Secret Cohabitation Love (Completed Main Story) - Side Story 1

Grandmother has died.

The Cheongnyeo mushroom she’d once brought back like a talisman from somewhere, saying she wanted to live a long life, had become useless.

There was no real will. She had only repeatedly muttered, like a habit, when fully lucid, not to go to Seoul—and one day before her death, with her dim pupils fixed on the ceiling, she slowly uttered only, “Kwon… Kwon…”

It was impossible to tell whether she’d said “Kwon” or “Geon.” It might have meant she wanted the Geon crackers she’d loved in life—or it might not have.

Eun Seo quickly carved out a moment and hurried to buy some Geon crackers. But those crackers never made it into Grandmother’s mouth. She hadn’t been in any condition to eat anything anyway.

After her dry lips closed, she fell into a coma. And so Eun Seo sent off her only remaining family member. Though Grandmother had been ailing gradually, it still felt sudden.

Just fifteen days earlier, Grandmother had still been able to lift a spoon and, leaning against the wall, gazed out at the courtyard with her pale, cloudy eyes.

There were no visitors expected, yet Eun Seo sat alone stoically, kept vigil throughout the wake, and arranged the funeral. Fortunately, the village head allowed her to bury Grandmother in the family plot on the ancestral hillside.

But even before Eun Seo had fully gathered her wits, Jo Sung Tae’s mother—the village’s old spinster’s mother—had already begun spreading rumors as if Eun Seo were practically her future daughter-in-law.

“Grandma Eun Seo promised me! She said to take care of Eun Seo after she passed. She clung to my hand, sobbing desperately. We’re not strangers, after all! I’ve known Eun Seo since middle school!”

“Yes, yes, that’s right. What you say makes perfect sense. Didn’t we even bring her food several times when she was sick?”

“Exactly, yes! Eun Seo there shouldn’t forget that kindness. So what if Sung Tae’s a bit older? Does age even matter? As long as a man’s strong and has money, that’s all that counts. Hey, didn’t you say Sung Tae’s saved up quite a bit?”

“Our Sung Tae’s been saving money for ages just to bring Eun Seo home. He’s got more bankbooks than I can count—probably at least three.”

“Since it’s come up, let’s settle it quickly. Eun Seo might leave for Seoul again. Last time, she went off to university there for her studies and left poor Sung Tae heartbroken. If we let a girl like Eun Seo slip away, it’d be throwing away good fortune.”

“Where’s she going to go? You need money to go anywhere. And who in Seoul would care about an orphan like her now? She’d be lucky not to get scammed. Don’t you agree?”

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