Pushing Them Hard
Lee Deoksu left his brothers and sisters-in-law behind, still off somewhere having their fun, and went into the room that had been assigned to him.
“Must be nice having money to burn. Renting out an entire villa.”
“...Just how successful did he get, anyway?”
“You believe that? It’s obvious he won the lottery. Is having money all it takes to talk back to an elder like that?”
“Exactly. It doesn’t look good at all.”
“When the eldest brother gets here later, I’m going to have a word with him. Letting the family order fall apart like this...”
He ground his teeth.
He didn’t even want to see them laughing and carrying on after putting on that kind of attitude.
If he went out now, all it would do was make him angrier.
So he waited for his eldest brother to arrive.
At the very least, if it was his eldest brother—someone who valued family hierarchy—then he would surely say something sharp about this mess.
Because that was the right thing to do.
That look they had given him, as if he were the one in the wrong...
The more he thought about it, the more infuriating it became.
A little later, he heard that his eldest brother had arrived as well.
He was unpacking at a nearby lodging, so Deoksu asked permission and went inside.
“Eldest brother, I think we need to talk.”
“Good grief, what a racket. What on earth is all this?”
“Eldest brother, don’t you think something about this situation is strange?”
“...Strange, yes. But it’s something to celebrate, not something to take as strange.”
“That’s true, but... the way his attitude changed after such sudden success—I’m worried it’ll end up destroying the family’s hierarchy.”
He had said it that far, so surely his brother would listen.
After all, he was the family’s second son.
But...
For some reason, the reaction he wanted never came.
His brother’s brow twitched.
It was the sort of expression he made when he was displeased.
And because that gaze was directed at him, Deoksu couldn’t help feeling that something was off.
“Deoksu.”
“Yes, eldest brother.”
“Are you worried about the family, or are you worried about your own position?”
“...Isn’t worrying about hierarchy the same as worrying about the family?”
“Is that so? To my eyes, everyone in the family seems happy except for you. Of course, I know that there’s gratitude in there toward Gwangseop’s household.”
“...”
“If you were truly worried about the family, then at the very least you wouldn’t have rushed to shove family hierarchy in everyone’s faces. You should have applauded your younger brother’s success first, then carefully brought up your concerns without ruining the mood.”
“Eldest brother.”
“If you still think that’s wrong, then I have nothing more to say.”
“...I’ll get up now.”
Once his eldest brother spoke like that, there was no way to argue him down.
He was the most stubborn person in the family, after all.
Deoksu felt ill at ease. Even his eldest brother had reacted like that.
Not long after, his younger sister arrived.
“...You’re here.”
“Oppa, what is all this? And what’s wrong with the family mood? Why did your sister-in-law go this overboard? Something about all this feels off.”
“...So I’m not the only one who noticed?”
“If she came, shouldn’t she have helped unpack first and greeted everyone properly? She sure made a point of showing herself off, didn’t she?”
Still.
At least there was one normal person in the family.
***
Just as I was about to really start talking with my uncle, I heard that my eldest uncle had arrived too.
Unlike my second uncle, he wasn’t easy to deal with for a simple reason.
He was the eldest son, and aside from Grandfather’s generation, he was the biggest elder in the family.
That alone made him difficult to handle.
Sure enough, when I went out to meet him, I saw my eldest uncle standing there with a stiff expression, staring blankly into space.
That was the look of someone who’d been seriously shocked.
It was a face I hadn’t seen often.
“Eldest uncle, it’s been a while.”
“R-right... Was it hard adjusting after going up to Seoul?”
“No, I had a lot of good people around me, and I got lucky, so I adjusted just fine.”
“I see... I guess this old uncle was worrying too much because I’m getting on in years.”
When I told him I’d succeeded, he didn’t react with awkwardness—he looked genuinely relieved.
Maybe his worry over my move to the capital...
...wasn’t because he didn’t trust me, but because as the eldest son, he was afraid of any variables shaking up the family.
Honestly, that might not have been entirely wrong.
Without that stroke of heaven-sent luck called Bitcoin, I might still have been stuck in part-time jobs without ever finding a real career.
And then I might have just grown older pointlessly, borrowing money from my parents all the while.
“Still... unlike success, becoming distant from your family is hard. If things get tough, come back anytime. There isn’t a single family member who would resent you for it.”
“I was planning to visit often from now on anyway.”
“Good. And... if what your eldest uncle worried about before ever hurt you, I suppose I should apologize.”
“It’s fine.”
“Good. You’ve really grown up, Doyun.”
“Right—Eldest Uncle, you’re in construction, aren’t you?”
“Yes. The economy’s been improving a bit lately, so things have been going fairly well. So if you ever need anything, let me know. I can make room for you somewhere.”
“If I need help, I’ll tell you. For now, though... I’m thinking about the business my parents are going to run, and it seems like a lot of money will have to go into construction. Still, I figured it’d be better to entrust it to you, Eldest Uncle.”
“Would this uncle really dare make a profit off family? Tell me about it first.”
“Come on, you should make a profit. Well... Dad is...”
I explained my father and mother’s business, including its scale.
I already had a rough estimate in my head, so explaining it wasn’t difficult.
The only issue was that my eldest uncle had a little trouble processing it.
With every word I spoke, his mouth—already hanging open—only dropped farther.
Even after I finished, he couldn’t speak for a while.
Then he gathered himself and asked,
“Y-you’re not joking with this uncle, are you... You’re really saying you’re going to run a business worth several hundred billion won...? Even if the loans do come through, to do a project that size...”
“The funds are already secured.”
“...Ha. So who’s helping whom here? This uncle’s face is turning red over and over again today.”
“You know I didn’t mean it that way. For a construction project this large, do you think it’s easy to find just anyone to handle it? Especially if it isn’t family.”
“...At that scale, this uncle can’t help but make at least a little profit. And the construction period will probably be fairly long too, so there’ll be staff to look after.”
“Of course. If you try to give me too much special treatment, I’ll refuse it. Please handle it properly, the same way you would for any other construction company.”
“...You’ve gone beyond simply being an adult. You’re the pillar of this family.”
The pillar of the family.
I could hardly believe those words had come out of my eldest uncle’s mouth.
He was the one who had shouldered the family’s sense of responsibility all on his own.
To share even a little of that burden...
Maybe even more than that.
It felt good.
***
Just before dinner, Park Sunja had taken a walk around the pool villa, then played with her grandchildren in the pool before returning to the room.
And there, she had no choice but to be flustered by a side of her old man she’d never seen before.
“Goodness, on such a nice day, what’s there to cry about? Anyone would think someone had died.”
“...Our grandson didn’t just get on his feet—he became this successful. How could I not be grateful to heaven? I’m so thankful the tears just keep coming.”
“Now don’t tell me... if our grandson succeeds, you’ll go and change the land you were planning to leave him, will you? I won’t let that slide.”
“Nonsense. You think I’d do that? I’m just overwhelmed that, in this day and age, he succeeded through his own two hands rather than just having things handed to him.”
“Exactly. We must never force anything on him... but if our grandson succeeds, the family will naturally straighten itself out. Do you think seeing their grandson succeed wouldn’t give our children some drive?”
Her old man had gone into the room and was crying because he was so happy about their grandson’s success.
Honestly.
The old man who had never once shed tears because of her...
Watching him like that, even the corners of her own eyes felt like they were starting to sting from the way he was scolding her.
He was right. He was simply so grateful that their grandson had succeeded in this harsh world with his own strength.
And then, on top of that, he still looked after this old man and old woman.
“From now on... even if we have a hard time, let’s not expect filial devotion from our children. Especially when it comes to hospital visits and things like that... let’s not go making trouble for them for no reason. If he’s going to succeed like that, he must be so busy.”
“We should try our best... At least we’ve got the house we own, and they say you can even get loans with that these days, so we should avoid relying on the kids as much as possible.”
That night, the whole family ended up gathering together.
Both of them kept their wits about them as much as they could, not wanting to end up being called old and overbearing.
They especially didn’t want to say anything that might burden him without realizing it.
But Lee Doyun was the first to speak.
“Grandfather, Grandmother, don’t work yourselves too hard from now on. Live near the university hospital in downtown Gwangju. I’ll get you a nice house.”
“...”
“And this is a watch...”
Before they had even fully taken in the news, Lee Doyun didn’t wait and kept pressing them.
In case they felt burdened and waved him off.