The Arrival of Uninvited Guests
“I-I got fired from the company after I botched the major project I was in charge of… and then the red tags even went up on the house…”
“What, red tags?”
“Y-yeah.”
Fired from his company, and now a foreclosure seizure on top of that?
That meant his credit rating was already completely shot.
What a spectacular life.
I vaguely remembered the youngest saying he had a decent job and lived in a pretty nice house.
But one botched project and he falls this far…?
Ah.
I had a pretty good idea.
That man had an enormous amount of pride for what he was.
He had always had a tendency to take on things far beyond his actual capabilities.
Judging by the same clueless attitude he had always shown…
It seemed that hadn’t changed either, and he had spectacularly tanked the project.
The foreclosure was no different.
Normally, when you get fired, you go looking for another job.
But that man had probably been straining to get into a company better than—or at least on the same level as—his previous one.
And while stubbornly refusing to leave that supposedly nice house of his, he had dragged things out until he ended up like this.
All just karma, I suppose.
That wife of his was the same.
Even with something like this happening, she either didn’t care at all, or—just like him—figured things would work out somehow…
And had simply sat there with no plan and no thought whatsoever.
I don’t even need side dishes for this.
Who would have thought a man who had already filed for rehabilitation after a foreclosure would show up at my door?
I could only think it was truly impressive.
“But what does any of that have to do with me?”
“What…?”
“Whether you got fired or had red tags slapped on your house. What does that have to do with me that I should let you stay here?”
An ordinary person would have begged until their hands became feet.
But that man’s nature was so hopeless that there was no way he would.
Oh-ho.
Look at that…
Just a moment ago he had been flinching like the youngest, afraid of getting hit, and now he had suddenly switched to an aggressive, full-of-himself atmosphere.
“Even so, that’s going too far. We’re family—don’t you think you’re being a little too cold?”
I had decided to hear him out and see what he would say.
Instead he was sitting there spouting nonsense that wasn’t even worth considering.
“Family? Did we ever have something like that between us?”
“…….”
“If you had even the slightest shred of conscience, you wouldn’t be spouting that kind of bullshit… right?”
“That’s… well, back then I was just immature… and besides, Mom and Dad aren’t around anymore, so wouldn’t it be better if we brothers stuck together and helped each other out?”
“So what you’re saying is, let’s forget everything that happened and make a fresh start. Something like that?”
“Y-yeah…! It’s a little late to say this, but honestly I never felt good about it either. So couldn’t you just give me one more chance?”
“Hmm.”
If it had been a request from a close friend I could open my heart to, I might have granted it.
But not that bastard.
He was not the kind of man who deserved that sort of generosity.
His words were smooth and polished, but it was obvious his true feelings inside were completely different.
…In that case.
I didn’t even need to confirm whether those feelings were sincere or not; I could just throw him out. But simply sending him away so easily left a slightly unsatisfying aftertaste.
So it would be better to use this opportunity to make things perfectly clear.
Having come up with a good idea, I gave a small nod.
“Fine. I’ll give you that one chance. I just hope those weren’t empty words you spat out just to appeal to my emotions.”
“Th-then! Anything that comes out of my mouth, I keep for sure.”
“So… is sister-in-law going to live here too?”
“Of course she is…? Like I said, we’re a married couple, so we should live together…”
“…….”
Leaving the fidgeting Kim Taeho behind, I glanced at the woman sitting diagonally across from me—the so-called sister-in-law—who was quietly doing her own thing.
Even though we were discussing something important that directly involved her, she was still in the exact same posture she had taken when she first sat down, just fiddling with her phone.
Even when I shot her a pointed look, she didn’t so much as blink, as if she had zero interest.
A set with that one, huh…
Not exactly my type, but she was quite the beauty, and she had a really big heart, this sister-in-law of mine.
I had been living fairly contentedly on my own, but I had occasionally found myself wishing I had a pet dog or cat around. Perfect timing.
Some healing, some eye candy—what’s not to like?
Well, if something even better than that ends up happening, all the better for me.
If I played it right, not only could I drive a wedge between the two of them…
I might even be able to drop them not just into ruin, but all the way down to the bottom of the ocean floor.
I can install some common sense into them slowly. And if that doesn’t work, just treating it as a physical relationship is fine too.
They would never know—not now, not forever.
What kind of fantasies I was swallowing back right this moment.
“Alright then. The two of you can stay.”
“R-really? Then starting to—”
“I’m not finished talking yet, so listen to the end. I don’t mind you staying, but there are conditions.”
“C-conditions?”
“First: you pay me monthly rent. Considering you got fired and you’re a credit delinquent, I’ll lower the standard a bit.”
“M-monthly rent? No, that’s…”
He had come on so confidently, acting like he would do anything, but the moment money came up he immediately showed how troubled he was.
This is why no one around him trusts him.
The people at his company must have known exactly what kind of person he was.
Maybe that was why they had used the botched project as a legitimate excuse to kick him out.
“Don’t tell me you were planning to stay here for free? Never mind that I’m no saint—how far did you throw away your conscience?”
“…….”
“Can’t do it? If you don’t like it, go sit out on the street. Ah, out of the goodness of my heart I’ll even give you some boxes and newspapers, so just say the word anytime.”
Conveniently, I still had two decorative boxes left in the house.
They could each take one and use them side by side without fighting. Perfect.
“N-no! Who said I couldn’t? I’ll find a new job quickly and pay whatever rent it is, no problem.”
“If you’re going to find one, you’d better find it fast. There will be absolutely no extensions or anything like that.”
“You don’t have to worry. If I want a job, I can get one anytime.”
“Well, that’s up to you… Second condition: housework. You said sister-in-law would be staying here too, so she should do her fair share of work, right?”
“Ah…”
“?”
He looked even more flustered than when he heard the first condition.
This had nothing to do with money at all, yet he was making a sour face.
“What, is there a problem?”
“W-well, you see…”
Haaah—
Just then, a small sigh drifted over—languid and thick with pure annoyance.
The sister-in-law sitting next to Kim Taeho set her phone down for a moment, looked back and forth between me and her husband, then finally opened the mouth she had kept tightly shut.
“I’m not going to do any housework.”
What did I just hear?
Not “I don’t want to” or “Do I have to?”
None of that.
She had just flat-out declared she wouldn’t, tossing it out like a declaration of war with no beginning or end.
“I may not look it, but I’m an influencer, so I have to take care of my hands, my face, my body—there’s a lot to manage. That’s why I barely ever did any housework even before.”
“…What the hell.”
I looked at the man who was supposedly her husband with eyes that demanded he explain what kind of bullshit she was spouting right now.
“Ahem. Before we got married I swore I would never let her hands touch water…”
“So that means… you’ve been doing both your job and all the housework this whole time?”
“Yeah. Like you just heard, my wife is an influencer, so she always has to look beautiful and radiant. Plus, even before we got married I had already sworn I would take care of everything myself.”
Normally people treat talk like that as just romantic fluff; actually following through to this extent is truly rare.
In the fresh newlywed phase, or maybe the first year, sure—you make breakfast for them.
But once a kid comes along or you hit five years, there’s not even broth left—or so the saying goes.
No. Wait a second.
Thinking about it, this was ridiculous.
The same guy who always dumped every annoying chore on me was now claiming he had volunteered to do all of that himself. I could hardly believe it.
He must have been completely whipped by that wife of his.
“So the conclusion is, the housework here will be done by you, not sister-in-law?”
“That’s right. Even if the place we live changes, I’ll keep doing it the way I always have. So you don’t need to worry about that part.”
“Ah, is that so.”
As long as the housework got done, I didn’t care who did it.
“So… is that all the conditions…?”
“Well, roughly speaking, yes. Other than that, just don’t make me uncomfortable. As long as you stay within the bounds of common sense, there won’t be any problems.”
“I-is that so…”
“And the moment you cross the line… you’ll get beaten until the dust flies, just like that little brat of a youngest brother…?”
“…….”
Common sense and boundaries—as long as they kept those, there would be no issues.
Even people who lived in my house usually had enough sense to stay out of the way on their own, so it wasn’t particularly difficult.
Hmm, with this man I wasn’t so sure.
Would he actually try, just because he hated getting hit…?
“Not going to answer?”
“Ah, I understand… I’ll remember that too, along with the conditions.”
“Haa, don’t just remember it—put it into practice.”
“R-right…”
Kim Taeho nodded a couple of times, saying he understood.
If I didn’t drive the nail in properly, he would lose his mind again and start acting like he used to.
But even if he did something like that, there was nothing to worry about.
Just as I had warned him, he could learn while getting the shit beaten out of him.
“But you know… there’s one thing I’d like to ask of you…”
“…? What.”
“Well… hey, you. Not like that. Can’t you call me hyung properly? No matter what, I’m four years older than you, and my wife’s going to be living here too, so keeping calling me that is a bit…”
“You have to act like an older brother first before I’ll call you that. What kind of nonsense are you talking?”
“…….”