“Having fun?”

Ji Wan asked the woman who kept giggling as they left the grocery section.

“…I’ve always wanted to do this. Go grocery shopping with my husband after marriage, sample foods. You know, there’s always a scene like this in dramas.”

He kept to himself the question of why she wanted to do such a thing.

He didn’t want to take away the joy on Do Eum’s face.

Even if he had asked, he knew he could never understand someone who willingly wastes time on unnecessary things unless absolutely needed.

“This is our first date gift.”

Do Eum showed him a small pouch-shaped keychain in her hand.

“Since you probably won’t carry it around if I tell you to, I’ll hang it here.”

Do Eum hung the small pouch on the front of the passenger seat inside the car, looking satisfied.

Thirty-four years old.

The woman didn’t know that it was the first time in his life he had personally pushed a shopping cart, or eaten street food standing up without even sitting down properly.

Just that night.

Do Eum was simply happy and joyful about the market outing with her husband, which would end in a year.

*****

The scent of tea leaves filled the room.

As soon as the tea room hostess emptied three cups and filled proper cups, Lady Jang Ho Muk surveyed Seo Hyeon and Ki Hyeok kneeling across from her.

“You seem destined for greatness, making a mess in various ways.”

It hadn’t been long since the recruitment scandal at Bando Electronics broke, and the root of the problem was receiving a call from Chairman Jin reporting his son-in-law’s misconduct.

“Not only miserable womanizing, but also aiming for your father-in-law’s hotel. Even a dog raised in the backyard wouldn’t do such a thing, bringing shame to Bando like Director Seo.”

“I apologize.”

“Aren’t you tired of saying that?”

When illegal entertainment venue visits and unfair orders to chauffeurs outside work hours escalated into power abuse allegations, Chairman Jang’s anger towards Ki Hyeok was considerable.

“You know, Grandmother. There’s no one without flaws when people are burning with desire to take me down, and no one who doesn’t get a scratch when you dig deep enough.”

“Tsk tsk, what an inadequate human being.”

Chairman Jang’s gaze shifted to Seo Hyeon, who was sitting up straight and bringing the teacup to her lips.

“And what do you do? When a husband can’t settle at home and wanders outside, the reason is usually inside the house. What kind of person are you to not be able to hold onto a man’s heart after two years of marriage?”

“It’s my fault.”

“I’ve said this many times, but we didn’t bring you into the family to give wings to the eldest. Just a decent person who could firmly hold the man’s heart while he works outside, that’s all. How dare you raise your voice before me, hiding behind your father!”

“…I’m sorry.”

Seo Hyeon silently put down her teacup and lowered her head.

If she could stand at the top of the Bando family, this level of humiliation was nothing.

Although Jin Han was insignificant compared to Bando in terms of scale and asset value, as soon as they married, her father Chairman Jin acted as if Jin Han had risen to the same level as Bando.

It was also her father who instilled ambition to take over Bando by putting his daughter forward.

There was no way Chairman Jin, who prioritized immediate benefits over his children, would have contacted Chairman Jang for her sake…

“We’ve decided on Jin Han E&C for the civil engineering of Jeju Dion Land, so be aware of that.”

‘Of course. He’s not the kind of father to step up for his daughter without wanting anything in return.’

The tea that had been going down smoothly felt scratchy, as if clawing her throat.

“Tell him using his child like this once is enough.”

At Chairman Jang’s rebuke, Seo Hyeon closed her eyes deeply and opened them again.

“Yes, I will do that.”

It was a considerable concession from Chairman Jang, who didn’t use personal connections for public matters.

She was the type of person who would store up this humiliation to sharpen and shoot in all directions someday.

Swish.

The sliding door, which had been diligently oiled each time, opened silently.

“You’ve come.”

At Chairman Jang’s voice, lowered by a tone, Seo Hyeon and Ki Hyeok turned around simultaneously.

“You called for me, Grandmother.”

It was Do Eum, standing in a white silk collar and black dress.

The woman bowed slightly towards the Ki Hyeok couple, whom she had only briefly seen at the wedding.

“The talk is over, so you two may leave now.”

Do Eum shrank her shoulders at Seo Hyeon’s fierce gaze, as if asking why she was here.

Since Ji Wan rarely visited Anseodong, Seo Hyeon calculated that if Do Eum had started coming and going, she must have a goal in mind.

It was clearly a look of warning.

“Grandmother!”

Ki Hyeok’s voice calling Chairman Jang was more desperate and urgent than ever,

“I said leave!”

As if she had anticipated this, Chairman Jang bellowed.

It was clearly Chairman Jang’s plan to send someone to Hwaandong to bring Do Eum at the same time she called for the two.

It was to give tension to Ki Hyeok, who was arrogant that Bando would be his, and a kind of threat to Seo Hyeon, who dared to involve her father in Bando’s affairs.

“No, I’ll get up. Let’s go for a walk outside, I was feeling stuffy anyway.”

As Lady Jang Ho Muk stood up, leaving behind the two pale-faced people, Do Eum silently followed her.

*****

It was a marathon four-hour meeting.

The ‘Lake Green City’ complex new town planned in Hanoi, the capital of northern Vietnam, was a high-end district targeting the upper class, and began to accelerate progress as some commercial facilities and government offices confirmed their relocation.

“My goal is from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city, to the ‘Second Lake Green City’. So you must perfectly prepare for the Global Infrastructure Conference to be held in Korea at the end of next month.”

As soon as the existing tasks were resolved, Ji Wan threw out a new task and left the conference room, with Woo Seok hastily chasing after him.

“The madam has gone to Anseodong.”

The sound of dress shoes crossing the marble corridor suddenly stopped.

“Why did she go there?”

“The elder Chairman called for her. It seems he sent a driver directly to Hwaandong.”

Haa.

He could already imagine how much the small woman would tremble before the stubborn old lady.

It was like that even on the first day she went in with him, let alone alone and so suddenly.

“Have the car ready, let’s go to Anseodong.”

The sound of dress shoes crossing the marble corridor quickened, as if reflecting the man’s mind, which rarely tensed up.

*****

It was a birch forest path.

The densely packed white bark and green leaves covering the sky reminded her of the days when she took a leave of absence from school and worked as a housekeeper in a wealthy neighborhood.

The pay was high, but everyone avoided the house because the elderly homeowner’s personality was extraordinary.

The former chairman, a displaced person from the North, had established a cement company and passed it on to his three sons before retiring from the frontline. Due to his single-minded and stubborn personality, the former chairman’s only companion was Do Eum, the housekeeper, as no one else visited him.

The former chairman’s backyard, which was well over 100 pyeong, was just like this.

Unlike the evergreen pine trees, walking through the white-barked birch trees with a wheelchair made one feel as if they had come to a different world.

After calling her, he had been walking silently for several minutes.

“In the mountain house, the ridge beam, pillars, and door frames are all birch. At night, even the mountain where foxes bark is birch.”

Afraid of the eerily quiet stillness, Do Eum recited a poem that the former chairman liked.

It was Baek Seok’s , which she had memorized because the old man recited it so often.

“The firewood used to boil that delicious buckwheat noodles is also birch.”

Rustle, rustle.

The sound of Lady Jang Ho Muk’s gentle steps and her hanbok brushing against each other grew closer, and beyond her slightly roughened breathing, a calm voice continued.

“…And the sweet spring that flows like nectar is also birch. This mountain village, where they say you can see Pyeongan-do land beyond the mountain, is all birch.”

Only after Chairman Jang finished reciting the rest of the poem following her did the distance between the two in the birch forest path narrow.

“Did you know whose writing it was when you recited it?”

“I believe it’s ‘Birch Tree’ by poet Baek Seok.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

For a while, the old woman was silent again.

“Not bad.”

Even at that age, she never bent her back and her steps were neat everywhere.

“Poet Baek Seok’s hometown was Pyeongan-do. The elderly person I served before was also from the North. Until he passed away, he loved this poem solely out of longing for his parents in the North.”

Through the gaps where the thick leaves couldn’t fully cover the sky, dazzling light poured down.

“Was that old man’s hometown also Hamgyeong-do.”

Birch trees, which generally grow in cold regions with high latitudes, are mainly native to the Hamgyeong-do area in our country.

Chairman Jang’s voice continued as if talking to herself.

“My hometown is like that too.”

Do Eum had thoroughly read Chairman Jang’s biography given by Woo Seok, but there was no mention of her hometown.

That’s because the biography mostly started with Chairman Jang’s early days of starting a small shopping center and raising Bando alone after losing her husband early.

Nodding at this newly learned fact, Do Eum inclined her head.

Just then, she saw a man striding across the birch forest path in the distance.

“…You’re later than I expected.”

Chairman Jang stood with her hands behind her back, gazing at Ji Wan who was hurriedly coming up.

It was a strange thing.

The old woman, whom she had never seen say a warm word before, looked at the man with strangely warm eyes.

“…Did you call for me?”

Ji Wan buttoned his suit jacket and stood before Chairman Jang, trying to calm his hurried breathing.

“Director Han said that. That I called for you?”

That question was inevitably saying, “It was your wife I called for, not you.”

If he answered yes, Woo Seok would be scolded, and if he said no, it would be admitting that the reason he hurried here was because of the woman, so Ji Wan simply swallowed his answer.

His eyes scanned Do Eum, who was standing a couple of steps away.

Checking if she was hurt anywhere, or if she had been crying.

“Or did she tell on me on the way here? Why, afraid I might eat her up?”

As Chairman Jang turned her gaze and asked Do Eum, Ji Wan took a step closer.

“No, that’s not it…”

Judging by the beads of sweat on his neatly combed forehead, he seemed uncharacteristically anxious.

“That’s enough. Do you think I don’t know about that capable person Director Seo is holding onto?”

Chairman Jang’s eyes gestured towards Woo Seok, standing at the entrance of the forest.

As Woo Seok bowed deeply to the old woman, a smile briefly appeared on her wrinkled eyes.

“That’s all, take her with you now. I’ve done my part.”

With those words, Chairman Jang turned around.

It was a puzzling statement.

The woman, not knowing that her role was simply to appear in front of Ki Hyeok and Seo Hyeon, just tilted her head in confusion.

“Let’s go down now.”

As soon as Chairman Jang’s figure disappeared after leaving the birch forest path, Ji Wan turned around without hesitation.

“Just a moment.”

Do Eum took out a bright yellow handkerchief from her small cross-body bag.

Stepping right up to Ji Wan’s face, Do Eum casually wiped his wet forehead as if it were nothing.

The man, who stood still receiving the touch that wiped his forehead without hesitation, finally lowered his eyes and examined the woman closely.

“…Did she make you cry?”