Ch.375375. Sister’s Wedding

As you go through life in society, you’ll find yourself attending various weddings. Whether it’s your colleague’s wedding, their children’s weddings, or even the weddings of business contacts or acquaintances of acquaintances.

Some might ask why you’d bother attending the wedding of someone you barely know, but that’s a naive question. In this field, reputation, connections, and social standing are everything. Simply showing your face at these events can be beneficial.

Let me explain more specifically. Imagine I’m in charge of selecting a business partner for our company. If companies A and B have similar conditions, which one would I choose?

The textbook answer is whichever company provides more benefit to our company. But when do human affairs ever proceed so rationally?

People commonly think humans are rational beings who occasionally act irrationally, but the opposite is true. Humans are irrational beings who only occasionally think rationally.

In other words, even if I know intellectually that I should choose Company A, other factors might lead me to choose the slightly less beneficial Company B.

These other factors are what I mentioned earlier: personal connections and justifications. Even if Company A offers slightly better terms, if Company B’s representative attended my daughter’s wedding and gave a cash gift, it’s only natural that I’d lean toward Company B.

“…Hmm.”

I’ve rambled too much. Anyway, my point is this: all the effort you put into networking eventually comes back to benefit you. The proof is my sister and Mr. Baek Sunghyun’s—I mean, my brother-in-law’s—wedding.

Since they haven’t been dating long, the wedding was arranged somewhat hastily, yet so many guests have come to congratulate them that we’re about to run out of meal tickets. Sitting at the reception desk, I counted the remaining tickets.

Forty tickets left, and guests can enter until 11 AM. But it’s only 10 AM now.

We’ll definitely run short.

Whether it’s because my sister and brother-in-law have too many acquaintances, guests are arriving at a rate of two per minute. At this rate, running out of meal tickets is inevitable.

I jumped up from my seat. I need to go to the wedding hall reservation office to get more tickets before we run out completely.

“Nabi, I’m going to the wedding hall reservation office for a bit.”

“Are you going to get more meal tickets? Then I’ll come with you.”

“No, if you come with me, there’ll be no one to watch the reception desk. I’ll be back quickly, so just wait a moment, okay?”

“Ah, I see. Okay, hurry back.”

I put on my suit coat that was hanging on the chair and left the reception desk. Glancing down the hallway as I walked, I saw guests already lined up waiting. This is ridiculous—it’s like a bustling marketplace.

Maybe it’s because this is so different from my own wedding when I was twenty. The number of guests is on a completely different scale. There are so many people it’s overwhelming.

Well, I suppose it’s natural given my sister and brother-in-law’s social status. But I never imagined it would be this extreme. If I’d known, I would have suggested hiring a professional service instead of volunteering myself.

When my brother-in-law asked if we should hire a service because there would be many guests, should I have agreed? I felt belated regret, but it was too late now. If I backed out now saying it was too difficult, it would be a disaster.

“Sigh.”

Still, if I endure for just one more hour, no more guests will arrive, so I’ll just bear with it until then. With that thought, I arrived at the wedding hall reservation office. I told the staff member my name and the reason for my visit, and received a hundred meal tickets. I got plenty just in case, so a hundred should be enough.

As I walked back toward the reception desk with the stack of tickets, the number of guests had grown even more. The line stretched so far it looked like a celebrity fan signing event.

Anyone watching might think we were filming a drama. My brother-in-law and sister really do have tremendous social influence.

Along with this new appreciation came worry. What should I do about this? Being family, I should see my sister’s face once more before the ceremony begins, but with so many guests arriving, that might be impossible. If I leave to see my sister, Hwa Nabi will struggle alone.

Wondering if there was a better solution, I returned to the reception desk to find two familiar faces in front of the smiling Hwa Nabi.

An adult man and woman, plus a young child. The man was my friend and colleague Im Hansol, and the woman was Nabi’s friend and Hansol’s wife, Jinhee.

The child between them was obviously Hansol and Jinhee’s daughter. How long has it been since I’ve seen them in person? I’ve seen many photos because Hansol keeps showing them off, but it’s been years since I’ve actually seen their daughter in person. I approached them eagerly.

“Hansol, Jinhee!”

Hansol and Jinhee turned toward me. Their faces lit up with delight at seeing me. I extended my hand in gratitude for their coming, and Hansol grasped it, nodding and smiling.

“Team leader, you’re here?”

“I told you to call me by my name in private settings, didn’t I? Why so awkwardly formal with ‘team leader’?”

“Sorry, I was just teasing you because you look so gloomy on this happy day. Is the reception desk work that tough?”

“You have no idea. See all those people lined up back there?”

I pointed with my thumb, and Hansol shook his head. He seemed as overwhelmed by the crowd as I was.

“It’s definitely an incredible number of people. Our family arrived at 9:40, and we waited almost 20 minutes. Here’s our gift money.”

“Thanks. I’ll make sure my sister gets it. Here are your meal tickets.”

“Daddy, who is this person?”

As I handed over three meal tickets, Hansol’s daughter, whose name I believed was Im Yuri, looked at me curiously while holding Jinhee’s hand.

I crouched down in front of Hansol’s daughter—yes, Im Yuri was her name—to meet her eye level and spoke to her.

“Yuri, hello! I’m your dad’s friend. I work at the same company as your dad.”

“Oh, you’re Daddy’s friend. Hello, nice to meet you. Please take care of me.”

I remember Yuri from before, but she must not remember me since she was so young when we last met.

Well, it’s understandable since we don’t see each other often. Accepting this, I gently patted her head.

“Yes, please take care of me too.”

“But, why are you ‘ahjussi’?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You don’t look like an ahjussi, you look more like an oppa. Why are you called ahjussi?”

“Um…?”

This was a type of question I’d never heard before, so I was a bit taken aback.

The age difference between us is twenty, no, twenty-one years—almost two full zodiac cycles. Wouldn’t “ahjussi” be the correct term?

As I hesitated, not knowing how to respond, Jinhee, who had been watching, suddenly asked:

“Yuri, Han Siwoo looks like an oppa to you? Why?”

“Because he’s so handsome. So I don’t think he’s an ahjussi.”

“If someone is handsome, they’re an oppa instead of an ahjussi?”

“Yes, Mom, you said so while watching dramas! You said if someone is handsome, they’re not an ahjussi but an oppa. So Siwoo ahjussi should be oppa instead… mmph.”

“…Yuri, what are you talking about? When did I ever say such a thing?”

Seeming guilty about something, Jinhee discreetly covered Yuri’s mouth to stop her.

Watching this scene, Hansol and I looked at each other and chuckled.

“You must be happy being popular with young girls, Team Leader.”

“Hey, don’t even joke about that. The world is too dangerous these days for misunderstandings like that.”

I responded with a half-joking, half-serious tone, then smiled at Yuri. You know how they say children’s compliments are the most honest? I’m a man too, and I don’t mind being complimented by a cute child. I rather like it.

As I smiled warmly and patted her head again, Yuri’s cheeks turned bright red with embarrassment. Is it because she’s still a child? Her every reaction seems so vivid and adorable just to watch.

“Um, Siwoo ahjussi. Would it be okay if I called you oppa?”

“Why, would you like to call me that?”

“Yes, I want to call you oppa. …Is that not okay?”

“Well, I don’t see why not. Sure, call me whatever makes you comfortable.”

“My name is Yuri. Im Yuri.”

“Alright, Yuri. You can call me oppa.”

“…Yes, Siwoo oppa.”

Yuri’s cheeks turned tomato-red. Hansol found the whole situation amusing and was quietly laughing, while Jinhee shook her head watching her embarrassed daughter.

“Yuri, don’t be fooled by that nice smile. Back in our school days, there was a truckload of female juniors who misunderstood Han Siwoo because of that exact smile.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“…Oh.”

Jinhee pretended not to hear and looked away, while Hansol seemed to know something but was deliberately keeping quiet.

What’s going on? It feels like everyone knows something except me. Just as I was about to ask about this suspicious atmosphere, Hansol took Yuri’s hand and prepared to leave.

“Right, there are people waiting behind us. Siwoo, we’ll go sit in the guest area, and we’ll see you after the wedding.”

“What? Hey, where are you going? Shouldn’t you explain what you meant?”

“If you’re really curious, ask Nabi. Well, we’re off.”

Leaving behind those cryptic words, Hansol mercilessly disappeared with Yuri and Jinhee. After watching the family walk away, I turned around.

Since he told me to ask Nabi, I thought she might know something, so I looked at her. She was staring at me with an expressionless face. Since Hwa Nabi usually has a smiling expression, I was honestly a bit surprised.

“…Husband.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Can we talk later? Slowly, just the two of us.”

“Pardon…?”