Family Meeting Day
Well, of course.
It was the day of the family gathering.
When I told the kids that instead of our house, I’d booked a separate pension again, Lee Geunsoo got ready to leave home.
The old woman, who had gotten up early and was already half-heartedly tidying the house, shot him a fierce look and gave him a warning that morning with unusual intensity.
“Old man, I told ye plain. No matter what the children say, don’t you go changin’ the plan.”
“Aye, aye. I said I understood, didn’t I?”
It was easy enough to understand why she was being so firm.
Today wasn’t just some casual get-together.
For us, and for our children, it was a rather important day.
We were already nearing eighty. To have lived this long without any serious illness was practically a blessing from heaven.
Of course, we still went to the hospital now and then...
But when so many old friends were already crossing the Yellow River, we were in remarkably good shape.
Even so, age was age.
We had to think about what came after.
It wasn’t a fortune by any means, but...
thanks to having bought land in the right places, our assets were nothing to sneeze at.
When we added it all up, it came to about 1.5 billion won.
No matter how much the times had changed, that was still a serious amount of money.
In any case, before our thinking got too foggy, we needed to sort everything out properly.
Normally, by tradition, the eldest son would inherit the biggest share, but...
“These days are different. Just because he’s the eldest doesn’t mean we need to give him a lot.”
“Aye, all right, I heard you. That’s what I was thinkin’ too.”
The old woman insisted on it with unusual force. In all her life, she had never pushed an opinion this hard.
The most valuable land among our assets had to go to the third son’s family.
His wife had always helped us so well on special occasions.
We never said it out loud, but both of us were grateful.
Times had changed, so how could we take that for granted? And more than anything, the eldest son’s wife hadn’t helped nearly so diligently.
As for the others...
Because of that, we had never been able to treat things as if they were owed to us, and we’d always carried around a quiet sense of guilt and gratitude instead.
It might not be the best way to repay them.
But at the very least, it would mean something to us to show our appreciation.
“For now, don’t even mention the land’s value. Just hand over the documents separately.”
“Yes. Better not to stir up trouble for no reason.”
The land we were giving the third son’s family was worth about 600 million won.
That was a substantial portion.
Since the other children numbered four in all, it was roughly twice what they would inherit.
And that was fair enough.
“The third daughter-in-law’s had it rough. Taking care of us old folks, and still never losing that smile...”
“Exactly. I really did pick a good daughter-in-law there. The others... money may be nice, but when it comes to filial devotion, they can’t hold a candle to the third one.”
“As a parent, you want to give an empty-handed child one more rice cake, and she’s full of devotion too... There’s absolutely no problem with handing this land over to her.”
“The eldest son might object, but... that’s for you to handle properly. Make absolutely sure they don’t know the value of each other’s land.”
“Don’t worry. At least he still has some decency.”
“What’s decency got to do with money? I trust my children, but I don’t trust money.”
The old woman wasn’t wrong.
We resolved to handle the sorting-out properly this time.
And then, right on schedule, we waited for the car that the third son’s wife had said she was sending.
Soon after, the car arrived, and we climbed into the back seat.
“Heh... just what kind of fancy car is this...?”
“...The daughter-in-law said our grandson made a huge success of himself.”
“Even so, this doesn’t feel like money wasted. It’s just their filial piety showing.”
“Good grief... if it were up to me, I’d want to give all our property to our third daughter-in-law...”
“That’d be almost the same as giving it all away. After all, even though he’s the eldest, he doesn’t get as much as the third one.”
“I know, I know.”
We could feel it now.
Our decision hadn’t been wrong.
***
Lee Taegeun was getting ready to attend the family gathering.
This time, he had coordinated his schedule early so the burden wouldn’t all fall on his older brother’s family.
Thanks to that, his wife was able to clear her schedule as well.
“Sister-in-law had a hard time of it. This time, think of it as you taking on a bit more of the burden. I’ll help properly from the side too.”
“I told them I was busy a full year in advance just to clear my schedule. So I need to work even harder now, to make up for all the times I felt bad toward her.”
His older brother and sister-in-law always said it was fine, but...
as the younger brother, no matter how busy he was, it still pained him not being able to help.
His younger sister had grown up pampered and had never learned much in the way of discipline, so she was one thing, but for him, the shame was real.
He had helped belatedly, sure, but how much of a difference had that really made to the older brother’s family, who had been suffering from the start?
It was a relief that at least it hadn’t felt like he was just making a show of generosity.
The little pocket money he’d given his nephew when the boy came up to Seoul was only a small comfort to him...
but even that, he felt, was just his own way of rationalizing things. It didn’t absolve him of everything.
So before it got any later.
He thought he should head out now and help his brother’s family, even if only a little.
No matter how busy his wife might be, they’d make sure to clear this day somehow.
“But what’s with the car? I did thank her when she said to ride with her, but...”
“I don’t know. I didn’t hear the details either. It sounded like they prepared a lot of things, though.”
“We said we’d prepare together this time, but maybe I should’ve made that clearer.”
“Your sister-in-law isn’t the sort who’d ask you to suffer alongside her. We should just leave now if we can. The kids can come later.”
He wanted to leave as early as possible, but since they’d agreed on a time, they waited.
A little while later, a car came to a stop in front of them right on time.
But they never once imagined it was the car they were supposed to get in.
Of course not.
They liked his older brother’s family, and they were always grateful to them, but...
honestly, the car was way too out of place to have been sent by them.
Just the fact that a car like this existed in Gwangju was surprising enough, let alone that it belonged to his brother’s family?
No matter how many times he thought about it, it just didn’t add up.
“So Gwangju must be pretty developed too. Look at a car like that driving around.”
“Then why isn’t it leaving?”
“Right?”
“...Someone’s getting out of the driver’s seat?”
They looked around. No one was there. Not even an open shop in sight.
And then the person who got out from the driver’s seat...
started walking straight toward them.
“May I ask if you’re Lee Gwangseop’s younger brother?”
“Y-yes, that’s right...”
“I’m the chauffeur assigned to take the two of you—”
“...What?”
He thought he’d misheard. At the same time, he looked at the other person, just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
It felt real, but his mind was spinning, and he climbed into the back seat first.
“What kind of car is this...”
“It’s a Rolls-Royce. The kind only a chairman rides in...”
“How did my brother...”
“Excuse me, sir? Could you tell us how my brother sent this car?”
It was a question they could never resolve between themselves.
“I’m sorry. There are limits to what I’m allowed to answer...”
“Ah, yes... Then could you at least tell us whether this car is rented?”
“That I can answer. It’s privately owned.”
“Privately owned... Then one last thing, how much does a car like this cost...?”
“With all options included, a new one runs about 700 million won.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Y-you’re joking, right?”
“If you search online, you’ll know right away.”
“...”
They’d known it was expensive.
But hearing 700 million won made it feel unreal all over again.
Wasn’t that enough to buy a house in Seoul?
In other words, a house was driving down the road.
“Were the roads in Gwangju always this courteous...?”
“I can’t hear a single bit of noise from outside...”
“Feels like we’re on a yacht.”
“If you look up, it’s like staring at the Milky Way.”
Setting aside their confusion, they focused on soaking in the Rolls-Royce’s strange, almost mystical atmosphere.
If not now, when else would they ever get to ride in a car like this?
They couldn’t imagine they’d ever have the chance twice.
But the unreal scenery didn’t end there.
When they finally arrived in a daze and got out of the car...
there was a luxury pension standing right in front of them.
“A friend of mine bragged about visiting some private pool villa that cost hundreds of thousands of won a night...”
“Th-that expensive?”
“S-so where are we supposed to go? I’m worried we’ll accidentally walk into the wrong place...”
“You rented the entire place today, so you may go in wherever you like. You should contact them first...”
“...What?”
The words came out before he could stop them.
What...? The whole place?
“Did they hit the lottery or something...?”
“Could be...”
That was the only explanation he could come up with.
Otherwise, how on earth was this possible?
Was he dreaming?
***
I had already toured the pool villa with my family early on.
“Not bad.”
“...This doesn’t seem like something you call just ‘not bad.’”
“I want to live here for the rest of my life...”
Still, I was the one who’d prepared everything, so I should be the first to arrive.
I was inside, relaxing, when I got a message from Dad.
“Your uncle’s arrived, he says. Do you want to go out and meet him, Doyun?”
“If it’s Uncle, then I should go.”
No matter who it was, if it was my uncle, I should be the one to greet him.
He was the one who had given me a few million won when I came up to Seoul.
I still didn’t know how much that had helped me at the time.
They were better off than our family, sure...
but handing a nephew several million won just because he was moving up to Seoul was never something easy to do.
Still...
“As expected, Uncle really is the first to arrive.”
Well, of course, I thought.