Translator: Elisia
Editor/Proofreader: Wojo
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“What, did you think I came because of you?”
What kind of nonsense is that?
When I looked at Nam Da-un with such an expression, he waved his hand and said,
“Hey, I was joking, joking. Don’t make such a scary face… No, seriously, it’s scary.”
Seeing me staring seriously at him, Nam Da-un shuddered as he spoke.
“I know very well that you don’t have those kinds of feelings.”
“…Is it perhaps because of that talent?”
“Well, yeah. You… how should I put it… It seems like you already have someone you like.”
“…”
“Judging by that reaction, it seems like it’s true.”
As I unconsciously blushed, Nam Da-un shrugged and said.
“Whoever you like, I won’t intentionally interfere, so don’t worry.”
Even if he did try to interfere, I had no intention of being affected.
There was already someone trying to interfere, anyway.
Though the fact that the person trying to interfere was my mother was rather displeasing.
Just like when he sat down, Nam Da-un stood up with a grunt and said to me,
“Shall we go now? If we stay any longer, I feel like they’ll start misunderstanding our relationship.”
When I looked in the direction Nam Da-un gestured with his chin, once again, I saw the people who had been watching us quickly resume their tasks.
Did they really think we wouldn’t notice when they were so obvious?
“…Alright.”
I didn’t have the ability to see through people’s lies.
However, I didn’t feel like Nam Da-un was lying to me.
…Because, like the people around me, Nam Da-un’s face was shining.
I now clearly understood the meaning of that light.
They were people who would change my life, for better or worse.
My mother’s face, on the other hand, no longer emitted any light.
Mother would no longer have a major influence on my life.
At least, it would be difficult for her to ruin this moment.
Of course, this ability couldn’t exactly ‘predict’ the future… but this time, I decided to trust my instincts.
More accurately, I decided to trust myself.
The person inside me trusted me.
That’s why they believed that even at the cost of abandoning themselves, they would give me my life back.
The reason they entrusted themselves to me this time was because they believed I would handle things properly.
If that’s the case, it would be a problem if I didn’t trust myself.
It would mean I didn’t trust that person.
I didn’t like that.
So, I’ll trust myself.
It may sound like a messy kind of logic, but that’s the principle driving my actions right now.
…And of course, my friends around me would naturally have to trust me too.
It’s troublesome when people like Ha-neul try to hide difficult situations and handle them alone.
Watching Nam Da-un, who had already started walking, I also rose from my seat and walked toward where everyone else was.
*
“How did it go— oh, oops.”
As Nam Da-un walked over to the side where the club members were gathered, the captain was speaking to him but had to quickly block a soccer ball flying straight toward his face.
“I said it wasn’t like that.”
Despite that, the captain grinned and said,
“Come on, she’s the prettiest girl in the whole grade…”
“Captain, weren’t you the one who just a while ago called her ‘a walking disaster’ or something?”
At Nam Da-un’s words, the captain suddenly fell silent like a mute who had eaten honey.
“Well, hey, I did say that, but…”
As the captain scratched his head and tried to make excuses, Nam Da-un sighed deeply, finding it hard to believe this guy was a senior and about to graduate next year.
This guy is going to college and will be able to drink and smoke next year?
Though, he didn’t seem like the type to smoke, even if he might drink.
“We just had a chat, so don’t worry about it.”
“R-really…?”
Though the captain responded like that, he still persisted.
“But really, you don’t have any feelings? You’re closer to her than any of those other girls.”
Why was he being so persistent?
…Does this guy perhaps have an interest in those girls?
Well, it would be more unusual if he didn’t.
After all, they’re suspiciously pretty.
But if he tried to approach, he’d only end up getting hurt.
“I’m telling you, I don’t have those kinds of thoughts.”
Well, maybe a long time ago, I had feelings like that.
A very long time ago.
Maybe around when I was ten.
But now, it’s much too late to develop such feelings.
*
So, if my mother wants to harm someone, she could probably manage it somehow.
But crossing the line with something absurd is impossible.
Should I think of it like that?
Until now, whenever my mother acted like that, there must have been no one to stop her.
She’s the chairwoman of the largest company by market cap, not only in Korea but globally.
Even if she just uses her personal assets without moving the company, it’s like a giant stomping its foot.
Even a brush could leave no trace.
Like with the company that Nam Da-un’s father ran.
Of course, it could leave a scar, but still.
Someone had said it was ‘someone else’ who spread the rumor.
If that was part of Mother’s scheme—if she deliberately used it to isolate me by tarnishing her own image—then she used it quite well.
Of course, if it was to ‘isolate me.’
In terms of ‘securing her position in the company,’ it dealt a significant blow.
Even so, the reason Mother is still able to hold onto the chairmanship is probably because my shares are treated as practically her own.
Together, we control almost 15% of the stock.
And if we add in the shares I hold in Eugene Life under my name, it wouldn’t be strange if we could practically control the entire group.
It’s not so much a matter of justification but more that we hold the lifeblood of the company in our hands.
Threatening others, even at the cost of alienating consumers and damaging the company, was possible.
All because Mother had inherited Father’s assets.
…
I felt sick to my stomach.
A part of me still accepted her as ‘Mother.’
Even though the person I love has changed, that feeling doesn’t go away easily.
And if the reason Mother approached me was simply because of ‘money’—
If my life had been ruined for such a trivial reason, it wasn’t something I could easily accept.
…Yeah.
Some of Father’s assets went to Mother.
But Father did his best for me.
The assets safely kept away from Mother’s reach.
The things that person revealed to me as being ‘entirely mine.’
If I use those, I might be able to properly stand up to Mother.
When I block her path, I wonder what kind of expression she will make.
When someone, for the first time, blocks the path she’s never had blocked before.
And when she realizes that the person doing it is me, what kind of face will she show?
“…”
Goosebumps rose on my back.
But it wasn’t out of fear or disgust.
It was from excitement.
I finally had the means to fight back against Mother.
And now, I had a just cause as well.
“…Sara.”
“Hmm?”
On the way back home.
I no longer needed to climb over the wall.
Ever since I took control of the mansion, no one followed me to keep watch, and if I told them not to pick me up, they didn’t.
We could simply walk proudly through the front gate, side by side.
“Is something wrong?”
If there’s something, it’s with you.
I still hadn’t heard what was going on with Ha-neul.
I didn’t know why.
Maybe she didn’t want to burden me, or perhaps she didn’t want to owe anything to ‘me.’
Though, judging by how she hugged me after listening to my words, that didn’t seem to be the case.
For now, I’ve decided to wait.
Will Ha-neul really come to trust me?
If not, well.
I’ll just make her trust me.
“No, nothing’s wrong.”
Yeah, nothing’s really wrong.
In fact, my steps felt incredibly light.
“Really, nothing’s wrong.”
I smiled brightly at Ha-neul, who was looking at me with concern.
Strangely enough, Ha-neul seemed a bit scared by my expression.
I told you, there’s nothing to worry about.
There’s nothing to be afraid of anymore.
There’s no longer any reason for my friends to be brutally torn apart by Mother, no reason for So-hee’s family to be unjustly harmed, for Ha-neul to be in danger, or for Soo-ah to be kidnapped—
So, knowing that I won’t lose the things that ‘money can never buy again,’ I felt incredibly lighthearted.
Because, for me, money was something I had an abundance of.
Most importantly, ‘my greatest asset’ wasn’t something anyone could steal or take away.
Lightly, softly, I walked with such light steps, probably for the first time since I was a child.
Mother.
Please wait.
Just as you tried to take everything away from me, I will come to take everything from you.
And at the very last moment,
I’ll hand you the letter I wrote for you.
I thought to myself,
That will probably be the moment,
When my relationship with Mother truly ends.
I was looking forward to seeing Mother’s expression.