Doljabi. (3)

Mung Do-Hyun simply gave an impressed smile and didn't add anything.

"Well then" Kang Seung looked at the crowd, "Let's start the ceremony."

Servants came out playing Danso's, traditional flute music filled the air, gongs sounded and workers walked onto the stage. They laid out a silk white mat in front of me and then placed two items before me. One was a gold hammer, and the other, a gold sceptre, it reminded me of England's Royal Sceptre.

"This is your first choice" Kang Seung announced, "You will now tell us whether you will be a Leader or a Follower. You must choose now."

To think such a small choice like this would determine someone's position in the family for the rest of their life. It was almost funny. I looked at the two items and tapped my nose thoughtfully. The novel had never gone into detail about this event, but it seemed clear to me that the hammer meant Follower and the sceptre meant Leader.

I stared at the two items for a while, not because I was confused but, because I was uncertain about my own decision. Contrary to what you might think, I wasn't too keen on the idea of being a leader. Although leadership did sound nice and would give me more power in the family it would also mean forsaking my privacy. More people would be watching my every move which would make it a lot harder to...enjoy my hobbies.

A lot of the reason why Kang Ho in the novel was able to dispose of Song Jae's family so easily, was that he wasn't being watched, no one really cared what he did. He had access to some money and could use the family name to get what he wanted even when he had no real power in the family.

I wanted power, but I also wanted freedom to do things without supervision. I would end up being the only candidate for heir anyways if I killed all of Yong Myeong's future children. If I picked follower in the mean time, I'd have more space to breathe.

Joon-Ki nudged me slightly with his toe, "Ho, you need to pick something."

At that point I made a decision, I crawled towards the hammer and raised it up, I decided to become a 'Follower'.

There was silence when I picked up the hammer, the atmosphere became strangely tense. Kang Seung laughed, and then said, "The first choice has been made, Kang Ho will be a Leader!"

With his announcement, people began to slowly clap but if members of the Kang family had been wary of me before they seemed even warier now, the only ones that openly cheered were the members of the Mung family.

I crawled back to my seat feeling content but then it hit me, he said 'Leader'?

Huh!

But I had picked the hammer. Did that make any sense!?

I wasn't confused for long, since Kang Seung began explaining the legacy behind the hammer.

"The founders of the Kang Family built their strength and their wealth from the ground up. Our ancestors weren't handed sceptres or thrones, they earned their living, they accumulated their wealth and they invested. From jewels to tools and from tools to technology, our basis is business. We set the trends and our products determine the demands and the needs of the people and the future of the world. Even Kings of the past had to negotiate with our family and follow our lead."

People in the hall stood tall and straight, their postures correct with small smiles on their faces. Everyone in the room was proud, they enjoyed their status. To be a member of the Kang family and the KangMung group, was to be someone above royalty and titles. An untouchable power.

I had underestimated the Kang family. Reading the novel before reincarnating had both its pros and cons. The pros being that I obviously knew the future but the con, was that I was restricted by the knowledge from the novel. 'Overcoming Obstacles" never went into any great depth about the history and pride of the Kang family, and I had taken that information at face value and had wrongly picked up the hammer.

This event in itself was small in the grand scheme of things, but the message behind it was telling. The words from the novel weren't everything, and it reminded me that in the future, I should definitely consider all angles before making decisions. This place was much more complicated then what the author had written, this was a real world.

Picking the Leader choice wasn't awful, it would give me more opportunities in the long term, and more opportunities from this family meant more wealth and power in the long term, which was never a bad thing. However with more power, and as Spiderman's Uncle once said "with great power comes even greater responsibility", it meant having privacy would become difficult.

It meant that if in the future I built a private bunker just to keep my victims, someone nosey from the family might sniff it out. Killing someone would also become much more tedious, I'd have to be far more careful then I'd ever been before. I'd have to secure my own finances outside of the group so that I could enjoy my activities.

Gone were the days where I could have a great day out; stalk someone that had taken my fancy, lure them into a secluded area and strangle them to death and then bury their body in the mountains.

Such a shame, I can't explain to you the sensation of feeling someone's pulsing neck against your gloved hands, and feeling them choke and struggle underneath you. There's nothing quite like it.

Well, just because I had to be careful didn't mean strangling was off the table.

I was still considering this, when a whole new bunch of items were brought out before me.

"It is now time for the second and final choice. Now that we have determined that Kang Ho will be a Leader in the future, we must know what type of Leader," Kang Seung announced, "Now choose."

I looked at the items before me: there was a pen embossed with the Kang family symbol, the white tiger. There was a sword with a golden handle and an extremely sharp blade that gleamed mischievously in the afternoon rays. There was a small silver statue of Lady Justice and the last item was a white cloth.

Logically speaking, the pen meant a leader that was bureaucratic and diplomatic, the sword a strong and unwavering leader, lady justice likely meant someone law abiding, and strict and the white cloth...

No, no matter how much I thought, I couldn't guess what the white cloth meant. Usually a white cloth symbolised surrender, or purity, but considering the type of people the Kangs were, it didn't make sense for such an item to be among this selection, and yet here it was.

I decided to take a gamble, it didn't matter too much what the outcome would be, I chose the white cloth.

The moment I picked up the small and soft item, collective gasps spread across the hall like passing wind.

"Interesting." I heard Kang Joon-ki mutter.

"Oh ho" Kang Seung smiled, "It seems my Grandson is again giving us reason to be surprised. This is the first time in 500 years since the family began this Doljabi tradition, that a child has picked the white cloth. Kang Baek Hyeon, the founder of our family, put the white cloth amongst the items for selection, because he said only a terrifying child will choose it. He said 'the white cloth blends with the mat the child sits upon. A regular child won't even notice it, while a smart child would not choose even if they did see it, since it seems less important and less valuable then the other items. Only a child that dares to think differently, a dangerous child, a blank slate filled with potential; will pick the white cloth' and now we have our white cloth child."

Murmuring filled the hall as people muttered amongst themselves.

I didn't think the small white cloth would bear such a significance, this family put meaning into such random things, but it wasn't wrong. It's true, a normal child and even a smart one of my age, wouldn't have picked the white cloth, it blended too well with the floor and the mat I sat on. If I hadn't noticed it when the servants were laying out items I might have missed it.

As people whispered about how special I was, some even saying aloud "It's a shame he's a bastard child, someone like him should be a legitimate heir, such a shame," there was only one person who was not excited.

It was Yong Myeong.

She stood there trembling with red rage in her eyes, and even from across the hall I could feel her staring daggers at me.

I turned and gave a smug grin her direction.

My eyes said, "If you're going to glare at me, do something about it."

I really wanted to provoke her, I wanted her to do something that would ease my boredom.