Chapter 55: Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer (1)

October 3, 1990.

Germany was reunified.

[East and West Germany completely unified, 45 years after division in 1945…]

[“What belongs together will now grow together,” Willy Brandt’s speech revisited]

[The Federal Republic of Germany finally reclaims the five states that disappeared! One year after the fall of the Berlin Wall…]

I enjoyed the news with my morning coffee.

This moment, which had become a complete routine, was quite satisfying.

I liked seeing how my influence slowly changed the past, and yet at the crossroads of major historical events that remained unchanged, I felt a nostalgia akin to returning to a hometown after decades.

‘Hmm, it smells good.’

-Slurp.

The aroma of coffee and the morning sunlight blended very well.

It seems the skills of my exclusive chef, who has now become a barista, are improving day by day.

At first, I used to add ice to it….

But now that my taste has changed, I definitely prefer warm coffee.

“Sihyeon isn’t here, right.”

Sigh.

I wonder if she’s doing well in Europe, that cheeky secretary….

I shook my head and hopped up, running down the stairs.

The nanny, who always greeted me warmly, was welcoming me.

“Miss, did you finish reading the morning newspaper?”

“Yes, I read it all. Let’s get ready to go out now.”

Today was not only the day Germany was unified but also National Foundation Day and Chuseok.

It was quite a special day.

“Alright, I’ll get you dressed, so raise your arms.”

-Swoosh.

I took off the thin pajamas I was wearing and stood in front of the mirror in my white underwear.

Translucent white skin, a curved body line, long limbs, and languid eyes.

My half-naked body, which had gradually become quite feminine, was revealed, and I let out a short moan at the touch of the nanny’s hand sweeping over my bare skin.

‘Ah…’

“You look beautiful as always, our Miss.”

I’m glad I was wearing underwear.

Anyway, it’s a problem that my skin is so sensitive.

I answered as if nothing had happened, slightly raising the corners of my mouth.

“Yes, you are beautiful too, Nanny.”

The nanny, who was smiling innocently and dressing me, looked unbelievably young for a woman in her 30s who had given birth to a child.

She looks almost rejuvenated compared to a few years ago, probably thanks to my hard work.

She had a hard time when I was young.

“It’s difficult to wear Hanbok… Did you go to the bathroom? You have to be careful when you go to the Chairman’s house.”

Nodding.

“It’s okay, I’m not a child. I can do everything by myself.”

It’s fine since I barely have any bodily functions.

Women’s Hanbok is very uncomfortable, but I’ll endure it because it’s embarrassing to wear diapers again at this age.

“Oh, you still look like a child to me. Our Miss….”

The nanny, looking at me with sentimental eyes, hugged me slightly as if she was proud.

The warm embrace calmed me down.

“Hehe.. It’s nice to be like this.”

Sometimes I wish I was small like I used to be so I could fit snugly in the nanny’s arms.

Anyway, that’s how comforting it is.

“Yes, yes, it’s okay to stay like this a little longer. Miss.”

“…Ugh, saying that makes it sound like you’re really looking after a child.”

After being spoiled in the nanny’s arms for a moment, I brushed off the dust on my head and kissed her on the cheek.

I was both grateful and sorry to her.

If it weren’t for me, the nanny would have been living well and prospering….

Yes, this is also one of the reasons why I earn a lot of money.

To pamper her as much as possible, since unlike in my past life, her only remaining role in this life is as my nanny……

This was my own way of atonement.

The most atonement I could make without giving up my beliefs and desires.

***

Originally, the Daeha family doesn’t really celebrate holidays.

It’s difficult to coordinate schedules because each family member is involved in various businesses.

We barely meet at the end of the year.

But… this year was a little different.

Yu Seonjun, who returned from Europe, said to me while puffing on a cigarette.

“Grandfather is sick.”

“…Yes. That’s why I told you to quit smoking, Oppa. It’s lung cancer.”

Smoke billowed out.

Yu Seonjun looked at the cigarette in his hand with conflicted eyes for a moment, then flicked it into the ashtray.

“Well, nothing major happened, right?”

I nodded.

Thanks to his status as a chaebol chairman, he had regular health checkups, so fortunately, it was diagnosed early.

However, they said that complete treatment was difficult because medicine hadn’t advanced much yet.

“It’s fortunate since it’s a disease with a survival rate of barely 10%. Anyway, lung cancer is also hereditary, so you should be more careful, Oppa, okay?”

I don’t understand what’s so good about that thing.

Chairman Yu Seongpil in my past life originally lived to be 80…, but looking at it now, I’m not sure.

‘It’s my fault, again.’

It was a foolish thought, now that I think about it.

To believe that the parent’s lifespan would remain the same when their child died.

Maybe he won’t live to see the 21st century.

It’s unsettling.

Is it misfortune or fortune that my grandfather, whom I was somewhat fond of, will pass away without seeing my misdeeds?

‘It might have been better if he had lived a little longer.’

Well, I wish it were all just my delusion.

I don’t know the year when Chairman Yu Seongpil got lung cancer in the original history.

However…, it was a well-known fact that Daeha family members had weak lungs due to genetic factors.

I looked at Yu Seonjun with worried eyes.

“Ah, alright. So stop looking at me like that. I’ll definitely quit smoking.”

“Phew, okay. I trust you?”

I sighed and looked around.

It’s about time for Sihyeon to arrive…….

Ah, there she is.

“Miss, it’s been a while.”

Lee Sihyeon smiled and bowed her head in greeting.

Unlike the Daeha blood relatives who were wearing Hanbok, Lee Sihyeon was dressed in a proper suit, befitting a secretary.

“Did you have a good trip?”

“Ah, yes. It was nice.”

“Heeh, so our Sihyeon also enjoys traveling with a handsome man? You complained so much when you went with me.”

I playfully poked her ample chest, and Lee Sihyeon shook her head with a reddened face.

“Ah, no, what are you saying……. How could I….”

“Yes, yes, actually, you’re not Seonjun Oppa’s type.”

“…Yes?”

Lee Sihyeon blinked.

Then, she looked around awkwardly and whispered.

“Ah, is it perhaps my age….”

She must have been mindful of the fact that she was turning thirty soon.

So cute, really.

“No, no, it’s more about personality? Something like that.”

Yu Seonjun is a fairly conservative person—although he likes gambling—so he doesn’t like people with strong ambitions or desires for power.

To be precise, does he dislike opportunists?

Anyway, our Sihyeon isn’t such a submissive woman.

I like that about her, though………

Leaving Sihyeon, who was tilting her head, I strolled through Chairman Yu Seongpil’s residence, which I hadn’t visited in a long time.

This place was still quite wonderful.

Because the people hired by my grandfather worked hard to maintain the garden and the mansion.

“Ah, it’s been a while, sir.”

“Oh my, it’s been a while, Miss. You’ve grown a lot.”

“Hehe, I hear that a lot.”

I chatted with the gardener and looked around at the surrounding scenery.

The gardener’s skills were quite good.

Even though autumn had come and the maple leaves were slowly coloring the forest, this garden, shining with the color of grass, hadn’t changed much.

It was as if… this Daeha Group was still running smoothly even though Chairman Yu Seongpil had collapsed.

Even if the season of twilight came to his life and maple leaves fell on the huge garden, it wouldn’t budge.

But what if the gardener completely stopped working?

At first, it would be fine.

Because even if the gardener doesn’t work, things look fine for a while.

However, eventually, barley will grow abundantly where the fortress has collapsed.

It would be meaningless to lament over the ruined site of the Daeha Group.

So, I need to repair the garden before it gets damaged.

The season of my life is always like a fresh spring day, so frost doesn’t fall on my head, and maple leaves don’t color the garden I cultivated.

The dream of an eternal gardener was something only I could achieve.

***

There’s a saying in the masterpiece 《The Godfather Part II》, a film that will be remembered forever in film history.

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer…….

It means that the biggest variable should be put within your control.

Interpretations vary from person to person, but at least I interpret it this way.

That’s why I keep trying to make the foreign exchange crisis a controllable bomb.

So that the butterfly effect can’t dare to mess with me.

‘Ah, when I go to the US next month, I should go see Series 3 with Sihyeon.’

I was nervous, so I had a brief stray thought, but soon I took a deep breath and took a step forward.

Yu Jinha was adjusting his glasses and looking at me with a kind look.

“It’s been a while, Hayeon.”

“Yes. Hello, Uncle.”

I greeted Yu Jinha, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, with a smile.

The future usurper was in front of me.