Time Mansour - Chapter 124



Only Noblemtl

Episode 124: The Crescent Moon Smiles

“Where else in the world can you find a guy who can set you up on blind dates? I’m really jealous. I’m jealous. Where can I find a guy like that?”

Manager Chae covers his mouth and laughs. He was really excited to tease me and Director Lee. Like a fish in water, he swims in the studio that has turned into a sea of ​​laughter.

‘It’s going to be a bit tough for a while.

It would take at least a year. I would have been like that too. Although it was just a small incident, in a repetitive life, each and every one of these small things is happiness.

As we spent time playing childish pranks with the adults in their thirties, laughter soon filled the room.

For a while, the laughter lingered in the room, unable to escape.

bang.

When the door opens wide, only then does he slowly slip out.

At the loud noise, we all stopped laughing and turned our heads together.

The sound of laughter escaped.

“hello!”

Instead, children step over the threshold and come in.

Junwoo, Da-eun, and So-hyeon. The three of them bowed their heads together.

“You’re coming with me today. Huh?”

While I was pretending to know the kids, the plastic bag Sohyun was holding in her hand caught my eye.

“What is that in your hand?”

So, out of curiosity, I nodded and asked.

“I won’t give it to you, sir!”

Sohyun frowns and hugs the plastic bag.

He held the envelope tightly and glared at me. It seemed like he had no intention of showing it to me obediently.

‘I guess I can’t help it. I have no choice but to use the power I’ve been hiding.’

With that determination in mind, I got up from the chair and took a step forward. I crouched down and walked in a zigzag pattern on the ground as I approached Sohyun.

He approached me with his waist slightly bent, lightly faked with his left hand, and quickly snatched the envelope with his right hand.

“Sir! Hand it over! It’s mine!”

Sohyun gets angry as soon as I take the envelope away from her.

Seeing Sohyun jumping up and down and getting angry made me feel like my consistent exercise was worth it. I think I understand why people tell me to exercise.

‘This is the secret to living a healthy life.’

When Sohyun gets irritated, the stress that was pent up inside disappears.

“Ahhhhh! Hand it over, mister!”

I lightly pushed away Sohyun, who was swearing like that, and looked inside the envelope.

“Huh? It’s ice cream.”

One, two, three… six. I lifted my fingers and counted, and it was exactly the same number of our heads. It seems like they bought it from the beginning according to the number of people.

“So you’re saying that I had my own ice cream in the first place? Then I should have just given it to you from the beginning.”

While grumbling to myself, I took out an ice cream cone for myself from the bag and handed the plastic bag back to Sohyun.

“Mr. Wooi.”

Sohyun takes the plastic bag while glaring at me. She goesssips about me while handing out ice cream to other people.

“Sister! Please scold Uncle.”

“Okay, I’ll give you a sharp remark.”

The manager smiled and stroked my head. He looked at me with an exaggerated expression.

At first glance, it looks like he’s just acting.

Ignoring Manager Chae’s gaze, he smiled brightly at So-Hyeon instead.

“I’ll eat well. Thank you.”

“No! I didn’t buy it for you to eat.”

Sohyun looked at me and shouted. Manager Chae and Director Lee smiled at Sohyun’s shout.

The laughter that had left is slowly returning.

It was almost time for the kids’ broadcast. So I was planning to go right away.

It’s been a while since we’ve all gathered like this, and as we shared various current events, the conversation went on longer than expected.

Sohyun, Da-eun, Jun-woo, Manager Chae, Director Lee, and me.

With six people gathered in a small room and chatting nonstop, the temperature gradually rose. Sweat ran down my back.

‘This is absolutely not going to work. I guess I’ll have to turn on the air conditioning.’

Thinking that way, I pressed the air conditioner remote control several times, but there was no response from the air conditioner. The remote control did not respond.

“Sir, what’s wrong? Is the air conditioner broken?”

As I continued to struggle alone, Manager Chae looked at me.

I answered Manager Chae while keeping my head down and pressing the remote control.

“I don’t know. The remote control doesn’t work.”

“This is the director’s office.”

“Is this the only time you come to my office?”

I looked at Manager Chae with a dumbfounded expression and asked him a question.

They always called it the kids’ studio, but something broke so it became my office.

Anyway, even if I press the remote control, the air conditioner doesn’t open its mouth.

The air conditioner keeps on being silent.

While we were constructing the facility, we also checked the air conditioner.

It’s probably not broken, but it’s probably just the battery that’s gone.

But where were the batteries? I kept opening and closing the drawer.

I’m sure I saw it, but I couldn’t find it no matter how hard I looked for it.

Is it because I’m getting older? My memory isn’t what it used to be. No.

Come to think of it, my memory wasn’t that good in the first place.

So I left the conversation for a while. I was searching through the drawers by myself for a while.

“Here it is.”

I found a AAA battery in a corner of the desk. After I found the battery, I started hearing the kids’ conversation again.

“If you really don’t know how to do it, get out of the way.”

“I can do it too. I can do it better than you.”

Junwoo and Sohyun were fighting, pushing each other, with the mouse in the middle.

He even grabbed me by the collar.

There are three adults here, so I wonder if they are too rude.

“Please, let’s have our lover’s fight outside. It’s already hot here. It’s going to get even hotter.”

I scolded him with a sharp remark.

“Teacher! No. Who likes him?”

“Sir!! I really want to die.”

They both turned their heads at the same time and looked at me. Ignoring their gazes. I changed the batteries in the remote control. When I pressed the button again, the air conditioner opened its mouth with a whirring sound.

“Sir! The air conditioning is on now, so hurry up and go out! We have to go on air.”

As Sohyun kicked the air, the air conditioner blew.

I was pushed out the door by the air conditioning wind.

**

“I’m going to go now.”

As the manager pressed the car key, the car headlights blinked. I was thinking of having a drink after work, but everyone seemed reluctant.

The director got into the car, said goodbye to Manager Chae, and went back home.

After everyone broke up like that.

“Should I stop by a convenience store?”

I opened the convenience store door while muttering like that. I hadn’t decided what I wanted to buy when I came in.

I just glanced at the counter.

moment.

The beer displayed in the refrigerator caught my eye.

‘The weather is nice.’

I thought to myself, “Should I have a beer by myself?” as I looked around the beers.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve never drank alone in my life.’

I had my first drink since I got to work.

In my early teens.

At that time, it was before I met my friends again.

‘In reality, all drinking parties were an extension of work.’

So, I made it a habit to not drink alcohol separately after work.

Because it felt like I was coming home to work.

Back then, regardless of whether I was drunk or not, I just hated drinking parties in the first place.

Whether it’s beer or soju, it was only recently that I started drinking it comfortably.

“thank you.”

I came out to the convenience store with a bag of shrimp crackers and a can of beer.

I swept the trash off the table and pushed it to a corner before opening the snack.

I wet my mouth with beer while chewing on the snack. The fishy smell of the shrimp snack went down my throat along with the beer.

As I was drinking alone like that, I raised my head.

The crescent moon in the night sky is locked in my eyes.

Shadows in the moonlight spread across my face.

I leaned back in my chair and stared blankly at the night sky.

Suddenly.

I remembered a story my mother often told me when I was little.

It is said that long ago, there was a pair of moons in the sky.

That’s how the small moon and the big moon lived in the sky, taking care of each other.

however.

“…”

What happened next?

“Why did you say one moon disappeared?”

I couldn’t remember the next part. Was the small moon gone? Or was the big moon gone?

Now I couldn’t even remember the stories my mother had told me.

Too much time has passed.

Even if youth is eternal, my memory is not eternal.

“From now on, whenever something comes to mind, I should write it down somewhere.”

I’m the only person in this world who remembers my sister and mother.

Because if I forget, the two of you might be erased from the world.

So I thought harder about why the moon became one.

It doesn’t seem to have merged. It was clear that something was missing.

Did you say that one of the two turned into a sun?

or not.

As I was emptying a can of beer, reminiscing about past memories.

suddenly.

-Jiying.

A short vibration echoed across my thigh. I took my phone out of my pocket and checked the message.

-You’ve been doing some weird stuff lately.

It’s Jaeshirong.

He’s such a talkative gentleman. If it’s not work-related, he doesn’t usually reply right away.

Maybe it’s because I was drunk today. I was in a good mood for no reason, so I unconsciously pressed the button on my phone and sent a message.

-I?

-You said you made a donation app. How did you come to do that project?

-It just happened that way.

-So when do you plan to support global service?

-That’s the most horrible thing I’ve ever heard.

If we expand our service scope globally, my spine will break.

Like a crescent moon in the night sky.

With the capital I had, it was difficult to provide services domestically.

-why?

I paid the server costs out of my own pocket and also covered a portion of the credit card fees.

Not only that, I am also maintaining it all by myself without any labor costs.

There was a lot to say about Jaeshirong’s question of why.

I thought it would be useless if I answered in such detail.

-I have no money. I’m broke.

I replied in the most visible way possible.

-Why? Compared to the number of users, the amount of donations is not coming in well?

-I don’t receive any sponsorship at all. I run the cloud by myself.

-Why? Why don’t you just accept regular donations? And increase the number of people?

-Why? It’s okay. As the size gets bigger, it’ll just be harder to manage.

-Then you’re going to continue to run the system by yourself? That doesn’t seem like a good idea… Listen to me carefully…

Then he sent me a message that was almost like a business plan with emoticons.

It’s time for a re-shuffle. I thought to myself as I put my phone back in my pocket.

I put the can of beer to my lips. The cool sensation went down my esophagus.

It’s a global service.

There are probably more countries that need help than Korea.

It would be of greater help if a donation app were available in such places.

I don’t think I can handle it right now.

The moonlight was bright. Even though it was a crescent moon, it felt especially bright today.

“ah!”

I was staring blankly at the moon when the reason came to mind.

“I couldn’t sleep because it was so bright at night. I think someone said they got rid of it.”

The moon was bright so it was wiped out.

You can forget about this much.

So much so that I wonder if my mom will understand.

It was a really ridiculous reason.