Time Mansour - Chapter 101
Only Noblemtl
Episode 101: Forgetting Faster
There are people like that sometimes.
A person who is easygoing and comfortable talking to strangers.
Even in the bitter winter wind, the old man’s mouth never froze.
“The economy is not doing well these days, and it’s hard to find a job. Man, it’s not easy for young people to live.”
Constantly exhaling breath.
“When I was young. That is, in the early 90s. At that time, I went to a construction site in Saudi Arabia…”
As I walked, the time period changed. No, the location changed too.
Before I knew it, the old man was describing the sandstorms of the Middle East.
Looking at that sight, I nodded my head and stepped into the moonlight. I let the old man’s past drift away in the winter wind.
As I was walking with different thoughts, I came to a fork in the road.
I glanced over and saw that the old man was going in the opposite direction.
“I have to go this way.”
He pointed to an empty alley with his finger.
“Ah. It’s the opposite direction. Okay. Come on in. This is fate. Let’s have a drink later.”
Even as they parted ways, he pretended to break the glass with his hand. How witty.
If you envy someone, it’s an enviable ability.
If I had that kind of personality.
I would have suggested having a drink right now.
I don’t know if that guy actually has insurance.
I just want to get some insurance and have a drink.
It’s a day when I really feel like drinking.
Like an overflowing glass of soju, the full moon fills the night sky.
Should I buy a bottle of soju? I stand in front of the convenience store and look out the window.
So, in front of the convenience store parasol, I hesitated for a moment.
I think I’ll get more depressed if I drink alone.
“Let’s just go.”
I turned towards the house.
At times like this, there’s no one to drink with.
Blowing like that, he spit out his regretful feelings into the air.
Suddenly.
‘No. There’s one person.’
Manager Chae came to mind.
The most comfortable person living nearby.
I glance at my phone. Today is Saturday. I’ll have tomorrow off.
Unable to make a decision, I continued fiddling with my phone.
It seems a little late now. You should be resting this weekend, but I feel it would be rude to call you.
I hesitated like that, thinking of tens of thousands of thoughts on my own.
After doing that for a while, my hand started to feel really numb, so I took my other hand out of my pocket.
‘I’ll just ask casually.’
After stopping again and thinking for a while.
Then he takes his other hand out of his pocket.
The phone’s LCD screen flickered like a broken fluorescent light.
The phone screen turned on and off several times.
**
I tilt the bottle. Without even knowing what was going on, the soju glass is filled to the brim.
“What’s going on? The director said let’s drink first.”
“Just. I suddenly thought of alcohol.”
Manager Chae split the wooden chopsticks while pretending not to listen to my answer.
Holding chopsticks, he reaches out towards the tripe.
After using chopsticks like that for a long time.
Only after my teeth got all covered in chili powder.
“Oh, sorry. I’m just hungry.”
He raised his head.
“You haven’t eaten?”
“Yes. I slept all day and just woke up.”
As I scratched my head awkwardly, the hair that was pressed against my head flinched in surprise.
“But, are you worried too, sir?”
“of course.”
“I was worried, but you really have changed a lot.”
At Manager Chae’s words, I shook my head from side to side while holding the tripe.
“If someone heard me, they would think I lived comfortably.”
“I thought you were some kind of monk. When the server went down before, you didn’t care and just typed in the code. Don’t you remember?”
“At that time, I was also worried inside. It just didn’t show on the outside.”
He answered with a smile and took a drink first without even a toast.
I chewed the tripe before the bitter taste set in.
“What? So what are you worried about? Is it because of the donation platform I mentioned last time? What’s not working well?”
“No, that’s almost done. Now all that’s left is designing the app.”
“Then it’s all done. The CEO won’t be doing the app design anyway.”
“Of course I can’t do that.”
“Yes, sir. I know you can’t do it, but you shouldn’t do it either. You know that, don’t you?”
Manager Chae answered firmly. He kept urging me.
Even if you know how to do it, you shouldn’t do it. I agree with some of it.
‘You really are bad at choosing clothes, sir.’
I remember what Sohyun said.
and.
‘Are you okay?’
I also heard something from a nurse at a university hospital.
If you look at everything in the world beautifully, it is infinitely beautiful.
If you look at it ugly, it only looks ugly.
Because I lived thinking that in the end, everything would change depending on my perspective.
“Director, your eyes are so weird. No. They’re bad. That’s because your eyes are bad.”
I’ve often heard that my eyes look a bit weird.
I agree with that to some extent.
“My eyesight is not good. My vision in both sides is still 1.0. Among developers, there is no one with better eyesight than me.”
Because I don’t want to admit it.
so.
I’m just talking nonsense.
“No. That’s not what it sounds like.
Manager Chae laughs as if he finds this ridiculous and runs his hands through his messy hair. Oil starts to shine on his matted hair.
They clinked their glasses several times, making such pointless jokes.
As we order another serving of gopchang and pour in a few more glasses of soju, Manager Chae’s words become more and more frequent.
“Sir, think about it. How can I do this all by myself? Is this my fault? Yes? Isn’t it?”
of course.
I don’t know.
What did you do alone?
You should at least explain what the situation is. If you keep asking if it’s your fault, I have nothing to say.
so.
“No. It’s all his fault. Manager Chae did what he had to do.”
You blame someone you don’t even know. You can’t blame Manager Chae here.
What does the context matter? I think so and nod my head vaguely.
So, I started drinking, taking Manager Chae’s drunkenness as an accompaniment.
“Sister. I forgot. So···”
Before I knew it, my eyes were open. My pronunciation was slowly fading away.
“I run the business and provide support, so do you think I’m doing the work alone?”
Eventually, they started talking differently. At some point, the conversation stopped working at all.
I kept clinking my glasses like that, and eventually I started feeling nauseous.
“Manager Chae. Excuse me. I need to go to the bathroom.”
I grabbed the chair and stood up.
I stagger a little as I get up.
I bent my knees halfway and then straightened my back.
The smell of alcohol is rising from inside.
I hurried to the bathroom, held onto the toilet bowl, and bowed my head.
Ugh. Ugh. As I pour out the vomit, my eyes get moist.
A face soaked with tears and snot.
I don’t know the exact reason though.
Strangely enough, after I vent my feelings, I always end up crying.
**
Beep. Beep.
You entered the wrong front door password.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Press several more times.
Tiring.
The door opened on the fourth try.
I drank some today.
I dropped Manager Chae off at his house, and I don’t know what I was thinking when I came back.
Since the best hangover cure is time, I staggered into my sister’s room.
Lying in the frozen time, I pull the blanket over me.
‘Sister.’
I buried my face in the flower pattern.
The blanket smelled refreshing.
All traces of my sister were erased.
If it were normal, it would have taken longer to forget my older sister.
It wasn’t such a trivial thing that I would completely forget it in just a year.
Because I stayed in the stopped time for a long time.
The time I spent must have been longer than a year.
I’ve never actually calculated it, so I don’t know exactly how much time has passed.
I didn’t even think about it.
The longer you stay in the stopped time.
The fact that you can forget memories more quickly.
I lay there blankly staring at the ceiling. My mouth smelled like vomit.
I wonder if this is what my sister really wanted.
I wonder if my sister wanted me to forget her quickly.
Don’t dwell on the past, move forward.
so.
When my older sister left at the end, did time in this room stop?
Suddenly, that thought occurred to me.
**
Rattling.
The bus hits a speed bump and climbs a hill.
‘The lowest people lived in the highest places.’
An old story my mother used to tell me.
These days, old memories are coming back to me randomly.
At first, I was upset.
‘I don’t know anymore.’
Now I’ve decided to just accept it.
If you remember, live as you remember, and if you forget, live as you have forgotten.
When we all meet again in heaven later.
At that time, you should bow your head and apologize.
With that thought in mind, I took my keyboard and entered the auditorium.
“Hehehehe.”
“Wow, wow, wow.”
Passing through the children’s laughter, the auditorium resonates with loud noise.
As expected, it’s Busan-like. Teachers are busily moving around the auditorium.
I made my way through there and arrived at the waiting room.
Seongtae came before me.
and.
“hello.”
“Ah. Yes. Hello.”
A special education teacher who interacts with Seongtae.
I bowed my head slightly in greeting and sat down on the chair.
Seongtae is talking to the special education teacher while watching me.
It seemed like Alkongdalgong was busy in his own way. I shouldn’t bother him unnecessarily.
Thinking like that, after saying hello, I didn’t speak to Seongtae and just quietly checked my keyboard.
“You didn’t bring it this time either?”
Seongtae turns his head and looks at me.
“what?”
“this.”
A spiderman costume comes out of Seongtae’s bag.
Going forward, everyone agreed that children’s events in particular would feature performances while wearing makeup.
Of course, I didn’t agree at the time.
“I brought it. But where can I change my clothes?”
In the meantime, my mind changed a little.
I took out the clothes and wig from the bag.
Seongtae looks at the princess dress in my hand with surprise.
“What’s going on? What’s going on?”
“It’s just good, it’s good.”
If I can be a little embarrassed, it would be fun for the kids.
Then wouldn’t it be a profitable business?
‘I don’t know anymore.’
Don’t overthink it.
I decided to enjoy the sound of children’s laughter.
One after another, other band members arrived. They looked at me with surprised eyes, having changed their clothes. They stared at me with their mouths open.
“What is that?”
“That’s what I’m saying. I don’t want to wear it like that.”
Everyone says something as if they are surprised. Instead of responding, I point to the bathroom with my chin and tell them to change quickly.
The band members came out of the bathroom transformed into characters from a cartoon.
Before going up on stage, I put on a wig cap and secured the wig in place.
After everything is ready.
like that.
Let’s get our band on stage.
“Ohhhhhhh!”
Just by appearing, there was an enormous cheer.
The cheers are incomparable to those of other performing groups.
Yeah. Let’s have some fun for real.
With that thought in mind, I flicked the princess dress with both hands.
“Ohhhhhhhhh!”
“Wow, wow, wow!”
Once again, the audience roared. The sound was so loud that it was deafening.
like that.
The dress fluttered like a hero in a comic book movie with his cape fluttering.
Place both hands on the keyboard.