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# 04. Dad Has Changed (1)
I left President Kim’s office.
4 a.m.
The cold Friday air seeped deep into my lungs. The effects of the alcohol seemed to be fading a little.
For now, I had put out the immediate fire.
The loan sharks’ demands would stop for a week. Once Arche Pharmaceuticals exploded, their attitude would change
completely, and from then on, I could negotiate for real.
The problem was what came after that.
“70 million won in financial-sector debt…”
My legitimate loans alone amounted to 70 million won.
This wasn't something I could solve by intimidating President Kim. Fists didn't work on banks.
The overdue interest was growing every day, and the collection notices would keep arriving.
That included the debt under Haeun’s name.
“I have to pay it back.”
It was the obvious conclusion.
The lottery?
I didn't remember.
What hero in my previous life went around memorizing lottery numbers?
Stocks?
I had no seed money.
Loans?
No longer possible.
In the end, there was only one answer.
“I'll work it off with my body.”
The most primitive and certain method.
But once I actually made up my mind, a hollow laugh escaped me.
I looked down at myself.
Thin forearms emaciated from being soaked in alcohol.
Legs that trembled whenever I moved even slightly.
Skin that had turned dark and lifeless from being poisoned by liquor.
What could I possibly do with this body?
Work part-time at a convenience store?
They wouldn't hire me because I was too old.
Delivery work?
I didn't have the money for a motorcycle, nor did I have a license.
Designated driving?
Where was I supposed to get the money to pay for insurance?
There was nothing I could do.
I had once been a hero who saved the world, but right now, I was an utterly useless piece of manpower with absolutely no
value to society.
‘Still, I have to do it.’
I needed to earn enough to at least put food on the table tomorrow.
No.
Even tonight.
I had seen that there wasn't even a single 10,000-won bill in my wife's wallet.
I had also seen how worn out and tattered my daughter's daycare bag was.
Even putting the financial debt aside, I needed money just to survive.
‘If I have no skills and no capital…’
There was only one thing left.
A place that was equally grueling for everyone, but paid honest cash in return.
The only place where I could turn even my broken body into money by grinding it down.
“Construction work.”
The bitter taste rose in my mouth as I said it aloud.
If the me from my previous life had heard this, he would have been dumbfounded.
The hands that had once cut off the Demon King's head were now going to be carrying sacks of cement.
But this wasn't the time to worry about pride.
I searched my pockets.
A few crumpled 1,000-won bills and some coins.
Altogether, about 30,000 won.
And 12,000 won in my bank account.
42,000 won in total.
This was everything I owned.
I wanted to run straight to a labor dispatch office, but my feet wouldn't move.
“……”
Under the streetlight, my hands were trembling slightly.
Alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
My legs were shaking, and I was out of breath after moving even a little.
This body wasn't up to it.
It was obvious I'd be unable to carry even a single brick properly before being kicked out.
“I need some time.”
I turned on my smartphone.
Early Friday morning.
I had about three days until the weekend passed and Monday arrived.
“My family…”
I turned my head and looked toward the neighborhood.
I couldn't go in.
What was I supposed to say if I came home smelling of alcohol without even having earned any money?
I didn't have the courage to face the contempt in my wife's eyes again.
“Monday.”
I clenched my fists.
“Let's just hold out until Monday.”
By then, I had to turn this trash of a body into one that could at least function like a human being.
---
My three-day life at a jjimjilbang began.
The cheapest 24-hour jjimjilbang in the neighborhood.
The entrance fee was 9,000 won.
To survive three days, I needed 27,000 won.
I also had to cover my meals with whatever money remained.
“Haa…”
I changed into the jjimjilbang clothes and stood in front of the mirror.
My upper body was so thin that my ribs showed clearly.
My stomach stuck out, giving me a spider-like body shape.
My eyes were unfocused.
The dignity of an S-rank Hunter was nowhere to be seen.
I looked exactly like a homeless man.
I found a spot in a secluded sleeping room.
I sat cross-legged and closed my eyes.
‘Remember.’
The sensations from my previous life.
I had to awaken the energy sleeping deep within my danjeon.
[Asura Art].
A breathing technique I had learned to survive on battlefields that were like hell itself.
A domineering martial art that ground flesh and blood down into power and burned away impurities within the body.
“Hoo…”
I slowly exhaled.
The stale air that had been festering inside my lungs escaped.
I inhaled again.
One hour.
Two hours.
Sweat poured down like rain.
Alcohol toxins were being expelled through my pores as black sweat.
My body gave off a smell like a sewer.
People passing by covered their noses and avoided me.
It wasn't the embarrassment that was unbearable.
It was how miserable I looked.
I got my meals from convenience-store cup noodles and boiled eggs.
My stomach felt like it was twisting from hunger, but I kept telling myself that it was nothing compared to the hunger
Haeun must have endured.
Friday night.
In a corner of the sleeping room, I grabbed a blanket and a hard pillow that had been lying around and lay down.
‘Haeun… Seolhee…’
I couldn't sleep.
This place, with no warm blankets and no comfortable pillow, felt like a miniature version of the hell I had tried to
drag my family into.
Saturday.
Sunday.
I pushed my body to its limits.
During the early hours when there were few people around, I went to a nearby park and ran.
My heart felt like it would burst, but I didn't stop.
I hung from the horizontal bar and did pull-ups.
One.
Two.
Three…
My arms trembled.
The pain of my muscles tearing apart.
‘One more.
Just one more.’
Whenever I reached my limit, I thought of Seolhee's tiny, fern-like hands as she pushed me away in terror.
Sunday night.
The swelling in my body had gone down, and life began returning to my once-dull eyes.
My entire body screamed from muscle soreness, but I felt stronger.
It couldn't compare to the body of an S-rank Hunter, but at least I had built a body that wouldn't collapse on a
construction site.
With my last 1,000 won, I bought a can of coffee.
“Tomorrow.”
I roughly slung my bag over my shoulder.
---
4 a.m. Monday.
I washed myself in the jjimjilbang's shower room.
Steam rose as I poured cold water over myself.
The man in the mirror was different from the one I'd been three days ago.
The smell of alcohol was gone.
There was life in my eyes.
“Let's go.”
I gathered my belongings and left.
The early-morning air felt refreshing.
A street where labor dispatch offices were clustered together.
‘Daehan Manpower.’
It was the place with the largest sign.
When I opened the door and went inside, it was already crowded with people.
The rough breathing and cigarette smoke of men who lived from one day to the next.
The front line of life.
I walked up to the counter.
“ID.”
The manager sitting on the sofa held out his hand without even looking at me.
I handed him my ID.
He glanced at it before frowning.
“Never seen you before. Got a completion certificate?”
“…No.”
“What? You haven't even taken the basic safety training?”
The manager tossed my ID back at me.
“You can't enter a worksite without that. Go take the training first and come back. It's four hours, so you can forget
about working today.”
“Please just let me go.”
I put my ID back into my pocket as I spoke.
“What?”
“There are plenty of worksites that don't check, aren't there? Small villas or commercial buildings and places like
that.”
The manager snorted.
“What is with this guy? Do you know how strict inspections are these days? If you get caught, I'll be the one who gets
screwed. Go.”
He waved his hand.
The workers sitting nearby chuckled.
“Sir, just go home. You look like a complete rookie.”
“Looking at those clothes, seems like you've never worked a day in your life.”
They weren't wrong.
An old shirt and jeans.
Clothes I'd worn for three straight days, now filthy and disheveled.
But I couldn't back down.
If I went home empty-handed today, I wouldn't be able to face Haeun.
No.
I wouldn't even be worthy of being called a man.
“Manager.”
I placed both hands on the counter and lowered my head.
“Please. I'm begging you. If I can't work today, my wife and child will go hungry.”
“Heh, come on. Is there anyone here without a sob story? You're making a fuss, so get out.”
“We have no rice at home.”
“…What?”
The manager hesitated.
I didn't miss the opportunity and desperately pleaded with him.
“I have a wife and a five-year-old daughter. They've gone hungry for several days. If I go home empty-handed today, my
family will have to fill their stomachs with water again tonight.”
It was true.
When was the last time I'd seen the rice jar completely empty?
I also remembered that even the refrigerator we had barely been able to afford was broken and wasn't working properly.
There really was nothing in that hellish house.
“Please, just give me one chance. I'll work like my life depends on it. I'll do twice what the others do.
No.
Even three times.”
My eyes changed.
These weren't the eyes of someone simply begging for sympathy.
They were the fierce eyes of a head of household who had nowhere left to retreat, determined to feed his family.
“If I can't do the work once I'm at the site, I won't take the day's pay. You can take twice the introduction fee.
No.
You can take all of it.
Please… just send me.”
The manager's hand stopped.
He raised his head and stared at me.
My clothes were shabby, but my eyes were fierce.
The eyes that had been dull and vacant just days ago now held a spirit that looked capable of chewing through iron.
The manager's instincts, honed from dealing with laborers for decades, stirred.
“…Looks like you're pretty desperate.”
He had seen countless men use their families as an excuse and then run off without paying what they owed.
But a man with eyes like those didn't lie.
“Twice?”
“Yes.”
“Your words sure are smooth. Just don't throw your back out and then lie down asking me to file a workers' compensation
claim.”
The manager grumbled as he flipped through the ledger.
“There's a material-hauling team that just had someone cancel… But that's seriously hard work. You have to carry
40-kilogram sacks of cement up the stairs on your back. Can you handle it?”
“Just send me.”
“Hoo… Fine.
But if you run away halfway through because you can't handle it, you won't get a single penny. Got it?
Come back to the office when you're done.”
“Thank you.
Thank you so much.”
The manager handed me a note.
“New villa construction site in Dongdaemun-gu. Get there by 6:30.
I'll tell the foreman you're coming.
The daily wage is 150,000 won.”
I took the note and stepped outside.
The cold early-morning air felt refreshing.
Construction work.
The hands that had once cut off the Demon King's head were about to carry sacks of cement.
Someone might laugh.
An S-rank Hunter doing something like this?
But I clenched my fist.
‘This is better.’
Sweating to put a spoonful of food into my daughter's mouth was a hundred times more valuable than killing monsters.
I put the note into my pocket and started running.
A hot energy spread throughout my body from my danjeon.
My footsteps felt as light as feathers.
---
6:20 a.m.
The worksite.
It was a four-story villa under construction.
When I arrived, sacks of cement were piled up like a mountain at the entrance.
One hundred and twenty 40-kilogram sacks.
All of them had to be carried up to the fourth floor using the stairs.
There was no elevator.
The workers hadn't arrived yet.
I straightened my clothes and stood in front of the sacks, estimating the workload.
‘120 sacks.
Fourth floor.’
I lightly warmed up.
I rolled my neck and stretched my shoulders.
My joints cracked.
“Hoo…”
I steadied my breathing and mentally prepared myself.
Around 6:40, a man who appeared to be the worksite foreman approached.
“Huh? You're already here?”
The foreman looked at his watch and stared at me in surprise.
“You're from Daehan?”
“Yes. I'm Kang Cheolhyun.”
“They said you don't have a completion certificate.
The manager begged me so much that I'm taking you anyway…
Hey, what's with your body?
You look way too clean-cut.”
Thanks to the training over the past few days, the swelling had completely gone down.
But my clothes still carried the distinctive smell of the jjimjilbang.
“It won't interfere with my work.”
“Hah. Listen to you talking back.”
The foreman spat his cigarette onto the ground and sneered.
“Hey, this place isn't a joke.
Usually, even three people are exhausted after handling this much material all day.
You're here alone, right?”
“Yes.”
“This is a yarye-kiri job.”
If you finish the entire workload, you can leave regardless of the time.
But if you don't finish it, you don't get paid for the day.”
“Understood.”
Instead of answering further, I put on my work gloves.
I stood in front of the sacks.
40 kilograms.
That was enough weight to make an ordinary person's back buckle.
But with my body after training, this much wasn't a problem.
‘Gather the energy in my danjeon.’
Inhale.
I breathed in and lifted one sack.
Light.
The corner of my mouth rose before I knew it.
I picked up another and placed it on top.
80 kilograms.
“W, what the hell! You crazy bastard!”
A worker carrying bricks nearby shouted.
“You'll wreck your back! Do one at a time!”
“I'm fine.”
The foreman started rushing toward me.
“Hey! If you get hurt, we're the ones who'll have trouble! Put it down!”
I ignored him.
I started climbing the stairs just like that.
Tap.
Tap.
My pace as I climbed the stairs was anything but ordinary.
The sweat and blood I'd poured out over the weekend hadn't been wasted.
Instead of screaming in pain, my muscles seemed to writhe with joy.
First floor.
Second floor.
Third floor.
Fourth floor.
I reached the top in one go and dropped the sacks onto the floor.
Thud!
Dust billowed into the air.
I caught my breath.
“Hoo…”
Sweat ran down my face, but I wasn't tired.
If anything, it felt as though my body was loosening up.
I immediately headed back down the stairs.
The foreman and the workers were staring at me with their mouths hanging open.
“What are you doing?”
I casually tossed the words at them as I passed.
“You said to finish it by lunchtime.”
I picked up another pair of sacks.
Two again.
The foreman let out a hollow laugh.
“Ha… What the hell is that guy?”
---
That morning.
I went up and down the stairs without stopping.
Like a machine.
No.
Like a man trying to atone.
Every time a drop of sweat fell to the floor, it felt as though the trash-like memories inside me were being washed away
one by one.
11:30 a.m.
All 120 sacks had been carried up to the fourth floor.
“……”
The foreman couldn't speak as he stared at the empty pallet.
“It's finished.”
I said as I wiped away my sweat.
“Check it yourself.”
The foreman checked the fourth floor and came back down.
He looked at me as though I were a monster.
“…Wow. You're seriously fucking crazy.
You finished alone, in a single morning, what three people would have done?”
A faint laugh appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Go on.
I'll call the manager and let him know.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
---
12 noon.
Daehan Manpower office.
When I opened the door and walked in, the manager looked up in surprise while eating jajangmyeon.
“What? You're already back?
Did you run away?”
“I finished everything and came back.”
“What?
The 120 sacks?
By yourself?”
The manager called the foreman, clearly unable to believe it.
His eyes grew wider throughout the call.
“Uh… yeah… Really?
Huh… Okay.”
After hanging up, the manager stared blankly at me.
“He says you're a monster.
The foreman couldn't stop praising you.”
The manager took a cash envelope out of the safe.
“A promise is a promise.
Here. Today's pay.”
150,000 won.
He deducted the 10% introduction fee of 15,000 won.
The amount placed in my hand was 135,000 won.
“Good work.
Go eat something and get some rest.”
But I didn't leave.
“Manager.”
“Huh?”
“Is there any more work this afternoon?”
The manager dropped the chopsticks he'd been eating with.
“What?
You just carried 120 sacks of cement.
Aren't you tired?”
“I'm fine.
I need more money.”
“Jeez…”
The manager clicked his tongue.
“You're one hell of a stubborn bastard.
Usually people either run off because they're exhausted or go drinking.”
He flipped through the ledger.
“There's a demolition site at a nearby shopping district that needs one more person…
But that's tough too.
You'll be hauling out construction waste, so you'll be breathing in a lot of dust.”
“I don't care.
Send me.”
“Fine, go.
Just don't get hurt.”
---
6 p.m.
After finishing the demolition work, I returned to the office once again.
My entire body was covered in dust and drenched in sweat, but there was still life in my eyes.
“Oh, you really came back.”
The manager greeted me while shaking his head.
“Cheolhyun, you're seriously incredible.
The demolition foreman called too.
He said you did the work of three people by yourself.”
The manager held out an envelope.
“Here.
Afternoon pay, 150,000 won.
After the fee, 135,000 won.”
I took the money.
Then the manager pulled another 50,000-won bill from his wallet.
“This is a bonus.”
“What?”
“The foreman from this morning gave it as a tip.
He said thanks for shortening the work time.
I'm not taking my cut from this one, so keep it.”
“……”
“I thought you were a complete loser at first, but you're a hidden gem.
I hope we can work well together from now on.”
The manager patted me on the shoulder.
“Thank you.”
I took the money and put it in my pocket.
135,000 won from the morning.
135,000 won from the afternoon.
50,000 won bonus.
320,000 won in total.
Money earned through blood and sweat, clutched in my hands.
Not money earned by selling out my family.
Real money earned by grinding my own body down.
I left the office.
The sun was setting.
My entire body ached and my legs trembled, but I felt like I could fly.
‘Haeun.’
With this money, we wouldn't have to worry about dinner tonight.
I could buy rice.
Meat.
And even strawberries, which Seolhee loved.
I stopped by a convenience store and bought an envelope.
I put the cash inside.
Then I headed toward the market.
My footsteps quickened.
On the way home.
Yesterday, I had run away.
But today, I felt like I could go inside.
No.
I had to go inside.
To the place where my family was waiting.