Cha family reunion
Category: Stories
Current mood:  annoyed

At Song Joong-ki’s parents house, the phone rings. Mother answers the phone. “Yeoboseyo” (= Hello). After a few minutes, mother hangs up the phone and went back to the kitchen to finish preparing supper. A few moments later she shouts: “Everyone! Wash your hands! Supper is ready!” 

At the dining table, father asks mother: “Who was that on the phone?” She answers:“Namdongsaeng (= younger brother), he’s inviting us for diner this weekend at his place. He wants all of us to attend.” And she looks at Joong-ki: “Oesamchon (= uncle) really wants all of us to be there. Oeharabeoji (= grandfather) and oehalmeoni (= grandmother) will be there too. So dress up nicely and don’t be late.” {O no, I really don’t feel like going. Keeping a smile on my face the whole evening. Listing to the boring life stories and opinions of theirs.} Looking a bit annoyed at mother: “Eomma (= mom), do I really have to go? I’m very busy. You know that I’ve just released our new game Arena of Valor (AoV). So there is still a lot for me to do. I’m not sure if I can make the time for it.” Mother smiles and said: “ I’m sure you can manage it.” {Sigh, I know that smile. It means that I don’t have any choice. If I don’t go, my mother will kill me.}

A few days later, Joong-ki drove to his parents house to pick them up. The parents are all fancy dressed up to go to the big family dinner at oesamchon’s house. Father even went to the hairdresser and got a haircut. And of course don’t forget the gifts. They bought a few bottles of Takju (milky rice wine).

At oesamchon’s house, sachon (= cousin) Baekho opens the door and warmly greets Joong-ki and his parents. {Sachon, Cha Beakho. The perfect boy. The favorite sonju (= grandchild). Everyone loves him. He looks good and of course he notice that appa (= dad) got a new haircut. As the gentleman that he is, he of course takes the heavy gift bag from eomma. Just perfect, here we go.}

Walking into the backyard, Baekho’s mother yells: “Baekho, be a nice boy and come help me.” Baekho answers: “Ok eomma, just a minute.” He looks at Joong-ki and his parents: “Make yourself at home, I’ll be right back.” He quickly turns around and went back into the house. Joong-ki sees oeharabeoji and oehalmeoni sitting at the table. {They look healthy, but very old.} Joong-ki and his parents walks towards them. After mother gave them a big hug, she introduce Joong-ki to them. He bowed and smiled: “Annyeong hashimnikka, oeharabeoji oehalmeoni.” Oehalmeoni smiled and hugged him as well: “You look good, very handsome boy.” Oeharabeoji says: “I’ve heard that you’ve just started your own business. Please tell me a bit more about it.” Joong-ki take a sit next to oeharabeoji: “Well, as you know I studied IT (information technology). I’ve just started my own game company named TiMi Studio Group. Last Christmas we released our game Aov. AoV is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed for mobile. MOBA is a subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of players compete against each other on a predefined battlefield. Each player controls a single character with a set of distinctive abilities that improve over the course of a game and which contribute to the team's overall strategy. The typical ultimate objective is for each team to destroy their opponents' main structure, located at the opposite corner of the battlefield. In AoV players control characters are referred as heroes, and each of these heroes have a unique set of abilities. Heroes start the game at a low level, and can earn gold and experience (XP) in various ways: Killing non-player creatures such as minions or monsters, defeating other players, destroying structures, passively through time and through special items that can be purchased through the shop. Earning experience unlocks and augments abilities, making the hero more powerful. Items purchased in the shop do not carry over matches, and therefore all players are on equal footing at the start of every match.” While Baekho offered oeharabeoji some sweet tangerines, he heard Joong-ki talk about his game. Just as he wants to ask Joong-ki something, the doorbell rings. He stoot up to open the door. The other two sachons arrived with their parents. Diner is served.

During diner, oesamchon asked Joong-ki if he could financially support the two nieces making their fashion dream come true. {I was afraid that these things will happen at these events, but I don’t have a good reason to decline. I will just say yes and later check what the nieces need from me.} So he replied: “But yes of course, I will do what I can to help them oesamchon.” A few moments later, oeharabeoji  also asked Joong-ki to help Baekho. Before he could answer or react, it was decided. {What happend? O my god, I believe that I’ve to look after Baekho as well now?!}