episode_0014

Since she was young, the education that Yeji received was always of the highest caliber.

From the high-end private tutoring sessions known only by word of mouth at the gym run by a former national athlete, to the various hobbies she pursued with the best instructors, everything was top-notch.

The cost was exorbitant, but the enormous income earned by the CEO of K Construction made it possible.

However, Hye-hyun’s situation was different. Both of Hye-hyun’s parents were corporate employees, but their income was barely enough to keep up with everything Yeji was involved in.

At that time, the atmosphere at Hye-hyun’s home was cold due to the jealousy that Ji-hye, Hye-ji’s mother, felt towards Eun-bi, Yeji’s mother.

Having been rejected by Eun-bi before her husband, Chun Sung-ki, chose her, Ji-hye’s self-esteem was already crushed. Seeing herself being surpassed by her colleagues at work only added to her frustration.

Especially since Chun Sung-ki and Baek Han-soo were personal friends, they often attended private couple gatherings where Ji-hye always seemed to outshine the others.

Later on, Ji-hye justified her part-time job at a kissing room on weekends as a way to cover the family’s expenses.

She remembered hearing from a married friend in a similar situation that working at a kissing room for a few hours occasionally was not a bad way to earn extra money without sacrificing too much time. Allowing only lip-to-lip contact, she felt almost no guilt and looked forward to experiencing the taste of a young man after a long time. Of course, seeking revenge against her husband, Chun Sung-ki, was an added bonus.

However, Ji-hye was greatly mistaken. Although she publicly announced that she would only engage in kissing, the men who frequented the room were not satisfied with just that.

She had to reject the hands that tried to explore her body while kissing, and sometimes she had no choice but to expose her breasts. Since those hands did not consider the feelings of the women they touched, Ji-hye felt disgusted.

Most of the male customers were older and overweight, and the few decent-looking men chose much younger and more attractive women.

Normally, before going to work at the kissing room, Ji-hye would check her family’s schedule and adjust her working hours accordingly. However, on her last day, she was too distracted to do so.

Despite politely expressing her reluctance to undress for a pimple-faced, bespectacled pig of a customer, the man insulted her and verbally abused her for the poor service.

Unable to bear such treatment, Ji-hye, who worked confidently at a major corporation, spat out a few curses before storming out of the building.

Hurriedly leaving without properly dressing, Ji-hye, still fuming, shouted towards the kissing room as she adjusted her clothes.

“You pigs can’t even meet a woman, so you come here? Rot in this place for the rest of your lives!!”

After venting her anger, Ji-hye turned to go back home, but at that moment, she saw something she shouldn’t have seen and her eyes widened in shock. Without hesitation, she turned around and ran towards where Hye-hyun and Yeji were standing, frozen in place.

Although she saw them from a distance, she couldn’t mistake the faces and appearances of her family, whom she saw every day.

Hyehyun walked nervously into the alley where Jihye had been, and gazed at the building where Jihye had emerged from.

2F Kiss Room

3F Massage Parlor

4-6F Motel

None of the floors were a place for Jihye’s clients or business.

“Sobbing”

Yeji also knew who that woman was. She was a woman who had often come to Yeji’s house when she was young, and she had made an effort to leave a good impression on her. Later, she found out that she was Hyehyun’s mother when she came with Hyehyun.

Yeji silently patted Hyehyun’s shoulder as she sat down and burst into tears.

That night, Jihye promised to tell Hyehyun everything and never do it again, but she didn’t talk about her revenge on her husband, Cheon Sung-gi. She thought there was no need to tell Hyehyun, who was still a high school student and a family member, about the various emotions that arise between couples.

Hyehyun sympathized with her mother’s suffering in her own way and felt like everything was her fault, so she shared the sadness together. Since she had entered high school, it was time to stop going to various academies and focus on studying.

After that day, she decided to cut off most of the academies she had registered for following Yeji, and although Cheon Sung-gi was disappointed, he decided to follow their opinions.

Yeji told Eunbi what she saw that day, and Eunbi cautiously asked Jihye about it at work.

Jihye sighed at herself for forgetting Yeji’s surveillance through Hyehyun, but it was too late to undo what had been done.

“Oh, that…”

With an awkward smile, she brushed off that day’s incident as a result of a marital dispute. It was so shameful that she would rather be accused of having an affair than admit to selling her body due to lack of money.

Eunbi listened to her and said she understood, as a fellow married woman, and offered to help if she needed counseling, telling her to contact her anytime.

Of course, Jihye did not take her words at face value.

‘What does a b**** like her understand? She probably thinks she’s superior, pointing out my weaknesses. Acting like she’s better than me.’

Smiling on the outside and expressing gratitude, Jihye ground her teeth inwardly.

Eunbi vaguely explained to Yeji, saying that even she had marital disputes, which were just a bit more severe, without going into detail.

However, this led to another misunderstanding for Yeji and ironically connected perfectly with Jihye’s thoughts.

‘So she cheated because of a marital dispute… in a kiss room or massage parlor… she took money and had an affair, right?’

Although she didn’t talk to anyone about this incident, it became a catalyst for her already negative feelings towards Hyehyun’s family to worsen.

On the rooftop, Hyehyun imagined the fight she and Yeji had over the twin incident and took out another cigarette.

Without using a lighter, she put the unlit cigarette in her mouth and used the burning cigarette as a lighter to light the new one.

Sizzle-

“Phew-”

After taking a deep breath to completely transfer the flame, she exhaled the smoke accumulated in her lungs for a long time.

The incident at that time was clearly Yeji’s mistake, and it was natural for her to be angry.

But the regret was hers, and when she thought about her parents’ perspective, she had no choice but to yield.

‘If only I could fight and beat her up.’

If she could submit through force, her mood would surely improve. She had always been afraid of confronting Yeji, who had a twisted mood, which was why she had never confronted her.

But Hyehyun believed that winning against Yeji through a fight was more difficult than succeeding socially.

A few years ago, she had participated in a Taekwondo amateur competition that Yeji was participating in, and she had ended up humiliated.

It was a sparring match where only kicks were allowed, yet she stood there like a punching bag, unable to score a single point and getting hit back in return. Even though she was wearing headgear, the impact was definitely not something a middle schooler could handle.

Thanks to her innate flexibility, Yeji was able to transfer her entire body weight to add power, but it was difficult for young children to notice that, and it was impossible for them to imitate it in the first place if they didn’t have a normal physique.

“Umm…”

Yeji handed a shopping bag to Hyehyun, who had just woken up in the infirmary.

“Are you up? Here, clothes.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Taking the clothes, Yeji felt something was off. Since she had passed out during the match, she should still be wearing her dobok, but her dobok was in the shopping bag Yeji handed her.

Come to think of it, Hyehyun was wearing the jeans she had on when she left home.

“You wet yourself when you passed out. Because of the smell, I had to change you. Your underwear and pants are in the bag.”

Looking puzzled, Hyehyun stood up from her seat as Yeji nonchalantly explained. Sure enough, Yeji had won, as the gold medal around Yeji’s neck indicated as she got up.

As if the purpose was not to wait as a guardian but to hand over belongings, Yeji, having finished her task, began to gather her belongings.

Hyehyun called out to Yeji.

“Yeji.”

Turning her head as if to ask what was wrong, Yeji looked back at Hyehyun with a weak voice that seemed like she wasn’t in normal condition yet.

“Congratulations on your victory.”

For some reason, there were many bittersweet memories with Yeji.

Brushing off the cigarette he had been holding, Hyehyun started to make his way down towards the classroom. The next class was with the annoying Sujeong teacher.

“I liked it when we had a different teacher in first grade, damn it…”

As the grade changed, Hong Sujeong, who now took over teaching Korean, was an annoying presence who meddled in their school life in a strange way, just a nuisance to Hyehyun.