[Episode 29] Father’s 49 Ashes
Time passed quickly.
It has already been 49 days since my father passed away.
It was also a time when Siwoo Lee became the president and did his best to save Nuri, who was in danger.
Siwoo Lee changed into a neat suit early in the morning.
Nuri’s gate, which would normally have been wide open.
But today it was tightly closed.
Reinforcing bars were made by generating scrap and the arrangement was completed.
‘Shall we go?’
The ossuary where my father would be.
I was planning to go to the municipal ossuary managed by the city and say hello to my father.
When I opened the door and stepped out, a car was standing there.
“uncle?”
Shin Woo-cheol was waiting for Lee Si-woo to come out early in the morning without going to work.
“It’s 49 today. I can’t fall for it.”
“You knew.”
“It’s just a day that cannot pass. Let’s go to Uncle’s car.”
Si-Woo Lee got into Woo-Chul Shin’s car.
“What are you thinking?”
Si-woo Lee, sitting in the passenger seat, looking at the window and thinking about something, turned his head.
Then, with a faint smile, he looked up at the dark cloud-filled sky.
“just… I’m thinking about this and that. It looks like it will rain anyway.”
“That’s it. The rain that didn’t come on the day that Dowoon left… … .”
Whoops bang-!
thunder from afar.
The rain fell drop by drop.
‘It was that day.’
When I returned to the junkyard after finishing the funeral, I could not forget the day when thunder and lightning struck.
Maybe that day will be a memory that will never be erased for the rest of my life.
“By the way, after the funeral, it rained heavily, didn’t it? You were hurt that day.”
“Iknow, right. With what spirit did you climb up on scrap metal? … .”
“How surprised. What would you have done if you accidentally injured your head?”
Rain like a pole hit the ceiling of the car in which Siwoo Lee was riding.
The rain started pouring harder and harder.
I checked the weather forecast, but there was no news of rain today.
“After all, the Meteorological Agency cannot be trusted. Did you bring an umbrella?”
“no. I just came out.”
“I’ll put you in front. Don’t get hit by the rain, get in first.”
When I parked the car at the entrance to the ossuary, Siwoo Lee got off first.
As soon as I ran to the place where there was a screen, Shin Woo-cheol parked his car in the parking lot and ran.
“Wow, that’s a lot.”
“Come in, Uncle.”
Lee Si-woo and Shin Woo-cheol went into the ossuary.
Si-woo Lee, who stood where his father’s ashes were, bowed his head briefly.
Then he attached the flower he had brought and bit his lip.
‘Father, it’s already been a month.’
Siwoo Lee, who was looking at the ashes with his photo, clenched his fist.
Because I haven’t been able to properly avenge Jang Seong-woo for betraying Lee Do-woon.
More than 10 days have passed since the scrap metal was removed.
The K Besteel opened a junk shop near Nuri, as previously announced to Siwoo Lee.
Of course, no guests were stolen.
No matter how much The K Besteel is a middleman, it won’t be able to keep up with Nuri’s unit price.
Considering the transportation cost, work cost, etc., the unit price was inevitably limited.
‘I hope you can rest comfortably there. I’ll take care of the rest.’
After a short visit, Si-woo Lee stared blankly at the ashes.
An ossuary with the name Lee Do-woon written on it.
Siu Lee reached out and touched the glass box.
“Dowoon will be proud of you too.”
“Is that so?”
“then. You succeeded in Dowoon and saved the junkyard, and you are proud of it.”
The two men, who had been standing in the ossuary without talking for about 10 minutes, turned around.
It was 49 jae, but it was nothing.
All he had to do was take out a squid and a bottle of soju, which Lee Do-woon liked, in a separate place and hold the ceremony.
On the way back after such a short 49 episodes.
The rain was still pouring down like a pole.
“By the way, what’s the trend of The-K?”
“Well, we’re making a fuss trying to catch up somehow. But there won’t be anything even Director Jang can do. Even if we open, we won’t be able to keep up with the price difference in the first place.”
“That’s good. The scene?”
“Director Kang is holding tight on the site as well. The K should have opened a junk shop somewhere other than near Nuri. Now I have to make you regret it.”
“okay. you can do well Oh, and the police said they were starting an embezzlement investigation.”
“You worked hard, Uncle.”
Shin Woo-cheol mobilized all the connections he had.
He was doing everything he could to find out the allegations of embezzlement of Jang Seong-woo.
Maybe he’ll be under more pressure.
The police investigation schedule has been set, and Jang Seong-woo’s family has already started tracking accounts.
“Is there any records left after examining the account? Most of them would have been paid in cash… … .”
“Still, you have to do what you can. Shiu-ya, Jang Seong-woo, do you think that person is that meticulous?”
“that… … .”
“Everyone is oblivious. Because I thought you wouldn’t hear it. Obviously, the record must remain somewhere. Besides, you can’t just get all the money in cash. You just need to prove to which account the funds you received from The K went.”
It was a time fight.
Records can never be erased.
It was Shin Woo-cheol’s judgment that no matter how careful Jang Seong-woo was, there would be gaps.
Jang Seong-woo, who lives in his good taste, would not be meticulous in everything.
“but… He wasn’t that meticulous.”
Just by looking at the way he ran the junkyard in the first place, we could see how poor he was.
“So don’t be impatient and wait. I have no intention of making the person who devoured my friend’s back live comfortably. Come on, let’s go home. The person in the house said to feed you, prepare food and wait for you.”
“Your aunt?”
“I would have prepared a side dish. It’s hard to work alone and cook. Don’t buy it every day, okay? The side dishes will be prepared by the housekeeper.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for? Just don’t be shy and take it.”
It was fortunate.
I have Shin Woo-cheol.
Without him, it would have cost more money and time to find out Jang Seong-woo’s corruption.
“But can I really not pay the seniority fee?”
“I do not need. Just because I don’t get paid for one thing doesn’t mean I’m going to starve to death. And if I get paid by you, I’ll probably be pounded by the housekeeper.”
It wasn’t the first time I saw the money and accepted it.
Shin Woo-cheol received help from Lee Do-woon a lot.
However, he could not repay the favor to the person concerned, so he was planning to repay it even a little through his son.
“Dowoon… You and your father have been friends since childhood. He was the only friend who helped me when I was fussing after failing my bar exam. When my mother died, he was there for me all three days and at the funeral.”
More important than money.
As Shin Woo-cheol grew older, he was acutely aware of the importance of friends.
The face of the guy who had been the resident with me suddenly came to my mind.
“Sometimes it was comforting to have a friend like Dowoon rather than money. He was a really good friend. So, Shiu, I hope you don’t feel too bad about your father.”
Shin Woo-cheol knew that the father-son relationship was a little bit distorted due to Jang Seong-woo’s work.
“I don’t do resentment. Rather, I am sorry.”
“Don’t even think like that. Your father wouldn’t want that either.”
* * *
The rain didn’t stop until we had lunch at Shin Woo-cheol’s house.
Siwoo Lee, who sat down in the living room after eating, stared blankly at the window.
Tutuk-
Raindrops piled up on the windowsill.
I’ve been so busy that I don’t know how long a leisurely daily life is.
I thought that maybe he was just clinging to work to shake off his sorrow for his father.
“Did the unit price go up one more time?”
“yes. I was expecting it to be 350 won, but it went up about 10 won more.”
“Still, Jaeshin was worried. If you climb that steeply, the falling will fall in an instant.”
“The unit price of scrap metal is affected by a number of factors.”
When the construction industry booms, the price of scrap metal rises.
Mostly, the items printed at the steel mill were rebar or construction-related materials.
Construction companies had to move actively to make the unit price jump that much.
“By the way, I heard that the steelmakers were colluding, did you hear the news?”
“Yes, I heard. The price of scrap metal will drop soon.”
The news was that five steel mills had worked together to achieve a similar unit price for rebar.
The business was not suspended, but a fairly large fine was imposed.
It was clear that the steel mills would lower the unit price to compensate for the damage in the fine part.
“I’m sorry. It was good news.”
“Well, sometimes the price goes down, sometimes it goes up, right?”
Even if the price fell, it was not a loss.
However, how much of the bottom was taken was important.
No one knew if the price drop would last a month or how many months.
‘It wouldn’t be a big deal to me, who can check the unit price once a month. If the unit price continues to fall for more than 4 months as before… It will be decided depending on whether you have the strength or not.’
Thanks to the scrap metal removed this time, the maintenance cost was sufficient.
But will you be able to survive 4 months with this money?
The salary for three employees alone was about 10 million won.
And considering the cost of oil, vehicle repairs, and other expenses, I couldn’t spend a lot of money.
“There are more and more things to worry about.”
“I’m not worried. Rather, I think this time will be an opportunity for me.”
At the moment when the price of scrap metal fell, Si-woo Lee was planning to aggressively bring scrap metal from Nuri’s vicinity.
‘If this unit price remained the same or if the price continued to rise, it might have been difficult to sustain. It’s a good thing.’
There was no need to regret.
Shin Woo-cheol’s concerns were understandable.
However, it was clear that those who made scrap metal as their main business would welcome the drop in scrap metal prices.
‘It’s a pity from the perspective of Daesang, but in the case of a floor junk dealer like Nuri, this time might be a good thing.’
Only once, the unit price of scrap metal went up to 600 won.
2002 World Cup.
And as soon as the World Cup ended, scrap metal prices fell sharply.
When the price of scrap metal fell to 90 won, many companies collapsed.
Because the price was lower than the unit price.
There will be no such extreme difference in the price of scrap metal as it was back then.
Even if it was only 10 won, it could not be a huge loss to the companies.
“Jaeshin said that. I believed in you and said that I was good at removing scrap metal. I thought it could have caused a lot of damage?”
“Did CEO Moon do that?”
“yes. They say that you sent all the scrap metal piled up in the yard of Myeongsan Island to the ironworks when you got rid of it. If I had been a little bit late, I would have bled a lot.”
It wasn’t just the price drop that junk dealers were afraid of.
There was something more terrifying than that.
‘The wearing restrictions are the scariest.’
A method of limiting the number of vehicles entering each day with a set amount.
The price of scrap metal remains the same, but you can’t remove the scrap metal piled up in the yard?
In that case, the biggest damage to the junkyard was inevitable.
‘CEO Moon will visit once tomorrow.’
“Oh, and Jaeshin said we’ll see each other tomorrow? It must be important.”
I felt like a ghost.
The best thing that steel mills who have been fined for collusion can do.
It was only wearing restrictions.
If the unit price dropped at once, the market was bound to collapse.
As long as the unit price of scrap metal has to be maintained to a certain extent, it will not suffer from a shortage of scrap metal.
“It’s probably because of the restrictions on wearing. In fact, it’s more frightening for a steel mill to put on a limit than to lower the price of scrap metal, uncle.”
“Did you expect it?”
“Yes. It is only now that I realize that I have learned so many different things from my father.”
Precious knowledge that cannot be learned even with money.
I learned things that are so precious from my father.
But at the time, I thought it was just annoying nagging.
‘father… … .’
