Time Mansour - Chapter 115



Only Noblemtl

Episode 115: Leaving the Family in Charge

long time.

The temple smells of oil.

A holiday is a holiday. The temple is filled with the sound of commotion.

Normally, when there is an event at the temple, only Buddhists come.

During the holidays, visitors came in families.

That’s why there were more people than usual.

“I guess it will increase more and more as time goes by.”

Even non-Buddhists visited temples during the holidays.

Young people feel that preparing for the holiday ancestral rites is labor.

Because the elders are getting older, they can no longer prepare ancestral rites.

Holding a joint ancestral rite at the temple was a compromise.

After finishing my service and leaving the temple, I walked through the crowd to the offering room.

As you enter the pantry, the smell of oil becomes stronger.

“It’s been a long time. It’s been a while since I had tteokguk on New Year’s Day.”

I sat down at my table after being served rice cake soup and jeon. Jeon fried with mushrooms. Rice cake soup without dumplings. To be honest, I didn’t have high expectations when I put it in my mouth.

“It’s delicious.”

Maybe it was because of the temple atmosphere, but the light taste spread in my mouth.

It’s really amazing how they make it taste good without any meat or anchovy stock.

I left early in the morning to attend a service, so I’m a little hungry.

Before I knew it, the spoon was deeply sunk into the bowl.

I grew another year older in such a hurry.

**

As the weather cleared up.

Cigarette butts sprouted on the street.

A cigarette butt that bloomed with difficulty on the barren asphalt.

Holding a broom.

Swish. Swish.

Sweep new life into the trash can.

“I see you guys out there smoking cigarettes. I guess the weather is getting warmer.”

It’s the kind of weather that makes you want to smoke outside. Spring will come soon. I mutter to myself as I sweep. The trash around the building has been gathered into one place.

“Oh my. My back.”

After finishing cleaning, I straightened my back and made an old-fashioned sound. When I raised my head, I saw a new sign on the church building.

-Neverland (residential facility for the severely developmentally disabled)

The facility name has been registered, and a sign has been put up. The maintenance work has been completed, and employees have been hired. Now, all that is left is for users to move in.

When spring comes, this place will be full of people too.

With such excitement, I pushed open the door and entered the building.

“Why did you come now?”

“Sir, you’re late.”

“Uncle, I really like it here!”

An uninvited guest arrived before spring.

Director Lee, Manager Chae, and the children sat on chairs and raised their hands.

It’s become a total hideout. After I taught them the password, everyone would come here to kill time when they were bored.

“Why on earth are all of you gathered here···?”

I looked around at everyone with a resentful expression, but no one reacted at all. They didn’t pay any attention to me at all.

They raised their heads, glanced at me, and then went back to talking among themselves.

“My skin has been dry lately. I’m thinking of changing the cream I use.”

“I do the same thing in the winter. That’s why I have to take extra care of myself in the winter. We’re getting older now.”

Two women were talking about beauty. It was a topic I had no place in. So I turned my head and looked at the kids.

Here again.

“Hello everyone, this is the new studio.”

The kids are holding cameras and filming vlogs.

But did I give permission to use it as a studio? I tried to recall the memory in my head over and over again, but I couldn’t find even a trace of saying anything like that.

Well. It looks like you already have a room you like, whether I say it or not.

“It’s much bigger than before. It’s empty now, but I’m going to set up my computer here. I’m also going to do some video work here.”

Sohyun showed off to the camera. Da-eun and Jun-woo also seemed to like it.

A small office. It is a good space to use separately because the facilities and door are separate.

Of course, I had no intention of using it as a kids’ studio. It was just a space I set aside to use as my workroom just in case.

‘I guess it was taken away by the kids…’

I shook my head from side to side. Well, my house is right in front of here. It wasn’t a necessary space. I just left it out in case I ever need it.

So the kids filmed the office with their cameras for a long time.

“Now, shall we take a look around the entire building? Okay, let’s go.”

bang.

He said he wanted to go see other places and went outside.

The place the kids went out.

Director Lee and Manager Chae talked to each other. They talked about the hardships at work, their daily lives, and their hobbies. They talked about everyday things.

It was a trivial story, but I found it interesting so I listened quietly.

suddenly.

While we were talking about this building.

“But why is the name of this facility Neverland?”

The director turned his head toward me. Manager Chae followed suit and looked at me. I responded to their gaze as if I was nothing special.

“I thought it would be better than a boring name. I came up with it after discussing it with the center director. Does it sound a bit strange?”

“No. I like it. It suits me. It’s Peter Pan’s Neverland, right?”

I nodded at the director’s words.

Neverland. An island inhabited by people who never age.

The name of the facility doesn’t have any great meaning.

It was just a name I made up while thinking of my older sister.

**

A few days passed.

It’s the day when employees gather for a meeting before opening the facility.

I am not the director of Neverland. Strictly speaking, I am just a person who rents the building. I only provide a little support there.

As a non-expert, I should not have interfered with the operations.

I thought so too.

So I didn’t participate as an interviewer in the interviews to select social workers. That was entirely up to the center director.

however.

“Center Director. I think you’re saying this because you don’t have any experience yet. You shouldn’t run things like this.”

I guess I chose the wrong person. As soon as I entered the office, I heard a loud noise. I closed my eyes without realizing it.

A female social worker who looks older than me or similar in age.

He frowns with a look of discontent.

I just got here, but I don’t know much about the president…

still.

“Trust me. I have 10 years of experience in facilities for the developmentally disabled. As the number of users increases, the quality of service inevitably decreases.”

I can definitely tell that that person has some problems.

The center director is a nice person, but he has no eye for people. If it were me, I wouldn’t have chosen him.

I should have gone to the interview with you. It was clearly my mistake. I regret it later.

You can be proud of your career, but I’ve never seen anyone who talks about it and actually does the job.

The center director had an awkward expression on his face. He didn’t know what to do. I sneaked in between them.

“Hello. Why are you making such a fuss? What’s going on?”

“Oh. Hello. No. It’s nothing.”

The facility manager looked at me and smiled brightly.

A person who always smiles in any situation. He is naturally cheerful, so it seemed like no one would hate him.

“Excuse me. I don’t know who you are, but outsiders are not allowed in.”

If there is someone you really hate, then there is nothing you can do about it.

The social worker looks at me with a wary expression. His tone of voice is strangely sharp.

A personality that is the complete opposite of the well-rounded center director.

I wonder if those two can work together.

The facility hasn’t even opened yet, but I’m already worried.

“Here is the person who supports us. He is the person who created the donation app. You know Mr. Jang, right?”

“Ah··· that developer···”

The social worker still glares at me.

There were many things I wanted to say to the social worker.

I ignored it for a moment and turned my head to look at the center director.

“Is it a cost issue?”

“No, that’s not it. There are more users who want to join than we expected. That’s why we’ve been discussing it.”

“Why? I was worried because I thought there wouldn’t be any users. It’s strange.”

“I think it’s probably because of you, teacher. I think it’s a trustworthy facility, so I’ve gotten a lot of calls from parents.”

Ah. So the users who were previously in another facility are trying to move to another facility.

I didn’t like the situation either. It didn’t fit with the original purpose of my creation of the facility.

It is a facility that was created from the beginning to temporarily protect severely disabled people who had nowhere to go.

“How many people are interested in moving in? Is it difficult to accommodate the size of the facility?”

“No, not to that extent. But···”

The center director trails off. Then he glances at the social worker.

“I told you not to! I told you.”

He shouted, making a face like that and then continued talking.

“If the quality of care services declines, can you take responsibility? I don’t think you understand. I said that a place with many severely disabled people like this shouldn’t be run as strictly as other facilities.”

“Is it because of the workload?”

“No. I’m not worried that I’ll have a hard time. I’m worried that the quality of service the customers receive will decline. Oh, man. You didn’t quite understand what I was saying.”

Now he’s blatantly ignoring me.

Well, that’s not wrong. I knew nothing about running and caring for residential facilities.

As that person said, it could be that they were forcing users in.

But one thing was certain.

I’ve never seen anyone who claims to care about their customers really do.

People who say that all run away when things get even a little difficult.

In the end, they are making excuses for the customers, but it is only for their own comfort.

According to my many years of big data.

“I know what you mean. I’ll take responsibility for it.”

“How are you going to take responsibility?”

“Can’t we just hire more people?”

“What about labor costs? The subsidy is obvious. How…”

The social worker couldn’t finish speaking. I cut her off in the middle.

“Teacher? If money was the issue… why didn’t I build this facility in the first place? I haven’t received a single penny of support money yet.”

He uses the image of a rich man that is widely known to the world. Well, he actually had nothing, but everyone thinks he is rich. He just tried to show off his arrogance.

“No. That’s not what I meant. I meant that there’s no need to spend too much money.”

“You can’t tell users to leave when they want to come to your facility. If you really want to serve your customers.”

As I answered firmly with a smile, the social worker closed her mouth.

If I say I’ll spend more of my money, then what more can I say?

A social worker who cannot bring himself to voice his complaints.

and.

The center director is still smiling brightly from the side.

‘I wonder if this will work properly.’

Honestly, I wanted to give him a severance pay and send him away right away.

I can’t cut it now, because the hiring is already finished.

And even if it were possible, it would be ridiculous for me to arbitrarily fire people selected by the center director.

I need to think about it a bit. What should I do with that person?

Worries pile up on top of worries.

Because this is a world where people are people, we know that bumping into each other is inevitable.

Honestly, I didn’t really want to go through it.

**

The sun hangs on the church steeple where the cross used to be.

The first day of temporary opening.

This is the day users enter the facility.

From early in the morning, a commotion could be heard inside the building.

‘I wonder how many people are here. They must be busy. I should go quickly and help if there’s anything I can do.’

So I finished cleaning the yard and was about to go inside the building.

“I’m not at ease either, but I can’t handle it anymore. Please take care of me.”

An old woman who looked to be in her eighties was standing at the entrance. She held the center director’s hand tightly and bowed her head repeatedly, asking him to take good care of her son.

The parents are old, but the children are still children.

So, there is no choice but to send them to a facility without providing further care.

As I leave, I keep looking back to make sure the sound of footsteps doesn’t stop.

I don’t think it’s just someone else’s business.

I watched the scene quietly while holding the broom.