Living

Chapter 7: History/His-story

"That's upsetting, how many people do you know that are coming to Korea from New York?"

"That's enough of that, why are you going to Busan and not coming to ours?"

"I have work there, the American project's production will happen near Busan so I need to set up things there first"

"Are you not going to meet the chairman first?"

"He doesn't care if his eldest son meets him or not, as long as I can bring the investments and money in, he will be happy" he said in a matter of fact way and his tone was void of any emotion

"Okay, but don't over burden yourself, take care"

"Okay, bye"

Dae Un was now getting in the car, he had a long drive to Busan and he was going to sleep during that as well.

After finishing his military duty, Dae Un had become focused on regaining his position in the company, he was the eldest son of Lee Byun Hun, the chairman of Taeran group. Taeran group was one of the biggest Chaebols (conglomerates) of Korea. For the outside world Dae Un was the undisputed heir of the company because of his competence and the shares his mother had left for him. But in the house the story was different, his step siblings had the support of their mother and uncle who was an executive at Taeran group. 

Dae Un's mother had died in a road accident when he was 1 and he had no memories of his mother. His father had remarried soon after and he had 3 step siblings. Growing up nobody hid the reality from him and even though he received different treatment from his step mother there was never any abuse or maybe there was. His step siblings always had a different schedule from him, different schools, different after school activities, different servants, everything was separate; to the point of isolation. There was no affection for him. His father was a cold person for everyone but his stepmother was an extremely warm mother; only for her own kids. You don't necessarily need to hit or abuse a child physically to injur them, making them starve for affection while giving love and affection to someone else in front of them is enough as well.

Dae Un didn't complain though, he didn't even try to gain love or praise either. Maybe he did as a kid, but as he grew he focused more and more on studies. He liked literature and he read whatever book he could get his hands on. Books did not discriminate, they told him the same stories that they told everyone else.

When he was 16, his step brother who was a year younger than him took his book that he was reading and started teasing him. Dae Un ran after him to get his book back, while chasing him he slipped and fell down the stairs. He was badly injured and got a few fractures. He needed long recovery at the hospital. His father visited him at the hospital only a total of 4 times. His step mother on the other hand visited him everyday, for an hour. Coincidently it was always the same time as when his father normally got back from work, almost as if telling him to not worry about Dae Un since he was being taken care of already. Dae Un was a child but he was sensitive and extremely intelligent as well and even though he never confronted her, he understood his stepmother's actions well.

One day while he was still at the hospital, his stepmother came to visit him during the day with his brother. It was not for Dae Un's sake though, it was because his brother's hand had got caught in the car door and since it hurt him so much he was brought to the hospital to check for any fracture or tissue damage. The x-rays were done and his hand was only bruised, there was no deep damage or fracture. His stepmother was still very concerned for him and even when she was in Dae Un's room, she kept weeping for and tending to her own son. Dae Un, who could barely walk due to the plaster on his left leg put his arm on his eyes and pretended to sleep, he didn't want anyone to see that he was jealous of his brother in pain.