“Tae-san, this car…”

Mom stood in front of the Bentley, flustered.

The graduation had gone out with a bang.

I didn’t need the uniform anymore, so I’d donated it to the kids to take out their frustrations on.

Anybody would have been furious in their shoes, so getting off with just a uniform was lucky.

Then Mom generously rented out a big Chinese restaurant downtown, and we threw an after-party for everyone in my class who could come.

A good chunk of my classmates and their parents came, ate all they wanted and drank.

It was graduation, and a small town, so my friends learned to drink from their parents.

Nobody got blackout drunk, but they enjoyed their freedom as near-adults to the fullest.

And so I said my goodbyes to my friends.

The time we’d spent breathing the same air and studying in the same room hadn’t been short.

Ours was a bond that deserved the name friends.

Now we’d reached the fork in the road, and each of us went our own way.

The friendship was complete—the kind no amount of money can force into being.

The next day, I came up to Seoul with Mom.

When we pulled into our family’s private garage, she got a shock.

Two unfamiliar cars sat there in all their glory.

“Your car, Mom, for getting around Seoul.”

“This? This car’s expensive. Isn’t it too much for a housewife?”

It was the first time Mom had ever said too much.

She didn’t know that, thanks to her son, she was the richest woman in cash in the country, apart from me.

I kept it secret that the money she’d made could buy a whole car company.

Even now, it was multiplying exponentially.

I was planning a few corporations in Mom’s name.

A foundation to raise her public profile, an investment company and so on were all ready to go.

“Mom, you’re rich.”

“What are you talking about? Mom’s a farmer’s wife. I’m getting spoiled because my son did well, that’s all.”

Mom looked at me warmly.

Sadly, Mom had no idea her total assets were well over several trillion won.

“I’m here because of you and Dad. So don’t say you’re getting spoiled. Being born into this world at all is a blessing.”

In front of Mom, I’d be her little boy until the day I died.

You could read how happy she was just from the way she looked at her son.

I didn’t want to hold back on the sweet talk or the bragging.

“Mom, let’s buy you a suit to wear today.”

“Forget it. It’s a reunion—what’s there to dress up for? This’ll do.”

That wasn’t going to work for me.

Mom was looking younger all the time.

I figured it was because the money worries were gone and she was painting again, the way she’d always wanted to.

With the twins doing fine and her son accepted to Hanguk University, she’d finally relaxed.

Not that she’d let go of her duties as a housewife.

Our family table always overflowed with Mom’s love.

“I’m buying clothes to wear to school. You don’t want to come?”

“Oh? Then of course I’ll come.”

Mom’s a woman too.

The moment she had an excuse, her face lit up.

I’d learned before my regression that few women dislike hearing I love you, or getting clothes.

My girlfriends were always asking me to say I loved them.

If I bought them even a no-name top with my part-time wages, they’d grin from ear to ear.

Ah… such innocent(?) days.

“Mom. What were you like with your college friends?”

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t there anyone you’re excited to see again after so long?”

“Hmm… there is~.”

“A boyfriend?”

“Your dad was my first boyfriend and my last man.”

Mom’s defense was airtight.

Not that I really wanted to know.

I’d done my share of dating in my past life too.

“Were you close with your classmates?”

Bleep-bleep.

I unlocked the car and helped Mom into the passenger seat.

“We were… it’s the same for everybody in college, but a glass of soju and some pork belly in the evening after finishing a professor’s assignment… it was the best. Art school meant a lot of late-night work. On those nights we’d have braised pig’s feet delivered and knock back a drink in the studio, and that felt like the real taste of life.”

Oh! I couldn’t believe my mom had had days like that.

These days she only ever had a glass or two.

The very idea of her knowing the taste of soju and pork belly amazed me.

“So why don’t you keep in touch?”

“…After I was thrown out of the house and was living with your father, I did now and then, but once I hit my thirties it didn’t happen. Everyone was starting families and busy, so I forgot. I thought about them a lot, but I kept it in my heart. I figured we’d see each other again someday.”

Mom’s words stung.

In my life before the regression, Mom had never had luxuries like that.

We were squeezed by Dad’s debts, and the twins and I had crawled along the bottom of a cold, hard world.

Vrrm.

A restrained, deep rumble came through as the engine started.

“Mom, this car starts with a button.”

“So it does? What an easy world we live in.”

In 2008, a push-button start wasn’t an option you came across easily.

The world changes by the day from here on.

It won’t be long before this sort of thing comes as an option on compact cars.

“Here we go~.”

The feel of the 6,000cc-class engine made the Porsche seem like a toy.

The way it surged forward, heavy and smooth, was something else.

And so Operation Mom’s Pride was up and running.

Auntie Sun-ja! Just you wait. If you show up tonight as clueless as before… I’ll smash you to pieces!

I don’t enjoy throwing my weight around, but there was no reason to put up with someone who openly looked down on us.

Even the old man in the dream had said it.

Sneaky bastards never turn over a new leaf, so smash them to pieces.

“Is everything ready?”

“All taken care of, sir.”

An Chang-su, the Seoul Pelton Hotel’s banquet manager, answered with complete confidence.

It was easy to see why General Manager Eric Benson was so tense.

In just a few days, the Pelton Hotel Group’s major shareholder had changed.

It had happened so suddenly that the lower-level staff didn’t know.

Even Eric Benson, the general manager, had only found out the day before yesterday.

Then, yesterday, he’d gotten a call from the group.

The order: give VVIP treatment of the highest level to a certain person holding a reunion at the hotel today.

He had no idea who it was, but it was a request from the group’s new major shareholder.

In a stock company, the major shareholder is the owner.

For Eric Benson, who wanted to leave Korea this year to become general manager of the Pelton Hotel in Hong Kong, it was a chance.

Who on earth is this? Service even the chairmen of big conglomerates don’t get…

VVIP protocol is reserved for presidents and heads of state.

The hotel’s tableware is swapped for the very best.

The ace staff are brought in.

The head chef serves the course meal personally.

The general manager has to check on the guest’s mood himself.

It happens maybe once or twice a year, if that.

“Mr. An. There can’t be any mistakes.”

At Eric Benson’s words, An Chang-su nodded.

“The small banquet hall, Armango, is set up with first-class fittings, and Executive Chef Albert and the S-class service team are standing by. You don’t need to worry.”

“I’ll trust you. You’re… capable enough to take over as general manager once I leave, Mr. An.”

“Thank you, sir!”

No Korean had ever made general manager in the Pelton Hotel’s history.

Founded in America ninety years ago, the Pelton Hotel owned and ran four thousand hotels, large and small, with 670,000 rooms, in ninety countries around the world.

In all that long history, not one Korean had ever become a general manager.

The group’s leadership quietly looked down on Asians.

But at the news that the major shareholder had changed, An Chang-su secretly got his hopes up.

Every hotelier’s ultimate dream is to be a general manager.

An Chang-su, too, longed to run an entire hotel on his own responsibility.

He’d studied steadily for years and was now fluent in English, Japanese and Chinese.

He’d even earned a master’s degree.

An Chang-su was ready in every way.

He just hadn’t gotten the chance to spread his wings.

And today, the stroke of luck he’d been waiting for had arrived.

He didn’t know exactly who, but someone connected to the new major shareholder was coming as a guest today.

There’d never be a better day to score points.

“I hear a girl group has been booked to perform for the celebration.”

“Yes. I got the call.”

“…I don’t know what this is about, but take care of the girl group too. They’re definitely connected to the major shareholder.”

Eric Benson, whose instincts were uncanny, gave the order.

“Understood.”

“Then off you go. The guests will be arriving any minute, so tell the staff to give them the very best service.”

“I’ll pass it on right away.”

An Chang-su bowed smartly.

“Go on down.”

“Yes, sir!”

Once An Chang-su was gone, Eric Benson straightened his clothes in the mirror too.

He didn’t know who had become the giant group’s major shareholder in a matter of days.

The recession coming out of America had slowly begun casting dark clouds over the hotel business.

People only travel for pleasure when the economy loosens up.

And at the center of travel is the hotel, where a comfortable room and good food are guaranteed.

Hotels count as a luxury, so the business was sensitive to the global economy.

The hotel industry index kept dropping.

A new major shareholder showing up now was a wild card.

In a recession, the surest ways to make a profit are selling hotels and cutting staff.

“Whew.”

Eric Benson drew a short breath and let the tension ease.

He’d been a hotelier for twenty years now.

To finish his career the way he wanted, he had to survive in the job for another ten.

“Hyo-suk. You’re just now getting here? You’re always so pretty it makes me jealous~.”

“Sun-ja—I mean, Seo-won. You’ve gotten prettier since I last saw you. Where’d you have it done?”

“Yun-ja’s husband does good work.”

“Yun-ja’s husband—the plastic surgeon? Then should I go too?”

“He’ll give you thirty percent off for being his wife’s friend.”

“Oh my. That much?”

“He’s coming tonight, so ask him for a quote.”

At the Pelton Hotel’s entrance, Ju Sun-ja and Jang Hyo-suk, classmates from Hongin University’s painting department, had run into each other.

Both lived the life of a Gangnam madam, and they drove nice imported cars.

Dressed in the fur coats that were in fashion, the two complimented each other.

Their faces were taut, but their bodies were plump, and their chatter went on a while longer.

The doormen and valets grimaced inwardly.

But they couldn’t let it show.

An important guest was coming today, and a top-level courtesy alert was in effect.

Their uniforms crisp, they stood and watched the guests chatter.

“Where’s your husband?”

“He’s coming a little later. I guess today’s client is kind of difficult. What about yours?”

“He’s coming straight from work.”

“I wonder if everybody else is here yet?”

Jang Hyo-suk was excited.

There were plenty of friends she hadn’t seen in a long time.

Just thinking about her college days made her feel young again.

“Most of them will come, won’t they? Seeing as she’s coming tonight~.”

“She? Who?”

“You haven’t heard the rumor? The Runaway Queen.”

Calling her the Runaway Queen, Sun-ja made no effort to hide her contempt for Ju Seol-ran.

“The Runaway Queen… you don’t mean Ju Seol-ran???”

“That’s right~ heh heh. That girl’s coming tonight~.”

“Really!”

Jang Hyo-suk couldn’t help being stunned.

Ju Sun-ja, by contrast, looked triumphant.

Ju Sun-ja had been grinding her teeth waiting for today.

Jealous of Ju Seol-ran’s looks, as stunning as ever, and her brilliant son, she’d lost sleep for days.

She’d decked herself out in expensive everything, from clothes to accessories.

She’d even asked her husband for backup.

Whatever Ju Seol-ran and her son thought of themselves, their social standing was on another level entirely.

She’d made up her mind to crush her flat in front of all their friends.

Just let her show up! I’ll stomp on her so hard she’ll never show her face in Seoul again!

Ju Seol-ran had always been the one she was compared to.

Having the same surname made them all the more talked about at school.

The rumor went around: Ju Seol-ran the beauty, Ju Sun-ja the witch.

Ju Seol-ran had once been the promising one for her looks and her talent, and from then on she’d also been the target of envy.

Ju Sun-ja had pretended they were close, but after Seol-ran was thrown out of her family, she was the one who trashed her behind her back the most.

It was Ju Sun-ja who blew nasty rumors up and spread them among their friends.

“Did she make up with her half-brothers?”

“Make up? Please. Everyone’s saying they struck her off the family register. She’s just scraping by, growing apples out in the country.”

“Really? So how did you get in touch? Who found Seol-ran’s number?”

“I ran into her not long ago, didn’t I? She showed up with that smooth-operator son of hers, looking at cheap-looking clothes.”

“You invited her?”

“Mm-hmm~. I told her she absolutely had to come tonight. Good of me, right?”

“Huh? Oh…”

Jang Hyo-suk knew all too well how vicious Ju Sun-ja could be, and answered quietly.

Sun-ja’s father-in-law was a former multi-term Assembly member, and her husband was a veteran attorney at a successful law firm.

Getting on her bad side would do no good.

All their friends knew Ju Sun-ja was prickly and touchy.

“Ma’am. There’s another car waiting—may we move yours?”

Two valets came over and asked politely.

“Another car? Fine.”

Ju Sun-ja gave the valet who’d interrupted her conversation a grudging nod.

Throwing her weight around was a way of life for her.

A car with its headlights on slowly approached the front entrance.

One look told you it was a spectacular import.

A top-of-the-line luxury car that sold for three hundred million won.

“Whose family’s car is that? There aren’t many Bentleys like that around…”

Jang Hyo-suk tilted her head, watching the black Bentley pull in.

Gangnam was a smaller world than you’d think.

Word about the upper crust spread fast.

Any family with a car as eye-catching as a Bentley was a prime target for gossip.

Srrrrrrt.

The valets moved the two cars, and the Bentley stopped at the front entrance.

A valet hurried over and took hold of the passenger door.

Click.

The door swung open, heavy and solid.

It was a true luxury car; even the door sounded different.

And then…

Polished shoes and a slender leg touched the ground first.

A middle-aged woman in a classic designer coat stepped out of the car.

A beautiful middle-aged woman who radiated elegance at a glance.

She spotted her waiting friends.

“Were you waiting for me?”

She came over to Jang Hyo-suk and Ju Sun-ja with a radiant smile.

“S-Seol-ran???”

Stunned, the two women greeted Seol-ran.

(End of Chapter 87)