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# Chapter 3. The Foolish Ondal and Princess Pyeonggang
‘Still, that's a relief.’
Their reaction was a little different from what I'd expected.
Even so, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was a relief.
Before arriving here,
to be honest, I had been prepared to take dozens of swings from a golf club.
I'd come here prepared to be beaten half to death.
So, considering the reaction I'd received,
it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were practically welcoming me.
Of course, it seemed closer to pity than an actual welcome.
But pity was hundreds of times better than being hated, so I interpreted it as positively as possible.
Once things had settled down a little,
Father asked me a question.
"Do you know the story of Ba… Ahem. Ondal and Princess Pyeonggang?"
"I know it roughly. Princess Pyeonggang saw the good nature of Ondal, a foolish man of lowly status, married him, and he
eventually rose to prominence…."
"Ha-ha. Why call his status lowly? He was simply an ordinary man."
"That's right."
It was a little different from the version I knew, but I had no desire to nitpick.
Even if Father told me that Foolish Ondal had actually been a prince from another country, this was a situation where I
needed to nod and accept it.
"Our daughter has never been more moved by any story in her entire life than by the story of Ondal and Princess
Pyeonggang."
"…"
"She was so moved by it that when our relatives gathered together when she was young, she gave quite the speech."
Hmm….
If they were Yura's relatives, I doubted they were ordinary either.
"For your reference, Yura's maternal family is from an even better family than ours."
"…"
"They told her maternal family that the story was nothing more than a fairy tale. They didn't know what kind of
eccentric things the still-young Yura might do."
"…"
"Ha-ha-ha. Of course, they didn't know her well enough back then. There was no way Yura could think normally after
hearing something like that. Do you know what she said? She asked her maternal uncle what made him any better than
Foolish Ondal."
"…"
Our Yura…?
"She said that to her maternal uncle, who was considered the heir to the financial side of Eunsung Group, no less."
"…"
"And you know what's even more serious? That was only the beginning. When her uncle was left speechless, she continued
by saying that other than being born into a good family…."
"Father. I think you're getting a little too excited."
"Ahem."
Uh….
This was going in a somewhat different direction from what I'd imagined.
"Meeting Ondal has gotten me excited without realizing it."
"Father?"
"…"
Ondal…? Me…?
So that's why he avoided calling me a fool in front of Ondal…?
"Ahem. I think I should have a private conversation with him. Could you excuse yourself for a moment?"
"…"
"Ah, well, as a father, shouldn't I have a conversation with my son-in-law? Besides, now that she's pregnant…."
"Of course, Father. Just don't say anything too strange to our Dojin."
Yura smiled sweetly.
I flinched.
Yura left the room.
Why are you sighing in relief, Father-in-law…?
---
Yura left.
Father, who had been drinking tea, finally opened his mouth.
He was different from before.
This was probably his real self.
"Young man."
"Yes, Father."
"You said you only found out about our family today?"
"That's right."
"Hmm…."
I was nervous.
Two twenty-year-olds had met and gotten pregnant without having the ability to take responsibility immediately.
As a man, that wasn't much different from lacking a sense of responsibility.
No matter how confidently I said that I was willing to quit my job at a construction site and take responsibility, it
would still sound like nothing more than empty resolve coming from a young man.
"First of all…. Since two consenting adults met and ended up having a child, I won't bother determining whose fault it
was. It's in the past."
"…"
"However, I want to warn you in advance that the road ahead of you may not be the bed of roses you imagine."
"Yes, Father."
Even if I became the husband of a woman from a chaebol family,
I didn't want to regard that as an opportunity either.
Even if I had to start out penniless, I would naturally accept it.
"First, since you may feel uncomfortable, let me tell you my position. At present, I don't harbor any great resentment
toward you. In fact, I'm relieved that although our daughter has some eccentricities, at least her taste in men isn't
quite as unusual."
"…"
"I wasn't even considering a marriage between our daughter and another chaebol family. There isn't a man among the
chaebol families who could handle our daughter's personality, and it would be fortunate if relations between the
families didn't become worse rather than closer. Our daughter probably wasn't interested either, but I had already given
up on the idea long ago."
Hmm….
"You came from the provinces and got into Seoul National University. And from what I've heard, you even got a perfect
score on the CSAT. I think someone like you, who worked hard and achieved those results, is far better than those who
were simply born into a chaebol family, went to a good university, and thought it was all due to their own abilities."
"Thank you."
As expected, movies had exaggerated things.
If things were like they were in movies,
I should be tied up somewhere at a construction site right now and beaten half to death.
"That's something I genuinely mean. Even if you hadn't met our daughter, you probably would have become something. From
your perspective, you might have achieved great success and been able to fully enjoy it."
"…"
"But. You need to understand what it means for you to marry our daughter. You will no longer be a young man in his
twenties who came up from the provinces. You'll become the son-in-law of Changseong Group."
"…"
"From now on, every evaluation of you will be made based on the fact that you're the son-in-law of Changseong Group."
Father.
No, I could somewhat understand what my father-in-law was trying to tell me.
"The path ahead may be painful and different from the resolve you have now, and you may want to give up. Do you know why
people from chaebol families marry other chaebol families?"
"…I imagine there are many reasons. For one, they share similar ways of thinking, and they can also share major matters
between their respective groups…."
"That's one reason, but the biggest reason is the current marriage system. When you're suffering and struggling
terribly, if you decide to divorce, you can suddenly walk away with hundreds of billions, even trillions of won."
"…"
"Chaebol families have too much to lose when they divorce each other, so they don't make that decision simply for money.
But…. How attractive would that be to an ordinary person? To be told that if you give up everything, you'll receive
hundreds of billions or trillions of won."
"…"
He was right.
I understood what he was worried about.
"I'm not trying to criticize ordinary people. I'm talking about reality. If I were in that situation myself without
significant assets, I wouldn't be able to rule out divorce as an option."
"…"
"A life where you receive hundreds of billions of won, have all your responsibilities disappear, and are free to live
however you want. How intoxicating would that be? Even the contemptuous looks from people who used to look down on you
for coming from an ordinary family would disappear. If it were me, I'd probably make the same decision."
"…"
"Of course, our daughter doesn't have that kind of wealth yet. Even so, she has more than enough assets. There will be
plenty of times when divorce could seem like an attractive option to you."
I couldn't predict the future.
But for now, I hadn't even considered divorce.
I wasn't even married yet. What was there to divorce?
"That's why I'm asking you now, while it's still early. It's not too late. I guarantee you this. If you're thinking
about separating from our daughter right now…. I'll somehow make it as though this never happened."
"…"
"I'm saying this as a father and as the chairman of Changseong Group. If you marry her in this state, there's a greater
chance that the road ahead will be full of thorns rather than the sweet fruits you imagine…. Unless you're prepared for
that, withdraw now."
"…"
"If you decide to do so, you won't even have to face my daughter and have an unpleasant confrontation. I'll take care of
that as well. Please…. Consider this genuine consideration for your sake and give me your answer after thinking it over
carefully."
Let's think about this seriously.
As Father said, it would be greedy to assume that married life would be nothing but smooth sailing.
An ordinary man entering a chaebol family.
If everyone around me were from chaebol families,
the looks of admiration and recognition I'd received from people until now
would quickly turn into looks of contempt and expectations for me to prove myself.
Perhaps married life itself could be difficult.
Yura might someday become disappointed in me rather than looking forward to me.
It would be foolish to assume that our current relationship would last forever.
And if, at that point, divorce was an option before me,
I could make hundreds of billions or even trillions of won by making that decision.
Could an ordinary person really give up such a tempting option?
Every time something bad happened, could I really avoid thinking,
I could make hundreds of billions of won if I divorced her…?
‘Who knows.’
I couldn't predict an unknown future.
But right now, my thought was simply: who knows?
Hundreds of billions of won?
It was certainly a huge amount of money.
But.
If I fully utilized the sixth sense I'd only been using moderately,
would I really be incapable of earning hundreds of billions of won?
And.
Even if Yura hadn't been from a chaebol family,
I would have decided to take responsibility for my pregnant Yura somehow.
In other words, I hadn't regarded the fact that she was from a chaebol family as some kind of bed of roses.
Perhaps someone might see this as baseless confidence.
Whether it was a perfect CSAT score or Seoul National University,
neither guaranteed absolute success.
In reality, I'd only taken my first step.
On top of that, whenever I talked about my ambition to earn hundreds of billions of won and even more, most people
around me laughed at me.
They even told me that I'd only just come up from the provinces and didn't know much about Seoul or society yet.
The only person who took me seriously unlike everyone else was Yura.
Perhaps that's why I wanted to prove myself even more.
I wanted to prove that my words weren't the empty boasting of some country bumpkin who knew nothing.
And that Yura's judgment hadn't been wrong.
"You probably have a lot on your mind. I didn't ask you for an immediate answer, so take your time and calmly…."
"Father."
"…Go ahead."
"I know very well what the result of Foolish Ondal was."
"…"
"And I want to prove to the woman who recognized the man I could become that she was right. Just as I want to prove it
to those who laughed at Princess Pyeonggang."
At my declaration of resolve,
Father, who had been staring intently at me,
finally relaxed his expression and answered.
"Huh…. Are you confident?"
"I'm a man who knows how to take responsibility for the words I've spoken."
"How could I not know that? However, the world you know may be different from the world we live in. You said you wanted
to prove it to those who laughed at Princess Pyeonggang? Then that means you need to prove yourself not only to Eunsung
Group, your daughter's maternal family, but to the chaebol families of South Korea as well."
"I'm prepared."
"Resolve alone may not be enough. Changseong Group may look like an enormous conglomerate to you, but we're going
through a transitional period. South Korea has entered the ranks of developed nations, and we're now faced with the task
of moving away from the traditional industries that made us our money and entering new businesses."
"I want to show you through actions, not just words, that I can be of help."
"…"
His expression softened.
"Our daughter kept talking about Ondal and Princess Pyeonggang, and yet her eye for men is better than that of the
daughters of most chaebol families."
"Thank you."
At the very least,
even if the others still didn't see it that way,
I felt that Father had acknowledged Yura as Princess Pyeonggang.
I still had a long way to go.
---
After finishing my conversation with Father,
I was escorted to a place called the annex.
Yura was waiting for me.
"Dojin, he didn't say anything strange, did he? Dad didn't say anything weird, right?"
"Don't worry. I told him that I'd take responsibility somehow."
"…I'm sorry. I didn't intentionally hide it from you. I thought I should tell you, but I suddenly got pregnant and
missed the right time to tell you."
I hugged Yura, who was apologizing,
and gently stroked her head.
"Don't worry. I'll turn you into Princess Pyeonggang."
"…"
"I'm honored, you know? Doesn't that mean you saw me as the man who could become a king?"
"…"
Whether she was from a chaebol family or not,
Yura was still my lovable Yura.
As I hugged her tightly, I made a vow.
I would make her not some immature chaebol heiress lost in foolish fantasies,
but the Princess Pyeonggang who had recognized Foolish Ondal.
I thought it was time to seriously make use of my sixth sense.
That day,
I made my decision.
I would take a temporary leave of absence from Seoul National University.
Changseong Construction.
Changseong Defense Industry.
Changseong Investment & Securities.
Three choices lay before me.
My sixth sense sent me an intense signal.
"I want to start working at Changseong Investment & Securities."
I'm sure the people there wouldn't look kindly upon me.
But.
If I couldn't even change the opinions of the people inside Changseong Investment & Securities,
how could I possibly change the opinions of the chaebol families?