'Golden Mary'

Part 24

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It was huge. Perhaps about the same size as Gi Su's manor. Victoria guessed she could no longer be surprised by how these people lived. For the first time in the longest time she was suddenly becoming aware of what a large gap there was between the rich and the poor. The poor went underappreciated while the rich gathered the money. A need to gather more money would only arise in this business era. No wonder so many people were after the 'Golden Mary'. The wealth it would grant one was unexplainable.

"Welcome, young sir," a tall, skinny man in a butler suit met with them at the front gates which struck up into the air like spears. "Our boss is waiting for you inside," he comfortably explained to Luhan before his small eyes revered over to Victoria observing her fitfully, "and this is..."

Luhan slightly turned to look at Victoria, "Ah...this is my friend, Victoria. She's from China, and currently staying here for a few days. I invited her along to show her how big of a person Uncle Cha is. I hope you don't mind her unannounced visit."

Victoria reached into her bag and pulled out the fake ID she'd received from the government, "Victoria Song, a reporter. I've heard a lot about Cha Tae Sung and his good work ethics from the media and other business hypes. I hope you don't mind my intruding."

The man glanced at her card attentively with narrowly shut eyes before claiming, "Your guest shall be our guest. Lets go in, our boss is waiting."

The two of them started after the man. As they furthered toward the two flights of steps before the large front door, Victoria allowed her eyes to carefully observe the huge front yard. Like any other, a life of greenery dominated the sidelines surrounding the short concrete path. Large heads of thistles spun around each healthy tree with cunningly trimmed bushes spurting in between each free space. Without any gardened flowers it surely looked like a woven maze.

The skinny man jogged up the steps ahead of them, grabbed the large curvy brass doorknob pulling open the monumental white door, and bowed when they walked forward. Victoria followed Luhan down a very clean white corridor with peach colored walls, a great Tiffany chandelier sparkling above them as they passed a sailboat painting. The man jogged passed them again and with an arm extended led them into a large room furnished with soft fluffy pillows, two long couches, a single one sitting in the middle, and an oak coffee table sitting in the middle of the three furniture. Victoria's eyes met with a large orange fireplace before her eyes swiveled over to the large glass door leading to another part of the courtyard.

"Luhan!" a clean voice, that belonging to a middle aged man fluttered toward them.

Victoria turned to see a man walk in from surprisingly another open doorway dressed in a neat blue vest, a collared shirt in the shade of another blue, and pants belonging to that same hue toward them. His eyes fell upon Luhan looking like a father who was reuniting with a son who'd come back home from far before his eyes fell onto Victoria. Immediately she noticed the unwelcoming spark in his eyes.

"And this..." the man she assumed was Cha Tae Sung turned to look at Luhan confused about the sudden guest he was receiving.

Instead of letting Luhan answer, Victoria showed her fake ID again, "I'm a reporter, Victorira Song. I apologize for the unannounced visit. I didn't think you'd receive a reporter as a guest so I tagged along with Luhan."

"Ah...a reporter," Cha Tae Sung lifted his head as if inhaling the news, "what area do you work?"

"I'm an intern for The Chosun Ilbo," Victoria smartly lied, "I'm currently doing some research about the business area. I hope you don't mind answering some of my questions."