In the past, I was not satisfied with them calling me a hero. They even called me the hope of Earth, or God. In other words, even before ‘Revival Legend’ started materializing in reality, they bowed to me, no matter how high level they were. Sometimes they earnestly begged for their lives.
Of course, right now, nobody around me knew it.
Bang!
“You bastard! Are you crazy?”
At that moment, Cholmin slammed his fist on the table while glaring at me. In an instant, everyone’s eyes turned to us.
Perhaps Cholmin did it on purpose because nothing used to scare me more than drawing attention.
In the past I would have felt nervous, not knowing what to do with my head down.
Slap!
This time I relaxed my hand, then slapped him on the face.
If I had exerted any force, his cheek would have been ripped apart.
At the same time, I raised my voice, “Don’t you know that it’s bad manners to make noise when you eat?”
“…”
He made a stunned expression for a moment.
But I didn’t care, and took some salad with a fork and put it into my mouth.
“You bastard!”
Bang!
This time I slapped him hard on the other cheek. Even though I only exerted a tiny bit of force, his body fell sideways, with his cheek swollen red
I said, “Hush! Well, I think it’s ok to chat while we are eating, but you are too noisy! Keep your table manners!”
Having said that, I used the fork again, and started eating my food.
At that moment, my eyes met somebody else’s as I was raising my head.
And I smiled at this person gently because it was Bora Yon.
In my house in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, that night.
I had dinner with my dad, mom, elder brother and sister.
When our dinner was almost over, my dad asked, “You said you fought at school?”
Then my sister asked, surprised, “Really? You got into a fight at school? No way…”
My mother was also startled to know it.
No wonder they were stunned because I had never fought with my classmates, not to mention quarreling with anybody.
So I gently nodded at their questions.
At the same time, I asked, “How did you know that? Gosh, it’s not a big deal. It looks like there are people who like to spread rumors.”
Slapping Cholmin on his cheeks was no big deal.
Instead of scolding me, my father said, “Good job!”
Of course, my mother and sister demanded I should tell them about what happened, but I didn’t tell them because it was not something I wanted to repeat.
***
In Daesung Group Chairman Junghan Kim’s mansion at that time.
“Crunch! Why did you put up with it? You should have slapped him on the cheek, too!”
“But you said a strong man should be generous to the weak, right, Grandpa?”
“You idiot! You can say that when you’re superior to your opponent. How come you talk about the generosity of the strong when you got beaten up like that?”
“What if Daesung’s ties with Myongjin go sour because I retaliated?”
“Hw stupid! Do you think Daesung’s ties with Myungjin will go sour because of kids’ fighting like yours?”
“…”
Cholmin Kim lowered his head, frowning at his grandfather’s rebuke, because he felt it was unfair.
Then he lifted his head and opened his mouth again.
“When I go to school tomorrow, I’m going to beat that bastard Juyoung…”
“It’s too late, dude. If you beat him tomorrow, it will involve adults like me. You should have done it yesterday! Yesterday! Tut, tut. I had high expectations of you, but you’re still a kid.”
“…”
Cholmin gnawed his teeth at the thought of Juyoung when he saw his grandfather clicking his tongue at him because it was Juyoung who made him go through this kind of unwanted humiliation.
At that moment his grandfather asked, “How do you get along with Bora Yon?”
“Bora? Very well! I get along with her very well!”
“Great. Keep it up with her well. If you can make her your woman, Daesung Group will be yours. Of course, Mirae will be yours, too, as she will take it over. If that happens, you can be the head of a leading global business group that is not bound to South Korea.”
“Sure, don’t worry! Grandpa, I’m going to make Daesung a global business leader!”
At Kyungmoon High School the next day.
Looking back, my quarrel with Cholmin yesterday was not a big deal. Besides, it didn’t develop into any big fight between me and him.
But my scuffle with him instantly became a hot topic among my classmates at school because I and he symbolically represented Myongjin and Daesung respectively.
So when I got out of the car, many students turned their eyes to me.
Given that I was a timid and reticent boy during freshman year, my scuffle with Cholmin yesterday was really shocking and unexpected to them.
But I ignored their intense attention because it was a trifling matter as I told my family.
So I passed by the guys who looked at me furtively, headed to my classroom and spent the day as usual.
Soon it was lunch time.
To be honest, I expected that Cholmin would come to see me before or after the 1st class was over. HIs personality was one that would never let me off the hook after being humiliated by me.
Contrary to my expectations, he didn’t appear before me.
‘It looks like he must have had a good scolding.’
That’s what I guessed because he was not the type of guy who would leave matters be.
But somebody appeared before me like yesterday.
Was it Cholmin?
No, it was Bora Yon.
She put down the meal tray on the table and sat next to me.
“What’s the matter with you?” she asked suddenly.
“What?”
I shrugged slightly as if I didn’t know what she was talking about.
She said, “I mean what happened to you yesterday.”
“Ah, well, that was a trifling scuffle between friends.”
“…”
I replied quickly, with a slight smile on my lips, but it was obviously not the answer she expected to hear because she didn’t brighten her hardened expression.
Then she continued, “Well, you weren’t like this before.”
“Um…you’re right.”
As my sister said, I was like a kitten that didn’t know how to reveal its claws.
In other words, I was like a little mouse that looked for a place to hide first.
I used to be like that kind of person before, so I just nodded at her words.
Then I said, “I’m going to change my attitude from now on.”
“Change your attitude?”
“Yep.”
When she said that, there was no change in her expression, but her eyes were twinkling unlike before, as if she discovered something interesting.
Watching her, I opened his mouth again with a big smile.
“Well, I tried to live quietly because our country or this earth is too small to embrace me. For example, if I just stretch myself even a bit, they are shocked. But I don’t care. What’s the big deal even if they are shocked? I now know they can get used to it over time.”
“…”
Finally, there was a noticeable change in her expression.
And I felt satisfied to notice it..