Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Great Magician (3)
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Han Yu-young paced anxiously while holding her daughter Son Yu-jin.
It was because she heard the sound of a car outside.
'Could it be that person?'
Over ten years ago, during summer vacation, Son Gwang-yeon had rented a room in a nearby village, and on weekends during the school term, he would come down and court her fervently. Han Yu-young had trembled with rage at that time.
- "Don't flirt with Gwang-yeon. Don't you have any pride as a woman? Just because you live in a lowly place doesn't mean you have to become vulgar yourself."
Those were the words thrown at her by a woman who had arrived from Seoul in a luxury foreign car.
She hadn't even flirted.
Innocent Han Yu-young still got chills whenever she thought about it.
'I was so furious. I couldn't say a word.'
She had intended to unleash that anger fully on Son Gwang-yeon.
But because of his desperate gaze toward her, and the pure soul hidden behind those sad eyes, Han Yu-young ended up swallowing her humiliation.
When she accepted his courtship, Son Gwang-yeon willingly stepped into a remote village with no connections. Behind that decision was Han Yu-young's earnest plea.
- "I want to live somewhere where no one knows us."
She didn't want to see her blood sister, nor Son Gwang-yeon's family. It was a hard path chosen by seeing only each other. In the end, Han Yu-young never told Son Gwang-yeon about the humiliation from that day.
'But why isn't he coming in?'
The car engine had been off for a while, yet no one opened the gate and came in. She cautiously opened the sliding door and stood in the inner courtyard, when she heard voices murmuring outside.
"Ah, how can she be so smart?"
She flinched at the sudden woman's voice.
However, it was a kind tone without any hostility, clear and not venomous. She judged it wasn't that woman from back then.
'Should I go out?'
She glanced back; her sweet little daughter was sleeping soundly.
"Oa-, baby, baby. Pretty."
Hong Su-jeong chirped away.
Wasn't five years old when kids could talk well? The clever little Hong Su-jeong was smart, but her speech was still clumsy. And wasn't that part of a child's charm?
"Su-jeong, this is my little sister Yu-jin. Son Yu-jin."
Perhaps because she was still young, Hong Su-jeong didn't seem curious about how Jin-hyuk knew her name.
"Son Yu-jin. Oppa-, Hong Su-jeong."
Hong Su-jeong pointed one by one, calling names clearly.
"Ah, oppa?"
Then she pointed at Jin-hyuk and rounded her mouth.
Pointing with wide eyes seemed to be a habit ingrained since childhood.
Jin-hyuk immediately understood what the kid's action meant.
"Ah, I'm Son Jin-hyuk."
"Son Jingyeok-."
"Not prison term, it's Jin-hyuk, Su-jeong-ah."
When else would he get to hear the Great Magician's name called like this?
Having nearly served a prison sentence out of the blue, Jin-hyuk stayed by his sister Son Yu-jin's side along with Hong Su-jeong, who had followed him all the way to the inner room.
"Oh my, the baby is so pretty."
Before they knew it, Yu Se-ra had sat on the floor and was peering into the room at the baby. She clearly wanted to hold her.
"I should offer you something to drink..."
Mom was holding a fruit basket. It had bananas and pineapples, rare fruits that were hard to even see at the market in the countryside back then.
'Ugh, bananas are so tiring.'
Jin-hyuk, who had eaten six bananas a day while exercising in his previous life, suppressed a wave of nausea and jumped up for Mom's sake.
"Mom, I'll make some juice."
"Oppa-."
Hong Su-jeong followed Jin-hyuk again.
"My, your son is so handsome and smart. Hohoho."
"Haha, let's have a son like that too?"
From behind Jin-hyuk heading to the kitchen, Yu Se-ra and Hong Gi-jun's words flew and stuck.
Take care of your own daughter. She's following me everywhere; it's annoying as hell.
'Even if you have one, he won't be like me. Ahem!'
That's right. Where else in the world is there an old soul like this in a kid's body? Thinking that, Jin-hyuk shrugged his shoulders. His hands shook as he put juice powder into a glass, chuckling to himself.
He served juice made by dissolving orange-flavored powder in water.
Hong Gi-jun petted the growling General, while Yu Se-ra held the baby and dripped honey from her eyes.
"Jin-hyuk, want to ride with this uncle to see your dad?"
"Yes."
Apparently, while they were tending to the baby, the adults had a conversation among themselves that Jin-hyuk wasn't privy to.
If Mom said so, it should be fine.
Jin-hyuk took off his slippers and changed into sneakers.
"Ah, baby. Ah, oppa. Ah-."
Hong Su-jeong hesitated.
"Oppa-."
Then she followed Jin-hyuk into the car.
Yu Se-ra decided to stay home with Jin-hyuk's mom.
The car sped along the bus route, passed a small forest, and headed to the rice paddy where Dad was working. The road was full of potholes from tractors and tillers, but the Benz powerfully conquered the unpaved path.
'Riding a Benz at this age.'
More surprisingly, he was riding in a car driven by Hong Gi-jun.
Wasn't he once the owner of the group Jin-hyuk had worked for?
Just before returning to the past, Jin-hyuk had ridden in the back seat of Chairman Hong Gi-jun's car.
There was a loud roar, and his body shook from the impact. He had no memory after that.
'Did I die that day and fly back to the past?'
At the time, Chairman Hong Gi-jun had seemed like he had something to say to Jin-hyuk. He was curious since he never heard it. Probably about his marriage to Hong Su-jeong, but only the person involved knew the truth.
'Did Chairman Hong Gi-jun survive? Does that world exist separately and move independently? If so, it must be sad there without Mom and Dad. Ah, but since I'm dead there anyway, it doesn't matter.'
It was a question without an answer.
Even if he knew, there was nothing he could do.
While reminiscing about the past, he tightly held Hong Su-jeong in the back seat. He had buckled her seatbelt, but the bumpy unpaved farm road made their bodies bounce.
Hong Gi-jun, glancing at the rearview mirror, finally broke the silence.
"Jin-hyuk is such a good boy. Taking such good care of a sister you've just met."
"Because she's a weak baby."
Not that it's the first time we've met.
Jin-hyuk turned to Hong Su-jeong. The wide-eyed kid was staring straight at him. For her to look straight at the great Son Jin-hyuk with eyes wide open—she was braver than Hong Su-jeong from his previous life. Despite the motion that could make anyone carsick, she wouldn't avert her gaze from Jin-hyuk. High standards for a kid?
Thud-!
The car bottomed out passing a deep pothole.
"Ouch-."
Hong Gi-jun let out a hearty exclamation. He hadn't slowed down in time because he was looking at the rearview mirror. He looked tense, yet oddly had a smile on his lips.
Seoul men really don't hold back on emotions. He likes seeing me take care of his daughter that much? Thinking that, Jin-hyuk perked up.
"He's over there."
Dad was visible where Jin-hyuk pointed, spreading fertilizer in the paddy. No matter how rich, Dad insisted on growing food for the family himself as a farmer.
Hong Gi-jun parked close to where Son Gwang-yeon was working and got out.
Son Gwang-yeon, who had been watching intently with his straw hat pushed back ever since the foreign car approached, widened his eyes upon seeing who got out.
A strange tension flowed between the two men.
Jin-hyuk in the car sensed the odd atmosphere too.
'These dads are kinda...'
They looked like men about to duel.
It wouldn't be strange if one of them drew first.
In his inexplicable anxiety, Jin-hyuk tightened his hold on little Hong Su-jeong.
Both Hong Gi-jun and Son Gwang-yeon.
Neither spoke first.
How long did the silence last?
Son Gwang-yeon scowled fiercely, pointed at Hong Gi-jun, and opened his mouth.
"Hey, you bastard..."
It was the first time Jin-hyuk had heard it.
Dad using curse words.
The first time he saw it.
Dad's eyes, who was afraid even of crucian carp and sparrows, turning fierce like a tiger's.
Yu Se-ra was at a loss holding the baby.
"Ah, how can she be so pretty? Makes me think our daughter must have been like this once."
"She looked like a doll earlier. She must have been pretty as a baby too."
"I only remember it being hard and frustrating. Not because of the baby, but just tiring for no reason. Wasn't it like that for you, Jin-hyuk's mom?"
"Jin-hyuk was so good-natured I didn't even realize it was hard. As a baby, he was even prettier than Yu-jin, like a little girl."
It might have helped that she mostly focused on childcare at home without doing much else. But was childcare ever easy? Han Yu-young's words that it was less difficult because the baby was good-natured weren't unfounded at all.
"Looking at her features, it makes sense. She really takes after her mom."
It wasn't flattery.
Yu Se-ra thought Han Yu-young was too beautiful to be cooped up in such a rural place. Her face seemed oddly familiar too. Where had she seen her?
"Jin-hyuk takes after Dad. I take after Mom just a little."
If anything, maybe the eyes, nose, and mouth. Ears too...
She was glad her handsome son took after her husband. Anyway, he resembled Dad.
"Um... you haven't told me why you came yet."
Han Yu-young said cautiously.
They barged in, gave her a fruit basket, and the woman held the baby while the man took her son to meet her husband. Even her own husband back then had been pushy in his constant visits and courtship, but these people were no slouches either.
Are all Seoul people like this?
"Ah, ahaha-. Did I not?"
"Yes, that president earlier just said he wanted to meet Jin-hyuk's dad."
An awkward smile appeared on Yu Se-ra's face.
Why did we come?
She had dozed off in the passenger seat of her husband's car and ended up here.
Yu Se-ra quickly rummaged through her memories.
While enjoying vacation in Haeundae, her husband got a call from somewhere and urged her to go. At first, she thought it was to visit his family home.
- "What? Vacation until the day after tomorrow, why go back already?"
- "There's a place to check out. Lots of good, cheap land."
Her husband Hong Gi-jun said they were going to look at land.
He said he'd use his position as chairman's son-in-law for once and asked the secretary's office to scout good land on the west coast. He added it was a call from the secretary's office.
'This guy's been weird lately.'
He had been diligent without any sly side. Smart enough, kind-hearted, that's why she decided to marry Hong Gi-jun. A rare love marriage in a chaebol family rife with arranged ones. Her father, who granted his youngest daughter's every whim, smoothed all obstacles.
But lately, her husband was suddenly enthusiastic.
He quit his steady job, visited his father-in-law unannounced demanding a position. Politely, of course, but still.
That's how he joined Sein Construction's overseas sales division as a manager, working nonstop. And now land during vacation?
Even funnier, she herself had been pleased at her husband's words about looking at land.
- "Good timing. It'd be nice to build a company retreat with a great view."
- "As expected of Madam Yu Se-ra! We see eye to eye."
She had a haughty, cold image, but oddly had these clueless sides. That was her charm too.
Thus, dozing in the passenger seat with her neck stiff until they arrived in this boondocks.
From Busan to the Chungnam coast. How many rest stops, how many map folds?
Yu Se-ra couldn't forget her husband's expression upon arrival.
He smiled brightly like he'd found treasure.
Was it brighter than when she accepted his proposal? Probably not an illusion.
- "Found it."
- "Who? Do you know them?"
- "No, this is the address of the landowner the secretary's office told me about."
A landowner living in such a rundown house in the sticks? Weird enough, but rejoicing over finding him? Was work stress causing mania? Had he changed too aggressively?
'Though his aggressiveness at night is welcome.'
Marriage had made him watch his step due to his position and prying eyes. Glad he was brightening up.
While Yu Se-ra frowned, recalling while holding Yu-jin, Han Yu-young fanned her daughter desperately, resigned. Seoul people are weird. When asked their purpose, she's squinting like a sick chicken.
After sorting her quite complicated thoughts, Yu Se-ra finally spoke.
"Some land..."
"Land?"
The Son family did have a lot of land in their name. But is it that hard to bring it up? Seoul women are strange. Scary.
Han Yu-young stealthily grabbed Yu-jin.
'Jin-hyuk should be safe.'
He's smart and quick on his feet, so he'd run if it was dangerous.
Her heart pounded for no reason.
No, but this Seoul woman was holding Yu-jin tight and wouldn't let go.
More strength went into Han Yu-young's arms.
Having grown up eating meat since childhood, the Seoul woman's strength was no joke.
Unaware of the women's escalating tension, General just wagged his tail.