1 Welcome Home, Mirae (1)

"I'm back, South Korea!"

Young Mirae squealed the moment she hopped onto the last step of the stairs and dismounted the private plane. 

Lifting her hands in the air, the shopping bags were bouncing in her arms, Young Mirae celebrated by jumping and screaming at the top of her lungs.

At last, the torment, which seemed to be never-ending suffering, had ended! Oh heavens, how blessed that she could finally return home to her family from years of torture.

To get an education in a foreign country; who told her she needed to graduate university to gain the seat and become the boss of her mafia family, the people who proposed it?

They were none other but the cunning elders! 

For Young Mirae, their stupid proposition was unnecessary; which was why, when they desired her to become a businesswoman to take over their family business, to their contrast, she studied language and literature instead. 

Those sons of bitches. 

They should retire before she forcefully kicked them all out from the mafia family. After all, the golden seat for the mafia boss would be hers by tomorrow.

"Young Miss," called the man waiting beside her, halting her from rejoicing.

He wore a black suit matched with a white dress shirt. A pair of buttons left unfixed, his chest displayed open. With a grumpy expression printed on his face, this man would unhesitatingly claim to anyone that he was not a fan of neckties or pointy collars.

"Don't smack your lips on the ground. It's sickening."

Young Mirae stopped in her position; she was kneeling and her hands were above the surface as she crouched to kiss the ground. 

"Killjoy as always, huh, Bo Kyung?" she returned a response. "Now, now, you should stop calling me the Young Miss. Practice addressing me as the Boss from now on, yes? Boss. Come on, repeath—"

Young Mirae accidentally bit the tip of her tongue in the process.

"And that's Mr. Kyung for you, Young Miss," he replied, leading the way toward the terminal.

She pouted before scowling at the party pooper she was with. Placing a hand on her mouth from the twinging of her tongue, Young Mirae helplessly followed behind the tracks of Bo Kyung with the shopping bags in her arms waddling. 

Young Mirae was so eager to leave his watch. But no matter how confident she was of her skills, there was a reason why the elders chose this man to be her guard since she was little.

It was because this man was too good at finding her! 

"Give me those bags." He offered a hand.

"No, I don't want to. Call me Boss first," she strongly declined.

"Carry them your own then," was his dull answer before leaving her behind at the terminal.

This was not surprising either way to Young Mirae, but she was frowning. Bo Kyung had always been straightforward, frank, and complicated to befriend.

"What an ass. That's why he can't attract women," Young Mirae mumbled to herself. 

That man had been single throughout his life because he devoted himself to serving the family that he forgot to take care of himself and start one of his own.

…

The ride was smooth and quiet. 

She sat restlessly on the back seat. Young Mirae could not wait to meet her family for the first time in ages, since those elders did not want to give her a vacation. Even for a week.

Young Mirae promised to herself that once she became the boss tomorrow, the elders would be the first ones she would take out from her people.

'A good plan, he-he. That means no one will stand in my way,' she told herself. 

Young Mirae let out some chuckles that echoed within the private car, receiving the questionable gazes from Bo Kyung who was driving. 

But she could not care less of his suspicion, hence she simply watched the scenery unfold from the closed car window. She knew she was getting close to her family's mansion when the short walls came into her view.

And before an hour more passed of her day's journey, she eventually reached back home.

"Home sweet home," Young Mirae audibly mumbled behind her breath. 

She stirred her glance from the side to the driver's view to see the neo-traditional house rising before her. She viewed how the main gate automatically opened as soon as it sensed the car arriving. 

Upon Bo Kyung parked the vehicle at the front of the mansion, he got out of the car and opened the door for Young Mirae.

"Welcome back, Young Miss," greeted the grumpy man and leaned forward to a bow. 

This gesture did not fail to make her trail a smile on her lips. Young Mirae elbowed the sullen-looking guard and joked, "Geez, I forgive you now. Thank you, Kyung!"

"Ack, what the hell—"

"Child!" interrupted the tender voice ringing through the entrance. 

The second Young Mirae heard the yearning call, she averted her gaze from the grouching man and saw her grandmother advancing with her arms wide open. The look on her grandmother was tear-jerking: eyes welled up and brows forced together into a pronounced frown.

"Granny!" Young Mirae rushed to the old woman who appeared struggling with her company supporting her. "Granny, I missed you so much." 

Young Mirae hugged her grandmother. The moment their bodies collided, she embraced her tightly. She longed for her motherly touch more than expected. 

"Oh, this child. Your granny and grand-gran missed you every single day."

Young Mirae could no longer hold her tears when her grandmother patted her head gently. Small rivers formed at the corner of her eyes and her nostrils, flowing like a strong surge pouring out effortlessly. 

"Wah, granny! I really missed you!"

"Gosh, child." Her grandmother's concerns mixed in along with her loud cries.

Young Mirae tightened her hold onto her grandmother's clothes before she sobbed louder on her chest. She cried her heart out and whined, "Why did you let the elders throw me away from the mansion? You allow those bastards to torture me to death every day."

Instead of answering the question, her grandmother changed the topic and coaxed, "Come on now, sweet child... Let's greet your grand-gran inside first, shall we?"

Young Mirae slowly lifted her chin and looked straight into the old woman's trembling eyes. "Okay, granny."

Glancing back at Bo Kyung, she saw him fetching her shopping bags before walking in their direction. After he gave a bow to her grandmother, the wife of the boss, he rushed past them and pushed the wooden door.

By the time the channel was wide open, which led to this spacious hallway that had the broad wooden stairs fixed at the other end, there stood fifty men divided into two lines as they spread at the center of the entire room.

"Welcome home, Young Miss!" 

The deep chants that greeted Young Mirae filled the void. Men had their torsos leaned forward to a ninety degrees bow. Some covered in their black suits, while the others were in their simple white dress shirts.

Receiving a warm welcome on her first entry into the mansion after four years, Young Mirae realized she missed these funny fellows as well. "I'm home, everyone!" she returned the loud energy.