Chapter 185
Chapter 185
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 185
Chapter Title: All Parents Are Different
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All parents are different.
Boarding an early morning train bound for Seoul, Go Yuna found herself unconsciously clutching the worn backpack on her lap.
Inside that bag was an amount of money that could change her entire life.
Seventy-six million won in checks.
Just knowing that this massive sum—the first she'd ever touched in her twenty years of life—was sitting in her bag had her stomach in knots since yesterday.
Careful not to draw any eyes, Yuna pulled out the dazzling golden business card that had been tossed onto the dinner table alongside the money last night.
It was too heavy to be mere paper, too cold to be plastic.
'This thing... is it really made of gold?'
Even if it was just gold-plated paper, it felt weirdly authentic.
Unable to contain her curiosity, she bit down on it just like she'd seen on TV.
A faint softness accompanied a clear imprint of her teeth.
'Hmm... gold, maybe?'
Damn it.
Having no real connection to gold in her life, she peeled her teeth away from the card and grumbled inwardly.
'Ugh, that guy's for real... what the hell is he even?'
Thug? Rich punk? Charity angel?
The man she'd met yesterday defied every label—a bizarre, inexplicable existence.
And now, Yuna was heading to Seoul to meet him again.
A few hours later, the train pulled into Seoul Station.
Stepping onto the platform, Yuna reeled from the massive crowds and the cacophony echoing from every direction.
A colossal, labyrinthine space incomparable to Busan Station.
She adjusted the bag with seventy-six million won slung across her front and fought with all her might not to get swept away by the throng.
Her destination: 'Paju.'
The address printed on the back of the business card.
Standing before the tangled web of Seoul's subway lines, she stared at the spiderweb of routes for a long while.
Her head spun.
After several wrong turns, she finally figured out she needed to transfer to the Gyeongui-Jungang Line, but the path to the platform was another maze.
In the end, she grabbed a passing young woman.
Busan dialect spilled from her lips unbidden, hurried and rough.
"Excuse me! Sorry, but how do ya get to Paju from here?"
The woman seemed startled by the unfamiliar accent for a moment but soon kindly pointed her in the right direction.
With her help, Yuna endured a few more mistakes before finally boarding the train to Paju.
The train crossed the Han River, passed through towering forests of skyscrapers, and sped into increasingly rural scenery.
As the view outside shifted, Yuna gazed once more at the golden business card in her hand.
'Kim Cheolsu.'
She was entering the domain of this enigmatic man.
At last, the train dropped her at a quiet station in Paju.
A spacious, open air unlike Seoul's chaos greeted her.
Glancing around the unfamiliar town, she headed out to the main road in front of the station.
Her eyes locked onto the banners strung across the street opposite.
The first to catch her attention was a campaign banner for Assemblyman Osea's election bid.
She vaguely remembered hearing about an upcoming election on the news.
But right beside it, flapping much larger and more ostentatiously, was a strange one.
'[Congrats] Kim Bada's Birthday [Celebration]'
The phrase seized her gaze.
'Kim Bada? Who's that? Birthday?'
Not 'birthday,' but 'date of birth'—a term reserved for kings or great figures.
Yuna wrinkled her nose without thinking.
'What, some cult leader?'
Shrugging off the thought, she hailed a taxi by the roadside.
She fished out the golden business card from her pocket and read the address aloud in her familiar dialect, skipping any awkward Seoul imitation.
"Driver, yeah. Take me here, please."
The cabbie glanced at her in the rearview mirror, nodded at the address, and said,
"Ah, Blue Sky!!"
Tch, Paju bigwig, my ass... guess it wasn't bullshit after all...
Yuna clutched her bag tighter as she watched the world outside—utterly alien to her—flash by.
The taxi left the city behind, racing through quiet fields and paddies.
Finally, it arrived at the destination announced by the GPS.
Yuna peered out the window and frowned unwittingly.
A sparse lot with a few eateries nearby and one sleek little three-story building.
That was all there was to 'Blue Sky Investment.'
Disappointment washed over her.
'What? All that big talk, and the company's the size of a rat turd...'
'But how does the driver know this tiny place so well? Local around here?'
As those thoughts flitted through her mind, her gaze shifted elsewhere.
In front of the small building, lining the road: gleaming luxury foreign cars parked in a row.
And at the Blue Sky entrance, dozens of suits queued up like at a bank teller.
She doubted her own eyes.
Those suits were unmistakably execs from major corps or loaded entrepreneurs.
And they were lining up to get into this little three-story joint?
Yuna couldn't wrap her head around it.
In her common-sense world, one word explained this odd scene.
'What the... investment firm, huh? Must be some hot eatery.'
Stepping out of the taxi, ever the ordinary citizen, Go Yuna didn't dream of cutting the long line and meekly took her place at the very end.
Amid men in designer suits, a twenty-year-old girl with a ratty backpack stuck out like a sore thumb.
How long did she wait?
The dignified elderly gentleman ahead of her glanced back, offered a light greeting with evident surprise.
Yuna bowed her head in reflexive response.
Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, she asked.
Her Busan twang lingered faintly, unaccustomed to Seoul speech.
"Um... is this place crazy good food? What're they sellin'?"
At her innocent question, the old man blinked wide-eyed for a second.
He sized her up, then smiled wryly as if grasping the whole situation.
"Haha. Miss, this isn't a place that sells food."
"Oh? Then what?"
The old man eyed the three-story building at the front of the line with an inscrutable gaze and said,
"They sell dreams and hope. And sometimes, they sell a person's entire life."
His poetic words only deepened Yuna's confusion and unease. Without thinking, she voiced her first suspicion aloud.
Tension thickened her Busan accent.
"...It ain't some cult, right?"
At that, the old man let out a short "Pfft-!" of laughter.
"Well... aside from actually making it happen, they'd have no defense against the 'cult' label."
"......"
Yuna had no idea what to say next.
The old man regarded her with intrigued eyes and turned the question back.
"But how'd a Busan girl like you find out about this place? Not somewhere a student would know."
His sharp query made her heart sink.
She clutched the bag with the money and card even tighter.
"Ah, well..."
Lie? Or just bail?
A whirlwind of thoughts raced through her head.
In the end, she chose honesty.
Yuna rummaged in her bag and pulled out the golden business card, still bearing her mother's teardrops from last night.
She showed it to the old man and murmured,
"Somehow ended up with this... got somethin' to pass along."
In that instant, the old man's easy smile vanished.
His eyes fixed on the small golden card in her palm.
As if beholding a holy relic, awe and shock mingled on his face, leaving him speechless for a moment.
"CEO... Kim's card? No, miss! Why're you in line with that? Hey! Hey!! Security over there!!"
The old man's booming voice drew the sunglassed female guard waiting at the entrance.
He urgently told her,
"This young lady... she's got CEO Kim's card."
The guard's piercing gaze lingered on the golden card in Yuna's hand.
It was Blue Sky Investment's 'VIP pass.'
Whether flustered and hesitant or not, the guard murmured briefly into her earpiece.
Moments later, emotionless Choi Yang emerged from the building and strode straight toward Go Yuna.
She stopped before Yuna and gave a robotic nod.
"The CEO awaits you at his residence. This way, miss."
Without waiting for a reply, Choi Yang turned.
At her signal, a black sedan waiting roadside glided silently forward like a mirage and halted precisely before Yuna.
The driver-side guard stepped out and opened the rear door.
Choi Yang's wordless pressure and the dozens of stares boring into her back.
Dazed, Yuna boarded as if entranced.
The moment her body sank into the plush leather seat, the outside noise vanished like a lie.
The cabin filled with the scent of fine leather and some subtle, unidentifiable fragrance.
A 'rich person's smell' she'd never encountered in her life.
Just before the door shut, she glanced out the window.
The dozens in line—suits, bosses all—stared at her with uniformly stiff faces.
Their eyes mixed blatant envy, reverence, and sharp wariness: 'Who the hell is that chick?'
Minutes ago, she'd been the ordinary factory part-timer at the line's tail end.
The car pulled away smoothly.
Yuna had no clue where she was being taken or what awaited.
Only the cool touch of the golden card in her hand confirmed this was real.
The quiet car soon ascended a paved one-lane road, arriving at a grand mansion at the base of a gentle hill.
Endless high walls and two guards standing sentinel like they manned a cannon turret.
The fortress-like intimidation made Yuna swallow dryly despite herself.
The car stopped; Choi Yang alighted and opened her door.
Stepping out, Yuna beheld an unbelievable sight.
Before the mansion stood a glamorous blonde woman.
A simple, modest dress of plain fabric that oddly suited her flashy hair.
Cradling a small child,
Standing with a white dog at her feet, gazing at Yuna with the world's gentlest smile.
The blonde approached slowly.
"Nice to meet you, miss. I'm Yoon Chaewon, Cheolsu’s wife. This is our daughter Bada. Bada~ Auntie’s here~"
"......"
Yuna's mind blanked for a second.
'Acts like a total street thug, but he's married with kids?! What?!'
Her shock shattered at Chaewon's next words.
"Oh, our eldest will be home from school soon too."
'Two kids!?' The image of the thug chugging five bottles of soju like water at the noodle joint refused to mesh with this angelic wife, baby, and soon-to-arrive eldest child.
Yuna reached the only conclusion that explained this surreal mess.
She sidled up to Chaewon, whispering low so no one else heard, laced with genuine worry.
"Hey, sis... if that guy's blackmailin' you or kidnapped you... wiggle your carrot."
At Yuna's earnest whisper, Chaewon blinked wide-eyed.
She tilted her head, puzzling over the words.
Then, realization dawned.
"Pfft-?!"
Unable to hold back, Chaewon burst into loud laughter.
No mockery or suspicion in it.
Just pure delight at the absurd, adorable notion.
"Ah... really... you’re definitely Cheolsu’s little sister... no doubt!"
Wiping tears from her eyes, she spoke in a voice still bubbling with mirth.
"No, it's not like that, so come on in."
Led by Yoon Chaewon's gentle hand on her arm, Yuna stumbled into the grand mansion.
"......"
Nothing like the dark, oppressive space she'd imagined.
High open ceilings, warm lighting, and through the floor-to-ceiling windows, a beautiful garden.
This wasn't a castle—it was a cozy, peaceful home.
To Yuna, the whole situation felt like a dream.