“O… Oppa?”

Min Ji’s pupils trembled. Seong Jun’s expression as he looked at her was infinitely cold. Instinctively trying to break free from him out of shock, she tensed her arm, but the arm held by Seong Jun did not budge.

“Why aren’t you answering? I asked what you were doing just now.”

Min Ji’s lips went dry. She felt her heart shrinking even more under Seong Jun’s sharp gaze.

“Well…”

Her new elder sister, who was not well-received by the relatives, and Seo Yeon, who was like her only family but had a poor relationship with Seong Jun and could be divorced at any time, were objects that Min Ji could freely disrespect and mock.

But now, facing Seong Jun standing there with a stern expression while gripping her hand, Min Ji became frightened. She no longer had any certainty.

“Elder brother, it’s a misunderstanding.”

“Alright. A misunderstanding. Then explain slowly what kind of misunderstanding it is. I’ll listen carefully.”

“While talking with elder sister… We had a difference of opinion… I got emotional…”

Silence fell.

“You got emotional so you raised that hand to hit her. I didn’t expect to hear such a flimsy excuse.”

“…!”

“I’ll give you one more chance, so this time give a proper excuse. If you’re thinking of wriggling out of this by being disrespectful and racking your brain, give up now.”

“…”

Seeing Seong Jun’s face harden more with each word she spoke, Min Ji’s shoulders stiffened. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Min Ji.”

“M-Mom.”

And at the sound of her reliable supporter’s voice from behind her, she immediately ran over and hid behind her back.

“Why did you do that, really.”

After comforting her sobbing daughter for a while by patting her shoulder, Ji Young turned to Seong Jun to try to smooth over the situation.

“Seong Jun.”

“Aunt.”

“It seems the child was thoughtless and acted rudely to your wife. It’s my fault for raising her poorly. I’ll apologize on her behalf.”

It was a desperate plea to let this pass for the sake of her face as an elder. I swear, in all her years as the second daughter-in-law of the Han Kyung Group, Ji Young had never bowed her head to anyone except Seok Hyun.

That’s how much pride and self-love Ji Young had, yet she humbled herself before her nephew first. It was only possible because she loved and cherished her daughter, who was like an extension of herself, more than anyone else in the world.

“I didn’t know twenty was young enough to excuse being thoughtless.”

But Seong Jun, who she thought would let it go at this point for her sake, not only didn’t back down but pressured her to apologize with an even colder face and tone.

Seong Jun gestured with his chin towards Min Ji. Ji Young’s face turned red as if she had been insulted.

But realizing that Seong Jun would not let this go, Ji Young quietly pushed Min Ji’s shoulder. Min Ji’s face went pale.

After a while, Min Ji came forward hesitantly with a deathly pale face, and said in a sobbing voice as tears fell:

“…Elder sister, I was wrong. I’m sorry, elder sister. I won’t do it again. Sob!”

Seo Yeon was dumbfounded by the surreal situation unfolding before her eyes.

In her past life too, Min Ji would often insult or sneer at Seo Yeon and pick fights at every opportunity.

But not once had she ever made physical threats or raised a hand against her.

She was just a self-centered, immature child who wanted to hurt with words somehow. That’s what Seo Yeon had thought until today’s incident.

She had thought that if she just endured those moments, no greater conflict would arise, even though she often felt wronged and frustrated.

If she had known this disaster would happen from responding just once out of frustration, she would not have replied to Min Ji’s words no matter how angry she got.

Before she could even collect herself from the shock, Seong Jun appeared and, most unexpectedly, took her side.

Even when Ji Young bowed her head first and asked to let this incident go.

No matter how much Seong Jun was the eldest grandson most recognized by Seok Hyun in the past, he couldn’t stir things up like this as he pleased.

Seong Jun and his family were competitors yet also cooperative, and there was no telling how they might use this small disturbance as an excuse to collude elsewhere.

So Seo Yeon wished this situation was just a dream. If it wasn’t a dream, she hoped it would stop here where it could still be smoothed over.

But the moment Seong Jun turned and walked towards the main house, Seo Yeon’s hopes were shattered.

“…!”

Seo Yeon, who had been blankly staring at Seong Jun’s retreating back, came to her senses and followed after him.

“Mr. Seong Jun! Wait a moment!”

She called out his name belatedly, but Seong Jun’s steps did not stop. Ji Young and Min Ji also followed after him in confusion.

Seong Jun headed straight for the dining room where Seok Hyun was.

He approached Seok Hyun and knocked on the table a couple times with his fist. Seok Hyun’s eyebrow twitched.

“What’s all this commotion?”

Seok Hyun’s eyes and voice as he looked up at Seong Jun exuded a chillingly cold atmosphere. But Seong Jun looked around for a moment as if unbothered. Then he spoke as if in admiration.

“I thought gathering the daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law once a month for a meal was to pretend at being a happy family, but was it actually to play at being king?”

“What? You?”

“Whether you play at being king or emperor is not my business, so I won’t concern myself with it. I’m sure everyone gathered here has their own purposes for being seated. But from next month on, this person will not be attending this gathering.”

At his firm words drawing a line, Seo Yeon looked at Seong Jun in surprise. The others did the same.

“This person has decided to start music again, so she’ll be busy. We’ve also decided to have a child soon, so she needs to take care of her health. So if there’s urgent business or you want to see your granddaughter-in-law, contact me.”

“…!”

Everyone except Seong Jun and Seok Hyun was too shocked to speak at his brazen attitude. They thought a thunderous roar would soon erupt in Kyeongwonjae.

Seok Hyun’s eyes narrowed further.

He had built the massive Han Kyung Group with his bare hands and was still the head, but he was not such a reasonable person. He had a temperament of disregarding everything when angered.

“Is that so? Then it can’t be helped. I understand.”

However, instead of a thunderous shout, agreement that it couldn’t be helped came from Seok Hyun’s mouth. The very person who had clearly frowned in great anger at Seong Jun’s words just moments ago.

“You’ll be busy, so you may go now.”

“I will.”

Seong Jun turned around and left the building, holding Seo Yeon’s hand. Numerous gazes followed them.

Among them was Min Ji, who looked at her resentfully while sniffling, Hwa Young who couldn’t close her mouth, and Ji Young who glared at her coldly. The most unexpected was Seok Hyun.

Seok Hyun looked back and forth between the two with an expression of having seen something strange, then resumed his interrupted meal with a meaningful smile.

*

Seo Yeon felt like she was having a nightmare after leaving Kyeongwonjae.

She wanted to get angry and ask why he had made such a big deal out of this, but her husband’s mood seemed unusual. As she was pondering how to broach the subject, Seong Jun, who had been staring at her, spoke first.

“Has this kind of thing happened before?”

“…”

“Will you tell me, or should I find out myself?”

Seo Yeon’s eyes widened. Make things even more complicated than now? Today they were fortunate that Seok Hyun had acted on a whim and things ended without much conflict, but next time there was no guarantee.

As it was, her husband had to start over from the bottom after being a promising group heir, due to the scandal caused by her family. She didn’t want to trouble him any further over her issues.

But the problem was that she couldn’t lie either. The man before her really seemed like he would go around digging into every single word she uttered to verify its truth.

“There’s never been anything like today.”

In the end, Seo Yeon gave an ambiguous answer that was neither truth nor lie.

“So there have been similar incidents.”

“…!”

Seeing Seo Yeon’s face contort in shock, Seong Jun finally understood, if only a little, why his wife had been hanging her head like a criminal in front of him or averting her gaze with a gloomy expression.

In an atmosphere where a barely twenty-year-old niece raises her hand at her and no one stops her, it would be impossible to smile. Damn it.

Not knowing such situations existed, he had instead pressed his wife, asking why she acted so frustratingly.

“Thank you for taking my side. But I hope we can just let today’s incident go without mentioning it further. Actually, what Aunt said wasn’t wrong. She’s only been an adult for a few months. She probably did that because she’s young and doesn’t know better.”

But even though he realized intellectually that this whole situation arose from his own ignorance, hearing such predictable words of understanding and forgiveness come from Seo Yeon’s mouth made anger rise up to his chin.

“Right. I knew you’d say that.”

He poured out his anger, not knowing who it was really directed at.

“You understand everything. These things can happen. I thought you’d changed a little, but I was mistaken. Do you have some kind of complex? Do you want to look so kind to others? Are you doing this hoping someone will recognize you? Huh?”

Tears welled up in Seo Yeon’s eyes at Seong Jun’s sarcasm. She cried out as if wronged.

“I’m not doing this because I like it. I hate this situation too! I feel wronged and angry! I’m sick and tired of it!”

“If you hate it, you should have got up and left right then! Why did you endure it? Who told you to endure? Why were you just sitting there like that!”

“…I was worried about you, Mr. Seong Jun.”

“…!”

“I was afraid you might suffer harm because of me. So… so even though I hated it, I endured… Because that’s all I could do…”

“…”

“…Did I do something so wrong?”