AOA 53

It had only been a few months since my regression. I’d been digging around relentlessly, and eventually, I found something.

I didn’t let it sit. Instead, I used my lunch break to meet my biological father.

—The intern? Heard he’s the child of a mistress.

—Really?

—For real?

—Yeah.

—I heard that too.

—Wow. And he still works here? That’s bold. He must know himself.

—He doesn’t resemble the Director at all.

—So the Director raised a mistress’s child all this time? Damn. She’s a saint.

—How could the Chairman tell her to raise a mistress’s kid?

—That’s just how this industry is. Look at Wonho Foods, didn’t the mistress end up taking over?

—Maybe they just raised him since he’s an omega. He’s twenty-two, right? Married too, apparently.

—Well, he does have a pretty face.

—I always got weird vibes from him, but didn’t think he was a mistress’s kid.

The snide conversation played from my phone. Not a single curse word, but every line was laced with malice.

I looked at my biological father seated across from me. His face was taut with anger, clearly displeased by what he heard.

After getting married, I’d kept my legal family at a distance. My biological father was full of selfish nagging, my stepmother mocked me while taking my things, and my half-brother lashed out violently whenever he felt like it.

I had no way to defeat them, no power to overturn the situation, so avoiding them altogether was the best I could do.

But life didn’t always go the way I wanted. Working as an intern at the gallery meant I saw the director, my stepmother, almost daily, except on weekends. And when problems arose, I had to rely on my biological father.

Like today.

Facing him was a torment. Unlike with Jeong Guhyeon, I didn’t tremble or feel fear, but the disgust and irritation boiled up hot and fast.

Watching him sit upright and eat his lunch calmly across from me made my stomach churn. Maybe it was my mood, but every bite felt like sand in my mouth.

But revenge wasn’t easy, so I calmed myself and waited for his response.

“You recorded this at the gallery?”

“Yes. I have more recordings with similar content. Please find out who’s spreading these malicious rumors.”

I explained calmly.

I wasn’t exactly sure when the rumor began, but people had started whispering that I was a mistress’s child. Before the regression, I hadn’t known about it and suffered a great deal because of it. Especially during Lunar New Year when I met Baek Mugyeong’s family elders, I was laughed at to my face.

Though it was later cleared up as a misunderstanding, correcting a false rumor is difficult. That’s why I had to nip it in the bud this time.

The gallery was definitely the source. Before the regression, my biological father had gone digging for the original source of the rumor, and eventually, a staffer’s name had surfaced.

“This isn’t something that ends with firing one person. Ha… what kind of behavior of yours would spark talk of being a mistress’s child?”

Even faced with hard evidence, my biological father started by blaming me. I wasn’t surprised, it was the same as before the regression.

This was the man who’d scolded me for being careless when I fell down the stairs and hit my head. I had no expectations, none at all. Still, the disgust and contempt kept bubbling up.

I steadied my face and masked my expression. I hadn’t taken time out of my precious lunch break just to tattle.

“As you know, rumors from the gallery could spread outside. And they might reach the Chairman’s ears.”

“…!”

“If that happens, even if the Chairman knows they’re false, he won’t take kindly to the fact that rumors exist. He may demand to know where they started.”

“I understand. I’ll handle this.”

Only then did he seem to grasp the severity of the situation, his eyes flashed with realization.

Rumors about chaebol illegitimate children weren’t uncommon. But for that rumor to be about his granddaughter-in-law, Baek Jinseok would never approve. He valued appearances above all else.

For the same reason, I didn’t mention that the source might be my stepmother. My biological father, like Baek Jinseok, hated internal strife.

Still, I figured he would suspect her himself and keep her quiet.

“I have another favor.”

“What is it?”

“If there’s anything I should know about my maternal family, please tell me. I’ll be meeting the in-laws during Lunar New Year, and I’d like to be able to answer their questions. If there’s any chance they’re tied to criminal activity, I’d rather be careful.”

There was another reason I’d gone through the trouble of recording the gallery staff’s gossip. Being attacked over my background by Baek Mugyeong’s relatives was nothing.

The real objective was to find out about my biological mother and her family.

Before the regression, I hadn’t known a thing. I only learned my biological mother’s name when I got my updated family registry under the name Jeong Minchae.

Out of curiosity, I searched her name online. But it was a common name, and only unrelated celebrities came up.

After much hesitation, I had asked my biological father about her family, but he just said most of them were dead. He warned me not to ask again, saying there was no one left to meet.

His ominous tone kept me from pressing further. Later, after I lost my mental clarity due to medication, I didn’t even question it.

But now things were different. I had my mind, and I had future knowledge. I needed to protect myself from malice.

And I had a faint hope. My biological father was greedy. If he had gone so far as to divorce his wife and marry my mother, her family probably wasn’t just ordinary people.

Maybe most of them really were dead, as he said. Still, I had to confirm the possibility, however slim.

“That family is really touchy about lineage. Tsk.”

My biological father clicked his tongue in obvious displeasure. But the fact that he didn’t lash out was a good sign.

I didn’t push him. I just waited.

After using my lunch break to meet my biological father, I returned to the gallery.

I was still an outcast there, but I didn’t care. I diligently carried out tasks until 3 p.m., then left on the dot.

Next up was English class. After parking nearby, I didn’t get out of the car right away. I pulled out my phone and started searching.

Daon Savings Bank.

My biological father had told me my mother’s side used to run a banking business. He said it collapsed shortly after my mother’s death due to mismanagement.

He clicked his tongue at the messy situation and said it wasn’t a family worth boasting about. It was clear he didn’t want to say more, so I just nodded and didn’t press him.

Because we were nearly out of time during lunch, I hadn’t had the chance to look up Daon Savings Bank. Once back at the museum, work kept me too busy. There were moments I could’ve checked, but I resisted, didn’t want to get caught.

Now finally alone, I began a proper search.

There wasn’t much info, since the name had since changed. The bank’s CEO at the time died suddenly while being investigated for accounting fraud and stock manipulation, and the bank was shut down and sold.

That CEO was my maternal uncle. He’d married and divorced twice, and had no children.

Daon Savings Bank had originally been Daedongyang Credit Co. As I dug deeper, the name Park Jeongtaek, the so-called “loan shark king of Myeongdong,” popped up.

Apparently, Park Jeongtaek was my maternal grandfather.

“A loan shark king, seriously…”

The unexpected truth made me sigh. I tried digging further, but there was barely any info on family beyond my uncle and grandfather. Just that my uncle inherited the business.

I wasn’t deeply disappointed. If that side of the family had still been intact, my biological father would’ve found a way to use me for his gain. I probably wouldn’t have been tossed aside.

I already expected this. It was just a mild letdown. Still, it meant something to have a counter to the mocking jeers I’d face to my face.

“Crap.”

Realizing I’d lost track of time while researching, I quickly packed up and headed to class. It was a short walk from the parking lot to the academy.

“Minchae?”

Just as I was nearing the entrance, Lee Jeongwook suddenly appeared. Or rather, he stepped in front of me from behind.

“Teacher?”

“Wow, what a coincidence. I was just thinking of asking how you’ve been, but looks like you’ve been doing great.”

The surprise encounter threw me off a bit. And the way Lee Jeongwook acted like it was just a random run-in set off my alarm bells.

I had blocked his number twice already, but he kept trying to contact me. When I hung up the moment I heard his voice, he sent a string of threatening messages. I ignored and blocked those too.

He looked the same as always, but I had a bad feeling.