AOA 56

I carried on with my schedule as usual. After work, I headed to the academy for class. When I got home, I checked the footage from the small camera I had set up in the dressing room and reviewed the stock market trends.

Life was back to normal.

From the end of the year into the beginning of the next, a string of holidays came one after another.

Christmas, New Year’s, and Lunar New Year were all packed into the span of a single month.

When my parents were alive, I was just a student and played around without a care. But as I got older and had to shoulder the responsibilities of the household, I realized just how precious holidays and traditional festivals were.

Our family didn’t perform ancestral rites during holidays. On the day of the festival, we would visit my grandparents’ columbarium with my parents to pay respects, then drop by my uncle’s house before heading home.

After my parents passed, my aunt’s family held a simple memorial during the holidays. To avoid traffic, we’d visit the columbariums of my parents, grandparents, and maternal grandparents over the weekend.

But after meeting my biological father and becoming Jeong Minchae, I couldn’t do that anymore.

Last Chuseok¹one of the most important traditional holidays in South Korea. It’s often called Korean Thanksgiving, and it’s a time when families come together to honor their ancestors and celebrate the autumn harvest., I performed ancestral rites at my father’s house and offered a formal bow.

Now that I was married, I naturally had to visit Baek Mugyeong’s family home as well.

Baek Jinseok, a strict traditionalist, believed that family should gather together on holidays.

From early morning on Lunar New Year’s Day, Baek Jinseok’s mansion was bustling with people. Unlike the New Year’s gathering, which was limited to married children and grandchildren, this time, all direct relatives were present. Even those studying abroad had returned to Korea just for today.

Baek Jinseok had three living children, but when you added in their spouses and children, the count quickly surpassed ten. Include Baek Jinseok’s younger brother and his extended family, and the total came to exactly thirty.

As someone who had only gotten married two months ago, I was the new face. Naturally, just like at the New Year’s gathering, I had to go around and greet the elders diligently on Lunar New Year’s as well.

There were some I’d been introduced to at the wedding or the charity concert, but many faces were completely new.

While we chatted lightly, preparations for the ancestral rites were completed.

Honestly, I had no idea how complicated the ancestral ritual process was until I came here.

Opening the main gate, bringing out the spirit tablet, lighting incense multiple times, pouring drinks, reading the memorial text, sticking chopsticks into rice, it all went on and on.

The final step was sharing the ritual food in a tradition called eumbok.

Though the mansion’s dining hall was spacious, it couldn’t accommodate all thirty people at once. So tables were set up in empty rooms for everyone to eat separately.

After the early breakfast, a typical Lunar New Year morning scene unfolded. Baek Jinseok didn’t say anything unnecessary. He received formal bows from the grandchildren and younger relatives who were still students or minors, gave them well wishes and handed out New Year’s money.

The atmosphere was fairly warm and pleasant. Everyone kept to kind words in the spirit of the holiday. I quietly watched the scene with a smile.

In truth, my condition hadn’t been great since last night, with my temperature rising and falling. I wanted nothing more than to take medicine and rest at home, but that wasn’t an option.

This was my first holiday since getting married. It wasn’t like I was on death’s door, there was no way the newlywed grandson-in-law could skip the Lunar New Year rites.

The cold medicine and fever reducer helped me feel a bit better. I was slightly surprised at how my body handled it differently compared to before my regression, but I didn’t dwell on it. Too many things had changed lately, it was easier to just accept it.

I even took digestive medicine just in case and did my best to play the role of Baek Jinseok’s well-mannered grandson-in-law. I powered through, fantasizing about collapsing into bed the moment I got home.

But there were still many tasks to complete before that.

One of them was surviving the onslaught from Im Songyoon, who considered herself the matriarch of the Daesong Group.

Once the formal bows were over, the next event was visiting ancestral graves. Everyone began bundling up in preparation for the trip to the family burial site in Hanam, Gyeonggi-do.

“I didn’t expect our clan’s grandson-in-law to be a man. Male omegas are rare, aren’t they? You’ve never met another male omega, have you?”

While people scattered in groups around the living room, waiting for Baek Jinseok to finish getting ready, someone approached me and started a conversation.

It was Choi Myeongsook, wife of Baek Jinseok’s younger brother, Baek Jinhyeok, one of the eldest women in the family.

Chairman Baek Jinseok of Daesong Group had several siblings, but he kept in touch only with his youngest brother.

His wife and Baek Mugyeong’s grandmother, Joo Sanghwa, had passed away over a decade ago. As such, Choi Myeongsook had considerable influence among the omegas of the Baek family.

“Yes.”

I replied politely. Before the regression, she had been the first person to bring up the fact that I was a mistress’s child.

Sure enough, the conversation was following the same pattern today.

Since my biological father had stirred up the gallery, I hoped things might be different this time, maybe if my stepmother stayed quiet, nothing would happen. But hopes were just that.

“Your father’s Chairman Jeong, and your mother’s Director Kim, right? But I heard Director Kim only had one son… so she’s not your real mother?”

“That’s correct.”

Before the regression, I hadn’t noticed, but this time I saw Choi Myeongsook and Im Songyoon exchange a subtle glance. They had clearly planned this together.

As expected, Im Songyoon now joined in.

“Oh my, I hadn’t heard that before. Director Kim isn’t your birth mother?”

“No.”

“Then who is your real mother?”

“She passed away. When I was young.”

My official documents listed my biological mother’s name as Park Jiwoo. She had died when I was two, she had only been twenty-seven.

I had no memories of her, so I didn’t feel a sense of longing, but the fact that she died so young did tug at me.

My biological father was a man with ambitions far beyond his abilities. It was clear he had divorced his wife, who had already given him a son, and married my mother because he was after my maternal grandfather’s wealth.

Chronologically, Daon Savings Bank collapsed shortly after my mother’s death. It seemed unlikely my father had a hand in her death, as he still could’ve used her if she were alive. He was ambitious, yes, but also timid.

“What about your mother’s family? Director Jeong wouldn’t marry just anyone, would he?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t had contact with my mother’s side in a long time.”

“Hm? Why not?”

“Most of my maternal relatives passed away when I was little.”

I responded calmly and indirectly, which only laid a trap for her. One poorly worded question now would come off as wildly inappropriate.

Realizing that, Im Songyoon stumbled a bit as she continued.

“S-Still, you must’ve heard something about them?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know what your maternal grandfather did?”

“Do you know Daedongyang Credit Corporation? He was the chairman.”

“Daedongyang Credit? And your grandfather’s name?”

“Park. Park Jeongtaek.”

I answered honestly. The company had long since gone bankrupt anyway.

“Ah… Park Jeongtaek. Daedongyang Credit. I remember now. Wasn’t he known as the Loan Shark King?”

Just as I expected. Im Songyoon’s reaction was textbook. Her tone made it clear she looked down on a family that had gone bankrupt in private lending.

Before the regression, she had mocked me for not knowing my mother’s family and sneered that even illegitimate children could now be registered under their fathers’ names. She didn’t say that this time, but the smirk on her face was the same.

“Ha. How did Director Jeong end up marrying into a loan shark family?”

Now that she couldn’t attack me for being an illegitimate child, she was going after my family background. I was at a loss. She acted like the world would end if she couldn’t put me down.

I wanted to shoot back something rude. But witty retorts weren’t my strength, and I couldn’t think of a good comeback.

So I just answered with the truth.

“Maybe he needed money.”

“What?”

“Loan sharks usually have a lot of it. He was the Loan Shark King, after all.”

“You… are you proud of that?”

Im Songyoon asked with an incredulous expression. I gave her a casual smile, as if I didn’t care. My maternal family was long gone, and I had no contact with them. There was nothing to be ashamed of.

To be honest, this was my first time pushing back like this, so I was a little nervous. I was supposed to stay under the radar until I divorced Baek Mugyeong.

But I’d learned from experience, if I stayed quiet every time someone picked a fight, they’d only get bolder.

“I don’t have any memories of my maternal grandfather, so.”

“Can’t hide your bloodline, huh.”

Im Songyoon sneered, about to say something nastier, when a low voice suddenly cut in.

“Aunt, I think that’s enough.”

It was Baek Mugyeong.

At some point, he had returned from speaking with Baek Jinseok along with Baek Jaehan, Baek Sujin, and Baek Daehan.

Before the regression, when Im Songyoon had mocked me, Baek Mugyeong hadn’t been in the drawing room.

“What? Are you taking your wife’s side now?”

“If you keep this up, you’ll only make things difficult for yourself.”

“For me? Why?”

“Chairman Park of K-One, his father did the same kind of work.”

The smug smile vanished from Im Songyoon’s face in an instant. The other relatives who’d been enjoying the spectacle went stiff too.

Everyone here knew that the only daughter of K-One Securities had married Baek Yeongseop, and died.

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  one of the most important traditional holidays in South Korea. It’s often called Korean Thanksgiving, and it’s a time when families come together to honor their ancestors and celebrate the autumn harvest.