Song: Stay With Me by CHANYEOL and Punch

(March)

“Happy birthday, halmoni,” Chanyeol greeted his grandmother that day. It was her 80th birthday, and a celebration was held at their mansion.

“I’m glad you made it, Chanyeol,” the old woman said while smiling at him. She reached out and wanted to hug him tight but Chanyeol bent down to do it instead as she was sitting on her wheelchair.

“I wouldn’t want to miss it,” Chanyeol murmured, then looked around the vast property.

It was the mansion he grew up in and stayed at until the family moved to Ulsan to start another business venture, with the investment of the yangban.

“Oh. By the way,” he handed over a small box to her.

“You shouldn’t have, boy,” his grandmother smiled and rubbed his handsome face.

It had been years since he last saw the house because well, they had already dropped him off the family tree after he tried to violate the only daughter of the Choi yangban. It was a drunken and impulsive attempt, and while everything is clear between him, Dara, and her husband, the family still wouldn’t take him back.

They removed him from the board of Ulsan Energy Corp and nobody is allowed to communicate with him, except his aging grandmother who invited him to her birthday celebration.

He made eye contact with some of his relatives who shied away and distanced themselves from him.

“If it isn’t the serial party boy,” he heard someone say. It was his cousin, Sooyoung, arms crossed and eyeing him with so much disgust on her face.

He bowed to her courteously, but she ignored his gesture.

They are closest in age with Chanyeol 3 years younger than her. Even so, the eldest son of the eldest son is set to inherit the wealth of the Park yangban, and this rule had overridden the fact that he is only a half breed.

And yet, his one mistake put the company in distress a few years ago, with his father and his siblings deciding on ousting him completely.

She looked at him in a condescending manner. “What brings you here? Disgraces such as you are not allowed here.”

“I am here to greet halmoni. I am leaving in a while.”

“Are you here to greet her, or try your luck if you can still get a small inheritance?”

Chanyeol scoffed. “I am not like you, Sooyoung.”

“Really? The last time I checked, you barely have anything left in your fortune. Is this your desperate attempt to survive?”

Both heard a deep voice. “That is enough, Sooyoung.”

“Abeonim,” Chanyeol bowed to the man, Park Sangin.

Sooyoung sighed and left both.

Chanyeol explained. “I won’t take long. I was only planning on staying for ten minutes, give my birthday present and go.”

Of the Park yangban, Chanyeol is the first ‘half breed’ or half yangban, half commoner. His father married out of love much to the protests of the family. He might be regretting his decision as Chanyeol’s mother passed away due to pregnancy complications shortly after giving birth to him.

There isn’t a standard protocol on how to deal with these half breeds and their families, but the unwritten rule is their family will surely go down the yangban ranks.

He cannot blame Sooyoung for being bitter towards him. If only she, the eldest in their generation, inherited their fortune, they could have been doing so much better now. But she is only the eldest daughter of the second son.

Or maybe, if his father married a member of the yangban and Chanyeol wasn’t brought into this world, maybe things could have been better for everyone.

But why is it that the Choi yangban, despite the marriage of Oh Sehun and Choi Dara, was able to maintain its stature and keep its top spot at the hierarchy? From what Chanyeol heard, one of the Choi brothers was even involved with the extremists, or the yangban rebels. Why is it that nobody is able to touch them, still?

Is it because of the iron fist of Choi Seungheon, the head of the Choi yangban and current Defense Minister?

Is it because of the sappy drama surrounding the marriage of Sehun and Dara? The gunning attempt? That Sehun is the CEO of Deli? The exposure of their identities to the public? That they were able to conceive twins, which is highly auspicious to the yangban?

Is it because of their perfect timing?

Does it have to be that excessively over-the-top to be accepted by the family? Even Dara’s half-bred children are getting preferential treatment from the yangban and the general public.

At the end of the day, what matters is how someone would use their power to put their weight on things. Titles do not mean anything if you will not put action to it and, as proved by experiences, titles can easily be taken from you if you do not do anything to protect it.

And Chanyeol was surely not having any of it.

He hasn’t had anything in his life that was worth pursuing hard anyways. He had lived a comfortable, steady life, walking the path carved for him by his family, doing what he wants on the sidelines, too.

Isn’t that the purpose of life—to be happy?

In any case, Chanyeol has accepted his fate. Being the outcast now, he wanted to live a simple and quiet life, away from the pizazz, the complications and the hold of the monarchy, or whatever people call it nowadays.

Chanyeol’s mind was taken back to present when his father spoke to him for the first time in years. “No, stay.”

“I don’t think I’m welcome here anymore, abeonim,” he explained sullenly, then was surprised of his response.

“The Bae family is invited here this afternoon. Use the remaining pride you have and entertain their eldest daughter. I know you recently got back together.”

Chanyeol then saw Joohyun from afar wearing this most exquisite dress, dolled up as well. She was accompanied by her parents who were chatting with random people respectfully.

“Joohyun and I are no longer together, abeonim.”

His father exhaled heavily. “Do you think that matters to me? Both our families are looking for ways to redeem ourselves, and this partnership can be one of those. We were enjoying our simple life back then. You and Joohyun were supposed to end up from the beginning until that Choi daughter ruined things for us.”

Chanyeol was silent. If not for the yangban’s investment, they wouldn’t have started Ulsan Energy Corp in the first place.

He thought this arrangement with Joohyun’s family already ended but apparently, the deal is still on. Partnership of sore losers, maybe, he thought.

Park Sangin sounded frustrated. “I honestly don’t know why the Choi yangban is still on top of the pyramid. Is it because of their positive approval rating, that nobody dares mess with them? They are one scandal away from tarnishing their pristine image,” his father said out loud. “Miss Bae was doing a good job of putting malice to that family but of course, nothing escapes Choi Seungheon.”

“Abeonim, please…” Chanyeol sighed. He knew his father had been greedy for power and prestige for the longest time and it was only his mother who was able to pacify him. And yet, he ended up farther from the position he wanted at the beginning.

“We have already discussed this. With the help of her family, we will first redeem the image of Ulsan Energy Corp. and gather investors without the help o