Chapter 11: A Change in Destiny

“YS clearly has the advantage in terms of expandability. He can sweep the Seoul Capital Area, South Gyeongsang, and Honam regions. The ruling party can only absorb votes from Daegu, North Gyeongsang, Gangwon, and some parts of the Seoul Capital Area region, so I think the next election is almost a sure thing.”

The CEO of Soonyang Construction, who Chairman Jin trusted the most, seemed to take the lead and spoke first.

“What about DJ?”

“Of course, it’s possible to unify under DJ but he has a weakness. Suffering from red complex, there’s a high chance he’ll yield this time. He’ll likely concede in exchange for a promise for the election after the next.”

“Any other opinions?”

Everyone looked at each other, signaling their agreement.

Chairman Jin chuckled.

Everyone firmly believed in the single candidacy of the two Kims. Not just them. How many people in the country didn’t believe in the unified candidacy of the two Kims?

Every influential figure Chairman Jin had met so far believed in the unification without a doubt. Only his young grandson didn’t believe in it. Of course, he might think this way because he knew nothing about the political situation and trends.

But his reasoning was accurate. His young grandson accurately saw through the greed of humans.

The presidents of the core subsidiaries were momentarily tense, not knowing the reason behind Chairman Jin’s laughter.

Was he satisfied?

Or was he unimpressed?

But they couldn’t determine the truth from the Chairman’s following words.

“Let’s end it here for today. Everyone, keep your ears open and gather as much information as possible.”

With a smile on his face, Chairman Jin ended the meeting.

***

Now was the time to do what he had been putting off.

No, rather than putting it off, should he say he was hesitant and afraid? But it was something he had to face once.

First, he asked his tutor.

Since the tutor was idling around without doing much for a high-paying job, it would be hard for him to refuse.

“Let’s have an outdoor class this Sunday.”

“Outdoor class?”

“Yes. To Dangjin on the west coast.”

“Dangjin? Why suddenly the west coast?”

“The textbook says it’s the only place in our country that borders the sea only to the north. I want to see it in person.”

It was a very poor excuse, but he wouldn’t be able to refuse.

For just checking homework for 30 minutes a day, he was getting paid the same as a new employee of the Soonyang Group. To keep this sweet part-time job, he had to be mindful of Do-jun.

“O-okay. Let’s go.”

“Can you drive, Teacher? Do you have a license?”

“Yeah. I have a license and it’s not just a paper license.”

“Then I’ll ask my father for a car. Teacher, please just get permission for the outdoor class.”

A smile spread across the tutor’s face. As a college student, where else would he get a chance to drive a luxurious foreign car?

He easily got permission from his parents.

They believed that school and studying were his everything, so they probably wanted to push him to go see the sea.

“Do-jun, tell me honestly. Why do you want to go to Dangjin?”

In the era without navigation or smartphones the tutor, who had been slowly driving while looking at the national map and using the road signs as a navigator, asked as he got used to driving.

He already had an answer prepared.

“Actually, there’s a friend who transferred there. I want to see him.”

“Really? Then why didn’t you say so?”

“If I told the truth, wouldn’t you ask who the friend is, what his parents do, why he transferred… and so on? It’s annoying.”

“Oh boy! You’re all grown up, huh? To think you find it annoying to talk to your parents?”

You brat. He’s not just all grown up, he’s getting old.

After that, they chatted about various things to kill time and eventually entered Dangjin.

The past from 30 years ago that existed only in his faded memories.

He was now experiencing the miracle of that memory unfolding before his eyes.

The scenery without any trace of the west coast development.

The rattling of the car that allowed him to feel the unpaved road with his whole body.

Instead of beaches full of pension houses, there were general stores that looked like they had everything for just a few fishermen, although they were called supermarkets.

As he entered the neighborhood where he lived, where even the few apartments seemed unfamiliar, tears welled up in his eyes.

He experienced the mystery of memory once again.

Seeing the barbershop at the entrance of the neighborhood reminded him of his hairstyle as a child and the beauty salon vividly brought back the image of his mother’s youth.

As he passed the school gate, the faces of his friends and teachers, whom he hadn’t thought of even once after graduation, came to mind.

As he traced his memories, he approached the house where he grew up.

“Teacher. Can you wait here for a moment? It’s right there.”

“But have you been here before? How do you know the way so well?”

“My friend explained it to me in detail many times.”

He briefly answered the tutor’s curious questions and quickly got out of the car.

The sign across the street made his heart pound as if it would burst.

[Yoon’s Laundry]

He couldn’t easily take a step.

Could he really look at his parents’ faces directly?

What if he accidentally called him ‘Father’? To him, he was just a child he was seeing for the first time…

The biggest fear was something else.

What if he ran into his past self, Yoon Hyun-woo?

What if something very mysterious, like in a movie, happened?

He couldn’t just keep imagining.

He took a deep breath and slowly took a step.

The image of his father seen through the laundry’s glass window. The sight of his young father through the steam of the iron and his mother organizing the laundry brought tears to his eyes again.

He leaned against the laundry wall and waited for his tears to dry.

He steeled his heart and opened the laundry door.

The old door creaked and their gazes fell on him.

“Um…”

“Huh? I haven’t seen this child before. Did you come to pick up laundry?”

What should he say?

“This child looks so classy. I don’t think he’s from our neighborhood.”

Seeing his mother looking him up and down up close, regret washed over him.

He should have waited a bit longer.

If he had waited until he was older, he could have offered practical help.

His mother, who was just entering her late thirties, looked ten years older.

He could now see the hardship etched on their faces.

“Are you lost? Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Unable to indulge in sentiment any longer, he hurriedly spoke.

“Is this Jin-woo’s house? Yoon Jin-woo?”

He decided to pretend he came to the wrong house and leave. That seemed most natural.

“Jin-woo? No.”

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry.”

As his father tilted his head, he quickly bowed his head and said.

“Honey, do you know a Jin-woo?”

“Well. Shall we ask Hyun-ji? Does she have a friend at school named Jin-woo?”

In an instant, it felt like electricity coursed through his entire body.

Hyun-ji?

Could it be?

“Um, excuse me… Who is Hyun-ji?”

“Hyun-ji? She’s our one and only daughter. She should be about your age… You’re not from around here, are you? Our daughter is so pretty that everyone in this neighborhood knows her. Haha.”

His only daughter, Hyun-ji.

He hadn’t misheard. Yoon Hyun-woo didn’t exist.

He fled the laundry shop as if he were running away. If he had stayed any longer, he would have collapsed on the spot.

***

“What’s wrong? Wasn’t it your friend’s house?”

“Huh? Oh, no. It was… but my friend wasn’t there.”

“Then you should have waited longer.”

“No. It’s okay. Let’s just go back.”

He avoided the tutor’s suspicious gaze and looked out the window.

“Teacher. I’m a bit tired, can I take a nap?”

“Really? You must be tired. Get some rest. I’ll wake you up when we get home.”

“Thank you.”

He watched the laundry shop getting farther away, leaned back on the seat, and closed his eyes.

He didn’t think about what had happened.

Reincarnation? Regression? Possession? Time travel?

He didn’t want to consider or analyze these causes and their consequences.

He just had to accept the result. After all, there was nothing he could do to change this strange outcome.

And the result was that his only connection with his parents was his memories.

He wiped away his flowing tears. The tutor, who saw this through the rearview mirror, didn’t say anything and just sped up.

Perhaps it was because the young boy’s tears seemed too sorrowful to ask about.

***

He opened his notebook and sat blankly for a while.

The detailed events of the future he had recorded so far might become useless.

His very existence had already brought about a big change.

The place where Yoon Hyun-woo should have been born was occupied by an unexpected only daughter.

There was no need to invoke the grand butterfly theory. Just Chairman Jin Yang-cheol’s fondness for him could change the future.

The fact that the future could change meant that his powerful weapon might become meaningless.

Damn it.

His actions, words, and plans had to be even more cautious and careful from now on.

The main stream of the future must not change so that he could get what he wanted from it. He had to change only the Soonyang Group, not the world.

It wouldn’t be easy. That’s how much influence the Soonyang Group had in this country.

Complex thoughts swirled in his head, but the unchanging fact brought tears to his eyes again.

The entity ‘I’, Yoon Hyun-woo, didn’t exist in this world. Only the primal emotions engraved in his mind existed. These emotions would also gradually erode and fade away and Yoon Hyun-woo would disappear completely.

He wiped the tears from his eyes and closed the notebook.

He had to let go of the past.

He would only think about the future.

To sit in the position of Chairman of the Soonyang Group, he would live as the perfect Jin Do-jun. It would be a tough road…

“Huh, wait a minute.”

He unconsciously made a sound.

He counted his fingers and recalled his memories.

“Young-joon, Hae-kyung, Kyung-joon, Soo-kyung, Tae-joon…”

Thirteen.

Including himself, Chairman Jin Yang-cheol’s grandchildren numbered exactly thirteen.

But why did he remember the number as twelve?

Who was the missing one?

He took out the notebook from the drawer. He began to review the dense record of memories, trying to figure out what he had missed.