Chapter 1501 Continuing On (1)

“Seriously, just how far is he thinking of going?” Han Jin-Seong dazedly muttered while watching a certain commercial playing on the TV. Because Kang Jin-Ho’s face was plastered all over the screen.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time that happened. There was that one time he appeared on a TV drama, after all. Although, the man himself considered that an embarrassing black mark in his personal history for some reason! Han Jin-Seong didn’t mind, though, since he enjoyed watching the drama. But this ad was a lot different from that starring role.

Back then, Kang Jin-Ho wasn’t playing a major character. But in this commercial? Anybody with eyes could tell he was the main character in it. Maybe that was why the impression Han Jin-Seong and the others got felt completely different this time.

Jo Mi-Hye exclaimed in awe. “Holy cow! Jin-Ho oppa is sooo good-looking, isn’t he?”

“Well, I think Yeon-Ha noona is also pretty, though?”

“Geez! They both are seriously perfect for each other. Life can be so unfair, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Someone is enjoying coffee with a man like that, but look at me, munching on snacks with a squid like you.”

Han Jin-Seong got triggered and glared at Jo Mi-Hye. “What the?! Listen, you! I also wanna share snacks with someone like Yeon-Ha noona, okay!”

“The moment you said you wanna share snacks is when you lost that argument, oppa.”

“...Eh?”

“Forget it. You aren’t gonna get it even if I explain, anyway. I might as well talk to a wall.”

Jo Mi-Hye helplessly shook her head as if she had given up. Han Jin-Seong strongly felt that he got the short end of the stick just now, but still instinctively understood that opening his trap any further wouldn’t improve his situation.

He shifted his gaze back to the TV and scratched his cheek sheepishly. “By the way, don’t you think Jin-Ho hyung is, you know? Amazing?”

“What do you mean?”

“When he first showed up, he was simply Yu-Min’s hyung’s school friend, right? He was a bit like... Uh, naïve? Not quite okay up there? No, that’s not right. Mm...”

“Yeah, it felt like he was missing a few screws in his head.”

“Well, that’s also not quuuite right either, but...”

In Han Jin-Seong’s memories, Kang Jin-Ho had always been a genuinely wonderful person.

The Seongsim Orphanage kids had always been good at judging people. They couldn’t help but be sensitive toward how others viewed them, since they had no one to protect them and defend them till the end if they did something wrong.

It was a sad story, indeed; no matter how wonderful the orphanage was, those who grew up in one would always be this way.

Han Jin-Seong was like that, too. And in his view, Kang Jin-Ho really was an amazing person. From when he started frequenting the orphanage’s corridors as a youngster till now, he didn’t hold a speck of prejudice toward the orphans, after all.

Still, something about him was a bit...

“Calling it missing screws is a biiit weird. But it did feel like he was missing something, didn’t he?”

Jo Mi-Hye frowned cutely. “Isn’t that the same thing?”

“No, because him missing screws implies he’s a dummy. You know he’s not.”

“Mm... Yeah, you’re right. Jin-Ho oppa is definitely not dumb.”

The orphanage back then wasn’t as large as it was now. The orphans relied only on Sister Yi, the late director of the orphanage, for their emotional support in those days. Thanks to her endless affection and kindness, these kids could maintain their sparkle and brightness compared to kids from other orphanages, but that wouldn’t be quite enough at the end of the day.

After all, affection alone wasn’t enough to overcome the lack of support or the chronic shortage of funds. Han Jin-Seong could only remember Park Yu-Min’s slumped shoulders whenever he tried to comb through the memories of those days.

But then, Kang Jin-Ho suddenly appeared out of nowhere one day. And he became a part of the orphanage as if he had been living here all along.

“If you think about it, isn’t Jin-Ho hyung a weirdo?”

“In what way?”

“You don’t usually hang out the whole day in an orphanage because your friend lives there, now do you?”

“...Well, I guess not.”

The truth was that Han Jin-Seong and Jo Mi-Hye both enjoyed healthy-enough social lives outside the orphanage. Even then, their friends had never visited them here. Not even once.

A part of the blame lay with the two not wanting to bring their friends here, but it was also true that they weren’t sure who to invite in the first place. After all, their former orphanage was located on the top of a steep hill in a slum in the past.

But Kang Jin-Ho used a bicycle to “commute” to such an orphanage all the while giving Park Yu-Min a ride in the back, too!

“Yeah, Jin-Ho oppa is not normal.”

“In more ways than one, yeah.”

Even now, Park Yu-Min valued Kang Jin-Ho as a family member. It wasn’t an exaggeration either; he’d unhesitantly sacrifice himself if the latter ever found himself in danger.

Some people might say he was being overly sentimental, but not Han Jin-Seong. He could understand where Park Yu-Min was coming from.

Yup, other people will never get it.

The joy felt by those who were stuck at the bottom of society and constantly exposed to contempt and discrimination from a young age after finally meeting someone who treated them like a normal person... Now that was something ordinary folks living ordinary lives would never understand.

Han Jin-Seong, too, had been saved by Kang Jin-Ho treating him normally, after all!

That was why everyone in the orphanage loved Kang Jin-Ho. Even if that unexplainable hint of unease everyone felt in the past had dissipated now, allowing everyone to tease Kang Jin-Ho like a neighborhood dummy!

Even that was a sign, a display, of their affection. None of the kids here would’ve treated Kang Jin-Ho that way had he shown signs of unhappiness.

Even so, wasn’t this a bit...?

“Yeah, it does feel that way, doesn’t it?”

Jo Mi-Hye tilted her head. “Feel what?”

“Saying this out loud might sound weird, but...”

“You don’t have to worry about stuff like that. Everyone knows you’re weird, anyway.”

Han Jin-Seong shot a side-eye glare at Jo Mi-Hye before groaning loudly. What a wonderful friend this girl was! So wonderful that he was about to tear up!

“Look. Seeing Jin-Ho hyung on TV like this is... It feels like we’ve grown distant a bit, now doesn’t it?”

“What are you even...”

Jo Mi-Hye was about to rebuke Han Jin-Seong, only to clamp her mouth shut urgently. Although she didn’t want to admit to it, she, too, had been feeling something similar.

Wasn’t this weird? Even though they all had traveled to America not too long ago?

“Of course, I know Jin-Ho hyung’s not gonna become a stranger to us just because he’s in an ad and stuff. He’s not that kind of dude, after all. Even then... Mm, it still feels a little unsettling.”

Han Jin-Seong sheepishly scratched his head.

Finding the right words to describe this unsettling feeling in his heart was proving to be a tough challenge. However, rather than being disappointed or rueful about Kang Jin-Ho, it was closer to Han Jin-Seong being disappointed by himself.

No matter how much he tried or studied, it felt like positively impacting Kang Jin-Ho’s life would be completely impossible now.

And here I was, hoping to repay the debt somehow, even if it’s only a little bit...

If Kang Jin-Ho heard that, he’d obviously say no one owed him anything, including Han Jin-Seong. However, that wasn’t how human hearts operated, now was it?

Jo Mi-Hye tutted. “Don’t be ridiculous. Jin-Ho oppa is not that kind of guy, okay?”

“Sure, he is not. But you know what humans are like. With all the business ventures and stuff he’s involved in, things must be super hectic for Jin-Ho hyung, right? That means we won’t have enough time to chat, and...”

Before Han Jin-Seong could finish...!

Whoosh!

The orphanage door was suddenly shoved open. Han Jin-Seong and Jo Mi-Hye hurriedly looked, only to discover a tall tower of boxes lumbering inside.

“Ng?”

“Ehng?”

It didn’t take them long to figure out those stacked boxes were pizza boxes.

“Hmm...” The man carrying the boxes grunted before putting them down. As it turned out, he was none other than Kang Jin-Ho.

After confirming that the pizza box tower would stay put, he spun on his heels and headed back outside.

“H-hyung? Hyung! Where are you going?” Han Jin-Seong urgently called out.

Kang Jin-Ho turned his head slightly and replied while looking back at Han Jin-Seong weirdly. “I’m going to fetch the bottles of cola from the car. Why?”

“Oh...”

“What’s wrong?”

“N-no, it’s nothing.”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head slightly in confusion, then headed outside.

Jo Mi-Hye grinned softly while noticing the stupefied look on Han Jin-Seong’s face. “Sooo, what were you saying about Jin-Ho oppa?”

Han Jin-Seong clamped his mouth shut. No, well, mm...

***

Munch, munch...

Kang Jin-Ho kept shoving pizza into his mouth like a man trying to bury his sorrow with junk food.

Jo Mi-Hye weirdly asked, “So, uh, you want to stay the night here?”

Kang Jin-Ho frowned slightly. “Yeah. I can’t?”

“N-no, of course you can. Who’s gonna stop you if you want to sleep here, anyway?”

“If it’s too much trouble, I can leave.”

“Do they look troubled, oppa?”

“...?”

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at the kids half-lying on the floor while munching on pizza. For sure, there seemed to be a distance of at least thirty thousand light years between them and “troubled” right now.

Jo Mi-Hye tilted her head. “But why not go home, though?”

“I just wanted to rest, you see?”

“Rest? What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s...”

At work, Kang Jin-Ho was constantly harassed by Lee Hyeon-Ju, and President Hwang and his people. And at home? His little sister was constantly raising a fuss, and he had to dodge Baek Hyeon-Jeong’s sharp, probing gaze all the time, too!

But there was another, much graver issue at home, and that was...

I... I can’t dare look my father in the eye!

With how well the cafe franchise was going, it was inevitable that the coffee bean consumption would go through the roof. Far more than predicted, as a matter of fact! And as the person in charge of overseeing the coffee bean production, Kang Yu-Hwan had to shoulder the weight of the sudden spike in demand.

It wasn’t as if he was personally roasting the beans, no, but he was still responsible for inspecting the roasted beans and deciding if their quality was good enough to be distributed or bad enough to be thrown away.

The original plan was for him to stop by at the factory maybe once a day and do the inspection. However, the crippling shortage of beans and the vociferous pestering by the frontline franchise owners had led to a crisis of roasted beans being shipped out immediately.

That forced Kang Yu-Hwan into cosplaying as a member of the Five-Minute Quick Response Combat Unit and staying in the factory to inspect the beans on the spot and decide on whether they were good enough to be shipped.[1]

What complicated matters was the fact that the factory was currently operating 24/7 right now. Kang Yu-Hwan had secured a few hours of sleep by delaying the inspection of the beans roasted during the dawn, but realistically speaking, no ordinary person would be able to endure a grueling schedule like this.

That was where Baek Hyeon-Jeong’s sharp glare came in; she’d look at her husband dragging his dead-tired body through the front door deep into the night and start shouting, ‘What kind of unfilial son puts his own father through hell like this! Are you trying to kill him?!’ And she used to care only about her children not too long ago, too!

But the biggest complication in the matter had to be Kang Yu-Hwan’s heart of the master craftsman!

“Say what? You want me to ship the beans out without inspecting them?! Over my dead body, son! You think these people know how to roast the beans evenly?! No freaking way!”

If only Kang Yu-Hwan weren’t chugging bottles of energy drinks filled with ginseng while saying that! His son could have seen him as an epitome of cool.

This confluence of factors had made it very tricky for Kang Jin-Ho to go home. And he had no choice but to trudge into Seongsim, hoping to find some kind of shelter!

After listening to the rough explanation on the situation, Han Jin-Seong and Jo Mi-Hye couldn’t help but stare disapprovingly at Kang Jin-Ho. And he sheepishly avoided meeting their glares while shoving yet another slice of pizza into his mouth.

“Oppa, you want some cola with that?”

“...Yeah. Thanks.”

After gulping down ice-cold cola, Kang Jin-Ho groaned loudly.

“You know, this was not what I had in mind when starting this whole thing...”

“That’s what life is like, hyung. If everything worked out according to our plans, I’d be attending the best university in this country by now,” said Han Jin-Seong.

“That... oddly comforts me.”

Han Jin-Seong couldn’t help but chuckle just then. Listening to Kang Jin-Ho’s circumstances left him dismayed, sure, but learning about how Seongsim was the second-most comfortable place for Kang Jin-Ho after home made him feel good, too.

After all, it wasn’t as if Kang Jin-Ho was flat-broke. If he wanted to get some rest, he could have gone to a fancy hotel, yet here he was, finding solace in this orphanage instead.

“By the way, did you bring a change of clothes with you, hyung?”

Kang Jin-Ho shrugged. “I bought new underwear, at least.”

“Spare tracksuits for the kids are in that room over there. You should get changed out of those clothes, hyung.”

“Yeah, good idea.”

Kang Jin-Ho scratched his head while trudging into one of the rooms. Seeing him was like... Like watching the eldest brother, who got a job in a faraway city, coming home for the holidays, at least that was what it felt like to Han Jin-Seong.

Jo Mi-Hye helplessly shook her head. “Honestly, I can’t figure Jin-Ho oppa out at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“He can be such a cool guy on TV or whenever he gets serious about something, but at other times, he’s a total klutz, isn’t he?”

“Yeah... I guess.”

She was right. Totally. Even then...

Han Jin-Seong smirked. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Jo Mi-Hye couldn’t help but chuckle, too.

Kang Jin-Ho was undoubtedly getting busier with every passing day. Which meant he might not visit the orphanage as often as before. But that didn’t mean he’d stop caring about this place. At least, that was what today’s event had taught them.

Bang!

That was when the front entrance was shoved open, and another person urgently stepped inside.

“Is Jin-Ho here?”

“...”

Han Jin-Seong and Jo Mi-Hye groaned deeply at how excited Park Yu-Min looked just then.

Yup. We have not one, but two klutzes here. Two!

1. “Five-Minute Quick Response Combat Unit” is a part of the Korean military created to respond to urgent situations that require immediate action. ☜