Arena

Chapter 124 – Chaos

Thanks to Marie throwing a tantrum about wanting to meet my mom, I hadn’t been able to get both girls out of the house and I was in the midst of trembling from fear when.

[Mom: I’m here, son. <3]

“Ack!”

I shouted as I quickly typed a response.

[Me: How are you here already?]

[Mom: I came by car. Haha]

Mom wasn’t the kind of person that would ride a taxi for a short distance. That means……

[Me: is noona with you?]

[Mom: Hyun-joo and Hyun-ji, everyone.]

[Me: Why noona?]

[Mom: she came with me to see Hyun-ji.]

I got the gist.

Most big companies first half-year open recruitment was over but there was still no news of employment from Hyun-ji.

They would have both tried to threaten/pressure Hyun-ji into joining the chicken business world.

With noona’s whip and mom’s carrot/enticement double attack and Hyun-ji’s pitiful resistance, it was clear as day how it went down.

‘Hold on……’

If Hyun-ji sees these two women in my place, who knows what she’ll assume?!

[Me: where are you right now?]

[Mom: we’re just getting in the elevator.]

I tried to convince Marie once more.

“Hey Marie, can you please help me, hm?”

“Okay.”

Said Marie, smiling happily.

“I’ll be real nice to your mom!”

“Achhhh!”

I despaired as I grabbed my own hair.

Then.

“It is a simple solution.”

Cha Ji-hye started talking in Korean, so Marie couldn’t understand.

“It’s simple?”

“Your family can’t understand what Marie is saying.”

“Ah!”

Now that she mentioned it, that was true.

But she’s always stuck to me and acting cutesy, that behavior was more than enough to be misconstrued and shock my family?

“Because Miss Johanna’s mental state puts her at a young mental age, tell them she follows you as a father figure.”

She continued to say.

“And I am a Denmark transplant businesswoman and here in Korea on business, you can tell them you have the job of escorting me.”

“Okay, let’s say we use that, but the reason that both of you are in my home?”

“Miss Johanna is a distant relative of mine, she likes you so much she won’t leave your side and thus I am in your debt.”

I was in awe.

How can she create lies so easily!

“And this house?”

“Say you got it as a gift from Chairman Park Jin-seong, for saving his life in Denmark.”

I was flustered.

“Well, my family thinks my employment itself is the gift for saving a Jin-seong group board member who got lost on a hike. But now this time I’ve rescued the actual Chairman and gotten this house?”

I could already see my family’s suspicious gazes if I tried to sell them that story.

“You can just argue. They have no way to verify the truth, what can they do?”

“……”

That was true.

‘Ah, whatever.’

I just decided to stop thinking about it so much. I’ll just let it play out as it will at this point.

Ding dong~

The doorbell was ringing.

As soon as I opened the door, the women of my family rushed in.

“Son~!”

“Uh, uh……”

“Oh my, my! Look at this house! My goodness!”

As my mom came into the house, she was amazed by the size of the expansive living room.

Then she ran into the two women in the living room. Following behind her, my noona and Hyun-ji had the same reactions too.

“Who are you?”

My mom asked carefully.

“It’s Hyun-ho’s mom! I’m Hyun-ho’s wife!”

Empty headed Marie got up and boldly replied. But there was no way my family could understand the Arena language.

I quickly intervened.

“This is Cha Ji-hye, she is a businesswoman here from Denmark.”

“Denmark?”

Finally, Cha Ji-hye politely introduced herself.

“Hello, nice to meet you. I am Christina Cha, and my Korean name is Cha Ji-hye. I do business in Denmark, and am here for work, and staying under his care.”

“Oh, but how are you in my son’s house at this late hour……”

I spoke up.

“She is a guest of Jin-seong Group. I am in charge of escorting her and things worked out where she is staying here.”

“How did they work out that way?”

My mom’s face changed into the face of a parent wanting grandchildren.

And Hyun-ji looked at me like a piece of garbage. I slightly tilted my head and avoided Hyun-ji’s gaze.

Cha Ji-hye, with a formal tone, crushed my moms hopes.

“This is Marie Johanna, she is a distant relative of mine. Marie has a developmental disability, and she must have taken a liking to Mr. Kim Hyun-ho, we are very sorry to intrude on him this way.”

My mom looked straight at Marie who keepts babbling on in a non-understandable language (Arena language)

“She does look a bit like that. What a pity, she is very pretty.”

But then.

“Was für Gesch?fte machen Sie? (what kind of business do you do)?”*

With a suspicious gaze, noona had been looking at us.

‘Umm, what the what?’

I was completely surprised.

What did she just say? Does noona actually know Danish?!

Cha Ji-hye was unable to answer and just stood there blankly.

“……”

“……”

Noona and Cha Ji-hye suddenly had a very awkward moment.

“Did you perhaps not understand what I just said?”

“No, I was wondering why you weren’t just speaking in Korean.”

“Regardless, could you answer my question?”

“Aside from the strangeness of it all, I couldn’t understand what you said.”

“I will ask again. Was für Gesch?fte machen Sie?”

“Your accent is quite bad, and I cannot understand. Just ask me in Korean, please.”

“Is my Danish bad?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I wasn’t speaking Danish, that was German.”

“Your accent is so bad, I couldn’t tell if it was Danish or German.”

Uh, wow, Cha Ji-hye! Such shamelessness!

But then.

“Ich bin Hyun-ho’s Frau!” (I am Hyun-ho’s wife)!”

Marie suddenly shouted in German.

Noona asked Cha Ji-hye.

“Is what she said true?”

“Do not pay attention to Marie. As I said, she is not in her right mind.”

“Why don’t you tell me what it is she just said then.”

“She says so much nonsense, I don’t pay any attention to what she says.”

With all this push and pull, Cha Ji-hye’s expression doesn’t change one bit, I’m finding her quite scary.

“Ich bin Hyun-ho’s Frau!”

Marie pointed to herself again and shouted.

‘Could you please shut up, you crazy woman!!’

I despaired inside.

“Did you hear her that time?”

“As I have said, Marie is not in her right mind so pay no attention.”

At the two woman’s chilly encounter, everyone but Marie was sweltering.

“Um, sis, what did that woman say?”

Hyun-ji inches towards her (noona) and asked.

Noona replied.

“She said she’s Hyun-ho’s wife.”

“What?!”

From how she was glaring at me, Hyun-ji looked as if she was going to attack me that second.

“What, no! Could you not look at me like that?”

I was covered in a cold sweat and stuttered out a response.

But Marie continued and opened her hands and kept chattering on in German.

Noona said.

“She says she even has a wedding ring.”

“That, that…. That’s just something I bought her off the street. She nagged so much for it……!”

“As I’ve said before, Marie is not in her right mind so pay no heed.”

Cha Ji-hye, with perseverance and unchanging in her businesslike tone, spoke up. An artistic level of shamelessness.

Then noona asked Marie something in German.

Marie tilted her head to the side and then shook her head and said something.

I have to kick Marie out. No matter how I do it, I must!

Noona said to Cha Ji-hye.

“Considering she’s not in her right mind, her communication is very clear. This woman says you are Korean, not from Denmark.”

“Marie sometimes doesn’t like me and will say such things. I will scold her later.”

“From what I can tell, you don’t know Danish or German, you appear to be 100% Korean.”

“I don’t know why you find me so suspicious, but since you keep thinking that, I will show you my ID.”

Cha Ji-hye brought out her passport from her bag.

The passport she got from Denmark of course has her identity as a citizen of Denmark.

“A fake passport carries a heavy penalty.”

Noona tried to pick another fight.

“That is my passport. You keep doing this, I find it repulsive.”

“I apologize if I have made you feel bad. I just find it odd that someone from Denmark knows neither Danish nor German.”

“Regardless, I don’t have your name yet.”

Cha Ji-hye coolly changed the subject.

“…… my apologies. I am Kim Hyun-joo. I am Hyun-ho’s older sister.”

“Nice to meet you, miss Hyun-joo.”

Cha Ji-hye extended her hand and noona carelessly extended hers and they shook hands. Noona keept losing the interrogative timing.

“Actually……”

Mom, who had been quiet, interrupted.

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Could you stop lying and just tell us the truth? What your relationship with our son is?”

Asked my mom.

Cha Ji-hye became silent for a while. A long while later, she opened her mouth.

“I am actually Mr. Hyun-ho’s girlfriend.”

I started to hiccup.

“Well, then, just now, why did you……”

“Hyun-ho begged me not to say so, so I uncharacteristically told a lie. I am very sorry, mother, sister, miss.”

“Why did you lie??”

Mom was simply not understanding what was happening at all.

“Because we are having an af……”

“Stop-!!”

I was in utter despair.

In the end I had to introduce Cha Ji-hye as my girlfriend.

I refuted by saying I felt bad that I had a new girlfriend so quickly after breaking up with Min-jeong so decided to keep it a secret.

“Hmph, ridiculous! You dumped Min-jeong for this girl?”

Hyun-ji stared at me like I was a piece of crap.

“It’s not like that.”

“I’m going to tell Min-jeong everything.”

“Don’t tattle!! I’m going to take back your card!”

At my yelling, Hyun-ji must’ve been alarmed cause it looked like she was stepping down.

“Ich bin die Frau des Hyun-ho!”

“Son, then this woman is?”

“…… that woman actually is crazy.”

“Ich bin die Frau des Hyun-ho!”

Marie was shouting loudly in German.

Finally, I felt like the chaos wasstarting to settle.

“Son, but how is it you have such a luxurious and splendid house? On the register, it’s your house.”

“That, um……!”

The chaos began again.

***

“What are we going to do about this now!”

A fat old man with a long white beard shouted out..

Sseng guh lang! (Ting/tang sound)

The alcohol bottle the old man threw hit the young man’s head in front of him and broke.

But the young man, without any injury, stayed calm and didn’t even blink an eye.

The young man, with a sparkle in his eyes, didn’t blink once and stared back at the old man.

Against that gaze, the old man was overwhelmed and coughed.

“I got overexcited.”

“Calm down. That isn’t good for your health.”

Said the young man. That was a warning.

“Hm, hm, I know. But more importantly, what are we going to do? Not only did we not finish the job, we’ve already lost 8 to that son of a bitch?”

“It’s simple.”

Said the young man.

“We are past a capture, now we have to kill for punishment. Kim Hyun-ho, Odin too, and their whole gang.”

“And is that easier said than done?”

“If I intercede.”

Boasted the young man.

The old man must have approved because he made a slight nod.

The young man’s name, Lee Chang-wee.

The chaos began again.