"Mother. What do we do?"

The second daughter-in-law, Min-yeong Oh, grasped Suk-ja's arm and pleaded. "Jun-myeong's father does nothing but drink these days, every single day."

But at her words, Suk-ja only quietly closed her eyes. Because she knew well enough why Sang-jong drank every day and why the second daughter-in-law had come to her like this.

Min-yeong shook the closed-eyed Suk-ja's arm harder. "Mother, please help him. In this family, only you can."

"And how am I supposed to help?" Suk-ja opened her eyes and looked at her. "Do you want me to have Sang-jong put back at the company?"

"Yes."

At the question, Min-yeong answered as if she'd been waiting for it. "Please call him back to the company. At this rate, several of us are going to die…"

Trailing off at the end, Min-yeong bowed her head. The truth was, Min-yeong felt she'd die before Sang-jong did. With him coming home drunk every day and turning violent, she found herself thinking the days when he only grumbled about work were better. So, though Sang-jong hadn't asked her to, she'd come to Pyeongchang-dong herself to plead his case to Suk-ja.

"Mother. Please… put in a good word with Father for us."

"He got himself thrown out of his seat by his own mistake — what am I supposed to do about it?"

"Mother, he ended up that way trying to make everything work out. You think he did it hoping the company would fail? You know well enough it wasn't like that."

"What good does my knowing do? When he doesn't think so."

Even at Min-yeong's pleading, Suk-ja only shook her head. At the sight, Min-yeong decided pleading with her was useless. So she rose to go meet Tak-hyeon directly.

"Father's home, isn't he?"

"Don't tell me you mean to speak to him yourself? Don't. Talk to him and you'll only make it worse — scratching at it till it festers."

"How much worse could it possibly get from here?"

Startled at the sight of Min-yeong setting off toward the study, Suk-ja caught her arm. "Don't go."

"Don't…