Chapter 61 The Youngest Mother, Yun Gaeul (5)
Chapter 61 The Youngest Mother, Yun Gaeul (5)
Third Mother continued speaking, her voice dripping with undisguised disgust.
"Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"
Did she actually know? About everything I had just done with Second Mother in the shower?
No, that couldn't be.
Third Mother was the kind of person who hated me, her own son, for no reason, yet doted on her "sister" with unwavering devotion. If she had truly discovered what I'd done with Second Mother, she wouldn't be scolding me with such relative calm. Instead, she would have pretended not to know for now, only to later use the devotees loyal solely to her to try and kill me.
"Disgusting. Revolting. You sick bastard. How could you do that with your own mother..."
Crossing her arms, Third Mother shook her head slowly, her sharp gaze piercing through me. Her eyes were so frigid that I couldn't help but shrink under their weight.
"Da-eun may not be your birth mother, but she's still your mother."
"......"
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
"I know."
"And yet you still did that? Answer me. How many times have you done it?"
"......"
"Not going to answer?"
Third Mother wasn't violent like Fourth Mother. She didn't scheme behind my back like First Mother, weaving traps in the shadows.
But for me, someone as sharp and interrogative as Third Mother was the most terrifying.
Because I, more than anyone, knew the weight of my sins.
"Answer me. How many times?"
Like with the other mothers, having this kind of conversation with the logical, coldly rational Third Mother was deeply uncomfortable. So I kept my head bowed, letting my words trail off.
And even if I wanted to answer, I couldn't. That question was impossible.
"Son. Answer me."
At that moment, Third Mother—who rarely ever called me "son"—pressed me with a voice like ice. I couldn't hold out for long. The shameful secret spilled out before her.
"I don't know."
"You don't know? Hah... Is that your answer? You've gotten awfully arrogant lately, son. Did touching your mother's body make you think the other mothers would be easy too? That you could just do whatever you wanted with them? Son, at your age, you still don't get it? A pretty face means nothing for a man."
"No, I really don't know. I... I've done it so many times, I lost count."
"......"
Third Mother stood frozen for a moment, her face stiff. Then she uncrossed her arms, let out a hollow laugh, and walked past me, signaling for me to follow. Silently, I did.
We walked side by side for about five minutes.
Third Mother, with her long, slender legs striding ahead like a model, suddenly stopped. By then, the funeral hall behind us had shrunk into the distance.
"What do you plan to do now?"
Her voice, unexpectedly gentle, reached my ears.
I looked at her, puzzled. She had always been cold toward me, so why was she acting like this now, after learning of my sin? The moment our eyes met, her face twisted unnaturally, as if she were forcing the expression.
I was deeply wounded by the undisguised disgust in her eyes—disgust directed at her own son, a sinner who had committed incest.
But I couldn't blame her.
Under normal circumstances, maybe. But not this time.
After all, it wasn't just Fourth Mother. I had done the same with First Mother, and just this morning, with Second Mother.
And I, more than anyone, knew that none of it could be excused as unavoidable.
At first, maybe. But later, I had enjoyed it. The thrill of defiling my mothers' alluring faces and bodies with my own flesh.
"Are you just going to keep living like this?"
Third Mother asked.
I stood still, unsure what she meant.
"Is there something you want to do?"
Again, her voice was inexplicably kind.
This wasn't Second Mother, lost in fanaticism and insanity. Third Mother's erratic behavior left me deeply unsettled. Among all the mothers, she had always been the most composed, the most emotionally stable. Seeing her act like this was a first.
"Not answering? Then what, you'll just go back to the cult, keep doing your 'service duties,' and continue fucking Da-eun? Is that really what you want?"
"...Since when have you cared enough about me to ask something like this, Mother?"
At my words, Third Mother's calm expression flickered.
Compared to Fourth Mother, who would explode at the slightest provocation, her reaction was barely noticeable. But for Third Mother, this was her equivalent of furious anger.
"Mother? Not 'Mom,' but Mother..."
Yet, for some reason, instead of lashing out, she only muttered with a hint of melancholy.
Of course, Third Mother's emotional display was fleeting. Soon enough, she crossed her arms again and fixed me with that cold stare, as if the earlier moment had never happened.
"I asked what you plan to do from now on. Answer me. You're not a child anymore. You can't just live off the devotees' donations forever. You need to work. Not just 'servicing' your mother—real work. So, what do you want to do?"
"...I didn't want to do those things with Fourth Mother either."
"Then?"
"I don't know. But one thing's for sure... I don't want to stay in the cult anymore."
"You want to leave? The great Heavenly Child?"
I met her sarcasm with a firm answer.
"Yes."
Even if it was an impossible wish, it was the truth.
"Your sisters are waiting for you, aren't they?"
"Probably."
And that was exactly why I couldn't bring myself to seize the opportunity decisively.
Despite having defiled three mothers... I still wanted to be the kind little brother to my sister, the dependable older brother to my younger sister.
"So you'd betray your sisters just to leave the cult?"
"I'm not betraying them!"
I snapped before I could stop myself.
Third Mother's grip on her crossed arms tightened, her glare sharpening. I quickly steadied myself and muttered in a small voice.
"It's hard to explain, but it's not like that. If anything, I'm leaving for them."
"Fine. Do as you wish."
An all-too-easy permission.
Even though I had used Second Mother, even though I had struck her frail body—the body of a mother I had wanted to protect—all for the sake of escape, Third Mother granted the wish I thought impossible.
"Don't want to? Then you'll come back to the cult?"
Her words carried the implication that I, born as the son of a cult leader, had never had the choice of a normal life to begin with. And in that moment, I realized the reason behind all of Third Mother's strange behavior since earlier.
She had planned this from the start.
From the very beginning, she had intended to drive me out of the cult. That's why she had been acting so oddly.
But why?
With the cult leader—my father—already dealt with, I had become a useless liability. As the cult's accountant, the one managing the massive flow of donations, Third Mother had every reason to see me as a threat. The exact motive eluded me, but it was clear.
She had pretended to be kind, pretended to be a mother, just for this.
To lure me out of the funeral hall naturally, where we could be watched at any moment.
There was no other explanation. Third Mother, who had hated me without reason since childhood, had no cause to suddenly act affectionate.
Unless there had always been another reason she treated me, her own son, that way.
"So you're really leaving? That's... your decision as my son?"
Her voice, feigning respect for my choice when she had planned this all along, made me sick. But I nodded.
"...If that's what you want, son."
With that, she turned and began walking back toward the funeral hall.
I watched her retreating figure, strangely small, as a mix of emotions swirled inside me. At the same time, my mind remained coldly analytical.
With the police monitoring our every move, and me—the nominal highest-ranking member of the cult, despite having no real power—disappearing on my own, who stood to gain the most?
I didn't need to think long. It was Third Mother.
Especially since, for the time being, Fourth Mother and First Mother had been taken in for questioning.
The more I thought about it, the more I suspected this entire thing had been Third Mother's plan from the start.
'...The service duty assignments. Second Mother was the one who manipulated it so I'd be paired with Fourth Mother. But who actually manages that program? Not Second Mother. She handles doctrine. And she's terrible with technology.
So the real mastermind behind matching me with Fourth Mother—the one who orchestrated it all—was the cult's accountant. Third Mother.'
I finished my deduction swiftly.
"Mother... no, Seo A-ra. It was you. Just like you sold out my father, this time, you're trying to get rid of your own son."
I stared at Third Mother's back as she paused mid-step, tilting her head up at the sky. My whisper was too quiet for her to hear.
Once I framed it that way, countless details I had overlooked came rushing back.
The truth I would have realized sooner, had I not been drowning in the shock of my sins and the allure of my mothers' beautiful faces and bodies.
But I had subconsciously avoided seeing Third Mother as the culprit—until now.
"How could you?"
Just then, as if she had heard me, Third Mother shielded her eyes from the morning sun with her right hand and turned back toward me.
"Hm? What did you say?"
No matter how I looked at it, she was the one behind everything—not just matching me with Fourth Mother, but even waking First Mother and sending her to me. Yet she played dumb to the end.
I studied the little finger of her right hand, resting against her face.
It was bent differently from the others.
A lie.
A peculiar habit even she might not be aware of.
A habit that only surfaced when she lied.
A secret only her son knew.