Chapter 179
Chapter 179
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 179
Chapter Title: All Parents Are Different
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All parents are different.
Five minutes before her alarm was set to ring, Cheon Hye-yeon snapped her eyes open with razor-sharp precision.
Along with the faint headache lingering from a sleepless night, she picked up her phone from the bedside table.
On the screen was a single-line message that had arrived late last night.
[Come home]
The sender was 'Kim Cheolsu'.
Those three letters had now become an irresistible brand of ownership from her master to her—an indelible symbol of humiliation she could never erase.
"..."
Today was the day his legal wife, Yoon Chaewon, was being discharged from the postpartum care center.
The moment Cheon Hye-yeon recalled that fact, a wave of nauseating bile rose in her throat.
The man who had stripped her of everything and shredded her pride to pieces was summoning her as his 'concubine' on this sacred day of his wife's return home.
Could there be a more perfect, more cruel insult than this?
Like a machine, she rose from bed and headed to the bathroom.
Her reflection in the mirror was deathly pale and lifeless.
The arrogance of the once-dazzling princess of Korea's corporate world had vanished without a trace, leaving only the hollow eyes of a tamed bitch.
Under the hot water pouring from the showerhead, she replayed that day's humiliation over and over.
Her utter defeat in the war where she'd staked everything, followed by the physical violation and submission that came after.
He knew how to dominate her not just as a mere sex slave, but completely—mind, intellect, and pride included.
After her shower, she entered the massive walk-in closet.
Hundreds of designer outfits.
But now, she could no longer choose clothes to suit her own taste.
Her hand reached for the beige cashmere dress he'd once casually said 'suited her well'—one that revealed every curve of her body.
Not flashy, but expensive, and exuding obedience.
Perfect proof of her thorough breeding to match her master's preferences.
Sitting at the vanity, she skillfully painted a mask over her face.
Flawless skin without a single blemish, eyes that betrayed no emotion, lips flushed with submissive color.
This was no longer Cheon Hye-yeon.
It was another persona, existing solely as the property of the man named Kim Cheolsu.
With all preparations complete, she headed to the entrance.
Just before opening the door to leave, she paused and thought of her father.
The origin of all this humiliation. The heartless gambler who had thrown her out as bait.
For the first time, not anger but cold hatred flickered in her eyes.
'Father. You were wrong.'
Kim Cheolsu was no mere merchant like you'd imagined.
He didn't want to become the king of the realm—he was a tyrant intent on burning the rotten kingdom to the ground.
And she would witness it all from the closest vantage point by his side.
Click.
With the sharp sound of her high heels, the shattered princess set off toward her master's home.
Her face bore no expression whatsoever.
As the quiet sedan glided out of Seoul's tangled roads toward Paju, Cheon Hye-yeon reflected on the past.
On those arrogant days when she believed everything lay at her feet.
It had all begun with a dusty old report.
A small pharmaceutical research firm that had developed an Alzheimer's treatment.
On paper, the company looked utterly unimpressive.
A laboratory scraping by on parallel imports of diet foods, somehow producing humanity's future.
Cheon Hye-yeon laughed the moment she saw the documents.
This wasn't even hunting—it was like picking up free scraps.
She decided to personally lead the acquisition of this easy prey.
The company's structure was even more laughable.
Dr. Kim Seulgi, who held the majority stake, was no worldly businessman but a pure scientist.
There were suspicions about why the founder, President Choi Jin-soo, and Dr. Kim's older sister—the former CFO—had handed all shares to the genius sibling, but none of that mattered before Taesung's name.
She was certain of victory.
And even when she learned that an investor already held 80% of the new drug's royalty sales rights, she still thought it would be easy.
A mere investment firm couldn't stand against a giant pharmaceutical company's distribution network and capital.
A hole-in-the-wall shop in Paju that would topple with a mere breath.
That's what she thought.
She sneered.
Until she checked the name of that 'hole-in-the-wall'.
Blue Sky Investment.
A name she'd never heard before.
But the moment she saw one line in the financial report from her team, her mind froze for the first time.
Not annual growth, but monthly—14.5%.
She double- and triple-checked for typos.
Monthly 14.5% compound returns.
This was beyond human territory.
The realm of gods... or demons.
'Who the hell is this man?'
That was when it started.
An unpleasant curiosity toward this unknown entity called Kim Cheolsu, a sharp wariness,
And a tiny... fondness for the mysterious allure of those overwhelming numbers.
She didn't know her opponent.
More importantly, she didn't know herself.
She had no idea she was the foolish woman who would stake everything on that fleeting fondness.
That was what plunged her into the abyss.
As the car entered Paju city limits, familiar banners caught her eye.
Still fluttering even after a month: 'Celebrating Kim Bada's Birth'.
And next to it, the bold face of 'Number 1 Candidate Osea'.
Cheon Hye-yeon bit her lip hard at the sight of the displays that man had plastered across Paju for his daughter, alongside Osea's face blowing Kim Cheolsu's war trumpet.
Osea.
The face of the woman who, at Kim Cheolsu's recent 'demand', had knelt beside her before him.
At his feet, licking his toes as ordered,
Sharing his semen, tangling tongues,
Forcing 'lesbian sex' in front of Kim Cheolsu, who watched leisurely like a lounging lion.
Her heart chilled with rage and shame.
It had been over a month since she'd been summoned at his whim and used like an onahole.
Cheon Hye-yeon drove mechanically along the route she'd memorized in this short time—no navigation needed anymore.
Before she knew it, the car pulled up to the grand gates of the mansion encircled by massive walls.
Kim Cheolsu's fortress in Paju.
The home of the man who owned that 'hole-in-the-wall' she'd once aimed to conquer.
Cheon Hye-yeon got out, opening the door herself.
Now, she had become the prey, walking into the slaughterhouse of her own accord.
At the mansion's entrance, the cold stares of the all-female security detail pierced her like iron bars.
Among them was a familiar face—a female guard.
Two days ago, in his study, they'd knelt together, licking 'Kim Cheolsu' with their tongues. A nameless guard.
She merely scanned Cheon Hye-yeon with emotionless eyes.
As she endured that indifferent gaze and entered the living room, Cheon Hye-yeon momentarily held her breath.
There sat not the tyrant of hell, but a single father.
With an innocent expression, playing with his daughter 'Kim Haneul', lying on his stomach on the floor, grabbing the mongrel dog 'Ddangchili' by the scruff and shaking it.
"Grrr! Daddy wins!"
A childlike face beaming with genuine joy alongside his child.
This peaceful image of the man who had ruined her felt all the more cruel for its sheer unreality.
'...It could have been mine.'
That seat, that smile, that happiness.
If only she hadn't ruined it all with her arrogance.
Cheon Hye-yeon swallowed her subtle longing and quietly approached him.
Kim Cheolsu, wrestling with Ddangchili over one of her shoes, sensed her presence and turned his head.
"Oh, you're here?"
He greeted her with the most ordinary, affectionate warmth.
Then, stroking his daughter Haneul's head beside him, he uttered the world's cruelest words with an angelic face.
"Haneul, say hi to your little mommy."
'Little mommy.'
That title stabbed into Cheon Hye-yeon's heart like a dagger.
Beyond the small child—who she'd met a few times—bowing innocently, oblivious to it all, she saw the true mistress of the house.
Yoon Chaewon, lounging on the sofa with a pleased expression, her stunning golden blonde hair gleaming.
From the neckline of her casual silk blouse peeked the subtle scales of a dragon irezumi tattoo.
The angelic sanctuary mistress was gone.
In her place sat a 'queen' who knew everything and permitted everything.
The queen swirled her wine glass and gave Cheon Hye-yeon a light nod.
"You've arrived?"
With baby Kim Bada—now over a month old—in her arms, she embodied the leisure of one who had it all.
A young queen cradling her heir.
Before her, Cheon Hye-yeon bowed politely.
Like a concubine from a Joseon-era noble house greeting the lady of the main chamber.
In that moment, [Taesung's Princess Cheon Hye-yeon] ceased to exist.
The girl her father had 'sold' under the name of a 'deal',
Had to awkwardly smile and humiliatingly open her mouth to this young woman from a 'whore' background who hadn't even properly finished high school.
"Yes, sister..."
With those words, Cheon Hye-yeon's pride shattered into dust and vanished.
There was no longer any such thing.
As she bowed her head in humiliation, Kim Cheolsu—who'd been playing with the child—stood up.
He snatched the shoe from Ddangchili's mouth, tossed it under the sofa, and approached her.
Without a word, he tapped his shoulder and nodded toward the heavy iron door in the farthest corner of the house—the 'basement'.
That was the signal.
Like one entranced, she simply followed Kim Cheolsu.
In this house, it was all too routine.
The heavy iron door swung open, revealing the dark maw of the stairs.
'Ah, what 'treatment' will I get today...?'
One step, then another.
She saw the back of the man walking ahead.
Even through his casual clothes, the beast's back rippled with feral muscles.
Gazing at it, Cheon Hye-yeon unconsciously licked her dry lips.
As she followed Kim Cheolsu into the basement, her face bore not despair, but a faint, strange mix of anticipation blooming amidst defeat and humiliation.
At the end of defeat and shame, she had unknowingly become addicted to the stimulation he provided.