Chapter 72: Moths Flying into the Fire

“Why did you do something I didn’t tell you to do?”

Baek Hyunseo glared at Won Yeojeong, resentment burning in her eyes. Won Yeojeong couldn’t understand her daughter’s reaction.

“Hy…Hyunseo, why are you acting like this? You said you’d try to understand me just a moment ago…”

Won Yeojeong was bewildered. No, she couldn’t help but be bewildered. It was true that she had been separated from Baek Hyunseo for a long time. But she had loved Hyunseo wholeheartedly when she was young.

And even though they had been apart, they were family. Connected by blood. It was difficult to understand why Hyunseo was reacting this way just because she’d mentioned an instructor.

“Why are you doing this, Hyunseo? You shouldn’t treat your mother like this just because of one instructor… Do you know how much I gave up to find you? If Baek Jooseok finds out I contacted you, I don’t know what he’ll do. I risked everything to find you.”

To be precise, Won Yeojeong had come looking for Baek Hyunseo quite a while after Baek Jooseok had been imprisoned, but Hyunseo wouldn’t care what she said anyway. Baek Hyunseo simply stared at her, tears welling in her venomous eyes.

“Just…”

Baek Hyunseo muttered under her breath. Then she spoke clearly.

“Just one instructor…”

She repeated Won Yeojeong’s words over and over again in her mind. Baek Hyunseo no longer used honorifics with Won Yeojeong. There was no need to respect someone who didn’t respect Choi Juwon, the man she loved, the man she desperately wanted forgiveness from.

“You don’t know anything about me because we’ve been apart for so long. Honestly, I missed you. You were good to me when I was young. But that was a long time ago. Now, it’s just a faint memory.”

“Hyunseo… that… saying that hurts me…”

Won Yeojeong tried to control her trembling voice as she looked at Baek Hyunseo. She couldn’t understand it. She couldn’t understand why Baek Hyunseo, her own daughter, was glaring and yelling at her because of a single instructor.

It wasn’t just yelling. It was as if she had encountered a mortal enemy, her eyes filled with hatred and resentment. Baek Hyunseo’s eyes were full of venom. Won Yeojeong could honestly say she’d never seen this side of her daughter before and had never imagined she would. That’s why the shock was even greater.

Baek Hyunseo spoke through her tears.

“You said ‘just one instructor.’ That ‘just one instructor’ was everything to me.”

Choi Juwon was the one who reached out to her when she was alone.

He visited the rooftop every day, as if it didn’t matter whether she took his hand or not.

– Let’s greet each other from now on when we meet on the rooftop. What do you think?

When the still-awkward Baek Hyunseo reached out, he willingly pulled her up.

– Hyunseo, are you having trouble understanding this lecture again? You still have to do your assignments properly. This time it’s an F. But if you work hard next time, I’ll be generous with the grade. You missed class last time, didn’t you? I covered a lot of important material then. I’ve organized it in my notes, so read this and make sure you do the assignment next time. And please try not to miss class.

He spoke with conviction, unconcerned about her being the principal’s daughter, and he tried to fill in the gaps in her knowledge.

– Hyunseo, you were sick yesterday. You weren’t faking it, were you?

– That’s mean! I really was sick!

As days passed, Baek Hyunseo skipped more assignments and called in sick more often. The reason was simple. She could get Choi Juwon’s attention that way.

– I shouldn’t have doubted you. I’m sorry if I upset you. I brought you a recovery artifact just in case. Use it if you’re in a lot of pain. You can keep it if it works well.

Choi Juwon didn’t give up on his students. If they were lacking or needed help, he did his best to support them.

She loved it. Choi Juwon’s concern. She loved how he pretended to be suspicious, but deep down, he already believed her.

His attention was warm, so warm. Like a heater on a late winter evening. Choi Juwon’s attention was a warmth Baek Hyunseo never wanted to let go of.

Baek Hyunseo had spent her entire life alone. Abandoned by her mother and monitored by her father. She had been confined to her home, unable to even use a cell phone, and he was the first instructor she met. That was Choi Juwon. He didn’t force her. He didn’t try to control her. He soothed her wounds. He didn’t blame her for not approaching him first. He gave endlessly and trusted her without reservation.

Tears streamed down Baek Hyunseo’s face. Her throat choked up, preventing her from speaking properly.

“Sob…”

The moment Baek Hyunseo saw messages on Helmunt Academy’s intranet of other students liking Choi Juwon, her world had crumbled. Because of that, she foolishly tried to frame him. Then the students wouldn’t like him.

She was terrified of losing Choi Juwon. Her first ally. She was afraid he’d disappear one day, just like her mother, who had read her fairy tales and then vanished overnight. She was afraid someone would take him away from her. Foolishly, stupidly, she loved him so much that she took everything away from him.

“Sob…Because… Because you talked to him like that, he’ll never forgive me now. It… it might really be over…”

Baek Hyunseo wept uncontrollably. Because of the false accusations she’d made, Choi Juwon had been subjected to harsh insults from the students he had so passionately taught and was driven out. He was betrayed by everyone he trusted in a single moment. To make matters worse, it was her father who had orchestrated the hateful messages by threatening the students. And on top of that, Won Yeojeong was talking about compensating Choi Juwon for his suffering with money.

Her family had committed the very acts Choi Juwon hated and abhorred the most. Until she’d heard Won Yeojeong’s words, Baek Hyunseo had thought she could apologize to Choi Juwon. She had hoped that even if it took a long time, he would eventually forgive her. But now, it was truly irreversible.

‘I… I committed too many sins…’

Baek Hyunseo was consumed by despair.

“…”

Won Yeojeong simply stared at her daughter weeping. She couldn’t bring herself to reach out, just watching blankly.

At first, she’d been worried about Baek Hyunseo. Seeing her sudden outburst of tears, she’d considered comforting her.

Clench

But then, rage surged within her. Only one thought filled her mind.

‘Just what is so great about that instructor?’

An S-rank instructor at the academy. His combat abilities were roughly A-rank, and his knowledge was S-rank, but Won Yeojeong was the guild leader of the high-ranking Daepeld Guild. It was clear that she possessed power and wealth beyond comparison to a mere S-rank instructor. And beyond all that, she was Baek Hyunseo’s mother. The fact that she was being compared to, no, overshadowed by, some man was absurd.

“Hyunseo, I can hire you a new instructor, as many as you want. So stop crying and let’s talk…”

“Shut up…”

Unable to hold back any longer, Baek Hyunseo exploded.

“…You’re truly disgusting. The mother I knew wasn’t as selfish and repulsive as you. There’s no one who can replace Instructor Choi Juwon.”

Baek Hyunseo glared at Won Yeojeong for a moment, then turned around sharply and said,

“Don’t ever come looking for me again. I’m going to live as if I never had a mother.”

SLAM!

The door slammed shut. Won Yeojeong stared at the door with vacant eyes.

“…”

After a moment of silence, her aide, Lee Minhwan, asked,

“Guild Leader, should I bring her back?”

Squeeze…

Won Yeojeong clenched her fist so tightly that her palm tore and bled.

Drip…
Drip…

The sound of blood dripping echoed in the room.

She answered quietly.

“It’s not time yet. Even if I bring her back now, she’ll just resent me because of that Instructor Choi Juwon.”

“Then what should we do?”

Won Yeojeong replied to Lee Minhwan’s question.

“Bring that b
Choi Juwon to me right now. I’ll make him submit, force him to kneel and beg Hyunseo for forgiveness. Then Hyunseo will be grateful to me again.”

“…”

Lee Minhwan hesitated for a moment, then said,

“I’m… I’m very sorry, but we haven’t been able to locate Choi Juwon. We tried to track his phone, but he’s somehow managed to block our attempts.”

“You incompetent fool! You can’t even find a single instructor?!”

Smash!

Won Yeojeong smashed a nearby flowerpot. Lee Minhwan lowered his head and said,

“I apologize. However, I know of a way to draw Choi Juwon out. Our investigation revealed that he’s been making numerous donations to various places. Among them are many underprivileged people he’s supported for a long time with significant sums.”

“So what?”

“I’ve confirmed that there’s a man, a martial arts gym owner, who Choi Juwon has been donating to for quite some time. If we put pressure on him, we might be able to find Choi Juwon’s location. Since he’s been a long-time benefactor, it’s likely he knows something.”

Won Yeojeong smirked at his words.

“Torture him, do whatever it takes to find out where Choi Juwon is.”

Ju Taehoon, the vice-leader of Daepeld, spoke to Won Yeojeong.

“Guild Leader, what if we cause trouble by needlessly provoking him? Dragging civilians into this just to deal with an instructor could blow things up.”

Won Yeojeong laughed as if she found it preposterous.

“Don’t worry. What can an instructor do? That gym owner can do even less. Powerless people can’t even squirm when they’re stepped on. We’ll just crush them completely.”

In a cold voice, she ordered,

“Go now. Torture the gym owner, anyone associated with Choi Juwon, until he appears before me. Once you find him, make him kneel and apologize to Hyunseo, even if you have to torture him.”