5
ch 5 ### Dad's Friends Gang Up on Dad
That woman.
I had no idea where she'd come from, but thanks to her, the problem with Aunt Yeonja had been resolved. She had also saved Mother and Aunt Kyunghee's dignity.
I liked her.
Hoo!
I took a deep drag from my cigarette and exhaled the smoke. Bongbong asked,
“Do you really not know that woman?”
“I wish I did.”
She was connected to lawyers, after all.
“Hyung. Don't even think about returning that ten million won.”
“Shut up, idiot. If you eat something you just picked up off the ground, you'll regret it later.”
He turned his head away with a dissatisfied expression.
“Here we go again. She said she represented someone who owed you a debt of gratitude, right? And that person is dead. So what's the problem?”
“I don't remember anyone like that. That's the problem.”
“Good grief. You're seriously hopeless.”
He blew a puff of smoke into the air.
“If you accept it without thinking, you're going to get yourself killed. Enemies are everywhere. You always have to be careful.”
“I quit my company. What enemies could I possibly have? I'm a damn unemployed guy now... What do I need to be careful about? Are we filming a movie?”
“You never know, idiot. Maybe someone knows about my hidden abilities and is plotting to bury me in advance in case I return to the martial world.”
“Write a novel. Write a novel.”
“Sounds good. The title can be ‘My Hyung Hides His Abilities.’ Or maybe ‘The Enemy Tries to Bury My Talented Hyung in Advance.’ How's that?”
“Why are the titles so damn stupid?”
“What do you know about web novels, idiot?”
We lowered our heads and chuckled.
“What about those wreaths?”
I looked at him with the cigarette still in my mouth.
“They were sent by some law firms and legal offices. Those aren't places you know, right?”
“Of course I don't know them. That woman probably called in favors from people she knows here and there and told them to send them. Or maybe they're ghost law firms.”
He grinned at me.
“Don't you think that female lawyer did it on purpose?”
“...”
“Seems like she was trying to save your face, right? As if she'd been waiting for Aunt to show up.”
The cigarette tasted good.
There wasn't much left now.
“Think carefully, Hyung. Was there anyone you helped while you were working?”
Hansung Heavy Industries?
EM2 Korea?
Or Grand Motors or Giryong?
So many people at those big companies had been my counterparts before disappearing or being transferred elsewhere.
If there had been someone among them who owed me enough to give ten million won as condolence money, then I must have solved something extremely important for them.
If that were the case, there was no way I wouldn't remember.
“No one.”
I took one final drag from the nearly burned-out cigarette.
I was about to go back inside when I heard voices whispering from the bench behind us.
“Don't you think the agency's handling this badly? Why would they leave Lara alone in the funeral room?”
“Exactly. If she doesn't have a single relative, the agency could've had someone stand beside Lara as a mourner. It would've looked better too.”
“Right!”
There were three men sitting on the bench behind us.
But gentlemen, she's not a chief mourner. She's a mourner.
They seemed to have come to pay their respects at Lara's mother's funeral.
“What's the point of leaving Lara all alone like that? CEO Ha should know better. This probably leaked to the reporters too... Tomorrow's articles should be interesting.”
Why keep listening?
There was no point.
I started to walk away, but Bongbong grabbed me and signaled that we should listen.
Holding our nearly burned-out cigarette butts, we pretended to keep smoking while listening carefully.
“Could they be doing it on purpose? To make people feel sorry for her?”
“No way~ If that were the case, they would've let people take pictures. They would've freely accepted mourners too. But they're not even allowing photography, and they're not letting just anyone pay their respects. So that can't be it.”
“Then what the hell is going on? Did CEO Ha have a falling-out with her?”
“That's impossible. CEO Ha was the one who brought Lara to Korea when she was a little kid. To Lara, CEO Ha is basically like her mother.”
“Right?”
“Right. And it's only Lara who's receiving guests alone in the funeral room. The agency employees are managing the entire funeral hall. Those guys at the entrance were all hired by Almond. I checked.”
“Then why did they leave Lara alone in the funeral room?”
“Who knows? Anyway, it's unfortunate for Lara, but her mother's death is good news for CEO Ha. Lara has no one left now, so she'll depend even more heavily on CEO Ha, won't she?”
“She'll control Lara until there's nothing left to squeeze out of her.”
“Do you think CEO Ha is sitting somewhere laughing to herself?”
“One hundred percent.”
The three men shook their shoulders and chuckled.
It felt like they were in on some secret that other people didn't know.
I became curious about this CEO Ha.
Even when Bongbong and I had been alone in the funeral room, something had felt strange.
Why was that girl being left alone?
“How about it? Don't you feel sorry for our Lara now? Since we're already out here, should we go up to the third floor and comfort her?”
Bongbong.
Even though I knew he was joking, the guy really did seem like an idiot sometimes.
“Shut up. They said they aren't accepting just anyone as mourners. Let's go back down. We've been away from our seats too long.”
“Wait. Wait.”
He grabbed my arm and nodded toward something beyond us.
Following his gaze, I saw Aunt Yeonja walking out through the crowd at the entrance of the funeral hall.
She looked extremely irritated.
Was it because of all the people filling the lobby?
Or because that woman earlier had prevented her from showing off as much as she wanted?
Uncle and Jeongmin's family followed behind her.
They all looked gloomy.
I understood why.
They'd have to listen to Aunt Yeonja's complaints all the way home.
“You should've parked closer!”
Aunt Yeonja turned around and shouted at her family as if taking out her frustration on them.
Then she resumed her brisk walk.
Apparently, the funeral hall parking lot was full, so they'd parked somewhere else.
Now I understood why Sim Sohee had entered through the first-floor entrance where reporters and YouTubers were waiting.
Anyway, an elder was leaving.
I should at least say goodbye.
“Aunt, Uncle! Are you leaving?”
Aunt Yeonja stopped and looked around before spotting me.
Her expression immediately twisted.
“Thank you for coming. Please get home safely.”
I bowed politely.
Bongbong also bowed beside me.
Aunt Yeonja's lips twitched.
“Hmph!”
She abruptly turned around and walked away.
*
*
*
“Your aunt is seriously something else.”
My friend Seonggyu said that.
It was late at night, and as the number of mourners dwindled, I headed over to the table where my friends were sitting.
The friends who had to return to Busan had left earlier.
My university friends were also busy with their own lives, so they had only paid their respects and exchanged a few words with me.
The friends still sitting at the table were my high school friends who had settled in Seoul.
As we got older and everyone got married, it wasn't easy to sit down and have a drink together like this.
It had been at least two years.
No, probably more than three.
Maybe that's why they hadn't gone home and were staying here with me.
“Hey. This is embarrassing.”
“What's embarrassing? Every family is like that. In our family, our eldest uncle acts like that. Wow~ Nobody can stop him.”
Taeju comforted me as he poured me some soju.
“Get married before you get any older. Even if people say marriage ruins your life, it helps at times like this. It creates an image for you, you know? An image you can show other people. Something that looks respectable.”
Normally, I would've argued that it was pointless nonsense.
But after experiencing it firsthand today, I couldn't say he was entirely wrong.
After all, living in society meant constantly dealing with relationships, and a large part of those relationships was influenced by what people saw and how they were seen.
Of course, I didn't care.
But I realized that it could affect and hurt people close to me.
Like Mother and Aunt Kyunghee today.
“It's just that the other relatives don't say it as openly as your aunt did. They're probably the same. From what I saw, I think your aunt made such a big scene because she knew what the relatives were thinking too. What everyone will remember isn't just your aunt making a fuss... I mean, being rude. They'll remember the thoughts she exposed. Because they're probably thinking the same thing.”
Taeju.
This guy was pretty smart.
I thought I was the only smart one here.
“So you badmouthed me too? Asking what the hell two old sons were doing sitting in the funeral hall?”
“Of course, idiot. I'm completely worn down by society now. A total old-fashioned jerk. Haeseok and Seonggyu are the same. We're all old-fashioned jerks, so we all secretly badmouthed you.”
He teased me and took a sip of his soju.
Haeseok and Seonggyu threw peanuts at him.
Taeju grinned, then soon became serious.
“But putting you aside, why hasn't Gyobong gotten married yet? He's completely different from you. With his looks, women should be lining up for him. Why are you two brothers both like this?”
Across from us, Bongbong was talking with his own friends.
They were the friends who would carry the coffin tomorrow.
“What good does it do if women come running when they say goodbye the moment they find out you're broke?”
I took a sip of soju and looked across the room.
My handsome but penniless younger brother was chatting away with a bright smile.
Haeseok asked,
“Is Gyobong still doing theater?”
“Yeah.”
“Then he must've established himself pretty well in the theater scene by now.”
“Established himself? He's just hanging on.”
“Hanging on?”
“Yeah. Working various part-time jobs.”
“No, but Gyobong is getting old too. How can he just keep hanging on like that? Isn't he forty?”
“Thirty-nine. Well, thirty-nine and forty are basically the same thing. Anyway, that guy can't turn back anymore either. All he can do is keep hanging on in that field.”
Taeju suddenly said,
“Hey. Then tell him to branch out into movies or dramas instead of theater. You need money to pursue art too.”
Oh, come on!
This guy!
I take back what I said about him being smart.
“You think that's easy? Passing an audition is like reaching for a star in the sky.”
“Why? If theater actors decide to audition, don't they all pass? They have acting experience, don't they? All that experience they've built on stage.”
“Experience, my ass. The two fields are completely different.”
I didn't know for sure either.
From what I'd heard from Bongbong, the theater world and the drama and film industries were completely different.
I hadn't experienced it myself, so I didn't know whether that was really true.
“That's right. I've heard that too.”
“Really?”
Taeju nodded at Haeseok's defense of Bongbong.
Being an actor had never originally been Bongbong's dream.
It had been Father's idea.
Like most college students probably were back then, Bongbong didn't exactly have a clear blueprint for his future.
He had a good physique and a handsome face, and girls would flock to him like moths to a flame. He was too busy enjoying his college life in the present to have some grand plan for the future.
Father must have thought Bongbong was living without a care in the world.
After becoming exhausted from his conflicts with me, Father considered Bongbong's future from the perspective of the younger generation and the changing times.
He decided acting was the answer.
But was it entirely Father's decision?
Absolutely not.
I believed Father's friends had pumped him up by asking why he wasn't making his handsome son an actor.
I was certain that accounted for eighty percent of the reason Father had made that decision.
Anyway, the former wild child of B University in Busan transferred to the Theater Department of D University in Seoul.
Naturally, Father's connections from his Counterintelligence Unit days were mobilized to make that happen.
But that was where the power of connections ended.
After that, his connections had absolutely no influence.
Ah!
That didn't mean Bongbong didn't work hard.
Because he transferred at an older age, he treated the younger students as his seniors and never refused the department's dirty work.
He rarely came back to the apartment where he lived with me.
He practically lived at school.
One day, he came home to change his clothes, and his thigh was covered in deep blue bruises.
I was shocked and questioned him relentlessly.
Apparently, a female senior had beaten him with a wooden club.
She was four years younger than him.
He said she'd been hitting him along with his classmates as part of some disciplinary punishment.
But damn it!
She hit my little brother?
I was about to storm over to the school and shout, “You fucking bastards! All of you, get out here!”
But he stopped me.
I understood his position.
Whether it was school or work, surviving in society meant worrying about relationships and reading the room.
Damn it.
It was such a miserable world where you couldn't simply do whatever you wanted.
That younger senior is currently an announcer at SBC.
What was her name again?
Now that I'm in my mid-forties, there are so many things I can't remember clearly anymore.
Anyway, I still occasionally see her on television.
She smiles and laughs as if she's the nicest person in the world, and every time I see her, my blood boils.
Fucking bitch.
It's a world where the worst people often do better, and where hard work doesn't necessarily bring results proportional to the effort.
Luck.
You need luck.
Even becoming an actor who can actually make a living requires talent on top of effort, and ultimately, you need luck.
Something like timing.
The top one percent of successful celebrities seized their chance when that timing came and didn't let it slip away.
The other ninety-nine percent struggle and hang on.
They keep going until that uncertain moment finally arrives.
Or they keep going without even realizing they've already missed their chance.
As time passes, many of them eventually leave.
Of course, some endure until the very end.
They either burn themselves out completely until nothing remains but ashes, or they catch another opportunity and enter the established power structure of that industry.
An association?
Some similar organization.
Where was Bongbong now?
“Gyojun. Gyobong.”
Uncle Yong approached, so I stood up.
Technically, he was my fifth-degree paternal relative, but who actually bothered with exact kinship titles these days?
Whether he was a real uncle, a fifth-degree paternal relative, or the owner of a convenience store, we just lumped everyone together and called them Uncle.
“Hang in there for just one more day. I'll come back tomorrow morning.”
He didn't seem to have touched a single drop of alcohol.
All the paternal relatives who had been talking with Uncle Yong also stood up and began saying goodbye to Mother.
Uncle Yong seemed to intend to personally escort his drunk older brothers all the way home.
He could've just put them in taxis and sent them off.
But that was the kind of person Uncle Yong was.
“Gyojun. You, idiot.”
My eldest uncle suddenly appeared from behind Uncle Yong.
His face was flushed, and his voice was loud.
He'd clearly drunk quite a lot.
He was the eldest son of my grandfather's younger brother.
“You, idiot. You and Gyobong, hiccup! You need to get married, idiot. Hiccup. Your father, you know what kind of person he was...”
“Oh, hyung. What are you doing? Let's go.”
Uncle Yong and the other older relatives grabbed my eldest uncle and tried to drag him away, but he continued.
Mother watched with an utterly exasperated expression.
“No, idiot. Yong, you stay out of this for a moment. Hiccup. Yeonja noona wasn't wrong earlier, idiot. Hiccup. Your father was such an incredible person, idiot. Look at this funeral hall, huh? What is this, huh? Hiccup. Other families all have daughters-in-law and grandchildren, but our brother has none. Nobody. Does that make any sense...?”
“What do you mean there's nobody? I was going to let it go because you're drunk, but why are you all giving our Gyojun a hard time when he's sitting there quietly?”
In the end, Mother couldn't hold herself back and stepped forward.
“Sister-in-law! Please bear with him!”
“Oh my! Brother's wife! I'm sorry! This man has had too much to drink...”
Uncle Yong and his wife quickly restrained Mother.
Mother glared at him while huffing angrily, then shouted,
“What are you all doing? Hurry up and take him out! Now!”
The other uncles joined in and dragged my eldest uncle away.
Gyobong and I also walked them to the entrance.
Of course, even along the way, my eldest uncle never stopped lecturing us or bragging about his own children.
Even drunk, he still managed to do everything.
“See? I told you, didn't I? That's what everyone really thinks inside.”
When I returned, Taeju poured me another glass of soju and said that.
What an annoying bastard.