Chapter 256: Secretly_From_My_Husband.avi (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 256: Secretly_From_My_Husband.avi (2)
It was easy to understand why the ajeossi was so shocked to see his younger wife.
“She’s definitely… the spitting image of her old self.”
After all, among everyone present, he was the only one, besides her, who held the memory of her younger days.
However, understanding that this young woman was his wife was one thing; understanding why she had become this way was another matter entirely.
I showed the ajeossi the Hundred-Year Moonflower.
To be precise, it was a petal from a fresh flower that had been dried in the moonlight.
“So, you’re saying… this is that Hundred-Year Moonflower?”
“Yes.”
Hearing my answer, the ajeossi’s breathing quickened.
It seemed he knew something about the Hundred-Year Moonflower.
He wasn’t a Hunter, but he was an Awakened Being.
As someone with at least one foot in Hunter society, he must have picked up a few stories.
“Y-you fed this to my wife?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Hah…!”
With a look of despair, the ajeossi let out a deep sigh and sank into the back of his chair.
Puzzled by his reaction, the ajumma, Jeong-hee, asked.
“What’s wrong all of a sudden, dear…?”
The answer to her question came not from the ajeossi, but from Shin Yu-jeong, who was sitting beside her with her arms crossed, glaring at me and snorting like an angry bull.
“What do you mean, ‘what’s wrong’? It’s because what that bastard fed Mom, telling her it was just a ‘special moonflower,’ wasn’t just ‘a little’ special.”
Anger and jealousy poured relentlessly from her eyes.
The Hundred-Year Moonflower.
It seemed she was upset that I gave something so beneficial for Hunters to her mom instead of her.
Well, this is awkward.
“Do-jin. That flower… is it very expensive, by any chance?”
“Uh, well.”
Of course it was.
A spiritual flower like this doesn’t have a fixed price.
The supply is almost nonexistent, so whenever one appears, a heated auction takes place.
The price is determined by a combination of complex factors—which big shot wants it, and whether there’s another big shot to compete with them.
Still, if I had to give a rough average, a single petal would probably go for tens of millions of won.
“Well, you see…”
I had hidden the price until now because I didn’t want her to feel burdened.
But now that things had come to this, I couldn’t hide it anymore.
Besides, what could she do about it now?
The six petals she ate had long since dissolved into her body.
Just as I decided to come clean and figure out how to ease her burden later, and was about to speak…
“I just looked it up. The last Hundred-Year Moonflower that was sold went for 600 million won.”
Silence fell at the words she tossed out while scrolling through her smartphone.
The shock must have been immense. Jeong-hee, who had frozen solid, stared at me with a dazed look.
“Is… is what Yu-jeong just said true?”
“Well… it’s true, but you didn’t eat the whole flower, so it’s not quite 600 million…”
I was struggling to lessen her burden even a little, but Shin Yu-jeong, sitting next to her, started blabbing thoughtlessly again.
“Let’s see… there are six dried petals here, right? A moonflower usually has ten to twelve petals, so Mom ate about 300 million won’s worth.”
That girl, seriously.
“Hic.”
Jeong-hee started hiccuping, a look on her face that said she had no idea what to do.
“D-Do-jin, you… hic… why would you give something so expensive to me…”
“……”
Thanks to Shin Yu-jeong ruining everything, my plan went up in smoke.
The sudden financial shock was so great that Jeong-hee couldn’t stop hiccuping, something she’d never done in her life.
A gift is an excellent way to foster a more amicable relationship.
However, a gift so extravagant that it burdens the recipient can sometimes complicate things.
A gift that should be a source of pure joy can instead create a sense of indebtedness.
Now what…?
After some thought, I came up with the only remaining option and steeled myself.
All that was left was a direct approach.
“I gave it to you because you’re my ajumma.”
I began, looking at her with the most serious expression in the world.
Then, I took her hand, which was trembling delicately on the table, with both of mine and continued.
“I still remember it vividly. The day you took me in. It was a cold winter day, snowing heavily, and I was starving after not eating for days.”
Actually, I didn’t remember.
It wasn’t my experience to begin with, and this guy, who was worse than a beast, must not have considered that memory special, because it was far from vivid—it was incredibly faint.
If I hadn’t come to possess this body, he probably would have forgotten it completely.
“You gave me a room for cheap and brought me side dishes every day so the fridge was never empty.”
Even if it wasn’t something I experienced, that kindness doesn’t just disappear.
If Jeong-hee hadn’t saved this body back then, wouldn’t it have been found as a cold corpse on the street?
If that had happened… I never would have entered this body.
Wow… now that I think about it, that’s horrifying.
Suddenly, a wave of genuine sincerity washed over me.
“You’re nothing less than my savior. It’s because I didn’t die back then, because you constantly looked after me, that I was able to get my act together, however late, and come this far.”
“D-Do-jin…”
At some point, her hiccups had stopped.
One of the ways to stop hiccups is to give someone an emotional shock, I think.
It seemed my heartfelt words had stirred her emotions greatly.
“Ajumma.”
“Y-yes.”
“Everything I am today was made possible because of you. So please, don’t feel burdened.”
“D-Do-jin…”
Jeong-hee looked at me with teary eyes, deeply moved.
“Ajumma…!”
I felt relieved seeing that the burden that had filled her face seemed to have melted away.
Phew.
That’s one problem solved.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
It was dinnertime.
Whether it was because her husband was back, or because she was moved by my words, there was more food on the table than usual.
It was enough to put a decent Korean restaurant to shame.
“Eat well! Oh, you too, dear.”
“Uh, y-yeah.”
“Thank you for the meal.”
The four of them gathered at the four-person table and began their meal.
The delicious food made my mouth water, but… one thing kept bothering me.
“Honey, can you debone the fish for me?”
“Just eat something else for now.”
“Haha, alright.”
The sight of the couple sitting side-by-side across from me kept getting on my nerves.
I guess I couldn’t do anything about them sitting together… they were still a married couple, after all. But the sight of that guy, who was just in the car agonizing over whether to leave his wife, now acting all friendly and asking her to debone his fish was really pissing me off.
“It’s not like he doesn’t have hands…”
What pissed me off even more was that Jeong-hee actually stopped eating and started deboning the fish just as he asked.
How forgiving of her. So very forgiving.
She was doing that for him even after knowing what he was up to in Haenam?
Just as I was starting to feel sick to my stomach at her incomprehensible behavior…
“Here, Do-jin. Have some of this. I went to the market today and the mackerel was excellent.”
“……”
The carefully deboned fish was placed not on the ajeossi’s spoon, but on mine.
“Wait, honey…? What about mine…”
“Wait. I’ll get to yours in a moment.”
My heart felt full as I watched Jeong-hee shoot me a subtle glance.
“Eat up, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Suddenly, my appetite came roaring back.
The fish Jeong-hee had so carefully prepared went to me first, then to Yu-jeong, and only then did it go to her husband, the ajeossi.
She gave it to me first, and then diluted the meaning by giving it to everyone.
What am I going to do with this clever fox?
As I was feeling deeply moved, eating three whole spoonfuls of rice with just the fish she’d prepared for me…
“Hey, don’t just eat fish. Eat some meat, meat.”
Shin Yu-jeong, sitting next to me, grumbled as she piled a huge amount of bulgogi onto my rice bowl.
Is this the Shin Yu-jeong style of caring for someone?
“Uh… thanks?”
“Don’t thank me for something like this.”
Contrary to her gruff tone, the corners of her mouth, which had been flat just a moment ago, were slightly raised.
Pretending not to care after doing something nice, pretending not to be happy when she is.
I don’t know what rhythm I’m supposed to dance to.
Is it that she’s still mad, but she doesn’t want to push me away by being angry all the time… something like that?
“You have some too.”
I felt bad just receiving, so I gave her some food too.
At that, the corners of her mouth went up another 0.1mm.
If this keeps up, I might be able to placate her pretty quickly…?
While we were bickering and exchanging side dishes like that…
“Honey.”
“What is it?”
“Our Yu-jeong and Do-jin… don’t they look like a good match?”
Out of the blue, the ajeossi started trying to set me and Yu-jeong up.
Jeong-hee’s gaze shifted between me and Yu-jeong.
It was the same warm gaze as always, but why did I suddenly feel so intimidated?
“Hmm… I don’t know.”
“No, take a good look. I don’t think there could be a more perfect match made in heaven…”
“Dear?”
“Y-yes?”
“You’re spraying rice. Just eat quietly.”
“Ahem… I suppose I will.”
…Read the room, ajeossi.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
“Ugh, I’m stuffed.”
“Thank you for the meal.”
After eating until our stomachs were about to burst, Shin Yu-jeong said she had a quick errand to run and zipped out of the house. The ajeossi, patting his bulging belly, half-lay on the living room sofa and grabbed the remote.
The only one left cleaning up the dishes was Jeong-hee.
Maybe she’s a living Buddha or something.
Seeing how she doesn’t get angry once, even when her daughter and husband don’t clear their own plates, the idea doesn’t seem entirely baseless.
Anyway.
A perfect opportunity had presented itself to me.
“Ajumma, I’ll help.”
I stayed in the kitchen, hovering around her and starting to help clean up.
I gathered all the dishes scattered on the table into the sink, wiped the table with a cloth…
While helping her, I looked for a way to use this situation to my advantage.
Our relationship was ripening nicely, but the obstacle named ‘husband’ was standing squarely in the way.
Normally, I should be careful while the ajeossi is around.
But if I did that, could our relationship ever progress beyond a simple affair?
So I decided to use this moment instead.
“Do-jin, you just have to rinse the dishes I give you.”
“Okay.”
The layout of the sink forced us to stand side-by-side, our shoulders almost touching, to do the dishes.
The loud sound of rushing water and the noisy TV from the living room.
I glanced over and saw the ajeossi, still half-lying down, scratching his belly and watching TV.
This should be fine…?
With my wet hand, I lightly squeezed her butt.
“Oh my…!”
Jeong-hee flinched, startled.
“What do you think you’re doing…!”
I replied in a serious tone to her angry, surprised face.
“Stay still.”
“W-what if my husband sees…”
As she voiced her worries, her trembling body slowly stilled.
“Don’t worry. He can’t see from that angle.”
She let out a small sigh and started moving her hands again, which had stopped.
I was relieved that she didn’t seem to be rejecting my touch.
Honestly, I was a little worried.
I was afraid that seeing her husband’s face after so long might make her feel guilty and push me away again.
Thankfully, it seemed my worries were unfounded.
“Tell me honestly.”
“What…?”
“When the ajeossi and I got home, who were you happier to see?”
To my jealous question, she blushed and answered with a smile.
“It was you, Do-jin, of course.”
The soft feeling of her butt under my fingertips and an answer that couldn’t have made me happier.
Maybe I was already playing in heaven.
The thrill of knowing she preferred me over her husband sent a light shiver through my body.
It didn’t stop there; my dick stood straight up.
Suppressing the urge to fuck her right then and there, I spoke to her.
“Jeong-hee, look here.”
“Where… oh my.”
Her eyes widened as she followed my finger down.
“I don’t think this is going down unless I get a load off…”
I whispered in a low voice into her ear.
“Suck it.”
She swallowed hard.