treated So-hee and Jun-seo as if they didn’t exist, but to Min-seo.

“You said you’d buy Melona? Did you buy it?”

He asked in a relatively friendly way.

Min-seo ran out of the hospital room with a tearful face. And she didn’t offer any special apology afterward.

Thanks to the consideration of her in-laws, Eun-seol was able to stay with Bong-cheol in his hospital room.

About two weeks passed like that.

As early autumn approached, the doctor recommended that Bong-cheol be admitted to a dementia nursing home.

“He’s having trouble moving around now. It’ll be difficult for him to live the same life as before. I’m sorry.”

“Does that mean…”

Eun-seol couldn’t accept it.

“Excuse me, but a specialist should be on standby at all times.”

The doctor continued in a heavy voice.

“Now, Director Mok’s immunity is weakened, so the underlying diseases he had may also worsen. And you should also be careful of various complications.”

“Then he’ll continue to be in the nursing home.”

“Yes. It’s absolutely impossible to take care of him at home.”

“Then please do something. You’re a doctor…!”

“Unfortunately, surgery itself will be a big burden because he’s elderly. Even if he gets over the crisis, the probability of developing complications will also increase, so it can be seen as meaningless.”

In conclusion, surgery would only hasten Bong-cheol’s death, which they didn’t know how much time he had left. It also meant that there was no good solution.

“Please, Doctor, please…”

In fact, she had vaguely guessed that there was no hope…

This was because the medical staff had no special measures despite Il-sung’s enormous pressure.

“I’m sorry.”

The doctor bowed and left, as if he had nothing more to say. Eun-seol collapsed.

Bong-cheol tilted his head, looking at Eun-seol.

“Is the grim reaper taking me away?”

Eun-seol burst into tears at Bong-cheol’s innocent question.

________________________________________

The following weekend, Jung-hyuk and Eun-seol admitted Bong-cheol to a nursing home in Gyeonggi-do.

Thankfully, the caregiver Hee-sook decided to continue caring for Bong-cheol.

Eun-seol often visited the nursing home.

Looking at Bong-cheol, who was getting weaker day by day, she only resented the time that flowed like water.

Autumn passed and winter came.

Eun-seol packed plenty of roasted sweet potatoes and sour white kimchi and came to Bong-cheol as always.

“Eun-seol.”

Bong-cheol, who had come to his senses for the first time in a while, called Eun-seol with calm eyes. Eun-seol was startled and dropped the paper bag she was holding to the floor with a thud.

And she approached Bong-cheol, her chin trembling.

“…School?”

“It’s the weekend today.”

Eun-seol replied in a choked voice. The caregiver, who had returned after washing the cups, also looked at Bong-cheol with surprised eyes.

“Did you quit?”

Bong-cheol asked, stroking Eun-seol’s cheek affectionately. Eun-seol replied, feeling the rough skin.

“I don’t know…”

“How can you not know, you rascal.”

“Hic.”

“What about Yoon?”

Two months ago, when he briefly came to his senses, he had heard about Eun-seol’s marriage from Hee-sook. Even so, it was surprising that he was aware of it.

“…He’s coming to pick me up later.”

“I wanted to say hello when I was lucid.”

Oh dear, Bong-cheol smiled sheepishly.

Eun-seol had nothing to say.

It was so precious for her grandfather, who had always acted like a child, to become a grandfather again.

Therefore, she didn’t want to waste this moment at all.

“Eun-seol.”

Bong-cheol called her again in a tender voice, “Our granddaughter.” Bong-cheol often called her that.

“…Yes.”

“Don’t give up.”

Don’t give up on anything.

“Hic.”

“Times have changed. Now, settling down with marriage… That’s all in the past. You have to live in your own name. In your beautiful name that your mother gave you. Huh?”

Bong-cheol said, not knowing when he would fade away again. He seemed a little rushed, perhaps because he knew it too.

“What… What are you talking about?”

Tears like chicken droppings streamed down Eun-seol’s eyes.

Bong-cheol smiled kindly and picked up each tear.

Oh, my baby, what precious tears.

“Don’t forget, Eun-seol. Your place is always there.”

The caregiver who was listening also dabbed her tears with a handkerchief.

“Grandpa…”

“Keep going.”

And.

“Try to be as happy as possible.”

You have to be happy for your mom and dad, and for me too.

“How precious of a child you were protected…”

Eun-seol just shed tears.

She came out tearing her mother’s life, and barely survived being hit by a truck due to her carelessness, thanks to her father’s life.

And again, in the hands of relatives. Again, in Bong-cheol’s hands.

She had been living by gnawing at someone all along.

Bong-cheol filled Eun-seol’s countless deficiencies.

But no matter how loving her maternal grandfather was, he couldn’t cut the shackles of guilt that were chained to Eun-seol’s ankles.

“Grandpa…”

Eun-seol hugged Bong-cheol tightly.

Bong-cheol, who groaned softly as if in pain, still gave her a generous smile.

It was the smile she always remembered.

But soon, the tender smile faded.

“…I’m hungry. The smell of sweet potatoes!”

He started to whine in a sparkling voice, as if a light bulb had turned on.

“The sweet potatoes are burning. The sweet potatoes are burning. Don’t do that, give them to me! I want to eat sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes. I want to eat sweet potatoes!”

“…Grandpa?”

“Ah, give me the sweet potatoes!!”

Bong-cheol, who had suddenly changed, became grumpy and angry.

“Give them to me—!”

Tears welled up in Eun-seol’s eyes as she was inadvertently hit on the head by him. But she still smiled.

“Yes, I… Hic, I brought sweet potatoes. The ones Dad likes.”

“Quickly! Quickly—!”

He was furious. Soothing him, Eun-seol quickly opened the paper bag.

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