“Hyun-ah, do you know what this grandfather does for a living?”
Grandfather asked me with a gentle expression.
On the outside, I am merely a 14-year-old boy. Moreover, this is the first time I’ve spent such a long time with Grandfather. He probably thinks his grandson doesn’t exactly know what the family business is. How should I say this?
“You’re in the chemical industry.”
I had no intention of hiding it.
There was no need to beat around the bush about something I already knew.
However, Grandfather’s face clearly showed signs of surprise.
“Did your mother tell you?”
“No, yesterday Jinseok hyung explained it to me. He said you are the chairman of Dongju Chemical.”
Jinseok, let me borrow your name for a moment.
“Hyun-ah, what do you think the chemical industry is?”
Grandfather asked me an even more challenging question. He seemed curious about what kind of answer I would give.
Currently, Dongju Chemical is involved in laundry detergents and crop protectants, starting from a soap factory. However, compared to the future development of the chemical industry, Dongju is still in its infancy.
“If steel was the material of the modernization industry, I think chemicals are the material of the future industry.”
If steel had become the raw material for shipbuilding, civil engineering, and automobiles, the new technologies in chemistry would lead to the dazzling progress of modernity.
For instance, renowned scholars have pointed out that the fourth industrial revolution is in the chemical industry, not IT.
I also agree with that opinion, as the foundation of the future computer and smartphone industries was chemical technology.
“Future industry?”
Grandfather’s eyes widened for a moment. He never expected such words to come out of his young grandson’s mouth.
How much time had passed?
“Hyun-ah, now that I think about it, you’ve only been going around with this grandfather since coming to Seoul. Today, go sightseeing and have some fun. Mr. Kim will take you anywhere you want to go.”
Grandfather smiled contentedly and patted my head.
“Kang Hyun, where do you want to go?”
Mr. Kim glanced at me through the rearview mirror and asked.
Seoul in the 90s, which had not yet fully achieved modernization. I thought it was a world I would never feel again.
An era where apartments were being built next to shantytowns. The thick makeup of women and the emerging Gangnam Orange Tribe evoked nostalgia rather than being tacky.
“Sir, please take me to Sillim.”
“Sillim-dong?”
He seemed to have thought of an amusement park or a resort.
During my time at Korea University, I stayed in the goshiwon (exam prep housing) in Sillim-dong.
At that time, the dormitory at Korea University was not assigned by grades but by a lottery system. Due to a lack of TO, I had no choice but to live on my own for a while, and the place I eventually chose was Sillim-dong.
The reason was simple: the cost of living and rent were cheap.
“This place is still the same.”
I murmured as I looked at the scenery of Sillim-dong outside the car window.
It looked no different from how it would in the future. Lodging houses and goshiwons lined every alley, and the roads were winding like worm paths.
In other words, the top village of Sillim, which was often referred to as a shantytown, had very cheap rent, and there was even a saying that you could become a hermit if you moved in there.
“Auntie, please give me one stir-fried sundae and one stir-fried pork.”
This was a sundae stir-fry place I frequented in my past life.
The young owner lady opened her eyes wide as she watched a young boy skillfully place his order. The driver uncle sitting across from me also looked surprised.
Oops, I must have gotten excited without realizing it.
“How does a young student know that our house’s stir-fried pork and sundae mixed together taste good?”
The owner lady looked at me with a face full of wonder.
The restaurant was crowded with students studying in the goshiwon. They wore large glasses, and thick administrative law and civil law books were placed on the tables. Sometimes, when they couldn’t pay for their meals, they would leave their civil law books as collateral and dine on credit.
In a way, the dining and drinking establishments in the goshiwon area were also pawnshops holding the dreams of the students.
Thud.
After finishing the meal, I walked around the goshiwon area of Sillim-dong.
A place encompassing the dreams of exam takers nationwide. Posters announcing vacant rooms in the goshiwon were plastered everywhere, and the phrase “a dragon emerges from a ditch” caught my eye.
Mr. Kim looked curious. He wondered how a boy from the countryside knew about Sillim-dong and walked so familiarly.
‘Am I as desperate as them?’
The reason I came to Sillim-dong was to understand myself.
In my past days, holding a civil law book to my chest and studying law all day, did I truly dream of becoming a legal professional?
I had thought about becoming a legal professional again with this second chance. Having walked that path once, a second time would be no problem. But.
‘I’m not desperate.’
I shook my head. At that moment, a nameless bird circling the sky made a sharp turn.
It was as I was walking toward the parking lot.
“Excuse me.”
A foreigner with light-colored eyes walked slowly toward Mr. Kim and me.
What is a foreigner doing in Sillim-dong?
Mr. Kim looked visibly troubled. The middle-aged foreigner seemed to know no Korean at all. There’s no other choice.
“What’s the matter?”
Fluent English flowed from Kang Hyun’s mouth.
“Oh, a young gentleman who can speak English.”
The foreigner’s face, which had been full of worry, brightened up. Meanwhile, Mr. Kim’s eyes widened in surprise. He never imagined I could speak English.
“So, you took a taxi from the airport and asked to go to the Silly Hotel, but you ended up here? And you accidentally left your wallet in the taxi?”
I was dumbfounded. Well, scams targeting foreigners are rampant in any country, but at least they should have dropped him off at the correct destination.
“I said Silly, Silly Hotel.”
But hearing the foreigner’s Korean pronunciation, I realized why the taxi driver misunderstood.
“Mr. Kim, this person wants to go to the Silly Hotel, do you have time to take him?”
When I said I would take him, the foreigner was overjoyed and kept thanking me.
On the way to the hotel, the foreigner told me he had come to Korea for business. I wondered why his business counterpart didn’t arrange a car for him, but.
“I arrived a week earlier than scheduled.”
The middle-aged foreigner smiled and looked at me.
When the car finally arrived at the Silly Hotel.
“I would give you my business card, but I don’t have my wallet. Young gentleman, my name is Samuel Gardner. If you ever need my help, please come to the Silly Hotel and find me.”
Samuel Gardner, as he introduced himself, spoke to me politely and then turned around.
He looked like a European nobleman.
“Hyun can speak English?”
“Yes, Chairman.”
Mr. Kim reported to Grandfather about what had happened today.
From visiting Sillim-dong instead of an amusement park or Gyeongbokgung Palace as expected, to conversing fluently in English with a foreigner.
Grandfather’s expression became complicated as he listened to the series of events.
“I see, you may go.”
Mr. Kim bowed and left the study.
“Hmm.”
Grandfather closed his wrinkled eyes and fell into deep thought.
He was born as the only son of a wealthy family. Dongju Chemical, which he had built up over his lifetime, was more precious than anything, and he considered it his pride that he exchanged for his youth.
In his patriarchal nature, he believed that strict succession by the eldest son was essential. However, that thought slightly changed when his youngest daughter was born.
His youngest daughter, Kang Hyun’s mother, Yoo Hyunja, was a daughter he cherished dearly.
Unlike his other greedy and lazy siblings, the youngest daughter was always smart and wise.
However, the fact that she was a girl bothered him like a sharp fishhook. If she had been a boy, he would have included her in the succession plan, even if she was the youngest.
-Son, is Grandfather treating you well?
Mother’s voice was filled with concern. She was probably worried that her feelings toward her might have extended to her son.
“Grandfather is treating me very well, so I’m very comfortable.”
Starting with Grandfather, the housekeeper lady, and Mr. Kim, everyone was looking after me.
It was partly because I was a young grandson who didn’t visit often. In their eyes, they also thought Kang Hyun, who acted especially maturely for his age, was admirable and endearing.
“Is the laundry business doing okay?”
I was worried. The news kept warning about the heatwave being the worst in decades. I couldn’t imagine how much laundry there must be.
-Son, don’t worry! Dad is working hard not to make your mom tired.
At that moment, I heard my father’s voice, who was listening to the call together.
Although they had been married for a long time, they were still a sweet couple like newlyweds. That’s why Mother chose Father over this mansion.
As I was about to hang up after finishing the conversation with my parents,
“Were you talking to your mother?”
Grandfather walked into the living room.
“Yes, Grandfather.”
There were complex emotions in Grandfather’s eyes.
She was the youngest daughter he had kicked out of the mansion because he couldn’t stand the sight of her. When the youngest daughter, who had never defied him, said she was leaving to find her happiness, he was both dumbfounded and furious.
But that was already something that happened more than ten years ago.
The anger from back then had faded, and only the longing remained deeply entrenched.
“Grandfather.”
I looked at Grandfather. His eyes were full of wrinkles, and age spots had appeared on his face.
Although I hadn’t often faced Grandfather in my past life, now I felt more comfortable with him than anyone else.
“Do you miss Mother?”
In just five years, Grandfather would pass away. Knowing the future, I wanted to hasten the reconciliation between father and daughter.
Grandfather paused at his young grandson’s words and then nodded.
“Hyun-ah, what do you think happiness is?”
The youngest daughter who had left to find her own happiness, he had vowed never to see her again, but it wasn’t easy.
“I don’t know what happiness is yet either, but I know what unhappiness is.”
“Unhappiness?”
“Grandfather, you have the power to do what you want. Ignoring that power is what I think unhappiness is. Follow your heart.”
Huh.
Grandfather thought of his youngest daughter. She was the child who understood him the best, yet she was also the one who broke his heart.
Now, his grandson, born from that youngest daughter, was shaking his heart again.
