episode_0111

What on earth is happening?

Kim Taehyun began to check his senses one by one to grasp the situation.

First, his sight. The car seat that was just below his gaze suddenly came closer in front of his eyes.

Next, his sense of smell. The alcohol scent entering through his nose was accompanied by the familiar fragrance of perfume that Do Yeon usually wore, mixed with the scent of foundation.

Then, his hearing.

“Saek, saek.”

The sound of rhythmic breathing struck his ears.

And his sense of touch.

First, the breath tickling his ear. Then the arms wrapped around his neck and back, and finally, the soft and elastic comfort filling his chest, a feeling he had never experienced before.

“Uh, uh….”

In that moment, Kim Taehyun’s mind became hazy. Is this… ecstasy?

Like hell it is!

How overwhelming is this violence? To swing such a huge weapon at a person! This is truly domestic violence! No, it’s male violence!

Kim Taehyun, struck by the weapon, couldn’t gather his thoughts. This is at least a concussion! He might as well be hospitalized!

Furthermore!

“Woong! Woong!”

The ringing phone continued without stopping. Its location was right in the inner pocket of his suit jacket, between Kim Taehyun and Do Yeon’s chests!

Kim Taehyun somehow managed to regain his composure and exerted force to move away from her embrace, carefully opening her suit jacket.

“Boing!”

As he did so, her weapon, shouting for independence from the oppressive world, flowed out.

Once again, Kim Taehyun was chilled to the bone, thinking, ‘I got hit by that?!’

From the side, he didn’t realize just how overwhelmingly imposing that weapon was when aimed at a person.

“Clang!”

“Wake up!”

Kim Taehyun, once again feeling the terror of the weapon, slapped his own cheek to snap out of it.

Not only a physical blow but a mental one as well, it was truly a terrifying weapon.

Anyway, the inner pocket of the suit jacket that had been restraining the weapon was now wide open, spilling towards the seat.

He finally let out a sigh of relief and took out the phone from the pocket, looking at the screen.

Sure enough, the caller was Jung Dayoung. Of course, the cheesy text on the screen read ‘Lovely Daughter’.

After taking a deep breath and calming his mind, Kim Taehyun pressed the call button and brought the phone to his ear.

And then.

“Mom, where are you!!!!”

An internet broadcaster… a streamer, was it? Indeed, with a voice as powerful as his profession demanded.

“Uh, um. Dayoung.”

Suddenly hearing an unexpected male voice, Dayoung was so flustered that he could hear his stuttering through the phone.

It seemed like he needed to calm her down quickly.

“Who are you! Where’s my mom! Change with my mom! Oh, maybe! Stop deceiving my innocent mom! What?! I won’t forgive you! I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth and kill you!!!”

Seems like there’s a big misunderstanding. And it seems like he’s the victim here (his heart almost stopped).

“No, wait…!”

But Dayoung continued as if not listening, only focusing on his own words.

“Waaah! Please give me back my mom, okay?”

In that brief moment of crying, she started sobbing uncontrollably.

“Dayoung, it’s me, me! Kim Taehyun! Deputy under Director Jung. We ride the same car every morning.”

“Waaah! Don’t lie to me. Who am I these days, am I being scammed? Sob. If you’re going to deceive, at least deceive properly.”

‘Isn’t deceiving in the first place the problem?’

Jung Doyeon was like that too. Kim Taehyun was worried that the knowledge of this mother and daughter might be biased at times.

Anyway, Kim Taehyun sweated a lot to explain to calm Jung Dayoung down.

“Uh, Taehyun oppa, is it really you?”

“Ha… yeah. I don’t know what happened at the dinner party, but I heard that you called the substitute driver. I was resting at home at the time. I was worried, so I just came.”

“Sob, do you have a driver’s license, oppa?”

“Haha, of course. I’m 28 years old, it wouldn’t be strange if I didn’t have a license, right?”

“T-then, can I ask you a favor?”

Kim Taehyun was more trustworthy than other strict people because he often saw her face. Although he had a somewhat arrogant face that seemed like it could cause trouble in romantic relationships.

“Yeah. Right after you called me, you stretched out in the back seat of the car and fell asleep. I’ll be leaving soon, so I’ll call you when I arrive.”

As he was about to hang up, Jung Dayoung hurriedly called Kim Taehyun.

“W-wait, oppa!”

“Yeah?”

“Oppa is… so absent-minded. You don’t know our home address.”

He knew. He even went there once. And what’s more? He even got a meal there. On the first meeting.

Ah… the pasta was delicious back then. And the Michiru looked good on me too…

Kim Taehyun remembered the past with a nostalgic look in his eyes.

But if he said that as it was, he didn’t know how Jung Dayoung, who had an abnormal obsession with her mother, would react.

So….

“Oh, right! Let me get my mind straight. Hahaha. I must have been quite flustered too.”

“Haha, that’s possible. Anyway, I’ll hang up and send you the address right away. Please do me a favor.”

“Got it. I’ll contact you when I arrive. See you later.”

After ending the call, he put the phone back in her formal pocket (he couldn’t put it back in the inner pocket, so he put it in the outer pocket) and sat in the driver’s seat, leaning his forehead against the steering wheel.

Kim Taehyun couldn’t gather his thoughts due to the consecutive mental attacks from the mother and daughter. (One even launched a surprise attack.)

Lost in thought for a moment.

*Ding dong!*

The message notification sound rang from his phone.

Naturally, it was a text from Jung Dayoung.

“Well… since I received a text, should I start heading out?”

He drove and arrived in less than 10 minutes.

He entered the underground parking lot of the apartment complex, parked his car in front of Jung Doyeon’s house in the same neighborhood, and immediately called Jung Dayoung.

Soon, Jung Dayoung said she would come down.

Actually, he wondered if she needed to come down. After all, even if both Jung Dayoung and Jung Dabin came down together, it was his role to move Jung Doyeon.

Shortly after, Jung Dayoung came down to the underground parking lot first.

“Oh, oppa!”

Jung Dayoung approached with a pleased expression. It was quite refreshing to see her in casual clothes instead of her school uniform.

“Da-young, you’re here?”

“Thank you. You’ve worked hard. Ah, I shouldn’t say ‘thank you’ to adults.”

She was a bit noisy and fidgety, but her thoughts were correct. It seemed that Jung Doyeon’s upbringing was going well.

Thinking that, Kim Taehyun couldn’t help but smile.

“‘Thank you’ doesn’t work. ‘You’ve worked hard’ is fine.”

“Oh, right. Hehe. Anyway, you’ve worked hard.”

“Well~ It’s not a big deal if you think about being indebted to the chairman every time.”

“Still, gratitude is gratitude. Anyway, my mom… she makes people suffer in many ways.”

While saying that, Jung Dayoung opened the car door and checked on Jung Doyeon’s condition.

Soon, the familiar silhouette walked out of the apartment entrance, looking around.

“Dabin! Over here!”

Kim Tae-hyun called out, and Jung Da-bin came running over.

“Hyung! Thank you for your hard work.”

“No, you guys are the ones working late. Even Manager Cha. He should have contacted you instead of me.”

“Hehe, maybe he contacts his work colleagues more during the day than us? Maybe he just accidentally dialed the recent call list?”

It was a convincing argument. Perhaps Deputy Yoon Sung-yeol or someone else from the company received the call.

In that sense, it was fortunate. If someone had seen that side of Jung Do-yeon… It would have been dizzying for herself or her family, but for Kim Tae-hyun, it was unpleasant.

He wanted to keep that weak side of hers… to himself.

Even if this emotion leads to ruin, as long as he holds onto this feeling, it will be warm.

“Ouch, it’s heavy! Hey! Are you not holding her properly?”

“I am holding her properly. I’m not putting in too much force, am I?”

Amidst the noisy commotion, when he turned around, Jung Da-young and Jung Da-bin were struggling to pull Jung Do-yeon out of the car’s back seat.

“Oh, oppa! Please help!”

“Hyung!”

Seeing them like that, the emptiness from earlier vanished completely…

“Hyung, hurry!”

“Mom, please stay still!”

The warmth in his chest…

“Mom, I don’t feel good…”

“No way…”

“Mom, just hold on a bit longer.”

Kim Tae-hyun quickly ran over and caught Jung Do-yeon on his back before she fell. Carrying her on his back, the small commotion came to an end.

“My stomach hurts…”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Mom, just bear with it a bit.”

“Ouch!”

“Manager Cha, Manager… Aaah!”

“Ugh! Ughhh!”

An incident that took place in a late summer night in an underground parking lot.

Kim Tae-hyun’s recollection.