The Saturday morning scene at Pyeongchang-dong looked different from usual.
Every one of Tak-hyeon's children present sat in silence, watching each other's reactions.
"Da—!"
It was the babbling of Dong-min Kim, Seong-ho's son and Tak-hyeon's grandson, that broke the silence.
Gyeong-eun rocked Dong-min in her arms, soothing him.
"Is our Dong-min picking up on the strange mood?"
"Da-da—!"
Delighted at the sight of his mother's face, Dong-min reached out to grab a fistful of her hair.
Gyeong-eun put a toy in his hand and looked around the room.
Watching this, Jeong-eun gave a small laugh and said to Mun-jong, "There was a time Seon-myeong was that cute too. But now..."
"Sister-in-law!"
Hyeon-ju Bang, Mun-jong's wife, shouted.
"Why are you saying such strange things!"
"What strange thing did I say? Isn't it true, though? Seon-myeong's on drugs and—"
"It's not true, so don't bring it up."
"It's not true?"
Jeong-eun's eyes went wide with feigned surprise as she looked around at her siblings.
"I heard it was true. Second Brother, Chang-jong — did you hear that? She says it's not true."
Jeong-eun made a show of it.
Hyeon-ju scowled at Jeong-eun's display. She wanted nothing more than to stuff something in Jeong-eun's mouth to shut her up, but she couldn't, and simply choked down her frustration instead.
She shot Mun-jong a look, silently urging him to do something.
But Mun-jong sat there more composed than usual, saying nothing.
"Honey."
"Stay quiet."
When Hyeon-ju, unable to wait any longer, pressed him, Mun-jong instead scolded her.
"However much you try to shield Seon-myeong, it doesn't erase what he did."
"Honey, how can you say such a thing..."
Hyeon-ju looked at Mun-jong, startled.
"Do you actually believe our son did something so unspeakable?"
"Whether it's true or not, we can ask Cha and find out. Cha. Is what the papers said true?"
Mun-jong asked Cha directly.
Cha, apparently not expecting to be put on the spot like this, looked around at Gyeong-eun's siblings with a flustered expression.
However much they were family, he worried whether it was right for a son-in-law to insert himself…