Even Han Ga Eul couldn’t help but feel deflated when caught sneaking out of the hospital. Seeing this, Dae Un continued his offensive.

“Now, let’s hear it. Han Ga Eul, who’s so good at discerning right from wrong that she doesn’t hold back on lecturing and criticizing the boss. Great, let’s use this opportunity to show Young Min’s father. Let’s get proper revenge. If it wasn’t to make the wound bigger with such intentions, why did you ignore the doctor’s orders and sneak out of the hospital?”

“Sir.”

Ga Eul gathered all her remaining dignity to speak with authority. Han Ga Eul has human dignity too, you know.

The right to live while maintaining human dignity – not showing one’s innermost self to others, eating when hungry. The boss seems to have forgotten that I have such rights too.

As a result, Ga Eul showed that it was possible to criticize even in a voice that was fading from hunger.

“I’ll handle my own affairs. Even if I snuck out of the hospital to get back at Young Min’s father, that’s between Young Min’s father and me. It’s not your concern, sir.”

Those words acted as a detonator for Se Hyun. A laughter detonator. Se Hyun clenched his teeth and tightened his lips, trying to hold back the laughter that was bursting out.

So there actually exists a human on Earth who can stand up to Ki Dae Un. Is it because the puppy doesn’t know to fear the tiger? Anyway, it was enjoyable to watch Dae Un getting a taste of his own medicine.

However, Dae Un was no pushover either.

“Now I see that Han Ga Eul is really an inconsiderate person. Your business, you say? Is this just Han Ga Eul’s business? The incident scene is my office. From the moment you dragged Young Min’s father into my office, it ceased to be just your business.”

Dae Un spoke, struggling to pull his gaze up from constantly drifting towards Ga Eul’s chest. He would have no defense if Se Hyun called him a ‘dimwit’.

Ga Eul couldn’t refute immediately. She hadn’t expected the boss to be so unreasonable.

“If you hadn’t stolen a peek at my stock investment account in the first place and encouraged Young Min’s mother to follow suit, would Young Min’s father have barged into my office?”

Ga Eul shook her head slightly. This wasn’t unreasonable.

“Stealing a look at my stock account without my permission, isn’t that a crime?”

“A crime?”

Ga Eul’s lips trembled.

“Yes, a crime. You didn’t even have a sense it was criminal? That’s why you boldly followed my investments. Even dragging in Young Min’s mother. You didn’t operate a borrowed-name account under Young Min’s mother’s name, did you?”

Dae Un pressed on fiercely. Ga Eul shook her head again. Shaking her head while hungry brought on a wave of dizziness. Her head was spinning. She couldn’t even hear what the boss was saying. Only one thought came to mind.

A crime, he says. She suddenly felt scared. She was only trying to help Young Min’s mother. Of course, she also wanted to make some money in the process.

With these thoughts, Ga Eul slowly collapsed to the side.

“Ga Eul, Han Ga Eul!”

Dae Un cried out, catching Ga Eul in his arms. For some reason, it sounded to Ga Eul like the boss was crying out in distress. Well, you should treat me better when I’m awake, you jerk. That was the thought that came to Ga Eul as everything went black.

* * *

When Ga Eul opened her eyes again, it was morning. Grandmother was sitting in a chair beside the hospital bed, looking at her with concern.

“Grandmother.”

“You’re awake. How do you feel? Are you in pain anywhere? Should I call the nurse?”

“No, I’m fine. Nothing hurts. I think I could be discharged now. I didn’t need to be hospitalized, the boss overreacted.”

To show she was fine, Ga Eul got out of the hospital bed and sat at the table.

“Don’t say that. I heard you collapsed again last night. My heart nearly stopped when I heard that. I shouldn’t have gone home. I should have stayed yesterday.”

Ga Eul’s efforts to ease her grandmother’s worries were in vain. Grandmother’s concerns weren’t alleviated at all.

“You should eat something. You seem to have skipped dinner yesterday too. You didn’t even touch the lunchbox yesterday. Was it because it was rice? I must have lost my mind. Why did I bring rice? I brought some porridge today. You can eat porridge, right?”

Grandmother muttered apologetically as she took out a thermal lunchbox from a shopping bag.

“Young Min’s mother asked me to tell you she’s sorry. She says your boss won’t let anyone near you, so she can’t come to the hospital. Your boss, he’s quite formidable. You misjudged him. I thought he was just a spoiled rich kid based on what you told me.”

Formidable? Is she talking about our boss? Grandmother hasn’t mistaken someone else for our boss, has she? Ga Eul thought as she busily moved the spoon to her mouth.

“Yesterday, he caught Young Min’s father like catching a mouse. Said he’d sue for assault. Young Min’s father, he’s a good person but has a bit of a temper, you know. He can be rowdy when drunk. But in front of your boss, he was as meek as a lamb. He even agreed to pay all your hospital bills. When your boss demanded compensation for all damages including treatment costs, he agreed without a word.”

The boss meddled unnecessarily. Ga Eul frowned. Who doesn’t know to make Young Min’s father pay for the treatment costs? She just didn’t have the face to ask for treatment costs from Young Min’s parents, whom she had relied on for help whenever she was in need.

Ga Eul felt uneasy hearing that Young Min’s father, who also had to pay the settlement for Young Min’s traffic accident, had agreed to pay the hospital bills. But she had no other good way to pay the hospital bills either.

So Ga Eul changed the subject.

“You didn’t tell Gyeo Ul that I collapsed, did you?”

“I didn’t, because you told me not to. I told him you were staying over at a friend’s house.”

After finishing her words, Grandmother’s lips quivered hesitantly. It seemed she had more to say.

“Nothing unusual happened at home, right?”

Ga Eul asked, trying to make it easier for Grandmother to speak up.

“No, nothing unusual. What could happen in one night?”

The end of her sentence wasn’t smooth. Grandmother’s face said there had been some unusual incident that shouldn’t have happened. Ga Eul decided to probe around.

“I dreamed of mom yesterday. Isn’t that strange? Did mom know I was hurt? Even though I longed for her so much, she never appeared. But yesterday, mom came to me in my dream even though I wasn’t thinking about her. In my old room.”

Grandmother’s hand, which was about to pass the spoon to Ga Eul, stopped. Her daughter-in-law appeared in her granddaughter’s dream. This meant a lot to Ga Eul’s grandmother, Mrs. Yoon Jung Yeon. It was strange, as Ga Eul said.

Didn’t she appear at such an exquisite timing, as if she knew? As if urging her mother-in-law to quickly reveal the secret. So Mrs. Yoon Jung Yeon opened her mouth as if possessed.

“Well, you see… Yesterday afternoon, someone came from your maternal family.”

“Maternal family? Did I have a maternal family?”

Ga Eul didn’t have a maternal family. She had never even seen her mother’s family members. She had heard that her mother was cut off from her family when she married her father.

Even when her mother passed away, no one from that family came. But now suddenly someone was sent from the maternal family. Not that someone from the maternal family came, but that they sent someone.

“But why did that family send someone? What business do they have with us?”

“Well…”

Grandmother hesitated for a long while before continuing.

“They say they want to take you and Gyeo Ul.”

“Me and Gyeo Ul? Why? Why now?”

Even though a non-existent maternal family had appeared and that family wanted to take her and Gyeo Ul, Ga Eul felt nothing. Maybe her emotions were too dried up.

“I guess blood calls to blood. When you get older, you long for your bloodline.”

“That’s not it.”

Ga Eul said flatly. But she wondered if her mother’s appearance in her dream was because of this.

“Those people wouldn’t take us in out of some familial affection. Those people from that house. If they were that kind of people, they would have come to see mom when they heard she was sick. They’re the people who ignored us even when mom passed away.”

You want me to believe that the people who disowned their daughter just because she married Gi Woo now long for their blood relatives? I’d rather believe fairies exist.

“What did you say, Grandmother? Are you going to send us?”

Grandmother avoided Ga Eul’s eyes. She lowered her head and stirred her porridge.

“Well… What’s important is what you two want. If you want to go, I can’t stop you.”

“But you don’t want to send us, right?”

Grandmother let out a long sigh.

“If I think about your future, it seems right to send you. Doesn’t it?”

“I can’t just think of my own desires… When I see you struggling, it seems like I should send you…”

“Grandmother, I want to go.”

Ga Eul declared as if there was nothing to think twice about.

“Why turn away from a way to escape this wretched poverty that’s right in front of us? I don’t mind being called materialistic. I’m going. I’m going to ask if they can pay off our debts. If they’re going to take us in after treating us like we didn’t exist until now, shouldn’t they at least do that much?”

Grandmother seemed shocked by Ga Eul’s words. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“If you want to go, I should let you go. How can I stop you? I already feel sorry for putting such a big burden on you at such a young age. How hard must it have been…”

The words Grandmother couldn’t finish were probably ‘how hard must it have been for you to think of leaving so easily’. Ga Eul realized she had made a mistake.

“Don’t worry, Grandmother. Even if we go, we won’t go without you. We’ll take you with us, of course. Do you think I would leave you behind?”

Grandmother clicked her tongue. It was an expression of regret for her granddaughter who remained excessively calm even after learning about her maternal family, and relief that such a granddaughter wouldn’t leave her behind.

“I appreciate you saying that. But will they allow that?”

“We have to make them allow it. If they don’t, we just won’t go.”

“Don’t worry about me and go if you want to. When I think about you two struggling…”

Grandmother couldn’t finish her words and dabbed at her tears with her sleeve.

“Really. I can go live with Myeong Ho, so don’t worry about me.”

“Don’t say things you don’t mean. Why would you go live at Uncle’s house? I’ll take care of everything. You won’t have to go live at Uncle’s house.”

Ga Eul said decisively.

“Those people probably aren’t trying to take us in out of familial affection. You know they’re not those kinds of people, right? Gyeo Ul and I must have become necessary to them. That means we have that much value to them. So we need to negotiate.”

Grandmother looked at Ga Eul with a puzzled expression. She couldn’t understand what confidence her granddaughter had to say such things. Her granddaughter was certainly capable enough to take care of herself, but considering who they were dealing with…

“Your maternal family is an extraordinary household. Those people from your maternal family are completely different from the people you’ve encountered so far. So don’t be too hurt if things don’t go your way.”

Mrs. Yoon Jung Yeon spoke carefully, worried that her granddaughter might get hurt. But Ga Eul reassured her grandmother instead.

“Grandmother, no matter how extraordinary they are, they’re people just like us. Wouldn’t they feel pain if they were hit too? And what could be worse than our current situation? We three stuck together and endured even that difficult time after father passed away. If we go and don’t like it, we can just stick together again and live on our own.”

Mrs. Yoon Jung Yeon wiped away her tears. Her granddaughter had grown up to be so strong. As she got older, even seeing admirable things made her cry.