PHUW 61

Anyway, he had to go to the family house in the evening.

When he looked at the clock, it was already close to four. He had to wash quickly and pull himself together. This time he placed his phone neatly on the table and opened the refrigerator. There was no bottled water. He could not even remember when he last went grocery shopping. He had no choice but to drink tap water. The fishy water with a chlorine smell cooled his burning esophagus and settled his twisting stomach.

He staggered toward the bathroom. He stood under cold water until his mind cleared. When his scalp stiffened, and the flushed heat in his face turned pale, he suddenly looked into the mirror. His beard and hair had grown out untended and messy. He did not have time to visit a hair salon, but he thought he could at least shave and trim the overgrown hair at the back of his head with clippers. Because of that, the shower took longer.

When going to the family house, he had to present himself with a certain formality. It was not that there was a dress code, but if he went looking too casual, the chairwoman might find fault again. Even if it was troublesome, a little preparation made the meal atmosphere slightly less tense.

He took out the formal suit he wore for family occasions. Since he had it dry-cleaned immediately after wearing and stored it, it was spotless without a single wrinkle. After putting on a dress shirt and trousers, the fit at the chest and waist felt a little looser. It had been custom-made to fit perfectly without excess, so it seemed he had lost some weight. He fastened a belt, which he rarely used, and put on a vest and jacket.

He even prepared a watch and perfume, which he usually did not wear. The watch, worth hundreds of millions, was a discharge gift from Choi Sangeon, while the suit and perfume had been bought to their own tastes and pushed onto him by Choi Jieon, using family events as an excuse. If he did not wear them, his cousins would annoy him, asking if he had bartered away what they had given him. Their temper and character resembled the chairwoman’s, but they had inherited a professor’s unnecessary meticulousness as well, making them troublesome siblings in many ways.

He put the cracked-screen phone into the inner pocket of his jacket. He wore the polished shoes he had kept in storage like the suit and then hesitated with the car keys. If he drove a truck or a domestic SUV, they would make a scene about embarrassing the neighborhood. That left the sedan and the supercar. A sedan was more comfortable for driving in a suit, but with a sigh, he picked up the supercar keys.

That car was another thing Choi Sangeon had forced on him, using the excuse of a gift for opening his architecture office. He had said that a firm representative ought to drive such a car. Since most men would love that model, he had not refused and made use of it. For now, he would drive it, but if Choi Sangeon started talking nonsense, he planned to hand the keys back on the spot. The same went for the watch.

It took about one hour and forty minutes by car to reach the area near Bukhansan, where the family house was located. It was relatively quick, since he had narrowly avoided rush hour traffic when entering Seoul. After passing the hillside lined with mansions, each with sprawling yards of 330 square meters, he arrived in front of the estate at the very top of the neighborhood, which had the largest grounds. The time was just past six.

He parked in the underground garage and climbed the stairs. As soon as he reached the front gate, a large black sedan appeared. A man and woman stepped out of the driver’s and passenger’s seats. It was Choi Sangeon and his wife, Lee Myeongeun. While the family security detail parked the sedan in the garage, Choi Sangeon, with his arm lightly around his wife’s waist, walked toward the gate and spotted Jeong Mok.

“Mok-ah.”

“Hyung.”

Choi Sangeon raised his hand in greeting.

“It has been a while, doryeo-nim¹.”

Jeong Mok gave only a nod to Sangeon but bowed his head politely to Lee Myeongeun.

“Hello, hyungsu-nim².”

Lee Myeongeun had been Choi Jieon’s college friend and married Sangeon after a romance like something out of a drama. The process had been marked by fierce opposition from the chairwoman, who was furious and and even harassed them, a story still passed around like legend among head office employees.

“In this day and age, why call him doryeonim? Right, Mok-ah?”

“Call me comfortably, as hyung said.”

Since childhood, he had unavoidably spent a fair amount of time with Sangeon and had gotten along with him reasonably well for cousins. But after Sangeon’s marriage and his own independence, they rarely met outside of chance encounters at the family house. That was only natural. Jeong Mok himself found the family house, more precisely the chairwoman, uncomfortable. How much more so for Lee Myeongeun, who had gone through with a marriage against her will? It was only natural that they met rarely and found each other difficult.

Less than half a year after the wedding, Sangeon and Myeongeun had a son, Choi Jun. In a household where children were rare, he was the greatest treasure, and because of him, the chairwoman softened somewhat. She recalled Sangeon, who had been demoted to a regional affiliate, back to the holding company as CEO and vice chairman, and she permitted Myeongeun entry to the family house.

Choi Jun was so bright and handsome that the chairwoman overlooked the past and doted on him. Thanks to that, the reproaches toward Myeongeun nearly disappeared, and the bleak household often heard bursts of laughter. For that reason, Sangeon always brought his son as a shield when visiting the family house. But strangely, this time, they had come alone.

“Where is Jun?”

“At home.”

“Why?”

When Jeong Mok frowned, Sangeon grinned.

“No need to show him anything unpleasant.”

“You said you had something to tell me too. What are you trying to pull?”

Worry already came first. It was the same for Myeongeun. Her complexion had already turned pale.

“Honey. I told you, I am really fine. Let’s not do this. If I try a little harder, it will be fine.”

“What more can you try? If something happens to you and our child? I could not go on sane.”

A child going wrong?

He had not heard anything had happened to Jun. He had never once shown himself to be an uncle-like figure, but even so, blood ties made worry come first.

“What is it. Did something happen to Jun?”

“Jun is fine.”

At Choi Sangeon’s words, Lee Myeongeun covered her belly with both hands. Huh?

“There are some signs of miscarriage. She has to be careful.”

“Then she should not come to the family house. Are you all right, hyungsu-nim?”

He was concerned because he could even offer congratulations.

“It is not severe. Resting a little is enough, but he keeps overreacting.”

“Overreacting? You almost had to be hospitalized last week.”

“No. In the early stage it is normal to feel dizzy and such.”

“Whatever the case, it is true you are unwell.”

“You all came, so why are you standing there instead of coming up?”

At some point the professor had come out. While Jeong Mok and Myeongeun bowed their heads in greeting, Sangeon approached with a smile.

“Father. You still look wonderful. Did you take your Cheongsimhwan³?”

“Hearing you spout nonsense first thing means you came today ready for a fight, didn’t you?”

“I told you before. Where is the chairwoman?”

“She has been waiting since earlier.”

“Ha ha. Shall we eat first before seeing her? Otherwise my wife might end up starving.”

“Did you not think that your wife might get indigestion after eating well?”

The professor reproached his eldest son.

“Good you came. But why did you have to come too when you are not even alone?”

“I thought at least I should try to stop him.”

“Mok and Baek Seunghyeon can stop him, that is enough. If it comes to it, there are security guards too.”

Hearing the professor say such things meant there really was a troublesome matter ahead.

“What is it?”

Jeong Mok didn’t heard anything about this, he swallowed dryly and asked.

“That fellow Sangeon says he will throw away the successor’s seat.”

“What?”

“It is not throwing away. It is parental leave. Parental leave. It is clearly written in the company rules as an employee benefit.”

Sangeon grinned.

“You added the condition ‘indefinite’ in front of it. If that is not throwing away the successor’s seat, then what is it?”

At the professor’s words, Myeongeun let out a long sigh as well.

Within the group, Sangeon’s standing was by no means small. He held the position of vice chairman of the holding company, but in reality he was a manager who oversaw all the key affiliates. There was hardly a business division untouched by his hand. And now that person suddenly said he would take indefinite parental leave? No matter that it was a benefit stated in the company rules, for the successor whose daily schedule was divided down to the minute, it was an exception. The massive stock he had been granted as successor could just as well be seen as compensation for giving up an ordinary life and pouring even his private life into the company.

It was not an issue that would end without an uproar. And not just uproar. With the chairman’s temperament, various furnishings might even go flying. There could be punishment for insolence, suspension or demotion, and the matter could even spark reproach toward Myeongeun, asking how she had managed her husband. No wonder they had not brought their son.

When they entered the house, Choi Jieon and her younger husband, Baek Seunghyeon, were also there. Perhaps because her pregnancy made movement difficult, Choi Jieon greeted them while sitting on the sofa.

“You came?”

“Have you been well, noona. Hyungsu-nim.”

Baek Seunghyeon, who had been diligently massaging his wife’s swollen hand, jumped up. With a innocent look, he greeted them, calling Sangeon and his wife hyung and hyungsu-nim, then offered his hand to Jeong Mok as well.

“It has been a while, Jeong Mok-ssi.”

“Hello.”

As soon as greetings ended, Jieon started scolding Jeong Mok.

“You did not take my calls, but you answered oppa’s, didn’t you?”

“It is not that I did not answer, I could not. My phone broke.”

Jeong Mok pulled out his phone with the shattered screen to show her. Jieon looked ready to add another word but shut her mouth firmly.

“See me after dinner.”

“Now, keep to the order. Mok is mine first. After I finish talking, you can.”

Sangeon spoke up in reply.

“Why, oppa?”

“I have a request.”

“A request? From oppa?”

Sitting on the sofa, Jieon looked back and forth between Sangeon and Jeong Mok. Even she and Seunghyeon did not know exactly what plan Sangeon was brewing. Even Jeong Mok, who had only just learned of it, could not bring himself to ask first. He decided to keep silent, thinking he would learn naturally later.

“Honey. The children are all here. Please come out.”

The professor knocked on the study where the chairwoman was. After a moment, the door opened and Noh Seongjae appeared, the owner of the conglomerate Hyeonsan, the mother of the Choi siblings, and Jeong Mok’s aunt.

Even Jieon, heavy with child, stood up with everyone else and bowed her head to Noh Seongjae. Even Sangeon, who usually acted so casually it seemed arrogant, was no exception.

“It has been a while, all of you.”

Unlike the professor, who warmly embraced each one, the chairman gave a single word of greeting that swept over all her children.

1. honorific title for one’s husband’s younger (generally unmarried) brother. ↩︎
2. a term used by a man to refer to the wife of his older brother or an older brother-like figure ↩︎
3. also called uhwang–cheongsimhwan (우황청심환) and cheongsimwon (청심원), is a pill formulated with thirty odd herbs and other medicinal ingredients, including calculus bovis, ginseng, musk, and Chinese yam root. It is used to treat various symptoms, such as numb limbs and fit of apoplexy, epilepsy, and others in traditional Korean medicine. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheongsimhwan ↩︎