On the way to work, Jeong Seongbin came with me in the car. He sent Park Juu in Manager Chanyoung’s car and silently sat next to me.

I wondered if the drive had ever been this quiet. Choi Jeho, sitting in the passenger seat, had his eyes closed but wasn’t wearing earphones. The car was silent, without the radio or even a single common song playing.

“Are you that worried?”

At the sound breaking the silence, Jeong Seongbin turned his head toward me.

“If you’re so distracted you can’t practice, why don’t you stand guard with Choi Jeho, Seongbin?”

“What?”

He seemed desperate to tag along somehow, so I jokingly set the stage for him, but the guy got completely flustered.

“If I start talking nonsense, just throw some cold water on me. I heard the water purifier in the break room was changed to an ice water purifier.”

Feeling bad for startling him first thing in the morning, I tacked on some pointless chatter. However, Jeong Seongbin’s face didn’t relax.

“Understood.”

“Huh?”

The guy even reached the point of taking a joke seriously.

“I’ll stand on both sides of the door with Jeho hyung. Is that okay, Jeho hyung?”

“Do whatever you want.”

“What do you mean ‘do whatever’! You can’t just do whatever!”

When I yelled, Choi Jeho looked at me through the side mirror.

“Didn’t we already settle this last time?”

“Ha...”

There was no reasoning with him. My chest felt tight for a different reason altogether.

Glancing over, Jeong Seongbin’s face looked much more relaxed. This was troubling in its own way.

Feeling like I might throw up, I skipped breakfast and then lunch as well. Nearly eighteen hours had passed since I’d last eaten anything, but I wasn’t hungry at all. My mouth felt parched, so I just kept drinking water endlessly.

When it hit 1:50, I stopped what I was doing and gathered my document folder. As I stepped out of the vocal practice room, I saw Choi Jeho and Jeong Seongbin standing outside the door.

“Are you really going?”

Neither of them answered. Choi Jeho gestured with his chin for me to lead the way.

Ms. Jukyung was waiting for me in the conference room.

“Do you need anything? Will your parents be having drinks?”

“Can I just have a glass of water? For my parents... you don’t need to prepare anything separately. It’ll take them a long time to get here.”

“But it’s almost 2 o’clock.”

“They’re not the kind of people who show up on time.”

These were people who were late to their own child’s funeral. Unless it was something beneficial to them, there was no way they would come on time.

Only after Ms. Jukyung brought water and left could I finally lean my body against the backrest. A faint headache kept bothering me. I repeatedly unlocked and locked the innocent document case.

“When will they arrive?”

About 20 minutes late was normal. Asking to talk over the phone would be serious. Getting stood up would be the worst. As my expectations lowered, I found myself praying for them to just show up, even if they were late. In this relationship, I was always the weaker one.

Frustrated, I tilted my head back and exhaled. Above the opaque privacy film surrounding the glass wall, I saw two round crowns of heads. It was high enough to hide even the tips of most people’s hair, too.

“That’s not what they promised. They said they’d stand on either side of the door.”

The sight of Choi Jeho and Jeong Seongbin sticking to the wall side by side was quite funny. Looking at it made me laugh.

Then it happened. A buzzing sound came from the end of the hallway where the elevator was. The silhouettes of several adults mixed behind the film, pointing at the entrance of the meeting room or looking around.

2 o’clock. Exactly the appointed time.

An arrival right on the dot had a clear meaning.

It meant they were desperate to meet me, but wanted to gain the upper hand without appearing hasty. What else could that mean?

“They must have come determined to rip me off big time.”

It was going to be a tough fight. My interlaced fingers tightened.

The meeting room door opened. Manager Chanyoung led them in. Two well-dressed people stepped inside.

“Two cups of coffee, please.”

Revealing a blatant desire to be served, Mom pulled out a chair.

“You don’t need to give them any.”

At my words, both the manager’s and Mom’s gazes turned to me.

“I don’t feel like getting baptized in coffee.”

“Is that the first thing you say instead of a greeting as soon as you see our faces? I can guess how you’ve been living out there.”

Even while scolding me, Mom was busy giving the manager meaningful looks. We had a really hard time raising a kid like this, please tell us we suffered a lot... Her inner thoughts were transparent.

But this was UA. The company had chosen this place not to entertain an idol’s parents, but for the sake of my mental well-being, and the people here knew that there was a reason behind everything I did and said.

Above all, everyone at UA...

“I will leave you to it.”

Would never bring coffee in front of me.

Reading the displeasure on the manager’s face, Mom’s eyebrows shot up. Before she could complain, the manager told me to call if I needed anything, then closed the conference room door and left.

“Rude jerk*ss.”

Dad’s greeting was more aggressive than Mom’s. His way of speaking hadn’t changed.

“Just tell me why you wanted to see me. You didn’t come because you were curious about how I was doing.”

“Is there a parent who wouldn’t point it out when their child’s behavior is like this?”

“Whether the behavior of a child you threw away is upright or not. Isn’t that none of your business?”

“Is that something to say to your parents?”

If I wanted to argue, I had plenty to say. That they didn’t value life itself, yet my behavior offended them. That if this was how they felt, they should’ve called me themselves when my head was split open and scolded me for my lack of manners back then.

But I held back. I didn’t want a drawn-out argument.

When I stopped responding, my father finally sat down. A dreadful silence followed.

Since I stayed quiet, the ones with something to say spoke first.

“You’re shooting commercials.”

“......”

“I heard you’re doing a drama too?”

His eyes blatantly scanned my outfit.

“You’re not short on money, are you?”

“No.”

The answer came out instantly.

“Maybe it’s because I’ve lived without much, but I always felt like every won mattered.”

“What is there that you haven’t enjoyed in your life?”

“I told you everything before.”

Both of their faces turned red. They seemed to realize that the “before” I mentioned was the point when they extorted 15 million won.

Whether it was misfortune or luck, my records from that time were similar before and after regression. Except for the lack of traces of treating the scar on my back. I read through them all night worried I might make a slip of the tongue, but the content was more or less the same.

However, reacting like that to my words meant...

My hypothesis was true. The source of the money I’d thought my sister left behind had been these people.

“If you took money from your parents while being so calculating, you should’ve been prepared to pay back what it cost to raise you.”

“The cost of raising me? How much was that, exactly?”

“It costs billions to raise a child. Everyone says so these days.”

“Ha.”

The misconception that they belong to the category of ordinary people, and the arrogance that they fulfilled their duties just as much as other caregivers.

How did these people meet spouses so identical to themselves? Instead of failing to produce selfish children resembling them, why did they give birth ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) to someone like my sister and receive undeserved “basic filial piety” for such a long time?

“I didn’t realize you’d invested that much in me. I thought the fifteen million was calculated down to the last won.”

“You took over ten million and you’re saying that?”

“That was the price for turning someone else’s back into a rag. You decided that amount thinking it was cheap for what you did, yet now you played it up like you generously raised the settlement because you guessed how much I earn? What kind of logic is that?”

A wry laugh escaped me. My thoughts tangled.

Every time I uttered the word “settlement,” it was painful. Legally or privately, I didn’t want to hear about settlements anymore in matters involving them. Those experiences were enough once.

I calmed my dizzy mind and took a slow deep breath. I also had something to gain from this conversation.

“Fine, let’s say you came because you wanted to collect the price for giving birth to and raising me.”

Then, swallowing dry saliva, I carefully spoke the words.

“How much did you receive from noona with that excuse? We were born to the same parents—wouldn’t it be unfair if I were the only one to pay?”

The word “noona” came fully out of my mouth. For the first time since returning to the past.

“Noona wasn’t gone.”

It had been unclear if my sister existed in the past where I lived as Kim Iwol, but this made it clear. That my sister definitely existed.

The relief of avoiding the worst situation pushed away the nausea of the revulsing situation.

However, the joy didn’t last long.

“...How did you know you have a sister?”

Because Mom, with a pale face, showed a completely unexpected reaction.

“...What?”

“Did you put a tail on us? That’s illegal. Can a celebrity do this? Aren’t you anxious about what we might say about you outside?”

The gears of my thoughts creaked. My head felt clogged as if filled with sand dust, refusing to turn.

“So you planned to threaten us from the start so you wouldn’t have to cough up the money. Disgusting. There’s a limit to acting hypocritical.”

“Calm down. Hasn’t that bastard always acted this way? It’s all a setup. The statute of limitations passed years ago. Can he even report it?”

With me right in front of them, the two chatted away just fine. Only I couldn’t get a grip on myself. Only me.

“We were freezing and couldn’t sleep, and Mom said she was pregnant and kicked us out. Don’t you remember? It was the dead of winter.”

“I don’t remember a thing.”

“Wow, I guess I’m the only one who lost out. How do you forget something like that when you even got frostbite?”

There was a time we had such a conversation. And then...

“I dream about the things Mom said.”

“Like what?”

“Always the same stuff. That the eldest daughter is seed money for the household, asking when I’d finally be of use, telling me to marry a decent man if I wasn’t going to make a fortune. Ah—the thing I hear most in my dreams is this.”

I once made up my mind and took you all the way to the front of an institution to abandon you.

But for some reason, I just brought you back. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to live properly—raising you cost money and took everything out of me.

“Did you abandon her?”

My only regret is not leaving you there.

A warning sound rang. My vision turned white.

 [SYSTEM] A work instruction from the “Manager” has arrived.

▶ Assistant Manager Kim, we decided to discontinue one of our existing welfare projects. Just so you know.

[SYSTEM] Some correction effects based on performance are removed.

▷ The “Negative Emotion Recognition Rate” adjustment function due to achieving “Attendance Management” excellence expires.

 I read the text, but didn’t understand a single word of it. None of that mattered right now.

“Did you abandon noona?”

Something snapped.