Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho received a call from his sister.

“Gun-Ho, you haven’t heard anything about our aunt, have you?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“She fell on the stairs in her condo. She has been admitted to a hospital. She can’t even stand up by herself.”

“Is it that serious? She can’t even walk?”

“Yeah, because she is old, and it was a bad fall which gave her a lower back injury.”

“Shoot.”

“I went to see her at the hospital yesterday. She grabbed my arm and cried hard. She said having children meant nothing.”

“Why is she saying that? Jae-Woong did or didn’t do something?”

“Every time she had a bad fight with her daughter-in-law, her son became alienated from her. She said she was disappointed in me too.”

“You? For what?”

“I told her to stop talking bad about her daughter-in-law and try to get along with her and try to think and talk positive about her. She was very upset when I told her that.”

“What did she say?”

“She said there was nothing positive to talk about her daughter-in-law, and she got furious.”

“Hmm.”

“Well, she is in Gil Hospital, room no. 706. If you happen to be in Incheon area, just stop by. If you are too busy, then you don’t have to visit her.”

“Okay.”

After getting off the phone with his sister, Gun-Ho thought about his aunt.

‘She was so proud of her son—Jae-Woong—when he passed the level-9 government job exam. But her life after her precious son’s marriage is not very pretty. I wonder how Min-Hyeok Kim is doing between his parents and his wife. He married a Chinese woman. It could go either way, either good or bad as far as the conflict between her and Min-Hyeok’s mother is concerned.’

As he was thinking about family issues in general, he realized that he hadn’t visited his parents for quite some time.

‘I know my dad is receiving a 3 million won monthly salary from GH Mobile as a non-executive director. Is that enough? I wonder how they are doing.’

In the past when Gun-Ho was working as a factory worker after flunking the government job exam multiple times, he was also losing money by investing in the stock market. At that time, he was having an extremely hard time in his life, and he resented his parents for it. He even yelled at his father once.

‘I yelled at him and asked him why have me in the first place knowing they didn’t have enough money to support a child. My dad must have felt very sad. Without money, a family can’t avoid serious discord, and it eventually falls apart.’

Gun-Ho headed to Incheon City to his parents’ home. He stopped by a store to get some dried yellow corvina, which was Gun-Ho’s father’s favorite food, and a box of ginseng extract. He first went to see his aunt to the hospital before heading to his parents’ home. He parked his car at the hospital parking lot and purchased a basket of fruits.

“My sister said she is staying in a patient room no. 706.”

Gun-Ho was passing by a waiting area in the hospital when he saw Jae-Woong—his aunt’s son—sitting on a chair.

“Huh? Jae-Woong? What are you doing here?”

“Huh? Gun-Ho bro?”

“Why are you sitting at the waiting area?”

“Oh, I came down after seeing my mom upstairs. It’s mealtime for patients.”

“I see. How’s your work at the department of labor?”

“I’m doing fine. I actually wanted to see you, brother.”

“Me? Why?”

“Do you know any company I can work for? Your company or a company you know.”

“Why? You have a job already in the government.”

“I want to quit that job. The government doesn’t pay good money, and that causes a lot of troubles in my family.”

“Don’t say that. A government job is the most stable and desirable work that everyone wants to get in.”

“You made a lot of money already by running your own company, and you purchased a 50 pyung condo for your parents and also bought a huge building.”

“I was just lucky, and I am one of the unique cases. Your life will become harder if you don’t have good employment in this country. Working in the private sector is not a very good idea if you consider job security. Even though you might get a higher salary there, you have to be prepared to be laid off at any time, not to mention that the work itself is more stressful. Working for the government is the best job anyone could ever have.”

“I shouldn’t have taken my parents’ money to buy my home. I should have just rented a condo or something. Whew.”

“Why? Your mom helped you a lot when you buy your home?”

“My parents sold their condo in Guweol Town for 180 million won and helped me buy my current home in Gyesan Town. I paid 120 million won for my 17 pyung large condo, and they moved to a rental villa.”

“Oh, they did?”

“I had 20 million won in my savings that I saved by working as a government employee at that time, and my parents gave me 100 million won, so I could purchase the condo in Gyesan Town. I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have accepted their help…”

“What happened?”

“After my parents gave me 100 million won, my mom asked me to send her some allowance money every month. My wife couldn’t take the request well. So the conflict between my mom and my wife started from there.”

“You don’t have any debt, right?”

“No, I don’t.”

“That’s good. You have your own house without debt. That’s good enough. Don’t quit your government job. Once you are out from the government, you will realize that you are standing in hell.”

Gun-Ho knew Jae-Woong well from his childhood. Jae-Woong was two years younger than Gun-Ho, and he was a good student in school. He was a quiet boy, and he was not a very adventurous or proactive type. He didn’t have an aptitude to do sales or developing technology in a company. Jae-Woong seemed to be having a hard time in life, but in Gun-Ho’s view, Jae-Woong would do better as time went by; he would get promoted inside the government and that would raise his salary, and his parents would pass away.

“I will go upstairs to see my aunt.”

“Okay. I guess she must have finished her meal by now.”

Gun-Ho went to the patient room where his aunt was staying in with a basket of fruits in his hand. His aunt was having a conversation with an old lady patient who was lying down on the bed next to hers.

“Aunt!”

“Huh? Oh, Gun-Ho!”

Gun-Ho’s aunt seemed to be surprised. She probably didn’t expect Gun-Ho to visit her at the hospital at all.

“You didn’t have to come, Gun-Ho. I know you are very busy. What is this? You didn’t have to bring anything.”

Gun-Ho’s aunt smiled broadly when she saw the fruit basket that Gun-Ho brought her.

“How are you? Are you in pain?”

“Don’t get me started. I can’t even go to the bathroom by myself.”

“You will get better. The medical technology these days is very well advanced. The doctors will take good care of you.”

“Oh, did you see Jae-Woong on the way here? He went down not long ago.”

“Yes, I met him. He will come up soon; he wanted to get some fresh air.”

“I’ve raised him for nothing. I gave birth to him, but he is acting like a stranger.”

“Haha, don’t say that, aunt. You don’t mean that.”

“A son becomes a stranger once he marries. They always take the side of their wives. Gun-Ho, don’t do that to your mom.”

The old lady patient on the bed next to Gun-Ho’s aunt asked her,

“Who is this young man? He is tall and handsome. Very good looking.”

“He is my nephew, my older brother’s son. He is the one who is making a lot of money and recently bought a building.”

“A building? I see. He looks rich.”

Gun-Ho laughed.

“Thank you, ma’am. I wish you good health for a long time.”

Gun-Ho then stood up from his seat to leave.

“Go, Gun-Ho. You must be very busy.”

Gun-Ho took out an envelope from the inner pocket of his jacket.

“Aunt, get something to drink with this.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that!”

Gun-Ho’s aunt didn’t refuse to take the envelope; she took it and hid it under the mattress quickly.

“I will tell Jae-Woong to come up to stay with you on my way out.”

“Okay. Bye, Gun-Ho. Thank you for coming.”

Gun-Ho went down to the waiting area, but he couldn’t find Jae-Woong. He thought for a second if he would look for him, but then he decided to just leave, and he headed to Guweol Town where his parents were living.