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### Chapter 2. Back to That Day (2)
“You're not mistaking today for April Fools' Day, are you? It's not fun to lie when we haven't seen each other in so
long.”
As expected, Park Minsu did not believe Cha Jihoo.
He had thought their married life was going smoothly, so the sudden news of a divorce was bound to come as a shock.
“It's true. I got divorced.”
“Th-That can't be. Why?”
“Well, it happened. You get married, you get divorced. That's just how life goes. What's the big deal? Here, take your
glass.”
Cha Jihoo, who had already found beer unsatisfying, began pouring soju into his mouth.
“Drink slowly. I understand how you're feeling, but you need to take care of your health at times like this.”
“You should drink a little less too. Don't make your wife worry for no reason.”
“To be honest, things aren't exactly great for me either. The kids still have a long way to go before they're grown, but
I'm not exactly making good money, and their mother has a lot of complaints about various things. Maybe that's why we're
gradually becoming more distant. Marriage really isn't easy.”
“Everyone wants different things, and even the level of what they want is different. Still, you live together and deal
with each other every day. That's something.”
“Live together? It's been ages since we started sleeping in separate rooms.”
“Separate rooms? Why?”
“We had one huge marital fight, and that's how it ended up. When our eldest went into the dormitory, she immediately
moved a bed into that room and practically settled in there.”
“Even so, just living under the same roof means you can eventually patch things up. Keep that in mind and compromise
with each other to some extent.”
Cha Jihoo gave him some advice, but then realized that he was hardly in any position to worry about someone else's
marriage.
Finding himself ridiculous, he gave a faint laugh.
The drinking session between the two friends grew livelier, and with the alcohol taking effect, the tightness in Cha
Jihoo's chest gradually began to ease.
“So, what are you planning to do from now on?”
“What do you mean what? Now that I'm alone, I'm going to live freely and enjoy myself.”
“Pfft.”
“What was that reaction?”
“Your words sound pretty free, but I can't feel any of that from your expression.”
“Do I look like that? I guess I'm a little flustered because everything changed so suddenly.”
“But even if things are like that with your wife, what about the kids? Are you just giving up on them?”
“Haa... They've lost all affection for me now. I know living apart for so long must have made their attachment fade, but
I'm still their father. It hurt so much. I felt like my heart was collapsing.”
Park Minsu did not know what words of comfort he could offer in response to Cha Jihoo's miserable situation.
“You haven't lived together for a long time, so I guess that could happen. Even though I've been living with my kids all
this time, there are days when I don't say a single word to them.”
“Haa...”
“Honestly, after hearing everything you've been through, I completely understand how you feel. I think I would have done
the same. What's done is done, so you have to keep looking forward. What else can you do? Stay strong, my friend.”
“I guess I have to. Just as nobody can be completely satisfied with their past life, I'm going to think of myself as one
of those people. The good thing is that I'm still young enough to have some strength left, so I have to try somehow.”
“Who knows? Maybe you'll meet someone else who's good.”
“Forget it. I'm never dating another woman. Even if I were born again, even if I could go back to the past, I'd refuse
to get married, let alone date. I'm completely sick and tired of women.”
“I've still got a wife, but honestly, I feel the same way as you. In my next life, I'm going to live alone. Haha.”
Though he was drunk, Cha Jihoo's words were sincere.
If he could return to the time before he got married, he would break up with his current wife immediately.
Looking back now, his entire married life with her was filled with regret.
Of course, he had no intention of placing all the blame on his wife.
He was the one who had chosen her, and he was also the one who had agreed to let her and the children go to America.
What felt unfair and heartbreaking, however, was the fact that they never regarded the sacrifices and affection of a
husband and father as something precious, noble, and worthy of gratitude. They simply took them for granted.
‘Isn't that the basic thing a human being should do? If I'm wrong about that, then that means there's something
seriously wrong with this world.’
He did not care if people mocked him and called him a pushover or anything else.
He simply believed that if there were things he naturally did for them because they were family, then there should also
be things they naturally did for him.
But that expectation had now been brutally shattered.
Having his role as a husband and father denied meant that all the years he had spent on marriage and raising his
children had been ripped away from him entirely.
In the end, it meant that one of the most precious parts of his life had simply been erased.
He had lived diligently and worked hard for his family, yet receiving this kind of outcome felt unbearably unfair and
empty.
Unlike the beer, which had barely felt like drinking at all, the soju quickly brought on the effects of alcohol.
Already mentally exhausted, Cha Jihoo felt tired after drinking for the first time in a long while.
“Minsu, let's call it a night. I think I'm too drunk.”
“Haa, it is getting late. Let's do that. By the way, do you remember that time?”
“What time?”
“When we went to Japan together.”
“Japan?”
“Yeah. Back when you were still new at the company, you finally managed to get your first vacation, so the two of us
decided to take a trip together.”
“Ah, right. Of course I remember!”
It had been during the period when he had been working frantically after miraculously landing a job in the marketing
department of Samel Electronics, one of the top conglomerates in Korea.
While everyone else was struggling just to find employment, he had managed to get into a company that everyone dreamed
of working for. Naturally, his pride had been immense.
Cha Jihoo had buried himself in work until his team leader finally persuaded him to take his first vacation, albeit
quite late.
At the time, he was dating the woman who would eventually become his ex-wife through an office romance, but it was
impossible for them to coordinate their vacations.
So Cha Jihoo had gone on a three-night, four-day trip to Japan with his best friend, Park Minsu.
“It was short, but it was fun. It was even more fascinating for me because it was my first time going abroad.”
“Same here. But more than anything else, do you remember the women we met by chance back then? The ones we got to know
because you found their phone and wallet?”
“Yeah, that's right. I remember.”
“They were really beautiful. Especially that blonde, blue-eyed girl. She said she was an American college student,
remember? She was absolutely gorgeous. Somehow, she even had a bit of an Asian feel to her.”
That memory, which had seemed like nothing more than a brief episode in his life, surfaced in Cha Jihoo's mind.
Just as Park Minsu said, the white female student had been unrealistically beautiful.
Calling her merely pretty almost felt like an insult.
An aura of pure innocence and freshness surrounded her, along with an elegant and refined sophistication.
Honestly, it was hard to imagine any man not falling for her at first sight.
‘The fact that I still remember her face this vividly says it all.’
His friend continued digging through the memories as he poured alcohol into Cha Jihoo's empty glass.
“You talked to her a lot because your English was good. I think she was interested in you, Jihoo. Haha.”
“Interested in me? Come on...”
“No, seriously. She asked you back then, didn't she? She asked if you had a girlfriend.”
“You remember that too?”
“I don't know. It just suddenly came back to me. Haha. Why do I remember it so clearly?”
“She was probably just grateful because I helped her get out of a difficult situation. Honestly, would a woman that
beautiful not have a boyfriend? Especially a Western woman.”
“Maybe you're the type Western girls like. Honestly, I'm a little jealous, but you are handsome, and there's something
strangely attractive about your vibe.”
“Are you drunk? What nonsense. You idiot.”
“Anyway, those were good times. Those days were really full of romance. Ah, I want to go back. Back to those days of
youth.”
“You idiot, you're getting sentimental again. Come on, let's get up. If you don't want to see me staggering around,
let's call it a night.”
“Yeah. Please, stay strong.”
“The world hasn't collapsed. Don't worry.”
After seeing Park Minsu off to the subway station, Cha Jihoo returned home.
Fortunately, the cool night air seemed to sober him up a little.
‘Right. So that's how it was. I had days of youth and romance too.’
His college years had been good, but Cha Jihoo remembered the early days of his working life more vividly.
They had been days when he had gained confidence in his future and had his sense of existence affirmed.
‘This is really strange. Just like Minsu said, I can vividly remember that American girl's face too. Heh.’
She really had asked him if he had a girlfriend.
He had been in the midst of a passionate relationship with Ahn Jiyeon at the time, so naturally, Cha Jihoo had answered
that he did.
He could not remember exactly what expression the girl had made at that moment.
He only remembered that they had parted without exchanging any contact information.
He had thought of it as one of those fleeting encounters that simply passed by, but for some reason, a deep sense of
lingering regret had remained with him for a long time.
Even now, he did not know why.
‘Could Minsu really have been right? Was she actually interested in me?’
Soon, Cha Jihoo let out an incredulous laugh at himself.
‘Haha, I'm being ridiculous too. How could a beautiful, aristocratic-looking Western woman like that possibly have been
interested in me? Now that I'm divorced, all sorts of ridiculous thoughts are popping into my head. Anyway, that idiot
Minsu really does say the strangest, most ridiculous things sometimes.’
Cha Jihoo trudged back home.
As always, it was shrouded in silence, stillness, and darkness.
He turned on the lights, opened the refrigerator, and gulped down bottled water before collapsing onto the sofa without
even bothering to shower.
Alcohol could be quite useful sometimes.
It had a remarkable way of pushing difficult feelings and thoughts into the distance, even if only temporarily.
“Haa......”
On the first night of being legally alone, Cha Jihoo borrowed the effects of alcohol and fell into a deep sleep.
How much time had passed?
Cha Jihoo began waking up as he felt someone shaking his arm.
“.....?”
But something was strange.
He could hear a noisy commotion around him.
The atmosphere felt completely out of place in his home.
‘What is this? Did I leave the TV on before I fell asleep?’
Then, someone's voice came from beside him.
“Hey, Jihoo. What are you doing?”
“.....?”
“You idiot, you must have been really tired. Are you seriously dozing off while sitting?”
Cha Jihoo slowly opened his eyes.
The moment he did, he jolted awake in shock.
‘What the hell is this? I definitely came home and went to sleep...’
But that wasn't the case.
He was in a bar, surrounded by people.
Even more astonishing was the person sitting beside him.
It was Park Minsu!
‘What is this? How the hell did this happen?’
The situation itself was bewildering, but another thing about his friend shocked him once again.
‘What the hell? Why has this guy suddenly gotten so young?’
This was not the Park Minsu he had just been drinking with.
Not only was his noticeably fuller hair completely different, but even his skin looked entirely different.
In a word, he looked as though he had undergone a complete rejuvenation.
‘Th-This is...’
But the bar itself was strange too.
This was not the Korean barbecue restaurant where he had gone with his friend after finishing his shift at the
convenience store and downing several bottles of soju.
The menu hanging on the wall had Japanese writing on it, and the voices he could hear around him were not speaking
Korean either.
“Are you okay, Cha Jihoo? Are you awake? You barely drank any alcohol, so you aren't drunk, are you?”
Cha Jihoo barely managed to collect his thoughts enough to ask Park Minsu one question.
“My friend. What year is it today?”
“You idiot, what do you mean what year? It's 2010.”
“What? T-Two thousand... ten...?”
“Jeez, what's wrong with you? You're freaking me out. If you got dementia while we were all the way in Japan, I'm not
getting involved. I'll leave you here, so figure it out yourself.”
Oh my God.
‘Have I regressed?’