Have you ever met someone so real yet so unreal? Like, that person literally exists (sadly) but you can’t believe how selfish, disgraceful, miserable and at the same time pitiful his life can be?
It’s so sad that I have to say this and usually, I’m not the person to care (like I should) but our lives being affected directly and it’s so alarming.
I have an uncle whose real name I’m not gonna mention but let’s call him Seong Gi-Hun. And for those people who knows me and knows my family, I have a bunch of uncles so good luck finding out who he is.
When I was in college he came to live with us. My Dad, who’s an architect then, gave him a job in his construction company. Uncle Seong Gi-Hun left his family in their city and came to our province to live with us. Again, we lived in a countryside. They were in the city. He had 5 kids, and a wife. Or so I thought.
A few days after staying with us he told my parents that the reason he left his family is because his wife, let’s call her Song Hye Kyo, is seeing another man. My mom is so upset and she comforted my uncle because of what he said. He looked so sad too.
Aunt Song Hye Kyo was really so modest from what I remember in my childhood, and I hadn’t seen her get mad over anything since. She’s always so gentle and so loving to her kids and even to me, her husband’s niece. But I didn’t really care a lot back then when I heard the story about her. I guess I just, shook it off.
A few months later our neighbor came running around holding a bolo knife chasing Uncle Gi-Hun. My uncle quickly hid inside our house. INSIDE OUR HOUSE WITH MY GRADE SCHOOL BROTHER AND MY DAD WHO HAD CANCER. Our neighbor kept banging our front gate until he felt tired, I would assume.
It turned out our neighbor caught Uncle Gi-Hun having sex with his wife that day. And so the bolo chase explanation.
Soon enough, we found out that he isn’t only hiding from the bolo man in the neighborhood, but also from a lot of people in their city, hence, came to live with us. He was so deeply in debt because of gambling, he even sold the house my grandma bought and abandoned his family because he couldn’t pay off everything he owed.
He ran away from us and I didn’t hear anything from him since then. Not until a few months back.
It’s been a decade. He’s now married to a different woman (who later turned out to be a drug addict) and they’ve 2 kids. I don’t know what trouble he is in again but it looks like he is. Maybe it’s something to do with drugs. Because again, he’s in hiding. Or maybe it’s gambling again. I don’t trust him. I don’t know what lies he told my mom and my aunt (who lives near my mom) but he showed up in the province again with his 2 kids.
But his cycle goes that way always and there’s no more room for trust. I just hope when he gets his karma, he gets it on his own and not involve my family. You see, he brings down everyone he gets to be with. And I don’t want to be associated with that kind of person ever.
I know it’s too early to judge him but we’ve also invested on too much and he never shows he changes. Like recently I learned that what he said about Aunt Song Hye Kyo wasn’t true at all. She never had an affair with anyone and I felt really bad for believing my uncle back in the days.
Also, when my grandma died, he wasn’t at home. Who knows where he went but he left my grandma alone at home without food in their own home and their neighbors told my mom she didn’t have food ‘cause she has to ask food from the neighbors. She died just like that.
My uncle said he didn’t receive money from my aunt who was in another country back then because she just left and she didn’t have a salary yet. My brother and I had to help my mom shoulder everything in the funeral expenses. And then a few months ago I learned that my aunt in Saudi actually did send Uncle Gu-Hun some pretty good amount of cash during my grandma’s funeral. See what he did there?
You see, all the choices we make today affect our future. The decisions we make not only shape our present but also seeds our future. My Uncle Gi-Hun showed a lot of imperfections. Based on his current state in life, he obviously isn’t in a straight arrow. All his actions in the past came to bite him in the present, just like the Gi-Hun character in Squid Game. Unfortunately, all the wrong calls will only lead to an even greater danger. I just hope he stays away from my family when the danger happens, especially now that my mom is aging and my brother just had a child. I can’t risk them around him.
Whatever you are going through in life, always remember that gambling never gives you an assurance for a better life. They say that a gambler is nothing but a man who makes his living out of false hope. It MAY be a way to win a quick buck, but it’s never guaranteed. The more you pitch your dreams to the slimmest of chances, you could end up losing everything.
Lastly, money may be important but the wrong love for money is the root of all evil. I say wrong love because everyone loves money but to assume that love in general for money makes you evil isn’t right at all.
I love money too but I like it because I want to offer a better life for the family my husband and I are creating. And I work hard to earn it. I don’t get my hands in dirty work just to get money. Saying having money doesn’t guarantee happiness is partly incorrect. That will only happen if, like Uncle Gi-Hun, you do shameless things because of money. Having money will obviously assure happiness since you can provide all the needs of your family and even make their lives more comfortable.
Not loving money is foolish and hypocrite. You have to love it in order to have it. Not loving money is a poor mindset. A mindset of people who doesn’t want to move forward and stuck forever being poor. So love your money the right amount. And just like fate, it will love you back.
So many lessons from this person’s failures and I hope we don’t take after him. Let’s not be a disgrace to our family and loved ones. Again, love your money the right amount.
