Time Mansour - Chapter 107
Only Noblemtl
Episode 107 Leaving Footprints in the Snow
New Year’s Day.
I came to the cafe with Junwoo.
I pre-ordered and was waiting for Da-eun and So-hyeon.
suddenly.
“You are the developer, right? Can I take a picture with you?”
A stranger approached me and extended his arm holding a cell phone.
He looks at the lens of his cell phone and smiles awkwardly.
After the advertisement was aired, the number of people who found out about it increased significantly.
Through word of mouth in the community and on social media, my face became quite well known.
I’m starting to understand more and more what it’s like to live a famous but penniless life.
After taking a picture with the person I didn’t know, I turned my head again and looked at Junwoo.
“Teacher, I can’t teach anymore? Really?”
Junwoo looks up at me. Regret is evident in his eyes.
‘I want to teach Junwoo too.’
Junwoo had to get off now. It was time.
To begin with, I had never formally learned coding.
I didn’t receive any professional training, I learned it on the job.
I was confident that I could teach customers really well how to treat them so that they would feel less pain.
I didn’t really know how to learn from the basics. I just watched other instructors’ lectures and roughly imitated them.
“There’s nothing I can do… The teacher is busy.”
Junwoo’s voice gets smaller and smaller. The more he talks, the more his words become slurred.
I hastily waved both my hands at Junwoo’s disappointed look.
“No, that’s not it. I just want you to learn properly at school.”
“Then, can’t you teach me properly, teacher?”
Junwoo continues to express his regrets. She tries to console him at length using gestures.
“Later, when you go to the academy, if there’s anything you don’t know or don’t understand, come and ask me anytime.”
While I was having the same conversation with Junwoo over and over again.
suddenly.
-Jiying.
-Jiying.
Junwoo and I both vibrated our phones at the same time.
Heavy snow warning.
Check the safety instructions text.
Only then.
“Wow! Teacher. Look outside. It’s really snowing a lot.”
The scenery outside the window comes into our eyes.
Wow. It’s pouring down so much. I couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.
It’s snowing so hard that you can’t see even an inch ahead of you.
I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve seen snow piled up like this.
Junwoo and I stared at the other side of the window for a long time, our gazes stolen.
We just stared blankly at the world covered in white, our mouths shut.
moment.
In silence.
“mister!”
“uncle!”
Sohyun and Da-eun’s voices were heard.
Hearing a voice from behind me, I turned my head a beat later and looked at the kids.
And before I could even say anything in response.
“Uncle. Uncle. It’s snowing a lot.”
Da-eun smiles brightly.
“Mister! Hurry up! Hurry up! Let’s go out and have a snowball fight.”
Sohyun grabbed my collar with an excited voice.
He grabbed my collar and jumped up and down.
The clothes stretch out, unable to support Sohyun’s weight.
“···”
It’s growing a bit more today than usual.
Is it because the child is one year older?
It felt somehow heavier.
**
Snow piled up heavily on the streets.
An alley dressed in mourning attire to commemorate the year that has passed.
‘I hope this year will be filled with only good things for everyone.’
So, with those New Year’s wishes, let’s gather the snowballs together.
“Ahh!”
I threw it with all my might towards Sohyun.
“Sir!! What is it! Wait!! Just stand right there.”
Oh my. Sohyun groans and sits down.
like that.
He squatted down, groaning, and scratching at his eyes.
“Sir, he’s really dead!”
Before I knew it, a snowball the size of my head was in Sohyun’s hand.
I turned my back and ran to the other side.
“Stop. It’s not fair. You’re going to get hit too.”
Sohyun runs towards me at full speed.
Slippery, icy road.
I feel like I might fall over if I keep doing that.
“Okay, okay. Okay.”
He stood still, raising both hands in surrender.
Then it happened.
Come right up to my nose.
“Yay! Got it!”
Just slap me in the face.
You are dead.
A face that turns red in cold weather.
After grabbing Sohyun, who was slowly backing away, with one hand.
“Let go. Give it to me.”
He grabbed a handful of snow with his other hand.
“Oh my. It’s cold!”
And then he sprinkled snow on my face.
Let’s wash our faces with cold snowballs.
Sohyun’s face also turns red.
“Sir, let’s try it.”
It’s so cold that my nostrils are flaring.
“Even though your nostrils are flaring like that, I’m not scared at all.”
My tongue is sticking out.
While laughing like that, I was teasing Sohyun.
“uncle!”
“teacher!”
Before we knew it, Da-eun and Jun-woo were holding snowballs in their hands.
“No. Why are you throwing it at me?”
A snowball flew over my aggrieved expression.
Fill the empty alleys with your children’s footprints.
After playing around in the snow for a while like that.
“Oh my god. I’m dying.”
I hesitated first.
Thud. I landed on the stairs.
Let’s sit down and put down some soft snow.
The children came and lined up to sit next to me.
“Right! That’s right! Sir. You’re the guest next week.”
“Huh? Without even consulting me?”
“I told you just now.”
“I don’t like it. It’s annoying.”
“No. I don’t like it either. There are so many comments asking when you’ll come out.”
When the water gets this wet, you have to row. So-Hyeon jumped up from her seat and pretended to row.
There was melted snow on Sohyun’s butt. Her pants were soaking wet, as if a lot of water had gotten in.
I had some business to take me far away for a while, so my schedule was a bit tight.
It really annoys me that Sohyun is struggling next to me.
“Okay, okay. Okay, I get it. Sit down. I’m going crazy.”
First, let’s have Sohyun sit down.
“It’s true. It’s true. I promise.”
Instead of sitting down, Sohyun runs around.
I love jumping around in the snow.
Looking at Sohyun looking so happy.
‘I said I was doing it for nothing. It’s even more crazy.’
I found myself chuckling without realizing it.
**
Rattling.
The tires hit the dirt road.
Unpaved road.
This director and I sway our bodies from side to side.
“Youngjun. Isn’t that really too much?”
At the sound of this manager’s discontented voice, a question mark appeared above my head.
“What is it?”
“No. Am I really some kind of chauffeur?”
“Huh? The manager said he was bored.”
“I thought you were going out to play···”
The director frowns and sighs.
I came to Gapyeong with this director.
Come to think of it, I guess I didn’t explain it properly.
So when I said I was going to Gapyeong, I guess they thought I was going to go bungee jumping.
I never thought the app would drop down the market download rankings.
There were quite a few facilities and organizations that wanted to sponsor us. Even individuals reached out to us asking if they could help.
The selection of the facility was entirely up to the head monk of Wolgye Temple.
As a result, only facilities and organizations located primarily in Seoul were registered.
Because there was no information about small facilities outside of Seoul.
Personally, I didn’t want to upload just any facility. But I wanted to do at least some verification.
so.
“But where is this place?”
I’m currently selling it myself.
“It’s a residential facility for the disabled…”
“But? Do I really have to go to the facility and see it with my own eyes?”
bang.
The manager closed the car door and tilted his head.
Well. I can’t help it.
‘I think I’ve seen it before···’
A truly messy residential facility for the disabled.
I had seen it with my own eyes.
The beds smelled of stale urine, the residents were all slumped over, and the social workers were heard getting angry every day.
To the point where a penniless fresh graduate living in a goshiwon had to urgently find a place to rent.
It was a terrible memory.
Personally, I didn’t want to include such a facility on the list of sponsors.
“I just have doubts.”
“Then it’s meaningless. How can you tell if it’s a normal facility or not just by looking at it once?”
“Of course I don’t know everything. I just think we should avoid facilities that we can know to that extent.”
If there was any corruption or abuse, it would obviously not be noticed right away if they tried to hide it.
However, there are facilities that do not hide even that, but reveal it.
I wanted to avoid such a serious facility.
So in front of the building, I rang the doorbell and someone came out.
“How did you come here?”
“Ah. I already contacted you in advance···”
As I explained the whole story, a person who introduced himself as the director guided us.
As we followed the director, Director Lee and I looked around.
It was pretty clean for an old facility. Even a quick glance would tell that it was well-maintained.
The moment I was about to go up the stairs like that.
“Ah! This is the Presidential Award.”
The director smiled kindly and pointed to a picture frame hanging on the wall. If he hadn’t told me, I would have just passed it by.
‘You’re good at appealing.’
That attitude was a little suspicious, but I controlled my expression.
Because there’s no benefit to showing off in front of others.
“hello.”
“hello.”
The social workers all have smiling expressions.
After the holiday, it’s work day. Before they have a sense of duty, they are also salaried workers. Of course, they would be tired, but their expressions are bright.
The faces of the natives were nice, and there weren’t even any particularly noisy people.
so.
It got weirder.
“It’s so heterogeneous.”
People with intellectual disabilities have not found correction easy.
There were clear limits to the change that could be brought about through education.
There is such a thing as a person’s original personality. Ordinary people can be socialized to some extent through education.
It was difficult for people with intellectual disabilities. Of course, it wasn’t impossible, but…
Usually, people who are originally quiet stay quiet, and people who are originally noisy stay noisy. That’s usually how it is.
So, it seemed a bit strange that all the primitives were quiet and well-behaved.
Well, I could be wrong. A good social worker could probably educate people with intellectual disabilities well.
however.
At least among the facilities for the disabled that I have seen, I have never seen a facility this peaceful.
Neither the natives nor the social workers seemed to have any complaints.
Something felt off, so I glanced at the manager.
“This is a facility that has been in operation for 40 years without any accidents.”
Suddenly, the director adds something unnecessary.
But she was still smiling with the same smile.
‘He’s a quick-witted gentleman.’
It felt subtly different. I said I was trying to control my facial expressions, but it seemed like he noticed that I was suspicious.
It felt like I was meeting with an executive of a large corporation rather than a social worker.
“This is the kitchen. As you can see, we always pay attention to cleanliness. It’s clean.”
The guidance continued.
The director continued explaining for a while.
“The facilities are roughly like this. Then, let’s go to the office and finish talking.”
He pointed his finger toward the office.
“··· Am I being overly sensitive?”
Something felt strange, but I wasn’t sure about it.
Before talking to the director, I wanted to talk to this manager separately for a moment.
so.
“Excuse me, but can I go and have a drink before that?”
He took cigarettes and a lighter out of his pocket.
Because I can’t say I’m going to the bathroom with this manager.
I made a plausible excuse.