Her body remembered the innate sense of kinship. Her heart was pounding, but her head was empty. How in the world could this happen? What a strange life. How many times could one collapse from exhaustion after crying so hard that one’s eyes are sore and throat is hoarse! She felt crestfallen when she realized she didn’t recognize her own son.

  “Mussang, my son!”


  Her sobs turned into wailing.

  “Mother!”


  Mussang hugged his mother firmly. The world was a cruel place, preying on the weak. Who made his mother this way? Anger engulfed his soul and overshadowed the joy of finding his mother.

  “Ah!”


  When her mother cried, Yeong-a clung to her and wept too. The sobs of the mother and son, who were reunited for the first time in 17 years, along with the young girl’s cries were mixed in the strong sea breeze.

  Yeong-a’s crying made Mussang come to his senses. Even if he conquers the world, what good is it if he forgets his loved ones? Gentle energy enveloped Gim Malsun and Yeong-a. The strength of the interference field correlated with the strength of one’s empathy. Gim Malsun was awakened from her mental fog.

  “I’m sorry, Mussang.”


  Her voice was as heavy as soaked cotton. Her suffering meant nothing. Her sorrow melted at the hardships her young son would have gone through. All mothers in the world would have felt the same. Even if she filled her stomach with crude food, she was content if her children were fed with delicacies.

  “It’s my fault for not protecting my mother. I was too young to fulfill my father’s will. Time is power. A lion cub who was chased by a wild dog became a regal, maned lion. No one will bother you now, mother. The bad guys who tormented you will pay for it a hundredfold.”


  They both smiled. His mother’s apology harbored many meanings.

  “You grew up to be a fine young man. How old are you?”


  A smile spread across his tear-soaked face. The hardships of the past melted like snow in his heart. He grew up well even in the vilest dredges of the human world.

  “Twenty-six. You got married when you were 19 and gave birth to me when you were 23. I heard that I was conceived late because you were bullied by Jang Pilnyeo.”


  “Jang Pilnyeo?”


  Gim Malsun was startled. She felt cold and terrible as if she had stepped on a snake walking down the street.

  “She’s your sister-in-law. She miscarried her first child because she lived through a harsh marriage with hostile in-laws. She and her husband had a big fight and got separated.”


  “That Jang Pilnyeo?”


  “Karma is getting back at her. You must be feeling a sense of relief. Hehehe!”


  “That’s right! It’s not okay to hurt people though.”


  Mussang grinned. She never hit her son even after he lost money in poker countless times. She could have turned toxic with all the hardships she had gone through, but she still had a kind heart.

  “I will take care of it. What about Yeong-a?”


  She sniffled and looked at Yeong-a.

  “Phew!”


  Gim Malsun let out a long sigh without answering. Mussang found the answer in her sigh. Two wet eyes covered by long eyelashes and a long, slender neckline resembled his mother’s. A child who looked like his mother also had a kind personality like hers. He felt regret turning into anger for asking the question.

  ‘I’m going to kill the bastard!’


  His mind went livid.

  “Uncle!”


  Yeong-a grabbed his pants and shook them.

  “You little rascal, call him brother!”


  His hostility disappeared in an instant and a smile as soft as the spring breeze arose.

  “Brother?”


  The girl looked confused. Uncle is her brother? But he’s the bad uncle that made mother cry.

  “You look like me, don’t you?”


  Mussang squatted and looked at the child. The child, looking at him, clapped her hands.

  “Your eyebrows are similar to mine. The same with your nose and lips.”


  “Look at that! We look alike. I’m really your brother.”


  “Ugh, still though.”


  The little lady did not warm up to him easily.

  “Haha, this little rascal!”


  Mussang laughed aloud. Suddenly, he had a younger sister who was 20 years younger than him and she was such a cute girl that he felt like biting her cheeks.

  “Mom, do you like uncle?”


  Yeong-a tilted her head. Her mother that said she hated the uncle, was in his arms crying and saying she liked him. Even in her eyes, her mother was acting strange.

  “Yes!”


  Gim Malsun, who was feeling shy, wriggled out of her son’s embrace.

  “Mussang, what did you do to me?”


  Gim Malsun’s eyes widened. As if a sack of rice had been removed from her shoulder, her body, which had always been in a state of stupor, felt as light as feathers. Her headache was gone, and she felt strength entering her limbs. She felt like she could move a bucketful of broth. The change was so sudden and big that she felt scared.

  “I’m a little strong. I kicked out the evil ghost that was clinging to you.”


  Mussang gave an explanation that he felt she could understand.

  “A ghost?”


  Gim Malsun looked at her son with a smile. She was a psychic herself. She felt great energy emanating from her son.

  “Is that so!”


  She acknowledged it readily. Rather than a medical explanation, a ghost was a concept that she could understand immediately. If her son said so, so be it.

  “The lost memories will soon be restored. Don’t worry about anything, just trust me.”


  Mussang made a promise. Although his abilities are crude, he knew a master who could turn Ssamdi, who was a zombie, into a human being, and Dr. Loren Giz, the world’s most renowned expert in neuroscience. Restoring her memories is a matter of time but whether recovering the memories is desirable, is something he has to ask his master……

  “Oh!”


  Gim Malsun’s face brightened. She was not a loner thrown out in the world. She had a loving husband and a happy family. She had a strong desire to recall that happiness. More than anything else, she wanted to remember raising her son. Her desire for life burned anew.

  “Mom, the sea breeze is feeling cold. Let’s go eat some hot broth.”


  “I’m working at a restaurant…”


  Gim Malsun’s face looked sullen. Mussang grew up to be an amazing man. She was the mother of the most powerful man on Earth, world-class rich, and the King of Novatopia. His mother’s appearance filled Mussang’s eyes. She was wearing market-brand, cheap, baggy clothes, a shabby quilted jacket, a stained apron, all hinting at a hard life.

  “Mother, don’t you worry about anything now and leave it to your son.”


  “All right!”


  Gim Malsun felt like all her worries were blown away at once. In her eyes, her tall and rock-hard son looked more reliable than a seawall. She held her son’s hand so firmly that she almost blocked blood flow to his hand. She was not afraid of the female owner with a fierce temper.

  “Let’s go.”


  Mussang lifted Yeong-a onto his shoulder and began walking.

  “Whoa!”


  The girl yelled in amazement. Tears flowed again from Gim Malsun’s eyes. His rock-like back was going to protect herself and Yeong-a from this filthy world.

  Gim Malsun took Mussang to the shabby restaurant at the back of the ferry terminal. It was a small place with about 10 tables. The signboard said Seonchang Seolleongtang but there were more than 20 menu items.

  “Hey, you are back!”


  The owner sighed at Malsun. After moving from place to place and not having much income, she ended up in this small restaurant.

  “Malsun, you shouldn’t leave like that with a pot boiling on the stove!”


  A middle-aged man raised his head from looking at the pot. Mussang’s heart ached. It seems that her mother was still called Malsun here, her name from her hometown when she cannot even remember where she’s from.

  “Do you need anything?”


  Gim Malsun was feeling very nervous. It was the man who occasionally quarreled and sexually harassed her by touching her butt.

  “What kind of seolleongtang is seolleongtang without a single piece of meat?”


  “I put a lot in when I was preparing it earlier…”


  “What? Come and check it with your own eyes. The broth was also clearly made with milk. You serve this to customers?”


  The man raised his voice and tapped his pot with chopsticks. Gim Malsun and Yeong-a’s faces turned blue, and Mussang’s face turned serious. It has been 20 minutes since they left the breakwater. That bastard didn’t eat and waited for his mother to come. It was visible that the man was putting on a low-quality con art. Mussang teleported and grabbed the middle-aged man’s neck.

  “If you come here to eat, shut up, eat, and fuck off.”


  Malicious energy was pouring out of his every pore.

  “Ouch!”


  Life flickered from the man’s eyes.

  ‘Damn it!’


  Mussang loosened his grip and gave the man some room to breathe.

  “Who are you?”


  The man’s eyes widened.

  “You don’t want to know. If you don’t want to poop into a bag for the rest of your life, go eat quietly.”


  “Hey heh!”


  The man who glanced at Mussang momentarily turned his head as if he had seen a ghost. His eyes are scarier than a tiger’s. His heart was beating violently.

  “Enjoy your food.”


  Mussang tapped his shoulder. He had pierced the man’s energy center with negative reiki. He was fine now, but an excruciating ordeal awaited him a week later. The man stiffened like a stake. He had wet himself a bit. He clenched his groin with all his might and protected against further leaks.

  “Eat it right away!”


  “Aye, sir!”


  The crying man grabbed his spoon. His groin was not going to hold it any further. He wanted to get out of the restaurant quickly, but a fear that he might be killed by this young man stalled him.

  Mussang looked back at his mother and smiled. Gim Malsun’s tense face visibly loosened. It was a scene that she could not have imagined as a woman who has been driven and chased by men all her life. Now her strong son was going to protect him.

  “Malsun, did you go looking for your child?”


  An auntie who boasted bountiful breasts slowly opened the sliding door and entered the restaurant.

  “Hey, are you busy?”


  “No. There were no customers.”


  “Is that so!”


  Gim Malsun nodded her head. The auntie tilted her head. This is not the weak Malsun that she knows of. The usual Malsun would have apologized first with her head down. She doesn’t know what it is but something has changed in her.

  “Yeong-a, did you go to the breakwater again? I told you never to go there many times!”


  The auntie glared at the young girl. Yeong-a stuck her tongue out and hid behind Mussang. Mussang’s raised his eyebrows. Her attitude toward others on the same rungs of life bothered him.

  “Who is this bachelor? He is tall and very handsome.”


  The auntie looked up and down Mussang.

  “Oh my, you really are good-looking, aren’t you? And you are?”


  The woman’s nostrils flared and a wrinkle formed between her eyes.

  “Watch your words. She’s my mother.”


  Mussang’s eyes became stern. He did not intend to tolerate his mother to be subject to any vulgar imagination. The hardships she had already suffered were enough.

  “Oh my God!”


  The woman yelled out! The face of the man who was chewing on his seolleongtang turned pale as the remaining life exited his body.

  “Mom, shall we have lunch?”


  “Call Yeong-a, I’ll bring a bunch of food from the kitchen.”


  “Let’s eat somewhere else.”


  He took this mother’s hand as she headed towards the kitchen. He didn’t want to stay in a place like this for even an hour.

  “I have to cook my son’s food with my own hands.”


  Gim Malsun insisted. What a precious son he was! She wanted to cook a warm meal and eat it. Mussang shook his head.

  “Mother, you have to feed your son for fifty years. There are many days left for all that.”


  “Yeah!”


  Gim Malsun’s face bloomed brightly like a rose in May. Mussang picked up the cashier’s phone and dialed it.

  “Mr. Jin, I found my mother…… Exactly…… Seonchang Seolleongtang, the dock behind the Chungmu Ferry Terminal. Is Neopchi over here? Okay. Get all the other kids out.”


  As he slammed the phone down, the woman who had run her mouth flinched.

  “Mom, let’s go.”


  Mussang restrained his boiling emotions as much as possible. Excessive action and emotional breakdown were going to influence his unstable mother.

  “Boss, is it all right if I head out for a moment?”


  “All right!”


  The woman answered right away. Mussang left the restaurant holding his mother’s and Yeong-a’s hands. The woman stepped out of the restaurant door and stared at their backs as they walked away.

  ‘Hmm, she looks too young to have such a strapping, grown-up son. He surely looked after her looks. What is she going to do with her partner?”


  The woman’s eyes flashed with jealousy. Wherever she is, she is a person who will only believe in things she wanted to believe in. Gim Malsun’s age was unknown. She appeared only to be in her mid-30s. The woman still didn’t fully believe that he was her son.

  In the ferry terminal parking lot, when the pair opened the Citro?n’s door, the girl cheered.

  “Whoa! It’s uncle’s car.”


  “Yeong-a, I’m not your uncle. I’m your brother.”


  “Whatever.”


  At Yeong-a’s nonchalant answer, Mussang smiled.

  “If you call me Bro, I’ll buy you pretty clothes and shoes.”


  He cautiously attempted to bribe her. Was it the pull of kinship? He felt his heart warm just by watching the cheeky girl’s face.