Chapter 258 – Meeting (7)
The robot with a smooth steel texture that reflected the colorful lights twisted its back once. Everyone who had gathered with us cheered and shouted each time the robot bent on its side danced to the loud music. My father and mother were concentrating on the performance with their ears lightly covered, and I, too, endured the deafening noise and watched the robots dancing in the lights.
“How are you? Isn’t it cool?”
My father wondered if he really liked me, even in the midst of the loud music. I gave my father a thumbs up and said.
“Yes! Father! This is the best! It’s awesome!”
Mother shook her head as if she couldn’t stop it, and turned her head in the direction that made the sound as quiet as possible. On stage, women dressed as if they were at the Rio Carnival were dancing with the robots, waving their bodies. In the middle, a robot that looks like something out of a gendaemul animation is blowing steam from its joints and striking a pose.
“Fuck! This is it!”
I loved that smoke coming out of the joints when the robot flexed its arms. Others cheered the robot’s movements just as much as I did. Robots danced, and the performance with splendid music continued for over an hour, and despite not doing anything, I was able to leave the store with both my body and mind soaked in ecstasy.
“Oh, be noisy.”
As soon as my mother came out, she said so. As they said, after leaving the noisy concert hall, the downtown area with pleasant noises instantly felt like a library. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this experience my father took me with.
Father asked me again.
“Is it good?”
“Yes. Father.”
The father nodded in satisfaction, then looked around. The time had already passed the afternoon and was approaching evening. The red signboards flashed again, and the invisible touts were taking their places around Juseom Juseom.
Standing out in front of the store and shaking their feet like runners, they were looking around for easy-looking prey. In the back alley, yakuza showed off one by one today, showing off their fancy clothes, and in the splendid music, it was possible to catch a very subtle edification.
At that moment, I was able to recall that Kabukicho was an entertainment district. I was obsessed with the robot restaurant and the sake bowl and forgot about it, but if I continued to stay here, I could have an unfortunate encounter with ‘Karen-chan’. I told my father
“Father. Now that we’ve lost, shall we have dinner in moderation?”
“Already? I was going to have a drink with my Suhyeon after a long time.”
“You have a mother too. Your mother doesn’t drink.”
“Ah, it’s okay. It’s an accompaniment or light snack in the evening. Uh? Owner. Are you fine?”
Let your father say so. Mother smiled and nodded his head. The father gave her mother’s permission, and he spoke to me with a more heated voice.
“Soohyun. Let’s go.”
“By the way, where are you going?”
“Hey. How am I Didn’t you even recognize a bar? It is divided into rooms and there is a restaurant where you can drink and eat in a simple way. I will go there.”
I had no choice but to follow like a boat with the current as my father confidently led. As I held her in one hand to avoid missing my mother, I came across a street corner of a bar with a uniquely simple atmosphere even in the downtown area. The counter was full of people eating and drinking while facing the owner.
After passing by the customers who were turning their backs toward us, my father checked his cell phone a few times before entering a store with Chinese characters written on it. Then, with his poor Japanese and three fingers spread, he asked if there was a seat. The elderly-looking Japanese chef merely nodded and extended his finger inward.
Among the closed rooms, there was only one open room. My father hurried us when he saw that there was an empty room.
****
In Korea, there are many restaurants with this kind of atmosphere. Worn signboards, wide corridors, and tightly closed rooms where only one can see each other. In a place where there was nothing but a bell calling the waitress and a menu board, people were more likely to speak frankly than anyone else.
Father said as he opened the menu.
“Oh, yes. Suhyeon. What do you want to eat?”
“Let your father do what he likes. I don’t even know what kind of restaurant this is.”
“Okay? Then, let’s simply eat this set meal and sake. It’s good?”
“Yes.”
I nodded, and my father looked back at his mother. Mother pointed to the fried shrimp and said.
“How about making one of these? It looks delicious.”
“Uh, yes. Okay. Do it all something you want to eat.”
After ringing the bell for the waiter, my father finished ordering in poor Japanese. I only ordered it after seeing what was written on the phone, but my mother looked at her father wide-eyed and I, too, felt a little great about my father. Dad felt our gaze and shrugged his shoulders.
“What are you looking at? Uh?”
“No, no.”
I couldn’t help but laugh and say that.
The set meal consisted of three front plates and a large hot pot. A bowl of rice and small home-cooked side dishes were served to each person, and the bubbling hot pot contained X-shaped shiitake mushrooms, fish cakes, and various seafood. Just by smelling it, the refreshing seafood boiled to a thick boil, and after scooping the soup with a ladle and tasting it, my father
“It’s big…!”
He shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows. My mother also tasted the soup and nodded, making a fuss.
“Uh… !”
After a series of exclamations, my father cracked open the sake bottle. When the steaming drink was poured into my glass, I politely accepted the glass with both hands. The mother was eating her hot pot while blowing on her face, even her face was stained red. When my father tried to serve himself, I stopped him and poured myself a glass. My father nodded as he watched the wine flow down the glass.
I thought sake would have a very special taste, but to my taste it seemed to be nothing different from normal alcohol. Without a word, my father poured a drink into my glass once more. I received the glass, turned my head and drank another glass, and my father was also making his own with his eyes slightly lowered.
Even if I offered to pour it, my father sternly refused and you poured yourself a drink. Then, after scooping a ladleful of steaming hot pot and placing it on the plate in front of you, he looked at me and said,
“After failing the civil service exam, did you just drink like that?”
Suddenly you bring up an old story. When I heard that story, I felt bad for no reason, so I had to look away with an embarrassed expression. The father said
“When I was young, I didn’t have that kind of worry. ‘You can do it.’ Because I lived in a time when the slogan was ‘You can do it’ for anything. The bad guys were weird, and the good guys were natural. So, even if you fail the civil service exam, I thought you should keep going that way.”
My father said so and drank another glass. The stew was still bubbling with bubbles. Mother picked up steaming fried shrimp and placed them on the plate in front of us one by one. My front plate gave the impression of a vegetable hot pot with tempura on top.
Dad took a bite of the tempura, was surprised by how crispy it was, nodded his head, and drank another cup of sake. And he looked at me and he continued his words like this.
“It seems like I haven’t talked to you well since when. Where are the daily nail clippers? Where is this We had conversations like this.”
It was the first time I failed the civil service exam. When I showed a job ad for a local factory and said I was going to work, my father told me not to worry and give it another try. From then on, I couldn’t meet my father’s eyes. The second time it fell, I couldn’t even speak properly, and the third time it fell, it seemed that the whole house froze.
Even after becoming a Hunter, the conversation did not go well. It was because the guilt of my days as a civil servant had hardened into awkwardness and clogged my throat. Something that brings money. As if that was the only link between parent and child. I just kept hovering outside.
“The last time you went out to live alone, the house was really lonely. Even though you were at home, I didn’t talk to you well, but I felt empty because you weren’t there. You’ve grown up so quickly that there are even talks about dating, but I feel like you don’t even know how you grew up.”
Father said so and had another drink. I grabbed my glass and looked at my father. Tears welled up in his eyes. Is it because of the seaweed in the hot pot that my vision is blurry? I said.
“…After failing the civil service exam, it was awkward to keep talking. I’m sorry, I think it’s all my fault, but I’m angry for no reason…”
“Now that it’s been so well, who’s to say what? Shake everything off, and let’s get along well again from now on.”
“Yes. Father.”
I heard the sound of glasses clinking. I cleared my stomach openly, and my father laughed after he had cleared his stomach.
*****
“Oh, I ate well.”
“It is delicious.”
“Wouldn’t it be nice to go where your father asked you to come?”
My father said that and held my arm tightly. I smiled and nodded. Stars were faintly visible in the sky. I really felt like I had to go back. My father said with a slightly drunk face.
“So, shall we go back now?”
“Yes. I want to go back.”
“Go quickly. Oh, I’m full and tired, so I want to rest.”
We all walked in agreement. As we were walking to get out of Kabukicho, a line of drunken men and women came out of the alley right in front of us. However, the appearance of the women was a little strange to be just a woman.
It was because the color of his hair was colorful and his face radiated masculinity, as if a man was dressed as a woman. They seemed to be seeing off their guests. When his father saw it, he frowned, and he grumbled and turned away, saying that he had suddenly blocked his way.
“Huh?”
And the father, who turned around the cross-dressing men and walked forward, inadvertently looked to the side and spat out a question. I, too, froze when I saw a group of transvestite men staring at us from beside me.
It was because Noboru, dressed as a woman, was staring at us with a frozen expression in the midst of a group of women-dressed men who were actively seeing off the guests.
“Huh?”
The father rubbed his eyes, blinked once more, and held out his finger, his legs shaking with his drunken face.
“Sah, in-law?”
Oh, fuck you.
