The Youngest Sister
Two days had passed since the local elections. Min Dajeong stood staring out at the course with a grave expression on her face. She was alone.
People assumed professional golfers lived glamorous lives; the reality was nothing of the sort. Golf was a sport where winner-take-all ran especially rampant, and the Dream Tour, its second tier, was poor in the most naked way possible. The prize money alone amounted to a tenth of the regular tour's, and the truth was that every player out there was grinding with eyes only for a regular tour card.
Min Dajeong was one of those promising names. Thirteenth on the Dream Tour money list at the moment, which was comfortably upper-tier, and yet one missed cut away from sliding straight back down the table.
This year, she really did have to graduate from the second tier.
It was a situation where even total focus on the tournament would barely be enough. And yet right now Min Dajeong was clutching her phone with an aggrieved look, because she had a grievance to press with her sister the lawyer.
"Seojun oppa actually won the mayor's race. And you told me there was absolutely no way that would happen."
"That was Dad's line. Focus on your tournament."
"Today's my practice round. Or are you asking because you don't know?"
"Dajeong... I'm not your manager. I don't live my life memorizing your schedule."
Her brother Seojun had become mayor of Maesan City two days earlier, just like that. An elected mayor, no less. As a touring pro herself, Min Dajeong had more than once watched local councilors playing golf on other people's money, and if even ward councilors managed that much, her brother was now the mayor.
"Do you have any idea how good an opportunity I threw away because of you, Mom, and Dad?"
"The three of you burned through two of my sub-sponsorships. Get that through your head."
"How were we supposed to know the candidate would drop dead?"
"If it weren't for Mom and Dad, I never would've gone to see oppa in the first place. Honestly, back then I wondered why he was so on edge, but now I can see the real culprit was someone else. He was already furious, and then I showed up. No wonder he blew up at me."
"Think whatever you like."
Min Dajeong felt as though she had missed her window to climb aboard a rocketing stock, and maybe it was worse than that. She had let slip the chance to have a sitting capital-area chief executive behind her for a full four years (longer still if he won re-election). Besides, the bad blood between her brother and the rest of the family was not Min Dajeong's doing; if she carried any blame at all, it was minor.
Her sister was being unusually prickly today. Min Dajeong scowled.
"What do I do now?"
Coldly considered, devoting herself to the tournament was the best move. The ninth event of the Dream Tour was being held at Phoenix CC, and today she needed to play her practice round, get a read on the greens, and settle on her tee clubs. But no matter how hard she tried to focus, stray thoughts kept creeping in. The opportunity of a lifetime, squandered thanks to her parents and her sister, refused to leave her head.
Seojun oppa. Someone who might have become a supporter ten times more dependable than her parents. They should have been close all along, and the regret was bitter. This is driving me insane. How am I supposed to make up with him?
Min Dajeong dragged herself out onto the course with her face scrunched up.
Her form throughout practice was, naturally, a disaster. From the very first hole her wrist hinge locked up and sent balls viciously out of bounds; on the third she stood over a three-foot putt and yipped it. Twice the ball toyed with the lip of the cup before she finally wrote down a triple bogey.
"Nothing's working."
Min Dajeong's practice-round score: 86. If she shot like that in the real thing, she would be done for.
Just as the anxiety kept tightening its grip, Min Dajeong trudged toward the club-washing station, mouth hanging half open. Should she call Seojun oppa even now? If she begged forgiveness for stirring up something so sensitive right before the election, maybe he would let it slide. Or should she simply pin it all on their parents, say she had never been able to get close to him because she had to watch Mom and Dad's every mood?
But if that blew up in my face, I'd be the only one who got screwed.
Min Dajeong was still living on financial support from her parents, nearly two million won a month without fail, with her sister occasionally chipping in. She could not turn her back on the source of her tour funding just to mend things with her brother.
Just as Min Dajeong was wandering in circles with no answer in sight, a voice called out.
"Oh my. You're Min Dajeong, the pro, aren't you?"
"……?"
"It's hot out. Have something to drink."
A woman with a moneyed air came up and pressed a beverage on her. It happened from time to time. Gallery control on the Dream Tour was nothing like the regular tour's, and rude fans would walk right up to players without a shred of hesitation, asking them to take a look at their swing or pushing for a round together on the promise of a free meal. Still, a fan was a fan. She could not be careless with one.
"Oh... yes! Thank you."
"I'm not being rude, am I? I was just so happy to see you that I couldn't simply walk on by."
"Haha... it's fine, really."
"Well, I'm glad to hear it!"
One look said it all: a wealthy woman in her forties. A luxury ensemble overflowing with money from the top of her head to the tips of her shoes.
"Me? I run a modest little business in Gyeonggi Province."
"Oh, I see."
"Nothing grand~ I own an outdoor driving range, and a Korean barbecue restaurant near Unam Station, too."
"……!"
As it turned out, the woman was local-worthy class in Maesan City, Min Dajeong's hometown, or somewhere in the vicinity. By her own account she was a modest businesswoman, but whether a two-and-a-half-acre driving range and a premium hanwoo beef restaurant really counted as modest was anyone's guess. The oppa situation had her stressed half to death, but this was still a fan she could not afford to handle carelessly. Min Dajeong forced a smile.
"The instructors at my range are always raving about how lovely your swing is, Min Pro. I simply had to see it with my own eyes~ And in person you're even prettier, like a doll!"
"Thank you."
"But why the long face? Are you feeling unwell?"
"Of course not. I... wait, you're not approaching me because of my brother, are you...? No, surely not."
"Your brother? You have a brother too, Min Pro?"
Judging by what she said, at least, this did not seem to be someone approaching her because of Seojun. Possibly a genuine fan. Min Dajeong decided there was no harm in banking the goodwill.
"Thank you for cheering me on. May I ask your name?"
"Just call me Madam Song. It beats 'ma'am,' 'ajumma,' or 'teacher,' don't you think?"
Madam Song, a local worthy of Maesan City. On the off chance the woman might prove useful someday, Min Dajeong treated her with courtesy and moved on. Up to that point, that was all it was.
The next day, the tournament began.
Min Dajeong could feel that something was different from the previous day's practice round, when both her form and her luck had hit rock bottom. Absurd, heaven-sent luck rode with her from the very start.
Clang!
It slipped a little... huh?
A tee shot struck with the face accidentally slammed shut, the kind of ball that belonged deep in the woods to the left. Yet somehow it cracked off a trunk, kicked back out onto the fairway, and then rolled a good thirty yards, all the way up to the green.
"That actually works?"
Applause rang in the ears of Min Dajeong, who had just carded a free eagle. She turned to find Madam Song from the day before clapping behind the gallery rope, her face radiant.
"Nice shot, Min Pro!"
"……."
"That's an omen today's going to be huge! Keep it up!"
Just as Madam Song had promised, the luck kept coming. A putt she accidentally hammered smacked the back wall of the cup, hopped into the air, and dropped in; the wind was gusting hard all day, yet somehow it eased for exactly as long as Min Dajeong's turn lasted.
What is this?
Lucky streaks happened now and then. But for one to arrive on the very day her form had cratered... Min Dajeong found it a little uncanny. And it felt good.
"Min Pro~! Finish strong, all the way to the end!"
At some point she was even waving back at Madam Song's cheers with easy confidence. With her form coming around as well, she closed out the tournament on a high note: six under par overall, tied for third. Her spot on the season money list leapt all the way to ninth in a single bound. She had been bracing for a humiliating collapse, and instead she had climbed. Madam Song approached the dazed Min Dajeong yet again, and this time the two even sat down to a meal together.
"It's on me. I just watched a wonderful round of golf."
Over a pot of neungyi baeksuk, whole young chicken simmered in a clear broth, Madam Song suddenly fixed her with a pitying look. Then came a line that struck straight at Min Dajeong's heart.
"Min Pro, your family doesn't help you much, do they?"
"Oh, no, it's not like that."
"Golf is half the player's mental game and half family support, you know? Honestly, for most players out there, Mom and Dad double as manager and caddie. But watching a young lady drive herself all the way out to a mountain hollow like this and sweat through it alone, it just breaks my heart."
"……."
"I don't know what the circumstances are, but it's such a shame."
Golf is half family, and Min Pro doesn't seem to get any support... Min Dajeong felt it too. Golf was hard enough even with a family's full backing. But lately her family had been rattling her mental game with their tone-deaf behavior. If they had not gone out of their way to snub Seojun oppa, she would be enjoying the oppa buff right now. Maybe I'd already be settled on the regular tour by now, if only my family had actually helped.
Her sense of closeness to Madam Song deepened another notch, and Min Dajeong let her guard down a little further. Whereupon her new fan, rich and considerate in equal measure, showered her with favors.
"Take it with an easy mind. It's nothing!"
Mobile fuel vouchers and resort gift certificates. For Min Dajeong, who lived out of a suitcase during the season, they were genuinely useful gifts. Then again, this much was nothing. Golfers took gifts from fans all the time; it was not illegal, and it broke no tour regulations.
"Thank you, Madam."
"A golfer is a flower that only blooms when the people around her hold her up. It's just too pitiful, not even getting help from your own family. That's why I'm doing this."
Madam Song smiled with easy generosity, the very picture of a pure golf fan stanning with no self-interest whatsoever. So Min Dajeong decided to be honest.
"Actually, my brother is the mayor-elect of Maesan City."
"Politics? Ugh, I'm tired just hearing the word. Don't."
"Madam?"
"I told you, I'm just a small businesswoman in Maesan City. I have no interest in politics. Keep this up and I'm leaving?"
The moment Dajeong deliberately brought up her brother, Madam Song waved it all away. In the end, she was simply the fan who had appeared when Min Dajeong was struggling and offered kindness with no strings attached. This, surely, was what people meant by a benefactor? Min Dajeong was simply delighted to have met someone who recognized her talent.
All right. Golf first. If she meant to fully cash in on the glow of a brother who was going to be mayor anyway, staking her claim on the regular tour came first. There was plenty of time to attempt a reconciliation carefully later. If anything, that would look more natural, and no one could call her mercenary for it.
For the first time in ages, Min Dajeong smiled brightly and clasped Madam Song's hand.