Chapter 2
Chae-ah. Those two letters slipped into my ear and lodged there.
“You….”
My half-uncle and half-aunt stood with their arms crossed, watching him warily.
This delicate-looking man who couldn’t take his eyes off me for a long while—his name was Gu Jun-ho.
With his faint double eyelids, pretty brown eyes, and pale skin, he was the kind of man who naturally drew attention.
He had once dreamed of becoming an actor but changed paths and became a manager. Saebyul was his first-ever client.
“Yes. I’m Gu Jun-ho, Saebyul-noona’s former manager.”
After gently patting my head once, Jun-ho stood up straight and greeted the two of them belatedly.
Jun-ho was gentle-natured. He wasn’t a major character in the drama, and his innocent yet frustrating personality made viewers quite annoyed—but unlike these two, he wasn’t a vile villain.
‘If anything, he was so overly kind that people actually wished he’d become a bit more shrewd.’
“Huh. So Kang Saebyul didn’t snag some rich guy after all.”
Saebyul’s half-brother furrowed his brow, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
What a terrible thing to say! You ill-mannered people!
Pretending not to hear, Jun-ho slowly pulled an envelope from his suit’s inner pocket and held it out to them.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a letter Saebyul-noona left for me.”
Taking it, the siblings unfolded the letter and began reading it together.
Mom left a letter for Gu Jun-ho?
I want to read it too! I tiptoed closer to them, but couldn’t see a thing.
Just then, Jun-ho, who had been waiting silently, spoke.
“So… if the bereaved family doesn’t mind, I would like to take Chae-ah in.”
Startled, I looked up at Jun-ho’s face.
He wore a wistful smile.
“As her family.”
My eyes trembled violently.
In the drama, Jun-ho was only in his mid-twenties.
‘Is he serious?!’
“This is definitely Kang Saebyul’s handwriting.”
“She says that if anything happens to her, she’s entrusting Chae-ah to him.”
I heard the Kang siblings whispering.
I stared blankly at Jun-ho.
He was the one who used to come over often and play with me when I was just a babbling baby.
“Noona’s working so hard… Where’s Kim Min-cheol, anyway?”
“It’s not much, but use this to buy Chae-ah some diapers. Hand-washing them must be hard.”
“Rumble rumble, peekaboo!”
“I’ll play with Chae-ah plenty, so you go out and get some fresh air, Noona. Chae-ah, want Uncle to give you a piggyback ride?”
Gu Jun-ho, who in some ways was more of a father to me than Min-cheol, a man I’d never even seen in person.
But after he quit management, I lost touch with him. I think he kept in touch with Saebyul, though…
But suddenly showing up like this?
“Well, if that was Saebyul’s wish, I suppose there’s no helping it. But are you sure? Saebyul didn’t leave a single penny in assets.”
My half-uncle’s voice suddenly cut in.
Just earlier he was talking about dividing up Saebyul’s inheritance, and now he was playing innocent in front of Jun-ho.
My half-aunt shrugged and chimed in with her brother.
“Right. Raising a kid costs a fortune. Think carefully—once you decide, you can’t back out. Don’t come crying to us saying you can’t raise her and want to give her back.”
These shameless people.
“Liar….”
Clenching my fists, I furrowed my brows and slowly lifted my head to glare at them. The two of them flinched, clearly taken aback.
“W-what is it?”
I had been silent throughout Mom’s funeral, only wiping away tears—so my first reaction startled them completely.
“Y-you can talk?”
“Most four-year-olds can talk, but… this is….”
They stammered, flustered.
They probably never thought I’d understand. After all, most kids my age don’t even grasp the concept of inheritance.
But I knew. I knew that Saebyul had been saving small amounts every month, diligently preparing for the future.
I raised my brow, took a step toward them, and glared.
“You said you’d take Mom’s money… and share it just between you two!”
Then I raised my finger and pointed at them.
“You liars! You thieves! That’s my mom’s money!”
Even if the funeral hall was nearly empty, plenty of people were passing by outside the open door. At the sudden loud voice, people stopped and glanced our way.
Flustered, the siblings waved their hands and tried to scold me.
“Y-you! You little brat, how dare you talk like that!”
“Do you even know what inheritance is? Hah….”
Of course, I couldn’t logically argue.
I heard people peeking into the room murmuring.
“Oh my, did you hear what that child just said?”
“It looks like those people are trying to steal the child’s inheritance… tsk tsk….”
“For a little one to speak so clearly, she must be so wronged….”
Those heartless people trying to take a bereaved child’s inheritance deserve to be cursed at.
“Chae-ah….”
I heard Jun-ho’s startled voice.
I crossed my arms, stomped over to him, and stood by his side.
Surely, being raised by Jun-ho was a better option than being raised by those insane siblings or ending up in an orphanage.
The visibly flustered siblings were frantically trying to figure out how to salvage the situation.
“So, then, let’s split it three ways….”
“Give me Mom’s money.”
At my words, the siblings flinched.
Jun-ho also looked down at me, surprised.
‘It’s not much money anyway….’
It pained me, but it was the right decision.
Saebyul was hardworking, but she was an unsuccessful actress, barely scraping by to feed me.
So I knew there couldn’t be much inheritance.
Rather than inheriting a small sum in this situation…
“Instead, promise me!”
I looked up at the siblings with cold eyes and said.
This was definitely the better decision for my future.
“Promise you’ll never… hold Chae-ah back.”
For a moment, a heavy, chaotic silence fell. But having taken my first step toward a clever new life, I twisted my lips.
“In writing.”
After Mom’s funeral, with the cooperation of my half-uncle and half-aunt, the process of confirming that I was Jun-ho’s biological child was completed.
My half-uncle, being someone used to illegal dealings, forged the documents easily. The court, seeing no father on my family register, added me to Jun-ho’s register without suspicion.
‘Come to think of it, this is before the head-of-family system was abolished.’
September 1997. That’s how I became the daughter of a twenty-five-year-old young man named Gu Jun-ho.
Well… maybe it was only possible because this era was still mostly analog.
“Where on earth did you learn such difficult words?”
Jun-ho, carrying me in his arms as we got off an old bus, asked in amazement.
“From Mom practicing her lines!”
I took Jun-ho’s hand and spoke confidently.
If the famous detective series X-Files had Fox Mulder, I had memories with my mom.
“Mom taught me ’cause I was curious! And….”
Saebyul may have played minor or supporting roles, but she appeared in many different genres of dramas. And since she always practiced her lines at home, it was a perfectly good excuse.
“Mom said if anything happened to her, I should do this!”
“Ah….”
At that moment, a tear rolled down one of Jun-ho’s cheeks.
“Ah, why am I like this? How embarrassing.”
Startled, I stared at him with wide eyes. Jun-ho forced a laugh and patted my head.
“You’re pretty like Saebyul-noona, and smart too. Our Chae-ah.”
In Jun-ho’s eyes looking at me, I felt deep longing and tenderness.
“From now on, Chae-ah, you don’t have to worry about anything. Whatever you need… this uncle will take care of it all. So you don’t have to struggle alone.”
I had not only completed the adoption process but also gotten my half-aunt and half-uncle to sign a written pledge stating they were completely unrelated to me, Kang Chae-ah, and would never interfere in my life.
“Write it down! ‘I, so-and-so, hereby abandon Kang Chae-ah!'”
The siblings, who in the drama were like leeches clinging to Mom once she became an actress, trying to milk her for everything until the male lead showed up and made them back off…
There was no guarantee they wouldn’t become a problem for me later.
‘An inheritance of five million won is a cheap price to pay.’
When they try to become an obstacle for me, this handwritten pledge—accepted in exchange for my share of the inheritance—will come into effect.
I took Jun-ho’s hand and walked up the winding alley.
‘Still… Mom saved that money so hard. It makes me a little sad.’
Thinking of Mom made my brows droop. Jun-ho paused for a moment.
“Chae-ah, do you want me to carry you?”
“Yes!”
I didn’t hesitate and reached out my arms.
Jun-ho smiled faintly and lifted me up.
Snuggled against his solid body, I rested my chubby cheeks on his shoulder.
The shantytown swaying below looked somehow desolate.
Jun-ho, who at twenty-five became my guardian even though he didn’t father me, also seemed a bit pitiful.
‘You should have gotten married, you know….’
The torn wallpaper here and there, the yellow linoleum floor, the bulky ugly television, the old furniture.
Jun-ho’s musty, damp rooftop room—even worse than the monthly rental Mom and I lived in—awaited us.
By now, the Kang siblings had probably split Mom’s inheritance and happily returned to their daily lives.
But I smiled with relief. Because…
‘…I protected Mom’s insurance money.’
A whopping 100 million won.
