The Party (II)

The Lee family of Antares fame was no pushover, but it was the even scarier Byun family they had married that truly made everyone pay attention.

The Byun family were a military family. They had deep roots, going back to the days of the founding of the Joseon Dynasty, in fact they counted among their ancestors one of the generals that accompanied King Taejo in overthrowing the Goryeo Dynasty.

Except for during the years of the Japanese occupation, the Byun family had always been members of the military. It was only with the aid of the Byun family, that Korea in the late 20th century was able to transition peacefully from the military dictatorship of the post-war years into a fully functioning democracy.

Of course, history was never so simple and there were skeletons in the closets of many prominent families, both new and old. A few brave souls had once criticised the Byun family for being bedfellows of the juntas in post-war Korea and were opportunists after sensing the changes in public sentiment in the late 80's.

However, these people were doomed to obscurity and the Byun family were able to easily suppress them. In fact, as with many things in history, the general public were rather ignorant of what was true and what was not and so topics such as these were rather niche and only discussed amidst certain academic circles, far away from the reach of the Byun family.

Such was life in the modern world.

A few onlookers tutted and shook their heads in sympathy as they predicted that the lives of the Kang family in Korea would never be the same again. A few even began to re-evaluate their relationship with the Kang family and walked off to secluded areas of the garden to make important calls.

Beom-seok however, once again gave Min-soo another hug, this time Min-soo returned it. Beom-seok looked up at Min-soo and apologised.

"Sorry, Min-soo, I shouldn't have doubted you. Thanks for the hug. But I should not take up anymore of your time. I am sure Miss Lee is waiting for you up top." Beom-seok hinted before running away into the garden.

Min-soo was sure Beom-seok had wanted to tell him something else. He made a note to find him and ask him later. This unexpected event also reminded Min-soo that he should visit his maternal grandparents soon, as his Mother suggested.

Speaking of his Grandparents, Hyun-woo after parking the car had come to find him.

"Young Master, Elder Madam Lee has already arrived and is inside with Madam Shin." It took Min-soo a moment to process the sentence, but he realised the Elder Madam Lee referred to his Grandmother.

"Right, and the present?" Min-soo asked.

"The servants have already taken care of it."

"Thanks Hyun-woo, are you going to stick around?"

"If it is okay with you, may I go find my sister? I have not seen her since she married into the Pyo family." Hyun-woo asked with a little expectation.

"Of course, go ahead."

"Thank you, Young Master. I will come find you later." Hyun-woo bowed and then too wandered into the garden.

After that spectacle with Beom-seok, Min-soo felt that he should go and find his Grandmother before things were blown out of proportion. He hoped he could get to her before the exaggerated rumours of the Kang family's imminent demise did. It was not that he expected his Grandmother to be angry at him, but more so that she would not be caught off guard in case anyone wanted to play some tricks.

Just as there were many that could afford to cut off ties with the Kang family, there were plenty in the shadows that could not disentangle themselves from the webs of relationships with that family. Such was the price of mixing business, family and power.

Heading up the path in a brisk pace, Min-soo only took occasional glances at the light show projected onto the stream beside him. Fortunately, the path was not too long, and the night was cool enough that Min-soo did not even sweat a single drop.

Stood at the end of the path, atop the hill, Min-soo looked down behind him. He could make out the distant lights of Sejong City, it was a rather beautiful sight as he could look over the farmland, illuminated by the full moon. Littered along the path were also various couples taking photos of and with each other against this backdrop.

The designers of the path had carved out small platforms with amazing vantage points. However, Min-soo sighed before he turned towards the house and went off to look for his Grandmother.

Many of the other guests politely greeted him, with nods and waves which he once again returned.

By simply following the crowd, Min-soo quickly found his Grandmother and Aunty Shin at the centre of a large gathering of powerful individuals.

At first glance, many would assume the powerful figures would be the men who were accompanied by their wives. However, about half of the men in this group were only there as plus ones to their wives. There were CEO's, heiresses, influential academics, a politician or two, a few doctors and a couple actors.

Some of them were even a mix of those occupations. After all, inheriting money was not the same as earning money. People were weird like that and none more so than bored rich people. Having lived a life where throwing money at problems caused it to go away, the satisfaction of doing something by themselves was rather novel and interesting.

So, some hid their identities and went into acting, modelling, singing, teaching or even the medical field.

Min-soo slowly made his way over to the crowd and the few that were facing him noticed him immediately and made way for him. They nodded and smiled in a polite manner. The others noticed the movements from the others and looked over to see Min-soo. They too, followed suit and before he knew it, his Grandmother and Aunty Shin turned towards him with a slightly surprised expression.

"Oh, Min-soo, you're looking so handsome tonight." Aunty Shin gushed.

"Tonight?" Min-soo responded cheekily. This elicited quite a few chuckles from those around. Min-soo also felt a few hungry eyes wandering all over him and nearly shuddered. However, he ignored them and greeted Aunty Shin and his Grandmother.

"Aunty Shin, you too are looking rather beautiful tonight, I do apologise for being late. Good evening Grandmother."

Aunty Shin giggled a little at his compliment, while his Grandmother gave him an eyeroll before she grabbed one of his arms and apologised to the crowd, "I need to speak to my Grandson for a moment. I do hope you will forgive an old lady for wandering off."

The crowd all mumbled various versions of "Of course", "No problem", "Take your time." They all quickly broke off into smaller groups and wandered away, as Aunty Shin politely directed them,

"Please feel free to grab yourselves some refreshments, no need to be polite, if you have any special requirements just flag down a waiter and they will do their best to accommodate your needs."

His Grandmother then turned to Aunty Shin, "Mi-kyung do you mind if I borrow the gazebo around back?"

"Sure, let me guide you over and check if anyone is using it." Aunty Shin responded happily.