Gyeong-eun kept the basket holding Seong-ho’s clothes as far from her face as she could and, walking toward the laundry room, said to him,

“Hurry and wash up. Twice—no, shower three times. If the smell doesn’t come out completely I won’t let you near me, so wash yourself clean. I’ll do some laundry in the meantime.”

Finishing, Gyeong-eun, perhaps finding the rising smell hard to bear, quickened her steps.

Seeing her, Seong-ho smiled without a word and headed to the bathroom to wash up.

Having washed for a good long while, Seong-ho came out, raised his arm to sniff, and walked to the kitchen.

“Even after washing, the smell doesn’t seem to have come out entirely. I’ll sleep in the study for the time being.”

Gyeong-eun, who’d been reheating the food the housekeeper had made, came over to Seong-ho and pressed her nose in.

Sniff, sniff.

Moving over here and there across Seong-ho’s body and smelling, Gyeong-eun said,

“No. This much is fine.”

“It’ll still be uncomfortable. I’ll sleep in the study.”

“You won’t.”

Gyeong-eun shook her head and said in a firm voice,

“They say even when a married couple fights they shouldn’t sleep apart—and we haven’t even fought, so why would we sleep apart?”

“Didn’t you say so a moment ago, Gyeong-eun? That if I smelled, you wouldn’t let me near you.”

“That’s a story for when you smell.”

Gyeong-eun brought her nose to Seong-ho’s body again and smelled.

And shaking her head, she said,

“You don’t smell. So sleep beside me.”

At Gyeong-eun’s words, Seong-ho smiled broadly and sat at the table.

Seeing Seong-ho no longer being stubborn, Gyeong-eun turned around.

“Wait just a bit. It’s ready.”

Gyeong-eun carefully carried the bubbling stew and set it down before Seong-ho.

And dishing up side dishes and rice, she held them out to Seong-ho and sat across from him, chin propped on her hand.

“You’re hungry. Hurry and eat.”

“What about you, Gyeong-eun?”

“I’ve eaten, so don’t worry and eat. Go on.”

“Then I’ll dig in.”

Seong-ho first took up his spoon and tasted the stew.

And scooping a big spoonful of rice into his mouth, he began to eat the side dishes and stew with relish.

Watching Seong-ho eat with such relish, chin propped on her hand, Gyeong-eun wore a contented expression and brought up a subject.

“But where on earth did you go today that your clothes ended up in that state?”

“I went to Doa Motors’ Gwangmyeong plant.”

“Doa Motors? You went there?”

Gyeong-eun nodded slowly and said,

“No wonder it struck me as strange… now I understand why your clothes ended up like that. People dislike it a lot, don’t they?”

Gyeong-eun looked at Seong-ho with worried eyes.

However much it was company business, she too roughly knew what it felt like to be hated by people.

“It’s fine.”

Setting down the spoon he’d eaten the stew with, Seong-ho looked at Gyeong-eun and said with a smile,

“Haven’t I told you before? This seems to be my calling.”

“Your calling?”

“Yes. It doesn’t bother me at all that people hate and dislike me. If anything, the more they hate me, the more it feels like I’m doing my job right, so it gives me all the more energy.”

Gyeong-eun looked at Seong-ho with wondering eyes.

Seong-ho smiled at her and said,

“Because the more they hate me, the more it means I’m doing my job well.”

Seong-ho took up the spoon he’d set down again and continued talking as he ate.

“Isn’t the work I do the kind that gets hated? So how could I do the job if I were afraid of being hated? I’m fine, so you don’t have to worry.”

Gyeong-eun gazed at Seong-ho and marveled.

“You know, Seong-ho, the more I look at you, the more of a wonder you are.”

“How so?”

“Being mature beyond your years, and your ability and experience being leagues beyond an ordinary person’s level. It’s a little awkward to say this with my own mouth… but I think I’ve got an eye for men.”

“That’s not it.”

Seong-ho smiled at Gyeong-eun, whose eyes went round at his “that’s not it,” and said,

“It’s that I’ve got an eye for women.”

“Ho ho ho ho.”

Gyeong-eun laughed happily at his words and, picking up a side dish with her chopsticks, laid it on top of Seong-ho’s rice.

“Your food’s getting cold. Hurry and eat.”

Seong-ho took up his spoon again and began to eat, and Gyeong-eun watched him with warm eyes, working her chopsticks busily.

When Seong-ho had eaten about half his meal, Gyeong-eun, with a face that had suddenly recalled something, said to him,

“Oh, right, Seong-ho. I think we’ll have to go to Pyeongchang-dong on Sunday.”

Seong-ho, who’d been eating, raised his head to look at Gyeong-eun.

“When have we ever not gone?”

“Still, I feel we absolutely have to go this time. That’s why I’m telling you in advance. Even if something special comes up, let’s be sure to go to Pyeongchang-dong this Sunday.”

Seong-ho looked at Gyeong-eun as if he found it strange and asked,

“Is something the matter?”

At Seong-ho’s question, Gyeong-eun wore an awkward expression and answered,

“The sister-in-law is coming.”

“The sister-in-law?”

“Yes. Chang-jong’s wife, the sister-in-law. The sister-in-law… has come to Korea, they say. So she’s coming to Pyeongchang-dong this Sunday.”

A heaviness came over Gyeong-eun.

Because she thought she knew the reason the woman had entered Korea and what would unfold at Pyeongchang-dong.

But unlike the troubled Gyeong-eun, a smile spread across Seong-ho’s face.

The sight of the typhoon he’d summoned growing stronger and stronger came to him as joy.

Seong-ho lowered his head to hide the spreading smile and busily worked his spoon and chopsticks to finish the remaining rice.

“What great personage has arrived that everyone has to turn out like this?”

“You…”

At Jeong-eun’s grievance-filled words, Suk-ja shot her a sidelong glare but didn’t scold her.

Jeong-eun’s manner—knowing full well and doing it on purpose—was displeasing, but on the other hand, Suk-ja felt the same way herself.

“When it’s only natural for a daughter-in-law to come pay her respects to her mother-in-law, is there any reason to make such a fuss? And when you arrive, isn’t it proper to come to your husband’s family first thing and pay respects, then come to the Sunday meal and greet the siblings? Where in the world is there such a thing as this, as if she means to settle all her backed-up business at once?”

Jeong-eun went on airing her grievances, but not one person scolded her.

Perhaps because they were all thinking the same, everyone present merely listened quietly to Jeong-eun’s words.

When Jeong-eun finished and a brief silence followed, Yeong-su Cha spoke to Seong-ho to change the mood.

“You’ve never once seen her, have you?”

“No. I didn’t get to see her at the wedding either.”

“Right. That’s so.”

Recalling that she hadn’t come even to Gyeong-eun’s wedding, Cha glanced at Tak-hyeon.

Because he couldn’t tell what Tak-hyeon was thinking, letting the third daughter-in-law do as she pleased.

“But about Doa Motors—what do you plan to do about it? The reaction was awfully bad…”

Perhaps the Doa Motors topic drew the interest of those present, for the ones who’d been looking in different directions all turned their gazes toward Seong-ho’s face.

Feeling that their gazes each held a different reason, Seong-ho answered in a calm voice.

“We’re diligently conducting an acquisition feasibility study right now.”

“A feasibility study?”

Perhaps the term “feasibility study” struck him as strange, Cha tilted his head and asked,

“And if the result comes out that acquiring isn’t feasible? Then what do you intend to do?”

“If it’s not feasible, then naturally we mustn’t acquire. I intend to give up the acquisition.”

“What? Give it up?”

Mun-jong looked at Seong-ho with a startled face.

And soon turned his gaze to Tak-hyeon.

It was to confirm whether Tak-hyeon knew of it too.

This gaze wasn’t sent by Mun-jong alone.

All of Mun-jong’s siblings present looked at Tak-hyeon with the same intent and strained their attention toward his reaction.

Because depending on how Tak-hyeon reacted, Seong-ho’s power in the Doa Motors acquisition process would be determined.

Tak-hyeon, who’d been looking out the window awaiting the daughter-in-law, felt his children’s gazes and turned his head.

And to the children looking at him, he spoke the answer to what they were curious about.

“I’ve officially issued Seong-ho a presidential appointment. And at the government-presided gathering, Seong-ho will attend in my place.”

“Kim is standing in for Father… no, for the Chairman?”

“You mean Kim stands in, not the eldest brother?”

“How does Kim stand in for Father?”

At Tak-hyeon’s words, Gyeong-eun’s siblings rebelled greatly.

And they glared, trying to work out what it meant that Seong-ho stood in for Tak-hyeon.

“Madam. The third daughter-in-law has arrived.”

“Father. Mother. We’ve come.”

Chang-jong and his wife—Tak-hyeon’s daughter-in-law, Eun-a Jang—came inside.

Mun-jong and the others could no longer ask after the meaning of Tak-hyeon’s words and turned around.

Because the purpose of this gathering was not Seong-ho but Eun-a Jang, who’d visited Korea and Pyeongchang-dong for the first time in years.

Eun-a Jang walked slowly toward where the people of the Ilhyeon family were gathered.

And sweeping her eyes, standing, over the seated people, she snorted a laugh.

“You’re all alive and well, I see?”

“You…”

Jeong-eun raised a finger and made to fling a word at Eun-a Jang.

But Yeong-su Cha, who’d been watching Jeong-eun carefully from beside her, snatched her hand and, ahead of Jeong-eun, spoke to Eun-a Jang with a smile.

“Sister-in-law. It’s been a while.”

“Who…”

Eun-a Jang looked at the person who’d spoken to her with a furrowed brow.

And after a good while, recognizing Cha, she nodded.

“Ah~ Minister Cha’s household’s son. I remember now.”

“That… I am Minister Cha’s household’s son, true, but more than that, wouldn’t the title ‘brother-in-law’ be more fitting between us?”

“As if I have any husband’s family to speak of…”

Eun-a Jang let out a remark close to a sneer.

But among those present, no one scolded Eun-a Jang.

Her father, positioned behind her, made it so that no one could say anything even if she showed such an attitude at Pyeongchang-dong.

“Yes. You’ve had a hard time coming by plane. How was it, coming to Korea after so long? Does it seem much changed?”

Though no one could say anything, everyone held an uncomfortable feeling at Eun-a Jang’s attitude and wore poor expressions.

But Tak-hyeon alone maintained his composure, wearing an expression no different from usual, and, as if unbothered, spoke to Eun-a Jang first.

Eun-a Jang, who’d been looking at Cha and the venomous-faced Jeong-eun, turned her head to look at the Tak-hyeon who’d addressed her.

And with a sneer at her lips, she answered his question.

“It has changed a lot compared to when I left. But whether it’s because Korea has changed, or Ilhyeon has changed too.”

“Ilhyeon has changed? What seems to have changed?”

Tak-hyeon looked up at Eun-a Jang from his seat with an interested gaze and asked.

At his question, Eun-a Jang looked around at Mun-jong and his siblings and the daughters-in-law and sons-in-law, and answered,

“You’ve been taking in bastards you don’t even know where they were born from, greedily and readily. Without even knowing whether it’s this man’s seed or not.”

Chang-jong, displeased to be standing alongside Eun-a Jang, turned his head.

“Dear. Isn’t that too harsh a thing to say?”

“Who’s your ‘dear’?”

At Chang-jong’s calling out, Eun-a Jang screamed as if her voice would tear.

“Wherever you go scattering your seed, or whatever child you suddenly bring home as yours, I have no interest. But what? You’re telling me to raise it?”

At Eun-a Jang’s words, Chang-jong turned his head and avoided her gaze.

Eun-a Jang scoffed at Chang-jong’s manner and turned her gaze to Tak-hyeon.

“Chairman. I hear you told me to raise it? Is that true?”

Tak-hyeon only looked at Eun-a Jang without a word.

When no answer came from Tak-hyeon’s mouth, Eun-a Jang shouted toward the others present.

“Why should I raise it? The madam is here, and the other daughters-in-law are here—why me?”

At Eun-a Jang’s tearing voice, those present could say nothing.

But the one who’d made the decision was not so.

“It’s your child, so you ought to raise it.”

Tak-hyeon spoke as if it were only natural and, looking at the seething Eun-a Jang, said,

“That child is a child of our Ilhyeon family. So isn’t it only natural that you, the mother, raise it?”

“Why am I that child’s mother? You said the mother was sent to America. Bring that mother back and tell her to raise it.”

“From now on, you’re the mother.”

“Chairman!”

“If you don’t want to raise the child, you can give up everything and leave our family. Will you do that?”

Tak-hyeon looked squarely at Eun-a Jang and asked, and at his question, Eun-a Jang bit her lip until it bled.

And Seong-ho was watching this scene, seated, as if he found it amusing.

(End of Chapter 123)