chapter 3
< Saving Mom >
Her hand, which had become as small as a fern, trembled.
The mind is intact, but the small limbs do not move freely.
It was something I had experienced before.
‘Briquette gas poisoning!’
Carbon monoxide is heavier than air and sinks to the bottom. When absorbed into the body, the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood decreases, resulting in suffocation.
“Mom, wake up!”
Snoring is a symptom of severe carbon monoxide poisoning.
I shook my mother as hard as I could.
“Mom, open your eyes! You die in your sleep without knowing the world!”
No matter how much she shook her mother, she couldn’t come to her senses.
Then, behind the crouching mother, a black shadow swayed.
It was the grim reaper who took me.
[One hour left until Hwangcheon Road.]
“no!”
It was literally the death sentence of the grim reaper.
“I can’t lose my mother like this!”
When I was only seven years old.
In the past, I didn’t know what to do, so I let go of my throat and cried.From noble mtl dot com
Not knowing that it wasted her time in vain.
But now it’s different.
‘Start with ventilation!’
I jumped up and opened the door.
Drooling!
All the doors were opened.
wheein.
Cold north wind in late December.
The biting wind mixed with sleet.
‘This isn’t enough! Turn on the fan too!’
Instead, the blanket was tightly wrapped to prevent the body temperature from dropping.
She took out all the thick coats from the closet and put them over her mother.
‘This is something I’ve never seen before.’
A treasure chest hidden in a closet.
This was an item that hadn’t been on my mother’s memento list in the past, and seemed overly rare compared to the circumstances of our house.
‘Now is not the time to be distracted by such things. I have to move my mother out of the room somehow.’
But with this body, there is no chin.
‘I’ll have to seek help.’
I ran out of the house
I didn’t even have the energy to pack socks or shoes.
A midwinter night with sleet and snow.
The dirt floor was muddy, and my bare feet tingled with every step I took.
“help! It’s coal gas! People are dying here!”
wheein.
The voice that had been hoarse kept being scattered in the wind.
So I grabbed the briquette tongs standing nearby and hit the sash door.
Ground, ground, ground!
Startled by the sound, the neighborhood dogs barked in unison, and the lights in the dark shantytown began to turn on one by one.
I wrote whale whale evil.
“Help me! Save people!”
Drooling!
“Are you Jeonghyuk?”
The owner’s window opened and the owner’s grandmother leaned out of the window.
Hey, this old lady is the kind of person who can’t wake up even if she carries her on her back once she sleeps?
“Oh my gosh! It’s cold, so why are you wearing underwear? your mother?”
“Briquette gas…!”
“Briquette gas? Aigoo, what is all this about?”
The owner’s grandmother ran right away and shook her mother.
“Jeonghyeok’s mom, wake up! How about this!”
The owner’s grandmother puts her arm in Mother’s armpit and struggles to pull her out.
“I woke up in a fright because the Grim Reaper appeared in my dream, but it seems that he came to capture Jeong-hyeok’s mother!”
The grim reaper who appeared like a ghost behind the owner’s grandmother gave a thumbs up.
[57 min.]
Grandmother dragged Mother out.
Half way out of a single room.
That was Grandma’s best.
Panting, Grandmother shouted loudly.
“Neighborhood people! save people! Please come outside!”
It was a loud voice that could not be compared to the sound of a child.
My grandma was the smartest and loudest person in the neighborhood.
“Father Changsik! Uncle Minho! Yonggwon is my father! Hurry up and help me!”
From noble mtl dot com
Neighbors who had been openly called by the owner’s grandmother opened the windows and leaned out.
“People live! It’s coal gas! I need to get to the hospital as soon as possible!”
There were no ambulances at the time.
Until 1981, when the 119 ambulance team was launched by the fire department to carry out emergency services.
Some large hospitals in Seoul or Busan only transfer emergency patients during the night curfew.
It is faster to take a taxi directly to the hospital.
[53 min.]
Every time the grim reaper says a word, my heart sinks.
“Grandma, I’ll call an ambulance from a payphone! If not, even a police car!”
This is a shanty town in Guro.
In the shantytown, where people barely survive by working in factories, there were many poor houses.
It was a time when telephones were not widely available, so everyone used to use payphones.
I ran into the room and grabbed my mother’s bag.
I put the jewelery box in my bag just in case I ran out of money.
“I’ll get you a taxi!”
“Junghyuk, it’s curfew right now. There is no way a taxi will turn around.”
The owner’s grandmother sighed like a sigh as she kneaded her mother’s limbs.
“On a day like today, why hasn’t our iron ball come in yet!”
Uncle Cheol-gu was the only son of the owner’s grandmother.
He was shaped like a brown bear, and he was busy arguing about catching spies all the time.
He drove the most expensive jeep in town.
It was a daily occurrence to go out at dawn and come back at dawn or often stay out overnight.
“Let’s see. There should be a truck at Jaeho’s house…”
“I know where Jaeho’s house is! I will ejaculate!”
“Yes, go first. I will follow as soon as the people arrive!”
It was strong.
I ran down the alley without looking back.
A place where crumbs of briquette ash are laid at the entrance of an alleyway with half-pile of snow.
A few streetlights flickered in the alleys of the shantytown where the industrial complex people lived.
* * *
because of coal gas.
My body was as heavy as wet cotton.
It kept staggering and staggering.
Still, I had to run.
Tadada dat!
In the past, when I ran down a road covered with briquette ash, I would trip over several times and break down.
Today, I managed to run without falling even once.
I was lucky.
The back of my head got chills and I turned around, and the grim reaper followed me like a ghost and spoke with a mouth.
[47 min.]
“Shut up if you’re not going to help! If my mother dies like this, I’ll go to the underworld and grab the king right away!”
It’s different from the promise!
“Ask your mother! Then you shouldn’t do this to me!”
I glared at the grim reaper.
“Now I can’t see anything! This time, let’s start with the heavenly punishment and properly examine each and every one!”
I’m a do-it-yourself guy.
For some reason, the Grim Reaper, who had a sullen expression, pretended to zip up his mouth.
‘It’s a 15-minute drive from here to the nearest Taesung Hospital.’
I clenched my teeth and ran.
‘Maybe I can’t get on Jaeho’s truck again this time?’
It was like that in the past.
Jaeho’s father had vehemently refused my request.
I turned my back to ask someone else to recognize me.
‘Thanks to that, I learned that a request must be accompanied by sincerity.’
I glanced at my mother’s bag that I had packed.
The money in the wallet is only 9,850 won at most.
It was an amount worthy of a sigh.
“Damn it.”
A sigh came out in a different way.
It’s because I don’t believe in Jaeho’s father’s personality.
If I was a person who would listen to my appeal for recognition, I wouldn’t have turned away from my mother in the past.
“First of all, from circumstances. If it doesn’t work out, I have no choice but to cut off one of my fingers and throw it away.”
Then you will have no choice but to take him to the hospital.
I wouldn’t want to be accused of being a felon who cut off a child’s finger.
“What if I could save my mother’s life with a single finger. I have to cut it.”
If I had known this would happen, I would have brought the hatchet from the warehouse first.
“Even with a curfew, there are no places to rent a car!”
The times were like that.
In Korea, it was not until the 1980s that the mica craze blew.
When the principle is to return the car key to the truck used in the factory, where would you rent a car?
‘It’s a payphone!’
I found a public phone booth at the entrance of an alley.
How much was it for a pay phone call at that time?
Did you say that it has recently risen to 10 won per province?
“Ugh!”
I lifted the bracket to insert the coin.
There is no use in running.
do not reach
‘Short!’
It reminded me of the jewelry box I had brought.
If you put it vertically and step on it, you might be able to put a coin in it.
My hand slipped and the jewelry box opened with a bang.
‘Passbook, notebook, and the finest luxury wristwatch for men.’
Under the yellow street lamp light.
I took the treasure my mother had been hiding.
‘Ha, Vacheron Constantin Patrimony 1970 Special Edition.’
It is a high-end brand product of a Swiss watch company that was number one in the industry until Padek Philippe emerged as the king of watch brands in the 1990s.
A luxury watch of a level that cannot be imitated by the skills of Korean counterfeit artisans in this era.
With my family’s circumstances, I can’t live even if I die.
Being able to import this, or buy it directly from abroad, meant that you were a man of great wealth,
‘My father seems to have been the second generation of a real conglomerate?’
Then why are our hats living like this?
‘I can borrow Jaeho’s truck with this.’
He wants an expensive watch, so Jae-ho’s father will lend him a truck.
Bread!
I turned my head at the sound of the klaxon.
The jeep window slid down and a man in his 30s poked his head out.
“Kid, what are you doing there?”
It was the owner’s grandmother’s son, Mr. Cheol-gu.
“mister!”
I was so happy that I cried.
A jeep, of course!
“Are you going to report it as a spy?”
“Mom collapsed, because of briquette gas! We need to go to the hospital quickly!”
“get on!”
Before he could finish his words, the front passenger door of the jeep slammed open.
I packed everything, including my jewelry box, and quickly got into the car.
burrung.
The jeep drove through the alley without hesitation.
‘Good luck!’
The memory of stamping my feet to catch a taxi on a deserted street at night flashed through my head.
At that time, no matter how hard I shouted, not a single ant passed by, let alone a taxi.
What is his night curfew?
I sat down on the road and cried, resenting the sky.
‘It will be different this time. I can save my mother!’
The owner of the house came out to the front door and shouted loudly.
“Take me to the hospital now! I’m breathing properly, and I’m conscious!”
In the meantime, it seemed that the villagers had been sticking to it and had taken first aid measures properly.
We put the staggering mother in the jeep and headed to the hospital.
*
Corridor in the intensive care unit at Taesung Hospital.
I had to sit in a chair with the hospital blanket wrapped around me and wait.
‘The Grim Reaper stopped the countdown and went away. So you’ll be fine.’
I let out a long breath.
It was a sigh of relief.
It was only then that I caught my eye on the jewelry box protruding above my mother’s bag.
‘Your taste in choosing a watch is quite luxurious and fancy. Who the hell is my father?’
I was curious.
‘Cha’s surname is not a common surname in Korea. Furthermore, among chaebol families, there is only one family that uses the surname Cha.’
I closed my eyes.
‘Is it the Taesung Group?’
Taesung Group.
Electronics, chemicals, construction, automobiles, distribution, hotels, hospitals, food, fashion, etc.
It is a large chaebol group that ranks fifth in the Korean business world.
<Saving Mom> End