In modern times, the difference between central districts where vigilante groups are stationed and peripheral districts where they’re not is large. So people wanting to succeed naturally gathered in central districts, and those who succeeded in settling erased their previous lives completely, formed new families, and lived new lives.
There were the words Hyangcheo (鄕妻, country wife) and Gyeongcheo (京妻, capital wife). It was said these were words that existed long ago even in the world before the ‘world’s funeral,’ but ironically they were used these days.
People from the periphery who succeeded in settling in core districts mostly ‘dealt with’ their previous families through the following methods while forming new families. One, treating them as non-existent. Two, treating them as an extremely ‘private’ relationship rather than a legal one.
Chairman Son chose the second method, and so Son Yowan deeply detested his biological father. He thought he was a coward not even prepared to be criticized.
Naturally. When forming a new family in a core district and dismissing the previous family as a private relationship, the previous spouse became a Hyangcheo. The word was wife [妻], but a Hyangcheo from a peripheral district had lower status than a Gyeongcheo. In other words, a concubine with only a fancy name.
Son Yowan’s mother didn’t accept Chairman Son’s proposal to acknowledge being a concubine and enjoy an affluent life, so Son Yowan grew up poor in a peripheral district without receiving any support from Chairman Son. In fact, until shortly before coming here, he didn’t even know his biological father was alive.
So when he entered Chairman Son’s mansion in the central district, honestly… honestly… really honestly… he was fucking terrified.
Perhaps because of that memory, in places that smelled similar to that wealthy scent, if he let his guard down even for a moment, his eyes would naturally lower, cold sweat would pour from his head, and his heart would pound. If Kang I-sang—a neighborhood thug—who used to beat his chest asking why that bastard wouldn’t become docile no matter how much he beat him saw that state, he would have doubted his qualifications as a thug, thinking ‘A guy who cowers so well on his own, why didn’t he do that with me.’
‘But I can’t cower now.’
Precisely, he couldn’t show such a ‘sign.’
Son Yowan lowered the square-shaped sunglasses that had been resting on his head and raised his chin. He succeeded in putting on the sunglasses without his hands trembling… Damn, then he realized.
‘They’re completely crooked.’
Well, it was a miracle that the sunglasses were hanging on crookedly when he’d been dead drunk sleeping at the entrance. Actually, what felt more miraculous was that the sunglasses remained at all.
If it had been where he lived, even without losing consciousness, in the blink of an eye, 100 out of 100 times they would have been forcibly ‘relocated,’ but everyone here was wealthy after all.
Anyway, he’d covered his eyes to avoid showing a dispirited appearance. That was enough. He’d die before showing such a sight here.
He had a goal, a purpose.
Son Yowan flexed his hand. Right now it was empty, but when he entered here, he’d been clutching the invitation he’d stolen from his father’s mansion.
Son Yowan wanted to live well. Much more so than the father he detested or his ‘family.’ It was a wish he couldn’t fulfill through normal methods, but fortunately he’d obtained a ‘special’ opportunity. If things went well here, there was a possibility of fulfilling his wish to live well.
And if things somehow worked out well here, there was also something he absolutely had to do.
So…
‘When will the Godfather come? He’ll stop by at least once, right? Since he invited us? Probably didn’t just call us to play around. Maybe he’s already hiding among other people watching…’
While thinking, Son Yowan immediately went ‘Damn’ the next moment. Only people from peripheral districts called the Godfather by slang like ‘Gatpader’ with different Chinese characters. To pretend to be a central district person, he had to be careful with his words first.
‘Somehow I need to catch the Godfather’s eye or get well entangled with the people here.’
Manghyang (望鄕).
Son Yowan presumptuously criticized that this resort the size of a village and its name really didn’t match. Wouldn’t a more progressive name be better than such a past-oriented name? Since it was practically a place of opportunity for him! Honestly, the other people gathered here seemed similar. You could clearly see them burning to somehow catch the Godfather’s eye. Tsk, when they already had more than enough money or fame.
Having future-oriented thoughts, his mood improved quite a bit.
“Hey, you there!”
Perhaps because of that, he saw what wasn’t visible before. For example, that bespectacled bastard who, if it were him, would run away immediately even if they met from 1km away.
“Where are you going? Come with me.”
This time too, the bespectacled guy tried to scurry away, but Son Yowan was faster.
“…Please let go.”
When he grabbed the back of the bespectacled guy’s neck like catching a fleeing alley cat and put his arm around his shoulder, the other person immediately showed an annoyed sign.
“Whyyy. Aren’t we close enough for this now? We played together until late last night, didn’t we?”
“Huuuuu.”
The bespectacled guy, who always sighed deeply whenever he opened his mouth, sighed deeply this time too.
“Played, you say. Isn’t that… your unilateral claim.”
Then, with an almost dying voice, he slowly refuted and removed Son Yowan’s arm draped over his shoulder.
Son Yowan didn’t bother to put his arm back on the other’s shoulder. The shoulder hug was for appeal anyway. That he was of a rank to do this much with the real VIPs of this place.
“I was… tired. Exhausted. In that sense, yesterday that thing was closer to torture than play.”
“Aww, torture is such an exaggeration.”
Anyway, rushing up to someone who clearly showed signs of finding him annoying and clinging to them was also part of that work, so Son Yowan answered with a giggle, then belatedly hesitated.
‘That guy, isn’t he refuting my words about whether we’re this close now?’
Then immediately accepted it.
“Are you going to… keep following me?”
“Yeah, let’s go together. Let’s go together.”
“Your actions answer that. So I guess you don’t need to say it in words.”
Because he’d become busy following the other person who had suddenly gone ahead.
“Your walking—”
Quickly catching up, about to say ‘You walk really fast,’ Son Yowan hesitated for a moment. Because he’d kept calling the other person bespectacled guy, glasses-wearer and such in his mind, the name didn’t come to him immediately.
“Is fast, isn’t it? Well, you’re tall after all.”
So he vaguely blurred the address and continued speaking.
“You’re really tall, you know? Though it’s not new. I’m not that short either, but what did you eat to grow that tall? Share. Ah! But you asked me a question earlier, right? What was it? Ah, I remember, I remember. You don’t have to tell me, I remembered what you said. I should follow, should follow. We’re close now, right? In that sense, where are you going now? I’ll go with you wherever, but if you’re going to do something fun, let’s do that together too.”
“I also said… that actions are sufficient answers, so there’s no need to answer in words.”
“Ah! I just remembered that now, hahaha.”
Huuuuu.
The other person glanced at the ceiling again and let out a long sigh. Son Yowan was very familiar with both that pose and the long sigh so deep it could make the ground sink. Because it was the pose the other person did most and the sound he made most.
This bespectacled young man, one of the few peers among the VIPs whom Son Yowan quite deliberately clung to, always looked tired like this. He was inwardly curious about what he’d been doing outside for such a young guy to be so soaked in fatigue.
‘I heard he came with an invitation in the name of the Godfather’s Hyangcheo.’
Other than that, there weren’t many stories he’d heard. Because although the first impression was good and he wanted to get along well since they were peers, he’d asked many times, but the other’s answers were very unsatisfactory.
‘Could he be a graduate student?’
Hmm, that seemed somewhat plausible.
“But hyung… were you okay yesterday? You were with me until dawn.”
“I wasn’t with you, I was captured.”
“Being together is a fact anyway, so do you feel better by pointing that out specifically? Isn’t it tiring to do that at every turn?”
“It’s tiring.”
“If it’s tiring, why nitpick?”
“Because if I don’t correct the facts from the beginning, things get tangled later and become even more tiring.”
“Aww. Couldn’t we just form a very good relationship with each other without things getting tangled?”
When he made an appeal that he’d tried here so often it was now ingrained in his mouth, a sigh that seemed like it would make the ground sink returned as an answer.
Son Yowan returned to the original topic.
“But were you really okay yesterday? I was absolutely dying.”
