Chapter 6 (1/2)

When we descended into the dining-room, I could feel dozens of eyes on me.

Whose owners, in formal attire, were seated around three large tables.

Some of them somehow looked familiar to me.

They were board members, husbands, parents and children, whose loyalty to my grandfather couldn’t be compared to one to anyone else.

They were butlers that I had aspired to be.

The grandfather would make a return for their loyalty by being a good listener.

I should make them my allies.

The grandchildren were sitting around one of the tables.

One of them was my brother and the other eleven were my cousins.

Especially when I spotted Young-jun who 30 years later would be the vice-chairman of Sunyang, my body trembled with anger.

If I had a gun, I might have shot him.

Another table was set up for the selected ones.

That were born as the grandfather's children.

five successors.

And their wives&h.e.l.lip;

Wait!

Why nine? One missing.

Where on the earth is my mother?

I can’t find her.

As the grandfather took a seat, two chefs emerged from the kitchen, carrying in their hands a birthday cake with sixty-six lit candles crowded on top.

The dining-room erupted “Happy birthday!”

The grandfather brew out the candles and everyone cheered and clapped their hands.

There were two whose arms were flabby: my father and my brother.

And so were their faces.

What’s wrong with them?

No sooner had I found my mother than I found out why.

She didn’t get around to sitting and eating.

The other wives.

That constantly gave errands to her.

“Bring me more soup,”

“Bring me some water, with ice,”

“Wipe the table,”

As if she were a housemaid.

That didn’t makes any sense at all. As far as I knew there were more than ten housemaids.

They were being hard on my mother.

I felt as if my blood boiled and my flesh quivered.

The anger did not differ much from one toward Young-jun.

Even if it had been less than one hundred days, my warm feeling toward her was growing in my chest and stronger each day.

What made me even more angry was my father. He seemed to be ignoring her weary look while he was eating.

Which explained a lot.

Even though my brother Sang-jun must have witnessed this several times, he seemed at the end of his tether. His lips were s.h.i.+vering.

For that reason, he didn’t want to come.

I felt a bit guilty about kicking his b.u.t.t earlier.

Behold, I’m going to make them drop to their knees, in front of my mother.

Eventually, she couldn’t manage to eat until she finished was.h.i.+ng dishes.

After the dinner, the grandchildren parted into two groups.

Some teenagers snuck out of the house while the children gathered around the grandfather, asking permission to ‘go upstairs’.

“All right, all right. Let’s go upstairs,” he said with a chuckle.

I felt someone stroking my hair when ascending the stairs.

“You are the star of the day, aren’t you?” it was Young-jun.

I forced myself to smile while I felt my hair bristling up.

He looked at me, 10 years younger than him, with a friendly smile.

Let's see how long the smile will last.

“This toy pony is Do-jun’s so he will help each of you take a turn,” the grandfather said, then went downstairs. Even as there was no sign of his presence,

“Get out of my way, me first!” someone said, shoving me hard in the right shoulder.

My face became reddened and I clenched my fist. As I was about to throw it, my brother grasped my wrist. And he said.

“Yeah, you first, Kang-jun,” with a scared look.

Kang-jun? I was sure I’dheard that name before.

I searched my memories.