A Fresh Start with a Million (2)
‘Wow, now that I think about it, I can see why that cartoon became so watered down in the future.’
The movie Yoon-gi was watching with his family right now—or rather, to be precise, they were watching an animation. Since Jung-ah was still at the age where she loved cartoons, and she held the most sway when it came to making such decisions, they were stuck with it.
Yoon-gi found himself chuckling, thanks to the sudden, witty interjections from Choi Deok-bae, who was hovering nearby.
“Isn’t it fun, Oppa?” Jung-ah whispered, sitting beside him, and Yoon-gi nodded.
[THWACK!]
An anthropomorphic cat was flattened into a disc after being hit by a bowling ball. Thanks to that, the anthropomorphic mouse held in the cat’s hand managed to make a quick escape.
The name of this animation was Tom and Cherry. It was being screened at MEV, the very same Tom and Cherry that had enjoyed immense popularity among Korean children in the 90s.
Back when he was living his life as a laborer, Yoon-gi had watched Tom and Cherry many times, but he hadn’t really thought of it as cruel back then. When he watched the version made in the 2010s, rather than the original, he even thought it had become quite bland. Right away, many of the ‘hot scenes(?)’ that frequently appeared in the original Tom and Cherry were missing. For instance, scenes where Tom, frozen solid after hiding in a freezer, gets smashed to pieces by Cherry’s golf club, or where Cherry drinks a concoction of various chemicals and turns into a super-powered monster.
Of course, in the original version, they would always bounce back to normal after such ordeals, so there was no fundamental cruelty to it. But it was only after looking at Jung-ah that Yoon-gi realized why the new version of Tom and Cherry had become so wholesome.
‘I suppose children might actually think it’s okay to drop a bowling ball on someone’s head after watching scenes like that.’
Was it because he didn’t know when he might become a father himself? Yoon-gi was slowly starting to think about things he never would have considered before. In a way, it also meant he was starting to think of Jung-ah as a daughter-like younger sister.
“Ah, that was so much fun! Thank you, Oppa!”
As soon as the movie ended, Jung-ah threw her arms around Yoon-gi and rubbed her cheek against his upper body.
“Tsk, I’m telling you, there’s no point in raising a granddaughter.”
“Do you feel that way too, Father? That there’s no point in raising a daughter… ugh!”
Choi Ki-hyun didn’t have a wife to smack him on the back, but Choi Cheol-ho did. Consequently, Choi Cheol-ho let out a pained yelp and tried to scratch his back, but being the muscular, burly man he was, he couldn’t reach it with his own hands and was left groaning in frustration.
“Oh my, Father-in-law. That must hurt.”
When Merrill smiled and rubbed Choi Cheol-ho’s back, he tried his best to smile through the pain and said, “Yes, a daughter-in-law is definitely better than a daughter.”
“Sigh, are you still a child even at your age? Getting jealous of the kids.”
Park Yeon-ji clicked her tongue, but she didn’t stop Merrill. She didn’t hit him because she truly disliked him, after all.
“Jung-ah, a movie is just a movie. You must never copy what you see on screen in real life. Understand?” Yoon-gi said quietly to Jung-ah, and she answered him loudly.
“Okay!”
‘Ah, she’s so cute.’ Even though she was now in the upper grades of elementary school, Jung-ah was still adorable.
‘Honestly, if I could just throw everything away and spend all day with Jung-ah, that would be nice too.’
He was incredibly grateful for the life he had now, but just as he was thinking that a life where he spent 24 hours a day with his family without worrying about anything else wouldn’t be so bad, Choi Ki-hyun spoke up.
“Yoon-gi, by the way, what does the movie theater have to do with the plan you’ve set up?”
Naturally, Jung-ah pulled away from Yoon-gi and hugged Merrill, and Yoon-gi walked with Choi Ki-hyun, leading the family toward the parking lot.
“As you can see, the number of spectators at MEV is incredible, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s truly impressive to see it so packed with people.”
“MEV has an average of 400,000 daily spectators.”
Now that MEV had been built not only in Seoul but also in metropolitan cities and cities equivalent to them, the national daily spectator count was quite high. In the original history, the combined daily attendance of the three major movie franchises was around 500,000 as of the 2010s, but in Yoon-gi’s history, MEV held a complete monopoly. Furthermore, because MEV provided various forms of entertainment beyond just movies, it wasn’t difficult for a single chain to exceed 400,000 daily spectators, even in 1988.
“400,000 people?”
“Yes.” Yoon-gi nodded and continued immediately.
“What do you think would happen if we distributed newspapers to the spectators at MEV for free?”
“Ho-ho…!” Choi Ki-hyun realized what Yoon-gi was thinking in an instant.
For once, most of the senior executives of YK had gathered in the study again. The way they looked at Yoon-gi was truly the look of people in love. If one loves their sovereign, it’s only natural to have such eyes. Logically speaking, if they had just received 10 billion won as of 1988, it would be stranger if they didn’t look at him like that.
“It seems everyone is here.”
Except for those staying abroad, everyone had gathered. Thus, Yoon-gi began today’s agenda.
“This is classified, but the government of the Republic of Korea has decided to set history straight.”
Set history straight. That meant nothing less than correctly organizing the history that had been distorted by Japan.
“Japan won’t just sit idly by. For our country to set history straight means Japan must look at its own history correctly.” At Ryu Geun-tae’s words, Yoon-gi nodded.
“Exactly. We are merely correcting our own history, but Japan will throw a fit just because of that. As if they were the victims. However, we will set history straight regardless. It has been decided as government policy.”
“But it won’t be easy. There are already countless bastards suspected of being bought off by the Japanese. Yoon-gi,