Chapter 5 (1/2)

In the backseat, I and my elder brother sat quietly until we reached our grandfather’s house.

While I was stirring up old memories, the brother was fretting and uneasy.

The silence settled like a grey cloud over our parents’ faces.

The grandfather’s house looked like a castle, in which there were four buildings with two stories above ground and two underground levels.

A paved parking lot accommodating approximately 50 cars.

Stone curtain walls enveloping the castle.

It was hemmed in by dense trees and locked up like Fort Knox.

Two guards bowed and opened the huge door, then our car slipped inside.

The garden where I pulled weeds came in sight, in which there were plenty of guests relis.h.i.+ng the warmth of the early summer and talking.

As we stepped out of our car and began to walk into the whitewashed, main building, some greeted us with a slight nod while others pretended not to have seen each of us.

I searched my memory, trying to recall them.

It occurred to me there might be someone who was involved in my death in some way.

As we entered the foyer and went into the large living room, my heart began to race.

The family would probably treat us as if we were uninvited guests.

What would happen to us, what would happen to my family?

Would they ignore us as if we were invisible?

In the living room, eight people were sitting on the sofa.

Hungry wolves and foxes; successor candidates.

They would be counting down the days until the grandfather’s death, in order to s.n.a.t.c.h a loaf of Sunyang.

The eldest son, Jin Young-ki.

Second son, Jin Dong-ki.

Third son, Jin Sang-ki.

Only daughter, Jin Seo-yun.

And the youngest son, my father, Jin Yun-ki, who would always try to avoid their sharp eyes.

A short silence followed.

As my mother greeted with a deep bow,

“You are so d.a.m.n late!” said a shrill voice.

Its owner was the granny who had had s.e.x with her young guard in the fitting room.

Which lingered on my head. I couldn't help but t.i.tter.

My father got baffled and gave a firm grip on my hand as if to say ‘stop it’.

“What’s so funny? What are you t.i.ttering about?” she asked, frowning at me.

She looked as if she was poised to knuckle me on my head.

When Young-ki told her to knock it off, raising his voice,

“What the h.e.l.l is going on down there?” said a man’s deep voice.

All the people in the living room looked in the direction whence the voice came.

It was my grandfather, Jin Yang-cheol, Chairman of Sunyang. He was standing on the steps that led upstairs.

A steel mask.

That people nicknamed him because his willpower was as strong as steel, and which was shown on his face.

And because of his cold heart and stubborn mind; he had kicked his elder brother out and taken all the power to himself.

I had never experienced him before. However, his sons and daughter were flabbergasted when he emerged.

They were afraid of him.

To be sure, the original cause of the fear was his money.

They were so afraid they would not get their share.

The chairman walked down the steps and stood in the center of the living room.

I swallowed hard.

How would he react? Would he welcome me or put me aside?

I stole a glance at my parents. They looked extremely nervous.

When they greeted him with a deep bow, he gave them a cursory glance.

He looked at my brother like he was a worm.

And then he looked at me.

Another worm? Or?

“Awww, snook.u.ms!” he said. My jaw dropped and my eyes boggled.

“Why haven't you come to see me sooner?” in a friendly voice, he said.