“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!”

“Honestly, this is a relief! You spent all your time acting so pitiful and fragile—I’m glad you’re finally throwing a tantrum like this!”

Jun-hyuk shot back, staring directly into Yuri’s eyes with a gaze that was bloodshot from her blows. He looked completely different from the timid, shrinking boy who had first moved into the house.

Seeing the bastard child dare to look her dead in the eye made Yuri’s blood boil all over again.

“What did you just say? You little bastard...!”

“Watch your mouth, Ha-yuri. What sin is there in being born? Every single word you spit out will come right back to haunt you. Mind your tongue.”

Still pinned by the police officer, Yuri shrieked in a feral frenzy. Her stomach twisted so violently she felt physically sick. As she trembled and screamed, her vision began to flicker out. Finally, leaning limply against the officer, Yuri lost consciousness completely.

The officers brought Yuri to the Dumyeong-dong police station. When they ran her fingerprints, her registered address and her parents' names popped up on the screen. Father: Heo Kang-hoon. Mother: Jung Yoon-hee.

'Kang-hoon' was a common enough name, and it was practically impossible for the officers to imagine that this girl, found passed out drunk in a rundown studio apartment district, was the daughter of the CEO of a major educational corporation. Dismissing the father's name as nothing special, the officer dialed the mother instead, knowing mothers usually stepped up as guardians in these situations.

"This is the Dumyeong-dong police station. Am I speaking with Ha-yuri’s mother?"

Yoon-hee caught her breath, fear seizing her heart. "Yes. Is... is my child at the station?"

She had desperately wanted to believe that Jun-hyuk had taken Yuri back to her apartment. But hearing the officer's confirmation, a heavy, weary sigh escaped her lips. Of course.

"Yes, as you suspected. You need to come take Ha-yuri home. She’s been vomiting everywhere and even lunged at her younger brother. It's been total chaos." The officer's voice was thick with irritation.

"I am so incredibly sorry. By any chance... did you call the child's father as well?" Yoon-hee asked, her voice trembling with anxiety. Just imagining how Kang-hoon would fly into a rage made her dizzy.

"No, we called you first, ma'am."

"Right... I understand. I will be right there, so please, do not contact her father."

The police had zero interest in a drunkard’s family drama. They wrapped up the call, telling her to just get there quickly. After apologizing repeatedly, Yoon-hee rushed out of the house.

Because she and Kang-hoon slept in separate bedrooms, she was able to pack her things quietly without waking him. Though she owned a luxury foreign car, she rarely drove it except to commute between her neurology clinic and her flower arrangement academy. Gripping the steering wheel with tense, nervous hands, she made her way to the station, braking abruptly several times due to her clumsy driving.

The moment Yoon-hee stepped inside the police station, she thrust a wad of cash toward the officer.

"I am so sorry. Truly, I am. I rushed here in such a hurry that I couldn't even put it in an envelope. Please use this for your dry cleaning."

The officer accepted the dry-cleaning money with a sour grimace. Yoon-hee then approached Yuri, gently shaking her shoulders to wake her up.

As the alcohol began to wear off slightly, Yuri raised her head and looked blankly at Yoon-hee.

"Mom...?"

"Yuri. Mom is here. Let's go home."

Lacking the strength to throw another tantrum, Yuri collapsed into Yoon-hee’s arms and drifted back to sleep. Though Yuri weighed less than fifty kilograms, her limp body felt overwhelmingly heavy in Yoon-hee’s frail arms. The officer helped hoist Yuri into the backseat of the car, offering a formal nod and telling her to drive safely.

When they finally arrived at the studio apartment, Yoon-hee practically dragged Yuri into the elevator and laid her down on the bed. The room reeked of a foul mix of stale alcohol and vomit, but no matter how much Yoon-hee shook her, Yuri remained dead to the world. The only sounds cutting through the small space were Yuri’s heavy breathing and the low hum of the refrigerator.

Yoon-hee looked around the cramped studio. It was a partitioned unit, with a sliding door separating a tiny kitchen from a room that wasn't even half the size of Yuri’s old bedroom back home.

Gently taking the hand of her unconscious daughter, Yoon-hee whispered to herself.

"You used to live like a princess in a giant house... how did you end up like this?"

No matter how much she resented her, no matter what horrible things she did, Yoon-hee could never truly let Yuri go. No matter how wicked the girl was, she was still the daughter she had raised with her own two hands.

Yoon-hee quietly began cleaning up the apartment, careful not to wake Yuri. She used a lint roller to sweep up the dust scattered across the floor, then tiptoed around to unfold the clothes left neglected on the drying rack, hanging them neatly. Finally, ensuring she made no sound, she gathered her things, stepped out, and gently closed the door behind her.

But Yuri, buried deep in a drunken stupor, would ultimately never notice the tender, careful traces her mother had left behind.