No Daughter of Mine
Yu Inyeong’s voice came through the phone, calm and precise. “The other students’ guardians showed up. To put it bluntly… they said they have no such daughter, and that a girl who drinks and wrecks cars needs to taste prison food before she’ll straighten out. Then they walked out.”
“…” Minjun couldn’t find a single word. Honestly, it was a brutally fair assessment. The parents’ affection seemed thin, but rationally it made sense. These weren’t middle-schoolers; they were high-schoolers old enough to know right from wrong. If they still pulled something like this, ordinary methods probably wouldn’t reform them. A little hardship now might actually be the better long-term choice. After all, no one was facing criminal charges.
Still, even if he agreed with the “prison food” logic, he couldn’t just flip the table they’d already set. Especially not when the rice was steaming hot and white—he certainly wasn’t going to dump raw beans on top of it.
“Understood. I’m still at the station, so I’ll head over soon.”
“All right.”
Minjun hung up and stepped out of the restroom. Jeonghye was still sitting in the chair, ears flushed, her expression slightly dazed.
“Jeonghye.”
“Hik!! Ah… yes, yes… Minjun.”
She looked so startled it was almost cute, but he pushed the urge to tease her aside. There was work to finish before they could flirt. He explained the situation and told her to pay the settlement amounts for the other girls as originally planned. Jeonghye followed his instructions without hesitation.
Watching her walk into the office and declare that she would take full responsibility because her sister had caused the most damage—making that grand, magnanimous decision as a broke college student—was pure girl-crush material.
Once Jeonghye paid the settlements, the case wrapped up quickly. Even though property damage cases usually went to trial regardless of agreements, Yu Inyeong assured them that with the girls being minors and settlements reached, there was nothing to worry about. The three hopeless sisters burst into loud, relieved sobs.
“Minjun!”
As he walked slowly out of the station, Jeonghye’s voice called from behind. He already knew she was trailing after him, dragging Eunhye along while the younger girl whined about wanting to leave with her friends. He’d pretended not to notice, hoping Eunhye would escape first, but she never managed to slip free.
He stopped and turned. Jeonghye marched up, towing Eunhye like a sacrificial offering, and presented her in front of him.
“Ah! He’s scary! I said I don’t want to!”
“Lee Eunhye!!!!”
The moment Eunhye threw a tantrum, Jeonghye’s roar exploded. The usually cool, cat-like Jeonghye looked like a tiger in full fury. Minjun, who wasn’t even the target, felt himself shrink a little.
“Fine, okay… Hey.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry. I messed up. I won’t do it again.”
“You already apologized at the station.”
Minjun was cold toward women who weren’t girlfriend candidates. No matter how pretty she was, he saw no reason to be kind to a bratty, milk-stinking high-schooler like Eunhye. Her eyes darting around nervously was a little cute, but minors were still off-limits. One wrong move and his life could end in an instant.
“Still… I wanted to say it again. Thank you for agreeing to the settlement… There, done? I’m leaving! Bye~”
“Agh, that little…”
Eunhye tossed out her childish farewell and bolted. Minjun didn’t like how immature she acted without considering her sister’s feelings, but at least she knew when to make herself scarce. He was secretly delighted, yet kept his expression slightly hardened. Jeonghye, reading his face, grew visibly anxious.
“I’m so sorry, Minjun.”
“It’s fine. It’s not really about your sister. I’m just in a bad mood. I’ve been here longer than expected and all my plans got canceled.”
“Ah… what should I do… It’s all because of us…”
“Can’t be helped. If it really bothers you that much, cheer me up.”
“What?! H-how… exactly… should I cheer you up…”
Jeonghye fidgeted as she spoke. She’d been a tiger while scolding her sister, but now her shy, twisting movements were distinctly feminine and bashful. He’d only asked her to lift his mood, yet he wondered what thoughts were running through her head. He didn’t ask.
“Your sister seemed to like cars. Do you?”
“Huh? Um… I don’t know enough to say whether I like them or not…”
“Ah, I see. Then want to go for a drive?”
He asked lightly, already certain the leashed Jeonghye wouldn’t refuse.
“A drive? Isn’t your car wrecked?”
“I bought another one… I feel like driving with you would fix my mood. Unless you don’t want to?”
“No?! I’d love to!!”
“…You’d love to?”
“Yes, I’d love to……”
When he smirked and looked at her playfully, Jeonghye’s earlobes flushed bright red in an instant. They weren’t Rudolph’s nose, but they were so red they almost glowed.
“Why are your ears red? Are you cold, Jeonghye? The weather’s fine today.”
“…If you keep teasing me like this, I won’t just sit still either…”
“What? Where exactly am I teasing you?”
“…What’s that you’re carrying in your pocket?”
“Huh…?”
“It’s bulging… and hard… and when I touched it through your pants… it felt like a weapon.”
“Ahem… Let’s talk about this in the car.”
The station entrance was hardly the place for that topic. If a detective overheard and decided to search his pockets, things could get awkward fast. Minjun backed off, and thankfully Jeonghye followed without protest.
“…This is your car?”
“Yeah. Bought it in a rush today after the accident. Ah, let me get the door.”
Jeonghye hesitated when she saw the car in the parking lot. She clearly didn’t want to ask and damage her pride, yet couldn’t contain her curiosity. Minjun answered with a reply that reeked of money, mercilessly crushing the pride of a poor college student. For a moment her face fell, then she forced it back to normal—though it was obvious she was only pretending. Even so, the verbal sparring that had started at the station entrance ended with Minjun’s victory. Because she wasn’t an easy opponent, the win felt even sweeter.
****
The date that began with a drive stretched all the way to dinner. Eating with Jeonghye was fun and informative. Beautiful, quick-witted, and attentive—she seemed like the kind of person who would be pleasant company no matter what they did together. He had the feeling that if he taught her, she’d pick up sex just as quickly, and that thought made him fall for the capable Jeonghye even harder.
Clink. After coffee for dessert, they got back in the car. It was getting dark; time to head home. Or maybe to a hotel.
“Ah…”
“Your phone’s ringing. It’s been going off for a while. Just answer it. I’m fine.”
“It’s okay. It’s probably just people asking me to join the after-party for the welcome event.”
He’d suspected as much from the moment she mentioned being class president—Jeonghye was clearly what people called an “inssa,” the popular, well-connected type. Even with her phone on silent, it hadn’t stopped buzzing throughout their date. Every time the screen lit up he could see the growing pile of messages and missed calls. He liked almost everything about her, but this was a definite minus. Being the affection-starved pervert he was, he hated the idea of his woman paying attention to anything besides him—family, studies, or work included. If she didn’t look only at him, he’d break her until she did. But Jeonghye was still just a situationship, not yet his girlfriend, and excessive possessiveness this early would only hurt his chances. So he chose to act considerate instead. He’d have to corrupt and addict her slowly, without her noticing. If he smashed all her limbs at once and force-fed her poisonous mushroom soup, she might get scared and run.
“Where’s the after-party? I’ll drop you off.”
“With a car like this… the others will feel intimidated. They’re all broke college students…”
“That’s exactly why I’m offering.”
“What?”
“It’s a warning. Tell them I’ve claimed you, so they should back off.”
“Where did you learn to talk like that? Are you… taking lessons somewhere?”
Jeonghye handled his blunt, rootless way of speaking fairly well now. Still, the way her ears turned red made her look adorable.
“Whatever. Just tell me where it is.”
“Mmm…”
After a moment’s hesitation, Jeonghye gave him the address. It was about thirty minutes away, in an alley right behind Yeonsu University’s campus. He asked on a whim.
“Do you go to Yeonsu University, Jeonghye?”
“Yes. Ah, did I not mention it?”
“What’s your major?”
“English Literature.”
“Ah~~ I see.”
Vroooooom. Minjun slammed the accelerator, driving aggressively with Jeonghye in the passenger seat. A sudden wave of irritation rose in him. He hadn’t asked which university she attended out of consideration. As the head of her household, when would she even have time to study? Just getting into college at all was impressive enough. Yet it turned out to be Yeonsu University—one of the top schools in the country, the dream of every high-school student—and not just any department, but English Literature. Even though he was technically a retaker himself, it still felt like he’d lost somehow.
“Minjun, are you angry?”
After a long stretch of silent speeding, Jeonghye finally spoke, gripping her seatbelt tightly.
“No? Why?”
“You look angry… I thought maybe I did something wrong…”
“…I’m not angry, but there is something I want to ask.”
He’d been looking for a new topic anyway. This question had just occurred to him, and now seemed like the right time. It was important.
“What is it?”
“Back at the café… why were you so mean to Yeonju? The Jeonghye I saw today doesn’t seem like the type to do that. I was curious why you acted that way then.”
“Hmm…”
Jeonghye stayed quiet for a long time, clearly debating how to answer. When she finally spoke, her voice was so serious it made him wonder what kind of story she was about to tell.
“Do you know that the owner of the café I work at is Yeonju’s mother?”
“Yeah, I think I heard that somewhere.”
“My grandmother’s been sick for a long time. We couldn’t afford proper treatment before, but now she’s in one of the best nursing hospitals in the country. Her condition has improved a lot too.”
“…”
“The café owner made all of that possible. I’ve been working there since high school, and she’s taken care of me incredibly well ever since. Sometimes I even want to call her ‘Mom.’ If it weren’t for her… I might have gone down the same path as Eunhye. Things were really, really hard before I settled into that job.”
Minjun listened quietly. The sincerity in Jeonghye’s calm voice kept pulling at his ears.
“But the person that motherly owner hates most in the world… is Yeonju.”
“Why would she hate her own daughter?”
“She’s not her real daughter. She’s the stepmother—so from Yeonju’s perspective, the owner is her stepmother. Maybe because of that, after the remarriage, Yeonju made the owner’s life miserable. She was so obsessed with her biological father that the couple’s relationship nearly fell apart because of her interference.”
“…”
It was hard to believe, but he kept listening. Jeonghye continued.
“The owner doesn’t usually talk about family, but one day she grabbed me and cried, saying how hard it was. She told me all the awful things Yeonju had done to her. Yeonju really is shameless. That was the first time I understood what it feels like to have your blood run backward. So that’s why I acted that way. I wanted to pay Yeonju back, even a little, for everything she’d done to the owner. I know it wasn’t right, but… I just wanted to do that much for someone who’s been like a mother to me.”
Vroooooom. Minjun pressed the accelerator in silence. The confusing story left him feeling suffocated.
‘This isn’t something I should be grilling Jeonghye about…’
She was only a third party, after all. This was something he needed to ask Yeonju directly—or judge for himself after meeting her stepmother.