In the Moonlit Square Where You Are
By now I knew his tastes for certain. He could handle spicy food well enough, but he hated doenjang stew or anything with salted seafood. Fish dishes with bones were off-limits too.
Red tilefish was Chairman Kwon’s favorite. November was its peak season, so it appeared at every meal these days, and Madam Jang—who no longer packed side dishes for him—still insisted he take some home. Even when I told her he didn’t seem to eat much fish, she only smiled and brought up the Madam.
“The Chairman always says to make sure the eldest grandson gets whatever he likes himself.”
At every meal the Chairman asked after Kwon Hyun-jin’s well-being, and it clearly grated on the Madam. She had every right to feel that way—he fretted more over a grandson who barely showed his face at the main house than over the ones who had actually lived under the same roof.
Kwon Hyun-jin, after all, carried the justification of succeeding President Kwon. He was the eldest grandson of the Kwonjin line.
For some reason my insides felt tangled. I methodically reorganized the refrigerator, hoping the busywork might settle the queasy feeling.
“Obsessively packing stuff he doesn’t even eat. Gross.”
Kwon Hyun-jin stood beside me, arms crossed, voice dripping sarcasm.
“Anyway, I won’t be able to come by often anymore.”
“Why?”
He pushed off the counter and asked, face blank as if he genuinely had no idea.
“Why do you think? I’m starting university.”
He must have completely forgotten. The dazed look that crossed his face was almost absurd, as if he’d been betrayed right in front of him.
“I’m finding a place before classes start and moving out.”
“…….”
“There won’t be any more errands for me to run here.”
The refrigerator beeped, demanding the door be closed. I finished the rough tidy-up and pushed myself up from my knees.
“Kwon Hyun-jin.”
“…….”
“Maybe you should actually prepare for the entrance exams properly? It’s none of my business, but…….”
Chairman Kwon had a severe complex about academic credentials. That was why he paid such close attention to his children’s academic achievements. The grandchildren were no different.
The pocket money the Chairman had given me was probably because of my admission to B Women’s University. It was already a prestigious school, but B Women’s University held an especially good reputation among the older generation.
“It’s a waste to throw time away like this.”
“I heard Madam Jang’s looking into it.”
He’d been sitting on his hands trusting that.
He never said it outright, but Kwon Hyun-jin placed considerable faith in Madam Jang. Still, you had to trust the right people—Madam Jang was a complete outsider when it came to entrance exams.
“Timing is everything with admissions…….”
Dilly-dally and the window closed forever.
Kwon Hyun-jin didn’t have the ambition of the rest of the Kwon clan, and he wasn’t the type to obsess over his own future either.
But if he just drifted along, the Chairman would cast him aside.
This was the same Chairman who hadn’t tolerated his wayward eldest grandson as a child and had shipped him off to England. He wasn’t likely to embrace an adult Kwon Hyun-jin living like a wastrel who had failed his expectations.
That was exactly what the Madam was hoping for.
In the Kwon family—which was no different from a safari world—Kwon Hyun-jin was the lion cub that had fallen off a cliff and somehow climbed back up alive.
“Do you happen to know…… Director Yoon?”
People who worked for chaebol families lived by one rule: hear nothing, know nothing, keep your mouth shut no matter what.
I knew that, yet my mouth still broke the unspoken law.
“Director Yoon Jong-oh…… I heard he used to be chief secretary to President Kwon Jung-moo.”
Yoon Jong-oh had entered the company the same year as President Kwon Jung-moo. He had risen all the way to chief secretary and been practically the president’s right hand.
After the president and his wife passed, Vice President Kwon Young-moo’s star rose and Director Yoon was transferred to another affiliate. It was a forced reassignment—essentially part of erasing every trace of Kwon Jung-moo.
“I know him. Why?”
“What about contacting Director Yoon?”
“……Me?”
“Yeah.”
No matter how I looked at it, Madam Jang wasn’t going to look after Kwon Hyun-jin—especially not with something as sensitive as entrance exams that the Madam fretted over.
“Just send him a text first. It’s not that hard.”
Isolated as he was, Kwon Hyun-jin had no one in his corner.
Even lukewarm Madam Jang was the only line he could grab. He knew it was the wrong line and still clung to it.
“Someone like him might gladly help you…….”
“What business is it of yours?”
Pride stung at having to hear this from me; Kwon Hyun-jin frowned hard and stalked straight out into the living room.
Maybe it really had been pointless meddling. Embarrassed, I looked around for something else to tidy before grabbing my bag and leaving the kitchen.
“……Yes, ma’am. All right.”
Kwon Hyun-jin, still on the phone, caught the hood of my jacket as I headed for the front door. Only after fixing a date and time did he hang up.
“He wants to meet right away.”
“Who?”
“Director Yoon.”
Kwon Hyun-jin immediately held up his phone screen.
‘Yoon Jong-oh, Chief Secretary.’ The title suggested he’d saved the contact long ago.
“You had his number?”
“He reached out once. Years ago, though.”
He’d been exiled as head of the struggling Middle East branch of Kwonjin Construction, then a few years back had been moved to the Jeju duty-free shop under Kwonjin International.
It had been a full nineteen years since President Kwon Jung-moo died. The fact that Yoon Jong-oh was still bouncing between affiliates suggested he really had been one of the innermost aides.
I guessed that once Chairman Kwon fully stepped back from the electronics side, Yoon’s neck would finally be on the chopping block for good. That was probably why a single text from Kwon Hyun-jin had him ready to come all the way up to Seoul.
“That’s good.”
Their meeting would benefit both of them. Even Mom, who knew the Kwon family far better than I did, had said as much. It would be better if Director Yoon stayed by Kwon Hyun-jin’s side, she’d said.
“I did what you told me to.”
“No…… I didn’t— I just meant he’d be helpful to you, that was all…….”
“I did everything you ordered, Lee Na-hee.”
I was speechless. He spoke as if I’d commanded him to contact Director Yoon Jong-oh, face set with the clear intention of extracting full payment.
“Just try not being with me until midnight. I dare you.”
So that had been his goal all along.
December 31st.
He was more relentless than a beast hunting its prey. At this point the only option left was to surrender out of sheer exhaustion.
Chapter 4: In the Moonlit Square Where You Are
Once December arrived the cold set in for real. As if determined to prove it was winter, the whole city was already in a frenzy of Christmas preparations.
With the change of seasons, Kwon Hyun-jin’s previously monotonous days shifted as well.
After meeting Director Yoon Jong-oh he was introduced to an admissions consultant and went for counseling. Hard as it was to believe, his academic grades had been solid. He’d even been captain of the school football—or was it rugby?—team. That made the admissions strategy much smoother.
“That’s great. Then you can start university at the right age.”
“Should’ve come back a month earlier. Then I could’ve applied this year and started next year.”
“What’s the rush? Better to go with kids your own age.”
Entering next year meant Kwon Hyun-jin would start university alongside his peers. Plus it bought him time to prepare for the CSAT—perfect strategy for him.
“If I start next year I’ll be your junior. Annoying as hell.”
“You…… you’re trying to get into my school?”
“Yeah.”
The matter-of-fact answer left me stunned. He didn’t even know where I’d been accepted and he was already talking about coming to my school.
“I’m going to B Women’s University…….”
“What?”
He hadn’t even considered it might be a women’s college; Kwon Hyun-jin went blank.
“Why didn’t you say so!”
“You never asked.”
Until I brought up moving out, he hadn’t cared the slightest bit about university. He’d simply assumed it would be some school in Seoul.
“Ah…… fuck it. I’m not doing this.”
“Not doing what…….”
“I’m not going to college.”
He still didn’t seem particularly motivated about the entrance exams. Fortunately Director Yoon’s ambition more than made up for it.