10 On The Starting Line

His Grandparents' place in Sejong City was located in an area that had been more or less reserved for the wealthy, mainly the families of the various Minister's that had moved here to be closer to their offices.

It had a rather simple exterior and was single-storeyed. His Grandparents hated stairs and so had made sure to build this house for their own comfort. In fact, there had been a double storey, beautiful mansion when they had brought the land, but they had knocked it down and rebuilt it. When one had money, why live in discomfort?

Min-soo's car was stopped for a few seconds at the gate into the compound for verification. But upon a simple scan of the number plate the gates swung open. As the car rumbled up the driveway and over to the mansion, Min-soo was still ruminating over how he should tackle his Grandfather's task.

Before he could come to a solution, the car came to a stop and he exited the car and was welcomed by the servants into the home. They were all relieved and happy to see him up and running about.

"The Madam is in the gardens around the back, Young Master."

He thanked them and followed one of them around the back. His Grandmother had always loved gardening, whether it was simple vegetables or fruits and melons. In fact, Min-soo had always loved his Grandmother's hand made kimchi, there was just something about it that you could not find in the shops or restaurants.

He saw his Grandmother kneeling on the floor, digging at a weed, fully focused and unaware of his arrival. Min-soo felt warmth in his heart and he pulled up his sleeves and made his way over to help her with the weeding.

Suddenly seeing a shadow over her, his Grandmother gasped and turned around with surprise, before a big smile covered her face.

"Ahh… Min-soo you're so big now. Look at you. I have missed you so much. It is good to see you, but has your Mother not been feeding you? You're a sack of skin and bones." She said in an aggrieved tone.

Min-soo held onto his Grandmother's hands and pulled her up and gave her a big hug. It was good to have family. He did not care about her dirty hands or her slightly smudged face, he took in all of his surroundings and felt bliss.

"Grandmother, Min-soo has come to see you after so long but forgive this bad grandson for forgetting to prepare a gift."

"Haha, you being here is the only gift I want." She laughed gently. She then guided him over to a pergola and asked the servants to bring tea, some refreshments and a basin for her to wash her hands.

"Come, come sit down. We should talk, I am assuming your talk with your Grandfather went well?" she asked with an eager eye.

"Well, yes, Grandma, do you think I can really do it? I'm only twenty-two and have not even graduated yet." He answered in an uncharacteristic lack of confidence.

"Pah, age is just a number. When your Grandfather was your age, he had already taken over Antares, your Great-grandfather, bless his soul, died at a young age, he was only forty-three and your Grandfather having just married me, who was already six-months pregnant with your Father was thrown into that nest of vipers. The Antares back then was nothing like it was today. Your Great-uncles and aunties were all fighting over every single scrap, it took nearly eight years for your Grandfather to get rid of the lot of them. This is why after designating your Father as his successor he sent your Uncles and Aunties overseas, this way they would not fight over everything when he died, unlike the case of his own brothers and sisters. So, don't worry too much about being young. Plus, we are a family with money, so what it you fail once or twice, it's only a few hundred million here or there. Even if you failed ten times, we would still have enough to feed the whole family for a thousand years."

Min-soo could not help but laugh at his Grandmother's exaggerated praises and attempt at showing off their wealth. But it had done what she had intended, and he felt a surge of confidence, mainly due to the fact that he had support from his family regardless of what happened in the future.

"Thank you, Grandma but I can promise you this, I will not need a second try. I am sure of it." He promised sternly.

His Grandmother only smiled even more and remarked, "Ahh… my grandson is so handsome when he is serious."

Min-soo turned around in embarrassment unable to keep eye contact with his Grandmother who was clearly fangirling. In fact, he even heard a slight snicker from behind one of the hedges and was sure it was Hyun-woo.

The two of them continued to chat more about his plans and she offered her advice here and there, until the eventual topic of his future wife was brought up. At that point in time he knew he had to find some way to get out otherwise, he was sure he would not be leaving until he agreed to attending a marriage interview with one of his Grandmother's friend's granddaughter or something.

"Ahh… oh, Grandma it is getting late, I need to get back to Seoul, I have an engagement I need to attend. But it was good to see you again. Thank you for your advice and I promise to come visit you again." He stammered out.

"Oh, okay. Are you sure you cannot stay for lunch? It has been so long. No, I understand. But do come visit me when you are free."

Min-soo felt bad for leaving like this but he knew he had to, otherwise he would regret it. Giving her another hug, he made his way back to the entrance of the house and waved his Grandmother goodbye as he boarded the car.

"Where to now, Young Master?"

"Back to Seoul."

Min-soo arrived home late in the afternoon and seeing that neither of his parents were home grabbed a quick lunch before showering and changing. He had an inkling of what he wanted to do and meeting Nam-joon later tonight would be the first step of his plan.