"HELLO, Wonhee-ssi. I’m Hwang Yebin, Yejun’s mother."
Oh.
[Korean won don’t take their husbands’ last na legally, so Yejun’s mother must be a Hwang from the beginning.]
"I’m Hwang Junsang, Yejun’s father."
Aha.
[Now I know why Yejun wanted to combine our nas for our future children in his imagination– he was nad after both of his parents’ nas.]
Wonhee bowed her head politely. "It’s an honor to et you, Yejun’s mother and Yejun’s father."
It may sound weird to foreigners.
But that was a normal and polite greeting to a friend’s parents.
"That’s too formal," Yejun, who returned to Wonhee’s side after his brief conversation with Grandpa Suk-yong, said. "Wonhee-ya, you can call my mother ’Eoonim’ and my father ’Abeonim.’"
It was also a polite way to address a friend’s parents, but...
[I can sense Yejun’s ulterior motive!]
"Yejun-ah, you can’t decide for your parents like that..."
"Oh, it’s fine with ," Mrs. Hwang said. "You can call that, Wonhee-ssi."
Mr. Hwang nodded in agreent. "Sa here."
"Oh," Wonhee said, and then she nodded shyly. "I understand, Eoonim, Abeonim. Please just speak casually to ."
Mr. and Mrs. Hwang smiled and nodded.
Yejun looked smug for so reason.
[Wait until we get ho, you cheeky brat.]
But co to think of it...
[Will Yejun co ho with now that his parents are here?]
"Wonhee-ssi, please feel free to call ’unnie,’" Hwang Minsu said. "I want to be close to you."
"O-Okay, Minsu Unnie," Wonhee said, shy but happy to make a new friend. "You may speak comfortably to ."
"Alright, Wony-ah."
[Oh, she called by the na my friends and fans call .]
Hwang Minsu was probably a real fan.
That made Wonhee happy.
Hwang Minho raised his hand. "You can call us ’oppa,’ then."
"Yep," Hwang Minki added. "We also want to get close to you–"
"No," Yejun said firmly, standing in front of Wonhee as if he was hiding them from two of the triplets. "You triplets can’t get close to Wonhee!"
Hwang Minsu pointed at herself. " too?"
"Noona likes girls!"
That wasn’t a secret, so Yejun didn’t out Hwang Minsu.
[A few years ago, Minsu Unnie hard launched her ex-girlfriend on social dia.]
"Hwang Yejun, I didn’t know your self-confidence is so low that you’re threatened by us," Minsu said, clicking her tongue. "Maybe Wony is out of your league."
Hwang Minho and Hwang Minki snickered.
Yejun complained. "That’s not true."
Pfft.
Wonhee thought it was cute to see Yejun bickering with his cousins like a normal person.
And that was when she saw it.
Yejun’s parents looked teary-eyed while watching their son goof around with his cousins.
Wonhee understood why.
[This is the first ti they saw Yejun ’sober.’]
The mont was broken up when Grandpa Suk-yong cleared his throat.
"I hate to interrupt the Winter Guild’s family reunion, but we actually have a problem we need to discuss urgently," Grandpa Suk-yong said, and then he pointed his hands at Kim Bora politely. "Bora-ssi?"
Kim Bora nodded politely at Grandpa Suk-yong before she looked at Yejun with dead eyes. "Yejun Oppa, Soline Unnie has a ssage for you."
Wonhee was a bit surprised.
[Is it the ’Soline’ I know?]
The Guildmaster of the Soline Guild from France?
***
"WONY-AH. Can I call you this way? I heard Minsu call you ’Wony,’ and I thought it sounded cute."
Wonhee smiled and nodded. "You can call by my nickna, Eoonim."
It was a bit embarrassing, but calling Yejun’s mother ’eoonim’ made her feel giddy.
Fortunately, Yejun wasn’t there to tease Wonhee.
[Only , Ahyeonnie, and Yejun’s mom are left in Grandpa’s office’s drawing room.]
Yejun, Grandpa Suk-yong, Mr. Hwang, Kim Bora, and the Hwang Triplets were all in the conference room to talk about an important matter.
"Wony-ah, thank you for taking care of our Yejunnie."
’Yejunnie.’
It was such a cute nickna for Yejun.
[I’m gonna tease him later.]
"The last ti our family saw Yejunnie, he didn’t recognize us," Mrs. Hwang said in a sad voice. "In fact, he almost killed us back then."
Wonhee’s heart broke for Mrs. Hwang.
[It must have been hell for their family when Yejun snapped.]
"But we never lost hope," Mrs. Hwang said firmly. "So, we made a deal with President Kwon– a deal that was extrely unfair to us. In exchange for my son’s life, we handed President Kwon the Winter Guild without a fight. We even let APA work us to the bone without pay– even after the governnt froze our assets. Of course, we know that they’re stealing from us. But we turned a blind eye. As long as they keep Yejunnie alive, we can ignore everything else."
Wonhee clenched her hands tight.
[I know that Yejun snapped and caused damages back then, but it was still too much to exploit the Awakened People under the Winter Guild.]
Thank goodness the Winter Guild didn’t give up.
"You persisted, Eoonim," Wonhee said carefully. "Thank you for not giving up on Yejun."
Mrs. Hwang smiled bitterly. "That was the only thing we could do for Yejunnie. Before he completely snapped a year ago, we were practically estranged from him. We didn’t know how to approach him." The madam’s smile turned sad. "How could we fear our own son?"
Ah, so Yejun scared them.
"The fact that we were scared of our son may have made him sad," Mrs. Hwang continued in a sad voice. "And that’s probably why he distanced himself from us even further. We failed as parents."
Wonhee fell silent for a mont before she decided to share her thoughts. "Eoonim, I don’t have the right to comnt on your family affair since it happened before I t Yejun. However, can I say sothing about your son?"
"Of course, dear."
"Thank you," she said politely, and then she paused for a mont. "Eoonim, Yejun is already sober now. Eoonim and Abeonim can talk to him to understand each other’s thoughts. I know it’s only been a while since I’ve t your son, but I can say with confidence that Yejun doesn’t hate his family. He talks fondly of the Winter Guild, after all."
She didn’t say more than she already did because it wasn’t her place to do so.
But it looked like her words were enough to comfort Mrs. Hwang.
[I’m glad.]
"Thank you, Wony-ah. Hearing your kind words made feel better," Mrs. Hwang said, smiling at her. "So, how long have you been dating my son?"
Wonhee smiled shyly and shook her head. "Yejun and I aren’t dating, Eoonim."
"You’re not?!"
***
Kwon Jiwoong answered through gritted teeth, speaking in English because the dumbass on the other line could only speak one language. And yet those people had the audacity to make fun of their small nation. "As I said earlier, you cannot threaten us–"
These damned World Rankers...!
***
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