Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Insignificant Stirrings (2)
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It was a serious yet enjoyable time.
For Jin-hyuk, it was the first adult conversation he'd had since returning to the past.
Son Gwang-yeon was no exception. He'd even felt a delusion that he was talking with Hong Gi-jun. From his perspective, having never imagined having such a discussion with his family, it felt utterly fresh.
Son Gwang-yeon began formulating and refining a business plan in his mind.
'I need to do this right.'
He was already supplying cash crops from various farmlands, but it was labor-intensive work, with high proportions of labor and transportation costs. The large-scale facility farming and simple contract farming with laborers, started after thorough calculations, still felt insignificant to him to call it a proper business. To commercialize it and create added value, he needed a fresh approach.
"Jin-hyuk will help Dad out a lot too, right?"
He had expectations that the smart, young brain might come up with fresh ideas. But his son's reaction was disappointingly lukewarm.
Jin-hyuk pushed out his lower lip and shrugged.
"I have to go to school."
Look at this kid. Son Gwang-yeon's eyes narrowed like a piggy bank slit.
It wasn't wrong, though. A student's duty was to attend school, and in a world that valued perfect attendance awards the most. Who could criticize a student for wanting to go to school?
His son was so mature that it often confused him as a father about his own status.
"Then, how about teaching me just one move?"
"What do you...?"
Twaaang- Jin-hyuk felt a ringing in his skull.
If he wasn't going to help with the business, was he asking for a handicap in Go instead? Talking business over Go and then this twist. He couldn't handle his dad's eccentricity. His dad was more unpredictable than an ox's behind.
"No, no. Make it two moves."
Son Gwang-yeon pointed at the Go board with a serious expression. That fidgety gesture resembled Yu-jin's. Endless eccentricity.
Of course, the manly Jin-hyuk crossed his arms into an X with a solemn face.
At the firm refusal, Son Gwang-yeon trembled with a sense of betrayal.
Han Yu-young watched her husband and son having this bizarre conversation.
She'd already formed a rapport with Yu Se-ra on this, but men used unnecessarily difficult words. Why did they do that when simple ones existed? She couldn't understand a single thing.
She had no idea it was a conversation between men uncertain of who the enemy was or what they wanted.
Her son was using tough words like "semi-feudal" and "anti-social," and her husband's expression soured, suggesting he didn't understand either. Han Yu-young nodded determinedly, thinking that saving her husband in times like this was true wifely support.
"Jin-hyuk. Dad's tired, so let him rest."
At his wife's voice, the highest dignity in the house, Son Gwang-yeon jumped up ecstatically, waving his hands wildly.
"Yes! It's a draw!"
Clack! Clatter-
Son Gwang-yeon scattered the Go stones messily and bolted toward Han Yu-young. He hid behind her back in less than a second.
'That dad of mine...'
His masterful change of stance was unmatched.
His seriousness had vanished, leaving only Han Yu-young rattling like a baby toy.
'Guess I'll have to help.'
Well, he'd help if needed, but Dad would probably manage fine on his own.
Still, the shadow that had loomed in one corner of his mind seemed lifted, leaving Jin-hyuk feeling relieved.
As he smiled and tidied the Go board, Yu-jin approached, half-asleep, hugging her bear doll. She had something to say to her brother.
Whisper whisper-
"Oppa won against Grandpa too, right?"
Heh heh-
Sisters were the best.
Jin-hyuk scooped up his sister's waist and spun her around.
"Kyahaha-!"
He thought the house atmosphere resembled the border zone in a war documentary.
Tension of when gunfire might erupt coexisting with children's laughter.
Even at dawn, the light in the Son family's third-floor study didn't go out.
The three Sons were asleep in their positions: Son Gwang-yeon in the master bedroom, Jin-hyuk in his second-floor room, and Son Yu-jin frog-legged in front of Jin-hyuk's door, mumbling in her sleep.
"Good thing I took notes diligently."
Han Yu-young rubbed her dry eyes and flipped through her notebook.
The cool air and cricket chirps through the open window aided her studies.
Her son had excelled in sports and advised her husband to enroll in correspondence university. She'd registered for Food and Nutrition, never missing weekly lectures and taking seasonal courses during breaks.
It's because I focused only on growth in his diet. All my fault.
The fist thumping her chest felt heavy.
"Bananas? We eat those daily. Celery, chives, cabbage, pork, seaweed, oysters..."
She'd perked up her ears and noted when the professor casually mentioned foods good for men. Other students laughed it off as non-exam material, but Han Yu-young jotted every word like a thirsty scholar.
"Oysters aren't in season yet. Should go oyster hunting in winter. Eggs, organ meats, walnuts? Walnuts good for walnuts because they look alike? Heh heh."
Before long, worries vanished, replaced by odd snickers filling the study.
They say couples resemble each other.
"Others are staples, so maybe focus the diet on oysters this winter?"
She served chives and cabbage almost daily since Jin-hyuk liked them, and pork for meat-loving Yu-jin. In the end, she concluded it was due to poor childhood nutrition. Couldn't turn back time, and finances were the same then. Might as well try oysters.
With that thought, Han Yu-young descended the stairs.
"Oh dear, my daughter. Asleep here again?"
As Han Yu-young picked up Yu-jin.
Click- Jin-hyuk opened his door and came out.
"Huh? Awake, Jin-hyuk?"
"Yeah. Around this time, I bring Yu-jin in."
It was the siblings' sleep routine.
When his toad-like sister crawled up the stairs to his door, he'd carry her in, and amazingly, she slept soundly beside him without tossing.
"Mom'll take her."
"She'll just come back. Here."
Han Yu-young handed her over reflexively.
Unable to contain curiosity, her mouth blurted out.
"Jin-hyuk, no panties on?"
She regretted it instantly, but who else but Mom could casually check her son's attire?
Jin-hyuk mumbled nonchalantly, eyes still sleepy.
"I am. Good night."
"Mmm. Night, son."
Click-
Even after the door closed, Han Yu-young lingered, her wide eyes unfocused.
'What the hell kind of bitch is spreading nonsense about my son?'
Far from tough farm work, but hanging with neighborhood gossips had taught her proper cursing.
Must be the dawn hour.
Her husband said healthy men had morning wood then. She'd confirmed her son, like Dad, proudly tenting his gym clothes. Oysters were nothing.
With chilly winds morning and night, time for pollack stew.
'I trust my son!'
Then she recalled Cheon Gil-ryong's advice.
Couldn't forget bragging to Kim Sun-soon. She'd boasted about her son endlessly when Choi Tae-yang was middle school. Didn't know why it was brag-worthy, but it strangely ignited motherly pride.
Telling Kim Sun-soon would spread it village-wide.
Soon, another rumor about Jin-hyuk would circulate.
'My son wears panties and still! Hah! Ignoramuses!'
From then on.
Son-pride began rearing its head in Han Yu-young's heart.
Even when he set a Korean record at the track meet, her shoulders hadn't risen to pierce the ceiling like this.
It was a paltry pride.
But in a world where flawlessness alone made for bragging rights.
Han Yu-young's steps down the stairs were elegant, like a fairy descending from the moon.
Jin-hyuk spent every after-school afternoon talking business with Dad.
'Always cheerful, but he looks especially happy lately.'
With Hong Gi-jun and now someone else to rely on, Son Gwang-yeon felt secure.
Son Gwang-yeon drew in the yard with a stick, explaining.
"They've picked Daldeok-myeon as the optimal site."
Jin-hyuk pouted skeptically.
"Terrain's not flat, and far from town. Surprising."
"True, but it's where residents oppose least. Near the airbase, so they're like, 'whatever.'"
"Means fast progress."
Jin-hyuk nodded, and Son Gwang-yeon smiled satisfiedly.
"Good choice for us too."
"Can bypass town."
"Exactly. Right past your old school. Expanding to two lanes next year. Even at 80 kph, no complaints."
Son Gwang-yeon emphasized 80 kph.
His son had a thing for exactly 80 kph.
"When does the industrial complex start?"
"Takes time for inter-ministry negotiations. Budget issues, so maybe early next year."
"If Sein Group pushes?"
"You know. Gi-jun hates political ties. It's his phobia. Like OCD. Eating with politicians feels like stepping in shit."
Made sense.
Even as chairman, Hong Gi-jun rejected Blue House invites. Turned out wise; attendees got dragged to hearings.
Anyway, though not about the refusal, Sein Group faced media barrages and intense tax audits.
'His principles, but he should've anticipated employee hardship.'
If the old man suffered alone, young folks wouldn't be rubbing dark circles from shitting blood.
Shaking his head, Jin-hyuk watched Son Gwang-yeon unroll large paper.
"Securing four plots first. Here and here-."
Reporting to his son, yet thrilled.
Regretted not starting business sooner.
"No favoritism?"
"Nah. Can't ignore regional contributions. Per Song the assemblyman, applicants are all out-of-towners. Few participants, land surplus."
"Costly though..."
Government aid or not, building four factories and an office at once needed own capital. Impossible without.
Would require selling land; knowing Dad's love for it, Jin-hyuk couldn't gauge the loss.
Reading his worry, Son Gwang-yeon smirked dismissively.
"Don't fret. No need to sell land or borrow against it this time. Can't sell my blood-sweat land for paltry stuff."
"How?"
"Friends in high places."
Locking eyes, Son Gwang-yeon winked perfectly, unlike Hong Gi-jun's twitchy one. Pure Casanova.
'Urp-. Nausea incoming.'
Despite queasiness, Jin-hyuk sensed new energy sprouting in Dad. Vitality. Calling it insignificant yet bursting with it—Dad was all pretense.
"Said important talks need face-to-face. Heading to Seoul soon."
"You'll stay overnight."
"Probably."
"Don't worry about home."
"No worries. Said no safer place in Korea than ours."
Fair point. He'd checked their personnel files; elite agents.
To Jin-hyuk, viewing Dad as Hong Gi-jun's Zhuge Liang, it made sense. Dad repeatedly refused moving to Seoul to work together.
"Shouldn't we meet those uncles? Like a formal intro?"
Village hospitality meant feeding them. Mom cooks, but he'd help.
"No Gi-jun approval, they won't show."
"Tough for those uncles."
"Handling that this trip too."
"Handling?"
"Obviously building security around us. Gotta give land for it. Dearly."
Emphasizing "dearly," another wink.
Glad Dad was happy, but Jin-hyuk barely resisted poking his eyes. Couldn't poke Dad's.
'Stop!'
Why winks between men?
Digging mudflats yields all sorts. Octopuses, clams, mudskippers, crabs—the expected, to broken pottery, intact pottery—ancestral traces. Even bikes, motorcycles. Unusable, though.
Among Yuk Yeong-gu's finds, the strangest was...
One autumn day, sun still high, vigorously digging for mud octopuses, his shovel hit something hard.
"Ee? What's this?"
Thought oyster shells, but the feel said no. Definitely pottery, harder. Perfect timing for new dog bowl. A few more digs.
But what emerged was unexpected.
"Ee? What's this? Damn, ain't this a bomb?"
About a span long, hefty. A memory flashed.
- Report unexploded ordnance to military base or nearest station.
Village hall broadcast by the head on handling duds.
"Damn cops always busy, but drop it off en route to town."
Expecting reward, Yuk Yeong-gu put the shell in a styrofoam cooler with ice.