7. The Third Daughter of Councilor Choe's Family
Before heading down to Gunwi, I started wrapping up the things I needed to do in Seoul.
"Please make the buildings as sturdy as possible."
Even if I lived but a single day, I had to live it properly. When the time came to tear them down, so be it, but for now, they had to be sturdy and safe.
"Young boss, what on earth are you planning to do here?"
"I'm going to farm."
"If you're going to farm, why do you need buildings like that? Aren't you trying to build a factory or something?"
The old man from the real estate office was essentially the village headman of this area.
I bought up every parcel of land I could get my hands on, from Hannam to Jamwon, Banpo to Seocho. Even parts of Yangjae.
There wasn't even a plan for it yet, but once the Third Han River Bridge—later called the Hannam Bridge—was completed in 1969, this place would transform into the very gold of Seoul.
Farming in Gangnam...
Just imagining it was an undeniable delight.
The headquarters of the company I used to work for had been located near Gangnam Station, and that was a piece of land I had dearly wanted to acquire. It wasn't that the company itself was at fault, but the system was wrong. It turned men into money-making machines, reducing them to parts in a machine that made spending time with family impossible. Over there in welfare states like Sweden in Northern Europe, they'd had something called a "Scandi Daddy" since long ago, where companies supported a father's life with his family. To Koreans, it was nothing more than a pipe dream.
"Since I'm building it anyway, I'll build big. So there won't be a shortage of rice in the entire country."
I was short of hands.
It was a fact I felt in my bones.
It was a time when jobs were scarce and people seeking work overflowed, so laborers could be hired easily enough if you paid them. Yet the reason I felt short of hands was that there was no one I could trust to leave my work to. Then as now, if the site foreman didn't keep a close eye on things at the construction site, it was commonplace for materials to be embezzled and profits skimmed, or for a day's work to stretch into ten. And it wasn't just building construction. That was why I felt so strongly that I needed a trustworthy person who could work with the same heart as mine in my stead.
"Ahem. Is the young boss in?"
I was organizing various documents in my makeshift office when the village headman elder pushed open the door and came in. He cleared his throat unnecessarily, as if there was something going on.
"This way."
Following the headman's guidance, a venerable gentleman in a neat suit and a beautiful woman in a chiffon blouse that flowed all the way to her toes entered after him.
"Uh...?"
"It's been a while. No, perhaps it hasn't been that long?"
"Elder!"
Overjoyed, I quickly ran and embraced the suited gentleman tightly. Though it had only been about a month, he was the person I had felt closest to since my rebirth, so my joy was immense. The boatman who had ferried boats at the landing. Compared to his shabby clothing back then, the distinguished suit he wore now fit him as though it were his original attire.
"But who is this young lady?"
"She is my daughter."
"Hello. I am Choe Hui."
"She is twenty-two this year. My youngest daughter, whom I cherish more than the apple of my eye."
"Ah. Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Lee Dong-ho."
I looked at the woman who had introduced herself as Choe Hui. She was a stark contrast to the old boatman, her father, with his darkly tanned skin. She had skin as white as white jade, as though she had never been properly exposed to sunlight, and large eyes with corners that turned up slightly. Regardless of the era's standards, she was a beauty who could confidently be called a beauty in any age.
"My good man. Aren't you short of hands?"
Without even offering me a seat first, Elder Choe abruptly asked if I needed hands.
I did.
I needed them desperately.
"I do. But it's not easy finding someone trustworthy."
"How about my daughter here? She's on her way back after taking a leave from Seoul National University."
"Excuse me?"
"I wish to entrust my daughter to you. Unlike her two older sisters, she is ambitious about work. But from my position, I cannot simply have her work just anywhere. There are many concerns..."
"I look forward to working with you."
Before Elder Choe had even finished speaking, the young lady who called herself Choe Hui bowed her head deeply to me.
"No. Please wait a moment. Elder."
"Why? Is she lacking?"
"For my part, it is a joyful and grateful offer. But as you can see, I am cramped in a makeshift office, sleeping here as well, with no proper place to wash. Moreover, the only work I have now is supervising construction, and the people you deal with are too rough for a woman."
It was a roundabout refusal, regrettable though it was for me. If the scale of work grew later, I would have welcomed her then, but for now, I needed a vanguard who could be trusted and endure rough work alongside me, not a beautiful woman.
"'Let there be no one starving to death within a hundred li in all directions.'"
Choe Hui, who had been sitting calmly, suddenly began to speak.
"I was the one who asked my father. There may be differences between men and women in work, but where is the distinction between man and woman in will? I dearly wish to join you."
Saying so, Choe Hui gazed steadily into my eyes.
Beautiful.
Her appearance was beautiful, but even more beautiful was the resolute and firmly grounded spirit within her.
"I hear that when daughters-in-law marry into the Choe family, they wear plain cotton clothes for three years. Do you intend to trade such fine clothes for plain cotton and soil your hands with dirt?"
At my words, both Elder Choe and Choe Hui looked at me in shock. They could never have imagined I would know of their family customs.
"A-are you proposing...?"
Choe Hui's beautiful face flushed bright red.
"Ah! That is not it. I was merely asking if you could work alongside me with that kind of resolve."
Realizing my mistake, I hurriedly waved my hands.
"Heh. I knew what you meant. I was merely surprised that you knew of my family, so I decided to startle you in return."
With that, Choe Hui bent her waist to ninety degrees.
"As you spoke of, I shall wear plain cotton clothes for three years. I look forward to working with you."
I looked flusteredly at Elder Choe, but he simply chuckled and averted his eyes. When I stood there tongue-tied, Choe Hui's bowed waist showed no sign of straightening.
If this too was fate, then it was fate.
That in this vast land, I had specifically used a ferry when heading up to Yeongdong, and that among the many boats, I had boarded Mr. Choe's. And whatever circumstances had led Mr. Choe to be ferrying boats at that landing so unexpectedly. Taken one by one, they were trivial matters, but they had come about through the overlap of countless possibilities. In a way, it was an unparalleled stroke of fortune for me. To meet people with such unshakeable trust at the very moment I needed someone reliable.
This family was trustworthy by their very existence alone.
Deep-rooted trees who had personally practiced noblesse oblige in the Republic of Korea.
"I look forward to working with you."
I will help you, so that you do not scatter in the wind ahead.
Swallowing those words inside, I too bowed politely to Choe Hui, who remained bowed, and to the elder beside her.
*
"Hello."
"Ah... Yes, hello. Hehe."
"Hey, you. You're drooling from your mouth. Don't eye a tree you can't climb and get back to work."
A man acting as the site manager kicked the rump of a laborer who was grinning at the sight of Choe Hui.
"Ahem. Ahem. Let's go."
I greeted them and then moved toward the office with Choe Hui.
From the next day, Choe Hui began wearing white plain cotton clothes, following me around to help at warehouse and building construction sites. Even though I desperately dissuaded her, saying the mention of plain cotton clothes had been a formality, she was resolute.
"A woman's word weighs even more than a thousand gold."
It was certainly a correct saying, but it was something I simply could not get used to. The gap between her era and mine was vast, but what was certain was that she was excessively classical.
At first, Choe Hui seemed unable to adapt and wandered about lost, but she quickly began to pick up the work.
Do you think there are aristocratic families in the Republic of Korea?
I believe there are. After all, there is one aristocrat right before my eyes.
In Gyeongju, Gyeongsang-do, there was a wealthy family so rich—said to be manseokkun—that you couldn't take ten steps without stepping on their land.
The reason I used the past tense, 'there was,' was simple. They were the wealthy family of Gyeongju who had lived prosperous lives for a full four hundred years while practicing charity, but it was precisely that life of giving that caused their fortune to rapidly decline. They say even a ruined rich family lasts three generations; they could maintain a certain affluence despite their decline, but that was all. The wealthy family of Gyeongju, who had tried to keep only what was moderate and who had continuously shared and bestowed wealth beyond their possessions, established 'Baeksan Trading' during the Japanese colonial period to fund the independence movement. Having made the choice to abandon their status as manseokkun themselves, the wealthy family of Gyeongju took out loans from Siksan Bank on their personal guarantee and diverted that company money to independence funds. By a stroke of luck, Siksan Bank neither took ownership of nor seized their assets, and the bonds were automatically extinguished when Japan was defeated. But after that, a decisive event occurred.
The issuance of land price bonds and compensated redistribution.
The fall of the great landowners was perhaps inevitable, yet the wealthy family of Gyeongju endured it with a smile. They donated their remaining entire fortune to build a university in Daegu for the cultivation of future scholars. That intention was noble and great, but its fruit was ultimately snatched away by the head of a military regime and a chaebol tycoon.
The 'Daegu University Donation Incident' of Daeseong's Lee Hyeon-cheol.
They had entrusted the university to Lee Hyeon-cheol, who was then the wealthiest man in Gyeongsang-do, but Lee Hyeon-cheol promptly donated Daegu University to Park Jeong-hui. No one knew that the last fortune of the noble Gyeongju wealthy family would end up in the hands of thieves so futilely.
I raised my head again and looked at Choe Hui with her snow-white skin. The sight of her, head buried in her desk, lost in thought about something, was beautiful. Of course, it was not that I thought of her as a woman.
The wealthy family of Gyeongju.
That wealthy family's surname was 'Choe.'
Elder Choe was the younger brother of Elder Choe Jun, the current head of the Choe family. I had happened to see the one remaining family photo of the wealthy Choe household, and it remained vividly in my memory.
Daegu University had already fallen into the hands of Daeseong's Lee Hyeon-cheol and was now practically abandoned.
"-I will make it the foremost university south of the Han River."
That was what Lee Hyeon-cheol had said to Elder Choe Jun at the time. Lee Hyeon-cheol had wanted to offer compensation for the operational rights, but Choe Jun had firmly declined. Choe Jun merely hoped that Lee Hyeon-cheol would carry on his will and devote himself to nurturing future scholars, like Inchon Kim Seong-su of Korea University. Kim Seong-su's pro-Japanese actions were clearly gravely wrong, but it was true that he had developed Korea University.
But Lee Hyeon-cheol was not a pro-Japanese collaborator, yet neither did he devote himself to nurturing future scholars.
He was simply a thorough businessman.
Meaning their directions had been different from the very beginning.
"Miss Choe Hui."
"Yes?"
Choe Hui raised her head and looked at me.
"Why do you want to earn money?"
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly as I said. Why do you want to earn money? Are you not already wealthy?"
"...I got angry after having something taken from me. Giving of my own accord and having something taken away are very different things."
Though it was a family affair, Choe Hui was unmistakably a member of the wealthy Choe household. I couldn't even begin to imagine that sense of injustice.
"If you acquire it this time, what will you do next?"
"If I acquire it this time, I will surely give it back with my own hands. I don't want to have anything taken from me ever again."
I smiled faintly at Choe Hui.
"Please help me diligently. I'll help you earn money and reclaim what was taken."
Choe Hui smiled back as if merely thanking me for the words, but I was completely sincere.
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