Chapter 3
Chapter 3
My sudden, out-of-the-blue question made her eyes widen.
"Oh my, dear! What a hurtful thing to say! Of course, you call your mom 'mom,' what else would you call me? Auntie?"
She chided me as if dumbfounded, yet lovingly stroked my hair. The aura of wealth I felt from that touch—no, the warmth of maternal love!
In that moment, from the very depths of my soul, from my core, I cried out with surging sincerity.
"Mother!!!!!"
Regardless of the IV line getting tangled, I sprang up from the bed and threw myself into her, no, my great 'God Mother's' embrace.
The scent of rose perfume? No, this was the smell of money. The feel of a soft silk dress? No, this was the feel of success.
"Oh my, my son. After the accident, you're just overflowing with affection, aren't you? Oh, how lovely."
She was surprised by my sudden hug, but not displeased, she patted my back. It was as if a halo shone behind her.
(Ah, Capitalism. May it last forever.)
The fervent embrace, a fusion of capitalism and maternal love, finally ended. My mother cupped my face in both hands and, with teary eyes, showered kisses on my forehead, nose, and cheeks in turn.
"Oh my, my child. It's such a relief you weren't hurt! Do you know how worried I was when they told me you had an accident?"
She dramatically gasped for breath, sweeping back her disheveled hair. A moment later, I, who had been nestled in her ample bosom, cleared my throat, trying to compose my flushed face.
"Ahem.... Excuse me, Mother. You said I had an accident. What exactly happened?"
"An accident?"
"Yes. I heard I collided with a truck... Was I driving when it happened?"
At my question, my mother's expression instantly turned cold. The honey-sweet gaze from moments ago was gone, replaced by a chilling frost.
"It's all because of that crazy truck driver, that's what."
She said, gritting her teeth.
"You were waiting at a traffic light, and he just slammed into you from behind. Something about drowsy driving. The police investigation showed he didn't even hit the brakes, just plowed right into you."
"Whoa... I really almost died."
A shiver ran down my spine, and I trembled. It matched the accident scene in my memory exactly.
"Do you know how shocked I was? I almost fainted when I got the call from the hospital. The PoXsche you were driving was crumpled like a piece of paper and sent to the junkyard."
"A Po... PoXsche?"
I couldn't believe my ears. The car I was driving was a PoXsche? Not a delivery motorcycle?
"Yes. The one I bought you as a discharge gift. Oh, is that car even important? It's enough that my son is alive. Anyway, Minseo hated that car, saying the color was tacky. It's fine, let's get a sturdier one this time."
My mother spoke as if she were casually sweeping away 'leftover cookie crumbs.' A supercar worth over 200 million won was totaled, and she said 'it's fine'?
Realizing that if it had been a motorcycle, I would have probably died on the spot, but thanks to the expensive PoXsche, I survived, I once again paid homage to the greatness of capitalism.
"But... what about that truck driver? What about a settlement...."
"A settlement? How dare he touch a single hair on my son's head and expect a settlement? He's dreaming big. Lawyer Kim is taking care of it. He'll probably be eating prison food for a long time. Or... I'll make sure he never gets behind a wheel again."
Her eyes flashed. It wasn't mere anger. It was the chilling audacity of a chaebol matriarch, vowing to chase down anyone who dared harm her son to the ends of the earth and exact retribution. I swallowed dryly. My mom, she was far scarier than I thought.
"Don't worry, Minho. Now, Mom will stick right by your side. I'll make sure nothing like that ever happens again. Understood?"
She squeezed my hand again, flashing the warmest and most reassuring smile in the world.
(So, the Kim Minho of this world also had a traffic accident with a truck, and I also had a traffic accident with a truck, but why did only I wake up in this world?)
As a point that made no sense no matter how much I thought about it came to mind, I couldn't help but fall into contemplation.
(Then where did the Kim Minho of this world go?)
As I was deep in thought, something suddenly occurred to me.
(Wait, if Mom is this beautiful and the house is in Apgujeong... what about the other family members?)
It was imperative to figure out the characters in this perfect Universe.
"Um... Mother. Do you happen to have any family photos on your phone? My memory is still fragmented, so I thought seeing faces might help me connect the dots."
"Oh, of course I do. My son, your memory will come rushing back when you see the photos."
She pulled out her latest smartphone (even the logo embedded on the back was dazzling), then familiarly opened the gallery app and held it out in front of my eyes.
"Here, this was taken last month when the three of us went on a hotel vacation."
I peered at the screen with a mix of anticipation and curiosity. And in 0.5 seconds, my eyes almost popped out.
"......Gasp."
In the photo, there were exactly three family members who looked harmonious. My mother, whose elegant beauty I had just witnessed in person, and next to her, my own face, which seemed to have missed out on the blessings of genetics, caught my eye.
(What is this... a Chief of Staff? Or a young CEO?)
A perfectly tailored suit, a haughty gaze visible over intellectual-looking glasses. She was a 'cold beauty' type who would look like she was in a photoshoot even just holding a stack of documents.
An overwhelming aura of a 'career woman' emanated from her, enough to make one believe she was an actress playing a second-generation chaebol executive in a drama. With a trembling finger, I pointed at the beauty and asked.
"Mother... um, who is this intellectual beauty next to me? Did I, perhaps, presumptuously date an announcer or a model?"
If that were the case, I was willing to perform 108 bows every morning to the Kim Minho of my previous life. But my mother's reply easily surpassed my imagination.
"Dear me! What nonsense are you spouting? That's your older sister! Your one and only older sister, Minseo!"
"......Huh?"
I stared blankly, alternating my gaze between my mother and the photo.
"My... my older sister? My biological older sister?"
"Yes! She's Minseo, the pillar of our family and your biological older sister! Good heavens, have you forgotten your older sister's face too?"
Hearing that she was my older sister, not a girlfriend as I had thought, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. However, seeing my mom and older sister's appearances, I suddenly felt a sense of self-loathing.
(Seriously, that's just too much... Did they get all the good genes?)
I shed silent tears of blood looking at myself in the photo. On the left, a beautiful mom; on the right, a beautiful older sister. And in between them, my brightly smiling face was like... a single potato mistakenly planted in a flower garden.
(......Wait a minute.)
But then it happened. My brain cells, which had been wallowing in self-loathing, thinking of myself as a potato mistakenly planted in a flower garden, suddenly darted in another direction.
(Now that I think about it... judging by how she talks about a PoXsche as if it's nothing special, this family isn't ordinary...)
Although my father wasn't in the photo (he's probably busy), this family's wealth was already verified. A family that treats a PoXsche like a piece of paper and lives in X-gu X-dong.
If so, one question inevitably followed.
(This immense inheritance... who will it go to, I wonder?)
My gaze once again fixed on the 'elite older sister' in the photo. Her sharp suit, intellectual glasses, and that cool, discerning look that seemed capable of closing a corporate M&A deal at any moment.
Then, a scene from a melodramatic makjang drama automatically played in my head.
[ Imagined Scene ]
A cold conference room.
My older sister Minseo throws a stack of documents at my face and smiles coldly.
[Kim Minho. How dare you covet this group? You, who have nothing?]
[O-older sister... I'm also a legitimate heir!]
[An heir? Hmph. You're just a cuckoo chick Mom brought in from outside. I've already bought all your shares. Get ready to be kicked out penniless.]
[N-no! Mom! Mom!!!]
"......Heeek!"
I involuntarily gasped and trembled. Right, not all chaebol families are harmonious. In fact, the more money there is, the higher the chance of it being a dysfunctional mess.
Moreover, there's no way such a capable older sister would dote on an incompetent younger brother, right?
(What if... my older sister is just smiling on the surface, but secretly waiting for the right moment to get rid of me?
As I thought that, cold sweat suddenly ran down my spine.
Mom might call me her 'treasure,' but my older sister could be different. What if she perceived me as a 'rival'?
(Then the car accident was also orchestrated by her...)
"M-mother...."
I called out to my mother with a trembling voice.
"Hmm? What's wrong, Minho?"
"Um... were my older sister and I... on good terms?"
"Of course we were! Minseo dotes on you terribly, you know?"
"R-really?"
"When you had that accident, she was crying and rolling on the hospital floor, making a huge fuss. I barely managed to stop her from quitting her job to nurse you."
At my mother's words, I gaped blankly. This seemingly cold woman, no, this person who was now my older sister, rolled on the hospital floor because of me?
"Phew...."
I patted my chest and let out a deep sigh of relief. Thankfully, this world seemed to be the <My Family is Too Harmonious for Its Own Good> version, not the <The Heirs: Blood War> version.