Chapter 413: I Intend to Make You an Accomplice
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 413: I Intend to Make You an Accomplice
"Do you intend to disobey your mother?"
Joo So-yang, who had suddenly appeared before Lee Ye-seol, spoke in a dry, hollow voice.
"What do you think you're doing?! Let me go this instant!"
Hearing her mother’s words, Lee Ye-seol flared up, her voice rising in anger.
Her fury had reached its boiling point. This was a situation where her mother should have been on her knees, begging for forgiveness. Instead, she had the audacity to strike her from behind with Finger Wind and paralyze her via Acupoint Striking?
And to her own daughter, her only child, no less. It was impossible not to be enraged.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot do that."
Joo So-yang spoke with a pained expression. Her eyes were clouded with deep sorrow.
"Why?!"
"Because your mother does not want you revealing the truth to your father."
Joo So-yang looked at her with an earnest gaze. She was sincere. She truly, desperately wanted this illicit affair to remain a secret. Forever.
She knew well enough that this was a forbidden relationship. How could a married woman with a husband and a daughter claim that an affair with a younger man was anything but wrong?
However, she had no desire to be humiliated by having the truth dragged into the light. Nor did she want to destroy her relationship with Sun-woo.
If Lee Ye-seol informed Lee Jae-won of her infidelity, everything would end. The reputation she had built over decades, as well as her sweet relationship with Jang Sun-woo, would vanish. Everyone in the Central Plains would condemn her and Jang Sun-woo, and Lee Jae-won would surely kill him.
He would kill him in the most gruesome manner imaginable.
Under such circumstances, how could she simply let Lee Ye-seol go? It was unthinkable.
"Mother, do you have no conscience? How can you commit such a sin and then say you don't want the truth to come out!"
"It is precisely because it is a sin everyone would condemn that I do not want it revealed. How could I stand by and let my own flaws be exposed? Moreover, if this becomes known, Sun-woo will die. I do not want the man I love to die."
Joo So-yang continued in a calm, steady tone.
"You're worried about Jang Sun-woo until the very end! Mother, do you feel no guilt toward Father at all?"
"I do feel sorry. But... not sorry enough for it to truly bother me."
Joo So-yang’s expression remained composed as she spoke.
"Wh-what did you say?!"
Lee Ye-seol asked back, stunned by her mother's words. She was sorry, but not sorry enough to care? What on earth did that mean?
"He was the one who neglected me in the first place! Lee Jae-won is the one who made me like this!"
Joo So-yang raised her voice as if in protest.
"Do you know how many times your father held me after I gave birth to you?"
Joo So-yang glared at Lee Ye-seol with a sharp, piercing gaze.
"It was only five times! Five times!"
She held up her right hand, fingers spread wide to emphasize the number.
"And even then, he did it with a look of utter dissatisfaction on his face. Do you think that makes any sense?"
"............"
"I am asking if you think that is a normal relationship between a husband and wife!"
Joo So-yang’s eyes began to moisten as she spoke. It was as if the sorrows of her past were surging back all at once.
"..........Even so, that is no excuse for committing adultery!"
"No, it is more than enough! You don't know! You don't know the misery of being abandoned by the one you love! The sorrow of having to soothe your own burning body every single night!"
Joo So-yang spoke with a face full of grief.
".......Stop trying to justify it."
"What?!"
"I said, stop justifying it! If you hated it that much, you should have told him! That you were lonely! That you needed affection! That you wanted him to hold you!"
"Do you think I didn't say anything? Do you think I just played the part of the dignified, demure wife in front of your father? I begged him countless times. I pleaded with him to look at me, to hold me! I even wore vulgar clothes that only prostitutes would wear!"
Joo So-yang’s face flushed with anger as she screamed.
"But it was no use! Your father! Lee Jae-won! He always rejected me! He said my massive breasts were a burden! In that situation, what more was I supposed to do?!"
".............."
"I was rejected as a woman by the person I loved most. Do you know what that feels like? You ask if I'm not sorry? Let me tell you again. I am not sorry at all! Because Lee Jae-won is the one who made me this way!"
Joo So-yang’s voice rose as she glared at Lee Ye-seol with tearful eyes.
"................."
Lee Ye-seol fell silent. She didn't know what to say. She had always known her parents were distant, but she had never imagined their relationship was this broken.
She had been born about twenty years ago. That meant they had only been intimate five times in twenty years. The marriage between the World's Greatest Martial Artist, Lee Jae-won, and the Best Among Women, Joo So-yang, was so dry it was practically non-existent.
"All I ever wanted was to leave him. I wanted to leave the man who left me lonely while he sought out other women."
"......Then... why... why didn't you leave him?"
"Because I didn't want to hurt you."
Joo So-yang looked directly at Lee Ye-seol.
"Because I wanted you, at least, to be happy."
"But... why! Why now?! You've endured it all this time! So why now! And of all people, with a man young enough to be your son!"
"Because only Sun-woo recognized my value."
Joo So-yang spoke with a firm, unwavering tone.
"Wh-what?!"
"He told me. He told me he loved my monstrously large breasts and my voluptuous hips. All the things Lee Jae-won rejected as disgusting!"
"............"
"How could I not love a man like that? It was only natural, like the laws of the universe."
"Th-that's...!"
"Is there any reason not to fall for him? He is strong enough to overwhelm even me, he is handsome, he has a powerful physique, and even his manhood is robust. As a woman, how could I not fall for him?"
Joo So-yang spoke with a dazed, dreamy expression.
"You're an adult now, so I think you're old enough. Now, I want to pursue my own happiness as a woman. Together with Sun-woo."
".............."
Lee Ye-seol remained silent. Her mind was in a state of total chaos from her mother's endless revelations.
That she didn't love Lee Jae-won. That she wasn't sorry for the affair. That she wanted to pursue her own happiness as a woman. Every single statement was beyond her comprehension.
Her head began to throb. It hurt like hell. Lee Ye-seol agonized in silence for a long time.
"........I'm not saying I don't understand your position, Mother."
Finally, she spoke with a weak voice.
"I think it's possible to feel neglected and miserable. How could you not feel wretched after being rejected by the person you love most? You must have felt unacknowledged, both as a wife and as a woman."
Lee Ye-seol continued in a sorrowful voice.
".....Do you understand me?"
Hearing her words, Joo So-yang’s eyes welled up with tears.
"Of course. I'm a woman too, aren't I? I don't know much about men or love yet, but I can fully empathize with the loneliness and isolation you must have felt. If you had rejected me, Mother, I wouldn't have been able to bear it either."
".....Seol-ah."
Joo So-yang looked deeply moved. It seemed her precious daughter finally understood her heart.
"That's why I think it's even more important to tell Father. Shouldn't we give him a chance too? A chance to reflect and become a better person."
Chill.
In an instant, Joo So-yang’s face turned deathly cold. Lee Ye-seol’s following words had struck a very wrong nerve.
"Seol-ah, if your father finds out, he will kill me. Is that what you want?"
"Of course not. Father is the hero who saved the Murim twenty years ago. Moreover, he is a man of virtue who practices Chivalry and is respected by everyone. I'm sure he will forgive you. And he will take the time to reflect on his own actions."
Lee Ye-seol spoke with a voice full of conviction.
"..............."
Joo So-yang remained silent. She realized that she and her daughter were on parallel lines that would never meet.
"So please, let me go. I'll talk to Father and make sure everything turns out well."
"Seol-ah."
Joo So-yang spoke in a frigid tone.
"It seems you have the wrong idea."
"What?"
"I have no intention of making things work with your father. Even if he tries to do better."
"What?!"
"I already love Sun-woo so deeply. How could I commit such an act of betrayal against that love?"
"Loving Jang Sun-woo is the betrayal!"
"No, this is love. True love."
"That's ridiculous! Do you think I'll ever accept that?!"
Lee Ye-seol screamed, her voice rising.
"Can't you just let your mother be happy?"
Joo So-yang pleaded with her.
"Your happiness is wrong, Mother!"
"I don't think so!"
Joo So-yang shook her head.
"If anything was wrong, it was meeting Lee Jae-won twenty years ago instead of Sun-woo."
"Grrrgh!"
Lee Ye-seol gritted her teeth. Seeing her mother deny her father's very existence made her blood boil.
"I am going to live happily by Sun-woo's side for the rest of my life. So, please cooperate."
"There's no way I'll cooperate!"
Lee Ye-seol shouted in protest. How could she stand by and watch her beloved mother go down such a wrong path? While her father's neglect was pitiable, she could never accept the relationship with Sun-woo.
"Seol-ah, do you really have no intention of cooperating?"
Joo So-yang asked, looking at her daughter with sad eyes.
"None! Just kill me instead!"
Lee Ye-seol glared at her mother with eyes full of grim determination.
"I truly have no choice, then."
Joo So-yang looked at her with a gaze of pity. Then, she slowly began to reach out her hand.
Seeing this, Lee Ye-seol squeezed her eyes shut. She thought her mother might actually harm her.
Is she going to kill me to keep me quiet?
With her eyes closed, Lee Ye-seol feared that her mother, driven mad, might actually take her life.
Stroke, stroke.
Suddenly, she felt a soft sensation on her cheek. Startled, Lee Ye-seol quickly opened her eyes. She saw Joo So-yang gently stroking her cheek.
".........Weren't you going to kill me?"
Lee Ye-seol spoke, barely managing to calm her racing heart.
"You're such a coward... my child... how could a mother ever kill her own daughter?"
Joo So-yang, still stroking her cheek softly, spoke slowly.
"You'll regret not killing me. Because the moment I'm free, I'm going to tell Father everything."
Lee Ye-seol put on a brave front, driven by stubborn pride. Her attitude was one of 'kill me if you can.'
"You're so cute. Even when you're being stubborn."
Joo So-yang looked at her as if she were adorable.
"But haven't I told you repeatedly? I have no intention of killing my beloved daughter."
"Then what do you plan to do? Are you going to cut out my tongue? Or maybe my fingers?"
"What a horrible thing to say. How could a mother ever do something so cruel to her precious daughter?"
Joo So-yang looked genuinely shocked. The thought that her daughter viewed her that way seemed to hurt her.
"Then what are you going to do?"
"I intend to make you an accomplice."
A faint smile played on Joo So-yang’s lips.
"An... accomplice?"
Lee Ye-seol looked at her with a face full of confusion. She didn't understand. The affair was between Joo So-yang and Jang Sun-woo. How could she possibly be made an accomplice?
"That's right. An accomplice."
As if finding her daughter's confusion endearing, Joo So-yang’s smile grew even brighter.
Pinch.
Joo So-yang reached out and pinched the front of Lee Ye-seol’s robe.
Riiiiip!
And then, she began to tear it apart. Without a moment's hesitation.
"Kyaaaah! What are you doing?!"
Lee Ye-seol cried out in protest. What on earth was this sudden madness?
Rip! Riiiip! Riiip!
Despite her daughter's protests, Joo So-yang did not stop. She continued to pull and tear at the fabric.
Rip!
Boing.
The front of the robe was completely shredded, revealing the snow-white bra covering her breasts.
Riiiip!
Next, her skirt was torn away, exposing Lee Ye-seol’s long, supple thighs.
After a few moments of this, Lee Ye-seol was suddenly left in nothing but her undergarments. All by the hands of her own mother.
Lee Ye-seol’s face flushed deep red with shame. She glared at Joo So-yang with eyes full of resentment, as if looking at a mortal enemy.