CHAPTER 76

Siyeon held Ijun’s hand and went down to the first floor. After changing into indoor clothes, he quickly washed up and sat at the dining table. He postponed taking a shower later, worrying that Siyeon would wait for a long time at the dining table. Ijun sent the maids home early and had a meal with Siyeon.

“I went to the hospital at lunch today and saw this year’s award-winning play.”

“Did Grandma come to the hospital?”

“The whole family showed up.”

He said as he put some grilled fish on her spoon.

“It must have been noisy at the hospital.”

“I learned for the first time today that if people feel are too embarrassed, they could die.”

“Were you there alone?”

“Grandfather also made an appearance.”

“Is your grandfather okay?”

Siyeon’s eyes widened. Then Ijun gestured as if telling her to eat first. After she put the food in her mouth and chewed, he spoke again.

“He seemed okay, but… Father said he would watch over and take care of him for today.”

“Who is he taking care of?”

“Grandfather.”

“Was it that serious? What exactly happened?”

Siyeon furrowed her brows with concern. With Grandmother, her parents from Ichon-dong, and Eunhye all showing up, she could imagine how the situation must have been without even seeing it.

“I learned from someone and recorded the whole thing from start to finish.”

“So, did Eunhye meet Gwihyeon?”

“Before that, the laptop password.”

“What are you doing now?”

“If you’re curious about this drama, I’m asking you to let me watch the preview first.”

Siyeon picked up a side dish with a surprised look in her eyes.

“I’m not curious.”

“Honestly, you are curious. So, let’s exchange our passwords fairly.”

“What would I do with your phone password?”

“Well, it’s got to be useful somewhere, right?”

“No, it won’t.”

“This woman is really firm.”

Ijun said, putting down his food and staring intently at Siyeon with a serious expression.

“And I also have the recording files. Half of them are even videos.”

However, Siyeon’s reaction remained unyielding.

“There are only two characters in that drama, but I have evidence that Gwihyeon’s memory has returned.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“If Professor Kim knows this, he would definitely covet it. They were planning to push for marriage as soon as his memory returned. Because of that, my brother will probably try to hide the fact that his memory has returned for the rest of his life.”

“Hmm…”

Siyeon, who had been thinking for a moment, began to play with her chopsticks diligently again

“What did you just… do?”

“I remembered receiving a call from my mother earlier.”

“You’re not planning to pass that information on, are you?”

“Eunhye came to the factory looking for Father, crying. Father took her home. Eunhye cried and begged my parents to talk to you for a few hours.

Ijun narrowed his eyes and stared at Siyeon.

“I sometimes thought that the affection nurtured by a mother was stronger than blood. But it’s not the same with Ichon-dong Mother… So the conclusion is, I’m not very popular as a daughter.”

Admitting it made her feel relieved. She wasn’t the type of daughter her parents preferred.

“I’m different from my brother for my mother. My mother didn’t give birth to my brother, but she raised him as if he were her own child, you know that as well as I do.”

Siyeon nodded her head. From when she was young until now, she had seen and felt that Ijun’s mother adored her eldest son, Gwihyeon, very much. Not only his mother but the whole Suwon family felt the same way.

“Have you ever wondered why I wanted to go to the United States as soon as I graduated from high school?”

“…To show off?”

Ijun gave her a hard look at her joke and then relaxed.

“There has always been an implicit standard set in our house since I was young. As the younger sibling, I shouldn’t be better than my brother, Gwihyeon. He’s going to be the precious 18th-generation heir, so I understand that, but sometimes it’s hard to accept. How can I not be better at everything? Deliberately pretending not to be good, pretending to lose, it’s okay a couple of times, but it gets hard if it continues.”

Siyeon listened attentively to his words. She didn’t know that such stories were hidden in Ijun’s past, whom she had only known as a troublemaker.

 “I could never do anything better than my brother, so Grandfather only taught him Baduk. When they sat face to face playing Baduk, I would crouch under the floor, digging in the dirt.”

Ijun said, seeming a little melancholic. It seemed like he wished he had done better when he was younger.

“Weren’t you good at Baduk? You seemed to be good when you played with Father.”

“It annoyed me, so I taught myself. It’s not like there was no one else to learn from other than Grandfather. And I kept pestering my brother to play Baduk with me until he reluctantly agreed and I finally won. Oh, the thrill of that moment. But then I got scolded by Mom when she found out later, saying I cheated when I won playing Baduk with my brother.”

“It was unfortunate for both of you.”

Listening to Ijun’s words, Siyeon understood the inferiority complex Gwihyeon had toward his younger brother. She felt she could somewhat understand the reason why he was so wary of Ijun. The jealousy towards a younger brother who was superior to himself, as the heir, must have been significant.

“Still, I tried to live with a rough understanding, but then you, Kim Siyeon, showed up.”

He said meaningfully. Siyeon’s cheeks flushed slightly, but she acted as if nothing had happened.

“And then?”

“Anything that my brother didn’t like or didn’t need always became mine. But even though he didn’t like it, and even though I liked it, it was always his. I couldn’t understand that at all. Even the young you would run away when you saw me.”

“Here, have this.”

Siyeon timely placed a piece of grilled meat on his plate and smiled.

“I’m not the talented one, so Kim Siyeon is not good enough for me and nothing works out… So yeah. Instead of enduring such humiliation, I decided to leave Korea. But then you walked up to me and said something.”

“Hmm…”

Siyeon avoided Ijun’s eyes and ate her food. She knew what he was going to say next.

“It’s not just Gwihyeon who’s the only man in the Seorae Jeong family.”

It was exactly what she expected. From then on, it was a story she knew well. Siyeon admitted that her capricious words had shaken his life and reflected on the fact that she had accepted his serious and heavy heart lightly.

“Earlier, on the rooftop… I’ll accept your apology. And, I’m sorry too, Ijun. For hurting you in the past.”

Saying so, she carefully placed a slice of fish on Ijun’s rice. He always seemed confident and full of energy, but that wasn’t true. Siyeon felt like she had peered deeply into his inner self, something she hadn’t seen before.

As he happily put the fish-topped rice into his mouth, he asked,

“So, what are we going to do about the recording files?”

“I don’t know. Half and half.”

“Half and half?”

“Half because I want to lighten my burden on my parents’ hearts, and half because I want to leave Eunhye alone.”

“What burden do you have to bear?”

Ijun furrowed his brow slightly.

“I want to feel comfortable knowing I’ve done my best regardless of my parents’ affection. The same goes for Ichon-dong parents. But still, after being raised by them for over 20 years, I feel like I should do something in return, even if it’s just one thing. If all I leave them with after raising me is suffering, then that’s discomforting in its own way.”

“I’ve liked you for over 20 years.”

“So, will you tell me the password?”

“No, don’t tell me. I’ll find out on my own with my own efforts.”

She chuckled at his strong refusal. It was clear he was interpreting “with my own efforts” in his own way.

The dinner scene naturally fell into place as they divided their roles. While Siyeon cleared the table and organized the side dishes, Ijun rolled up his sleeves and began washing the dishes. It was fascinating to see him in this new light.

“Surely it’s not your first time doing dishes, right?”

Still, he was a young master raised in a large family and a chaebol household.

“At our house, avoiding dishes was mainly the eldest son’s privilege.”

As the second son, he grew up with water on his hands, so the rolled-up sleeves as he washed the dishes and the way he put them in the dryer seemed very natural

“Wasn’t it hard for your mother, being the only daughter-in-law?”

“Did my mother look like she had a hard time?”

“No.”

Siyeon shook her head. She had never felt that his mother was particularly struggling when she visited the Suwon house.

“But even so, with several ancestral rites a year and many relatives, how can you say she didn’t feel tired doing it all alone?”

“She’s not doing it alone though? Several household helpers are working at home. Of course, my mother oversees everything, but she doesn’t get her hands wet or run around sweating like the helpers do. You can think of it as similar to the life of my grandfather, who only orders everyone around.”

“Then why did you mention washing dishes to me? You said I’d have to wash dozens of jars every day until I die.”

Feeling somewhat deceived, Siyeon snapped. Still, as the daughter-in-law of a wealthy family, she always felt uncomfortable and burdened.

“You won’t. If it’s sunny, you have to open the lids, and if it rains, you have to rush to close them. But why would you think that my mother did that alone?”

“Then who else would have done it?”

“I washed half of those jars. When you think about it, being born as the youngest son of a wealthy family was quite a struggle for me.”

“Why?”

He answered as he put the dishes into the drying rack.

“Every time I got into trouble, Mother made me wash them as punishment. So even now, I remember what’s in each row and column of our jar shelves at home. I can tell by the color and smell whether the sauce was made this year or if it’s an old batch.”

“It feels like hearing the backstory of a successful CEO.”

“Baekya Foods started by selling chili paste, soybean paste, and soy sauce. That’s why our jars at home are special. Soy sauce that’s been fermented for decades is almost like a treasure.”

Siyeon nodded in understanding. She had thought the jars were there simply because it was a tradition for a household, but there was a deeper meaning behind it due to Baekya Foods’ beginnings.

“I’d like to see it when I visit Suwon. I’ve never seen it up close, so I’m curious.”

“Then let’s go when it’s time to make sauces. Let’s make a Choi Siyeon soy sauce jar.”

“Do you have a soy sauce jar too, Ijun?”

“Of course. There’s a soy sauce jar on the shelves that’s been there for 29 years.”

“Sounds great. It’s like planting a tree when a child is born.”

Having a soy sauce jar the same age as themselves. She looked at Jun, who was doing the dishes, with envy. It was when the two of them met eyes and smiled at each other.

The doorbell rang. They exchanged curious glances before Ijun wiped his hands on a dry towel and went to the living room.