Feeling that important words were about to come from her grandmother, Ga Eul probed further.

“Did Chairman Oh give us something and then take it back?”

“No, during your father’s time… It wasn’t exactly giving and taking back…”

“But something similar happened?”

Ga Eul guessed what her grandmother was about to say. Probably about Chairman Oh planning to invest in her father’s company but changing his mind.

“When your father’s business was struggling, Chairman Oh called him. After asking about the situation in detail, he said he would acquire your father’s company. He told your father to continue as CEO and grow the company. I can’t forget how happy your father looked when he told me about it.”

Ga Eul already knew that much. Still, she pretended not to know and asked.

“And then? What happened next?”

“People from Pyeongan Group came to thoroughly investigate your father’s company, saying they were going through the acquisition process. But a few months later, we got a call saying it was all off. The chairman apparently cursed at your father, calling him a con man and telling him to never show his face again.”

It was still a painful story, no matter how much time had passed. Grandmother finally shed tears.

“Your father started drowning himself in alcohol after that. He passed away not long after.”

Though regretting bringing up her father, Ga Eul couldn’t contain her curiosity. Another person had appeared to criticize her father. It hadn’t been long since she proved her father hadn’t lied to President Ki Dae Un’s father.

Just when it seemed a path to approach the president had opened up with her father’s innocence revealed, that path was now blocked. She had to turn back again. How many more detours before she could approach the president with dignity?

With an impatient heart, Ga Eul asked.

“What did father do wrong?”

“I don’t know. Your father never told me till the end. Myeong Hun seemed unable to bear the insults he was receiving. Chairman Oh said all sorts of terrible things, calling him untrustworthy, without conscience, saying he would have cheated his own daughter if they hadn’t cut ties.”

What could have happened? Not only did Chairman Oh withdraw his investment promise, but he also severely insulted her father.

Ga Eul believed her father wasn’t the kind of conscienceless person to deserve such insults. However, people criticizing her father were appearing one after another.

Her head became complicated. Ga Eul quickly shook her head. To clear her mind completely. This was a vacation spot. Now was the time to have fun.

Not the time to worry. It hadn’t even been a day since she became a building owner in Gangnam. It wasn’t time to worry about Chairman Oh asking for the building back.

* * *

Events unfolded that made it impossible to end the vacation after just one night.

Early the next morning, Sung Mok’s parents came to pick up their son. The problem was that Sung Mok refused to go back with them. So they decided to take a few days off for a family healing time.

The frugal-minded Ga Eul and her grandmother decided to use the rented penthouse most efficiently. So they gave one wing of the penthouse to Sung Mok’s family, who couldn’t find a room.

The one hit by a bolt from the blue was Ki Dae Un.

“How can this be? What about my privacy? Doesn’t my privacy deserve protection?”

Ga Eul maturely persuaded the resistant Ki Dae Un.

“I’ll let you use this entire floor alone, sir. Then it’s no different from staying in the other wing. In the other wing, Gyeo Ul and Sung Mok were on the first floor, and on this side, our three family members will stay on the first floor.”

“The number of people is different. The number of people. What’s one more person? I’m not used to sharing a house with others because I was raised preciously.”

Dae Un protested desperately. He had trouble sleeping last night too. Even though he couldn’t hear the sounds of Gyeo Ul and Sung Mok staying on the floor below. Just knowing there were people on the floor below made him nervous.

He thought this wasn’t a trip but an endurance training. And now he has to stay with Ga Eul’s family, with Ga Eul staying on the floor below him, that’s torture.

“It’s not that you were raised preciously, but that you were raised lonely.”

Ga Eul said the right thing without knowing Dae Un’s feelings. Dae Un’s expression changed subtly at Ga Eul’s thoughtless words. He seemed to be mulling over what Ga Eul had said. In that moment, Ga Eul pushed on mercilessly.

“It’s noisy. It’s up to the person paying. And that person is me.”

Ga Eul relished the power of money and wielded her authority without mercy. However, Ga Eul didn’t get to enjoy that power for long.

Jung Se Hyun and Jung Mi O came down to the resort. They had clearly followed Ga Eul’s group. Se Hyun, who was also a director at Cheong Hae Construction, easily rented a wing of the penthouse, and hearing that, Dae Un barged into the second floor there without even asking.

Jung Mi O was set to stay at her father’s villa, separately arranged in a corner of the resort.

That’s how the room issue was settled, but the money issue still remained. That was quickly resolved too. Reading the worried expression on Ga Eul’s face, Se Hyun flashed a gentle smile and said.

“Ms. Ga Eul, you don’t need to worry about the accommodation fees.”

Feeling the warm breeze blowing from Se Hyun, Ga Eul’s loyalty shifted from the president to Se Hyun.

* * *

After a long conversation with Sung Mok, Yoo Sung Mok’s parents came to see Ga Eul’s family. They knelt before Ga Eul’s grandmother.

“I think I’ve been living very wrongly all this time. Sung Mok made me, an adult, realize that. After Gyeo Ul’s father passed away, I should have paid more attention, but I was too indifferent, making excuses about being busy. Please forgive me.”

“I think I was possessed by something all this time. I wasn’t in my right mind. What kind of children Ga Eul and Gyeo Ul are to me… What I did to those children who are like family… I have no face to show Ga Eul’s grandmother. Please forgive me.”

Sung Mok’s father bowed his head first, and Sung Mok’s mother followed suit. Only when Ga Eul’s grandmother got up from her seat to stop them did the two raise their bodies.

“I don’t blame Sung Mok’s father and mother. What right do I have to blame others when I put my son and daughter-in-law first? I always felt reassured having Sung Mok’s father and mother in our neighborhood. So don’t say things like asking for forgiveness.”

Watching from the side, Ga Eul thought her grandmother should still say at least one stern word to the two. So she was a bit dissatisfied.

As Sung Mok’s mother was about to leave after apologizing to Ga Eul’s family, she said to Ga Eul.

“Want to go for a short walk with me?”

Seeing that she seemed to have something to say to her, Ga Eul obediently followed Hong Su Jin. Hong Su Jin took Ga Eul to the resort’s walking trail. Hong Su Jin and Ga Eul walked in silence for a while. When they reached the gazebo at the top of the hill, Hong Su Jin spoke.

“Shall we sit there for a moment?”

Hong Su Jin and Ga Eul sat side by side in the gazebo.

Hong Su Jin first took Ga Eul’s hand.

“Ga Eul, you resented me a lot, right? I know too, that I’ve been less than human all this time. I really was possessed by something. Now that the scales have fallen from my eyes, I can see. I did so many terrible things to you and Gyeo Ul. I’m sorry. How could I do that to you two who are like family?”

“No, I understand. You did it because you wanted to raise Sung Mok well, right?”

As Ga Eul tried to gently pull her hand away, Hong Su Jin held it tighter.

“When I read the letter Sung Mok wrote before leaving, like a suicide note, everything went dark. As I went out to look for Sung Mok, all my past actions flashed before my eyes like a kaleidoscope. One of them was what I did to you two who lost your parents.”

Hong Su Jin started to choke up.

“Even I, an adult, feel like the sky is falling at the thought of losing my son, so how must it have been for you young ones? When I thought about what I did to you two who must have felt like the sky was falling after losing your parents, I felt so disgusted with myself as a human being that I wanted to die.”

Hong Su Jin’s choked voice turned into sobs.

“But please understand this one thing. My trying to separate Sung Mok and Gyeo Ul wasn’t because you became poor. At first, it was out of fear. Fear that your family’s misfortune would spread to our family. Because bad things kept happening to your family. Your mother, who was so healthy, suddenly passed away from cancer, your father’s business failed, and then your father…”

“…”

“I was anxious because Sung Mok was practically living at your house. From what I heard today, Sung Mok did that because he couldn’t leave Gyeo Ul alone. Really, aren’t adults worse than children?”

Tears falling from Hong Su Jin’s eyes dropped onto Ga Eul’s hand that she was holding. Unable to pull her hand away, Ga Eul stared blankly at those tears.

“After that, it happened because I only thought about Sung Mok’s future. There was so much to do while he was young. English and arts had to be finished in elementary school, in middle school he had to prepare for specialized high schools. In high school, he had to build up his specs for medical school admission.”

Ga Eul knew that too. She had seen Sung Mok accomplish all of that from the side.

“I made thorough plans for Sung Mok’s future and managed the child’s life according to those plans. Of course, including his friendships. I created groups of children who could be helpful to Sung Mok and made them do everything together. Naturally, Sung Mok and Gyeo Ul grew apart. I didn’t even need to separate them.”

“It’s not just you, auntie. There are many moms like that these days.”

Most of the mothers in the homes where Ga Eul went for tutoring lived like Hong Su Jin.

“I didn’t even realize the smile had disappeared from Sung Mok’s face. I only saw what I wanted to see. Funny, right? Not even knowing my son was getting sick. Living frantically trying to send a sick child to medical school. Not even hearing the child crying out in pain.”

Hong Su Jin let go of Ga Eul’s hand and wiped her tears with a handkerchief.

“The assault incident last time was deliberately done by Sung Mok, right? Sung Mok said that was the only way he thought he could escape from my constraints. I was crazy. Really crazy. How else could I have done that to you two if I wasn’t crazy? How am I going to face your mother later?”

“Sung Mok has grown up really well. Who would have known he’d become so mature when his nickname used to be ‘Troublemaker’ when he was young?”

Ga Eul changed the subject to stop Hong Su Jin from blaming herself.

“I was surprised too when I talked with Sung Mok this time. I always saw him as a child, but I didn’t know he had such deep thoughts. Sung Mok said he gave up going to science high school because of Gyeo Ul. His insistence on going to a regular high school was because he wanted to stay close and watch over Gyeo Ul.”

Tears welled up in Ga Eul’s eyes. At this part, even Ga Eul couldn’t help but feel moved. I guess I can’t call him ‘Troublemaker’ anymore, Ga Eul thought as she wiped her tears.