“Isn’t this bag the new Hermès?”

“It’s a special-order limited collection, so it’s very expensive…”

“And the outfit—isn’t that a Sang-Germain designer piece? Where did you even get it? You hardly ever see it in Korea.”

Mom had become the most popular woman among the brand-chasing ladies.

I’d styled Mom perfectly, head to toe, down to the last detail.

I’d hit the internet hard, studying the latest trends and the must-have designer lists.

Fashion takes study too.

Mom had been rich once herself, so she knew how to shop.

We’d made sure no two labels overlapped.

Price no object, we’d gone mostly for limited editions.

After a sizable designer spree not long ago, we’d become VIPs at the department store.

They’d shown us the limited editions without being asked.

I stood off to one side, quietly guarding Mom.

In a sewer, there’s no need to be the only one who stays clean.

All I had to do was beat them at their own game.

What’s with those guys’ eyes? Do they need to take a dump or something?

If Dad had seen the way the men kept sneaking looks at Mom, he’d have lost it.

She was a crane in a field of crows.

Surrounded by ladies with generous bellies and faces gone strange from surgery, Mom was a pure natural beauty, and she shone.

When she smiled, she was a single noble lily.

Off at a distance, Auntie Sun-ja glared at Mom like she wanted to kill her.

If her eyes could shoot lasers, Mom would have melted away.

Just try laying a finger on her… I’ll smash everything you’ve got!

I didn’t have the slightest intention of forgiving the woman who’d shown Mom hostility first.

If she hurt Mom in any way at all, I was going to take everything she had.

I had more than enough ability and power to do it.

Clip, clop.

Three hotel staff in sharp black suits opened the door and walked in.

The hoteliers serving the room bowed their heads respectfully.

“Isn’t that the general manager?”

“What’s General Manager Eric Benson doing here?”

A few of the businessmen were surprised to see the general manager, a man called Eric Benson, walk in.

The general manager, who bore unlimited responsibility for this hotel.

A tall, handsome, middle-aged foreign man.

He gave a light nod to anyone whose eyes met his.

Some of the ladies’ eyes lit up.

They had no idea of their place and were reaching way too high.

The general manager of the Pelton Hotel was, in effect, the president of this hotel.

The president of the Korean branch, with a body and face like that?

Their consciences must have gone out with the unsorted trash.

Shaking my head, I watched which way the general manager went.

Armed with a professional smile, he walked straight toward Mom.

The managerial staff following behind him were all tense.

“What’s going on? Does he know somebody here?”

“Why is the general manager here?”

The ladies murmured.

Why? To see my mom, obviously.

“Mrs. Ju. It’s an honor to meet you. I’m Eric Benson, general manager of this hotel.”

The general manager greeted her in English, apparently not comfortable in Korean.

It seemed the serving staff had reported in over their mikes and found Mom right away.

“Pardon?”

Mom had no idea what was going on.

The general manager had suddenly appeared, greeted her by name and bowed, so of course she was startled.

“What? Seol-ran, you know him?”

“Oh my my my… can you believe it!”

The ladies made a huge fuss.

And I hadn’t even started.

The money I’d invested for tonight came to billions of dollars.

Of course, it was no losing deal. It was a hotel chain I’d wanted to buy anyway.

A year from now, the hotel business comes roaring back.

Thanks to hammering it with short selling and Robert’s threats, we’d managed to buy forty-five percent of the stock without a hitch.

We were still buying.

Soon we’d be able to secure over fifty-one percent.

The money it took was less than expected: two and a half billion dollars.

We’d swallowed a ten-billion-dollar hotel group for two and a half billion.

The general manager seemed to have caught on.

People at the managerial level know their office politics.

“Thank you sincerely for choosing our humble hotel tonight.”

His face all smiles, the general manager paid her the highest courtesy.

An American showing that kind of deference was a rare sight.

“Do you like the atmosphere?”

“I think so.”

“We’ve prepared a small gift for you and your friends, Mrs. Ju.”

“A gift?”

The general manager signaled with his eyes to the managers standing behind him.

“Bring out the dishes we prepared.”

The Korean manager quietly gave the order into the small mike clipped to his lapel.

A moment later, carts loaded with food came rolling in one after another with a quiet rumble of wheels.

A foreigner in a tall chef’s hat led the way.

“These dishes were prepared by the hotel’s executive chef, Albert Leo, and his team.”

“What? That uniform… the executive chef?”

“That’s Executive Chef Albert, all right… oh my God!”

First the general manager, and now the executive chef—a director-level officer in charge of all the hotel’s food.

He gave a short bow.

At the back of the banquet hall, the dishes were set out quickly and efficiently.

In no time, a small buffet was laid out.

From light salads to all kinds of seafood and meats, it was perfect.

And that wasn’t all.

“This is a 1992 Château d’Yquem. May I pour a glass for our VIP?”

“Yes…”

Mom was flustered, but she didn’t lose her poise.

The general manager took the bottle the manager had opened, tucked his left hand behind his back and poured with his right.

The wine fell into a fresh glass on the table with real class.

Man! Maybe because the general manager was pouring it, it looked like something special.

Glug-glug.

Every eye was on the falling red wine.

“That wine is total vintage… they say it isn’t made to sell, only as gifts… who is that woman? Is her husband one of the classmates?”

“I’ve never seen her before either. But look at my husband’s eyes popping—she’s a classmate, all right.”

“Seol-ran, who are you? The general manager serving your wine… I can’t believe it.”

All around, the ladies went wild.

“Please forgive me for interrupting, everyone. I stopped by for a moment because our VIP is visiting. By way of apology, the wine and the food will be on me.”

The general manager was careful not to break the mood of the party.

“A-applause!”

Someone called for applause.

Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap.

Applause poured in from all sides, as if they’d been waiting for the cue.

It was probably the first banquet they’d ever been to where the general manager and the executive chef both showed up.

To be welcomed and served by the Korean general manager of a foreign hotel, you’d have to be a foreign head of state or the hotel’s owner.

Of the two, I’d chosen the latter.

And it had worked perfectly.

But the show wasn’t over yet.

“If there’s anything we’ve missed, please let us know. A manager is standing by.”

A manager standing by for a small banquet like this.

It didn’t get more first-class than that.

“Please come again anytime.”

The general manager bowed to Mom once more and quietly left.

When the whole show was over, silence fell over the room.

Only the gentle sound of the string quartet played in the background.

“H-how do you know the hotel’s general manager? Did you know him from before?”

Mom’s friend Jang Hyo-suk asked her.

Everyone else pricked up their ears too.

Even the rich people here wouldn’t have connections like this.

It was the ultimate service a hotel could give.

“I don’t know him. Tonight’s the first time I’ve seen him.”

“Don’t lie. Do you know how snooty the Pelton Hotel is? A general manager in Seoul is high up in the group. You’d have to be a conglomerate chairman to even get a look at him.”

Jang Hyo-suk seemed to know how the world works.

“You’ve done well for yourself. What have you been doing all this time?”

“What does your husband do? The orchard’s a front, right? Are you rich in land? Or does he run a business?”

All the attention poured onto Mom.

“Hmph! Business, my foot… she’s finally dipping into the money her philandering father stashed away.”

That was when Auntie Sun-ja’s nasty voice rang out.

She obviously wanted to believe it was all the slush fund Grandfather had left behind.

The friends’ faces changed to well, that explains it.

Nobody seemed to believe Mom had been thrown out with nothing.

“So?”

That was when a quiet voice rang through the room.

What was that? Mom’s voice, so poised and strong!

Mom got up from her seat and went over to Auntie Sun-ja.

In her hand was the wine the general manager had poured.

Her eyes and her stride didn’t waver at all.

“S-so? Stop showing off just because you got lucky with your daddy!”

“Sun-ja. I feel sorry for you.”

“What nonsense! Why should you!”

“I knew you were jealous of me back in school. Even so, you were my friend, so I liked you. I thought that as the years went by and we raised our kids, someday you’d understand how I really felt. But I was only fooling myself… you haven’t changed, then or now.”

Mom’s voice was full of sorrow.

“Shut up! You think a pretty face is everything! You’re nothing but a concubine’s brat!”

Splaaash.

Right then, Mom poured the wine in her hand all over Auntie Sun-ja’s face.

“Kyaaaaaaaah!”

The old lady screamed like a young girl.

But nobody stepped in.

Nobody tried to stop them; they just sat and watched with interest.

That showed you what Auntie Sun-ja was usually like.

An outcast in the making, who couldn’t even get help from a friend when it counted.

“Being jealous of me is fine. But insult my father and mother… and I won’t forgive you.”

Whoa… my mom is amazing.

It was a low, beautiful anger.

She didn’t shriek and scream like Auntie Sun-ja.

Even a dogfight, once Mom got involved, seemed to turn into a classy drama.

The heroine and the villainess, facing off.

“H-honey!!!”

Just then, I saw a man run toward Auntie Sun-ja, calling out honey.

He must have just arrived—he came running from the door, his fat body jiggling.

“Waaaaaah! Honey… it’s not fair! That crazy bitch threw wine on me… boo-hoo.”

Oh, the poor thing.

With tears streaming down her face, Auntie Sun-ja looked downright hypocritical.

“Who do you think you are! Are you crazy!”

The man, greasy and chubby, glared at Mom.

A wife too fat to get both arms around, and a husband who was no slimmer—the pair of them looked like a comedy act.

“I’m going to sue! My husband is with Samu Law! You won’t get away with this!”

Oh! He’s with Samu Law?

With her husband here, Auntie Sun-ja was full of herself again.

She looked like a pig’s head soaked in wine.

“Do you realize what you just did is the offense of violence!”

The offense of violence, my foot.

Pay the dry-cleaning bill and that’s the end of it.

If throwing a drink were the offense of violence, every bar in Korea would be a crime scene with cops stationed there around the clock.

But what Auntie Sun-ja had said was actually against the law.

At her husband’s harsh words, Mom faltered.

“How is that the offense of violence!”

The timing for my grand entrance was perfect.

I shouted once, putting internal energy behind it, and went to Mom’s side.

When I appeared, Mom looked at me.

Her gentle eyes were on the verge of spilling over with hurt.

You people… are all dead tonight!

“Wh-who are you! Where does a little shit like you get off butting in! This hotel’s a joke. A waiter daring to stick his nose into a guest’s problem?”

What, a waiter? Me?

Like husband, like wife—the saying was dead right. (TL Note: The Korean four-character saying is “the husband sings, the wife follows along.”)

The couple’s gourd leaked indoors and out.

A textbook couple who threw their weight around—first one I’d seen in a while.

“He’s my son.”

“Your son? So what? What’s your son supposed to do about it!”

“I’m Jang Tae-san, a student in the law department at Hanguk University.”

“…”

At the words Hanguk University law, the man flinched.

I’d been accepted, so I was a student.

This is why you have to be somebody.

Not to lord it over people—purely for self-defense.

In this damn world, I don’t know if human rights even exist for the poor and the uneducated.

“S-so what! What about my wife’s clothes? This is violence, plain and simple!”

“I’ll pay for the clothes.”

I slipped my wallet out of my jacket.

Then I pulled out a crisp ten-million-won check and held it out.

“Get it cleaned and buy yourselves some bread with the change. You both look like you love bread.”

“What! You little shit! Hey! I’m your senior!”

“So what?”

(End of Chapter 89)