I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Chaebol Family-Chapter 6: Family Gathering

‘Phew. My body feels stiff.’

After Yoo Seon-a left, I crumpled up the newspaper and stretched. Grandpa’s house definitely had good heating and all, but there were just too many people.

-Srrk.

When I looked in the mirror and stretched out my arms, my soft cheek fat got squished against them. Ha, I really didn’t think the first hobby of my new life would be staring at a mirror.

Jet-black, glossy hair. Clear, transparent baby skin. A pretty face with distinct features.

If anything, I was only going to get more beautiful, not less. That fact alone made me quite happy. The thought of “They should’ve just let me be born as a man...” had slowly faded over the years.

[Daehwa Group Semiconductor Project. Madness or Foresight? Yoo Seong-pil, Chairman of Daehwa Group, Invests 100 Billion Won in Giheung Memory Semiconductor Plant.]

That headline decorated the crumpled-up economy section of the newspaper. Even though it was Daehwa Group’s money backing it, the reaction was still like that. Yeah, the semiconductor industry really did look insane in this era.

-Tok tok.

I tapped the dark brown wooden desk and fell into thought for a moment.

‘When should I start moving money?’

It was kind of silly, considering I’d been loudly acting like “I’m a genius!” lately, but honestly, I had a ton of chances to make money.

By the time I hit around forty—in other words, before the 2020s—I was confident I’d be the richest person in the world.

I mean, I reincarnated into a chaebol family with all this future knowledge. If I didn’t manage to pull it off, I’d just be an idiot.

‘It’s a matter of efficiency. No matter how hard I work now, the profits I’d rake in overnight in the financial sector after the IMF crisis will dwarf whatever I can earn before then.’

Looking at it that way, it meant I could afford to delay the money-making part. The money I had right now... it was probably better to invest it than try to manage it directly myself.

So my efforts for now should focus on things I can only do while I’m still a child—things where the efficiency is the same no matter when I do them.

That is... studying. Even if I became a billionaire, my brain wasn’t going to upgrade itself, so right now, studying was the most efficient thing I could do.

‘I swear, once the 21st century hits, I’m dropping all this.’

Sighing, I pulled books from the bookshelf.

There were still mountains of knowledge I didn’t know.

***

Ever since Yoo Ha-yeon came to Yoo Seong-pil’s mansion, time passed quickly.

After breakfast, she would skim through the newspaper to build her knowledge of current events, and in her spare time, she’d hole up in Chairman Yoo Seong-pil’s library, devouring books all day.

Compared to when she lived in Yoo Jin-cheol’s house and took naps almost every day, this was a complete 180. Naturally, Yoo Seong-pil couldn’t help but grow very fond of her...

One step. Another step.

Gradually, she became someone inseparable from the Yoo family.

December 1983. One evening.

“Well, well. Our Ha-yeon is here, huh?”

With a cheerful expression, Chairman Yoo Seong-pil greeted me and lifted me up in his arms. Flailing my legs and wiggling my fingers, I let out a small, flustered whine.

“Egh. Put me down, Grandpa.”

“Alright, alright. If our Ha-yeon says no, then I must.”

-Tak tak.

Fixing my tousled hair, I held my usual confident air, just like I always did ever since coming to Chairman Yoo Seong-pil’s residence.

‘Yeah. Good. Always perfect.’

Let’s walk on sharp blades, let’s balance on the thinnest wire. Because I know what’s waiting at the end of that path is dazzling glory.

“Oh, did the Economic Secretary say anything today?”

“No. It’s the end of the year, so he’s been busy. He made a joke about 1984 or something. Talked about the newly opened Line 2 subway too...”

I nodded. By now, our regular meetings had entered their second month. Every other Saturday, we’d meet and talk about how the world was turning—and honestly, it was pretty fun.

Maybe you could even say he was the first friend I’d made in this second life... not that our mental ages were all that different when you added up both our lives.

“Mmm. I see. Since you’re here early, go ahead and have a snack.”

I quickly unwrapped and munched on a chocolate with my tiny hands, then bowed 90 degrees with a mouth full.

“Thank youuu.”

Phew. Thank goodness. Who knows how long until dinner? On a day like this, a calorie refill was essential.

“Fine, I get Jin-seok, but what’s taking Jin-ha so long? Seriously. Tsk.”

Chairman Yoo Seong-pil already looked displeased.

‘Welp, guess we’re doomed again today. Dinner’s gonna be at 8.’

The thing is, today was kind of a special day.

Every year at the end of the year, Chairman Yoo Seong-pil would gather the whole family for a dinner, and even he—who usually didn’t meddle much—would dish out all kinds of scoldings at the family gathering.

The reason wasn’t anything dramatic. It was just that his kids didn’t live up to his expectations. If they did something decent once in a while, he’d give praise too. It’s just that criticism came way more often...

He had this personal belief that he had to feed his family properly, so he’d wait to eat dinner until after tearing into them. Because of that, dinner always started ridiculously late. Last year, I had to listen to all kinds of nonsense because of my father...

Ugh. Thinking about it now, this year’s actually a bit better. At least he passed early. Guess that’s a relief...? Who knows, really.

-Click.

“Father. I’m here.”

“Yeah. Another tough year, huh. Jin-seok.”

After me, the eldest son Yoo Jin-seok arrived. Behind him, his three children scurried in and greeted Chairman Yoo Seong-pil.

“...”

The youngest daughter, Yoo Seon-a, glanced at me for a brief moment, then quietly returned to her seat.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

-Creak.

Next came the second son, Yoo Jin-ha, opening the door and stepping inside. The moment his face appeared, Chairman Yoo Seong-pil’s thunderous scolding came crashing down.

Updat𝓮d from frёewebnoѵēl.com.

“Jin-seok came up from the provinces, so I can understand that—but your house is nearby, so why are you late?”

Since this wasn’t the first time, Yoo Jin-ha calmly bowed his head and answered.

“I’m sorry, Father. The kid caught a cold, so...”

With someone readily admitting fault, there wasn’t much left to say, so Chairman Yoo Seong-pil gave a slight nod with an uncomfortable expression.

“...Fine. Sit down. Jin-ha. Seon-young, you too.”

“Yes, Dad.”

Finally, when Yoo Seong-pil’s daughter, Yoo Seon-young, sat down at the table, the family gathering officially began.

At the dinner table, with nothing yet served, Chairman Yoo Seong-pil was the first to speak.

“Alright. Jin-seok, start. What did you do in the second half of the year?”

For the beginning of a family gathering, the mood was tense and icy.

-Gulp.

I heard the sound of someone swallowing. I quietly closed my eyes and thought over my uncle Yoo Jin-seok’s position.

‘The eldest son, Yoo Jin-seok, is vice president of Daehwa Construction and Daehwa Heavy Industries... Hmm. I heard last time that he lost the Gangnam new town development rights to Mirae Construction. He’s gonna get an earful.’

“Why aren’t you talking? Hm? You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? You lost the development rights near Seocho Station and now you have the nerve to show your face! You saw Line 2 opening—how could you not know housing prices would spike! And you call yourself someone in construction?”

The Gangnam new town development had started in the late 70s, so by now it was a little late to jump in. From what I’d heard, housing prices had been skyrocketing and were just starting to cool off.

That’s why Vice President Yoo Jin-seok hadn’t really paid much attention to it... but after Line 2 opened, property values near the new stations surged, causing a stir in the construction sector.

When Vice President Yoo Jin-seok mishandled the situation—or to put it bluntly, didn’t pay enough in bribes—he even lost the development rights he already held.

To make things worse, the incident happened in November, which ended up overshadowing all the good work he had done in the first half of the year. With his head hanging low, Yoo Jin-seok looked ashamed.

“I’m sorry. I’ll do better next time.”

“Anyone can say that! Last time you said the same damn thing when you said you’d land that contract in Saudi Arabia and got beat by Mirae Construction, didn’t you!”

Yep, just like I thought—he’s getting chewed out hard. Not that anyone didn’t expect it. Even Yoo Seon-a sitting over there probably had some idea.

After being scolded for a long while, Yoo Jin-seok hesitated, then finally opened his mouth.

“Honestly, Father, our group’s construction division is falling behind. Competing with Mirae Group, which built the Gyeongbu Expressway, is a bit—”

-Smack!

Chairman Yoo Seong-pil’s eyes blazed as he struck Yoo Jin-seok on the back with his cane.

“I made you vice president of the construction company so you could compete! Why are you saying that kind of thing without even trying? Before Mirae Construction built the Gyeongbu Expressway, they were the same as us. Hm?”

I sat crouched in the corner, fiddling with my fingers, tongue clicking in disbelief.

‘Wow. Wow... The beatings I got back in the day were nothing compared to this.’

Maybe it was a good thing Yoo Jin-cheol didn’t take after Father too much?

Seriously, though. Forcing him to compete with a construction company twice our size and demanding he win... Chairman Yoo Seong-pil really is an impossible man.

What’s even more insane is that Chairman Yoo Seong-pil routinely succeeded at things even crazier than that. In the early days of the group, sure, but even in the semiconductor sector, he blew up the size of the company several dozen times over in just a few years and made Daehwa Electronics the top firm in Korea.

When you set yourself as the standard, no wonder none of your kids measure up. Well, obviously, I’m the exception.

Fortunately, there were no more major beatings after that. Aside from the construction mess, most things had gone fairly smoothly. Maybe because someone already took a whipping, the rest of the family’s mistakes got a pass.

‘Vice President Yoo Jin-seok is relatively competent, honestly. I mean, he did manage to hold onto the chairman’s seat later on. He had ability.’

In my past life, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} things eventually fell apart and the group split, but fundamentally, Yoo Jin-seok was a capable person. It was just that his mindset was too average.

.

.

.

“Mmm. Alright, Seon-a, I heard you’ve been studying hard lately. In times like these, you’ve got to start focusing even from elementary school—”

Around the time the clock passed 7 p.m.

After having gone around and talked to every grandchild, Chairman Yoo Seong-pil turned to me and smiled, his wrinkled facial muscles shifting.

“Now. Finally, Ha-yeon. How about you? I’ve already heard enough about what you did this year, so tell me what you plan to do next year.”

Chairman Yoo Seong-pil looked at me with eyes full of interest. Including the inheritance from Yoo Jin-cheol, he’d already given me a significant amount of money.

Roughly around 10 billion won.

He was probably curious what I was going to do with it.

‘Too bad I won’t be starting a business...’

But I’d decided to meet his expectations in a different way.

Wearing a bright smile, I slowly opened my mouth.

“I’m... going to buy Daehwa Electronics stock.”