The Famous Millionaire

Sangho began to speak ill of Hyunwoo.

The heart of the matter was his relationship with Minhye Park. Sangho said it wasn’t Minhye but Hyunwoo who was trying to tempt the other party, and that Hyunwoo’s ultimate goal was to marry Minhye and take over Aurum.

Mrs. Kong was stunned to hear that, “Really? Is he that kind of person?”

“Of course, I’m not saying he is a bad man. He could be greedy, but the thing is he is meeting other girls.”

“Other girls?”

“Yea, it seems he has a mistress. He is good in every way, but his relationship with women is not that clean.”

Sangho let out a sigh as if he felt regret about Hyunwoo’ relationship with women.

Mrs. Kong hung up the phone, expressing thanks to Sangho for such a tip about Hyunwoo.

After the call, Sangho felt all the more resentful towards Hyunwoo.

In fact, Minhye was too good for such a high-school graduate like Hyunwoo. And now he was trying to win Suji’s heart, Sangho thought.

“This kind of jerk will get his own head screwed on only after he gets his fingers burned.”

***

The next morning, dressed up, Mrs. Kong and Suji waited for Hyunwoo’s minivan to arrive. They were ready to go out, timed with the arrival of his van.

While waiting quietly, Mrs. Kong suddenly asked, “Suji. Don’t you have a relationship with Hyunwoo? I suspect you like him.”

“No way, mom. Don’t you trust your daughter?” asked Suji, leering at her cutely.

Mrs. Kong let out a sigh of relief and said, “I’m relieved to hear that. I hear he has a good relationship with the daughter of the president of your company.”

Suji’s eyes opened wider at that. Actually, she knew something about it when Sangho told her the other day. Initially, she felt it was not true, but Sangho mentioned it so confidently and the way Hyunwoo and Minhye interacted at the recent picnic gave such an impression.

What’s more surprising was her mother’s mention of the rumor about Hyunwoo. She only mentioned Hyunwoo to her mother for the first time yesterday, but her mother already knew about the rumor about Hyunwoo’s relationship with Minhye in one day.

Suddenly she recalled someone, asking her mother, “Did you call brother Sangho last night?”

Mrs. Kong was stunned by Suji’s asking, but immediately calmed down and said, “What? No, I didn’t. Why should I call him about that? I know someone who’s familiar with the situation of Aurum, so I asked him, who told me about Hyunwoo and Minhye.”

Suji nodded her head, but she felt something doubtful. She wanted to ask her who that person her mother said she knew was, but at that moment, Hyunwoo called her.

“He just got here. Let’s go out.”

Helped by her daughter, Mrs. Kong went out and found Hyunwoo’s van waiting outside.

Inside the van were the seniors they went together to the outing yesterday.

The grannies were voluble, as expected. They were busy chattering about everything. When someone brought up a certain topic, everyone competed to gossip about it.

Then someone casually mentioned Hyunwoo. In fact, when they were in the van, they often said appreciative words about Hyunwoo, and that there was a beautiful lady Suji in the van. So, they naturally began to talk about both of them, expressing wishes of making a good couple.

“Looks like they would make a handsome couple. Excellent match!”

“I totally agree. What a fantastic occasion it is! Hey, try to hit it off together.”

Hyunwoo and Suji neither confirmed nor denied. If they showed any reaction, that would invite more gossip from them, so they just smiled.

When Hyunwoo and Suji didn’t show any reaction, they then turned to Jisuk, Hyunwoo’s mother and Mrs. Kong, but Jisukshowed a similar reaction by saying, “Well, that’s what they have to decide for themselves. These days, we parents don’t have any say.”

“Do you like her as your daughter-in-law?” asked one granny.

“Of course. Where could I find such a kind-hearted candidate as my daughter-in-law?” said Jisuk.

Satisfied with her reply, the grannies began asking Mrs. Kong, but she didn’t feel easy. She didn’t want to have Suji tangled in Hyunwoo’s complicated relationship with women, but she could not speak ill of Hyunwoo in front of them. So, she changed the atmosphere by changing the topic to Hyunwoo himself.

“Don’t press on me like that. I hear Hyunwoo has a good relationship with the daughter of the president of Aurum.”

“Really?”

“Oh my god! I didn’t know that.”

The grannies showed explosive reaction to Mrs. Kong’s reply.

Hyunwoo was also surprised a bit. Aurum employees could misunderstand the situation, but it was really something unexpected that even Mrs. Kong talked about such groundless rumors.

“What happened? Are you dating?”

“Did you meet her parents?”

“You should have told us about it earlier. I wasted my time spreading the word that I knew a very suitable bridegroom.”

The old women in the van were gossiping about the rumor about Hyunwoo and Minhye. Now, checking out the atmosphere, Hyunwoo could not sit idle because there might spread further groundless rumors that he’s going to get married to Minhye next month.

“That’s not true. I have no relationship with her. They misunderstood and spread false rumors about me and her,” said Hyunwoo.

Nonetheless, they didn’t believe him. They just thought Hyunwoo said so just to avoid the awkward situation. Even Hyunwoo’s parents looked suspiciously at him.

Hyunwoo was sweating in agony because of their queries.

Watching Hyunwoo struggling to answer, Mrs. Kong became more convinced, determined to protect her daughter.

Hummm.. I won’t allow Suji to follow me next time.

It was easy. If Suji insisted on following her, she would not join the outing group.

Actually, she was determined to do so. Though it was pleasant to go to the outing with the seniors, she didn’t want to destroy her daughter’s life because of that.

In the meantime, Hyunwoo drove his van toward a large supermarket, so that he could buy lots of snacks for them. He also bought some flowers and chocolates as gifts.

The exhibition at Seoul Imaging College that Hyunwoo and the senior visited before was hosted by its students as an annual event, so the students prepared the event very well, including their reception of the guests. However, the exhibition at the School of Dream, the alternative school they were now visiting was hosted by middle school students, and the preparation was poor. That’s why Hyunwoo stopped by the supermarket to buy the necessary stuff for the event.

After the purchase, Hyunwoo got back on the bus and drove the van to the campus of Dongansan University.

There were lots of guests already at the exhibition, about 70 including the students and their parents. As Hyunwoo, Suji and the seniors visited the exhibition as a large group, many others on the campus gathered, making the event a great success.

Hyunwoo took out lots of snacks including cookies and chocolates worth about 300,000 won. Each of the seniors grabbed one or two snacks they liked and sat on the grass comfortably.

“Wow~ The grass is so soft!”

“The weather is warm, and I’m glad I’ve come here!”

Hyunwoo’s parents didn’t pay much attention to the exhibition. Instead, Hyunwoo’s mother looked around the beautiful campus, pushing her husband’s wheelchair here and there.

Hyunwoo momentarily thought of following them, but stopped.

At that moment, Byungwon found Hyunwoo and said hi, “Hey, I’m here, Hyunwoo. Oh, Suji is here too.”

When Hyunwoo turned to him, Byungwon was with Mingyu, his son.

Stroking his head, Hyunwoo said, “Looking good, Mingyu. How are you these days?”

“Well, I haven’t gone to a hospital since then,” replied Mingyu with a bright smile.

Excited and spritely, Byungwon said, “Mingyu has become very healthy. I owe it all to you, Hyunwoo.”

Byungwon grabbed his hands firmly. Then, he found Suji following behind.

Suddenly, Byungwon felt something strange. Why were they spending time together during the weekend when they work at the same office every day? And when he looked at someone next to Suji, he noticed a middle-aged woman looking like Suji. Obviously, she was Suji’s mother.

Looking at Hyunwoo and Suji alternately, Byungwon smiled in satisfaction as if he knew about their relationship.

Hyunwoo also noticed Byungwon’s smile and seemed to know why he was smiling. At that moment, Hyunwoo thought about asking him not to misunderstand but stopped. Whether he denied his relationship with her or not, it would invite more speculation and gossip.

Instead, Hyunwoo located a place for the seniors to watch the exhibition taking place in one corner of the campus. Suji moved with him as if it was only natural she did so, but Mrs. Kong held Suji’s hand and followed her. As she was really physically uncomfortable, Hyunwoo didn’t feel strange about Mrs. Kong’s act.

Byungwon and Mingyu guided them around the works with a detailed explanation about each of the works. At that moment, Suji, walking in comfort along with Hyunwoo, stopped on the spot as if her body froze. Standing right next to her, Hyunwoo turned to her side. She was looking at somebody, much surprised, and then murmured to herself, “Oh, daddy.”

“Your Dad?” Hyunwoo’s eyes opened wide. Suddenly, Hyunwoo turned his head to the place Suji was pointing to. There he found a handsome middle-aged gentleman, who hadn’t yet discovered Suji. Folding his hands behind his back, he was looking at each of the works carefully.

Sometimes he massaged and swung his neck, and kept pressing on the middle of the forehead as if his vision was blurry. His clothes were shabby, his hair untidy and beard thick. It looked as if he took a brief rest after several days of working day and night.

And he cast a glance at Suji unintentionally and found Suji and his wife.

Opening his eyes wide, he called them, “Suji! Honey!”

He strode toward them and wrapped Suji’s face with both hands.

“When did you get here? I wish you had called me.”

“Mom didn’t want to. You’re so busy all the time.”

“No matter how busy I am I have time to see you, my princess. How is your condition, honey? Why didn’t you call me?”

“Well, I didn’t call you on purpose because it might disturb your research.”

The middle-aged man caressed both Suji and his wife continuously, which clearly showed he was glad to see their unexpected visit to the campus on an occasion like this.

“What brought you here?”

“We’re here to see the exhibition.”

“I didn’t know they were holding an exhibition. How did you know it? Did you come here in a taxi?”

Every time he asked, Kong answered in a slow but awkward tone.

And naturally, the name Hyunwoo came out of their lips. Fortunately, Suji’s father came to know about Hyunwoo and realized that all of them came here in Hyunwoo’s van, and that all of the seniors sitting on the grass were Hyunwoo’s group. Mrs. Kong also told him she was going on outings with them sometimes, but he didn’t seem to know she went to a picnic sometimes.