152 – 147. Family
When I used to live in this house, I didn’t think much of the sauna.
It was just a given that I would go in there often to relax my body and relieve my fatigue.
After living away from home for a year, I realized how blessed it was to have a bathroom and sauna at home.
“Kuh-hwaaa! This is refreshing!”
My younger brother was in the hot water, exclaiming that it was refreshing.
I never used to feel that way, but my younger brother had gained more weight and he really looked like an old man.
“You need to manage your weight.”
My older brother must have thought the same thing, as he frowned and stepped into the bath.
My older brother is probably quite busy with his role as vice president, but his body is surprisingly fit and healthy.
Seeing that he was in much better shape than me, who had been doing home workouts every day, I wondered if he was getting personal training.
“Manage what. My girlfriend likes men who are like bears. That’s why I’m intentionally gaining weight.”
“You’re not a bear, you’re just a pig.”
“Sigh, my girlfriend loves touching my belly. Anyway, you just don’t have any sense, hyung.”
“Ha.”
Thinking that the conversation was going nowhere, my older brother closed his eyes tightly and soaked his body in the bath.
I also stepped into the bath, and as my fatigue melted away in the hot water, I felt my complicated mind relax a little.
As I soaked my body in the hot water, my younger brother spoke first.
“What did you talk about with Dad? Did you fight about Yoon-ji?”
“……Yes.”
“Anyway, Dad is so old-fashioned. I understand that he’s worried about Yoon-ji’s father, but still, what’s wrong with her?”
My younger brother grumbled, waving his hands.
Since he works with Yoon-ji, he seems to know a lot about her situation.
“He can’t help but worry.”
However, my older brother countered.
“It’s not just a simple family, it’s the son of a company president. As a father and president, he naturally can’t have any flaws.”
“What does that matter? He’s going to marry someone he loves.”
“It’s not a position where you can act on your personal desires. Every move we make can affect the families of the people in the company.”
“You’re thinking too complicatedly.”
My younger brother muttered, hitting his forehead, but my older brother didn’t seem to want to convince him.
“So what are you going to do?”
“…….”
“I heard that you’re also involved with other girls besides Yoon-ji.”
“That’s right, I heard it’s about three? Is it a problem that our youngest is so popular? Right?”
“Ha.”
As I listened to my brothers, my head became complicated again.
“I have to decide.”
But the answer was obvious.
I had to choose one person.
That was the right thing to do.
I covered my face with my hands and thought, and suddenly, I looked up at my older brother.
“You had a lot of girlfriends in college, too.”
“Kiyaa! My brother was so cool. Unlike me, girls just kept coming to him.”
“Because everyone knew I was the president’s son.”
Unlike me, my older brother went to college already knowing that he was the president’s son.
Maybe that’s why the look of regret on his face bothered me so much.
“Why did you choose your wife?”
My older brother answered my question bluntly.
“I thought she would be the most helpful to the company.”
“…….”
“Holy crap.”
It was like my older brother, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for his wife.”That’s why I chose her, and she knows it. Because the company was everything to me.”
I wondered how my older brother dated women, and it felt like this.
As the atmosphere became a little down, my younger brother immediately stepped in.
“I acted as my heart told me to. When I first saw her on the broadcast, I just felt it. Ah, I want to marry this woman!”
“……”
“So I tried to approach her somehow. I racked my brains and naturally became close to her, and in the end, I was able to win her over with my charm.”
My younger brother’s girlfriend was an internet broadcaster. She was also quite famous.
I heard that the business was also structured around her.
It was complicated.
The two of them were in such contrasting situations that it didn’t seem like they would be of much help to me in making a decision.
“Woojin-ah.”
My older brother called me then.
My older brother was always serious, but his seriousness was subtly different now. The kindness I felt in his voice as he called my name.
It was as if he wasn’t the vice president who was working hard, but the one from my childhood who didn’t know anything… the tone of voice that was full of consideration.
“Unnie and I made different choices.”
“……”
“We made opposite choices, but our results can be seen as the same.”
“hahahahaha! I didn’t know you would say something like that, hyung.”
My younger brother laughed, but he didn’t deny it.
“In the end, we made those choices because we were looking for our own happiness, and we achieved it.”
“Ah, my girlfriend and I are living happily.”
“……”
It had been a long time.
My brothers.
A moment when they felt trustworthy.
“You’ll be the same as us.”
His smile, which was gradually forming, was filled with faith.
“I believe you’ll do well.”
My heart felt heavy. But at the same time, I wondered if it was right to be trusted.
“What if I can’t?”
I had no choice but to ask back.
“I couldn’t refute anything my father said.”
He only said that I was trash, but I had never really thought about the weight of my actions.
I knew I had to, but I didn’t want to think deeply about it.
Because I was comfortable with the current situation.
“As my father said, I am selfish and greedy.”
The hardest thing was that it was proven that I was such a person.
Of course, I hated myself, but because of my guilt, I felt like I wanted to cut off all ties and run away.
My younger brother pointed at me with his finger like he was shooting a gun, and smiled.
“You have a sense of humor.”
“What?”
I wondered what he was talking about out of the blue, but my younger brother continued to speak.
“The kid is secretly loyal. He tries to take advantage of it, but he doesn’t go too far.”
“……”
“He also has a sense of justice. It’s average, but there are many people who don’t have it.”
“……”
“I don’t have a good way with words, so I can’t speak well.”
My younger brother turned his gaze to my older brother. My older brother coughed once and sighed before answering.
“He knows how to protect the people he cares about.”
“……”
“Because of that, he often sacrifices himself. As a brother, it doesn’t look good… but that’s your strength.”
“Well, what do you want to say? Are you trying to comfort me by saying I’m a good guy?”
“You’re not a great guy.””You can’t just be a good guy.”
I frowned involuntarily at the two people who were making such a definitive statement. When I asked them what they meant, they said,
“But you can’t just be a bad guy either.”
“….”
“There are no one-dimensional people, Woojin.”
I thought I could vaguely see my older brother smiling.
“If you really were the kind of person Father said you were, the only kind of person you were… Me and Wooni wouldn’t be comforting you like this.”
And then.
“And the other kids wouldn’t have liked you either.”
My brothers didn’t say anything more to me after that. They just closed their mouths and gave me time to think.
And thanks to that.
Thanks to that brief moment of positivity about me as a person.
My mind was a little more at ease.
* * *
After I finished washing up, we ate dinner together.
Father joined us, but unlike when he had spoken to me earlier.
He left with just a brief smile and a single word.
‘It’s been a while since we’ve all eaten together.’
I knew what he meant. Father had his own way of doing things.
I thought about going back to the dorms, but I decided to just stay here for the night.
Before I went into the room I used to use, Mother came to see me.
“Is it okay if we don’t sleep together? You’re not going to cry, are you?”
“Why would I cry? I’m not a baby.”
“You are a baby. You’re still a baby to me.”
I told her to hurry up and go, saying that she was being ridiculous, and Mother patted my shoulder with a smile.
“You look good like this. Come visit sometimes, okay?”
“Yeah, I will.”
“Call me if you get scared while you’re sleeping.”
“I won’t.”
And with that, Mother left. She was still the same, even after all these years.
I grabbed the doorknob to my room, but I suddenly thought of my older brother in the room next door.
‘There was something I wanted to ask him earlier.’
I hadn’t been able to ask him in the bathroom, so I wanted to check with my older brother.
I went straight to my brother’s room.
Bam!
“Yeah, I love you too.”
Knocking was out of the question.
I just went straight in, and my older brother was on a video call.
I looked at the screen and saw my sister-in-law.
– Oh my.
My sister-in-law smiled brightly and waved, and I greeted her too.
“….”
My older brother was staring at me, his lower lip firmly between his teeth.
“I didn’t hear anything.”
“Just get out.”
I made a half-hearted excuse, just for the sake of it.
To be honest, I wanted to throw up too, but I was forcing myself to stay here.
– You two have a good talk.
Click.
The call ended, and my older brother cleared his throat and looked at me with a blank expression.
“What is it?”
“Are you just going to pretend that didn’t happen?”
“Knock before you come in.”
“I love you too?”
“….”
My older brother kept his mouth shut.
“Didn’t you just say that? That you chose her because she would be the most beneficial to the company?”
When I asked him that, my older brother sighed and replied.
“She’s the woman I’m going to marry. That was the main factor in choosing her, but in the long run, it’s natural for emotions to come into play.”
“….So you’re saying you chose the person who would be the most helpful to the company out of the people you loved?”I thought you were just getting married for the company without any feelings, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.
“Why did you come here? Just tell me the main point.”
My older brother, who was telling me to leave quickly in a polite way. I scratched the back of my head and recalled the past.
“When we met at Gold One, why did you talk as if you were the one who made the deal with Yoonji and did the background check?”
“……”
I was always curious about that.
Because I didn’t know at all that it was related to my father until I heard it from Yoonji.
At that time, at Gold One, my older brother spoke as if he had done everything.
However, my older brother was just playing the role of passing on the story.
My older brother thought for a moment.
He hesitated for a moment whether to tell me or not, but his thoughts didn’t last long.
“I just wished you didn’t hate your father so much.”
“……”
“That’s all.”
“That was weak.”
At my words, my older brother smiled and motioned for me to leave quickly.
By telling me that, he was trying to make me not hate my father because of my older brother, but it was a weak attempt.
But I didn’t hate it.