## Chapter 59 – 06. Around Chuseok
+++
The gift I gave to my grandfather was a huge success.
Judging by his reaction at the time, and my current situation, that much is certain.
But sometimes, doing too well isn’t necessarily a good thing.
What I mean is,
“Everyone, look! This is the gift my grandson gave me! Our Go Mu-yeol went all over the country to get it for me.”
My plan to return as quietly as possible, without attracting the attention of the other family members, was ruined in an instant.
“This isn’t just any ordinary Go board. For the past 50 years, fifty whole years, no one has been able to find Master Han Guk-yeong’s Go board. I even had it appraised myself. Here, this, this right here, is Master Han Guk-yeong’s blood. Blood!”
Wednesday, September 30th, the day of Chuseok.
At the large banquet hall where the owner’s family + collateral relatives + others were gathered, my grandfather held up the Go board I had gifted him and spoke in a booming voice.
Unfortunately, due to the seating arrangement, our owner’s family (direct line) was gathered at a table on the second floor of a duplex structure, while the remaining dozens of collateral relatives + others were gathered in the hall on the first floor. My grandfather was standing on the second-floor railing, holding the Go board up so that everyone on the first floor could see it.
Thanks to that, I had to endure a great deal of attention.
I couldn’t feel the gazes of the people on the first floor, but the people on the second floor, who could have the greatest impact on me, were staring intently.
I felt a churning sensation in my stomach.
Like I had peeled the skin off an incredibly greasy chicken and eaten only the skin.
Ugh….
“…Father, please stop and sit down. Everyone must be hungry. Mu-yeol’s face is turning red.”
It was my aunt, Go Min-yeong, who stopped my grandfather, who had been rambling on for quite some time.
She sighed, looking as elegant and imposing as she had the other day.
“Ah. Right, I should.”
Only then did my grandfather come to his senses and begin to spout Chuseok greetings.
This also took over 10 minutes.
“Hmph. This is all work, work.”
After finishing his speech, my grandfather carefully handed the Go board to his secretary and returned to his seat.
“I’ve been in such a good mood lately that I can’t seem to stop talking, hahaha!”
“Are you that happy? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you laugh like that, Dad.”
The person who just spoke was Go Ha-yeong, Go Ha-yan’s mother, who still boasted beauty that belied her age.
“Of course! How could I not be happy when my grandson has returned like this? It’s impossible to stay calm. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“It’s always the prodigal son who gets the most love. We have to understand, what else can we do?”
And the person who just spoke was Go Seon-ah, Go Seon-yul’s mother, who is another one of my cousins.
You may have noticed by now….
The only men at this table are me and my grandfather.
Where are my aunts’ husbands?
On the first floor, of course.
With the collateral relatives.
In other words, only the truly direct descendants are seated here.
A family that even discriminates against sons-in-law, and even has wives and daughters who accept it without question.
‘So inhumane.’
Even my grandfather’s other wives are all on the first floor.
And their descendants as well….
It’s truly blatant discrimination.
The problem starts here.
Looking at the faces of the people here, the fragmented memories of this drug addict began to connect. Go Mu-yeol’s father was my grandfather’s only direct descendant (from his deceased first wife). And Go Mu-yeol is that father’s only son.
In other words, Go Mu-yeol is the only grandson of the only direct son of the Korea Group.
But Go Mu-yeol’s father is dead….
‘I’m the only male descendant in the direct line of the Korea Group…. Shit. This is just a blatant trigger for checks and balances.’
Getting excessive attention from my grandfather because of the gift is a problem, but this is the biggest problem.
From the perspective of my aunts and cousins, they probably didn’t care about me being the only male descendant because Go Mu-yeol had been doing drugs and acting like a complete degenerate. As Go Min-ji said, it would have been a great situation for them to just lock me up and compete among themselves.
But suddenly, that drug addict nephew quits drugs and starts struggling to do something?
And he gives my grandfather a Go board as a gift, and my grandfather likes it so much that he goes around talking about it?
‘Ah…. Just thinking about it makes me sweat.’
They won’t do it openly because of my grandfather, but there will definitely be subtle checks and balances.
And of course, I don’t have the power to overcome the owner’s family’s checks and balances right now.
I mean, I have nothing, and I’m just about to handle about 2 trillion won in stocks. How can I beat people who have tens or hundreds of trillions of won in cash assets alone? And that’s just based on publicly disclosed assets, so the actual assets they manage are much, much more. There’s a saying about the tip of the iceberg.
‘And they each have their own armed forces….’
It’s not for nothing that I was trying to keep a low profile and run back to Incheon as soon as the gathering was over.
‘Wow, what should I do?’
“Nephew.”
“…Yes??”
“Why are you sweating so much? Are you hot?”
While I was thinking, Go Min-yeong took out a handkerchief and reached out her hand.
Swish.
“Ah.”
She gently wiped my sweat away with a soft touch, which was strangely meticulous.
Is it because she’s an educated person? There’s a sense of grace in her gestures.
“Huh? Is my grandson hot?!”
“Ah, no. No, Grandpa. I’m fine. Thank you, Aunt.”
“Hey, Chief Cha! Lower the temperature in here. The kid’s hot.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
No, I’m not hot….
“Isn’t he just nervous? He’s rolling his eyes around so cutely.”
“Nervous? Our Mu-yeol isn’t the type to be nervous.”
“It’s been a long time since we’ve met like this. They’re all women with strong personalities, so he might be nervous. How cute.”
Go Ha-yeong and Go Seon-ah were smiling brightly and sharing their affection (?) for their nephew.
At least, that’s how it looked on the surface.
Somehow, it was a slightly different atmosphere from the suffocating dinner table of a chaebol family that I had vaguely imagined.
Shouldn’t they be scratching each other with praise disguised as veiled criticism while laughing “hohoho” at this point? Have I watched too many dramas?
“You’re staring at him so intently that the kid’s getting like this. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Like he’s a monkey in a zoo.”
“…Do you know that you’re the worst, Father?”
“Wow. I’m hearing that from my dad.”
“You’re the one who’s making the biggest fuss, so why are you doing that to us?”
Women who dare to say something back to the chairman of the Korea Group.
“Is the way your grandpa loves his grandson the same as the way you love him? There’s a different weight to a grandson than to a nephew. Isn’t that right, Mu-yeol?”
“Oh my? What a discriminatory statement!”
“Are you saying that knowing that none of us have sons?”
“Who was it that gave the kid a measly sum of money and kicked him out because he was wandering around? You’re talking about a different weight, Dad?”
Perhaps stung by the last remark, the chairman of the Korea Group coughed a couple of times.
Then, he cautiously looked at me….
“So…. Is there anything you want right now? Your grandpa isn’t just saying this, but if you receive something, you have to give something back. That’s the mindset of a businessman. If you get this mindset wrong, you won’t be able to achieve great success.”
“Nephew! Ask for about 5,000 trillion won. This old man has so much piled up that he can spare that much.”
“Yes?”
“Is that enough? If you want to pull out a pillar, you have to ask for a share.”
“Is that enough? If you want to get it right, you have to ask for Pyongyang.”
“Whatever it is, we can let him receive land and create his own kingdom. Our nephew likes rice cakes, right? We can make rice cake soup. Hehehe.”
“…Are you crazy?”
“Hey! What are you doing right now! At the dinner table. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Vice presidents who are so talkative. Try to be a little more demure like your daughters.”
“Look at Dad’s dialect coming out. How old-fashioned.”
“What are they going to be demure about? They’re just fidgeting because they don’t have anything to say.”
“I told you to be quiet! Gah!”
The table gradually became noisier.
At first, it seemed like it was starting with a somewhat atmospheric feeling of an enormous chaebol family, but before I knew it, a pleasant noisiness that could be seen in any family had taken hold.
‘…Maybe…is this just a harmonious family?’
That’s what I thought….
No,
That doesn’t make sense, does it?
How can they be harmonious when there’s so much money and power at stake?
Is that even possible??
“It’s noisy, isn’t it? Don’t worry about it and eat.”
Amid the shouts coming from all directions, Go Min-yeong took care of me.
The oppressive and generally cold feeling was still there, but it was somehow warm.
“Everyone’s excited because of you.”
“Because of me?”
“Yes. Isn’t it because you stood up again that things are so lively?”
Is that…possible?
I can’t understand it at all with my common sense.
Or is there some kind of undisclosed secret? Between Go Mu-yeol and this family.
