A Peaceful Day (2)
A Peaceful Day (2)
Da-yeon and I passed the time in a way that was both leisurely and busy.
We fed special-formula feed to the staggeringly expensive koi, went to the archery range and shot bows,
and when we were about to go see the F1 racetrack they apparently built with an obscene amount of money, practically a national project—
one of the butlers who had been following us around spoke.
"Young miss, the Chairman is calling for you."
"Oh? Let me change, wash up, and go."
"Yes, understood."
Da-yeon and I bathed in the shower room, then went to the changing room and put on our clothes before entering the room where Lee Gi-seok was.
"Da-yeon! Did you wait long?"
"No, it was fun."
"This old man had a lot to take care of, heh heh..."
I muttered from the side.
"Judging from what's written on your desk, it was a golf appointment..."
"Now, now! There are times when not knowing the truth is a precious thing."
Lee Gi-seok, launching right into that geezer tone.
Still, Lee Gi-seok's golf appointments were hard to imagine—the most powerful figures gathered—
so even if you were invited, it would take ages just to coordinate the schedule.
No, even if your schedule were open, it would have to take ages, what with the subtle pride contests involved.
"Our Da-yeon, what did you play?"
"With Si-yoon, I rode a horse, and shot a bow, and um... wandered around here and there."
"You should learn golf from your old grandpa."
"No thanks, it's boring."
Golf, huh... Right now my arm strength isn't enough, but even so, I'm confident I could chew up and spit out an amateur at Lee Gi-seok's level.
I've mentioned it in the past, but I used to love golf.
And I always played golf with pros.
"How about you, Si-yoon?"
But since Da-yeon said it was boring, I didn't particularly feel like bringing it up.
In this era, aren't there way more fun things than golf?
I do kind of want to learn billiards, but word is Dad plays pretty damn well, so that's on hold for now.
"Hm, me neither, really?"
"Ha ha ha!"
I started goofing around with Da-yeon, and Lee Gi-seok watched the sight, thoroughly pleased.
"Si-yoon."
"Yes?"
"What do you think of Jeong-yeon?"
At Lee Gi-seok's words, Da-yeon spoke up.
"Grandpa!!"
"Why~ Wouldn't it be nice for Da-yeon to become family with Si-yoon too?"
"Hmm... That would be nice too, but we don't have to do that—I'm already closer to Si-yoon than family anyway?"
I looked at Da-yeon and gave her a beaming smile.
"Of course~"
"Right~"
Lee Gi-seok suddenly spoke with gravity.
"So, in your view, what do you think, Si-yoon."
If the first question had been a teasing one—what do you think of him as a man...
this new question was: what did I think about entrusting Hanseong's future to Jeong-yeon?
"Shall we imagine a scenario where I inherit Hanseong?"
"Hmm... give it a try."
"It would most likely race straight to catastrophe."
"Why?"
"I like gambling, you see—more than slowly, steadily building something up over a long time."
"Hmm..."
"Of course, I'm confident I'd succeed at the gambling with high probability, but even if I succeed, the hands available to hold onto it would be overwhelmingly lacking. The conclusion is catastrophe~~"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
"If we switch perspectives to Mr. Jeong-yeon, by nature he would steadily and safely expand not only in Korea but worldwide, step by step."
Lee Gi-seok focused on me again as I continued.
"....."
"In this day and age, I've come to see that the important thing is safely expanding your territory, not the style of someone like me. I can't do that—it's stifling."
"Hmm... I see..."
"And if you watch Mr. Jeong-yeon, you'll know—he tries to conceal his weaknesses to an extreme degree. How do I put it—he exercises restraint on himself?"
Maybe it's because of Kang Han-seong's memories...
Calling him 'Mr. Jeong-yeon' still felt damn unnatural.
Even so, what can I do? I can't exactly go Jeong-yeon this, Jeong-yeon that in front of Lee Gi-seok about a grandchild older than me, now can I?
Da-yeon was also focused on what I was saying.
"He's been that way since the first time I saw him at age 7, so I'm curious how much bigger it's gotten by now... and how much more knife-sharp he'll become later on."
"Is that right... Jeong-yeon is holding back, then."
"Why, were you finding him hard to trust because he seemed scared of you, Grandpa?"
I spoke to Lee Gi-seok without a filter, but Lee Gi-seok liked me all the more for it.
"Ha ha ha, to have my mind read by a fifteen-year-old—I must be all washed up."
"Rather than being scared of Grandpa, I'd say Mr. Jeong-yeon probably wants to show you something."
"What's that?"
"His own worth. Up till now, he hasn't been able to because he himself feels he's lacking—he's extremely cautious, you see."
"Hooh... Cautious, is it."
Cautious.
That wasn't the direction Lee Gi-seok wanted.
But the Lee Jeong-yeon I know is a bit like a hyena, isn't he...?
No matter how small the prey, he sizes them up, confirms they'll fit in his mouth, and only then moves to devour them without fail.
"Until he's got his opponent figured out, of course."
"Hoooh..."
Lee Gi-seok had caught my meaning, precisely.
Da-yeon just watched us, blankly, from the side.
Today we were going to sleep over at Lee Gi-seok's residence. Wearing matching pajamas with Da-yeon, I lay down on the bed.
"Today was so much fun!"
"We'll head home tomorrow morning, right~"
"Yeah!"
Da-yeon touched my fingers and then fell asleep first.
Morning came, and Da-yeon woke up before me and woke me up.
"Si...-yoon~"
Hearing Da-yeon's sleep-hoarsened voice, my eyes opened slightly, and I grabbed Da-yeon's arm, pulling her back down and hugging her.
"Eep!"
"Let's sleep... a little... more,"
"We have to get up and take a walk."
"Mm... should we...?"
"Yeah!"
With Da-yeon mumbling in my arms, I stretched and got up.
"Haaah-ahhm."
Beside me, Da-yeon copied my stretching pose.
After we washed up together and dried each other's hair, we changed clothes and headed outside.
The moment we moved, a butler attached himself to us as naturally as if he'd been behind us from the very beginning.
"Take it easy, please."
"Thank you. But it is my job, you know?"
Watching Da-yeon converse with a smile, I asked the butler,
"What's Grandpa doing?"
"The Chairman is by the pond every morning."
At the news that Lee Gi-seok was at the pond, Da-yeon and I did a U-turn on the spot and headed for the pond.
Lee Gi-seok was in conversation with Kim Seon-hwa.
When he noticed us, he waved cheerfully.
Even with the palace-like atmosphere, mercifully, I didn't seem to hear anything like 'you must uphold your dignity, I, lowly so-and-so.'
"Good morning~"
"Yes, did you sleep comfortably?"
"Of course!"
At Da-yeon's reply, I just nodded.
Then I spotted the special feed container for the koi, scooped up some feed with the scoop resting inside, and scattered it—swish.
"I'm hungry."
"Oh... look at the time already..."
Lee Gi-seok pressed a button on the chair.
So damn ostentatious.
If that sort of thing gets popularized, people will all just get fat and be done for.
Even so... that button... honestly, I kind of badly want to press it.
Lee Gi-seok's eyes sparkled as he watched Da-yeon and me together.
"You two look exactly like sisters."
Da-yeon had a slightly longer short cut, while my hair came down to my upper chest.
Our features weren't similar, but even so, we often heard we looked like sisters.
And I was always the younger one...
We chatted for a long while in front of the pond, and then we all went back to the house together.
Still, compared to all the excessive things that happen here, the food is at least relatively normal.
As I was eating, Kim Seon-hwa placed a rolled omelet on top of my rice.
Lee Gi-seok watched me swallow the food in my mouth and immediately shovel in more rice, a satisfied smile on his face.
"So, I didn't get an answer yesterday, did I?"
"What, Mr. Jeong-yeon?"
"Father-in-law!"
Lee Gi-seok grinned as he glanced at Kim Seon-hwa.
I looked at Lee Gi-seok and flashed a beaming smile.
"Hmm, I haven't even received a confession, but it seems like he'll get rejected—that makes me feel a bit sorry."
"".....""
"So, let's think it over once I'm a little older."
Before long, the school trip season approached, and we went on our school trip—to France.
France, when not a single person among us could speak French...
Thankfully, the little studying I'd done because they at least said we were traveling came in handy.
Paris, which ended up being dirtier and more dangerous than expected...
If I hadn't studied French even for that short time, dozens of those scam artists' bracelets would have been tied onto my wrist.
Well, not my wrist so much as Park Ji-hoon's—the guy who kept plucking at the very end of the word 'moron,' just purely delighted whenever foreigners struck up conversation.
The days passed without anything particularly special, and the athletics meet drew near.
Perhaps thanks to the stunts we pulled during our first year, a lot of rules had been changed for this athletics meet.
Even so, there was no change in the 'monopolization' of points anyway.
And this time in soccer too, Kim Tae-oh and Park Ji-hoon showed perfect teamwork.
The female students were scared of me, thanks to a rumor going around that I'd beaten up some third-year thug student back in my first year.
While I was puzzling over what kind of absurd rumor this was, the day I'd run into those third-years while looking for Da-yeon came back to me.
It was almost exactly the same as the first-year athletics meet, but there was one thing different from the past.
Back then, I had secretly swiped Dad's sunglasses; now, I had my very own women's sunglasses, a matching pair with Dad.
The difference between last year's athletics meet and this year's was, really, just about that.
Da-yeon had grown even bigger than me now...
The height difference was such that I came up to just below Da-yeon's eyebrows.
This is... more a case of Da-yeon being big than me being small.
I decided to think of it that way.
While I was working out at home, Dad looked over at me.
"Si-yoon..."
"Yeah?"
"Isn't that a bit too much?"
As soon as my growth slowed, I'd been exercising to match my weight class.
Clearly defined abs on a sweat-dampened, milky-white stomach.
"Why?"
I was twisting my waist while holding a yoga pose—a straight handstand with my elbows on the floor.
Dad shook his head at the fine muscles standing out on my arms and back, my milky-white skin tensed.
"Shall I switch to being fully ripped?"
"...Don't."
"I don't... ngh. I'm not thinking of going that far either."
My body adapts seriously fast.
Normally, for a body that hasn't exercised, it's standard to be sore the next day.
But for me, rest just a little and I was zipping right back to full energy.
Da-yeon, too, would routinely be horrified when she saw me working out.
I put on some skin-tight skinny jeans and looked in the mirror.
Look at that.
Long, straight legs that look thin at a glance because of my wide pelvis, then a plump, full hip, and a sharply nipped-in waist.
I'm wearing Under Armour, so my arms look a bit thick, but that's only because I'd been going a little too hard just now.
My already small face makes my straight shoulders look wide, too, but
that's only relative—even next to Dad alone, they look just right.
And... above all, a chest that proudly asserts its presence with every movement!
Even wearing a compression-style sports Under Armour top, hm...
What... hardship I went through to achieve this... plumpness...
And I'm still only 15.
Hoo hoo hoo hoot...
Mother, I give thanks that, at least for the chest, you yielded to Dad's genes.
Through steady exercise and growth, my weight reached 54 kg.
"Huh... Dad!!!"
"What?"
"Look at this!"
I ran over to Dad and shook my springy butt, then spotted Dad holding a flyswatter and fled.
After Dad had calmed down, I pulled on just a short-sleeved dress shirt on top without taking off the skinny jeans.
I left the buttons undone, and thanks to the black Under Armour, the chest that carries my soul settled itself prettily into place.
Then I tucked the shirt into the skinny jeans and, while looking in the mirror, let out sounds of admiration all by myself.
To finish up, because of my small height, I tried on heels at home, trying to get used to them.
I've got a good sense of balance, but it's tougher than I thought.
Somehow, high heels are harder to find your center in than jumping boots.
I walked—click-clack, click-clack—across the marble living room, and Dad looked at me and said,
"Your legs are insanely long already as it is—doing that makes them creepy."
".....They are not."
I went to the mirror to check, and more than two-thirds of my body was just legs.
"....."
Especially when I looked in the lying-down mirror, just as Dad said, they were creepy.
In the end, I went into Mom's room and put on a pair of white sneakers with air cushions.
"Hey! Those aren't for wearing! They're a collection piece!"
"I don't have a hobby of collecting shoes like Dad, you know."
"They're a limited edition... those..."
"Is me wearing them a waste?"
"...No, it's not... Come to think of it, high heels... suit..."
"...?"
"Sorry."
Dad looked at my expression, dithered around helplessly, and finally apologized.
When I scuffed the floor in the new sneakers, a friction sound rang out—squeak!—and Dad's pupils dilated.
"No!! Don't do that! Carefully..."
Dad looked at my face and froze.
As I stepped closer, he panicked.
"No... that's not what I meant."
"Are the sneakers too precious or what..."
I scuffed the floor again. Squeak! Squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak!
Dad shut his eyes tight, then sighed and said,
"Ugh... if it's for... for my daughter... I can... give anything..."
I shut my eyes tight and watched Dad head into his workroom.
Then, wearing the sneakers, I took some pictures and sat down on the sofa.
I'd only grabbed any old sneakers from Mom's room and put them on; I couldn't understand why he was making such a fuss, so I looked up the paper that had been inside the shoe case alongside them.
Huh...
I just smoothly, carefully took the shoes off, packed them back up nicely, and placed them back.
Praying that the price hasn't dropped because I scuffed them on the floor just twice... okay, kind of excessively just twice.
My bad for looking down on Dad for collecting a few shoes.
If I had been Dad, I would've thought it was a waste too...
I went into the collection room, the one that held Dad's hobby, and checked the prices of the shoes.
Especially the ones in the glass case...
I'd been curious about them since they even had a light shining on them.
So I looked them up and nodded.
I'd only ever said "they name the price" back in the Maple Leaf game, but here, one pair costs as much as a supercar...
My dad was pouring his excess cash into this kind of thing.