Distracted by the Niece
My mind is in turmoil over the niece. Worries have already piled up. She submitted her application, but will she get in? Will she even meet the minimum cutoff? And how will the interview go? No matter how much I agonize over it, it’s useless, yet I can’t focus at all. In the end, I push work aside and start searching for answers online. Rough competition rates. Last year’s accepted scores. New changes in admissions policy.
“The kid must take after her grandmother.” The niece is far bolder than her timid uncle. On the day she was supposed to submit her application, she dragged me to her room, saying she was nervous and needed me there. But the moment she opened her laptop, she casually typed in the university she wanted. “Did you check everything before applying? Isn’t this too rushed? Don’t just skip ahead—double-check…”
I kept asking out of worry, but she just said, “Don’t worry. I matched everything to my scores. Worst case, I’ll just retake the exam. Uncle, you can tutor me then.” The niece acts like it’s nothing. If anything, she looks relieved, as if she’s finally finished some annoying homework.
“Yeah. Whether you go this year or retake, what does it matter? The most important thing is getting into the place you want. Don’t worry. I’ll get you the best tutor—”
“No, you’re supposed to do it. Not some stranger—you. You be my teacher.”
“Hey. I… I’ve forgotten everything. Even basic calculus is fuzzy now.”
“Why? You did it for her. So she gets help but I don’t?”
The niece shot me a look I’d never seen from her before.
“Tsk. I told you not to call her Sungmo so casually.”
“I’m way more important than that bitch, but you keep getting annoyed with me! Why does she get to and I don’t?”
After that long argument and leaving her room, we’ve been in a strange cold war. We still greet each other and eat together, but that’s all. No strange skinship like holding hands in the elevator—just each of us doing our own thing.
“Maybe this is for the best… Keeping some distance so the niece can focus on studying.” Just a normal uncle and niece. Fond of each other, but nothing more. We were the strange ones to begin with. You can’t even call it “just getting along well.” The niece’s behavior alone proves it. When we’re alone, she sits on my lap without a second thought. Seeing me awkwardly lean back, she smirks and says, “Don’t tell me you’re conscious of me, Uncle?”
To prove that wasn’t the case, I had to press closer instead. Wrap my arms around her waist. Keep a calm face while joking with her. Clenching my teeth to suppress the filthy desire creeping up.
“Right. This is how an uncle and niece should be. Before something big happens, we need to stay proper.” Uncle acting like an uncle. Niece acting like a niece. That’s what makes everyone happy. But… the nights I fall asleep alone still feel lonely. I’ve spent my whole life sleeping alone, yet suddenly it feels new. Without the niece chattering away until she falls asleep in my arms, the nights stretch too long. Without that warm body heat. Without the sound of her breathing right in front of me, the nights are too long. Without the niece. Without the niece by my side…
“Stop it.” I shake my head hard. Slap slap. I make a fuss, smacking my cheeks with both hands like I’m chasing away sleep, turning my head side to side. The niece, nearly twenty, sitting on my lap. Climbing into bed with me. I know it’s wrong, so just don’t think about it. Don’t make pathetic excuses about warmth or loneliness. For the niece. For the niece you truly love.
“This is too much. Even if you have a high school senior to worry about, isn’t this excessive at work?”
“Ah, Representative Choi. Yes.”
Guilt makes me jump to my feet. Of all times for my mind to be this tangled, the last person I want to see is talking to me.
“Why so startled? It was just a joke. Of course you’d be busy with your niece. Honestly, it’s a relief you’re slacking off a bit. You’re always so serious, working nonstop—it’s hard to even talk to you.”
I hurriedly closed the search window, but he’d already seen everything. I worry he might go blabbing to his daughter again.
“Is there something you need?”
“Nah, I don’t need a reason to talk to Assistant Manager Kim. So… got time today? Let’s grab a drink. It’s been a while. I haven’t been able to look after you because of work. No, just the two of us. Guys only. We can include Min-a next time.”
I glance toward the secretary’s office, wondering if Min-a is coming too, but he waves his hand dismissively.
“Yes, that’s fine.”
Even if something urgent came up, I had to make time. Ever since that awkward parting last time, things have been tense. If the representative is extending an olive branch and I reject it, he’ll start openly suspecting me from now on. “Is he quitting? Did he get a scouting offer? Don’t tell me he broke up with my daughter?” He already complains that his daughter’s marriage is late. If he starts making up stories about things that never happened, the stress of having to explain myself would be unbearable just imagining it.
“Then I’ll take that as a yes. Nothing too heavy—we’ll keep it light.”
***
After ordering a few side dishes and a bottle of soju, I sit across from the representative.
“Hope I’m not keeping a busy man. You must be out of your mind these days, right?”
“Not at all. There’s nothing to be out of my mind about. I’m just a little distracted because of my niece.”
“What’s there to worry about? From what Min-a says, she seems pretty smart. Of course she would be, coming from your family. Or are you sending her to medical school?”
I have no idea what Min-a told her father about the niece. She’s a proud woman. I know she has no reason to speak kindly, but she wouldn’t badmouth her boyfriend’s niece just to get under his skin.
“She says she’s applying to the same university and department as me.”
“Ah… Not medical school? With a smart kid like that, why not give it a shot? We’d cover the tuition no problem. Min-a’s been making a fuss about scholarships and all that. Says I should stop obsessing over money and give back more. That girl’s got guts, though. A real powerhouse.”
Min-a is smart too. Playing the role of the kind aunt, trying to score points with me and her father. Even if the young niece huffs and puffs, the adult me will generously let it slide. So don’t act up.
“It’s fine. That would require a lot more studying. Let’s just have her be Min-a’s junior.”
“Now that I think about it, it’s a whole chain of the same university. Blood ties, school ties, regional ties—scary how that works. If she’s in the same department as you, what’s the plan for her future?”
“Who knows… I’ll just tell her to do what she wants.”
“If she’s not starting her own business, she’ll just be a salaryman like the rest of us. Big company or public sector, it’s all the same. Hard to get in, and it’ll wear her down. Or should I tell her to retake and go to medical school? Our company will back her all the way.”
The man spouts whatever his stubbornness cooks up, calling it advice. Already bitter about having only one child, if he’d had five, he’d have made them all doctors or prosecutors, raising hell about it. Of course, whether he’d have the luck to actually produce such children remains to be seen. He always says it’s a miracle Min-a got into that university. Claims his family only knows how to make money, not study. A prestigious university daughter, a prestigious university son-in-law—he flaunts them like trophies in front of others. If he had a doctor niece on top of that, he’d go wild. Bragging about how sharp his eye is, claiming he sent her there himself. That our company handled all the studying and support.
“Disgusting, disgusting.”
I don’t even want to respond anymore, so I just down the soju. This happened before too—I stood up and left. The representative noticed my expression and clinked glasses with me, saying it was petty to drink alone.
“……”
“……”
One glass, two glasses. The bottle empties, but no words come. He clearly called me for a reason. He’s not the type to apologize for what happened last time. I don’t think he has that much consideration. He probably just wants to gloss things over with a few drinks.
“Maybe Min-a put him up to this.”
He’s as much of a daughter-fool as I am a niece-fool. He wouldn’t mind his grown daughter playing messenger. “So, about that.” “Yes, Representative Choi.” “Ah, enough with the ‘Representative.’ Let’s settle the title properly this time. When it’s just us, call me Father-in-law. I already call you son-in-law anyway.” “…Understood. Father-in-law.” “So, as I was saying. Once you send your niece off to college, you’ll have some breathing room.” I stayed quiet, not knowing where this was going. “But there’s been no talk about marriage at all. Marriage isn’t something you do alone. You need to give us some hints so we can play along.”
As expected. Min-a must have poked her father. He even timed it for right after the application was submitted, so I couldn’t use the niece as an excuse.