Arena Chapter 158:
Chapter 158 – Team Yoo Ji-soo’s Situation
We went around Europe, vacationing, and then returned to Korea . Marie tagged along all the way to Korea and stuck next to me .
“Is there somewhere you want to go?”
At my question, Marie smiled big and gave an energetic answer .
“I want to see Hyun-ho’s family . ”
“……”
“I’m going to say hello again! I even practiced Korean . ”
“Korean?”
“Hello, I am Marie Johanna . Mother-in-law, give me your* son . ”
(TN: She used the informal ‘your’ rather than the respectful way when talking to someone older than you . )
Her Korean had a really good accent . Up till now, I’ve only heard her speak in Arena’s language so I was completely surprised .
But it’s mixed with some informal speech .
“We are already in a deep relationship . ”
“Stop it . ”
“I am pregnant . ”
“Ahhh, stop!”
We were in Incheon Airport which was bustling with people . I felt a deep embarrassment when hearing the surrounding people mumbling about us .
In this midst of all of this, Cha Ji-hye’s expression didn’t change and I respected her for it .
First of all, we went back to the house in Bucheon and gave my mom a call after .
I’ve returned from abroad, I should call once in a while .
-Son! You’re back in Korea?
“Yep . ”
-Heartless son . Come visit home every now and then .
“Okay, but I’ve got Ji-hye and Johanna too . ”
-Johanna, you mean that crazy……?
“Yea, that gal that may have lost some of her marbles . ”
-Hoho, good . Why don’t you all come by?
“But that woman has learned some regrettable Korean . I don’t know what she’s going to say . ”
-Really? It’ll be fun, hurry and bring them by .
…… . That’s mom for you .
-But are you still dating that woman?
“Yeah . ”
Now its not a lie, I can confidently tell her the truth .
-That…… does she still not want to get married?
Mom asked cautiously . I could sense her desperation for a daughter in law and grandchild .
“The situation has changed a bit . She won’t cut off the idea like she did before . ”
-And you?
“Aww, of course I want to get married . ”
-What, really? Son! So, you aren’t a lone wolf?
“I said that because I was in front of Ji-hye, of course not . I’m going to win her over and get married, just you wait . ”
-Hoho, my son! Fighting! Actually, if it doesn’t work out, just make a mistake……
“I’m hanging up now . ”
-Alright, alright, I just got excited and went too far .
“At least you know . ”
Like that I ended the call .
And when I looked behind me……
“Huk!”
I almost fainted .
Cha Ji-hye was looking right at me .
“Um, how long have you been standing there?”
“Since 10 minutes ago . ”
“You’ve already unpacked?”
“Yes . ”
Because of Marie we couldn’t use the same room so she was unpacking in the guest room, but she must be all done already . She definitely used to be a soldier .
“……”
“……”
An awkward silence fell upon us .
“Food, let’s eat food . Aren’t you hungry?”
I quickly ran away to the kitchen .
***
The next day, we all went together to Cheonan . It was to meet up with the rest of my family and eat together .
I heard nowadays that Hyun-ji was in Cheonan and was getting ready for the internet shopping mall business .
It had been a long time since the whole family had gotten together .
Cha Ji-hye and Marie tagged along too . It’s going to be a loud day .
We headed to the buffet where we already made our reservations .
It was a big restaurant that took up all 3 floors of the building, we got to the basement parking and the valet looked shocked .
It was because the car we rode in was Cha Ji-hye’s white Lamborghini .
The cars ahead of us followed the valet’s signs and went into the basement parking lot or down to the second (B2) floor .
But the valet looked at us and quickly led us to an empty spot on the first floor .
‘They must have left spaces open on the 1st floor for VIP . ’
Such special treatment!
This is why people want to drive nice cars .
We had reserved a VIP room as well .
“Son!”
Sitting in the middle, mom greeted us warmly .
“Oh my, if someone saw they’d think we’re celebrating your 70th!”*
(TN: it’s a big celebration in Korean culture . )
“70 is still far away!”
Mom reacted sensitively .
Noona and Hyun-ji were there too, and Hyun-ji was nibbling on an appetizer bun that an employee fetched her .
“Hello, nice to see you again, mother . ”
“Hello!”
Cha Ji-hye and Marie said their greetings .
Mom shook hands with Cha Ji-hye and shook Marie’s hands too and smiled .
“Miss Johanna, you speak Korean now?”
“Yes! I can speak it well now!”
“Hohoho, you really do . You must be very smart . ”
“Hehe, I am smart!”
Mom had an expression like ‘oh it’d be nice to have a granddaughter like this’ as she looked at the cute Marie .
“Our Miss Johanna, I want to see how well you can speak it . Go on . How have you been dear?”
Asked mom, courteously .
Marie smiled wide and with a loud voice yelled out .
“I’m pregnant!”
Hyun-ji choked on her little bread bun . Noona lost all color in her face . Mom too lost strength in her legs and almost fell .
“It is not true . She just says what she feels like, so don’t take anything to heart . ”
Cha Ji-hye tried to control the situation .
“I’m going to be a mom!”
“Would you stop it!”
After scolding her for a long time, Marie finally quit yapping like a parrot .
Finally finding her composure, mom asked me .
“So you aren’t a thing with Miss Johanna at all, right?”
“Yup . ”
“Whew, thank goodness . ”
No matter how urgently she wanted a grandchild, it seemed she found the daughter in law’s mental state to still be of importance .
From the buffet line, we brought back plates full of all kinds of food and began our meal .
We talked about how we are all getting along, but noona’s situation was something else .
“No, unni, what is the matter with you? Going on a set up date with someone who fell in love with you at first glance, how do you get dumped by someone like that?”
Hyun-ji must’ve set up a date for noona .
Well, noona looks normal on the outside so some man took a liking to her .
“If I knew that then I’d already be married . What is the matter with men?”
Grumbled noona while grinding her teeth . She might bleed from how tightly she clenched her fist .
I could picture how noona’s blind date must have gone . I didn’t need to see it to know .
She would’ve emasculated him at once with what she always rides, in her Benz C class coupe .
After that, despite her tall height of 171 cm, she enjoys her heels and made the man feel small .
After that, with a gaze as if belittling the other person and her cold manner of speech that doesn’t say anything unnecessary, it was a sure kill!
With a feeling of inapproachability, the man whimpered and tucked tail .
In the end . Noona was still a spinster .
“Whew, our Hyun-joo might have to go buy a husband from somewhere like Thailand . ”
Hyun-ji gripped her belly as she laughed at mom’s complaints .
Noona boiled over with humiliation .
“Noona . ”
“What?”
“What was that man’s job?”
“A company man . ”
“And his workplace?”
“Somewhere I know, a decently hardworking and honest place . ”
“And how did he look?”
“Nothing to complain about . ”
“And did you say those things to the man?”
“……?”
With a strange expression on her face, I said to noona .
“I know the company well, you work at a good place, you look handsome, did you compliment him like that?”
“There wasn’t anything worthy of compliments though . ”
“Tsk tsk . ”
I clicked my tongue and Hyun-ji too shook her head back and forth .
Getting compliments from a well to do woman like noona, the man would’ve been moved and showed tried harder to get her .
The gods really gave noona everything but a personality .
I looked to Hyun-ji .
“Now, Hyun-ji . Show me an example . ”
Maybe because we’re siblings, we fit right in . Hyun-ji instantly turned her aegyo mode on .
“Oppa~! You make good money, you’re handsome, you’re soooo skilled! Could poor little me have some spending money!”
“Alright . ”
I took a couple bills out of my wallet and gave it to her .
“Kyaak! Oppa you’re so awesome!”
Hyun-ji took the money and showed all kind of aegyo .
Noona’s skin was crawling just from seeing this, her clenched fists were shaking .
“You want me to act like that?”
Well, Hyun-ji did go a little too far .
Anyway, Hyun-ji began to try appeasing noona by saying she’ll introduce more men to her .
Noona was feeling crummy but was eased by Hyun-ji’s words and started asking who that man was .
Hyun-ji was determined to win noona’s favor . In order to successfully run the internet shopping mall, she instinctively knew she would need noona’s help .
Then again, even the internet shopping mall that dogs and cows and everyone was trying to get into was still a business that had more than a few legal problems .
Eventually, whenever something happens she’ll run to noona and ask how this and that is done . It’ll be a frequent occurrence .
Obviously knowing that but still passively telling her to do the internet shopping mall showed that noona is actually a tolerant and generous person .
Like that, an enjoyable time passed and we were on our way back to Bucheon .
When my smartphone suddenly vibrated .
‘Who is calling?’
I took my smartphone out my pocket and checked .
It was an unexpected person .
[Yoo Ji-soo]
I hadn’t seen that name in a really long time .
When I was just a 2nd turn examinee, Yoo ji-soo was already a 19th turn veteran examinee . I quickly remembered her blonde dyed hair .
Her two teammates were men, one of them was Cha Jin-hyuk? The other I can’t really remember well .
Now that I think of it, Yoo ji-soo’s team would now be a 25th turn or so .
“Hello . ”
-It has been a long time, hasn’t it?
“Yes . ”
We are the same age but her speaking to me informally and me speaking formally, this strange relationship was the same .
-Its really been a long time, huh?
“Yes, from my end its been about 4 years I think . ”
-Its about the same for me too . As we progressed, the examinees of the world were all converging into one timeline .
“Have you been well?”
-You think it would be for an examinee?
“That’s true . ”
-Speaking of, you’ve been busy all this time . Ranked 7th in the world? Are you crazy?
“All thanks to me being a genius . ”
-That’s funny! You were a rookie just a bit ago!
At my witty banter, Yoo ji-soo laughed hysterically .
-Anyway, I’m glad you seem to be doing well .
“Yes, thanks to you . ”
When I had come back from the 3rd exam having lost all my teammates, Yoo ji-soo and Cha Jin-hyuk gave me lots of helpful advice .
Before I was thrown away by the Korean Arena Research Agency, they told me to get all the information I could on Arena .
It was a small bit of advice, but I made good use of the files I got at that time, and a savior is a savior .
“I’ll help you . ”
-Uh, what?
“You’ve called because you’re in a bad situation . ”
-Right on the money . How did you know?
“When I asked if you had been well, you changed the subject . ”
-Wow, you catch on quick .
Yoo Jin-soon acknowledged it coolly .
-You’re right . Actually, I called to get your help on an awkward situation . I’m sorry I’m calling you out of the blue for a favor .
“Don’t apologize . I’m sorry I haven’t reached out to you sooner . ”
-It’s a bit much to discuss over the phone, want to meet?
“Sure . Where?”
-Gangnam .
“We are on our way to Bucheon . ”
-We? You and who else?
“Yes, two others . You’ll be happy to see one of them . ”
-Really? Okay . Then we’ll head to Bucheon .
“Really? If not, we can go to Gangnam too . ”
-No, no . We’re asking the favor, we should go .
Anyway, we set the appointment and she hung up .