Mine Again Chapter 12

Song Won-sik snorted lightly. Su-hwa gathered her courage and tried to persuade him again.

 

“You said if I met the marriage candidate… you’d tell me where my mom is.”  

 

“That was if you got married and cleared the debt. Don’t I need some insurance too? It’s not like you never ran away saying you’d live alone.”

 

Yes, she had run away. Saying she would live alone. No—saying she would die alone. Even now, wasn’t she still paying the price for that?

 

“Then at least let me check if she’s alive. I did everything you told me to!”

 

“Look at you. Still won’t wipe that expression off your face? Who are you looking at so straight?”

 

Grit. Su-hwa bit the flesh inside her mouth. She habitually pulled at the corners of her trembling lips. While she was forcing a fake smile, Song Won-sik grabbed her chin and lifted it.

 

“Do you know what kind of place your mother borrowed money from? Those bastards run a business with loan shark rates. I cleaned all that up. And you don’t even appreciate it?”  

 

“I’ll repay all that debt through the marriage.”  

 

“Just because you have a mouth, doesn’t mean you should talk so easily. What about my family that was ruined because of you and your mother? How will you repay that emotional damage?”

 

Su-hwa kept her lips tightly shut. There was nothing she could say in response to that.

 

“I didn’t even know Mi-hee had you. That woman disappeared, you see. Then after twenty years, she shows up with loan sharks? What? Since I’m the father of her child, I should pay the debt?”

 

Five years ago. The loan sharks had given Mi-hee a choice. The mother could sell her organs, and the daughter would be taken and put to work. They looked Su-hwa up and down, saying they’d give her a job that earned a lot of money. Fleeing those men, the mother and daughter escaped in the night.

 

When they were caught, the loan sharks offered another option. Make the child’s biological father pay. Just tell them the name, and they’d track him down and get the money.

 

Waving a DNA test result, the loan sharks stormed into Song Won-sik’s home. When they saw Mi-hee and Su-hwa, who had been dragged in, Song Won-sik’s wife and daughter left the house.  

 

That was why Su-hwa couldn’t raise her head in front of Jin-ah and Ye-rin. But wasn’t Song Won-sik, her father, in a different position?

 

“You must have loved Mom once… right? Please, just let her go, even if it’s out of old affection.”  

 

“Did Mi-hee say that? That we fell madly in love or something?”  

 

“If that’s not it…”

 

If that’s not it, then how did her mother get pregnant with her? Could it really be, as Ye-rin and Jin-ah said, that her mother seduced Song Won-sik with her body?

 

“What, you want me to tell you the truth? Can you handle it?”  

 

“……”  

 

“Even between parent and child, love affairs should be kept buried. Do you want to smear your mother’s name? Why are you so eager to dig things up?”

 

When Su-hwa fell silent, Song Won-sik smiled in satisfaction.

 

‘As I thought. My eyes weren’t wrong.’

 

Su-hwa would continue to be a never-ending source of profit and benefit to him. So all the more reason to keep Mi-hee hidden away.

 

“Fine. I won’t ask to get Mom back right away. But let me at least see her face.”

 

In the past five years, Song Won-sik had let her video call Mi-hee once a year on her birthday.  

But even that call was cut off this year.

 

“Maybe it’s her age, but Mi-hee’s health hasn’t been good. She’s receiving care at a top-class facility. If she sees your face, she gets emotional, so she’s refraining for the sake of her stability.”

  

“……That’s all the more reason I need to see her. I won’t marry without even knowing whether my mom is alive.”

 

Su-hwa quickly turned her head and slapped away Song Won-sik’s hand. Her jaw, which had been gripped for a long time, throbbed.

  

“Please at least let me video call my mom. Until then, I won’t take a single step out of this house. I won’t get engaged or married.”  

 

“Ha, we haven’t even heard a word from their side about the engagement article or the investment! What are you shouting so confidently for?”  

 

“Sung-woon said he would make an engagement announcement……”  

 

“I told you over and over again, didn’t I? A man’s words change before and after sleeping with you.”

 

Song Won-sik twisted the corner of his mouth. Seeing her start to act up again, he figured he needed to discipline her before selling her off.

 

“You’ve been used and dumped. Who throws their body around without even getting their parents’ permission? If there’s no contact by tomorrow, I’ll extort money using the photos you two took together. Just so you know.”  

 

“Ah, no!”  

 

“Where do you think you’re grabbing? Looks like you haven’t been beaten enough lately, huh?”

 

Song Won-sik shook off Su-hwa’s arm. The moment he raised his hand—

 

-Ddiririri.

 

Ryu Sung-woon. His name popped up on the phone screen. Song Won-sik’s eyes flashed as he glanced between Su-hwa and her phone.

 

“Don’t forget. Your image concept is a child who grew up in a wealthy family, showered only with love.”  

 

You mustn’t look like you have a lot on your mind or appear gloomy. Act like someone with a pure image that brings a smile just by looking.

 

“……I know.”

 

She didn’t even need to hear the next words to know what they’d be. It was something she’d heard so many times throughout the girl group competition that it had been drilled into her ears.

 

“Pick it up. Put it on speaker.”  

 

Put it on speaker?  

 

Her hand, which had reached to answer, hesitated. They had coordinated their story, but it was the first time actually speaking on the phone. If he were to bring up the contract……

 

“Why did you call so late? I-I thought I was going to die from missing you!”  

 

-“……”

 

Su-hwa answered in a slightly exaggerated tone. The other end of the line was quiet. Please, let him pick up on the situation.

 

-“I missed you, too.”

 

Haah. Only then could she breathe again. As expected, Ryu Sung-woon was quick on the uptake.  

 

Conscious of Song Won-sik watching with his arms crossed beside her, Su-hwa continued the conversation.

 

“I waited all day by the phone.”  

 

-“The internal agreement took a while, so the announcement was delayed. I called to tell you to check the news now.”  

 

“So that’s what happened…… I was getting a little anxious since the engagement article hadn’t come out.”

 

It was true. She was worried his feelings might have changed. For someone in a thoroughly submissive position, the waiting was torture.

 

“My father didn’t believe that you were my fan……”  

 

-“Is that so?”  

 

“He thinks deciding to get married out of the blue might be an impulsive choice, so he seems to be worried.”

 

She glanced at Song Won-sik’s reaction. His narrowed eyes showed that he wasn’t satisfied with the content of their call.  

 

Was he doubting that the man had fallen for her and proposed? But there hadn’t been enough time to coordinate every detail with Sung-woon.  

 

Just as she thought it might be better to wrap things up quickly with some vague excuses, his dry voice softened.

 

-“When I saw you on stage in a white tutu… it was more impressive than any ballet performance I’d ever seen. I fell in love at first sight.”  

 

“Ah…… you must have seen the mid-classical mission performance.”

 

Did he really watch that performance? He’d said he was too busy to bother with some competition program.

 

-“When you were happy to win the center spot in the group mission, I felt happy too. Seeing you pull off even the girl-crush concept, I thought you were someone with a wide range of charms.”  

 

“Y-you saw that too?”  

 

-“From start to finish. I watched all of it.”

 

Thump, thump. Her heart pounded so hard it hurt, and her cheeks flushed. Even though she knew it was a fake confession, her ears tingled.

 

-“Even after the competition ended, I couldn’t forget you. When I ran into you, I thought it was fate and decided to hold on to it.”