IMRMH :09

← Previous Next →

CHAPTER :09

\”Kwon Su-hyeok, I know this is shameless of me, but I have a favor to ask.”

Thirty minutes ago, Yooseong had handed him a wiretap as she left the hotel room.

“If you happen to be listening to my situation and think it’s getting dangerous, could you come get me?”

“Where did you even get something like this?”

“…Well, I’ve picked up a thing or two from watching over people’s shoulders.”

Judging by her uncle’s furious voice earlier, the news that she had laid a hand on Kwon Hyeok-jun seemed to have reached them.

Although she had never seen her uncle or aunt use physical violence, her life could be in danger just in case, which was why she had asked Su-hyeok in advance.

And now, the present.

Looking at the dozens of menacing men, Yooseong scoffed.

‘Did they really call all these people just for me? And they even brought weapons?’

Then, she saw Yuna glaring at her with a swollen cheek.

*What’s wrong with her face?*

It looked exactly as if she had been beaten.

“Yuna. What happened to your face?”

“Ha…!”

Puffing and panting as if she couldn’t contain her rage, Yuna leaped to her feet and screamed.

“Hey! You crazy bitch, it’s all because of you!”

“What are you talking about? Explain it so I can understand.”

As Yooseong stared back at the furious Yuna, Gyeong-hui let out a deep sigh and explained instead.

“Your mother-in-law stopped by. Because you beat up Director Kwon, that woman Ha Myeong-suk did this to our daughter’s face!”

“…What?”

“She said it was our punishment for raising our niece so poorly, and then she did this to our Yuna’s face… *Sigh*.”

Ha Myeong-suk came and beat up Oh Yuna?

During Yooseong’s high school days, Ha Myeong-suk was the kind of person who would slap Yooseong’s cheeks repeatedly without feeling a single shred of remorse.

*Slap!*

“How dare a worthless orphan forget her place? Son, beat her just enough so she doesn’t die. It’ll be a headache for Mom if she dies.”

She was a wicked, absolute trash of a human being who could utter such words to a high school student.

Hearing that her son had been beaten by Yooseong, that woman must have been driven absolutely mad with rage.

But when she arrived at the house, Yooseong wasn’t there…

An ordinary person would have just turned back, but that woman knew exactly how to do it.

How to torment someone and bleed them dry.

“You should have been the one beaten! Why does my innocent daughter have to be slapped? Why my precious daughter, whom I raised so delicately without letting her get a single drop of water on her hands!”

Yooseong stared blankly at the three of them, who were looking at her as if she were a piece of filth.

Her insides began to twist and churn.

“Oh, really? So you didn’t care at all that I, your niece, was beaten for three whole years?”

Back when she was being bullied, she had foolishly relied on her aunt the most.

Gyeong-hui had treated her wounds and cursed out Kwon Hyeok-jun right alongside her.

But why on earth did that same aunt…

If she was human, how could she…

“How could you ever think of marrying me off to Kwon Hyeok-jun? How on earth could you!”

A wave of resentment and betrayal surged within her.

Through her tight throat and trembling eyes, she kept catching glimpses of her younger self.

“Yooseong, aren’t you asleep yet? It must be hard. Eat this and take it easy.”

Her sweet aunt, who would always hand her a late-night snack when she was studying until the crack of dawn.

“I bought this because I thought it would look good on you, but I don’t know if you’ll like it. What do you think? Do you like it?”

Her aunt, who would suddenly prepare a gift for her on any ordinary, random day.

“Auntie, I love it so much. Thank you so much…!”

I loved that version of my aunt.

“Ma’am, I feel so sorry for the younger young mistress. Even though you’re just handing her the older young mistress’s leftovers and used items, she gets so happy… Honestly.”

“Hey, watch your mouth.”

“But still, isn’t it a bit much? It’s like she’s just clearing out leftovers.”

Even after finding out about her aunt’s true colors, I still loved her.

To be precise, I couldn’t let go.

Even if my aunt was acting hypocritically, I was starved for even that fake affection.

I eagerly gulped down the cold, leftover food, finishing every last bit of it.

Because the warmth of my aunt’s hand as she comforted me, and the thought behind it, felt so incredibly warm.

It was a warmth I had never received before, and I was simply grateful for it.

Because to me, you were like a mother.

“Yooseong, I… I’m a sinner! Your aunt must have temporarily lost her mind. I’ll treat you so well from now on. Please… please forgive me just this once.”

And so, I forgave my aunt easily.

Even though I knew they were empty words, I fooled myself, swayed by the sweetness of the word “family.”

“Are you and our Yuna the same?! Yuna is my daughter. You’re not my daughter, you’re just my niece. And you’re not even my blood niece!”

Right. I knew better than anyone else that it would end up like this.

What did I even expect from them?

If there was a sin, it was mindlessly devouring an affection that would only make me sick.

‘Not even a blood niece.’

Those words pressed down heavily on Yooseong’s heart.

You’re not part of our family; you’re a fake.

It felt like being pronounced an outsider.

A nauseating silence stretched out for a long time.

Gyeong-hui ran a hand through her hair, looking utterly sickened.

“Since you were young, you always wanted too much. You were so greedy. I always disliked that about you, you know?”

Her face was filled with sheer annoyance.

It was the same look Yooseong had caught glimpses of when she was with her aunt, the one she had tried so hard to rationalize as just a misunderstanding.

“I cherished you despite knowing your fatal flaw. But how can you repay my kindness like this?”

*Thump, thump, thump.*

Her heart beat slowly yet violently as the protective shell around Yooseong’s heart shattered into pieces.

“And. That damn talk about school bullying… Ha. Can you please stop talking about that?”

Her aunt’s words pierced through her, tearing at her heart.

She could barely breathe, let alone stand.

“It’s just instinct for boys that age to pick on girls they like! Haven’t you ever heard that men stay boys forever?”

In the end, Shin Yooseong shattered to pieces.

“You should have just put up with it. Like Yuna said, it was all just playful teasing to get your attention. *Tsk*.”

She was completely broken.

“Ha! Hahaha!”

Yooseong burst into loud laughter, tears clinging to the corners of her eyes.

She laughed because she was utterly dumbfounded. At her plight, which remained unchanged from the past to the present.

And because she found herself so utterly pathetic for having tried so desperately to be loved by these monsters.

“Are you laughing? You think this is funny?!”

Oh Yuna’s screeching, filled with immense self-pity, pierced her ears.

“I got beaten because of you! Why on earth did I have to be hit for no reason at all?!”

Yooseong’s expression turned dead serious as she looked straight at Yuna, who had marched right up to her.

“Then why did I have to be beaten by Kwon Hyeok-jun? For no reason at all?”

Her voice was as cold as frost.

“W-what?”

“Tell me, Yuna. Why on earth did I have to be beaten like that? For three whole years.”

Yuna flinched for a moment, but then raised her voice again with all her might.

“You had a reason! Why else would he have tormented you like that? You must have caused it! You must have kept acting like you deserved to be beaten!”

How could someone utter words that didn’t just dig into a person’s wounds, but completely ripped them open?

Yooseong was actually impressed by Yuna’s devilish nature.

“Dad!! What are you doing just standing there?!”

Frustrated to no end by Yooseong staring down at her with an indifferent expression, Yuna called out to Dae-ho, who had been sitting silently the entire time.

Dae-ho looked at Yooseong and pondered deeply, as if he were a judge passing down a sentence, or perhaps a god.

“I see there’s no other way.”

He stood up as if he had reached a decision.

“Yooseong, I’m sorry, but… you’ll have to receive some punishment from your uncle today.”

*Crack, crack.* Dae-ho cracked his knuckles, loosening up his body as if warming up.

She immediately understood what that gesture meant and what the “punishment” he spoke of was.

“Hold Yooseong down. Make sure she can’t resist while she’s being beaten.”

“…Excuse me?”

The security team standing next to Yooseong asked back in confusion.

Yooseong’s eyes trembled violently just the same.

Weren’t these the very people who had shared the highs and lows with her ever since she entered this household?

“Grab her! I said grab her! Do you bastards want to get fired?!”

Su-cheol, who stepped in front of her, raged with bloodshot eyes.

“We won’t do it! We have protected the young lady ever since she entered the Shinyang household. And you want us to stand by and watch her get beaten? No, we can’t do it!”

“Oh, really? You can’t?”

“Not even if we die. Hit me instead.”

“Ahjussi!”

Yooseong grabbed his arm in horror.

And at that moment.

“Why would I hit you? It’d only hurt my hands.”

“*Sob*, Vice Chairman, please let go of me. Let go…!”

Dae-ho dragged Seosandaek, who worked as their housekeeper, by the hair.

“…You, right now.”

Seosandaek was the woman Su-cheol secretly had feelings for.

“Let go of her this instant!”

“Ahhh!”