Chapter 194
Chapter 194
The party itself didn't head in any strange directions.
By "strange direction," I meant anything that veered away from the original purpose—my birthday party. People suddenly showing up to talk business, or money. Naturally, any topic I wasn't particularly keen on qualified as "veering away from the original purpose."
"You've grown so much."
That was the thing I heard the most. "You've grown so much." It probably meant there were a lot of people who hadn't seen me in a very long time.
And, maybe, people who hadn't shown any interest in me during all that time.
"Hello."
Even though I couldn't remember their faces or their names, I greeted them with a smile. Then I waited for someone beside them, or for them, to introduce themselves to me first.
"When I last saw you, you were three years old—"
"I used to chat with your mother about all sorts of things—"
"Your father was—"
Maybe it was obvious, but the stories people brought up when they talked to me were never really about me.
My father. And my late mother.
People who remained only faintly in my memory.
The conversations never lasted long. These were people who made their living with words, so they could keep a conversation going for a little while, but that was it.
When I dealt with them, I always kept a smile on my face, but I never once asked about anything personal on their end.
And I didn't exactly give real answers, either.
If someone asked what foods I liked, I said I'd eat anything.
A few people even asked about my favorite celebrities, but I didn't really watch TV, so I just said I wasn't sure.
When someone asked if I had a boyfriend at school, I twisted my body like I was embarrassed and said not yet.
It was a strangely artful performance, even to me. To the listener it sounded like a proper answer, and since I kept a smiling expression the whole time, there was nothing for them to latch onto. The conversation stayed shallow, and after a few more attempts at small talk, they had no choice but to move on.
A mysterious art... is probably overselling it. Honestly, I didn't have much choice in the matter.
Maybe I should just call it luck born from the mix of circumstances and my own thinking.
As I'd expected, a lot of people came to the party. It wasn't just my relatives—their families were here too, and even some people who held important positions in the group.
But not a single one of them was going to get anything out of this.
Because nearly all the kids who'd been invited here were from ordinary, working-class families.
The ones in red, the group I'd implicitly marked as "my people", were naturally mingling and chatting among themselves.
That was only to be expected. They were the only ones here who could talk to each other comfortably. Even if they ran into schoolmates they didn't know well, trying to hold a conversation with anyone not wearing red was bound to be an ordeal.
They weren't the kind of people who'd have anything in common anyway.
If I'd at least brought a fellow chaebol kid from Hwayeong High School, they might've had something to talk about... but there was almost nothing for corporate executives and kids from ordinary families who'd just studied hard their whole lives to discuss.
And since they had no prior acquaintance, they couldn't even pretend to know each other.
So, under normal circumstances, these kids might've been looked down on, and in a sense, it wouldn't have been strange if they'd been excluded—
But not here.
Because I was there with them, wearing the same red dress.
To insult those kids was to insult me, the one who'd invited them.
To ignore them was to insult me, the one who'd invited them.
So naturally, people had to be careful in how they treated them.
The wave of red clothing became a kind of wall cutting through the party hall, a dividing line between those with money and those without.
"Sara."
I turned toward the voice calling my name.
It was the "uncle."
But calling him "uncle" felt like a stretch—this man was my father's cousin.
He'd probably inherited an enormous fortune a long time ago. Yujin Group's explosive growth came after that. Before then, it had already been among the largest in the Republic of Korea, but Yujin Electronics wasn't actually as old as people tended to assume.
"Yes, Uncle."
So for now, I was using the title "uncle" just as he claimed it.
"Are you enjoying the party?"
Enjoying it or not, if I answered purely based on my feelings, I was on the side of not. I would've much rather sat with my friends, just shared some cake, and had tea.
I had no desire to mingle and make small talk with strangers whose faces I was seeing for the first time.
But I couldn't say that in front of the person who had planned this party for me.
"Yes, I'm enjoying myself."
"Is that so?"
The "uncle" smiled faintly.
"You certainly have a lot of friends. I'm relieved. I was wondering if you were doing well at school, Sara."
Of course, that statement was completely off the mark. I had never once done well at school. It had been made to look that way, but only because teachers bribed by Choi Na-kyung had fabricated it.
But I wasn't stupid enough to say that here.
I had no intention of betraying the person who had worked so hard for my sake.
"Yes, they're all my friends."
"Could you perhaps introduce a few of them to me?"
Was that out of pure goodwill, or did he want to test me?
I figured it was the latter.
No matter how much money I had, these people also possessed formidable wealth.
And like me, they'd had money since childhood.
The problem was that I wasn't a kid who'd grown up accustomed to spending money from an early age, while that man, on the other hand, had lived his whole life enjoying all of it.
If you asked, "What can you do with money?" he'd certainly give a far better answer than I could.
"Yes, of course."
But I hadn't been completely thoughtless, either.
During those all-nighters, I hadn't only been getting fitted for clothes. While the tailors were cutting and sewing, there were small pockets of spare time.
And in that spare time, I'd moved among the people invited under my name and listened carefully to their stories.
I couldn't remember everyone's story, of course.
But still, some cases stood out in my memory.
I'd considered picking one from among Ha-neul, So-hee, and Su-a, but I gave up on that quickly. The "uncle" had already seen them spending time with me.
If I wanted to put on a show of having "real friends," introducing someone I'd never even met before would probably work better.
I swept my gaze across the room and spotted her right away.
"This way."
"All right."
As I walked slowly, the "uncle" followed behind me. The soft murmur of the red wave gradually died down as they heard my footsteps drawing near.
The eyes of everyone around landed on me, but I was looking at just one girl.
"A-reum."
"...Uh, huh?"
A-reum, who'd been enthusiastically eating a cupcake just moments before, spun around in a hurry at the sound of my voice.
She startled at the sight of my face, then her expression turned bewildered when she saw the middle-aged man behind me—
"Ah!"
Only then, as if realizing she might have whipped cream on her mouth, she frantically wiped around her lips with her hand.
Honestly, it wasn't the kind of behavior suited for high society.
And that was exactly why I felt relieved.
Because I didn't know a thing about high society either.
"Uncle, this is my friend A-reum. She serves on the disciplinary committee at school and studies so hard she's on a full scholarship."
"Ah, uh, yes! Hello! I'm Son A-reum!"
Son A-reum, who'd been thrown into near-panic by the sudden introduction, greeted my uncle in a loud voice.
It was more than enough volume to yank every gaze that hadn't been looking this way straight toward us.
A moment of silence fell over the area.
"Ah, aah..."
Son A-reum let out a brief, agonized groan, then—
"I-I'm so sorry..."
—apologized in a weak, deflated voice.
The single strand of hair that stuck out like an antenna seemed to droop, though that might've just been my imagination.
After the brief silence, I heard someone go "pfft." It was probably one of the kids from school.
And before long, the room filled with the sound of laughter.
Not mocking laughter. Genuinely cheerful laughter. Not the strained, polite sounds you occasionally heard here, but real laughter.
"Ugh..."
Son A-reum buried her face deeply in both hands, mortified.
The girl standing next to her patted her shoulder with a slightly sympathetic expression. A few kids came over and greeted me warmly.
And the "uncle" was watching the whole scene.
"...What wonderful friends you have."
In the end, that was the only assessment he could offer.
"They are."
...Well, I'd only met most of them for the first time yesterday, but.