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Dream!
That one word made Hyunwoo think of his youth.
Of course he had a dream, and even now he had one. However, there was a big difference between his dream now and his dream in the past. While going through life, his dream kept changing.
His dream as a middle school boy was money. He thought money was the only way he could regain hope for his dejected parents.
His dream as a high school boy was revenge. Revenge against the huge oil refinery company that stole away his father’s new technology and ruined his company.
But his dream now was different.
Money? Hyunwoo sometimes made lots of money while working lots of different jobs. Once, he gambled and invested in stocks. He made big money and lost it.
Along the way, he realized that money wasn’t that important. No matter how much money one had, those who were destined to be unhappy were unhappy. However poor one was, those who were destined to be happy were happy.
Money wasn’t the kind of thing one could make even if one targets it as one’s goal. Money would just come along when one worked hard.
Revenge was a silly dream when he looked back. Since he had revenge as his dream, he had lived while gnashing his teeth. Such combative thoughts as How can I bring him down? How can I kill him? filled his mind all the time.
It was only natural that he couldn’t afford to be happy. Day by day his resentment and hatred grew bigger and bigger.
Then, something came to his mind all of a sudden.
Can I really feel happy if I take revenge?
He didn’t think of the possibility of carrying out his revenge. He imagined the president and executives of the oil refinery company kneeling down and begging right before his eyes after ruining the company.
He would really feel great at that very moment, but nothing would be different. He felt he would feel rather empty after that. Once he was done taking revenge, he would be destined to be a worthless man who had lost his goal.
Because it was such a vain thing, he found himself wandering for a while while toying with that idea. Since then, he began shaking off his obsession with revenge little by little. Of course, he didn’t want to forgive them but found another dream for his own sake.
And recently, he found a new dream.
I will be the light of the world.
In a way, it was an absurd dream. Obviously, it was an ideal dream to be dreamt by a saint.
There were more people than one expected who also had this dream, and some of them tried to make it come true.
Actually, Hyunwoo experienced it several times. It was to sacrifice himself for someone else’s dream and hope. Sometimes he sacrificed money, and sometimes he sacrificed time.
The sense of happiness he felt at the time was really enormous, something those who didn’t experience it would never know.
Of course, he didn’t tell people about it. Ordinary people tended to take such sacrifices as fake, and he didn’t do it to show off to others anyway.
So, he made another dream that he could tell others.
“My dream is to make three genuine friends who I can spend time with for the rest of my life.”
When Hyunwoo answered, the generous interviewer nodded his head.
“It’s a good dream. Thanks for the interview.”
Hyunwoo and Min Suji went out of the interview room. The generous interviewer looked at them with a light smile on his lips.
“Come to think of it, president Yun isn’t a man who behaves frivolously.”
If Yun said Hyunwoo was a fine person, he must be one who couldn’t be doubted. He might be a youth with much more potential than the president saw at the interview. Originally, a fine person was supposed to show his real potential over time.
In the meantime, Hyunwoo felt sad.
“I failed it.”
It was obvious. How could he go to the interview without knowing what kind of work he would do. It was just stupid on his part.
And when he thought about it, he thought his replies were stupid. Stupid enough to say he could make coffee, cook meat, teach yoga, and teach mountain climbing for his colleague, etc.
Though he felt humiliated, there was something he learned, though. At least he could feel the atmosphere of a mid-sized company.
Yes, I’m the type of guy who fits at the factory. It’s best for me to do manual work.
Comforting himself like that, Hyunwoo went back home.
It was already late afternoon. On his way back home, he saw some middle school and high school students going back home after class.
“Did you go somewhere?”
It was Huh’s voice, the old man he knew. Though he had no special ties with him, he ran into him often because they were in the same neighborhood. On such occasions, he didn’t forget to exchange greetings with Huh, which made them close like relatives.
“Yes, sir. Did you have lunch?”
“I did. You look great in that suit.”
“Thanks.”
“How come you wore a suit today?” Mrs. Kim, who lived across his apartment building, said. He once helped her out when she had been struggling to park her car. She pretended to be close to him and would smile whenever she saw him.
Mr. Park, another old man, and the supermarket owner also exchanged greetings with him. The students in his neighborhood also did as well.
‘How are you?”
“No make-up class, today?”
“What is it? Can you eat it?”
“Haha..dude”
There was almost nobody in his neighborhood who didn’t know him. Even if somebody didn’t know him, just a simple exchange of greetings made them acquaintances right away.
Most of the neighborhood residents, a bit embarrassed, try to remember his face when Hyunwoo say hello to them.
“Hello, sir”
Whenever he met senior people, he would say hello.
While heading home, he suddenly saw a high school girl squatting in front of an apartment.
Hyunwoo knew her face. Did she say her name was Junga?
She lived in the same apartment building as him. Though she was born into a poor family, she grew up as a good and cheerful girl, and she was praised a lot by her neighbors.
However, she looks sad today. Given her eyes are wet, it looks like she had been crying.
“Hi, what happened to you?”
When Hyunwoo spoke to her, she stood up quickly, wiping her tears.
“Nothing, nothing.”
She then went into her apartment but didn’t go into her room. She just moved to avoid his eyes. When he glanced at her, she seemed to be crying again.
What the hell is wrong with her?
He couldn’t bring himself to follow her to the steps and ask. However close he was to her, he could be mistaken as a sexual harasser if something went wrong.
He headed home without thinking about it further. When he turned back suddenly, however, he saw another girl circling around Junga. Though he didn’t know her, he could recognize her face thanks to Junga. Maybe she could recognize his face, too.
Hyunwoo gestured to her to come. A little hesitant, she walked up to him.
“You are Junga’s friend, right? What’s wrong with her?”
When he asked she opened her mouth cautiously and said, “She could have gone the private tutoring academy starting today.”
“Private tutoring academy?”
Junga’s dream was to be a video designer. It wasn’t a vague dream. It was her desperate dream. Though she could give up her studies, she couldn’t abandon her dream as a video designer at all.
So, she collected money for the private academy by doing part-time work whenever she could find time. It was inevitable for her to do so under her poor family situation.
However, it was impossible now. Her father had been ripped off, which made her family condition more miserable. If she didn’t contribute with the money she had reserved for the private academy, her family had no choice but to be kicked out on the street immediately.
It was really a heartbreaking episode. Because she was a sincere, hardworking, and bright girl, he felt even more pity for her. She had great potential and would go far if somebody would give her a leg up.
“How much is the tuition for the private academy?”