Chapter 4: Reincarnation: Soonyang’s Youngest Grandson

“Ugh!”

That same dream again.

Every night I relive what happened exactly three months ago.

Not a single day goes by without waking up from a vivid nightmare of that terrifying moment of death.

This isn’t some tough training, what kind of life is this?

I just hope I don’t have to relive this dream forever.

It’s ten minutes to six.

I turned off the alarm set for 6 AM and sat up.

I got out of bed and took off my pajamas then went into the bathroom attached to my bedroom and took a quick shower.

After changing into my school uniform I left the bedroom. In the bedroom across from mine, my so-called older brother showed no signs of waking up.

I walked down the thirty-some stairs to the living room, it was filled with the refreshing scent of bean sprout soup.

In the kitchen, the housekeeper was busy preparing breakfast.

Bean sprout soup is a staple for breakfast. That’s because my so-called father drinks every single day.

As I opened the front door, the bright blue grass sparkled, soaking up the early summer sunlight.

I picked up the three newspapers lying in the garden and quietly returned to my room on the second floor.

I slowly read through one economic newspaper and two general dailies.

The front page was dominated by a large photo of a demonstration, with tear gas and Molotov cocktails flying.

June 26, 1987.

The demonstrations will continue today as well, until the 29th when the president of the Fifth Republic will declare his surrender.

I finished reading even the ads and carefully folded the newspapers.

“Do-jun.”

Sensing my presence, the housekeeper knocked on my door, holding a tray with a glass of milk and a cup of coffee.

This is my name that I’ve been hearing for three months now.

Jin Do-jun.

I’m still not used to it.

“You didn’t have to bring it up. I can come down and eat.”

“Oh, it’s not because of the milk. I brought coffee too. Drink it quickly before your parents see, they’ll make a fuss.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

The housekeeper watched me with a kind, gentle gaze as I sipped my coffee.

She’s grown quite fond of me ever since I suddenly changed.

A bratty ten-year-old kid.

A spoiled rich kid who often threw tantrums at the table and treated the house staff rudely, changed 180 degrees.

I always use honorifics with adults and constantly say thank you. Not to mention I don’t complain about food anymore, I eat whatever is given to me, clean my own room and even help with the housework from time to time.

How could anyone not find this ten-year-old’s dignified behavior endearing?

“Oh right, you know it’s the Chairman’s birthday today, right? We’ll be having dinner at his place, so keep that in mind.”

“Yes, I remember.”

The housekeeper took the empty coffee and milk cups, gave my head a pat and left. She even took the folded newspapers with her.

Finally, today’s the day.

Exactly three months after becoming this ten-year-old child named Jin Do-jun, I’m going to meet Jin Yang-cheol, the founder of Soonyang Group.

I never met him once in my past life but today I’ll be having dinner with him at the same table, not as an employee but as his youngest grandson. Today I dine with the man of countless legends, as his youngest grandson, not as a mere employee.

A 66-year-old grandfather and his ten-year-old grandson.

What could it mean that I was reborn as the ten-year-old youngest grandson of the family that ordered my death, after dying with a bullet in my head on a quiet beach in Moldova?

Did God give me a chance for revenge?

Or does it mean I should forgive them since we share the same blood?

***

The breakfast table was unusually quiet.

My twelve-year-old brother, Jin Sang-jun, who used to chatter non-stop, was just shoveling food into his mouth without a word.

My father, still not sober, was also just sipping the broth of the bean sprout soup.

And…

Oh! Mother.

My beautiful mother!

Even more beautiful than that stunning woman who used to be the Vice-chairman’s secretary, my mother!

Coincidentally the same age as Olivia Hussey, the star of Romeo and Juliet, my mother was a star who appeared like a comet, known as Korea’s Olivia Hussey.

In the early 1970s, she became a star with just one film, kicking off the era of the “Troika” of actresses, but she accepted the fervent courtship of a man who was her fan, got married and disappeared from the screen.

The lucky man was my father, Jin Yun-ki, the fifth son of Jin Yang-cheol, the founder of Soonyang Group.

The two were the main characters of the wedding of the century.

At that time, Soonyang Group was starting to expand its affiliates and laying the foundation for the group. In particular, the launch of Soonyang Electronics marked the beginning of a full-scale effort to catch up with Japan.

Despite her outstanding beauty and stardom, in the eyes of Soonyang Group, she was just an ordinary girl from an ordinary family, nothing more, nothing less.

She might be fun to play around with a few times, but bringing her into the family is unthinkable. You take an advertising model to a hotel, not to your family home.

Naturally, Chairman Jin Yang-cheol was furious and threatened to remove my father from the family register, but he couldn’t because of the seed in her belly.

This is what I gathered from past media articles. I needed to know the Chairman’s family inside and out for my work.

And there’s something I know from my own experience.

This family was thoroughly excluded from the household.

I never once had to spend time on this family’s affairs. They were not managed at the group level.

They just kept their heads down as if they were dead.

This is what I found remarkable about this couple.

When the founder, my father, passed away, the eldest son inherited his position. My father, the youngest son, received a really tiny inheritance.

While other siblings fought like dogs in a pit to get a bigger share of Soonyang Group, this couple stayed far away from that fight, protecting their own lives.

Of course, being Korea’s top conglomerate, even a tiny share was an unimaginable fortune to ordinary people.

But one thing is for sure, this couple is not greedy.

“Do-jun.”

“Yes?”

“Why are you so surprised?”

She’s still in her mid-thirties and her beauty remains. It’s still embarrassing to see such a beautiful face up close. When will I get used to it?

Seeing such a beautiful face up close still makes me feel shy. I wonder when I’ll get used to it?

“Oh, no reason.”

“Pfft. You know, our Do-jun has become so mature that I’m the one who’s more surprised.”

When I woke up from death three months ago – I haven’t found a better way to put it yet – I was shocked enough to find myself 30 years in the past, let alone being the youngest grandson of Soonyang Group’s founder.

As time passed I got used to it, but it was impossible to easily show affection to the two people who were only my biological parents.

My father is thirty-eight years old now.

Two years younger than I was in my past life.

It was hard to call them Dad and Mom, but now I can manage to call them Father and Mother.

This is a son who suddenly changed.

A ten-year-old son who surprisingly uses formal language and honorifics might be unexpected.

“I’m not going!”

Suddenly my so-called brother slammed his spoon down, his mouth pouting.

“I’m serious. I won’t go!”

I wondered why he was throwing a tantrum, and then I had a pretty good guess.

My parents’ expressions hardened, but they couldn’t scold him.

This kid must be scared of Grandpa.

Well, when the son who was supposed to have a strategic marriage with another conglomerate decided to marry a mere actress, the cause of the reluctant permission was this kid.

How could he look at him favorably?

I understand that feeling, but I couldn’t look favorably on this kind of table manner.

I’m not this kid’s parent nor am I his peer to understand his feelings.

And the biggest reason I need to correct this kid’s behavior is that I can’t have the founder, Grandpa, looking down on me because of him.

“Sang-jun. Dad promises. We’ll just eat and come back quickly. Okay?”

Father spoke softly, and Mother looked apologetic as they tried to appease their eldest son, but this little brat kept whining for a while.

If it weren’t for school time I would have exploded first.

You little punk. Just wait until after school.

In the back seat of the Daewoo sedan driven by the chauffeur, my immature brother didn’t say a single word, just sat there gloomily.

The elementary school we attended, now called an elementary school, was a prestigious private school teeming with children of the wealthy, chaebols like Soonyang Group and high-ranking officials and legal professionals from so-called prestigious families.

Future chairmen, presidents, congressmen and ministers are alumni and classmates. I thought that the depth of my relationships with these people could change my future, so I tried to be as social as possible without standing out.

Back then, children who were driven to school instead of taking the school bus would get off far from the school gate and walk, there was a shared consciousness among teachers and students to ‘not act superior’ and ‘not stand out’.

But the little brats at this school will soon realize.

That they are blessed beings who can inherit money and power from birth. From the moment they realize that, they will try to reign over others.

What a bunch of jerks.

Anyway, today I just waited for school to end.

I was very curious to see the young and youthful versions of the founder of Soonyang Group and the guys I used to serve.

After school, I came home and faced the kid whose manners needed fixing.

“Hey! Who said you could come in? Get out!”

Three large arcade game machines were taking up one side of the room, and on the bed was a Nintendo Famicom, the legend of small game consoles.

My whiny brother was busy pressing buttons in front of the arcade game machine, yelling without even looking back.

You little brat.

This is perfect. The opportunity is perfect.

I approached him silently.

I kicked the chair he was sitting on, sending him sprawling to the floor.

“Hey! You…!”

“Shut your trap, you punk!”

I stomped on his solar plexus once, and he struggled, unable to even squeak.

I grabbed my brother by the hair and dragged him into the bathroom.

***

“Do-jun! What happened to your hand?”

My mother made a fuss, startled by my swollen red hand.

She even shed a few tears while applying ice and cream.

“I’m fine. I made a mistake while turning on the shower… Some hot water splashed on me.”

“Is this just a splash? What if it’s a burn?”

Eventually, the family doctor rushed over and confirmed it was nothing serious, only then did she seem relieved.

If my hand is okay, it means my brother Sang-jun, who was looking at me with a frightened expression, didn’t get burned either.

Well, I just scared him with hot water from the shower while he was clothed, it should be much less severe than me. At most, it’s probably the temperature of a sauna’s hot tub.

But to a pampered twelve-year-old, it must have been terrifying.

No one had ever treated him so roughly before, and his mind wasn’t strong enough to withstand physical violence.

Of course, the effect will weaken with each repetition, and he might even fight back, but subduing a little kid is a piece of cake.

After the commotion, our family headed to Grandfather’s house.

“Honey, are you driving yourself?”

My mother asked my father as he opened the driver’s side door.

“Yeah, don’t worry, I won’t drink. Have you ever seen me drink in Pyeongchang-dong?”

Pyeongchang-dong.

A place I frequented more often than my parents’ house.

The house that Chairman Jin Young-ki, the eldest son, took over after the death of founder Jin Yang-cheol.

The place where I pulled weeds as my first job after joining the company.

Back then, I was just a lowly servant, but now I have the owner’s blood.

It feels like returning to my hometown after achieving success.