As a Stepfather, I Set Out to Comfort My Stepdaughter
“What??? You want me to hold A-young??? That… are you saying what I think you’re saying?????”
Having taken the strongest female on Earth as his wife, Geum Tae-yang could never fail to grasp exactly what Kim Min-jung’s words meant. Her gaze, her tone, the very atmosphere around her told him at once what she was after. Yet the demand was so outrageous and bold that his eyes went round as he asked for confirmation. Even then, because the person in question was Kim Min-jung’s own daughter Park A-young, he could not bring himself to put it into words outright.
“That’s right… Sex… Hold our A-young as a woman, Tae-yang…”
To the thoroughly flustered Geum Tae-yang, Kim Min-jung dropped the word “sex” without the slightest hesitation. It had already been foreseeable. When she had spoken Park A-young’s heart in her place, Kim Min-jung’s eyes had held a firm resolve. She had made up her mind.
“Right now the only person who can comfort A-young and stay beside her so she doesn’t fall apart is you, Tae-yang…”
Yes. Kim Min-jung now understood it with absolute clarity. Just as she herself had been saved and kept alive through Geum Tae-yang, Park A-young too had been receiving salvation through him all this time. That was how her daughter had endured. But now that Kim Min-jung herself had claimed Geum Tae-yang, her beloved daughter had nowhere left to lean. The reason Park A-young had shut herself away in the corner of her room was precisely that.
“I know it’s an incredibly rude thing to ask of you, Tae-yang… but there’s nothing else… so…”
With her resolve still firm, Kim Min-jung trailed off slightly at the end. She knew how pure and sincere Geum Tae-yang’s feelings for her were. If it had been Geum Tae-yang who first formed a connection befitting his status window and met another woman, that would be one thing. But for Kim Min-jung herself to make the proposal first felt like an insult to that pure love.
Whoosh!
Then Geum Tae-yang pulled Kim Min-jung into a tight embrace.
“Rude?! What kind of talk is that, Auntie! I’m yours! And A-young’s too! Because we’re family!”
How could he possibly accept that? He could never stand to see the woman he loved, Kim Min-jung, drowning in guilt and apology. It was precisely to keep from seeing her like that that he had chosen this immoral relationship with her in the first place. By holding Kim Min-jung even tighter, he poured that will out to the fullest.
“You’re telling me to love A-young the same way I love you, right? What couldn’t I do? My love overflows this much. So Auntie, don’t make that face. Demand it more proudly.”
He appealed with confidence as well. And it was no mere bluster. He took pride in his love. Geum Tae-yang had always burned everything for Kim Min-jung without holding back—not sharing what he had, but giving it all without remainder. That was Geum Tae-yang’s creed of love, so what mattered was not his own position, but only the relationship between the two women.
“Hwaaaah…! Tae-yang…! Thank you so much…! For understanding a request like this from me…! Hwaaaah…!”
Squeeze…!
Mama Kim Min-jung finally pulled Geum Tae-yang into a fierce hug and burst into tears. The man who always appeared like a prince and held out his hand whenever she was in the greatest trouble—Geum Tae-yang. Because he was that kind of man, she could ask him to hold her daughter Park A-young. As expected, Geum Tae-yang was a man whose love even embraced that worry of Kim Min-jung’s.
Creeeak…!
The sound of Park A-young’s door, which had been slightly ajar, opening further.
“Um, Mom… I’m fine… You don’t have to keep coming and going like that…”
Lying on the bed facing the wall, Park A-young answered the door sound in a voice full of sighs. Her tone seemed quite deliberate—feeling sorry for her mother who was coming and going because of her, she was putting on a troublesome act so that she would stop coming altogether.
“It’s me, Park A-young. Drop that assumption that it’s Auntie Min-jung.”
But the one who entered her room was her de facto new stepfather, Geum Tae-yang.
“What the hell are you doing!! Why are you coming in!! I told you not to come in!!”
It was the utterly solemn voice of stepfather Geum Tae-yang. Park A-young bared the sharp claws she had been hiding from him for a while and snarled.
“.....”
Then Geum Tae-yang looked down at her without a word. He seemed quite composed. Normally, getting flustered or matching fire with fire was the reaction Geum Tae-yang usually showed in situations like this.
You little minx… You dyed your hair blonde and even shaved your pussy hair just to look good for me, is that it?
The reason was that he had come after hearing the full situation from Kim Min-jung.
Then everything you’ve done to me up until now makes sense. Honestly, I was on the fence. I wondered if A-young’s tastes had suddenly gone weird.
From Geum Tae-yang’s perspective, even after her personality turned foul in puberty, he had still thought Park A-young considered him a good friend. But she felt so sadistic that he had wondered whether her male-related tendencies had been fundamentally twisted by her hatred of men stemming from Park Do-chul. Upon learning that her heart was love directed at him, however, everything clicked. It had been the immature Park A-young’s thrashing about, begging him to notice her feelings and not cut off his interest in her.
A serious tsundere brat.
He had known she was a tsundere, but not to this degree.
In that case, I should approach it like this…
Though his first romance was with Kim Min-jung, Geum Tae-yang was a veteran when it came to miscellaneous knowledge, so once he had sufficient prior information about Park A-young, he immediately locked onto a response route.
No holding back, right?
Thud!!
The tsundere woman with her spines raised like a hedgehog—the way to melt that woman was to advance without fearing those spines. Geum Tae-yang immediately sat down on the bed next to Park A-young, who was lying turned away.
“Hey, can’t you hear me?? I told you to leave! Why the hell are you sitting there!!!”
Then Park A-young raised her hedgehog spines even higher. But her slightly trembling voice—that was her shrinking back. She had raised the hedgehog spines fully, yet she did not want the other person to get hurt by them. So she showed her spirit by raising the spines while crouching her body so that the range of those spines themselves was maintained.
You little minx… Look at that trembling voice. She even flinched her body for a moment.
Geum Tae-yang was quite dense when it came to Park A-young, so normally he might not have noticed. But he had learned the entire truth. Wasn’t Geum Tae-yang the type to be sincere toward those who desired him? Moreover, even his beloved Kim Min-jung had pleaded with tears. Every single cell of Geum Tae-yang was fully reacting to Park A-young’s form.
Park A-young was afraid.
There was something Geum Tae-yang had decisively caught onto. He had figured out why Park A-young had absolutely forbidden him, of all people, from entering.
Because if she leaned on me, she would properly cross the line.
Just as Kim Min-jung had anticipated, Park A-young wanted to lean on Geum Tae-yang. She wanted to vent and cry. In her little-kid days she had actually done so. Even in her puberty years she had taken on such appearances through roundabout methods. But she could not do that now. Her pillar Geum Tae-yang was her mother’s lover. An enormous sorrow had struck, and if she received comfort for that sorrow from Geum Tae-yang, Park A-young herself instinctively felt that their relationship would ultimately culminate in sex.
I heard it in passing from other friends in college too. The easiest woman to seduce is a wounded woman.
If she vents and cries in his arms, even if there is only a certain amount of interest between them, it would not be strange for history to be made that day. And Park A-young had been secretly in love with Geum Tae-yang for ten years. That it would lead to fiery sex was a foregone conclusion, wasn’t it? So Park A-young had put up an extreme iron wall.
“Isn’t it natural for a friend to come when their heart is hurt? You’re the weird one for telling me not to come.”
Geum Tae-yang opened his mouth. His voice was quite solemn. Rather than a gentle appearance, he sought to give Park A-young a sense of security through a steadfast atmosphere.
“Tch…! Since when did you ever think of me as that much of a friend… Always just hanging out with Mom…”
The effect was certain. Above all, what was important now was for Park A-young to pour out what was inside her. Whatever kind it was, it was important that it came out first. One of them had come out. Though she had earnestly wished for her mom and Geum Tae-yang’s happiness, the current situation where she could not hang out with Geum Tae-yang as much as before had made Park A-young lonely.
“After moving into the bunker, you were always just on the main control room computer. Of course, if it were before, I might have come and gone even more frequently taking that into account, but the fact is I was also out almost every day hunting zombies.”
“So shouldn’t you have made a separate effort from your side, A-young, unlike before?”
Geum Tae-yang’s speech and voice were not the only things that were solemn. More than ever, he continued the conversation with Park A-young based on logical, complete justifications.
What A-young needs most right now…
After the frank conversation with Kim Min-jung, as he came up to Park A-young’s room on the second floor, Geum Tae-yang had thought a lot.
In the end, isn’t it a father?
At the end of that deep thought, the conclusion Geum Tae-yang reached was a father.
The way she took out her anger on me after getting cheated on by Park Do-chul—maybe she was taking it out assuming I was Park Do-chul.
Well, back then I didn’t know that and just reacted however I felt like.
Though her body had grown, Park A-young was actually still stuck in that little-kid state. She had continued to want the attention that a girl of that age craves from a father.
So from what I can see, what A-young wanted was, whenever she showed that coltish behavior, a fatherly dignity from me, or something warm that accepted her while still having dignity.
Park A-young had not always just thrown tantrums. She wanted conversation. Even if there were problems with the method of conversation, what she wanted was that. Thus, when Geum Tae-yang maintained a silent state and then suddenly poured out an explosive reaction, Park A-young’s side would display an even more active response—because she wanted sincere communication.
“Of course, my thoughts might be wrong. So tell me your thoughts honestly, A-young.”
Dignity like a father, yet horizontal leadership that seeks to communicate—with such an appearance, Geum Tae-yang sought to approach Park A-young.
“Honestly… it is true that I was stuck on the second floor too much…”
Geum Tae-yang’s sincere analysis-mode thoughts were accurate. And the effect was outstanding. It was probably because it was Geum Tae-yang’s drive unfolded in a more special situation than usual. Park A-young, looking persuaded, hesitated with a much more timid voice.
“I want to have a more honest conversation with you, A-young. It’s fine if you keep lying down, but shouldn’t we at least see each other’s faces? I want to see your face, Park A-young.”
Grin…!
Hearing that voice of Park A-young’s, a smile of success formed on Geum Tae-yang’s lips. He himself felt that his intention had sufficiently taken effect. So Geum Tae-yang drove even harder.
“No… I’ll get up… It’s not like my body hurts or anything… But my outfit is a bit…”
Swoosh…!
Park A-young also wanted to see Geum Tae-yang’s face. She had simply been maintaining her posture because she had no justification to turn around first, and Geum Tae-yang had created the timing. There was no way Park A-young would miss that. She promptly took the bait.
“Haha! Your outfits have always been something else, though.”
Geum Tae-yang made light of it upon hearing the outfit mention. It was so pitifully cute that she brought up outfits when she was the one who went around in no panties, no bra, tight crop tops and dolphin shorts.
“!!!!!!!!!!!!”
But Geum Tae-yang’s eyes went wide when he saw Park A-young, who had thrown off the blanket and sat up turned around.
“I couldn’t wear something with zombie blood on it…”
Because Park A-young was completely naked.