Chapter 254 – Meeting (3)
His father wasn’t surprised by Noboru’s formidable impression. You shook Noboru’s hand with a calm and cool attitude and said this.
“Nice to meet you. I am Jung Deok-soo, the father of Jeong Su-hyeon.”
“Yes. Nice to meet you.”
When Noboru greeted him in fluent Korean, his mother, who had stiffened up just by looking at Noboru’s expression, also covered her mouth and spoke in a startled tone.
“Oh, you speak Korean well.”
“I studied hard to talk with Suhyeon-san and the two of you.”
“Oh, thank you.”
When her mother told her that Noboru had learned Korean, she smiled broadly and nodded her head. Noboru also smiled and this time exchanged greetings with her mother. I said to Ichie in a low voice.
“…Is this okay?”
“… Anyway, even if I get married, my dad said he can’t come to Korea. So somehow…”
Ichie’s father was a big-time yakuza. When such a person suddenly leaves the country, of course, it receives media attention, and when such a big person participates in my wedding, just participating becomes a nuisance. Therefore, the purpose of this trip to Japan was to look at each other’s faces beforehand and exchange greetings, but since Noboru was pretending to be a father from the beginning, I felt something was out of place.
I couldn’t help but tilt my head. Noboru said while pointing in the direction of the parking lot with a smile on his face. At the parking lot, a jet-black luxury van and a driver in a black suit were waiting.
“Let’s get on. Hotel reservation. We did it on our side. Because we plan to meet in earnest later. You can wait at the hotel until the attendant arrives.”
“Thank you.”
The father nodded his head with a smile and moved on. Ichie and I met eyes with anxious expressions, then looked back at Noboru.
****
The urban landscape of Japan was both exotic and familiar. Although the square buildings were lined up in the same way, the inner rooms within them gave off a unique atmosphere. After seeing the square building with a familiar design and temporarily falling into the illusion of returning to Seoul, things like distant bridges and traditional Japanese houses brought us back to the reality that we were back in Japan.
“Hey, look at that leg. Uh? Very staggering, staggering.”
My father said that and took a picture of the bridge he could see through the window. The mother said while slapping his father on the shoulder from the back seat, as if he was embarrassed by his father.
“Oops, why are you so embarrassing?”
“Honey. Honey look over there uh? Is that the Tokyo Tower?”
Father asked, pointing to a building in the distance. At first glance, it wasn’t Tokyo Tower, but I just didn’t say anything. Noboru, too, smiled wryly and let him have a lively and enjoyable time. Ichie said, holding my hand tightly.
“Supremacy. It’s nice to see the family active.”
“Ichido is now a family. What.”
Ichie’s face turned red at those words. The sound of my father’s camera shutter clicking, clicking, like the second hand on a clock.
Click click
The clock was also running.
****
“Change your clothes.”
As soon as he arrived at the inn, his father said so and threw off his clothes. Ichie and Noboru seemed to be going back to their parents’ house and changing their clothes. Since we had decided to have dinner together, we had to endure our hunger.
When I looked back after seeing Ichie off at the entrance, my father was standing in front of a full-length mirror, examining his crisp shirt for flaws. Then, with a satisfied face, he put the dry-cleaned suit on the bed and ran to the bathroom to shave.
My mother was sitting on the dresser and stretching her body. You said to me
“Soohyun. Give me the suit See where it is crumpled.”
“Yes.”
The suit he took out of the bag was as tight and angled as the suit his father took out straight. My mother nodded as she looked through my suit, then she put the coat over me and she said:
“By the way, wouldn’t a lighter color be better than this one?”
“Men are naturally cool when they wear dark suits.”
“Right. I brought another maroon suit coat, so if you want to wear it, wear it.”
My father opened the door while he was shaving. Mother shook her head as if she couldn’t live with her father’s ugliness, and she looked for clothes to wear and put them out of her bag. Elegant suits were placed side by side on the bed like a family photo of invisible people. I touched the hem of the dress with my finger and then said to my mother.
“How is the accommodation?”
“Feel so good. Oh my gosh, our Suhyeon got married well, so everyone has been to places like this.”
My mother said so and she patted my butt. I gently kneaded her shoulders and began to push her gently onto the veranda.
“Let’s see the scenery outside. We have to come out of Dad’s bathroom to wash ourselves.”
“Okay.”
I pulled the curtain aside and scanned the city. Similar to Korea, but quite different scenery. There was a strangely similar feeling throughout the city, to the point where the Japanese signboards were hanging here and there. The crimson sun was sinking down the mountainside on the horizon, and crimson waves rolled over. My mother said as she held me tight in her arms.
“Oh, good, good.”
“Mom, are you okay?”
“Okay. Look over there the setting sun Aww, it’s so pretty.”
My mother entered, clapping her hands like a child, soaked in the beautiful night view. To keep you from getting cold, I put the overcoat her father had taken off over her shoulders and held her tightly in my arms. Was your mother this small? Early evening with a cool breeze blowing. For the first time in a while, I felt the fact that my mother was getting old.
“Soohyun. I washed everything. What are you out there?”
After shaving and washing his face, the father walked outside with a clean face and opened the veranda door scratching his head. When he saw that we were holding each other tight, he said this with a twist of his mouth as if he was dumbfounded.
“Oh, I’m sick. Sick Well, everything you see in the city is there. What are you looking at as if you are pretty? Uh? Stand there there!”
My father looked at us and said so, grabbing the camera. When I saw my father about to take a picture, I stepped forward and said,
“Father, Father, I will take the picture.”
“What are you filming? Do you know how to take pictures? I mean Hunter. Don’t think you’re good at everything. Taking this picture is also a skill, so focusing like this…”
I took the camera away to avoid my father’s nagging. My father fumbled in the air to find the camera that had disappeared from my hand, then looked at me.
“Father. Stand next to your mother.”
“Huh.”
The father laughed and walked towards his mother. Back in middle school, I saw a picture like this in a photo album. Mother and father climbing Bukhansan Mountain. It was a picture of a couple leaning on the inside of a rocky fence at the top of Bukhansan Mountain, wearing sun caps and sunglasses, laughing.
The father took one look at the mother, who was smiling shyly, and began putting her clothes back on, which he had left on her bed. I could see buildings through my light clothes. The Japanese signboard was shining brightly, clearly proving that we had come to Japan.
“Hey, wait. Wait.”
Then he went back into the room, put on the pants and clothes he had just thrown off, and stood next to his mother with a solemn pout. Mother, at a loss for what to do with her father’s delightful behavior, covered her face and stamped her feet. I said.
“Okay, I’ll take a picture.”
The father hesitated and then raised his hand. Then he bent over and leaned on his mother. Mother and I both knew what you wanted. I smiled and turned my head. The mother corrected her father’s posture with a hearty smile.
“Hey, it’s not like this. Come on, look. You are doing this with me.”
So said the mother and circled her half-heart with her hand. When the father saw it, he winced and bent over his stiff body, and he said, taking the same posture as his mother.
“Eh, like this?”
“Oh, you’re doing well.”
“Soohyun! Take a quick picture! Daddy’s arm is falling!”
“Yes. Yes.”
I smiled and captured the two of them in the camera. Coincidentally, a pretty flake cloud was inserted into the hearts of the two. I said while pressing the shutter button.
“Kimchi!”
A single picture contains many stories that are difficult to include in a single book.
In this small photo taken from the veranda, the jokes that me, my father and my mother had on our way to this airport, the poses my mother and I took, and the anticipation my father had built while preparing for this meeting and trip were all implied.
However, these memories were things that I could confirm only when I returned to Korea. The camera was an old film camera, so it was hard to see how well I did. I said.
“Father. Do you use a film camera?”
“Film cameras are the best. Let’s develop it when we get back. Where, I need to see how well you filmed.”
My father always did. So I smiled and replied:
“Father. If you take a picture, that’s me. Don’t you trust my son?”
“Be quite. Hey. The owner should wash up first and come back, and you should put something on your skin. The new groom, who is going to get married in a little while, has a black face.”
I nodded at my father’s advice, rubbed my skin, and looked at the city. My father picked up the camera I had left on the bed, and he said:
“Later, let’s wear a suit and take a picture. You, Mom, and me.”
I said with a smile.
“Yes.”
