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# Dad's Soccer — Chapter 3
As he listened to the ringing tone, Jihoo waited for his father-in-law to answer, trying to calm his strangely nervous heart.
* Hello.
A dignified, husky voice came through the phone.
It was a voice he hadn't heard in twenty years because he had rejected the helping hand extended to him and cut off all contact.
Back then, why had merely hearing this voice made him feel so guilty and frightened...?
Even now, he felt himself shrinking back.
Still...
He was different from the Jihoo of the past.
It was time to put to use the social skills he had developed from living as an ordinary middle-aged man and, more importantly, as the father of a child.
"Um... It's Jihoo, Father-in-law."
* Father... in-law?
His father-in-law, Cheolwoon, repeated the unfamiliar title.
"Yes... Father-in-law. It's me."
* Hmm, hmm. Yes. What is it?
Cheolwoon asked in a voice that deliberately tried to remain calm. Jihoo gathered himself once more before speaking.
"I'm sorry to ask this of you... but I need to ask you for a favor."
* A favor? And when you needed help before, you said you didn't need anything?
Jihoo couldn't help thinking that the man had been the one who gave him his phone number, so did he really have to rub salt in the wound like that?
But then again, there was no way his father-in-law could have any affection for the son-in-law who had even caused him to lose his daughter.
He probably felt like beating him to death wouldn't be enough.
"I've found something I want to do. Please help me."
* All right. What is it? Don't tell me... did you call because you need money?
"No... It's not that."
* Then?
"Father-in-law... would you be able to look after my daughter for a little while?"
* ...Let's meet and talk.
"Yes, Father-in-law."
After setting a time and place to meet, Jihoo carefully ended the call.
Once the tension finally left him, Jihoo unconsciously let out a sigh.
He looked down at Minji, who had fallen sound asleep in his arms with the empty bottle still in her mouth.
"Sleep well, my daughter."
Even though she had gone back to being a baby, seeing his daughter alive and sleeping peacefully in his arms made the bridge of his nose sting, and tears welled up in his eyes.
"Thank you."
Whoever had done this...
He was truly, deeply grateful.
He had never believed in God or sought Him out in his entire life, but at this very moment, he couldn't help feeling overwhelmingly grateful to the God who had sent him back into the past.
Jihoo spent the entire day grateful simply because his daughter was in his arms.
---
The day came when he was supposed to meet his father-in-law.
Jihoo arrived at the café before the appointed time. He straightened his clothes, wiped the drool from Minji's mouth as she slept soundly inside her baby carrier, and waited for his father-in-law to arrive.
He wasn't meeting anyone particularly important, yet for some reason, he felt restless and nervous.
He repeatedly wiped the cold sweat dampening his hands against his jeans and waited while wetting his rapidly drying lips with water.
After about twenty minutes—
The door opened with the sound of a little bell, and a familiar middle-aged man entered the café.
"You've come."
Just as he remembered him, his father-in-law was middle-aged, but dressed elegantly and carrying himself with a mature, dignified air.
The moment he spotted Jihoo, he headed toward him.
But he wasn't alone.
"...Mother-in-law?"
Jihoo had only seen her twice in his previous life, so he wasn't entirely certain.
But the middle-aged woman walking beside his father-in-law resembled the late Sejin.
He had already been nervous enough.
Now he couldn't have been more tense.
"I got slapped back then..."
As he thought back on the past, he remembered the day he had gone to their house to tell them Sejin was pregnant.
He could still vividly picture his mother-in-law striking him across the face while tears streamed down her cheeks.
Jihoo wet his lips once more and stood up.
"Hello."
His father-in-law stared at him with an openly displeased expression, while his mother-in-law looked at him with an expression Jihoo couldn't quite read.
"Hmm, hmm. Sit down."
His father-in-law, Cheolwoon, sat down first and gestured for Jihoo to take a seat.
Jihoo awkwardly started to sit when his mother-in-law, Younghee, suddenly spoke to him.
"Is that child our... granddaughter?"
"Ah... yes. She's Minji, Mother-in-law."
"Come here..."
Younghee held out her arms.
Jihoo quickly removed the baby carrier and handed Minji to her.
Younghee carefully took Minji into her arms and stared at her granddaughter with a strange expression.
She hadn't even been able to hold a proper funeral because they couldn't afford one. Instead, Sejin's body had been cremated and her ashes scattered by the river.
She hadn't even been able to see her daughter's final 모습.
What must she have been thinking as she finally held her daughter's daughter?
"You're... my granddaughter. My granddaughter. How can you be so pretty?"
Before long, tears like large drops began rolling down Younghee's cheeks as she gently stroked Minji's face.
Watching her, Jihoo's heart ached.
He lowered his head without realizing it.
Looking back now, he had done nothing but hurt the two of them.
After losing his only daughter, he could finally understand Cheolwoon and Younghee's feelings completely.
In the face of such unbearable grief, he didn't even dare say he was sorry.
He simply bit down gently on his lips without saying a word.
"Let me see her, too."
Cheolwoon seemed curious about his granddaughter as well. He urged Younghee to hand Minji over and took the baby into his arms.
"Ha-ha. Look at this little one. She looks exactly like her mother."
Cheolwoon's eyes also reddened as he looked at his granddaughter.
Jihoo simply watched the two of them in silence.
There was nothing he could do.
He could only feel relieved that they were willing to love the child as their granddaughter.
"Hmm, hmm. Right. You asked us to look after your granddaughter, didn't you?"
After spending a long while looking at their granddaughter, Cheolwoon seemed to notice Jihoo silently watching them. He cleared his throat awkwardly before asking.
Jihoo didn't waste time with anything else and immediately got to the point.
"Yes. I contacted you because I wanted to ask if you could look after Minji, even if it's only for a little while."
At this point in time, the only people Jihoo could entrust Minji to without worry, until he could get his life together as quickly as possible and secure a proper job unlike in the past, were his in-laws.
As far as Jihoo remembered, his father-in-law was the owner of a tiny company that was hardly large enough to even be called a small or medium-sized business.
Still, it brought in enough income for them to live comfortably and was in no danger of going under.
His mother-in-law was a housewife.
That meant Minji wouldn't have to go through what she had in the past after he returned: not having enough food to eat, not having proper clothes to wear, or being unable to receive proper treatment when she was sick.
Besides, Sejin had been their only child.
Jihoo didn't think they would turn their backs on their granddaughter, who shared Sejin's blood.
"Fine, Minji. But what about you?"
Jihoo could sense the displeasure in his father-in-law's gaze.
Cheolwoon had heard that Jihoo, in the recklessness of youth, had gotten married and raised a child.
But now, he couldn't help wondering whether Jihoo had finally realized he couldn't handle the child and was simply trying to dump the responsibility on them.
Jihoo could guess what Cheolwoon was thinking, so he calmly explained what he had decided.
"I thought about it carefully... Even if I recklessly jumped into the workforce now without properly graduating from high school... I don't think I'd get anywhere. Minji is still so young that I can't exactly leave her with just anyone. And I don't think things would necessarily change even after I got older... So..."
"So?"
"At least I'll properly attend school."
At Jihoo's words, Cheolwoon let out a short laugh.
"You're actually saying something sensible for once."
It might have been a remark looking down on him, but Jihoo didn't take it to heart and continued speaking.
"And... I may still be young and pathetic, but there is one thing I'm talented at."
He wasn't yet completely certain that this was it, that this was his calling.
But there was one talent he could hold onto and pursue all the way to the end.
"You know, Father-in-law. About me playing soccer. It might look like nothing more than kids playing around, but our school's soccer team is part of a K League youth system. If things go well, I might even be able to sign a professional contract during this year's draft."
"A soccer player..."
Cheolwoon didn't dislike soccer. After all, as a Korean man, he was the typical middle-aged man who faithfully watched the national team's matches.
But like most Koreans, Cheolwoon wasn't particularly interested in the domestic league.
Still, his son-in-law had presented him with a goal.
Cheolwoon looked at Jihoo seriously and asked,
"Are you confident? That you'll succeed?"
Jihoo met Cheolwoon's eyes.
The Jihoo of the past would have answered easily.
He would have said he was certain.
That he would definitely succeed and even make the national team.
But now, he couldn't bring himself to say something like that so easily.
The years he had lived through had not been easy enough for him to indulge in youthful bravado.
Jihoo looked at Cheolwoon for a while before turning his gaze toward Minji, who was nestled in Younghee's arms.
He wasn't certain.
But he had gained determination.
"I don't know about anything else... but I'm a father."
A determination to risk his life and do anything for his daughter.
He might not be the best.
But he would do his absolute best.
"A father..."
Cheolwoon laughed again.
This time, it wasn't mocking laughter.
The son-in-law who had always seemed nothing more than an immature boy suddenly looked like the father of a child.
Seeing that he felt a sense of responsibility as the head of a household made Cheolwoon feel strange.
They were both heads of their families.
Even this young kid.
"All right. We'll take care of Minji. But first, I want to see just how talented you are. Aren't we too old to raise a newborn for the sake of a future that has no hope?"
He said it like that, but deep down, Cheolwoon was already thinking that if Jihoo had no talent, he would bring him into his company and at least teach him a trade.
Perhaps Jihoo took those words as a kind of test, because he nodded with an extremely serious expression.
"I don't know when it'll be yet... but as soon as there's a match I'm playing in, I'll contact you."
Jihoo said that and looked at Minji.
He felt guilty about being separated from her...
But for the sake of their future, this was the best choice he could make right now.
"Our Minji... your granddaughter, Father-in-law. Please take good care of her."
With those words, Jihoo chose to part with Minji for a very short time.