"You crazy bitch! You mental psycho! Get out! Get out of this house right now! Take your filthy antics and get the hell out of my sight!"

With her mother’s sharp, piercing shriek, Yuri was thrown out of the house.

She was forced to live in a cramped, suffocating studio apartment near the school. She sent countless texts and made dozens of calls to her father, but she was completely blocked. Left with no other outlet, Yuri’s boiling resentment shifted entirely toward her mother.

Whenever her mother actually picked up, her voice sounded utterly drained. “Just wait for now. Your father’s temper hasn't cooled down yet...” or, “I’m exhausted, Yuri. What more do you want me to do?”

Then came the day the bank account finally hit rock bottom, and Yuri ran into Jun-hyuk at a convenience store.

Since being kicked out of the house, there was no one left to wake her up for school, and her absences began to pile up. That day was no different. Claiming she wasn’t feeling well, she skipped class, stayed in bed all day, and finally dragged herself out to a nearby convenience store, throwing a loose hoodie over her clothes because she was starving.

Because her studio apartment was so close to the school, she kept the hood pulled low over her face, terrified of running into any classmates. She drifted aimlessly around the pastry aisle before shuffling over to the counter.

Suddenly, panic seized her as she remembered she no longer carried the premium credit card that used to be always in her possession. She urgently needed to check how much balance was left on her basic debit card.

But then, a familiar back caught her eye at the register.

It was Heo Jun-hyuk. He was wearing a crisply ironed school uniform, and his hair had grown longer than before.

This was the exact place where Yuri and Jun-hyuk had faced each other for the very first time. The place where Yuri had looked down and helped Jun-hyuk when he was stranded without a dime.

"Hey."

Seeing how pristine and put-together Jun-hyuk looked, an uncontrollable wave of jealousy tore through her. It was a sensation far more toxic than the day he had moved his room from the basement to the first floor.

Jun-hyuk attempted to brush past her and leave, but Yuri grabbed his arm.

"Can you... pay for this for me?"

"Let go." Jun-hyuk threw her hand off him.

"Just help me out. Just this once..."

Yuri clenched her fists so hard her whole body trembled, biting her lip raw. A mere bastard child... and now he dares to look down on me? In the exact spot where he once relied on my charity?

She barely contained the violent urge to slap him across the face right then and there.

Jun-hyuk let out a slow, heavy sigh. "Pick what you want."

Yuri grabbed seven pieces of bread and a large carton of milk. Jun-hyuk handed a credit card over to the cashier.

It was a black credit card from the exact premium issuer Heo Kang-hoon always used. That card... that specific card used to be Yuri’s exclusive privilege.

Her nails dug deep into her palms, her teeth grinding against her lower lip.

A useless bastard... using my father’s card?

An unbearable fury surged within her, making her face burn crimson. Tears threatened to spill over at any second. She couldn't bring herself to feign gratitude, not even as an act, not even as a lie.

With her head buried low, she shoved the bread into a plastic bag and practically bolted out of the store.

That night, Yuri dialed her mother.

Because her father was too powerful and terrifying to direct her resentment toward, Yuri's entire burden of unfairness and rage was taken out on her brother and mother. But her mother, who had always listened in silence or coaxed her with a weary voice, raised her voice for the first time.

"Enough! You’re not innocent in this either! I’m the one paying for your security deposit and your monthly rent. What more on earth do you expect from me?!"

Her mother slammed the phone down first. Yuri sat there, utterly stunned for a moment, before redialing. Her mother didn't pick up.

How can she do this to me? Of all people... my own mother?

Following that night, her mother wired her allowance several times, but she never initiated a single phone call.

"She abandoned me..."

Yuri’s face turned deathly pale. Seconds later, she smashed her fist violently against the wall.

It was the exact moment the seeds of absolute hatred took root inside Yuri.

The smaller a convenience store was, the larger its blind spots were. Large chains were crawling with security cameras, but a tiny mom-and-pop shop run by an old man with terrible eyesight was the perfect place to shoplift.

That day, she slipped into a store far away from her neighborhood. She smoothly slid a liquor bottle into the pocket of her faded sweatpants while putting a few random items into a basket to pay for. The old man scanned the basket items nonchalantly, and Yuri walked out.

She retreated to a distant bench, cracking the bottle open and drinking the alcohol straight, with no food to wash it down.

Even a single glass would turn her face bright red, but Yuri craved the alcohol. It was the only escape that blurred her reality. For someone who usually got drunk off a single can, she downed the entire bottle of soju in a matter of minutes, instantly turning her into a total wreck.

The world spun erratically around her, and her consciousness completely cut out. To make matters worse, she had left her phone back at the apartment.

"Oh dear, why is a young girl passed out in a place like this?"

A kind-hearted passerby called the authorities, and a police officer arrived shortly after. But Yuri was completely dead to the world, slumped limply over the bench.

"Miss. Wake up. Where do you live?"

She merely babbled drunken nonsense. Compounding the issue, the officer searched her pockets only to find she didn't even have a phone.

"Heo Jun-hyuk... that little piece of trash is my younger brother. He goes to Dumyeong High, sophomore... Thinks he’s hot shit just because he gets good grades... He was a pathetic bread-shuttle until I saved him. God, I should’ve let him rot. Sophmore at Dumyeong High, that fucking dog... a pathetic bastard child...! Because of him! Because of that piece of trash, I got kicked out of my own house!"

Sifting through her slurred, unhinged rant, the officer managed to catch a name to call for a guardian and contacted the school. They figured that even if she kept screaming about being kicked out, a younger brother would at least know the home address.

The officer waited until Jun-hyuk finally arrived on the scene, while Yuri began dry-heaving her empty stomach onto the pavement. She was in a total blackout state.

"Get up."

A shadow fell over her. Squinting upward, she saw Heo Jun-hyuk looking down, grabbing her arm to pull her up. Unable to believe her eyes, she blinked hard, staring up at him.

The piece of trash who got me thrown out of my own home. The leech who stole my spot as the company heir. The monster who stripped me of absolutely everything.

Grinding her teeth in pure venom, Yuri lunged forward and slammed her head straight into his chest.

As Jun-hyuk tumbled backward onto the concrete, she scrambled on top of him, raining fists down upon his face. Jun-hyuk managed to pin her arms, flipping her onto her back to restrain her, but even pinned to the ground, her fury raged unchecked.

She spat directly into Jun-hyuk’s face.

"Hey! Stop it right now!"

The officer grabbed Yuri to haul her off, but she shrieked at the top of her lungs.

Drunk out of her mind, blurred and dizzy, Yuri tore away the innocent, pitiful mask she had so carefully hidden behind, exposing the raw, ugly truth of her nature underneath.

"You piece of trash! You think you're somebody just because you can study?! You’re nothing but a bastard child! I was family from the very beginning! You and I... we are fundamentally different from birth!"