Next generation members of the Guseong family, often referred to as such, had their own various feelings towards Lee Hyun-woo.
Some were favorable, but some were not.
They had ears to listen as well.
― It seems like the chairman has chosen Lee Hyun-woo as his son-in-law.
Recently, they heard some unbelievable news from their parents.
However, testimonies(?) about Lee Hyun-woo and Kim Ah-young being a good match were gradually leaking out.
They were filled with questions.
― Not someone from another chaebol family, but Lee Hyun-woo?
In fact, there was a sense of aristocracy among the Guseong family members.
Therefore, most of the family did not understand or have no intention to understand the world of ordinary people.
Moreover, they sometimes regarded people who rose from humble beginnings as merely lucky, and quite a few young members of the family viewed Lee Hyun-woo in such a way.
Their somewhat twisted mentality surfaced as usual, and it began when Kim Tae-hyun and Jang Jae-won had a private conversation.
They spoke in a foreign language that Lee Hyun-woo couldn’t hear.
„Die Marktwirtschaft ist echt gut. Jeder kann ordentlich Kohle machen.“ (The market economy is really good. Anyone can make a lot of money.)
„Ist schon krasser Kapitalismus, oder?“ (It’s vulgar capital, isn’t it?)
„Da bin ich bei dir. Das ermöglicht den sozialen Aufstieg.“ (I agree. It allows for social mobility.)
Then,
„Ich steh’ auch auf die Marktwirtschaft.“ (I also like the market economy.)
The same language flowed from Lee Hyun-woo’s mouth.
“……”
“……”
“……”
A moment of silence ensued.
In his previous life, Lee Hyun-woo was a multilingual person.
Including Korean, he was fluent in English, Chinese, Japanese, and even German.
He could even interpret the newspaper that Woo Sang-won and Jang Yoo-chul brought from Germany last time, so how could he not understand their conversation?
“Allerdings finde ich nicht, dass jeder, der in einer Marktwirtschaft Kapital anhäuft, unbedingt vulgär ist.” (However, I don’t believe that everyone who accumulates capital in a market economy is necessarily vulgar.)
After Lee Hyun-woo said this, the self-proclaimed aristocrats(?) left the scene with embarrassed expressions.
Eventually, only Chairman Kim Sung-moo’s three daughters were left around Lee Hyun-woo.
The second daughter, Kim Ah-jin, spoke.
“I didn’t know you could speak German so well.”
“I’ve been studying it recently. I happened to be learning economic terms, so I joined the conversation since I understood it.”
“Oh, so that’s why you responded to the talk about the market economy and vulgar capital.”
“Huh? Unnie? Did those relatives say such things?”
The one who asked next was the youngest daughter, Kim Na-yoon.
She was a senior in high school attending Daehyun Foreign Language High School, but unfortunately, she did not learn German.
However, she was fluent in Chinese, so she deliberately said this.
“Sometimes I don’t understand my relatives. Still, I think you handled it well without getting angry.”
“Zài Guīchéng jiāzú de jùhuì shàng nǐ bùnéng shēngqì.” (You can’t get angry at a gathering of the Guseong family.)
“Huh?”
Kim Na-yoon’s eyes widened.
Lee Hyun-woo smiled and said to her.
“I also learned a little Chinese in the past.”
“Oh…”
“Xuéxí bùtóng de yǔyán tǐng yǒuqù de. Nǐ bùbì juéde nánguò, hǎo ma?” (Learning different languages is quite enjoyable. You don’t have to feel bad, okay?)
“Yes…”
Although he told her not to feel bad, thanks to suddenly switching to Chinese, Kim Na-yoon didn’t know how to respond.
“Oh, I need to go to the bathroom for a bit.”
“Yes, oppa.”
The word “oppa” came out naturally now.
She actually wanted to call him “brother-in-law,” but it didn’t seem appropriate yet, so she held back.
However, when Kim Tae-hyun came looking for Lee Hyun-woo,
“Oppa, that Hyun-woo oppa is amazing. He’s fluent in both German and Chinese.”
Kim Na-yoon quickly praised Lee Hyun-woo.
“Wow… really?”
The previous day, Kim Tae-hyun had called his two younger sisters, excluding Kim Ah-young, and said this.
― It seems like there’s something between Ah-young and Lee Hyun-woo.
― You didn’t know?
― They’re almost on the verge of dating.
― What? Really?
― Oh, it’s a secret.
― Right. We weren’t supposed to say this.
One son and three daughters.
So Kim Tae-hyun knew that sometimes there were stories shared among the sisters.
He thought that the matters between Lee Hyun-woo and Kim Ah-young might be of that kind.
Instead, today, there was a tacit signal between Kim Tae-hyun and his two younger sisters.
It was to evaluate Lee Hyun-woo as a match for Kim Ah-young.
So when Lee Hyun-woo went to the bathroom and Kim Ah-young subtly left for another place, Kim Tae-hyun slowly asked his two younger sisters.
“What do you think? Hyun-woo, that guy… as Ah-young’s match.”
“Isn’t it too early to say that?”
“I like him.”
Kim Na-yoon was much simpler than her older sister Kim Ah-jin.
“Honestly, my classmates want to marry someone like Lee Hyun-woo oppa when they grow up.”
“Haha… that could be. He built up Jungle from scratch.”
“More than that, the stress of being a senior is no joke, but he keeps giving us a ray of hope. Internet shopping, internet cafes, Jungle Music, and recently even blogs. Many of my classmates are completely addicted to blogs.”
Kim Tae-hyun nodded.
He also had few friends and had recently discovered his old classmates on Jungle’s blog through the “friends you might know” feature.
Of course, he didn’t send a friend request, but just that was enough to bring back memories of forgotten friendships.
‘He’s an amazing guy.’
Kim Tae-hyun also knew business.
Although he hadn’t tried it yet, if ads started appearing on blogs?
Especially products that would appeal to enthusiastic teens and twenties?
Thinking this far, he saw Lee Hyun-woo, who had returned from the bathroom, approaching.
And like a magnet, Kim Ah-young, who had been talking with other relatives, joined them.
‘It seems my younger sister likes him more.’
Although some were intimidated by Lee Hyun-woo’s presence and avoided him, some others still looking for opportunities to show ‘I’m different from you.’
Lee Hyun-woo tried to shut them up as quick as possible.
「ベルリンでのG7サミットで、各国の財務大臣や中央銀行総裁が円安を強く阻止するようです。どう思いますか？」
由于持续的贸易赤字，外汇储备的下降似乎已经到了危险的水平。IMF建议各国保持至少2.5个月的进口支付储备。由于我们已经到了极限，除非贸易余额转为盈余，否则外国投资似乎是唯一的解决方案。
“Glaubst du wirklich den Worten des Zentralbankchefs, dass die Bank von Korea die Verantwortung für die Abwicklung der inländischen Banken übernehmen wird?”
If asked in German, he would respond in Chinese.
If asked in Chinese, he would respond in Japanese.
If asked in Japanese, he would respond in German.
Kim Ah-young, who was watching closely, found it amusing.
He showed his observational skills to see which language the other person doesn’t understand, and respond in that.
On the other hand, Lee Hyun-woo could understand all their languages, so, it was a piece of cake.
Even though she initially looked amused, once they went outside after the meeting, Kim Ah-young turned apologetic.
“Wasn’t it uncomfortable?”
“No, I was fine.”
He wasn’t uncomfortable, just felt it was all a waste of time.
Lee Hyun-woo didn’t bother to express this.
“And a bit of awkwardness and uneasiness are inevitable. If you met my relatives, the conversation wouldn’t be easy either.”
“But at least it would be in our language.”
“Of course.”
“No one has ever not struggled in these gatherings except you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Oh, and what you mentioned earlier, feel free to proceed with it anytime.”
“What I mentioned earlier?”
“Meeting your relatives or family… I’m always fine with it.”
“……”
“You met my parents, so it would be a bit unfair if I didn’t.”
Kim Ah-young dropped something quite meaningful and finally said goodbye with a slightly flushed face.
“It’s really late. Get home safely, and I’ll contact you later.”
“Okay, sure.”
Lee Hyun-woo turned around with a somewhat struck expression.
‘Meeting my parents?’
Should he actually make it happen?
He thought about it all the way back but concluded that it was still premature.
In fact, it was not easy for his parents to accept her.
‘And we aren’t even dating yet.’
He needed to think about this part a bit more.
If he ended up dating Kim Ah-young, a lot of complicated situations seemed likely to arise.
Just like today.
As soon as he got home and came out of the shower, he received a call from Kim Yoon-sun.
(I called several times, but your phone was off.)
“Ah, the battery died earlier. But what’s up?”
(The song is finally complete.)
“Really?”
(Yes, but I don’t know how to send it to you. As you know, I’m not good with computers…)
The completed song was the one Lee Hyun-woo had previously shared with her, called ‘Heaven’s Forgiven Love.’
He had continued to see her since then, but the song never seemed to emerge.
“No, I need to hear it in person.”
(What? Oh, I’m not good at singing over the phone…)
“But I only accept live performances.”
(Uhm… Oh, I’ll go to the recording studio tomorrow. I’ll let you hear it before recording.)
“Okay. That sounds good.”
(I’ll also contact Ah-young separately, so come together, okay?)
“Sure, sure. Got it.”
It seemed that Kim Yoon-sun now considered him and Kim Ah-young as a pair.
‘Anyway, I’ll get to experience a singer’s recording studio again.’
Lee Hyun-woo, who was enjoying his new life filled with various experiences.
Although today felt a bit like a pointless experience, he couldn’t always have pleasant encounters.
‘Where else can I have a fresh experience in my second life?’
Of course, he welcomed the reappearance of songs like ‘Heaven’s Forgiven Love.’
So he was excited to hear the completed song that Kim Yoon-sun had worked on.
Since the next day was the weekend, he contacted Kim Ah-young and went straight to the recording studio in Nonhyeon-dong.
There, Kim Yoon-sun and her manager greeted them enthusiastically and introduced the producer.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Lee.”
The person who introduced himself as Oh Jung-hwan bowed deeply.
And he said,
“Thanks to you, Mr. Lee, people like me can make a living.”
It seemed that he was paying respect to Lee Hyun-woo for changing the music ecosystem to be more artist-friendly.
In his new life, Lee Hyun-woo didn’t pretend to be humble when he heard such words.
Instead of polite words,
“Then make a lot of money. And please create many songs that can make it to the Billboard charts.”
he encouraged.
Oh Jung-hwan scratched his head and said,
“You should be the one making those songs, Mr. Lee. I was really surprised this time. Haha.”
Lee Hyun-woo quickly looked at Kim Yoon-sun.
It seemed she had told Oh Jung-hwan despite being asked to keep it a secret.
Oh Jung-hwan, with a serious expression, said,
“I dare say, this song by Kim Yoon-sun will be a huge success. And she will perfectly transform from a video singer to an audio singer.”
