If she had to describe her family with one word, Seul-ah wouldn't even need a second to blurt out messy. It was a total mess. A wreck.
Lee Seul-ah was born to the second wife of HS Group's current chairman, a year after his divorce from his first wife. She had heard that it was a messy divorce, but then again, the marriage itself was filled with screaming contests--or so she heard. But she received a huge alimony, including a nice penthouse in the most prestigious area of the city, and she successfully produced three children. The eldest was a son too, a most likely successor, and so her days ahead were secured.
Right after the divorce, the previous Chairman--Seul-ah's paternal grandfather--arranged his son's second marriage with Seul-ah's mother, Shin Raisa, who was his best friend's only daughter. They used to serve together in the last year of the war, and had that classic talk about being in-laws.
Alas; the best friend died early, and his son already got someone else pregnant. Once the divorce was finalized, however, the grandfather immediately looked for his best friend's family, and managed to find Raisa who was working for an NGO at that time. A rather timid girl who found it hard to say no to people, Raisa agreed to the marriage, and Seul-ah was born after two years.
Right away, the grandpa was very partial to Seul-ah. Whether it was because she looked like his wife--the late grandmother--or because she came out of a union he approved of, the previous chairman showered his second granddaughter with more affection than he did with the other grandchildren.
Which was a terrible, terrible poison for Seul-ah.
The envy growing inside the other grandchildren festered and blew up once the grandfather passed away when Seul-ah was only five. Without the grandfather, the siblings vented the years of envy physically; pushing her to the ground, pinching painfully, hitting her where it wouldn't be visible, or hiding her stuff. Even if people found out, they would say they were only playing.
The father, taking over as a new chairman, no longer had anyone restraining his nature. He had been secretly having affairs, but once he became the most powerful figure in the family, he didn't care about what people would say and just did it openly. It went to the point of the mistress getting pregnant and demanding to live in the mansion.
Raisa had many virtues, but being firm and standing up for herself wasn't one. She finally agreed to a divorce--which in Seul-ah's opinion was better than living in a mansion with the mistress--even though she was pregnant herself. The stress, however, caused the stillbirth and Seul-ah couldn't have her sister while the mistress--who had become the third wife--safely birthed a daughter.
It was painful. It was a mess. But Seul-ah knew there was no use in whining because she had nothing. All she could do was prove that she had value so the family would still support her mother. Above all else, she didn't want her mother to worry about her. She had suffered enough in a loveless marriage, and Seul-ah only wanted her to hear good things. She just wanted to make her mother proud.
One day, once she was an adult and had her own salary--instead of allowance--after working in the company, she would be able to live together with her mother instead of staying in the mansion. Seul-ah waited for that day while diligently doing what people told her to do.
Unfortunately, that day never came.
Seul-ah laughed bitterly as she walked along the wet pavement. The rain was persistent, even though it had become more of a drizzle. She didn't know how long she had been walking. Minutes? Hours? The sky had shifted from gray to grayer, and the street lamp had started to glow. Her legs, barely healed from the accident, were throbbing so much.
It felt like punishment, however, and Seul-ah was more grateful for it. That being said, she knew she had to stop soon or her legs might refuse to function anymore.
Fortunately, there was a vacant bus stop ahead. She exhaled slowly while taking a seat naturally so that the CCTV couldn't capture her. This time, she let go of the model student persona she had been maintaining and leaned back against the bench and groaned at her sore legs.
While massaging her thighs, she tried to remember what supposedly happened after she returned from the Columbarium.
At that time, naturally, she returned with a car. She stayed at home, waiting for the university's decision since she had been absent since spring--when she was supposed to start her classes. Basically, she was waiting for her life's verdict, and just stayed at home filling her days weeping about her mother.
No one cared to console her, not even her father--her mother's ex-husband. If anything, the third wife's children came over just to mock her about the death, driving her deeper into the pit of sadness. Her privilege was suspended after because her crash was detrimental to the company's business--which she didn't remember why, and it was during that helpless time did the eldest son came to her, offering consolation.
In hindsight, it was very calculated. Why would he come only after nine weeks? If he truly cared, he would be there to help her during the funeral. But for Seul-ah who was in the pit of a mental abyss, even a fake consolation felt like the sound of angels. After that, she went to the uni and worked for her oldest brother at the same time, completely under his control.
What Seul-ah worried about was that she wouldn't be able to escape this even if she was no longer crawling in the depths of the abyss. Since she was no longer a minor, she would have to start taking a stance, lining up behind the successor. It was between siding with the first son or the third wife, or...creating her own faction. The last one would be impossible, however, since she was practically alone.
"I need time..." she closed her eyes in exhaustion.
Yeah. She needed time and freedom to move around if she wanted to change her fate. Above all else, what she wanted was beyond changing her fate; she wanted revenge, but she wouldn't be able to do anything if she was trapped in that house.
"Ah..."
Before her mind went further, the added weight on her sling bag reminded her that there was something she needed to inspect first. Once again, she examined the contents of the purse and the bundle of papers. Soon, she let out a heavy sigh.
As she saw earlier, the purse was filled with jewelry and gold bullion bars. There were eighteen bars, each weighing fifty grams--no wonder it was rather heavy. The jewelry was mostly of precious stones; mainly diamonds. As expected, Seul-ah found the jewelry and the gold certificate among the bundle of papers, but something else made her eyes widen.
Land deeds and company shares. Looking at the dates, it seemed like the land deeds belonged to Seolhwa's father while the stocks were given by the previous chairman. Immediately, she recalled a big incident in the past--or should she call it the future?--where everyone was looking for a missing shares percentage.
"No wonder they couldn't find it," Seul-ah snickered.
The shares were appointed for someone named Shin Rhoda--Seul-ah's maternal grandmother. They never bothered to ask Seul-ah about it, thinking that she shouldn't be allowed to be anywhere near a claim to the company's percentage--even if she practically held no power at that point.
Although, even if they found out, Seul-ah wouldn't know where it was either.
"This will be hard to hide back home..." Seul-ah muttered.
The paper could be disguised easily, but not the purse. She rarely used accessories, because she couldn't bear the thought of wearing them while her mother was living alone in her apartment. She still bought them, but she gave those jewelry to her mother instead, although she also rarely used them.
Turned out, all of those pieces of jewelry were stored inside her sister's urn.
Seul-ah couldn't help but sigh. No wonder her mother insisted on living in a small apartment despite the generous alimony. It seemed like she used the money from her ex-husband and her filial daughter to buy gold bullion bars instead. Knowing her mother, Seul-ah knew she was probably thinking these golds, stocks, and land deeds would be useful for Seul-ah in the future.
Oh--now she was even more grateful that she didn't find this stuff in the past. She wouldn't be able to live with it if the treasure that her mother saved for her were to be taken by the other family members.
Well...she died in the end anyway.
But since she had received this unexpected capital, she needed to quickly process it--especially the pieces of jewelry and gold. Was there any way to turn these into something untraceable? Of course, the goods themselves were probably bought with cash, so there would be no digital receipt for it. Seul-ah remembered hearing the house steward grumble about how her mother always took out a large amount of money from the account, and rumors about how her mother lived lavishly after getting out of the house circulated because of that.
That was impossible, however, because Seul-ah knew her mother lived humbly, just using enough to eat decently and doing her hobby. She didn't ask anything about it too because she knew her mother loved doing charity and often lent money to other people, so she thought the money went there as always. As long as her mother did not live poorly, she didn't want to dictate what her mother did with the money she received.
At last, she knew where that money went.
Her mother might be a people pleaser, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that the money sent to her was being monitored, so she took it out as cash and turned it into jewelry and gold. She probably bought the jewel deliberately so the family would think she was using the money to flaunt herself.
"Oh, Mother..." Seul-ah clutched the purse tightly against her chest.
But, what now? She needed to turn these goods even more untraceable. Something completely out of her family's sight. Of course, something like that would end up being completely illegal, but what did it matter?
She had determined to do anything, including dirtying her own hand.
"I'm already filthy, anyway..." she said bitterly.
It wasn't easy, however, thinking up something illegal. Especially something she could do at that moment, while she was out. It would be hard for her to make a move later on, after all. Even harder when he thought about a place that was also trustworthy.
Illegal and trustworthy? Pfft--what a joke...
"Oh?"
She paused suddenly as a memory played in her mind. No. There was. A place so illegal it was so trustworthy.
And if she played it right...she could get more than a shadow account.
She might get an investor.