After finishing her part-time job and stopping by the library, So-young got home past 9 PM.
Anticipating that her mother, Yeong-sun, would be late due to overtime, she entered the house with a plastic bag of dumplings for a quick dinner.
Unexpectedly, Yeong-sun was sitting at the dining table.
“Why are you so late?” her mother asked, and So-young, in turn, asked, “Mom, why are you home so early? Aren’t you doing overtime today?”
“Today, I took a half day off.”
“A half day? What do you mean?”
“It was an awkward time to take a full half-day off, so I just took a part off.”
“What time?”
Yeong-sun sighed lightly and said, “There was a memorial event at Daehun Commercial Complex today.”
“Ah… Why did you go there? People there don’t even like you.”
“I didn’t go inside. Just watched from afar. They didn’t see me.”
So-young turned away from her mother’s words and went to her room to drop off her bag and outerwear, then returned to the kitchen.
“Don’t go there in the future. It’s not your fault.”
“But he was still my dad.”
“Anyway.”
So-young couldn’t understand why her mother had to bear the burden for something her father should have been responsible for. He just cowardly ran away. She understood her father’s feelings, but it still felt unjust.
“Is your studying going well?”
“Uh? Oh… well…”
Every time her mother asked this question, So-young wondered whether to talk about her part-time job or not.
But with less than two weeks left, she thought it would just upset her mother and decided to stay quiet.
Yeong-sun looked at her daughter’s neat face and spoke quietly.
“So-young, even though it’s hard studying right now, find a job that you can keep going to consistently. A woman should be self-reliant. That way, you can cope with any situation, whether you get married or not.”
“Can’t I just keep doing what I’ve been doing?”
So-young asked cautiously, watching her mother’s reaction.
“What you’ve been doing?”
“Just teaching kids at a local academy and writing when I have time.”
“That’s not stable, that’s why.”
So-young understood her mother’s meaning, but she had felt that office work was really not her thing after preparing TOEIC scores, resumes, and cover letters.
Maybe if she was into architectural design like her mom. But So-young didn’t major in design.
She was looking hard to meet her mother’s expectations of seeing her daughter in a respectable job, but she couldn’t help feeling a bit resentful that her mother didn’t understand her desires.
So-young rubbed her chest unconsciously as if a stone was rolling around in her heart.
“Check the corrections I made on the typos on page 23. And the characters’ dialogues seem to overlap a lot, did you do that on purpose?”
Yeong-sun’s comment prompted Woo-jin to activate his laptop’s reader, which began reading out the text Woo-jin had written.
The speed was too fast for most people to understand, but Yeong-sun, who was trained, immediately found the part she pointed out.
“Here, here.”
“Hmm…”
After pondering silently, Woo-jin said simply, “I’ll revise it.”
“Don’t rush because of the publication date. Take your time.”
“How can I not rush? Every day’s delay costs money.”
“The braille translation is also delayed, so it’s fine.”
“Are you going to blame me if the publishing house goes bankrupt?”
Although Woo-jin grumbled unnecessarily, Yeong-sun smiled amiably and went to sit on a single sofa.
“When have I ever blamed you?”
“You had nothing to blame me for. I’ve always met the deadlines precisely.”
“That’s why you can’t sleep properly. Take care of yourself while doing it.”
“I can’t sleep if I don’t write. When I’m working, I eventually get sleepy, then I can rest.”
At that moment, Ji-hyun rustled in her bag and pulled out a white box, placing it deliberately on Woo-jin’s desk with a noticeable sound.
“I’ve left your nebulizer medicine here. It’s almost finished, right?”
“Yeah.”
Woo-jin wanted to express his gratitude, but he just swallowed the words. He was indeed thankful. For being allowed to pursue his passion and for the little things Ji-hyun always took care of.
However, after a major fight the day before the accident, Woo-jin had stopped saying thank you, and Ji-hyun no longer expected it. Instead, Woo-jin showed his gratitude by never missing a deadline and following Ji-hyun’s editorial direction, while Ji-hyun supported his aspirations, expressing her remorse in that way.
These feelings motivated both of them to keep going.
After heating up a lunchbox for a late dinner, Ji-hyun looked at his brother, who was putting down his spoon, and asked, “Why is the lunchbox always untouched when you eat lunch with So-young?”
“So-young brings food.”
“Every day?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s impressive.”
“Yeah. So I pay her well.”
Expecting his brother to scoff at the notion of ‘impressive,’ Ji-hyun was surprised when Woo-jin readily agreed and even mentioned giving her a good salary. Smiling, Ji-hyun asked, “Is it okay?”
“What is?”
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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