Seolyeong's Trap
At the sudden display of skinship unfolding right in front of Seolyeong, Yeonju let out a high-pitched squeak, her face flushing bright red. I glanced at Yeonju for a moment before turning back to Seolyeong and continuing.
“Yeonju is happiest when she’s with me. I can give her money, love, happiness—everything. So please don’t be too upset, and I’d appreciate your understanding… Mother.”
I bowed politely toward Seolyeong before straightening up, then flashed her a bright, easy smile. The heavy tension that had filled the air between us began to lighten the moment I took a step back. From youthful boldness to the seasoned grace of knowing when to yield—I poured everything I had into playing the part perfectly. It was a bit too forward for a prospective son-in-law, but Seolyeong wasn’t an ordinary mother-in-law. She was a woman who would eventually stand by my side. If I showed weakness from the start, she might try to control me later.
This is how you control the distance.
In front of Seolyeong, I doted on Yeonju excessively to spark jealousy, while projecting the image of a bold young man—lacking in manners, perhaps, but all the more tempting because of it. I wasn’t sure if a young man’s fresh energy could rekindle the cooled heart of a married woman, but at the very least, I succeeded in making Seolyeong feel even sharper jealousy toward Yeonju.
Seolyeong stared at my smiling face with a strange expression before shifting her gaze to Yeonju, who was still clinging to me. Her eyes, fixed on Yeonju, were colder than ice.
“…Yeonju. Go inside first. I need to have a longer talk with your boyfriend.”
“N-no… I don’t wanna…”
“…What?”
“I-I wanna stay with Minjun…”
“Hah.”
Seolyeong’s expression, which had been merely cold, began to twist with anger at Yeonju’s defiance. Understandable. Until now, Yeonju had been nothing more than a docile puppy who couldn’t even bark in front of her… and now that puppy had found an ally and was baring its teeth. Anyone would be furious.
Just because her anger was understandable didn’t make it justified. Still, the fact that Seolyeong was angry was a good sign for me. Once her anger cooled, she would start thinking about why she had been so upset—and in doing so, she would remember me again.
Once she realizes I’m at the center of this problem, she’ll have no choice but to approach me.
But Seolyeong’s options for approaching me were extremely limited. She couldn’t reach me through money—I had far too much. And she already knew that the title of “future mother-in-law” wouldn’t work on me. So there’s only one thing left.
Her remaining choices were to leave Yeonju happy, kill one of us, or seduce me with her still-unrusted body as a married woman. It was extreme, but when you stripped everything away, those were the only three possibilities.
Leave her alone, kill someone, or seduce me.
I was curious which path Seolyeong would choose. And to find out, Yeonju needed to leave.
“Yeonju, listen to your mother for now. You were planning to go inside anyway.”
“Ugh… nooo…! I’ll go in if Minjun goes first. I just… I just want to stay with you a little longer… Can’t I?”
Yeonju’s ultimate weapon came out again. Looking up at me with those round, pleading eyes, she made it hard for me not to smile. I wanted to grant her request, but I couldn’t. There was a chance her new stepmother might snap and try to kill me—I needed to confirm that first.
“Then let’s do this. If you go inside now, I’ll give you a kiss.”
“…K-kiss…”
“Yes. Not on the cheek—on the lips.”
“Ugh… mmh… A kiss… on the lips… Please…”
“You’ll go inside, right?”
“Uuu… y-yes… I will…”
Chuuu—
I pressed a long, deep kiss against Yeonju’s lips. It was far more intense than a simple peck, and it was all for Seolyeong’s benefit—a perfectly staged romantic comedy scene.
“…”
Jealousy. I could feel her murderous gaze burning into us. The skin around my lips felt like it was scorching under her stare. Seeing my plan working so well filled me with excitement. I kissed Yeonju again, then suddenly deepened it into a full kiss.
Chuu—Chup—Chuuup—
“Mm…! Hah…!”
Even if it was embarrassing to kiss in front of her mother, Yeonju tried to push me away when I sucked hard on her lips. But when I kept going without hesitation, she soon melted, her tongue reaching out to meet mine.
Chuuup—Chuuuup—Chup—
“Hah… mmh… hnn… heuh…”
Even as we shared a deep kiss right in front of her, Seolyeong didn’t say a word—whether out of pride or something else. She simply glared. I teased her by kissing Yeonju even more passionately, only pulling away when Yeonju seemed breathless.
“Heuh… haah… hnn…”
“Good girl, Yeonju. Now go inside.”
“Hnn… haa… y-yes…”
Yeonju walked into the house with an incredibly reluctant expression. That deep kiss had probably left her incredibly aroused—maybe she would even try masturbating for the first time once she got inside.
“Whew… Must be nice to be young. I’m jealous.”
“…What do you mean? You’re still young yourself, Mother. I honestly thought you were Yeonju’s older sister at first. Haha.”
Seolyeong, who had been glaring at Yeonju until she disappeared inside, suddenly spoke to me in a completely relaxed tone, as if she were a different person. I matched her mood and replied playfully. Well, the part about thinking she was her sister wasn’t a lie at all.
“Whew… Minjun. What exactly do you like about our Yeonju?”
“Do I really have to say it? It’s embarrassing.”
“You even kissed her in front of me, and now you’re acting shy?”
Seolyeong shot me a teasing glance. The atmosphere had completely shifted, and she seemed like an entirely different person, but I answered without showing it.
“Haha… Well… It’s not that I like any one specific thing about her. I just like Yeonju as a person. Not because she’s a certain type of woman—I just like her. Ah, it’s hard to put into words. There’s no reason when you like someone.”
“Mm… Yeah. That’s true. There’s no reason when you like someone… Still, I’m glad. Yeonju met a good man… Maybe things will get better now…”
What…?
Seolyeong’s demeanor, which had seemed lighter than when Yeonju was around, suddenly turned wistful. I racked my brain. I needed to figure out what position she was trying to take so I could respond accordingly.
She doesn’t seem to want to kill me… Is she just going to leave us alone? That feels off.
In Greek mythology, Seolyeong was Hera. There was no way the embodiment of jealousy would so easily choose to leave Yeonju happy. If she was the woman I thought she was, she would torment Yeonju until the very end. The café incident proved she was more than capable of it.
Since “kill” and “leave alone” are off the table, the only option left is seduction…
I still couldn’t connect her wistful attitude with the decision to seduce me. I needed more information, so I played along with her words for now.
“Mother… About what you wanted to say earlier…”
“…It’s not something I can say here… Would it be okay if we talked in the car for a bit?”
She spoke in a lowered voice, as if conscious of something. I looked at her curiously before nodding.
“Of course. Let’s go.”
Click—
I opened the passenger door for Seolyeong before getting into the driver’s seat myself. The moment the door shut, Seolyeong’s lips parted as if she had been waiting.
Her voice sounded fragile, like it might break at any moment.
“You might have already heard… but I’m Yeonju’s stepmother. Not her real mother…”
“Yes. Yeonju told me.”
“How much did she tell you? Did she say I’ve been tormenting her…?”
“…She did.”
“Ah… I see… If you already heard, then there’s nothing I can do.”
“Mother… I’m sorry, but what exactly did you want to talk about…?”
“Oh, no. I’m sorry for keeping you. Minjun, I should go now… Please take care of Yeonju…”
She said that and suddenly tried to get out of the car. This is where I should stop her. If she was really going to leave without saying anything, she wouldn’t have dropped all those hints.
This was bait she had thrown out for me to catch. Since I needed to understand her intentions, playing along wasn’t a bad idea.
Grab—
I quickly caught her wrist as she tried to leave.
“Mother…! Wait—just a moment…!”
“Hah. Minjun. No matter how urgent it is… Don’t you think grabbing a woman’s wrist like that is rude?”
She stopped pretending to leave and glared at me. I released her wrist with an awkward motion, looking flustered, and immediately apologized.
“Ahem… I’m sorry.”
As I apologized, I pictured Kim Mihyun’s massive breasts in my mind and deliberately made my cheeks flush. It was part of my act—playing the innocent to make her bolder.
She studied my uneasy gaze and reddened face before speaking in a teasing, playful tone.
“You had no problem kissing her so openly… but now you’re embarrassed just from grabbing my wrist?”
“T-that’s because she’s my girlfriend… Anyway, I’m sorry, Mother.”
“…I’ll let it slide this time. Don’t do it again, okay?”
“Yes, I was wrong.”
She smiled softly as she watched me scratch the back of my head and lower it. It wasn’t just any smile—it was a bitter, self-deprecating one.
“Yeonju really picked a good man…”
“Thank you. But Mother… how exactly do you and Yeonju get along?”
“…”
“Why does your face darken every time Yeonju’s name comes up? I want to know. As her boyfriend, I think I have the right to.”
“You’re sharp… No wonder Yeonju fell for you so hard…”
It wasn’t that I was sharp—Seolyeong had given me so many hints that missing them would have made me an idiot. I had enough hints now. It was time to push for the answer.
“Please tell me, Mother. Is there something about Yeonju that I don’t know?”
“…”
She hesitated for a long time, looking conflicted, before finally speaking.
“It’s hard to say because you’re her boyfriend… It feels like I’m badmouthing her as her mother…”
“It’s not just gossip. It’s something I need to know—that’s why you called me aside, isn’t it?”
“Haa… Fine. Minjun… You know Yeonju has a severe attachment issue, right?”
“Yes… To some extent…”
“It’s not just with you. Yeonju… she was so obsessed with her father that she always resented me as her stepmother. From the moment I entered this house, Yeonju… has been tormenting me nonstop. You might not believe it… but I understand. I didn’t know she was like that until I experienced it myself.”
“Hmm…”
I let out a thoughtful hum. But inside, I was shouting eureka. I finally understood what she was trying to do.
Playing the victim to gain sympathy. And trying to drive a wedge between us. The same method she used on Jeonghye.
It was a decent plan—if I hadn’t already seen through it once before. I had already confirmed last night during drinks with Yeonju that her story wasn’t true. Her acting was excellent, but not good enough to fool me. No—the timing of her hints, her tone, even her eye movements were so perfectly calculated that it made me realize it was all an act.
The scenario itself didn’t matter. It was the skill with which she delivered it. There was no way someone this good at fabricating situations would be bullied by Yeonju, who only whined about a “thieving cat.”
If I had met her before Yeonju, or if I had been a little more naive, I might have fallen for her perfectly crafted story and situation. But I wasn’t an idiot who would fall for it now that I knew the game.
Unless the hunter was hunting an idiot.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to think. Yeonju said you’ve been saying horrible things to her…”
“You saw it earlier—I’m strict with Yeonju. I treat her as harshly as I can, hoping she’ll come to her senses even a little. But that doesn’t mean I’m verbally abusing her…”
She spoke to me with a face like she was about to die. It was beautiful, like a painting, but utterly repulsive. I still vividly remembered the vicious tone she had used when she hurled insults at Yeonju the first time we had dinner together, once she thought no one else was around.
At this point, I might have trusted her a little more if she had at least admitted that she sometimes said cruel things out of sheer dislike.