episode_0173

The next day dawned, and the morning at the ancestral home was incredibly busy. It was the day of the ancestral rites, and usually, the family would gather between 9 to 10 in the morning, with the ceremony starting around 11. So, we had to finish preparing the ancestral rites table before the family arrived.

Our house was divided into the main building and an annex.

Normally, the family would stay in the main building, while the annex was used as a guest room or storage. But in terms of size, the annex was actually larger.

Originally, we were supposed to clean the annex the night before, but due to my father hurting his back, no one had the presence of mind to do it. It was past 10 pm when we finally woke up and hurriedly cleaned, but it seemed like we were running out of time, so we decided to finish it in the morning.

So, on the morning of the next day, we were hurriedly finishing cleaning and carrying food from the main building to the annex.

Luckily, I was supposed to finish setting up the ancestral rites table by myself, but before that, Su-yeon arrived?

While Do-yeong was watching the kids, Su-yeon joined me in setting up the ancestral rites table, making the process much faster.

I was a bit unsure about how to set up the ancestral rites table, so I had written down the instructions from my father beforehand and followed them step by step.

And as we were finishing setting up the ancestral rites table.

“Sister-in-law, we’re here!”

A hearty voice of an elderly man could be heard from outside the annex, and as Su-yeon and I stepped out of the annex into the main building, a familiar face that I hadn’t seen in a long time was in the living room.

“Big Uncle!”

Su-yeon greeted him warmly, and it was clear that the elderly man was quite large in stature. He was none other than my father’s younger brother, Big Uncle.

“Oh, who do we have here! It’s Su-yeon!”

“Long time no see, are you doing well?”

“Of course! I’ve been doing well! And you… Oh! Could it be…?”

After greeting us warmly, Big Uncle’s expression froze as he looked at me up and down.

“Hello. It’s been a while, Big Uncle.”

As I awkwardly greeted him, Big Uncle couldn’t hide his surprise and approached me, patting my shoulder.

“Ah, it’s our Do-hyeon. You’ve been through a lot.”

It seemed like he wanted to give me a hug just by looking at his expression, but it seemed like he was being cautious because I had become a woman.

After that, there were two middle-aged men. They were Big Uncle’s sons, Jeong Woo-hyeon and Jeong Dong-hyeon. They were 43 and 40 years old, respectively, older than me. Although I was the eldest in terms of generation, Big Uncle got married about 5 years earlier than my father, so his children were older than us. Both were married, and behind them were their wives and children.

“It’s been a while for you guys too.”

“Oh, yeah. Do-hyeon. Oh, this is tricky. Should I comfort you for your hard work, or congratulate you for looking beautiful?”

“Oh, come on, brother. Do-hyeon has always been handsome, what’s with… Anyway, Do-hyeon. Or should I call you Do-yeon now? You’ve been through a lot.”

These two brothers were the ones who often came to comfort me and share a drink when I was going through a hard time. After I became a woman, there were times when I was hospitalized, and I was busy, so this was the first time we were meeting face to face, but they were still grateful people.

“Wow, is this really Do-hyeon Uncle?”

Jeong Da-sol, the eldest daughter of Dong-hyeon, looked at me with wide eyes.

“Oh, haha. Isn’t it amazing?”

“Wow. No, really… it’s a real transformation.”

Around Da Sol, who seemed amazed that there were no people with TS syndrome nearby (well, even in Korea, it’s rare for the number to barely exceed two digits, so it was actually strange that she knew about it).

“Unnie, isn’t it a bit rude to be so amazed like that?”

Speaking in a mocking tone to Da Sol was Jung Da Jun, the second son of Dong Hyun’s older brother.

“Why? It’s okay to be a little amazed.”

“Tsk. Da Sol. What’s so amazing about it to adults?”

“Oh, it’s okay. Hyungsoo. It could be amazing, right?”

The small hyungsoo, that is, Da Sol, the wife of Dong Hyun’s older brother and the mother of Da Jun, teased the children.

It could be amazing, right.

“See, even Uncle is okay.”

“Hey, can you calm down a bit?”

Someone with a stern tone. When Da Sol turned to the direction where the voice came from in surprise, she saw the small uncle’s family. The small uncle and his children, a son and a daughter. Among them, the eldest was Jung Soo Hyun. In other words, my cousin younger brother.

“Hey, Soo Hyun. Why are you so serious?”

Suddenly, when the dark adult (father’s cousin younger brother) glared at her, Da Sol’s eyes trembled as if she would cry, and Jung Soo Hyun tried to calm her down, but with a sense of resentment.

“It’s one thing to do that to adults, but how foolish and foolish is it to ask a sick person if they’re in pain, isn’t it?”

“Yes, yes….”

Da Sol bowed her head as if she was about to cry. Dong Hyun’s expression didn’t look good, and Hyungsoo was the same.

Before the tense atmosphere could escalate, I stepped in and called the guy first. If the person involved gets angry, others won’t be able to get angry.

“Hey, Jung Soo Hyun.”

“Uh, uh?”

As I spoke with a firm voice and stared at him, he stammered in confusion.

“I said I’m okay.”

“Well, still….”

“How many adults are here besides you?”

Starting from our parents, including the uncle and aunt, there are 4 adults, and above them, there are 2 older brothers… no, including me, 3. In a place where there are elders, why would a guy who is not even the parents or grandparents of the person bring up grandchildren? It could lead to family quarrels. They weren’t the type to go that far, but there needed to be prevention for even the smallest crack that could lead to a bigger one later.

The guy seemed to understand what I was saying and immediately bowed his head and apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sigh… for now, come with me for a moment.”

If he came in like this, the atmosphere would only get worse, so I decided to take him outside to talk separately. Before going out, I briefly greeted the small uncle and aunt and passed through the front yard of the house and went outside.

-Thud, thud.

I heard footsteps following me, and I stopped walking when I thought it was about time.

“What’s wrong?”

This time, without raising my voice, I asked with a worried look. Soo Hyun, who raised his head while looking at me, seemed to have something on his mind from the way his eyes were shaking.

“Oh, what’s wrong? Nothing. It was something that happened to Hyung.”

“Haha, is that so? Anyway, then nothing happened to you. But why are you being so sensitive today?”

“Actually….”

“Actually?”

“Well, I live with a friend.”

“What? A girlfriend?”

“No! It’s not like that, it’s a same-sex friend!”

“Oh, I see. But why?”

Well, the guy is 30 years old. It’s about time to start living with a same-sex friend rather than a girlfriend, no, a wife. Wait, didn’t this guy already do that once?

Perhaps he became a transgender faster than me. Was it four years ago? Got married and divorced two years ago. Fortunately, there were no children involved.

“He turned out like you, hyung.”

“Like me? How so? Like me… no way?!”

“Yeah. TS syndrome. It’s been about a month now.”

“Wow… really?”

“Yeah. So, seeing him struggle these days, I guess I empathized with him.”

If we’re living together, we must be pretty close friends. If a friend like that ended up in the same situation as me, they would naturally become more sensitive to such topics.

Hmm, I understand the situation. But still, the way it’s being expressed is just not very mature.

“I know too. I messed up. I’ll go in and apologize to Dasol. And to Donghyun hyung and the adults too.”

“Okay, since you know you were wrong, I won’t say anything more.”

“Yeah, thanks, hyung.”

“Tsk, call me noona. From now on. Our kids already call you mom.”

“Really? Already adapted to that?”

“Yeah. We’re parents. We have to adapt quickly to anything for the kids.”

“Uh, I see.”

“By the way, how’s your friend?”

“Stop it. At first, he was all excited and jumping around…”

“What? Excited…?”

What did I just hear? Is there a part of this illness that can be considered exciting? Losing the gender you’ve lived with your whole life is by no means a simple matter. It’s hard to explain everything from A to Z, but as a simple example, what if I hadn’t divorced before? Would I have divorced by now?

I heard from a doctor before. In some families, the wife becoming a man was so shocking that even the children couldn’t accept it, the husband was shocked, and eventually they divorced, and the wife who became a man even committed suicide.

At least for someone with a family, unless the spouse suddenly became homosexual, there was no way the family could stay together, and even for unmarried people, it was never something to take lightly.

But what? Exciting?

“Ugh, kids these days…”

Is this the Gen Z? I just couldn’t understand what was going on, so I shook my head and went back home without putting any effort into something I couldn’t comprehend.