Chapter 13 (2/2)
‘Oh yes!’ almost came out of my mouth.
I had to do that d.a.m.n thing again; I climbed down off my chair, ran and hugged him.
He let out a hearty laugh.
I cruised around the table and dropped back into my chair.
“Where is your pasture, grandfather? Is it near your house?” I asked.
“You can’t raise horses near residential areas, as horses stink,”
“Where then?”
“North of Seoul,”
Record scratch...
That was not the area I’d had in my mind.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s just… too far,” I said, with a pout of my lips and a sullen look.
“Too far?”
“Our house is in Gangnam…”
“There is no pasture in the south of Seoul,”
“Make it. You can make everything you want, grandfather,” I said, in a nervous, yet firm and elated voice.
“What? Make a pasture?”
He erupted in laughter again. It was relief.
“Do-jun?”
“Yes?”
“Do you know how many companies I have?”
Although I knew the answer, I shook my head.
“I made 19 of 48 myself. And I bought the rest,”
Bought? Not robbed?
“I feel more attached to 19 that I built up,”
What is he trying to say?
“I like it when you say, make it,”
How should I react?
Brinking? Nodding?
“Let me help you make something of your own,”
He summoned his PA.
“Fetch us a map of Seoul and Gyeonggi-do,”
“Yes, sir,”
After a little while, the PA brought us a map.
The grandfather spread the map over the table, then circled a spot and pointed to it.
“Now, the circled spot is where my house is, where do you want to make your own pasture? Circle a spot,”
Crazy!
d.a.m.n happy now.
I pretended to be agonizing over it although there was just one spot that had been in my mind for a long time.
“Pick carefully,”
I circled the one.
“Here,”
He frowned, his eyebrows knitting together.
“Looks far from here, don’t you think so?”
“Oh...”
I wore a sullen face, which shortly made him say, “All right then, kid,”
He called out the PA again.
“Determine if this spot is suitable for a pasture,”
“Yes, sir,”
The PA rolled up the map and put it under his arm, then backed into the door.
We continued to eat our dinner.
Grandfather changed the topic: friend.
I had none. How can a boy who has a mental age of 40 make a friend?
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