060 The Ancestral Eccentricity

After finishing their coffee, they did not linger.

Yoo Jimin followed behind Yoon Yun-hui as they walked slowly up the slope. Watching him push his motorcycle, she could not hold back her frustration and bluntly remarked, "Oppa, I think there is something wrong with you."

"What now?"

"Is pushing a motorcycle instead of riding it fun?"

"If a sports bike doesn't need to carry someone, don't carry someone. Safety, do you understand?"

The place the two were heading to was not far—just up the slope. Seoul is a city of many mountains, and road conditions here are far inferior to the flat lands across the water.

"Oh~~~"

Yoo Jimin drew out her voice, and before long, they reached their destination.

They had not left Gahoe-dong; they had merely stepped outside the boundaries of the so-called Bukchon Hanok Village.

"Oppa, do you think that little girl from earlier will become a trainee at SM Entertainment?"

Yoo Jimin stood before the gate of a Nordic-style villa numbered Gahoe-dong 1-8, while Yoon Yun-hui parked the bike in the middle of the sloped road. Her mind, however, was still occupied by the young girl she had met earlier.

"Maybe. Since you guys are debuting soon, how many female trainees from your batch are left at SM Entertainment?"

Yoo Yun-hui pulled out his keys to open the garage door.

Villas built halfway up a hillside like this first required leveling the foundation—either by excavating a platform or building one up. The latter usually came with a street-facing garage, while the main entrance was on the alley side.

There were two other Nordic-style villas of a similar architectural style across the street. The largest among them had been built on a massively excavated foundation, which was why it lacked a hillside garage.

Both were works of the early American-educated architect Park In-joon.

"They're all gone. Aside from one unni who chose to join SM Entertainment as a staff member, the rest of our cohort left the company one after another."

Yoo Jimin sighed. She actually had many flaws and was not the best at anything, yet somehow she ended up being the one to debut, and as the leader, no less. To make matters worse, the company told her she was the conceptual core of the group.

We're doomed. Why do I feel like our group's future is completely hopeless? Will the company even go bankrupt?

"Now the only ones left in the company are that bunch of male trainees and a few little girls born in 2006."

Yoo Jimin was quite familiar with the company's situation. Sometimes, when she bumped into those young girls born in 2006, she would deliberately put on a stern face and 'lecture' them like a proper senior. Especially that little girl named Choi Ji-woo. She was particularly fun to tease!

In that instant, Yoo Jimin finally understood why Yoon Yun-hui always liked teasing her—because it really was fun.

"So, if the cafe owner's daughter really wants to become a trainee, SM Entertainment will definitely recruit her and keep her in reserve."

Yoo Yun-hui opened the garage door and pushed the small motorcycle inside.

Yoo Jimin had no time to reply; her gaze was immediately drawn to the vintage car parked inside the garage.

***

"A BMW E9, a 1960s coupe. It was a welcome gift from my great-grandfather to his stepson, who was my grandfather. At the time, my grandfather was studying for his master's degree in medicine in the UK and didn't even know he had been adopted into the eldest branch of his biological father's family."

Yoo Yun-hui let out a nostalgic sigh.

"Legend has it that my grandfather drove this car frequently while studying abroad, but after returning to Korea, this loyal companion that came back with him just gathered dust. When I was sorting through the estate, I had this car parked here along with some other family collectibles."

"Then why don't you live here instead of staying in that haunted western-style mansion, Oppa?"

Yoo Jimin complained. Yoon Yun-hui chuckled. A haunted western-style mansion?

"It's different. The 'haunted mansion' was a residence built by Master Zuo himself. He lived there in Songdo with his wives, concubines, and children, and it was also the place where he fell into depression and died. For my branch of the family, my great-grandfather replicating it in Seoul holds special significance."

A haunted mansion it was, then. Yoon Yun-hui simply went along with Yoo Jimin's phrasing.

"As for this Nordic-style villa, it was built by Master Zuo's two half-brothers with their help after the family estate was divided, because that architect was a friend of theirs. That friend had offended the Japanese, leaving his architectural firm with no business. Building an extra house was a disguised way of helping him out. Even when Master Zuo came to Seoul, he didn't stay here much; he lived in his father's villa in Buam-dong—a hybrid structure combining a hanok and a red-brick building."

Yoo Yun-hui only ever told these family stories to Yoo Jimin. After all, since Yoo Jimin was the younger sister he claimed as his own—and his de facto head maid—she ought to know these things.

"I don't understand a single word, oppa!"

Yoo Jimin felt dizzy. Only Yoon Yun-hui could pull this off; if anyone else tried to lecture her on history, she wouldn't even have the patience to listen!

Yoo Yun-hui was utterly defeated. Yoo Jimin showed not a single ounce of awareness of what it meant to be a matriarch. Anyone else would have memorized the family history backward and forward by now. Otherwise, why would Yoon Yun-hui even bother saying all this? Just for fun?!

"Fine. To celebrate my Jimin's upcoming debut, you can pick any single item in this villa as a gift from me."

Yoo Yun-hui felt mentally exhausted, feeling as though he were playing the harp to a cow, wasting his breath on a bunch of useless talk.

"Oh?"

Yoo Jimin perked up with excitement, casting a mischievous glance at the keys in Yoon Yun-hui's hand.

Yoo Yun-hui instinctively clenched his fist and shook it at her in a mock threat.

"Not that one. Why are your thoughts always so full of mischief?"

"Hmph, if not, then not. Why hit me..."

Yoo Jimin acted 'aggrieved.' Unable to take it anymore, Yoon Yun-hui gave her a light smack on the backside.

"Stop putting on an act! Are you going to pick something or not? If you don't want a gift, I'm kicking you out!"

"Ow! I want it, I want it!"

Yoo Jimin clutched her backside and scurried away, calling back over her shoulder, "Oppa, at least you should tell me what's in here!"

"I've changed my mind. I'm not letting you choose."

Yoo Yun-hui rolled his eyes at her.

"I'll just pick something for you myself."

***

The most valuable items were stored in the underground vault of the Songdo Memorial Hall; everything left at the Gahoe-dong villa was of lesser worth.

"That's even better! Otherwise, I wouldn't even know what was what."

Yoo Jimin obediently followed Yoon Yun-hui into a large room filled with numerous cabinets. Taking advantage of the moment he was rummaging through the drawers and boxes, she wandered over to the wall covered in photographs.

Most of the frames on the wall contained black-and-white group photos.

"Oppa, who is this?"

"The principal figures are Master Zuo and his two half-brothers."

Yoo Yun-hui walked over to Yoo Jimin's side, holding a dusty little box.

"What about this one? Why isn't Master Zuo in it?"

"..."

Yoo Jimin pointed at a photo containing six people and turned to look at Yoon Yun-hui, who let out a sigh.

"Huh? What is it, oppa? Don't sigh, is there a problem?"

"Isn't there a note tucked inside the frame? Can't you see the date on it? 1960. Master Zuo had already been dead for fifteen years."

"Oh..."

"This photo was taken on the lawn of the presidential residence—which had just been renamed the Blue House—on the day of Haiwei's inauguration. The third person from the left is Haiwei."

"Mm-hmm."

"And the one on the far right, the only person present wearing a white tuxedo, is Master Zuo's eldest son, Yong-sun—my great-grandfather's father."

Whenever the topic turned to this ancestor, Yoon Yun-hui had a lot to say, but since his only audience was the blockhead Yoo Jimin, he instantly lost the desire to speak.

Lord Yong-sun, an early member of the Democratic Party, served as the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry during the era of the great mathematicians. During his tenure, he did only one thing: land reform. And the very first thing he took the brunt of was redistributing all the agricultural land of the Haepyeong Yoon clan free of charge.

"A white tuxedo?"

Yoo Jimin's eyes widened. Yoon Yun-hui replied with complete apathy, "What about it?"

"No wonder you're so flashy, oppa. Turns out your ancestors were already like this."

?

Yoo Yun-hui's brain froze for several seconds.

Then, he shoved the dusty little box he was holding squarely into Yoo Jimin's arms, not even caring if he accidentally brushed against her chest.

"A platinum single-strand slender bracelet alternately set with rubies and diamonds. I forgot which era it's from, but anyway, it's yours now. Head back on your own."

"Hey, hey, hey, oppa, why are you like this? It's bad enough that I had to take the subway here by myself, but you aren't even going to see me off?"

Yoo Jimin hugged the small box tightly. She didn't bother opening it because Yoon Yun-hui was already pushing her toward the exit.

Seeming to have suffered a mental breakdown and driven to 'shame-faced anger,' Yoon Yun-hui shoved the ungrateful Yoo Jimin right out the door.

"How old are you? You still need me to see you off?!"