The Porter (7)
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“Grandmother…”
“Oh, my baby! How are you feeling?” the woman touched Seong-ah’s face and tried hard to stop her tears. “Did you eat breakfast?”
“Yes, I ate it. Grandmother. I’m sorry for the worry.”
“No, there is nothing you have to say sorry for…”
Seung-ho called his sister as his niece led them inside the went inside the house.
“Lee Min-ju! Come here and talk to Mother.”
Their mother sat on the sofa in the living room, and patted the spot next to her, as Lee Min-ju came into view. She had just finished washing dishes.
“Oh, Mother!” Lee Min-ju looked surprised. “What is it that you wanted to say? Why is the mood so serious like this?”
Seung-ho, meanwhile, grabbed Seong-ah’s hand and started to lead her into the room. “Talk to your uncle in the meantime,” he said as he closed the door behind them.
He wanted to give his sister and his mother privacy.
Lee Min-ju looked at her mother, intently. Mother seemed to be hesitating, then she suddenly grabbed her hand and held onto it.
“Sell this house and live with your mother.”
“Mom!” Lee Min-ju cried out in surprise as she looked at her mother with round eyes.
“I know everything you hate to leave because you lived here with Kim Seo-won… but now Seong-ah is having such a hard time, and you have to work, and if your brother starts working, who will be with her?”
Lee Min-ju was silent.
She looked around the house. The dining table where his husband sat, his husband on the couch sweating as he braided Seong-ah and Sia’s hair…
She hadn’t touched his things. Even the pair of used socks was left hanging in the corner of their room.
Lee Min-ju felt tears flowing down as she took in all the memories.
“Mom, how do we do it? How can we sell this house to someone else? My husband, he liked this house…”
“I wish we could do it differently,” her mother embraced her and soothed her in her arms as if giving comfort to a child. “I also understand Kim Seo-won’s wishes…”
Lee Min-ju shook violently as she cried in her mother’s arms.
“Mom, mom… I really don’t want to leave everything and forget him, is this right? Will he forgive me for it?”
“Yes, yes. Kim Seo-won will understand everything. Let’s cry as much as we can today, and remember him…”
Lee Min-ju cried and cried as if she wanted to engrave her husband’s memories in her heart with her tears.
* * *
“Did grandmother allow you?” Seong-ah asked him.
Seung-ho deliberately pulled her into the room so she couldn’t hear the conversation outside.
“Yes, she did, and I’ll be on the news soon,” he answered.
“Chi, my uncle is lying again.”
“When did I ever lie?”
“You always did! Considering we’re the only one you have in this world, you keep lying to us!” Seong-ah teased him cheerfully.
Seung-ho is happy that she seems to have totally forgotten what happened yesterday.
“Well, you’ll find out now whether your uncle is lying or not.” He took out his phone.
Seong-ah noticed the Hunter Association Emergency app. “Wow, you even downloaded this app to convince me!”
“Stop teasing; you’ll be embarrassed soon. Look, it’s here now.”
Seong-ah was suspicious, but she started to look at Seung-ho’s phone screen.
A man, Choi Myung-soo, was on-screen.
“Today, we had a big announcement at the Central Branch in Seoul. We would like to thank everyone for coming in at short notice. It will be worth it. Today, this place will be a very meaningful place…”
It seemed to be making a big announcement with a simple chair inside the measurement room.
Choi Myung soon stood in a small platform, and behind him was the measuring instrument, covered in cloth.
The man seems to bask with the attention, and he continued to give statements such as “I’m going to tell you now…”, “Now, I’m going to tell…” but it seemed that he was never going to say it.
Shortly before all the patience of the people who watched it on the field reached the limit, Choi Myung-soo pulled back from the platform and grabbed the edge of the fabric that had turned the measuring instrument on the back.
“Again, just before we release it…”
Suddenly, one of the reporters had enough and yelled out, speaking for everyone. “Stop doing that, and let’s do it quickly. It’s over 20 minutes now!”
Choi Myung-soo seemed a little embarrassed and went to the measuring instrument. He talked a little more and took a deep breath before pulling the cloth as hard as he could.
The numbers came into everyone’s view.
20825.
Cameras began flashing, popping out one after another until their flashes turned the screen white.
It was an unbelievable value.
It was said that Drax, considered the best hunter, measured as 12000. Many treated it as a legend because there was no evidence.
However, now, in front of everyone’s eyes is a value greater than legends.
Manager Choi Myung-soo basked in the glory and closed his eyes amidst the flashing cameras.
One of the reporters shouted loudly, causing him to open his eyes suddenly.
“Isn’t that manipulated? Who had this measurement?”
Choi Myung-soo answered with too much courtesy. “He is not here right now, but on the Association’s honor, we proclaim that this is not a meter error or manipulation.”
Seung-ho, who was watching, found it absurd. What did he mean by ‘on the Association’s honor’? Shouldn’t it be on his honor?
He turned off the app in disgust.
“Uncle! Why turn it off! They haven’t said it was you! Did you lie again? Huh? Huh?” Seong-ah began to tease him by poking his sides.
“Ah, stop stabbing! I’ll be on the phone soon! Ah, take it, you too!” he began to tickle Seong-ah back.
“Ha ha ha ha, stop, stop, ha ha ha!”
Wow~Wow~ Wow~Wow~
The phone rang suddenly, and Seung-ho picked up the phone quickly. He showed the screen to Seong-ah. The call was from the manager, Choi Myung-soo.
“Yes, Lee Seung-ho speaking.”
“Seung-ho, you promised…”
Seung-ho recalled the events earlier that morning when he went with his mother to the Association. General Manager Choi Myung-soon wanted to have him personally when they send out the news, but Seung-ho declined.
The rejection made the manager cry, but immediately, he accepted it on the condition that Seung-ho could take a call during the announcement.
Seung-ho took a deep breath before he announced himself on the phone.
“I apologize for the unavoidable circumstances that came up; hence I couldn’t be with you today. I am Lee Seung-ho, the subject of the measurement.”
He could hear the deluge of questions coming from the other end.
“Are you returning to the gate, Mr. Lee Seung-ho?”
“Can you prove that the measurement is yours?”
“Why did you avoid the seat?”
Seong-ah sat quietly on the other side of the bed, covering her mouth tightly with her hands.
Seung-ho kept silent and let the questions gradually fade. He wouldn’t be able to answer it all at the same time.
Once the reporters calmed down, he spoke on the phone once more.
“I’ll answer two questions. Please choose the reporters, Choi Myung-soo.”
Once again, the phone was noisy.
After a few moments, Choi Myung-soo was finally able to pick.
“I’m Choi Myeong-cheol, reporting for the Great Moon. You chose to be private after leaving the gate. Why did you choose to go public once more?”
It was the question that everyone had.
“There are many reasons, but the most important thing why I wanted to be a hunter is for my family. And as you can see from the measurements, isn’t this one of the best things I can do? I will be asked the next question.”
The reporter tried to follow-up, but his question was worried by other reporters yelling their questions.
“I am a reporter at KSS. Which guild are you going to join when you step out as a hunter? Or are you going to make a guild? As a hunter, please tell us how you are planning to move forward.”
“I don’t intend to go into any guild. And I have no intention of making a guild. And… I’m only going to go to Gate 5 or lower-ranked gates. I’m going to hang up on the phone, Manager Choi Myung-soo.”
“Seung-ho, I will call you later.” Manager Choi Myung-soo said hurriedly before the call ended.
He turned to his niece. “So, did I lie?”
“… Are you really going to be a hunter now?” Seong-ah asked with a doubtful expression.
“Perhaps?”
“And you will only go to 5th-grade gates alone?”
“What… the pay will be enough for level 5 gates. It’s too annoying to get in level 4 ones.”
“It’s hard to believe…”
“Why, it hard to believe that someone so strong could also be handsome, like your uncle… hey, don’t pretend to vomit. It hurts.”
He remembered how it hurt a bit that Minji asked for Min-jong’s number. He liked her appearance. Seong-ah’s reaction made him feel a little gloomy.
His niece noticed it.
“What, are you in love again, Uncle?”
“Hey, no. It’s not Eun-hye.”
“Oh, I didn’t even say Eun-hye! So do you like her? How!” She started teasing her uncle again, and Seung-ho responded by grabbing her head and shaking it violently.
“No! No! No!!” he said.
Suddenly, Lee Min-ju walked in. It seemed that the conversation with his mother was over.
She sat down next to Seong-ah. Her eyes look swollen, and her expression looked regretful.
“Seong-ah… Do you want us to live with your grandmother?” she said slowly.
“Huh? Huh! I like it, but why do you ask me suddenly?”
Seong-ah looked surprised by the question, but she immediately responded positively.
“Your grandmother asked me how it would be better to sell this house. Seong-ah, let’s about Dad…”
Lee Min-ju thought her tears had been drained, but she found herself crying again as she looked at her daughter, who had traces of her husband’s face.
“Mom…”
“Seong-ah, would it be okay if Mom sold this house?”
“Yeah, mom… do whatever you want. I’m fine.”
Seong-ah missed her father, too, but she clearly understood why her mother would sell this house and live together with their grandmother.
She hugged her crying mother tightly.