KISS THE SCUMBAG Chapter 7

She set down her teacup and raised her head. Reptilian, eerie eyes turned toward Yujin.

“How about you leave the mansion just like this? If you disappear without a trace that you were ever here, then instead…”

As Mrs. Campbell let her sentence trail off, as if it were a signal, Gordon pulled something out of his suit’s inner pocket and placed it on the table. When Yujin looked down at the white envelope, Mrs. Campbell spoke.

“You’re not a dim-witted child, so I trust you understand this much. It’s an appropriate amount, so won’t you leave now? After all, there isn’t a single person here who welcomes you.”

Taking the envelope and leaving the mansion forever was not a bad option. After all, Yujin’s original purpose was money, and anyone could see that this was more certain than a will whose contents were unclear. Moreover, he had braced himself for everything when he decided to come here. He had vowed that if he could just get the money, he would endure any insult or humiliation he faced upon returning to this house. But if he could get a check in his hand this easily right now, wasn’t this an incredibly simple choice compared to what he had prepared himself for? There was no reason to refuse.

There shouldn’t have been any reason at all.

Nevertheless, Yujin hesitated, unable to reach for the envelope. It wasn’t because of pride. Things like that had been shattered long ago.

Then why?

Unable to understand his own heart, he stared intently at the envelope, when Gordon spoke up with a sneer.

“No point in racking your brain to squeeze out a few more pennies. Think carefully, because if you get greedy, you might end up with nothing. Besides, you could work your sloppy body to the bone for your whole life and never earn this much money.”

Gordon let out a boisterous, loud laugh.

“Then again, now that the old man is dead, who’s going to buy someone like you? Unless they’re blind.”

At that, Mrs. Campbell gave a small ahem of a cough. Yujin noticed she was elegantly suppressing a fit of laughter. It would have been better if he had stopped there, but Gordon, emboldened by Mrs. Campbell’s reaction, continued to run his mouth.

“You said you brought a kid, too. Don’t tell me it’s the only one? That can’t be right. You weren’t planning on lying and claiming those fatherless bastards were the old man’s, were you? That would be a pity. These days, there’s such a thing as DNA testing, you know. Scammers like you all go to jail. If you try anything stupid, you’ll end up in prison and your rootless brat will end up in an orphanage. Since you don’t even know whose seed that brat is, and since its parent is a scammer, it won’t even get adopted—it’ll end up just like you, selling its body and dying on the street, addicted to drugs. So, wake up and take this and get out. Right now. If you do, I’ll pretend none of this happened.”

Having spewed these malicious curses about his child without hesitation, Gordon slapped the envelope on the table twice with his hand, making a loud thwack, thwack sound. They were filled with certainty of their victory and, consequently, were extremely arrogant. Just as the image of the lowly beast in front of them scurrying away from the mansion, envelope in hand, rose vividly in his mind, Yujin—who had been listening in silence—spoke.

“I refuse.”

For a moment, they froze, their smiles still fixed on their faces. As the surroundings fell silent in an instant and they looked as if time itself had stopped, Yujin spoke again.

“I appreciate the gesture, but I refuse.”

“What?”

Gordon spat out in a harsh voice, and Mrs. Campbell’s brow furrowed. Seeing this, Yujin unclasped his hands from behind his back. Tasting a small sense of victory, he continued coolly.

“Is that all you have to say? Then I will take my leave. I want to rest as soon as possible, as I’ve traveled a long distance.”

“W-wait!”

Gordon, belatedly coming to his senses, jumped up and hurriedly called out to Yujin, who was trying to leave.

“Did you not hear what I said? I told you your flimsy tricks won’t work! I said I’d throw you in jail for fraud! You won’t get away as easily as last time!”

He howled savagely like a beast, but Yujin only grew calmer because of it.

“That’s good. If I try to commit such fraud, please perform a DNA test immediately. Fraud is a bad thing, so of course, I should go to jail.”

At Yujin’s reaction, Mrs. Campbell and Gordon exchanged glances, looking flustered. If they actually performed the test, it would be they who would be shocked. Yujin secretly looked forward to that moment, but he knew that such a thing would never happen. They, too, knew well that if, by any chance, it turned out to be true, they would be the ones in trouble, so they wouldn’t proceed lightly. If they were to test, the result would be a catastrophe far greater than what they imagined.

Mrs. Campbell would probably think it better if he were Harold’s child after all.

“If you think Harold left you something grand, you’re mistaken.”

Mrs. Campbell finally opened her mouth. Meeting her gaze filled with fury, Yujin replied.

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be even better for you, Mrs. Campbell, since I’d be the one disappointed by missing out on this opportunity?”

I’ll be going now, he said, turning around and quickly leaving the reception room. It was to ensure he didn’t give them another chance to attack, but his heart was pounding as if it would burst until he stepped into the hallway. Only after he finally got outside and hurriedly closed the door did a trembling sigh escape his lips.

I did it.

He couldn’t believe it. That he had poured out everything he’d been holding inside toward them like that. His voice hadn’t even trembled. He hadn’t been flustered or teary-eyed.

I did it.

He forgot his fatigue for a moment, overcome by an overwhelming sense of emotion. Hoo, Yujin breathed out a deeply satisfied sigh and raised his head, only to freeze. The butler was standing in the hallway, watching him. The man, who had glanced momentarily at his empty hands, returned his gaze to Yujin’s face.

“If your business is concluded, I will escort you to your room.”

Speaking in a voice still devoid of inflection, the butler glanced behind him. Yujin noticed belatedly that a maid had been standing there. After handing Yujin over to the maid, the butler readily entered the reception room. As if to say that the person he was to serve was in there. Yujin turned his head and hurriedly followed the maid, who had already begun to walk away.

Retracing their steps through the long hallway, they opened the side door, and the stairs were revealed. As before, it was a staircase used by the staff. Yujin followed silently behind the maid, who walked away without looking back, as if it were only natural.

When the maid finally opened another door after climbing the endlessly long staircase and stepped into a hallway again, Yujin felt a light wave of vertigo. He had lost all sense of direction and had no idea where he was.

While walking straight through the long hallway, the maid, just like the butler, didn’t say a single word. By the time the silence had dragged on, the excitement from earlier had long since died down, and he felt a fatigue so intense he felt like he would collapse, when finally, the maid stopped in front of a bedroom door. Finally, I can rest. Thinking he would see Angela’s face made his fatigue seem to vanish already.

Unlike the butler, the maid readily grabbed the doorknob, turned it, opened the door, and stepped back. It was only then that he realized this bedroom door was different from the previous one.

…Huh?

The size of the room that opened wide before him was enormous, even at a glance. Startled, Yujin turned back to the maid. As if asking what on earth was going on. The maid opened her mouth in an extremely businesslike tone.

“Then, please rest well.”

“W-wait a minute.”

Yujin hurriedly called her to a halt. To the maid who had stopped and turned back, Yujin asked hurriedly.

“My daughter… shouldn’t I be staying in the same room as my daughter? What is this room?”

“You want to sleep in the same room as the child?”

For the first time, the maid showed emotion. Though it was only the end of the sentence rising slightly, as if surprised. At those words, Yujin immediately realized the situation. There would be no one in this mansion who sleeps with their children. Since they are born, the children sleep in their own rooms.

But Yujin was not a person of this house.

“Angie will be anxious when she wakes up. I will sleep with my daughter.”

“That is not permitted.”

He had been prepared to throw open all the doors, but the maid blocked him with a single word.