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# Chapter 2. The Gift Given by God (2)
I lay on the blue grass and gazed at the clear blue sky.
Fluffy clouds stretched across the sky, looking almost as though sheep were out for a walk.
I had been reborn.
I had parents now, and I had even gained two younger sisters.
The freedom and love I had dreamed of for so long.
For someone like me, who had been an orphan in my previous life, the existence of a family itself was happiness.
I realized belatedly that this world was different from the one I had lived in, but that could not interfere with my happiness.
Even though the parallel world that physics said might possibly exist had appeared before me as reality, none of that meant anything to me, who had been born as my parents' baby.
But as the years passed, my freedom gradually began to narrow.
A prank by God.
While giving me the gift of reincarnation, God had also bestowed upon me a cruel and sorrowful curse.
God had given me an excessively extraordinary appearance.
After lying on the grass, I slowly got up and picked up my bag.
The campus I had returned to after being discharged from the military was still fresh and full of life.
The scent of youth, the privilege of youth.
It was unfortunate that I could not fully experience these things, but I had no doubt that someday a world free from restraints would unfold before me as well.
I headed toward the bus stop to return home.
Since I had to transfer buses twice to get from school to home, more than an hour had passed by the time I arrived in Cheonho-dong.
“Oppa, where are you rushing off to like that? You don't even know there's a pretty woman following you.”
“A pretty woman. Where?”
“Here!”
My younger sister Suhyun pointed at herself while glaring at me with wide rabbit eyes.
She's something else. No matter how I look at her, she's incredibly shameless.
My younger sister, who was in her third year of high school, was seven years younger than me, but she wasn't intimidated by her older brother at all.
“I'm on my way to the shop. What about you?”
“I’m meeting my sister to watch a movie. I heard ‘Liar Life’ was really well made. Don't you want to come with us, Oppa?”
“I have to go to the café and clean. Dad has a hard time doing it alone.”
“As expected, you're such a good son. Our dad must be happy to have such a good son.”
“Are you messing with me? How dare a little squirt touch Oppa's head!”
When Suhyun patted my head as if she were proud of me, I glared at her fiercely.
But she wasn't the kind of younger sister who would be intimidated by that.
She's fast. Her instinct for sensing danger is extraordinary.
Yoon Suhyun had already moved two steps away to avoid my fist and was standing in a perfect defensive stance.
“Can't be helped, then. In that case, Oppa should work hard cleaning that café with no customers.”
“Come home early. Eat dinner at home.”
“It's been a long time since I've watched a movie. Give me a break just this once. I've had a hard time studying.”
“Don't waste money. Dad's having a hard time because the business isn't doing well.”
“Okay.”
Watching my younger sister run off energetically, Yoon Hyunseong shook his head.
Having two younger sisters made them difficult to handle.
Both Yoon Jeonghyeon, a second-year university student, and the youngest, Yoon Suhyun, who was running away like a rabbit over there as a third-year high school student, were excessively cheerful by nature, which made things difficult for Mom.
Dad had been running a café in Misari since before I was born.
The word café refers to a place where people meet and have a light meal or drink tea.
However, when the Misari cafés were at the height of their fame, they became famous as places where music and singing could be enjoyed.
Misari cafés were a sacred ground where singers who had not yet made it, or singers whose popularity had faded, performed while waiting for their opportunity.
Back when Misari cafés were at the height of their popularity, customers would often find the places so crowded that they had no choice but to turn around and leave.
Especially on days when a fairly well-known singer was performing, the cafés would be packed with customers even if they charged twice as much for drinks that day.
But today's Misari cafés were different from the past. The music had disappeared, and it was difficult to find customers.
“Dad, I'm here.”
“What did you come here for? I told you to go straight home.”
“Nothing. My classes ended early today, so I stopped by on my way home.”
Even though I didn't come every day, Dad discouraged Yoon Hyunseong from coming to the café.
Dad wanted his son to concentrate on his studies and enjoy his youth, so he didn't like me coming here.
Even so, I stopped by the café about once a week to help Dad.
Mom came out to help during the day, but in the afternoon, Dad ran the business alone, so there weren't enough hands.
“These days there aren't even any customers. So you don't need to come to the café. If you have free time, go out and meet some friends. Or go to a club or something.”
“I'll just clean up and go.”
“Phew...”
Dad's sigh grew deeper. It wasn't a sigh because he disliked it, but because he was worried about his good son.
Kind, cheerful, intelligent, and loving toward his family.
He was the best son anyone could proudly boast about, but there wasn't much Dad could do for him.
That was why Dad felt sorry whenever he looked at his son.
Where had the glory of the past gone? The café was now so empty that only flies seemed to be around.
I washed the mop and diligently cleaned the floor, neatly arranging the tables and taking care of the tasks Dad should have been doing.
It didn't take long.
There were hardly any customers anyway, so I finished cleaning roughly and sat down in the empty café, looking out the window.
Dad didn't come out of the kitchen because he was preparing the ingredients for the evening business.
The flowing river was beautiful, and the sky was so blue that it looked as though water would leak out if you poked it with a needle.
Whenever I saw scenes like this, I thanked God.
Freedom.
The free life I had longed for so desperately was here.
The café had a simple layout.
There were twelve tables in the main hall, with the kitchen beside the counter.
What was interesting was that there were chairs and a guitar placed in one corner.
Whenever there were no customers, Dad would sit alone, play the guitar, and sing. It was his only hobby.
Ding—
Seeing two female customers in their late twenties enter, Hyunseong quickly stood up.
I was happy because they were the first customers to arrive that afternoon.
I had heard that only five groups had come during lunchtime, so it was practically a miracle that the café was still operating.
“Welcome.”
When I greeted them in a gentle voice, the two women stared at Yoon Hyunseong, who had pulled his cap down deeply, for a moment before taking a seat by the window.
But somehow, the atmosphere felt unusual.
The short-haired woman had tears welling up in her eyes, and it seemed as though something quite sad had happened to her.
The straight-haired woman sitting across from her gently patted the short-haired woman's shoulder for a moment before heading toward the kiosk.
If even that had not been there, he would have had to come to the café every day to help his father.
Otherwise, Mom would have had to put aside the household chores and come work at the shop.
The women ordered coffee.
In fact, Dad's coffee was excellent.
Its fragrant flavor lingering in the mouth was superb, and whenever there were few customers, Dad, with his neatly groomed beard, would personally bring the coffee out to them, making the customers smile with satisfaction.
But today, Yoon Hyunseong brought the coffee to them.
“Enjoy.”
After setting down the coffee, I returned to the counter and listened to the music playing.
A song by Kim Kwang-seok, Dad's favorite singer, was flowing through the amplifier.
And buried beneath the music, I could also hear the women's voices.
I hadn't deliberately strained my ears to listen, but the short-haired woman's sobbing was so sorrowful that I naturally found myself focusing on their conversation.
“Hyejeong, you need to let him go now. How long are you going to keep doing this? If Sanghoon sees you like this from heaven, he'll be sad too.”
“Unni, I... I can't ever forget him.”
“Then what are you going to do? It's already been three years. You need to think about your own life too. Don't you think it's time to let him go? How long are you going to live like this?”
“You know... you know I can't do that...”
The short-haired woman once again let tears fall and stared out the window.
Her eyes were directed outside, but she probably wasn't looking at the beautiful river or the blue sky.
She was looking at the illusion of a man who had approached through the window.
Longing for the man she had loved to death, but who had left her side.
She was undoubtedly thinking of the memories that man had left behind, lost in that longing.
I didn't know what had happened, but her sorrowful eyes were filled with memories of a man she had truly loved but could no longer see.
He might have died from an illness, or perhaps he had died in a traffic accident.
Even so, the fact that she missed a dead person so desperately was enough to guess what kind of man he must have been.
The woman finally took her eyes away from the window and buried her head on the table.
She seemed to want to close her eyes so she could fully immerse herself in the memories rushing toward her.
Her shoulders trembled.
Truly loving someone hurts terribly. Like that.
The women who had loved me had cried like that when they left me behind.
Whenever I hurt them with my reckless years, and whenever I made things difficult for them by sinking into severe depression, the people who loved me disappeared one by one, shedding tears.
At that moment.
All I had done was coldly watch the women who were leaving me. I had done nothing for them.
It wasn't because of some terrible selfishness. Rather, it was the hatred born from resentment toward the women who had not stayed by my side until the end that had made me act that way.
Regret, and the pain I had locked away deep inside my heart.
Not even once had I reached out my hand first for the women I had loved.
I slowly stood up from behind the counter, turned off the song playing through the amplifier, and headed toward where the guitar was.
Then I quietly picked up the guitar and adjusted its tuning.
Dad played the guitar almost every day, but some of the notes were slightly off, so I adjusted the strings for a moment and made the sound perfect.
Just then, I saw Yoon Taehyeok poking his head out of the kitchen.
He seemed curious about what was happening because the music that had been playing in the hall had suddenly stopped.
Then, when he saw Hyunseong touching the guitar, he walked out of the kitchen and stared in surprise.
Before he even had a chance to say anything, Hyunseong positioned the guitar neatly in front of himself and began to play.
Soft, lyrical, and beautiful melodies began to quietly resonate through the strings.
Just then, the door opened, and two men and women entered.
Unfortunately, just as the guitar's melody began to resonate after striking the window, the bell hanging at the entrance shattered the beautiful harmony with its ringing sound.