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Episode 7
Let’s see once, he said.
In a situation where even the gifts from political and business figures were being rejected, to say he’d watch a performance? The surroundings stirred at Grandfather’s generous choice.
“Is she really going to do it right here?”
“No way. There’s no way Chairman Joo would let himself be humiliated.”
I heard murmuring voices, but I didn’t pay them much mind. Because the audience I had chosen for myself now wasn’t them.
Because today, my audience is only one person.
I took five steps back. After putting a proper distance between Grandfather and myself, I spoke loudly, as if telling everyone to listen.
“I’ll show you right here.”
Grandfather stared at me with a stiff face, not moving a muscle. Since he likely wouldn’t give a signal first, I figured I could just start when ready.
‘I finished preparing long ago.’
After memorizing the script I had photographed at the Dongwoo Foundation, I ran countless simulations. Because I didn’t know how things would turn out on the day of the dinner party.
Scenarios like getting kicked out because of my uncle, being mercilessly rejected by Grandfather, etc. Among the various cases I imagined and fleshed out, performing in front of everyone was among the easiest.
‘If I hide myself, who will look at me?’
If I decided not to hide anymore, I had to step forward myself.
I smiled lightly and slowly gathered my emotions. Soon, the printed words from the script spread in my mind. The words gathered, and a scene unfolded.
‘Got it.’
Now for the real thing. Slowly, I raised my head. It was time to become the ‘wife’ from the script.
Joo Tae-baek was no stranger to acting. Having loved his wife all his life, he had also loved acting, which was her profession. His passion was exceptional even after her death.
“I will return it to you through acting.”
Perhaps the reason he didn’t immediately reject his eccentric granddaughter’s proposal was also because of his wife.
‘It’s all or nothing, I suppose.’
The child, who was always cowed, looked confident. For a moment, Joo Tae-baek was swept up by that face.
‘Did that child learn acting?’
Even after her mother died and they became independent from the Joo family, Chairman Joo received regular reports about Ju Sae-yi He had never heard that she attended an acting academy.
Soon, the granddaughter, who had stepped back to gather her emotions, raised her head. The moment he saw the child’s expression, Joo Tae-baek drew in a sharp breath.
‘An overwhelming feeling.’
It was the face of an actor focused on the role. Without a single line, just by settling her emotions, a presence that dominated the space could be felt.
His heart beat fast. Joo Tae-baek hardened his expression to not let the guests see his trembling heart. Without even time to blink, Sae-i recited her line.
“Darling, do you remember… back then, we went to see the Gangneung sea?”
A single phrase.
Just a one-line piece of dialogue.
And yet, Joo Tae-baek, alone in this dinner party, recognized the source of that line. Joo Tae-baek clenched his fist tightly, trying hard to suppress the surging emotions.
“You know, after Wol was born and I was nearly dying. You grabbed the steering wheel at the crack of dawn. Said you’d show me the sunrise.”
The lines the granddaughter began reciting were part of a script his wife had left before her death. It was his wife’s unfinished work, containing memories with her husband.
“The kids have all grown up in a blink, but that day’s sea still appears in my dreams. Yes. That current, bluer than blue, almost green, the sound of the waves… Back then, they said it was just so scary.”
A voice bearing the weight of time flowed from the young granddaughter’s mouth.
With enunciation clearer than anyone’s, she exquisitely expressed the aged pronunciation with slips of breath.
Under everyone’s gaze, Sae-i pointed to the gravel spread in the corner of the party garden. The surroundings were so quiet you could hear the rustle of her clothes.
Joo Tae-baek moved his gaze following that hand. The outstretched finger somehow looked like his wife’s wrinkled yet lovely hand.
“We came back because you couldn’t stand the sight of the gravel beach. I don’t know why I hated gravel so much back then. Maybe I didn’t like the bumpiness, oh well…”
How on earth did she get this script? How did she know and prepare?
‘Could the reason she came to the Dongwoo Foundation be…?’
It was a series of surprises. But Joo Tae-baek didn’t show it. Rather than clumsily cutting off the performance, he wanted to savor the moment of his wife that this child was expressing now.
“Back then, there were just too many bumpy things around us. The business you said you’d start was bumpy in the beginning, the joints of your hands injured from work were bumpy…”
Joo Tae-baek clenched his fist. As far as he knew, the first part of this script was lost in a fire, leaving only an extreme fragment of the latter part.
Even that was an unfinished script. Because his wife passed away before completing it. If so, the performance would end with the next line.
Indeed, it was a performance that didn’t even leave room for evaluation. Preparing to give applause, Joo Tae-baek adjusted his posture.
“In our world, the only thing that was always lovely was me, but now I’ve become wrinkled and bumpy too.”
With an empty voice, Joo Sae-i delivered the line that was supposed to be the end. The moment Joo Tae-baek moved to stand up.
“But…”
Joo Sae-i opened her mouth again. As if the performance wasn’t over yet. Joo Tae-baek, who had momentarily frozen, scanned Sae-i with bewildered eyes.
‘The lines ended here.’
Joo Tae-baek, carefully settling back into his chair, looked at Sae-i with shining eyes.
The emotion Sae-i was depicting changed slowly. Desolation, sentimentality, longing for the past, a smile that breaks through because ‘darling’ is still unbearably lovable.
“Yeah, but this person says I’m still pretty. Says it’s fine even if my hair turns white. You’re funny too.”
“…”
“If you ask why I’m bringing this up, just because. When it’s time for a person to go, you miss things for no reason. What do I miss? That sea.”
Lines not in the script.
The granddaughter was completing the unfinished posthumous work. Sae-i was becoming her own maternal grandmother, speaking to her husband.
“That deep blue doesn’t scare me anymore. Then you vaguely realize. Ah, I wasn’t running away because I was scared of the sea.”
Joo Tae-baek felt as if he were having a private conversation with his wife here.
“I wanted to live a vivid life too. That’s why I resented that blue color, ran away for no reason.”
“…”
“I won’t run anymore. Because I lived vividly. Looking back, a new bud sprouted every day. Every day was high tide. You keep saying you wouldn’t have come this far without me, but it’s the opposite.”
Joo Tae-baek clutched his solar plexus. His chest felt stuffy, and he couldn’t breathe easily.
“Look. Now even my wrinkles feel like medals. So, darling…”
Sae-i, spreading her palm and extending it towards Joo Tae-baek, paused. As if choosing her final words.
The relieved expression his wife wore before dying after her illness. The granddaughter’s face looked so much like it that Joo Tae-baek couldn’t help but reach out into the air. He wished this moment wouldn’t end.
“I’m not leaving because I dislike you. How could I…? My whole life was blue because of you.”
The end was approaching. Joo Tae-baek closed his eyes tightly. The moment his wife left overlapped with the image of his granddaughter.
Only now did Joo Tae-baek feel he understood his granddaughter’s words.
‘What I hold most dear. Only, what I believe no longer exists in this world.’
The gift the granddaughter prepared wasn’t just a simple performance. It was the posthumous work of the wife he lived with for decades. It was like returning it to him.
“So… promise me. That you won’t be too sad when I’m gone. That you’ll shake it off and get right back up, our Chairman.”
With those words, Sae-i concluded her performance. Simultaneously, a peculiar silence swirled.
“…That’s all. Happy birthday, Chairman.”
There was nothing more to hesitate about. After scanning the people who were holding back their applause while watching his reaction with contempt, Joo Tae-baek rose to his feet. With his rough, thick hands, he clapped with all his might.
The granddaughter who never showed her face anywhere, suddenly appearing and receiving Chairman Joo’s praise.
Immediately, the guests stood up and cheered for Sae-i. It was truly the point where a great actress was born.
With the feeling of scratching a winning lottery ticket, I reinterpreted my grandmother’s script and added lines. I wanted to show a meaningful performance tailored for Grandfather’s birthday.
While passionately delivering the lines I had memorized to the point of boredom, I felt I was pouring everything I had into this moment.
‘Did it… get through?’
I was confident, but I didn’t expect to receive applause from everyone to this extent.
Of course, my uncle and Joo Soo-yeon seemed to be clapping reluctantly. And Ryu Do-kyung….
‘Why is he glaring again.’
What’s he so displeased about that he’s not even clapping and making those triangle eyes? I subtly avoided his gaze and bowed to Grandfather.
As I returned to my seat and sat down, a text message arrived on my phone.
[Young Miss, the Chairman wishes to see you separately for a moment after the party ends.]
It was a text from Grandfather’s personal secretary.
‘Success!’
I had gifted him a moment to remember his wife, and I was given the opportunity to have a private audience with him. It was a most satisfactory outcome.
