Chapter 632: Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day) (2) – Part 1

Young-Eun’s father must feel lonelier during the holiday season, especially because he lived by himself. That thought had occurred to Gun-Ho, but he couldn’t visit him first in the morning on Thanksgiving Day, because he had to attend the memorial service for his ancestors in the morning at his parents’ home as he had always done on every Thanksgiving Day.

On the way to his father-in-law’s home in the car, Gun-Ho said to Young-Eun, “Your father must feel lonely particularly on a holiday since your mother is not here. My parents are okay since they are living with my sister’s family. They wouldn’t have time to feel lonely since they are surrounded by family all the time. We’d better be good to your father, and you should call your dad more often.”

Hearing and probably agreeing to what Gun-Ho just said, Young-Eun looked out of the window. She looked down.

Gun-Ho and Young-Eun arrived at Young-Eun’s father’s Dongbu condo in Sillim Town. They were carrying a lot of things in their hands that they prepared for her father as a gift.

“Dad!”

“Hey, you guys are here. Come on in. How are you?”

“Hello, father.”

“How are you, son? Did you stop by your parents’ home?”

“Yes, we came here straight from there.”

“You said your family does a memorial service for your ancestors, right?”

“Yes.”

“What are these? You don’t have to bring anything when you visit me. This is a lot. Your arms must feel tired carrying all these.”

Young-Eun had often shopped for his father and saved all sorts of stuff like socks, underwear, t-shirts, etc. until now, and brought them all to his father that day. She also brought small gifts that she received from here and there, for his father, such as tuna cans and household items. Gun-Ho brought a few bottles of liquor including Maotai and other liquors that he bought at the duty-free shop at the airport.

“I know this one. It’s an expensive liquor.”

“Having a small glass of Maotai will help you fall asleep faster at night.”

“Haha. Sounds good.”

Young-Eun unpacked another bag that she carried. It turned out that it was a food bag with all sorts of side dishes stored in several stackable food storage containers. Gun-Ho asked Young-Eun, “When did you prepare all these?”

“I got up very early this morning and cooked them.”

The side dishes that Young-Eun cooked for her father were seasoned vegetables, marinated beef, dried seafood, etc.

“You haven’t eaten anything yet, right, father?”

“It’s okay. I can eat later.”

Young-Eun heated the side dishes that she brought from home and set the table with them. Those dishes seemed to go well along with liquor.

The three people sat at the table and had their early dinner.

“It would have been nice if your aunt was living close by, so you could see her often too.”

Gun-Ho responded for Young-Eun, “We are planning to visit her tomorrow. Also, we will stop by my mother-in-law’s grave too.”

Gun-Ho’s father-in-law grinned; he seemed to have heard what he wanted to hear from Gun-Ho.

On the way home in TowerPalace from Dongbu Condo in Sillim Town, Young-Eun asked Gun-Ho, “Are we really visiting my mom’s grave and my aunt tomorrow?”

“Why not? We have no schedule for tomorrow anyway.”

“Pocheon City and Yangpyeong County are far from each other.”

“Many people travel farther than that like between Seoul City and Busan City during the holiday season. The distance between Pocheon and Yangpyeong is not far at all compared to that.”

“Well, it’s still distant. I guess that we will have to leave home very early in the morning.”

“We can do that.”

“You will feel tired, oppa.”

“It’s okay.”

Young-Eun looked at Gun-Ho’s profile who was driving and laughed.

Gun-Ho was sleeping on the bed when he woke up to a sound. He walked to the kitchen where he thought that he would find the source of the sound. Young-Eun was cooking in the kitchen.

“Young-Eun? What are you doing? You should get enough sleep. You are carrying a baby.”

“I’m fine. I just wanted to prepare food that we will bring to my mom. I got this. Why don’t you go and wash your face? We will be leaving soon.”

After having a brief breakfast, Gun-Ho and Young-Eun headed to Pocheon City. Fortunately, the road was not busy yet. They had to drive further after passing Pocheon City’s downtown. When they arrived at the gravesite, it was almost 11 am.

Young-Eun and Gun-Ho placed the food that they brought, in front of Young-Eun’s mother’s grave, and gave a deep and full bow twice to the grave.

“Mom, I’m pregnant. This is my sixth month.”

Young-Eun filled up a paper cup with liquor and sprinkled it all over the grave. Young-Eun didn’t cry that day like she did the last time when she was there with Gun-Ho.

After talking to her mother, Young-Eun made a call to her father.

“Dad? It’s me. I’m at mom’s grave in Pocheon City with oppa.”

“Really? You are there already? Thank you. Your mom must be happy. Tell Gun-Ho that I thank him for visiting your mom today.”

Gun-Ho could hear Young-Eun’s father’s voice over the phone. He sounded delighted. Gun-Ho thought that it was a good decision to come and visit Young-Eun’s mother’s grave that day.

Gun-Ho and Young-Eun headed to Yangpyeong County departing Pocheon City. They drove all the way to Uijeongbu IC and took the road toward Namyangju City. Gun-Ho felt good driving on a quiet countryside road with his wife who was carrying his baby. A little bit after 2 pm, they arrived at Young-Eun’s aunt’s house in Yangpyeong Country.

When they arrived there, Young-Eun’s aunt— Artist Choi— was walking out of her house to take a walk with her dog.

“Oh, my. What a surprise. Young-Eun and Gun-Ho!”

“Are you going somewhere?”

“I was on my way out to walk my dog. The dog seemed to want to get some fresh air.”

The dog usually barked at visitors while he was at home. But, when he saw Gun-Ho outside the home, he waved his tail and smelled Gun-Ho’s pants without barking. Maybe, he was thinking that he was off duty when he was outside of his house.

They went inside Artist Choi’s house. When Young-Eun took out fruits, rice cakes, and other food from her bag, which were typical food that people carried when they visited a grave, Artist Choi looked surprised.

“Did you go to your mom’s grave this morning?”

“Yeah, we came straight here after seeing mom.”

“I should have joined you to visit her. I haven’t seen her for years now.”

“We can go there together next time.”

“If your mom was here, she would have been happy to have a son-in-law like Gun-Ho.”

Gun-Ho and Young-Eun spent the rest of the day at Artist Choi’s home until 10 pm, having dinner and playing Go-Stop (Korean card game) together. When Gun-Ho and Young-Eun were ready to go home, it was a little after 10 pm.

“Drive carefully, okay? It’s dark outside.”

“It’s easier to drive at this hour since the traffic would be light.”

After the long Thanksgiving weekend was over, Gun-Ho went to work at GH Building in Sinsa Town. He made a call to Director Sim in China.

“Director Sim, how are you? Did you have a nice Thanksgiving day in China? You must miss Korea.”

“It was good actually. Seoul and Shanghai are not so distant anyway.”

Director Sim never talked about his family, and Gun-Ho didn’t ask him about it either. Given his financial situation including his bad credit score situation, Gun-Ho would probably have to hear some sad story that he didn’t want to know about if he asked Director Sim about his family.

“We finished organizing the production team for the new soap opera— Shiguang Ru Meng.”

“Hmm, is that right?”

“We didn’t hire new people from outside, but we made the team with the current staff from Huanle Shiji. President Baogang Chen, who also will direct the entire making of the drama, selected a director of photography and a lighting director as well.”

“Hmm, I see.”

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