Chapter 272 – Side Story 3 – Min Seo-yeon

Cha Ye-rin has two children.

Her spirited eldest son, Min Su-ho.

Her lovely youngest daughter, Min Seo-yeon.

And now, she’s about to have a son-in-law.

“Mother-in-law. Please give me your daughter. I will make her happy for the rest of her life.”

Cha Ye-rin examined the man kneeling before her.

Broad shoulders, gentle features, polite demeanor.

‘His first impression passes, but…’

The problem was his age.

“Seo-yeon.”

“Yes, mom.”

“How old are you right now?”

“T-twenty-three.”

“And you’re already bringing a man home saying you want to get married?”

And he’s in his mid-thirties, a full zodiac cycle older.

“What does age matter? As long as we love each other!”

“This girl, really!”

What parent wouldn’t be frustrated when their child talks back like that while clinging to the man’s arm?

Cha Ye-rin looked at the man her daughter brought as a prospective son-in-law with cold eyes.

“Excuse me, what did you say your name was?”

“It’s Hwang Jun-ho, mother-in-law.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what do you do for work?”

“I run a small cafe, mother-in-law.”

He seems like a really good person.

He must take good care of himself since he doesn’t look that old either.

‘Anyone would think he’s in his late twenties.’

But that doesn’t mean she can approve of this marriage.

Seo-yeon is still young.

“Sigh, Mr. Hwang Jun-ho. I never thought I’d have to say something like this in my life… If you truly care for our Seo-yeon, please break up with her immediately.”

“Mom!”

“You stay quiet!”

After glaring at Min Seo-yeon who was pouting, she looked at the man again.

Hwang Jun-ho still maintained his gentle smile.

“Mother-in-law. I truly love Seo-yeon. If my age is the problem, I’ll postpone the marriage. But please take back your words about breaking up.”

“So you’re saying you’d be fine postponing marriage for 5 or even 10 years?”

“Well… I could compromise up to 2 or 3 years, but beyond that…”

“Mom! What’s wrong with having a bit of an age difference? As long as we love each other, isn’t that enough?”

“Didn’t I tell you to stay quiet?”

She told him to bring his boyfriend so she could see his face once, but she never expected him to be a full zodiac cycle older…

‘Didn’t he use his position as a cafe owner to seduce our innocent Seo-yeon first?’

Negative thoughts wouldn’t leave her mind.

“Ah, mom. Please give your permission.”

“Permission, my foot. Do you think this will work just because you’re throwing a tantrum? Even if I somehow gave permission, your father would oppose it.”

“Dad always listens to whatever mom says.”

“Ah, so that’s why you came when dad was out? To convince me.”

“Hehe.”

“Ridiculous. Get out! Before your father finds out.”

“Tch.”

At the firm order to leave, Min Seo-yeon took Hwang Jun-ho outside.

“Mom always scolds only me. She never says anything to my brother!”

To the grumbling Min Seo-yeon, Hwang Jun-ho casually asked.

“I’ve been curious about this for a while, but what does your brother do?”

“My brother? He’s a hunter.”

“Gasp! A hunter?”

“Oh, I didn’t mention it. He’s a B-rank hunter, and I think he just hit level 1,000 last week or something.”

“Ah.”

Hwang Jun-ho maintained his surprised expression.

After all, hunters who appear at a rate of 1 in 1,000 people weren’t an occupation you could easily encounter.

‘Good. That acting was natural.’

Hwang Jun-ho, who was praising himself, actually already knew that her brother was a B-rank hunter.

He had overheard her talking with a friend at the cafe by chance.

‘That’s why I approached her in the first place.’

The reason he decided to seduce Min Seo-yeon, who was a regular customer, was entirely because her brother was a hunter.

‘I heard B-rank hunters make hundreds of billions a year…’

A completely different level from himself, who barely makes ends meet running a tiny cafe.

‘If I marry Seo-yeon, some of that wealth should trickle down to me, right? Hehe.’

“What are you thinking about?”

Hwang Jun-ho, who had been thinking about quitting the cafe and buying a building to live off rental income for the rest of his life, was startled and turned around.

“Ah… I was thinking it’s a shame.”

“A shame? About what?”

“It would have been nice to meet your brother while we were at it.”

“My brother’s been busy lately, so it’s hard to even contact him.”

“Well, it must be hard to contact him when he’s in dungeons hunting monsters.”

Hwang Jun-ho felt disappointed.

It would have been nice to make an impression on his future brother-in-law and build a relationship…

‘No, wait. Marriage is the immediate problem.’

That wasn’t the urgent issue right now.

If he couldn’t get married, his dream of rental income would also fly away.

“Brother. Don’t worry too much about what my mom said. I’ll keep trying to persuade her at home.”

“Sigh… Alright.”

“Let’s go have dinner to cheer ourselves up.”

“Let’s do that.”

Hwang Jun-ho, who took the wheel, drove Min Seo-yeon to a restaurant.

After finishing their meal at an upscale restaurant and heading home again.

Hwang Jun-ho, who was driving, started speaking in a serious voice.

“Hey, Seo-yeon.”

“Yes?”

“How long are you going to keep using formal speech with me? I told you to speak casually and call me oppa.”

“Ah… I’m still not used to it…”

“We’ve been dating for 6 months already. How can you still feel so uncomfortable?”

“Do I seem uncomfortable? I actually find it more comfortable to use formal speech.”

“Fine. Let’s say that’s the case. But when are we going to take our relationship to the next level?”

“Th-that topic was finished last time.”

“Premarital purity? Does that still exist these days?”

Even though they’d been dating for 6 months, all Hwang Jun-ho had done with Min Seo-yeon was hold hands once.

This was because she insisted on maintaining premarital purity.

“My dad is a bit old-fashioned about that sort of thing.”

“I know. That’s why we’re going home before 10 PM now.”

With even a curfew in place, dating after 10 PM at night was unthinkable.

‘Premarital purity and even a curfew to maintain…’

Hwang Jun-ho thought that whoever was going to be his father-in-law was a stick-in-the-mud, even though he didn’t know who he was.

“Don’t you feel frustrated having to follow those rules?”

“No. I mostly agree with what my dad says…”

“Speaking of which, what does your father do for work?”

Hwang Jun-ho had never heard about Min Seo-yeon’s father before.

“He’s, he’s just an ordinary office worker.”

“Really? Then is the house you’re living in now under your brother’s name?”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“When I went to your house today, it looked really expensive and nice. There’s no way your father, who’s an ordinary office worker, could have bought a place like that. Your brother who makes good money must have bought it, right?”

“Ah… Y-yes, that’s right.”

‘I knew it.’

A smile formed on Hwang Jun-ho’s lips.

As expected, the money source was her brother.

‘I need to get a firm grip on that B-rank hunter.’

But first, he needed to get permission for marriage.

‘I have a plan for everything.’ Hwang Jun-ho smiled slyly as he drove somewhere.

“Oppa, where are you going? This isn’t the direction to our house…”

“Seo-yeon. Let’s not go home today.”

“What?”

“Oppa has been holding back a lot.”

“What do you mean…”

While she was confused, the car stopped.

Min Seo-yeon was shocked to see the flashing sign in front of her.

“Th-this is a motel…”

“I told you. I’ve been holding back a lot.”

It wasn’t acting but his sincere feelings.

Indeed, during their 6-month relationship, Hwang Jun-ho had been tormented.

Min Seo-yeon’s beauty was that outstanding.

“We’ve been dating for 6 months, but only being able to hold hands makes sense?”

“I-I decided to maintain premarital purity…”

“Fuck, what’s so important about premarital purity? We’re going to get married anyway, so let’s think of it as doing it early.”

“N-no. I promised my dad too…”

“You can just lie about that. Honestly, how would your dad know whether you did it before marriage or not? He doesn’t know, right?”

“Please don’t do this, oppa. Even so, I don’t want to.”

“Well, I want to.”

He had to.

To get her pregnant and obtain permission for marriage.

‘To get married, pregnancy is the only answer.’

For that, he had to bed his girlfriend today by any means necessary.

“Come with me.”

“Ah, l-let go! It hurts!”

Hwang Jun-ho grabbed her wrist and forcibly made her get out of the car, then dragged Min Seo-yeon along.

“If you do this, I’ll report you to the police!”

Hwang Jun-ho’s hand stopped for a moment.

“What? You’ll report me?”

Instead, he slapped Min Seo-yeon’s cheek.

Smack-

Looking at Min Seo-yeon who was staring at him in bewilderment, Hwang Jun-ho glared.

“Hey, you knew, didn’t you? That I’ve been to prison.”

“…What?”

“How did you find out? Did you see it on the sex offender notification app? Huh?”

“Wh-what are you suddenly talking about, oppa…”

“Where are you pretending not to know? Damn it!”

At the completely changed atmosphere, Min Seo-yeon was frightened and trembling.

“You knew everything, so you were putting on an act with premarital purity and all that to get rid of me, weren’t you?”

“A-acting? What do you mean…”

“Ha, fuck, I even started a cafe trying to live properly…”

Hwang Jun-ho, who was thoroughly angry, raised his hand again.

Min Seo-yeon was frightened and squeezed her eyes shut.

“…”

She thought she was going to be hit and was scared in advance, but the feared event didn’t happen.

Instead, something else happened.

“Huh?”

When she opened her eyes, he had disappeared at some point.

The person called Hwang Jun-ho.

Smack- Smack! Smack!

At the pain felt on his cheeks, Hwang Jun-ho woke up from sleep.

“Gasp, what!”

In his sight was a man who looked to be in his early 50s with his arm raised.

“Stop right there. I’ll only hit you seven more times.”

“You, who are you… Huh?”

Hwang Jun-ho, who was about to shout asking who he was, squinted at the familiar face he seemed to have seen somewhere.

And he remembered.

Who the other person was.

“M-Min Do-jun Hunter! R-right?”

Unlike when he was young, he had more wrinkles, but it was definitely the hero he had seen on TV.

“Min Do-jun Hunter came to rescue me! Thank goodness! Please untie me! Someone must have kidnapped me!”

“…?”

Hwang Jun-ho shook his tied-up body and pleaded.

He seemed not to remember that Min Do-jun had just slapped his cheek.

This was also proof of how good Min Do-jun’s image was.

“You bastard, why would I untie you? I’m the one who dragged you here.”

“…What?”

To Hwang Jun-ho who was making a dumbfounded expression, Min Do-jun slapped him to tell him to come to his senses.

Smack!

“M-Min Do-jun Hunter?”

“It doesn’t hurt, right? I’m trying very hard to hit you gently right now. I don’t want to kill you with my own hands.”

Despite his claim of trying, blood burst from Hwang Jun-ho’s lips.

“I’ll hit you exactly ten times and then send you off.”

“M-Min Do-jun Hunter.”

Smack!

“J-just a moment.”

Smack!

“Why are you doing this to me…”

Smack!

Only after completing exactly ten hits and his cheeks swelling up did Min Do-jun’s hand stop.

“Phew, done. As promised, I’ll end my venting here.”

“Why on earth are you doing this to me…”

“Why am I doing this?”

Min Do-jun grinned.

“You touched my daughter, you bastard.”

“…”

Hwang Jun-ho belatedly realized.

‘Min Seo-yeon… Min Do-jun… Same Min surname…’

The true identity of the father who was supposedly an ordinary office worker.

“No matter how immature the kid is, did you think you’d be safe after laying hands on my daughter?”

“I-I didn’t know…”

“And now I see you’re a criminal bastard with exactly 100 karma points?”

“H-Hunter… Please forgive me…”

Min Do-jun, who smiled like a demon, spoke in a quiet voice.

“Send an apology text to my daughter. Write a long, heartfelt letter so she won’t have any trauma. And at the end… you know, right?”

Min Do-jun’s pupils had turned purple at some point.

“Kill yourself in a quiet place.”