AOA 43

Now that I knew exactly where the bathroom was, there was no chance of being mistaken for a pervert.

“I’ll get up for a moment as well.”

Baek Mugyeong followed me. I looked at him with a bit of confusion. This hadn’t happened in the previous timeline, but there were so many variables between us now that I just let it go.

“It’s to the left.”

As we exited the dining room, Baek Mugyeong pointed out the direction of the bathroom. In the previous timeline, I had gotten lost after turning right, so this time I headed left.

“Are you going to the bathroom?”

“How’s your thigh?”

The question caught me off guard. Following me to the bathroom and even asking about my condition, none of this had happened before the regression. I looked down at my right leg, still damp with sujeonggwa, and then glanced at Baek Mugyeong.

“Well, it stung a little, but I think it’s fine.”

From what I remembered, a light pink mark about the size of a 100-won coin had appeared on my thigh, but it hadn’t swelled or blistered. It wasn’t something that required any attention.

“This sort of thing will happen often.”

After a few steps, Baek Mugyeong said quietly. He meant that the spilled sujeonggwa hadn’t been an accident, it had been malicious.

I looked at him again. Earlier too, and now, I couldn’t figure out why he was being so considerate.

Still, he wasn’t wrong. For now, it was just minor bullying, but eventually Im Songyoon would begin to humiliate me openly in front of others. She even spread rumors that I might be an illegitimate child. That my behavior was vulgar because of my origins, all while putting on a mask of elegance.

Im Songyoon was a prime example of how ugly a person could become when filled with malice, no matter how educated or cultured they were. I’d been through it all already, so it didn’t surprise me.

“Yeah, I’m sure it will.”

I nodded and went into the bathroom. I washed my hands and wiped down my sujeonggwa-stained pants before coming back out.

But Baek Mugyeong, who had been waiting outside, made no move to leave.

“You’re not going to the bathroom?”

“What company’s stock did you buy?”

A light went on in my head. So that’s why he had followed me here. But then I immediately questioned it again.

He could’ve just asked on the drive home. If the driver was an issue, he could’ve asked after we got back.

Even as I tilted my head, I repeated what I’d told Baek Sujin earlier.

“Like I said before, it’s a secret.”

“Jeong Minchae.”

“I bought something ordinary. It’s not DS Motors or any Daesong Group stock, so you don’t have to worry.”

I explained eagerly. Daesong Group was one of the top three conglomerates in Korea, and its subsidiaries’ stocks were expensive. With only 300 million won, I couldn’t possibly buy enough to influence management.

“Stocks are—”

“Aaahhh!”

Just as Baek Mugyeong opened his mouth to say something, a sharp scream rang out. I instinctively turned toward the source of the frightened voice.

I didn’t need to see it to know what had happened. The youngest female employee had probably been working in the kitchen, gotten her clothes stained with food waste, and headed to the changing room. While changing, she would have felt something was off, turned around, and locked eyes with someone hiding between the cabinets.

As she screamed and sank to the ground, the intruder would’ve made a quick escape.

In the previous timeline, I had run toward the scream and ended up being suspected as the culprit. The female employee couldn’t identify the man’s face clearly, so it had put me at a huge disadvantage.

This time, I didn’t move. Baek Mugyeong was right next to me and could be a witness, so there would be no false accusations this time.

In the previous timeline, when I explained that I’d gotten lost, people had all looked at me with pity or disdain. Baek Mugyeong too.

That wouldn’t happen again.

“Let’s go back to the dining room.”

Baek Mugyeong didn’t even flinch, as if he wasn’t curious at all about what had happened. Maybe he just assumed someone had seen a cockroach.

If I remembered correctly, the man hated bugs. One time, a cicada landed on his back and he froze like a statue.

Thinking about that rare weakness of his nearly made me laugh. But I held it in and quietly followed him.

Word of the female employee’s scream reached Baek Jinseok too.

But no one really seemed to care that someone had entered the women’s changing room.

Everyone just assumed it was something the employees would resolve amongst themselves. But Baek Mugyeong reacted differently.

“This kind of incident needs to be handled properly. The culprit must be identified.”

His tone was firm. I was surprised and looked at him. Things were different from the previous timeline, but I hadn’t expected him to step up like this.

He had always kept a bit of distance during family gatherings, ignoring Baek Jaehan’s jabs and only reacting when Baek Jinseok addressed him directly.

That he was now insisting they find the pervert who had hidden in the women’s changing room, on his own, was unexpected.

“They’ll handle it themselves. You must be too young to know better, but stirring up a mess over something that can be settled quietly isn’t smart.”

Baek Jaehan, who always disagreed with whatever Baek Mugyeong said, sneered at him. He meant, why was he sticking his nose into a servants’ matter?

“The culprit might do something worse next time. Especially if he feels cornered.”

I thought Baek Mugyeong wasn’t entirely wrong. People under pressure sometimes acted irrationally.

“Then he’d just make his own punishment worse. Would that really happen?”

“Grandfather, what would you like to do? I don’t think it’s right for a pervert to be under the same roof as you.”

Instead of responding to Baek Jaehan’s mockery, Baek Mugyeong turned to Baek Jinseok. This was his house, and ultimately, he would make the final decision. Baek Mugyeong’s choice was the right one.

Still, I couldn’t shake the sense of dissonance. Baek Mugyeong seemed to be looking out for Baek Jinseok more than he had in the previous timeline. Even at the wedding, they’d stayed unusually close.

“It’s better to find him quickly.”

After some thought, Baek Jinseok finally spoke. No one opposed his decision. Baek Jaehan did scoff that Baek Mugyeong was overreacting, but he didn’t push it.

Baek Jinseok called for security and ordered them to check the CCTV footage to identify any suspicious movements. As the chairman of one of Korea’s top companies, his mansion was massive and had cameras installed everywhere.

Baek Sujin subtly took Baek Mugyeong’s side, saying this sort of thing should be dealt with properly. She added something about how it was bound to cause a real stir.

After that, people chatted casually as they ate the last of the walnut snacks and sujeonggwa. With dessert finished, the gathering was winding down.

I drank the last of my sujeonggwa cleanly and subtly looked around. Usually, the family meeting ended when Baek Jinseok stood up and announced he was retiring for the evening.

“Now then…”

Just as he wiped his mouth with a napkin and started to speak, a loud noise and commotion erupted outside.

“What’s going on?”

Baek Jaehan scowled and asked. But all the household staff were currently inside serving dinner, they didn’t know what was happening either.

One person offered to go check and left the room. Meanwhile, the disturbance grew louder, coming closer.

“What the hell?”

“Dear.”

“He said ‘catch him now,’ right?”

“Grandfather.”

That last voice came from Baek Mugyeong. He quickly stood up and approached Baek Jinseok.

“What is it?”

“Shall we move?”

“Move where? I’m fine.”

“Then I’ll stay here.”

Baek Mugyeong stood next to Baek Jinseok at the head of the table, like a bodyguard. I tilted my head slightly at his behavior. But before I could think further, a crash sounded close by and startled everyone.

The mansion’s dining room wasn’t an open-plan space connected to the kitchen, it was a large enclosed room. Baek Jinseok sat with a wall behind him, windows on the left, a wide doorway to the hallway on the right, and a smaller door to the kitchen up front.

As soon as the noise came from the hallway, everyone rose to their feet. There wasn’t even time to decide what to do.

The large door burst open, and a man dressed in black tumbled in.

He was dressed like a typical bodyguard in a dark suit, but something about the way he scanned the room was off.

Our eyes met as he quickly swept the room. His gaze was full of urgency and desperation, and warning bells blared in my head.

My seat was closest to the hallway door. He could reach me just by extending his arm.

I was still thinking “surely not” when he lunged at me.

It all happened so fast I couldn’t properly shove him off.

In a flash, his arm was wrapped around my neck, choking me from behind.

“What is this?!”

“Aaahhh!”

Baek Jinseok’s shout and Im Songyoon’s scream rang out at nearly the same time. Just then, more bodyguards rushed into the room.