I Became Park Jeong-ui’s Nephew - Chapter 292



Only Krnovel

He became Park Jeong-ui’s nephew. – (292)

“Are our ladies here?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Haha~ This is shaking.”

This is Changgyeonggung Palace. I hurried my steps as I entered the lobby.

When going on a blind date, you have to look at the other person’s photo before meeting them, but the children I’m meeting now aren’t given that right.

No, can a child choose his parents?

If a parent abandons a child, the child will not choose that parent, so I plan to give the child a choice.

If I don’t want to be an adoptive father, I can just remain as a sponsor like before. Strictly speaking, I’m in the position of having to be chosen by the children.

What if you say you’re not worthy of being my father? My heart started pounding even though we weren’t even on a blind date.

Anyway, as we entered the interview room, the two girls sitting at the table got up from their seats.

“Ladies, the lord has arrived.”

“Ah… Hello.”

“Haha~ Okay, you must have had a hard time coming this far. Everyone, sit down.”

I tried to look calm.

I was nervous too, but I wondered what these kids would be like, so I asked the butlers to bring out some simple meals and snacks.

The conversation started like that, and I started working on getting selected.

“Do you know why you came here?”

“yes….”

“You guys don’t have to feel uncomfortable. I’m the one who has to be chosen as your parent.”

“Aren’t we the ones being chosen?”

“No. Would you choose a parent who would abandon their child? Children have the right to choose their parents. Especially if you are an orphan like yourself.”

The children were silent.

I feel a little bad about forcing them to forget about their parents who abandoned them, but isn’t reality reality? That’s why I made them face reality from the beginning.

Now it’s time to hear the children’s point of view.

A question came flying in from a side with a slightly larger head.

“Why does our lord want to adopt us as his adopted daughters?”

“Why not? I feel sorry for abandoned dogs shivering in the cold on the streets, so why can’t I embrace children like you?”

“Ah… no. That’s not it.”

“Haha~ My speech is too aggressive. I hope you understand. I always live fiercely, so my speech is a bit harsh. But I will be careful in front of you from now on.”

The girl nodded.

By now, I think I have explained my feelings sufficiently.

I decided to listen to the children’s position a little more.

“It might be too sudden for you, so I won’t tell you to become my daughter right now. Let’s spend time like this, eating and going for walks. Then, I’m sure we’ll come up with an answer.”

“A walk?”

“Yes. That’s why I brought you here. There’s a zoo here and a nice walking trail. I’m sure you’ll like it.”

As soon as I finished eating, I went for a walk with the kids.

A walking path between Changgyeonggung Palace and Jongmyo Shrine. When you pass through the iron gate along the palace wall, a walking path about 5 meters wide appears.

From here, walk about 20m and turn left to reach Wonnam-dong Damjang-gil, and if you turn right, you will reach Anguk-dong Sunragil. I recommended the kids to take the left course.

“If you go here, you can go to Bukshinmun (North God’s Gate).”

“Is this the North Korean newspaper?”

“Yes, it’s a place that’s not open to the public. I’ll show it to you guys.”

The children immediately agreed.

If we go there, we will have our own secret. In fact, the Buk Sinmun was a place that was strictly controlled even during the Joseon Dynasty.

The Buk Shinmun is part of the Jongmyo Shrine and is the gate where the spirits of the old Joseon kings pass through. It’s not even a scary experience, so why bring children to a place like this?

But I aimed for that point.

“Do you guys know why this place is painted red?”

“why?”

“They say it’s to keep evil spirits out. This is a place where the spirits of the kings of the old Joseon Dynasty come and go.”

“Huh… A ghost?”

“Okay, shall we go in and take a look?”

“No!! It’s okay!!”

“Um, you guys may not know, but can I come in?”

“No. Never go in there. You’ll have bad luck if you go there.”

A girl named Lee Yeon-su desperately clung on.

What if the adoptive father who was going to adopt me turns into a real ghost after passing through this door? To be honest, I was just acting to tease the kids, but the kids were so innocent that I ended up playing a prank without realizing it.

The prank ended here, and we moved past the Buk Shinmun and onto the zoo beyond Jongmyo.

As I walked like that, I arrived at an empty lot.

The empty lot surrounded by iron cages was empty.

“Your Majesty, why is this place empty?”

“That’s where my pet was.”

“Is it a pet?”

“Yeah, my friend gave me a cheetah as a present… but it went to heaven. If I remember correctly, it lived for about 10 years?”

It’s already a story from 26 years ago,

As a token of friendship with Korea, Pahlavi II gave two Asiatic cheetahs.

An endangered species with less than a thousand left in the world. What are you going to do with me by giving me this?

Still, I continued to raise them because they were brought into my arms, but they left my arms after only 10 years.

The lifespan of an Asiatic cheetah is at most 12 years. There was nothing I could do about the lifespan that was given to me by heaven, and King Pahlavi II, who gave these guys to me as a gift, also died of cancer.

All that’s left is this iron fence, which has some meaning to me, but not to the kids.

“Your Majesty, why is the walking path like this?”

“What are you talking about?”

“They’re all related to death, right? Like the North Korean newspaper article just now… .”

“Haha~ I see, that’s how it turned out. Then let’s go over there.”

Bringing children here and asking what is this,

To make up for lost points, we set our date course to a bright and lively place.

The ladies are finally starting to feel a little better, and as our time together grows longer, their stiff expressions are starting to loosen up a bit.

The conversation started again, and a girl named Lee Yeon-su asked another question.

“Your Majesty, I was talking about the cheetah earlier.”

“Didn’t we agree not to talk about that?”

“Now that I think about it, it seems important. Did the cheetahs follow their enemy well?”

“Well… how could I know the minds of dumb beasts? And honestly, I was scared of them.”

“Are you scared?”

“Yes, no matter how docile it is, it’s still an animal. If I get close, I don’t know when it’ll bite my hand. That’s why I just threw food through the bars.”

“Then we’re not scared?”

“Are you scared? You guys?”

“Yes, we might bite your hand later too, right?”

The abrupt question left me speechless for a moment.

Well, there’s a saying that you shouldn’t raise a black-haired beast, but who knows what these guys will do in the future with the power of my daughter on their backs.

But I was a little embarrassed because he threw it like a straight ball.

I laughed it off even though I was a little annoyed that he dared to engage in psychological warfare against me.

“Haha~ Are you going to bite my hand later?”

“No, we just don’t want to be cheetahs in a cage.”

“A cheetah in a cage?”

“Yes, you said earlier, right? A dumb beast might bite my hand at any moment… Even if we approach you, you might be wary of us.”

I nodded.

Do I truly want to accept these children as my daughters, or do I see them as cheetahs that I just throw food at from a distance?

There are 500 orphans that I am currently sponsoring. I only provided financial support, but I don’t remember truly caring for these children.

As a leader of a country, he only felt a sense of responsibility not to abandon orphans, but he was unable to truly become their parents.

Can I treat these children as a parent?

That’s what the kids were most worried about.

“Orphans like us are very sensitive to the presence of parents. Now that I have a father, if he treats me in a businesslike manner, the hurt will be even greater.”

“Hmm~ That’s true. Maybe I’m not ready to be your parent… .”

“Do you really think so?”

“Yes, these days, female child abortion is a serious social problem. While 114 boys are born, only 100 girls are born. That’s why I wanted to show the people. This is the joy of raising a daughter… Maybe I thought of you as a means of promoting policy.”

The girl nodded.

Have you decided that I’m not fit to be a parent?

Or maybe it’s just my attitude of gratitude for telling me how I really feel, but either way, I have no intention of ending this relationship today.

Right now, we’re just in the process of getting to know each other. Later, when we’re sure, we can have a father-daughter relationship.

There was plenty of time, I gave the kids a choice.

“As I said before, you have the right to choose your parents. I am the one being chosen, so you don’t have to worry about my position.”

“Thank you. Then I guess we’ll see each other more often in the future?”

“Haha~ Okay, then. I’ll contact you again when I have time.”

So the date ended.

The kids took the car and went back to where they were, and I also took the plane and headed to Geumneung.

I plan to meet the kids occasionally, although not often.

I didn’t neglect dating because I was busy with state affairs. If you were going to make excuses like that, then you shouldn’t have been a parent in the first place.

I kept in touch with her and showed her affection.

***

‘If it’s him, it might be okay. No, what am I thinking?’

This is a youth protection facility in Gyeongseong, and Lee Yeon-su is in trouble.

I thought it would end in one go, but the head of state’s courtship continued.

At first I didn’t trust him, but now I’m starting to feel that he’s sincere to us.

No, maybe that’s what I want to believe.

Where would a child who has lived as an orphan have a place to rely on?

Even if someone showed me just a little bit of attention, I took it too seriously and ended up getting hurt more than once or twice.

So, isn’t it better to draw a line between myself and others, to stand alone rather than rely on others for comfort?

I made that promise, but one day, someone suddenly dug into my heart. Even though I tried to ignore them, my heart kept falling for them.

‘Should I trust you just this once? No. What are you going to do as the adopted daughter of the head of state? What do you think other people will think?’

I don’t know if it would be possible if we just lived happily together as a family, but that would be impossible.

As the head of state says, he may be nothing more than a means of promoting national policy.

In that case, wouldn’t it be better to reject this person before getting hurt?

But that wasn’t easy because of the foolish hope of ‘what if’.

The head of state clearly said that the choice was mine, so why can’t I make a choice?

Lee Yeon-su, who had been struggling, began to resent her parents for abandoning her.

‘If you hadn’t abandoned me, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place. I never chose you as my parents, so why do I have to live this life? Why was I born?’

I have lived bravely without parents for the past 15 years and have built up a fairly strong wall in my heart.

But that was just my own illusion, the walls were so flimsy that they would collapse if I touched them even a little.

Do I have to build another wall that could collapse at any moment?

The girl, who had been thinking long and hard, made a decision.