That Night's Circumstance (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 9
“Hello?”
—It’s me.
In Ho blinked blankly.
The voice coming through the phone was unbearably curt.
It was a tone he’d never once heard from his mother before.
Though deeply puzzled by this, he kept his composure and replied briefly.
“Yes. I know.”
—What? What did you say?
His mother’s immediate reaction was anything but normal.
‘Ah, would Choi Soo Yeon have answered like this?’
A deep furrow instantly creased In Ho’s brow.
“Ah, I mean… um, why did you call so early? Is something wrong?”
—Kid, did you eat something strange?
“…It’s not that, but I’m not exactly feeling great right now. Sorry, but could you just quickly tell me what you need to say?”
He had no intention whatsoever of putting Soo Yeon in an awkward position, yet this was genuinely the best he could manage in his current state.
His head was already a tangled mess—he absolutely did not want his own mother adding to it.
But there was no way she could have understood his feelings through the phone.
—Huh! Unbelievable! Did you call just to get back at me for telling you yesterday to leave after giving you the cold shoulder? Is that it? Huh?
“Ah, it’s not like that.”
—Not like that? What do you mean, ‘not like that’! Forget it, kid! Honestly, I can’t bring myself to like you no matter how hard I try! Do whatever you want—come or don’t come!
The call ended abruptly.
In Ho stared dumbfounded at his phone, now silent.
He couldn’t help but be utterly bewildered.
He’d never seen his mother act this way—hadn’t even imagined it possible.
Yet what confused him even more was her final remark: come or don’t come, as he pleased.
“Come or don’t come?”
Had he promised to go home today?
“Hah, of all the times… seriously, nothing ever goes right.”
In Ho set his phone down irritably.
But after a sigh, he had no choice but to pick it up again.
He could be annoyed all he wanted—he had no intention of personally creating mother-in-law–daughter-in-law conflict.
The dial tone rang from the phone pressed against his ear.
It didn’t take long for the other party to answer.
“I’d like to make a reservation. Are you available in an hour?”
His request was brief.
After quickly wrapping up the call, In Ho moved with grim determination.
***
“Madam, the youngest daughter-in-law has arrived.”
Ignoring Yeong Cheon’s announcement, Young Sun narrowed her eyes and checked the time.
1:48 PM.
It was well past noon.
Young Sun glared fiercely at the tightly closed inner gate.
She’d thought the girl at least tried—showing up faithfully every morning by 10 AM—but apparently, this was her limit.
“Really, there’s not a single thing about her I can approve of.”
Young Sun muttered irritably under her breath.
At the time of the marriage, Tae Shin Group wasn’t her ideal choice, but considering her son wasted his life in that frivolous entertainment industry, it was already a relief he hadn’t married someone from that world.
Because of this underlying thought, there’d been no reason for Soo Yeon not to appear lovely in her eyes.
Truly, that was all Young Sun had cared about:
The eldest daughter of Tae Shin Group—and a demure, well-mannered young lady.
But then she’d learned far too late that her beloved youngest daughter-in-law wasn’t Tae Shin Group’s biological child but an adopted one.
It was utterly shocking.
She’d accepted this daughter-in-law solely because she seemed like a well-raised, gentle girl from a decent family—and even that turned out to be a lie.
To Young Sun, this revelation felt like a bolt from the blue.
Worse yet, she hadn’t heard it from her daughter-in-law herself but through high-society gossip, where people loved spreading others’ secrets.
Consequently, not only was she deeply shocked, but her hard-earned dignity as the lofty mistress of TK Group had plummeted to rock bottom.
How could she not be furious?
From that day on,
her youngest daughter-in-law—arriving each day in her usual modest attire—now seemed nothing but a deceitful liar wrapped entirely in pretense.
How much had she adored her?
Among her four daughters-in-law, she’d shown her the most care and treated her with the greatest warmth.
How could she do this to her?
Young Sun clenched her arms tightly, struggling to suppress the renewed surge of boiling anger.
Just then, the inner gate opened, and a familiar voice sounded.
“I’m here.”
…I’m here?
A hollow laugh rose to the back of Young Sun’s throat.
She’d just started softening slightly—thinking the girl at least recognized her own wrongdoing by acting so contrite like a guilty criminal.
Yet now, just one day later, her daughter-in-law sounded like a completely different person—as if she’d eaten something strange.
Young Sun was flabbergasted but showed no reaction, not even acknowledging the greeting.
If her daughter-in-law dared act so insolent, she’d respond with even more intense disregard.
“What? Is nobody here?”
That voice—twisting Young Sun’s insides—spoke again.
Her fingertips trembled violently, but she gripped her teacup tightly, forcing herself to stay calm.
She knew full well that Young Sun always sat in this spot, drinking tea at this hour.
And yet—”Is nobody here?”
The more Young Sun reflected on her daughter-in-law’s attitude, the higher her blood pressure climbed.
She felt ready to faint from shock—but her daughter-in-law’s audacity didn’t end there.
“Ah, there you are. Didn’t you hear me say I’d arrived?”
Having spotted her, the daughter-in-law cheerfully pretended they’d acknowledged each other.
Her attitude had changed completely.
Just yesterday, she would bow her head to the floor, too timid to utter even a single word.
What on earth had happened?
Young Sun’s blood boiled, but she clung to her composure and spoke sharply,
still refusing to look directly at Soo Yeon.
“So now you’re treating me like I’m deaf?”
“I did speak. Calling you deaf? I knew you saw me come in—you just pretended not to, so I said it again.”
“Huh? What did you just say?”
But Young Sun’s patience wasn’t an endless well.
She’d finally reached her limit and snapped her head up.
The moment she did, her mouth fell open and her eyes widened in utter disbelief.
“Child, what on earth happened to you?”
Young Sun gasped, her voice trembling with shock.
She was so stunned she could barely speak.
Even after learning the adoption truth and feeling deeply betrayed, she hadn’t cast her out right away—precisely because the girl always appeared so neat and behaved so demurely.
At least that matched the image of the gentle young lady she’d first seen, softening her heart.
She might have been wrong about the girl coming from a suitable family, but she’d believed the “gentle young lady” judgment was accurate.
Though ungrateful, Young Sun hadn’t intended to push for divorce—she’d been trying to calm herself with that thought.
Yet overnight, her daughter-in-law had become a completely different person.
Not just her behavior or tone—even that outward appearance she’d once found pleasing despite her betrayal was now utterly transformed.
She was a completely new person.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?”
“What do you mean, ‘don’t you like it’—?!!”
Young Sun blatantly scanned Soo Yeon from head to toe with furious, trembling eyes.
Each time her gaze fixed on a detail, another gasp of horrified astonishment escaped her lips.
Heavy makeup she’d never seen before, and that long hair—always neatly tied up—now hung in thick, cascading waves.
If that had been all, she might not have been so shocked.
What truly horrified her was the tight, short dress hugging her daughter-in-law’s body.
She simply couldn’t bear the sight.
Jumping up from her seat, she abandoned even the dignity she’d guarded like her life and began pointing accusingly at Soo Yeon.
“You’ve really decided to go all out and misbehave, haven’t you!”
Young Sun bellowed, eyes bulging as if she’d start foaming at the mouth any second.
The only small mercy in this chaos was that her daughter-in-law—previously so boldly chattering—had finally fallen silent, apparently startled by this sudden outburst.
Seizing the momentum, Young Sun grew even more incensed.
Clearly, the girl was trying to humble her like this—but she had no intention of yielding easily.
Yet Soo Yeon’s next quiet remark was more than enough to make Young Sun clutch her chest in disbelief.
“Seriously? I just went shopping. If this counts as ‘going all out to misbehave,’ then what am I supposed to do?”
It was an answer she could never have imagined.
Young Sun forgot all her prior fierce resolve and stood there, mouth agape, sputtering incoherently.
Just a few simple words had emptied her mind entirely, leaving it as blank as white paper.
Through her parted lips, a helpless sigh escaped almost instinctively.
“Huh—just listen to that shameless mouth! I’m absolutely astounded…”
Young Sun was so incredulous her strength drained away completely.
Her legs, which had been firmly planted on the floor, suddenly turned to jelly, and she collapsed onto the sofa.
Only then did Soo Yeon finally show a hint of surprise and ask in a softened tone,
“Are you angry?”
At Soo Yeon’s brazen attitude, Young Sun merely twitched her lips soundlessly.
‘Angry? Astounded—that’s what I am. Absolutely astounded.’
No matter how she looked at it, the daughter-in-law before her eyes was wearing the mask of the girl she’d known—but wasn’t the real person at all.
That was the only explanation that made sense.
Her immediate next behavior confirmed it.
“…Hmm, why are you angry again?”
After acting so shamelessly, she now looked genuinely confused about what she’d done wrong.
Young Sun finally clutched her chest in despair.
But Soo Yeon’s audacity didn’t end there.
“By the way, Mother—have you always treated me like this…?”
“What?!”
Young Sun’s eyes widened in disbelief.
This was outrageous—far beyond acceptable limits.
‘Have I always treated you like this? Absolutely not! I was the one who cherished you most! And now, after turning me into this, you dare say something like that?’
Young Sun glared at Soo Yeon with seething fury.
Soo Yeon then showed a flicker of panic.
“No, I—I mean, when I was… no, when I was with In Ho, you seemed really kind to me.”
“You’ve really eaten something awful—something seriously wrong!”
Young Sun slammed her palm hard onto the sofa armrest.
She couldn’t endure another word of this arrogant nonsense.
Even though she’d acted coldly, a sliver of pity had lingered in her heart.
It had built up from seeing her daughter-in-law bow her head guiltily each time she stood before her.
But if all those past behaviors had been mere pretense—and today’s behavior was her true self—then the thought made Young Sun shiver.
She ground her teeth.
Today, she would finally teach her exactly what it meant to live under her mother-in-law’s roof.
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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