Chapter 11

Birthday Banquet

“Please stay still, Miss.”

“Ugh. You’re strangling me. I can’t breathe. Ah! You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you! You assassin! Who sent you! You’re a spy from Oseong Group! Cough, cough! Ughhh—!”

“Please bear with it a little. This is how it’s supposed to be worn.”

After barely escaping the threat of assassination and checking the mirror, I found an unfamiliar girl standing there.

“Ooh.”

Dressed in a pure white one-piece dress, with her hair neatly brushed back and even shiny dress shoes on her feet. There was not a trace of the shut-in who normally lived fused to her bed in pajamas.

“So freaking pretty.”

“...You’d be perfect if you just kept your mouth shut.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing. I said you look pretty.”

“Hehe. Right?”

“If only you dressed like this more often. It’s a shame I only get to see you like this once or twice a year at most.”

“Come on, how could anyone live like this every day? I’d suffocate to death.”

They say looks are a stat too, but that only applies to characters in gacha games.

For a living, breathing human like me, the most important thing when it came to clothes was convenience. Clothes were good if they were easy and comfortable to move in and not a pain to put on.

Still, it was not as though I could not understand what Ms. Sejin meant at all.

She was saying that since I had inherited my model mother’s beautiful looks, it would be nice if I put in just a little more effort to maintain and dress myself up.

But what can I do? It is such a hassle.

Vrooom—.

A little while later, the driver Ms. Sejin had called picked us up in a stylish luxury car (I had no idea what model it was) and headed toward Shinil Hotel.

Shinil Hotel, as the name suggested, was a five-star hotel owned by Shinil Group. In my previous life, a nobody employee like me would never have dared set foot inside (because it was too expensive), but now I was someone who could confidently enter through the front doors while receiving VIP treatment.

What a wonderful world. Or maybe I am the one who got better.

The lobby was lavish, but the banquet hall prepared for Grandfather’s birthday was even more extravagant. A massive chandelier hung from the ceiling, and the floor shone like a mirror.

“The employees here must have suffered like crazy polishing this.”

“Well, that is their job.”

“Like taking care of me is Ms. Sejin’s job?”

“...Well, yes.”

It was a sight I saw every year on Grandfather’s birthday, but somehow everything felt more formal this year.

Just as I was about to step into the banquet hall—

“Miss, I’ll escort you only this far.”

“Huh? Ms. Sejin, you’re not coming in with me? Before, you definitely—”

Ms. Sejin shook her head with an awkward expression.

“Unfortunately, this year only members of the Shin family are allowed inside.”

“Huuuh? That makes no sense, why?”

“Well, that gentleman over there set the rules that way, so there’s nothing we can do.”

With a cautious gesture, Ms. Sejin pointed toward a stiff-looking old man. Who was that again? I think he was one of Grandfather’s children... which would make him one of my uncles.

“Then I’ll wait outside.”

“Huh? Huh? Don’t go!”

What kind of nonsense is this? The person who had stuck to my side like gum my entire life was disappearing exactly when I needed her?

As I hesitated and kept looking back, Ms. Sejin smiled gently and stroked my shoulder.

“You can manage on your own, right? Just greet the Chairman properly and be polite to the adults. I’ll come get you as soon as it’s over.”

“Eeeing...”

And just like that, I was thrown alone into the tiger’s den—

They say even if you are dragged into a tiger’s den, you will survive as long as you keep your wits about you. All right! Something like this is nothing for Shin Yua, who boasts fifty years of life experience!

— — —

To give the conclusion first, the tiger’s den was hell.

Once there was nobody there to protect me, the tigers lurking inside the den began approaching one by one and tearing into my body.

“Oh my, our Yua has grown so much over the past year.”

“Ah, hello, Aunt.”

“Oh my, aren’t you the youngest young master’s daughter?”

“Yes, yes, this is her.”

“Oh my, your impression is completely different from last year. Did something happen?”

“Hohoho. Look at that outfit. So cute.”

I had planned to shrivel up and hide in a corner, but one clueless aunt dragged me right into the middle of the banquet hall and instantly exposed my position.

Damn it, I will never forget this grudge! The black flame dragon sealed in my left hand will show no mercy even if you are my father’s sister!

“Yua, let’s take a picture. Here, look this way.”

“Want to take one with unnie too?”

“Hey, strictly speaking, this child is your aunt. Hohoho.”

“No, but I’m twenty-seven...”

“Ueeeng...”

“Oh my, why do you look so miserable? Want to try some of this?”

A natural-born introvert in both my previous and current lives, I had no choice but to repeatedly nod and greet people with my soul completely absent.

Before, Ms. Sejin would properly respond to people’s conversations and even handle greetings for me, so it had never been this hard. Ms. Sejin, only now do I understand how you lived like that~.

And this sense of déjà vu.

This was exactly how it felt in my previous life when I circulated drinks and bowed and scraped among headquarters executives every holiday. At least back then there was alcohol. As a minor now, I had to endure all this completely sober.

Maybe those days when everyone poured drinks down their throats were actually better... no. Those were horrible too. Human memory really does beautify the past.

Even while living in the 2020s, the greatest era in human history, there were still plenty of people saying things like “the old days were better.”

The 80s and 90s I remembered were truly an age of barbarism, when a teacher could punch a fifth grader in the face for getting addition and subtraction wrong and nothing would happen.

“Ueeeh... I barely survived.”

After being tormented for a long time, I finally escaped the crowd and pressed my back against a corner. This was at least a safe zone. If I pretended to be air until it ended, I should be fine.

I slid down the wall and sat on the floor, then took out my phone—

“What, why are you alone?”

I looked up and saw a familiar face.

“Oppa.”

“Why are you hiding over here? Where’s Ms. Sejin?”

“Ms. Sejin isn’t a Shin, so she can’t come in here.”

“She came in until last year.”

“They said it’s not allowed this year.”

“Wow, that’s seriously inflexible. Who said that?”

“Dunno. I think she was talking to that man earlier.”

When I pointed with my chin, Woojin looked over and made an “ah” expression.

“What do you mean, that man? That’s Second Uncle. He’s kind of strict. He’s always been really rigid about rules.”

“Oh, so that was Second Uncle. There are so many uncles that I didn’t know.”

“You should remember them at least a little. They’re family.”

“I hardly ever see them anyway, so why bother?”

“You never know. Who knows what might happen later.”

When I did not answer, Woojin plopped down and leaned beside me.

“Hm?”

“I don’t want to leave you by yourself, so I’ll stay here.”

“It’s fine. Do you think I’m a baby?”

“Fourteen is plenty young enough to be a baby.”

“You’re only three years older than me.”

“Do you know how many meals I’ve eaten in those three years?”

And he is proud of that?

“Tch. Must be nice eating lots of meals.”

“Of course. In Korea, eating more meals makes you the boss.”

“Hah.”

What a ridiculous guy. As if being three years older is some great achievement. Hey, brat, if you combine this life and my past life, this noble body is almost fifty. Naturally, I have probably eaten three times as many meals as you too.

Of course, I had enough sense not to say that out loud. If I started talking about being fifty while in this body, I would probably be sent straight to Shinil Hospital for being mentally ill.

Besides—

I was grateful that Woojin, who was still young himself, was sitting here with me because he wanted to look after his little cousin. Honestly, sitting crumpled in this corner and wallowing in misery had been getting hard too.

“The Chairman is entering—!”

“All right, everyone clear the way—.”

A little while later, the banquet hall began to stir. I stood up and peeked over, and Grandfather was striding toward the head seat.

He was eighty-seven this year, yet instead of using a cane, he walked with more force than most young people and held his back perfectly straight.

Wow, he really is amazing. How can a person be like that? Was he born with blessed genes? Should the government designate him as a research subject? Like, “The Secret of the Longevity Gene.”

Of course, his vitality was not the only thing that caught my eye.

Deep valleys carved by long years covered Grandfather’s fierce face. Even from far away, his powerful impression seemed close enough to etch itself directly into my brain.

Of course. Someone like this was exactly the kind of man who could build a major conglomerate in a single generation in a South Korea devastated by war.

Even ignoring the fact that he was my grandfather, objectively speaking, he was an incredible person. As far as I knew, his name even appeared in history textbooks.

Gulp.

“Why, nervous?”

“N-No.”

“Is Grandfather really that scary?”

“He’s not scary.”

“Come on. You’re scared.”

“I said I’m not—! Mmph! Mmmph!”

“Hey, what if you suddenly shout? Ah, it’s nothing. Hahaha.”

While I furiously stomped on Woojin’s foot, Grandfather’s voice began echoing through the hall over the microphone.

“You are all busy people, so thank you for making time to come. As always, today is less about celebrating something like my birthday and more about properly seeing the faces of our family.”

Even though his voice was not particularly loud, the banquet hall became silent enough to hear a pin drop.

Seemingly satisfied with the silence, Grandfather smiled and began calling up the families one household at a time.

Naturally, First Uncle’s family was called first. The household with the twenty-seven-year-old niece. Damn, there are a lot of people.

“Father, may you stay healthy this year as well—.”

“Yes. You all worked hard this year too—.”

The conversation continued for quite a while, but I did not listen at all. The things exchanged there were obvious anyway. Since all of them were involved in managing Shinil Group, it was about someone’s performance, someone transferring positions, things like that.

Even the private topics were not that different. Our family was so absurdly huge that unless I deliberately studied who everyone was, I had no idea, so either way, they were all stories about strangers to me.

“Yaaawn...”

For some reason, playing on my phone was not fun today either. Overwhelming boredom was starting to make my butt fidget... was there anything I could do about this?

Ah, this.

I quietly poked Woojin’s arm with one finger.

“...What.”

“I’m bored.”

“Endure it. It’ll end soon.”

“What do you mean soon? I’m last.”

“...Well, that’s true.”

“At this rate, it’ll take hours before my turn. How am I supposed to wait?”

“Just endure a little longer.”

Thump!

I buried my head into Woojin’s upper arm.

“Hey. Stop it.”

“Oppa, your arm is really hard. What do you eat to make it like this? Do you go around eating rocks?”

“I exercise every day. I’m on the baseball team, remember?”

“Take that! Take that!”

Thump! Thump!

“...Are you really fourteen?”

“Hm?”

“Maybe you were actually four? Judging by how you act, that sounds about right.”

“Ugh! Mmph!”

“Shh. People are looking.”

While I was killing time by tormenting Woojin, the atmosphere near the head seat suddenly changed.

“Do you think running a company is a joke?!”

It was a roar loud enough to shake the banquet hall. One of the many uncles, I had no idea which number, was standing in front of the head seat with a deathly pale face and his head bowed.

“Eek!”

The problem was that at that exact moment, I had been reaching out to poke Woojin in the side. The thunderous shout startled me so badly that my feet tangled and I pitched forward, while Woojin turned toward me to catch me—

Thud.

“Hyung.”

Instead of hitting just his hard forehead, my whole face slammed into him and stars spun in my vision. Why is his chest like a wall? Even if he is an athlete, does it make sense for his chest to be made of stone too?

“Hey, you okay?”

“Ow...”

“What, are you crying?”

“I’m not crying. Sniff. Ow, that hurts like hell.”

“That’s what you get for fooling around. Stay still.”

As Woojin chuckled and helped me stand, I clutched my nose and teared up. What kind of sight is this.

Fortunately, everyone was looking toward the person being yelled at, so nobody paid attention to my disgrace. I felt sorry for that side, but for me it was incredibly fortunate. Otherwise, instead of some nameless uncle, I might have become today’s main embarrassment.

“If you’re that bored, lean on me and sleep for a bit.”

“Hm? Can I?”

“Of course.”

I leaned my head against him like he said and closed my eyes, and surprisingly, sleep came quickly—.

— — —

“That child, honestly—.”

“Exactly. A disgrace to the family—.”

The growing murmurs woke me up again.

“Yaaawn...”

“You awake?”

“Yeah.”

“You were drooling at the corner of your mouth.”

“Ah.”

Slurp.

Curious what had caused all the noise, I raised my head and looked toward the front. A woman was standing before the head seat.

“Huh? That unnie—.”

“It’s Jisoo noona’s family’s turn now.”

“Ah...”

The person who had caused the medicine incident and filled the lives of this family’s grandchildren with difficulties. But—

Let’s kill Shin Jisoo! Shin Jisoo is my enemy!

—I did not actually feel like saying that.

Was she twenty-two? She had flashy features and wore expensive-looking clothes, but her expression was dead.

“She feels... empty.”

“Empty?”

“Yeah.”

“...I see.”

“Does she look that way to you too, Oppa?”

“Yeah.”

Grandfather’s voice grew louder and louder. Something about disgracing the family, about still not coming to her senses, about how he would not tolerate it if she kept associating with those vulgar people.

Even with terrifying Grandfather shouting directly in front of her, even while being humiliated before every relative, Jisoo neither cried nor begged. She just stared blankly somewhere far away.

Why did she go that far? She had everything. What could possibly have been so unbearable that she turned to drugs and ran away from home?

When the conversation ended, Jisoo returned to her seat with her family, her head hanging low.

The banquet hall became quiet again and Grandfather continued calling families, but I no longer felt like tormenting Woojin the way I had earlier.

So I began nodding off again.

“Yua.”

“Mmm...”

“Yua. Wake up.”

“H-Hm?”

“It’s our family’s turn now.”

“Ah...”

As expected of the perfect honor-student son, Woojin was showered with praise from the start. Seeing his parents smiling broadly as they received praise along with him, they were probably thinking they had succeeded at raising at least one child.

“Woojin, your grades were good again this time. And you haven’t neglected exercise either. That’s how a man should be. When this old man was young—.”

In the end, Woojin returned to my side without hearing even a single negative comment.

“Good job, perfect son.”

“Shut up. More importantly, it’s your turn now.”

“Huh? Huh?”

“What, you weren’t getting ready? After our family comes yours... no, just you. The order was decided from the start, what were you doing instead of preparing?”

The next moment, Grandfather’s weighty voice pierced my ears.

“Yua.”

“Gasp.”

“Come here.”

In an instant, every gaze in the banquet hall turned toward me at once. Being the center of attention for nearly a hundred people was not exactly pleasant for an extreme introvert like me.

“Uh... uh...”

My mind went completely blank and strength drained from my legs.

What do I do? I know I have to go out there, but my legs will not move.

Then Woojin took my hand. It was warm and large.

“Let’s go. I’ll go with you.”

“Oppa? You were just there.”

“So what? Once or twice, what difference does it make?”

And so the two of us walked together into the tiger’s jaws, through a storm of gazes.