To My Brother’s Friend - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 20
Jin Seo-ryeong muttered, her expression vacant and dazed.
“A garden…?”
No, this couldn’t be right.
This made no sense.
I merely disciplined that ungrateful girl who dared covet my son—
“It was just a single slap across the cheek.”
Jin Seo-ryeong’s fists clenched so tightly her knuckles whitened.
“Just one slap, a mere brush of contact, and this is the price I must pay?”
Since marrying into the Beom Ho Group, I had never known a moment of true peace.
Caring for my father-in-law and raising three sons, I had rushed breathlessly forward until finally, when a sliver of time opened, I cultivated the garden.
Whenever I stepped into this sanctuary, leaving behind the city’s clamor and the complexities of daily life, I found solace at last.
The pride of raising accomplished sons with my own hands, the satisfaction of building the Beom Family to such heights.
The garden was my sole refuge where I could savor that triumph and tranquility.
“I have poured my entire life into this place. To lose something so precious so futilely…”
Jin Seo-ryeong’s voice trembled faintly.
“That wretched girl has cost me everything in a single day…!”
“Even if that place burned to ash in a single night, it would not ease my heart enough.”
Kwon Yeol interrupted his mother with a subdued voice.
“That girl is precious to me.”
Jin Seo-ryeong’s eyes widened momentarily, then trembled with barely contained fury.
“I believe you now understand my feelings sufficiently, Mother.”
Kwon Yeol’s gaze shifted toward the gauze stained with blood.
As her son’s eyes darkened with intensity, Jin Seo-ryeong felt her breath catch in her throat.
“…Ha.”
She let out a hollow laugh, as if utterly flabbergasted.
“Are you telling me that girl is your pride and your sanctuary? How dare you, standing before your mother, turn everything I have built in a lifetime to ash!”
“No matter how well-soundproofed this room is, if you raise your voice too much, people outside will hear.”
Jin Seo-ryeong’s mouth fell open at her son’s unshaken composure.
“How can you be like this? How could you do this to your mother? After all the care I have shown that girl!”
“Then isn’t that fortunate?”
“What? Fortunate?”
“It is better to welcome a cherished child into the family than to treat a complete stranger with such affection.”
“Who do you think you are, and who is that girl!”
“I have already told you.”
Kwon Yeol’s eyes spoke volumes.
That girl is my pride and my sanctuary.
“Do you even comprehend how serious this matter is?”
“It is a matter of grave importance.”
“Yes, that! And knowing this, you still act like this?”
“That’s why I intend to marry Hee-jo.”
The eldest son, who typically measured his words carefully, had spoken with such conviction that Jin Seo-ryeong’s usual commanding tone faltered as if she’d been caught in a lie.
“Doesn’t the saying go that harmony in the family brings success in all things?”
“Yes, harmony in the family! It’s important. But right now you’re the one destroying it!”
“From the moment I marry, my wife becomes family as well.”
“What, what…?”
“My future will unfold smoothly from here on. My household will be harmonious. So please don’t worry about me, and focus instead on your own ‘harmony in the family.'”
Jin Seo-ryeong shook her head slowly, her face a mixture of bewilderment and disbelief.
“No, no, this… this doesn’t make sense.”
Jin Seo-ryeong, who had been muttering with unfocused eyes, suddenly opened them wide again.
“…Yes, I understand your desire to treat Hee-jo well. I do.”
When raising her voice proved futile, Jin Seo-ryeong’s eyes glistened with tears as she spoke pleadingly.
“How much pain you must have carried. You must have felt sorry. Guilty. Even now that day is so vivid in my mind—how much more must it be for you?”
The fierce anger that had sharpened her demeanor vanished, replaced by the vulnerable face of a mother genuinely concerned only for her son’s future.
“But Kwon Yeol, as I’ve said many times, it wasn’t your fault. It was merely an unfortunate accident created by chance.”
An unfortunate accident created by chance…
Yes, those words weren’t wrong.
Yet it was undeniable that had I not encouraged him to go out that day, Hee-jae wouldn’t have died in my place.
It was also undeniable that Hee-jo lost her only family because of me.
So she could never truly love me.
Hee-jo had accepted my proposal solely to escape completely from the shadow of the Beom family and my mother.
For someone as proud as Yoon Hee-jo—someone who would rather die than owe anyone a debt—there was only one way out of this hell.
Marriage to me, and then divorce.
During our marriage, she would shield herself behind the identity of “Beom Gwon-yeol’s wife,” and after the divorce, she would sustain her life as compensation for having stood by my side.
All I needed to do was allow her to live as she wished, nothing more.
Unfortunately.
“I wanted to give her only good things, to hold her close—I feel the same way. That’s why I tried to introduce her to a good man.”
“Was he truly a good man?”
At the sudden sharpness in Kwon Yeol’s tone, Jin Seo-ryeong flinched.
“What, what are you saying?”
“Kim Shin-woo, the only son of Lee Jung-seon, director of Goyo Gallery. He’s quite well-known in the Gangnam area.”
As his mother’s eyes wavered, Kwon Yeol’s gaze turned cold.
…So you did know.
“He associates with the nephew circle of Yoo Sung-man, that drug-dealing congressman, and engages in all sorts of filthy dealings behind the scenes. You really didn’t know?”
Jin Seo-ryeong cleared her throat and avoided Kwon Yeol’s gaze.
“…How would I know all that? I’ve only run into Director Lee occasionally when she comes to the Foundation for classes.”
“So you were trying to marry off a child you cherish to a family you barely know?”
“Well…!”
“Were you also unaware that they’ve been accumulating funds by trading on the Beomho Group’s name?”
“What, what did you say?”
Jin Seo-ryeong’s eyes widened so dramatically they seemed ready to burst from her skull.
“She’s leveraging her close relationship with the Beom Ho Group’s mistress—close enough that she personally arranged a blind date—to scrape together investment funds. At this rate, the Group’s image and stock price will plummet. It’s only a matter of time.”
Beom Hun-young was a man who tolerated not a single blemish upon the world he had meticulously constructed.
The name of family offered no absolution.
Knowing one’s own temperament better than anyone and still causing trouble could only be read as blatant deception or deliberate provocation.
Moreover, Chairman Beom had been quite satisfied with Hee-jo lately.
Naturally, not as the eldest son’s bride—but still.
Given his father-in-law’s nature, concealing his true intentions beneath a thousand layers—
The mistress’s authority might very well transfer to that girl.
All in the name of setting an “example.”
‘Father is more than capable of doing exactly that.’
Watching Jin Seo-ryeong turn ashen and lose her words, Kwon Yeol drove the final nail home with his murmur.
“So really, getting off with just one greenhouse seems rather cheap, doesn’t it?”
Kwon Yeol left his petrified mother standing there and turned away without a shred of hesitation.
“Ugh….”
Left alone, Jin Seo-ryeong finally crumbled.
* * *
As I carefully peeled away the white gauze wrapped around my hand, the harrowing marks from yesterday were revealed in angry red.
I squeezed out the prescribed ointment and spread it thinly over the wound.
‘I’ll need to be careful for a while.’
What would I tell my students?
Should I say I broke a pot while moving it, or simply claim it was a careless scratch from being clumsy?
I was thinking I should tell them it was a minor accident that wasn’t worth mentioning.
Ding—.
The email notification chimed sharply.
Followed by a brief text message alert.
Since texts were usually spam and emails typically work-related, I decided to check the email first.
The moment I saw the subject line on the screen.
My heart plummeted straight through the floor.
“What is this….”
[VIP Traditional Knot-making Class Closure and Contract Termination Notice]
My face drained of color as I pressed the screen with trembling fingers.
[Dear Instructor Yoon Hee-jo,
This is the Operations Team of the Beomho Cultural Foundation Art Center.
Following the directive of the Foundation’s Board of Directors and the Director, we are notifying you that all class schedules under your instruction have been terminated effective immediately.]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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