The Thug Hides the Villainess

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038 – Strong Women Generally Have Weaknesses # 4

“Ow!”

Baek-Yeoul screamed as she lifted a heavy iron wok to fry Vienna. The hot oil splattered and burned the back of her hand.

Even for Baek-Yeoul, an Awakener, cooking was tough work. It consumed both stamina and care in a way that was noticeably excessive.

Watching her struggle for a while, her mother, Dang Hwa-yeon, clicked her tongue.

“My daughter, you’re quite clumsy, aren’t you?”

“Of course, Mom would think my cooking is clumsy! You’ve lived in the kitchen for nearly 30 years, and I’ve only just started for a month!”

“Not about cooking.”

“What do you mean, not about cooking?”

“About boys?”

Baek-Yeoul flinched.

She trembled, as if caught sneaking food from a shelf like a raccoon.

Her mother, Dang Hwa-yeon, sighed deeply while eyeing Baek-Yeoul with narrowed eyes.

“Was he one of the kids who came over to our house? Weren’t there three boys? Which one? Was he the most handsome one? What was his name again—?”

“Th-that’s not it!”

Clicking off the fire, Baek-Yeoul stopped cooking. Although they were mother and daughter, discussing boys felt strangely embarrassing.

But her mother, Dang Hwa-yeon, had a bold, womanly side that was more assertive than Baek-Yeoul expected.

“No matter how delicious your cooking is, it won’t make a boy come over. To charm a guy, you need to target his weaknesses effectively. Everyone has a ‘weakness.'”

“Weakness?”

“Has your dad ever told you about when he came to our family as a son-in-law?”

“…Wait, Dad was a son-in-law…!?”

“Where do you think all the funding for your dad’s business came from? It all came from my family’s side. Your dad may have run the business, but Mom’s capital was a crucial factor, so it’s ‘Baek’ and ‘Dang’!”

“But you said you were an orphan! That’s why I said we didn’t have a maternal grandfather!”

“…Well, it turned out that way for a reason. Anyway, what’s important is to target weaknesses well. You need to hit exactly what a man wants.”

Swish—. Dang Hwa-yeon picked up some chopsticks nearby and threw them sharply. Watching them stick to the kitchen pillar, Baek-Yeoul felt a wave of dizziness.

Her mother suddenly seemed like a different person.

Yet, the confident side of her that went beyond a mere madam felt comforting.

So, Baek-Yeoul asked her mother.

“Um, but that boy already has a girl that he likes.”

“So did they get married?”

“No, he’s a student; why would he get married….”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Isn’t it a problem? But she’s pretty, and, um, popular too.”

“Your dad originally liked another girl. She was just a fox playing coy, yet strangely popular. Do you know how I snatched your dad away from her?”

“I don’t know! And honestly, I’d rather not know!”

“I used that girl’s ‘weakness’ to bring her down. If there’s just a small gap, no matter how strong the person is, they will crumble. You don’t need to be better than her.”

“Th-then?”

“Just make her feel inferior to you. Even better, get rid of her. You can poison her drink or stab her in the neck with a needle while she’s napping.”

“Got it!”

“Shall we start practicing throwing chopsticks?”

“…Huh? Why do I need to throw chopsticks to charm a guy?”

“Yeoul, didn’t you understand what I just said? You need to chase away the other vixens. You’re my daughter, so you’ll pick up ‘chopstick throwing’ in no time.”

Baek-Yeoul felt a slight unfamiliarity with her mom but also a surge of courage. She suddenly felt like she could actually do it.

So, she momentarily paused cooking and threw a chopstick at the pillar.

Of course, Baek-Yeoul was incredibly unlucky, and not a single chopstick hit the pillar.

# # #

Thoughts of Seoga-eul came to mind. Yu Yeoreum had a ‘weakness’ that was tied to the foster home.

I, too, had done some research on that foster home since then. However, searching online yielded no relevant articles or information.

I couldn’t even find its location.

Just then, when Yu Taeyang, Yu Yeoreum’s older brother, mentioned the foster home, I felt like Lady Luck was smiling down on me.

The dazzling radiance made it impossible to see the face of the goddess, but it surely resembled Seoga-eul.

“My mom miscarried the second child. She was really struggling. My dad suggested adopting a child to comfort her loss. So, we visited the foster home often.”

Yu Taeyang said that meeting seven-year-old Yu Yeoreum was the first time for him.

“But adopting isn’t as easy as bringing home a puppy, right? Becoming a family requires careful consideration. So, we got to know Yeoreum over three years.”

From age seven to ten, Yu Taeyang’s family frequently met and bonded with Yu Yeoreum. Back then, she was often cheerful and loved to play.

“But when the foster home closed due to mismanagement and the children got scattered, Yeoreum’s personality changed a lot. When we took Yeoreum in, I thought she might be going through puberty early….”

Adoption and the closure of the foster home. Yu Taeyang believed these events changed Yu Yeoreum’s character. He seemed to want to say a few more things but quickly kept quiet.

“What about the location of the foster home?”

“I have a business card with the address. But if you go, it’s likely just an empty lot now.”

I carefully placed the received business card in my pocket.

This was a surprisingly fruitful conversation.

After the luxurious sedan growled away like a lion, I was finally able to enter the basement.

“Pervert, do you know what time it is? It’s 9:40 PM. If you’re thinking of coming home at this hour, how about you throw away that watch on your wrist?”

Seoga-eul, sitting cross-legged on a worn-out mattress and looking chilly, spat sharp words at me. Oddly enough, she had the exact time right.

But there shouldn’t have been a clock in this basement.

“Who do you think taught me the concept of ‘time’ by wandering around without keeping it?”

Seoga-eul added that as if she read my mind.

The concept of ‘time.’

It’s better to have it than not, but I don’t think what future Seoga-eul asked of me, about training and discipline, meant to grasp such concepts.

Still, the mere fact of acquiring a new concept was a happy occurrence.

“Don’t you feel anxious about having me kidnapped? If it were me, I think I’d be too scared to go to school. What if I escape or scream for help from the people around me?”

Seoga-eul had been unusually complaining today, perhaps feeling very bored. Ying-ing was still nestled on her butt like a cushion.

—Ying-ing…

Poor Ying-ing.

It seems it had to bear Seoga-eul’s hysteria all alone while I was gone. I thought it would be nice to add sausage and bacon to the ramen Ying-ing would eat today.

“I didn’t get late because I was playing. I was at Yu Yeoreum’s house.”

“Really?”

Seoga-eul paused, her mouth shooting words like a gun.

She seemed to regain her cool, crossing her arms and tilting her chin up, striking a haughty pose.

“What did you do there?”

“We watched adult videos together. Yu Yeoreum shoots lasers from her eyes when she’s excited. Seoga-eul, the weakness you mentioned about Yu Yeoreum is the adult videos, right?”

“Huh? Adult videos? What’s that? What are you saying? What’s it to do with weaknesses?”

“And I met Yu Yeoreum’s mom and brother. I thought they might be a troubled family because she’s from the foster home, but it was way more harmonious than I expected.”

A strict yet deeply affectionate stepmother.

An older brother who cherished her like a real sibling.

Yu Yeoreum’s room seemed like a happy place filled with girlhood dolls she desired. As I recalled that moment, Seoga-eul twisted her mouth awkwardly.

“Does it look harmonious? That’s why I’m saying to kidnap her.”

“Really?”

“If I can’t be happy, I’ll just drag others down with me.”

I was blown away by Seoga-eul’s way of thinking. Was Seoga-eul at this time really such a wicked girl? It seemed that the future Seoga-eul who sarcastically called herself ‘the worst b*tch’ wasn’t exaggerating.

“Why are you like this? Why do you keep hurting yourself?”

“What? What do you mean? How am I hurting myself?”

“If you treat others poorly, your own heart gets hurt as much.”

“Huh? That’s funny. Hearing that from a kidnapper is just disgusting, you know?”

“You’re not that kind of person. You’re not being ‘Seoga-eul’ at all. Just because you’re unhappy doesn’t mean you can drag others down too. You know that’s not what you truly want.”

My goddess Seoga-eul was kind like a fairy that came down from the heavens. Knowing her true nature made this current Seoga-eul feel unnatural.

However, after being quiet for the past few days, it seemed that a button had been pressed, and she was now throwing a fit.

“What do you know about me? What kind of person was I? In the end, you just fell for my outer shell. You only saw me acting. Am I wrong?”

Her voice was cold.

—Ying-ing…

Ying-ing, which had been nestled underneath her, flew up near Seoga-eul’s face and rubbed itself against her, but Seoga-eul just swatted it away as if it were an annoying fly.

“Get away.”

—Ying-ing…

About a fortnight after kidnapping Seoga-eul, she still focused all her efforts on scratching, being irritable, and hurting me.

Was the Scorpion Sidrome also a lie?

“I’m finally starting to understand the Little Prince’s feelings of wanting to be close to the rose while also wanting to leave. Seoga-eul, I like you the most in the world. At the same time, I dislike you the most.”

“Huh? The Little Prince? What nonsense is this?”

“I will definitely bring the Yu Yeoreum you mentioned here, so don’t worry.”

After placing Baek-Yeoul’s lunchbox in front of Seoga-eul, I headed toward my room.

It was a night filled with many thoughts.

My biggest worry was how to wrap up today with what kind of adult video—