Time Mansour - Chapter 125



Only Noblemtl

Episode 125 If it’s an adventure, it’s an adventure

As morning comes.

Sunlight streamed through the window and into the room.

To the unexpected visit of an uninvited guest.

“Ah. It’s blinding.”

Naturally, a frown formed.

He lifted his eyelids up with a very arrogant expression.

I had to get rid of the last remaining sun, not the moon. I squinted my eyes and raised my upper body, grumbling.

After sitting on the bed for a while and staring blankly into space, I wiped the saliva from the corner of my mouth and then came down from the bed, making a noise like an old man.

I staggered to the veranda. The laundry was hanging on the drying rack. I touched the shibori with my hand to make sure it was fully ripe, then I picked up all the clothes hanging on the drying rack and harvested them.

Then, I crouched down and organized my clothes. I stacked the harvested clothes in a neat pile and put them in the drawer.

“I’ve changed a lot, too.”

Sigh. I burst out laughing because I found it funny how I was organizing my clothes.

From the beginning, clothes drying rack and closet were synonymous. I lived that way for a long time.

It is only recently that the two words have come to have different meanings.

“···”

Now that I look back, I really did live hard but lazy.

I got up from my seat with a hollow laugh. After finishing organizing my clothes, I straightened my back.

At that moment.

-Jiying.

The cell phone that was on top of the refrigerator rang. I happened to wake up and went to the refrigerator to pick it up.

-How have you been? Can we talk now?

A message from Sirius.

It seemed like a fairly urgent matter, so I replied right away.

-Oh, is this a good time? What’s going on? Are you having trouble?

-No. It’s nothing else. I have a favor to ask. Can I talk to you for a moment?

I tilted my head. There haven’t been any major issues recently. There’s still some time left until the product update. What’s going on?

As soon as I sent a reply saying I was available, the phone started shaking. It kept vibrating. I stroked the screen to soothe the phone. Only then did the phone stop ringing.

**

I was on a video call with Siriu, but the connection wasn’t very good. Whenever Siriu moved across the screen, she would respond a beat late. Occasionally, dots would appear on the video.

Sirius leaves an afterimage every time he tilts his head. I asked him a question while looking at him.

“Sorry. I couldn’t hear you properly earlier. What are you doing in a mountainous ethnic minority village right now?”

“A computer lab. We are an IT company. So I thought it would be the most suitable as the first project for our company welfare corporation. We are going to build a computer lab and provide computer education.”

“Education… what is it? Coding?”

“Yeah. That’s true. Also, there’s a growing trend of young people not being able to type on a computer keyboard at all. I guess it’s because everyone uses their cell phones these days.”

In the case of developing countries, there have been cases where the latest technology was adopted directly without going through an intermediate stage. A representative example is QR code payment.

Before card readers became widely popular, QR codes emerged, and in some countries such as China and Thailand, QR code payments became the mainstream payment method instead of cards.

I thought that computers were in a similar context. I thought that it might be possible if smartphones became widespread, skipping the intermediate step of PCs.

On the other hand.

“But still. Are there times when you can’t type on a computer keyboard?”

I never understood it. But I still thought that PCs were overwhelmingly superior when it came to productive work.

“Oh. There are quite a few friends like that these days. In extreme cases, they even work on their college theses on tablets. After all, young people are accustomed to the mobile environment.”

‘You’re writing your thesis on a tablet?’

As someone who still uses the Cheonjiin keyboard instead of the QWERTY keyboard, this is something I can’t even imagine.

To be honest, I don’t understand it 100%, but I still have a rough idea of ​​what’s going on.

Coding education and computer education in a hill tribe village with a poor educational environment.

It wasn’t a bad way for an IT company to give back to society.

however.

“Is there anything you could ask me? Is there anything I can help you with?”

I’m not calling just to talk about recent developments.

There may be another reason why you contacted me regarding the welfare corporation.

To begin with, they are guys who have a lot more money than me. It doesn’t seem like they are looking for donations.

Do you also want a global service for your donation app?

I was waiting for Siriu’s answer, with that kind of expectation in mind.

“That··· definitely··· we··· will··· help··· well···”

Siriu’s words kept cutting off in the middle. A blurry afterimage remained on the screen. The LCD screen turned cloudy as if it was wet.

How remote must the Gaoshan village be for the communication to be like this? I stood up out of habit without realizing it. I stretched out my hand and picked up my cell phone.

So I walked around the living room checking out antennas that had nothing to do with WiFi communication.

“I’m sorry. I can’t hear you very well right now. Please say that again.”

“Oh really? So… it’s because of the coding education. If you have time, could you come over here and help me for a bit?”

Communication returned to normal, but I still couldn’t understand what Siri was saying.

I wonder if I can teach coding in a place where there is no communication.

Besides, I’m not a professional instructor.

So I tilted my head and made a puzzled expression.

“Since this is our first project, we would like to invite a famous developer, but you are the only one we have connections with…”

Sirius added an additional explanation at the end.

“As a short-term guest lecturer?”

“Oh, right.”

“Are you okay? I have taught children before… I guess. But I haven’t given any formal lectures.”

“It’s okay. If you just come, we’ll be grateful.”

Siri smiled as she answered. The dot marks on her lips became more distinct.

Coding education. I chew my lower lip and think about it for a moment.

Since there weren’t many expectations of me, I didn’t feel any need to feel burdened.

Anyway, I’ve almost finished all my busy work. I’ll just go out and have fun and clear my head.

I made up my mind and nodded.

“Okay. Okay. I don’t think anything will happen for a while. Then tell me the date.”

“Thank you. Can you really come?”

“Okay. I think it’ll be possible as long as our schedules don’t overlap.”

“But the traffic here isn’t that good. The village is on the side of a mountain, so you have to walk a lot. It’s really okay.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m almost a mountain person myself.”

I nodded confidently at Siriu’s concern.

I grew up in the mountains, looking down on the world under the smiling crescent moon.

The altitude was so high that if I straightened my back and stretched out my hand, I could see the full moon at my fingertips.

On days when I was feeling good, I would jump and catch the moon in the night sky.

I used to steal the full moon and play marbles like that, and I would often get scolded by my mother.

It really was like that in my time.

These are all old memories.

**

Several days passed since then.

The Thailand itinerary has been decided. It can be as short as two weeks, or as long as it is long.

Siriu wished I could have stayed in Thailand a little longer, but unfortunately two weeks was the maximum I could afford.

I couldn’t just stay in Thailand because I had things to take care of in Korea.

‘Because my ancestors won’t pay back my debts.’

If you don’t even perform ancestral rites for your ancestors, you won’t repay them even more.

So I closed the site in advance and announced my vacation schedule. I was planning to not take on any requests for the time being and only handle the work I had already received.

After my schedule was set, I was looking for flight tickets on my phone.

At that moment.

-Jiying.

I got a call from the manager. I was looking at my phone, so I picked up almost immediately.

“Youngjun? Where are you now?”

“Is this my home?”

“Then come quickly. I came down without realizing it was a weekday… and there’s no one here.”

This manager said something so obvious. I guess he’s lost the concept of time after resting for so long.

“Where to?”

“Where is it? It’s the office.”

“···”

I said okay and hung up.

I guess you’re really bored.

It looks like he came alone without contacting us in advance.

As soon as I hung up the phone, I put on my slippers and went out the front door.

So let’s go to the facilities office and push open the door.

“Oh! You came really quickly.”

The sight of this director sitting on a chair and making a V sign with his fingers caught my eye.

“Yes. I got the call and came right away.”

“There really is only Youngjun. I came down because I was so bored, but when I checked later, it was a weekday.”

Then he rolled his feet and moved the chair from side to side.

That chair is going to break soon. Everyone who sits on it can’t leave it still.

With that thought in my mind, I sat down in the chair next to the director. It was obvious why I was there even without looking.

He must be bored, but he probably came here to vent his frustrations after hearing something at home.

And just as I had expected, as soon as I sat down on the chair, the manager’s complaints continued.

“That kid’s talking weird on the phone again. Oh, seriously.”

That kid is the representative, and the strange sound is probably love or marriage.

I nodded my head and listened to his grumbling. No. Well, strictly speaking, I just pretended to listen. I listened with one ear and let it go out the other.

It’s a repertoire I’ve heard so often that I don’t get tired of it anymore.

So, this director spent a long time venting his complaints about this representative into the air.

“But what about Youngjun? Is there anything fun going on?”

Now that his mind was a little lighter, he started talking about something else.

“I don’t know what’s fun. I won’t be in Korea for a while. So don’t look for me.”

“Why? Where are you going to play?”

Director Lee looks at me with his eyes wide open.

I briefly explained to the director why I was going to Thailand.

“So you’re going to Thailand?”

“Yes. It’s not difficult. There’s nothing urgent right now.”

“Isn’t this a real hill tribe village? Not a tourist attraction?”

“I guess so?”

It must be a village where people live. I don’t know how remote it is, but judging from the fact that Siriu scared me beforehand, it doesn’t seem like an easy place.

While I was lost in thought for a moment, the director’s expression changed subtly.

“Okay, I decided.”

The director stood up from his seat. The chair spun around halfway.

“Excuse me? What decision did you make?”

The corners of Director Lee’s mouth went up. He was overcome with anxiety. Surely not. I thought that as I looked at Director Lee.

“I will go with you.”

He nodded as if showing his kindness.

At that sight, I looked at Director Lee with an expression of bewilderment.

“Where? Thailand?”

“Yes. I was already feeling under the weather and wanted to go on a trip, so this is great.”

“···”

I never said I would go with you.

He continued to nod his head as if he was satisfied with himself.

“For a foreigner to visit a hill tribe village, doesn’t that sound fun? Opportunities like this don’t come often.”

Director Lee is excited alone.

He seemed more excited than I was.

On the other hand, I thought a little differently. I grew up in a rough environment and have almost no sense of hygiene, so I guess I could adapt.

I wonder if this place is okay. It’s a remote area far from the city. Not to mention the transportation is inconvenient, and the hygiene is probably not that good.

So I was worried.

Of course, not this director.

‘If I’m not careful, I might end up having to take care of you.’

I mean,

I was worried about myself having to accompany this manager.

That was all I could think about.