Chapter 39: Breakfast Disaster

“I don’t need the whole backstory. Just tell me the situation right now.”

Ha-jin didn’t really want to dig too deeply anyway. Everyone carried one or two secrets they wanted hidden. He had his own secrets he would never tell anyone, too.

“…The family opposed the marriage. After my brother-in-law’s mother died, his family completely fell apart. Then his father collapsed from illness too, so any marriage talks should’ve ended there. On top of that, Jun-seok’s a recessive trait holder, so even if they had children, they’d obviously either be recessive too or just betas. There was no way my father would approve. But then they got pregnant and married on their own anyway.”

Ah… he could picture it perfectly.

To people like them, marriage was business. The eldest son was supposed to be “sold” at the highest possible value. Not just financially, they needed an omega who could produce the strongest dominant traits possible.

Instead, Jun-seok had gone against his parents’ wishes and married Tae-seol anyway.

And because of that, both Jun-seok and Tae-seol had become complete outcasts in the family. They openly disrespected Tae-seol, and neither of them could even protest.

“So… you want me to help Tae-seol from now on?”

“If possible. Though it probably won’t be easy. If you protect him too openly, you might end up becoming a target too.”

The suspicion quietly growing in Ha-jin’s mind deepened.

The way Woo-seok treated Tae-seol before… maybe there really was something more than pure sympathy between them. Maybe some complicated feelings existed there.

He even started wondering whether their untold past was tied together more deeply than Woo-seok wanted to admit.

“Well, I’ll try. No promises, though.”

Still, helping Woo-seok accomplish whatever goal he had was the only way this fake marriage would eventually end. It would be a lie to say he felt completely comfortable about it, but he had no choice.

None at all.

****

“Ah, f*ck…”

Ha-jin nearly sliced his finger off.

Handling a knife when he barely knew how to cook, and while still half-asleep, wasn’t easy. Meanwhile, Tae-seol moved with incredible skill. He cooked faster and more efficiently than most of the servants. Seriously, who the hell ate this much food in the morning?

“Are you managing okay…?”

“Yes. More or less.”

Maybe because they still hadn’t found any common ground, things between him and Tae-seol were painfully awkward. Ha-jin tried talking to him on purpose, but Tae-seol didn’t even look at him. He simply continued working silently, showing no emotion whatsoever.

How could someone stay that detached?

Ha-jin genuinely couldn’t understand it.

“Good morning, Father…”

“The meal preparations are done, right?”

“Of course.”

Ah-seong appeared right before six o’clock.

Apparently, breakfast had originally been made by Tae-seol and the servants. Though honestly, the servants mostly just hovered around pretending to help while Tae-seol did almost everything himself.

Ha-jin tossed roughly chopped vegetables into a frying pan, barely cooked them, and dumped them onto a plate. At Ah-seong’s urging, he carried out the vaguely presentable dish.

The family was already gathered around the dining table despite it only being six in the morning. Not a trace of sleepiness showed on any of them.

Well, except for one person.

Woo-seok sat there with one side of his hair sticking up messily, eyes barely open.

“Woo-seok, what’s gotten into you? Eating breakfast for once?”

“I’m just… hungry.”

Even his voice was thick with sleep. It sounded obviously fake.

Like during dinner, the omegas placed dishes one by one in front of the alphas before the meal began. But not even a minute later, Chae Il-joo set his fork down.

The unusually sharp clack against the table made it obvious something was wrong.

“…Who cooked this beef?”

“Oh! Me, Chairman! I made it. Please enjoy!”

“…It seems burned.”

“Really? That’s why I flipped the burnt side underneath…. Just scrape off the burnt part before eating, Chairman. Burnt food’s bad for your health.”

Ha-jin answered brightly, as if nothing were wrong.

His innocent expression made it awkward to scold him directly. Instead, Il-joo shot a reproachful look toward Ah-seong.

Giving up on the meat, Il-joo moved on to the garnish instead. It looked awful, but since this was technically the omega son-in-law’s first meal for the family, he was trying to offer at least some small encouragement.

Out of the mangled vegetables, he selected the one potato that looked remotely normal and put it into his mouth.

Then his face twisted violently, and he immediately spat it back into a napkin.

It tasted like chewing pure salt.

The fact that it was practically raw in the middle was almost secondary.

“…Ha. Did Ha-jin make this too?”

“That too! It’s my first time cooking though. Does it not suit your taste?”

Everything about it, from the hacked-up appearance to the taste, was something Il-joo had never experienced in his life of expensive, refined food.

Still, seeing Ha-jin’s visibly drooping expression made it hard to say anything too harsh. After all, the omega had brought hundreds of billions in dowry into the family.

“…Don’t make the new son-in-law cook for a while. You shouldn’t force someone to work before teaching them properly.”

“Seriously, Dad. This is impossible to eat. It’s not food, it’s dog food. Hyung really overdid it this time.”

In the end, the blame landed on Ah-seong instead.

Woo-seok even joined in with a voice thick with suppressed laughter.

Ha-jin lowered his head with a dejected expression, though in reality he was smiling behind it.

‘Exactly according to plan.’

He had absolutely no intention of preparing meals like this every day, so he’d deliberately sabotaged the food. No matter how bad he actually was at cooking, he wasn’t this terrible.

“I think I could do better at dinner though…”

“That’s enough. Stay out of the kitchen from now on.”

Even Ah-seong rejected the idea immediately.

‘Success.’

****

His excitement about living in such a huge estate vanished quickly.

The place was enormous, and there were countless servants. Just greeting all of them after breakfast took over an hour. By the end, Ha-jin regretted skipping breakfast because he was exhausted.

The head butler was completely loyal to the Chae family, while Team Leader Yang, the one managing Ha-jin and Woo-seok’s residence, was practically second in command. Beneath him were endless workers: cleaners, laundry staff, cooks, and more.

Most of them clearly didn’t welcome Ha-jin either.

They hid it well, but Ha-jin was excellent at reading people. He caught the subtle atmosphere immediately.

If he wanted to live comfortably in this house, he needed allies.

As for how to do that…

First, he decided he needed food and a nap.

He was completely drained.

“Father…? Why are you coming out of there?”

“In this house, where exactly would there be that I can’t go?”

As Ha-jin entered his residence, he ran straight into Ah-seong exiting it. Behind him, Team Leader Yang carried an armful of something.

“That’s true. But… why are you taking those?”

“Honestly, this is why proper upbringing matters….”

Pretending to mutter to himself, Ah-seong spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

“No matter how poorly someone was raised, it’s common sense to wash your husband’s underwear yourself, isn’t it, Team Leader Yang?”

“…Of course, Chairman.”

“I personally hand-washed my husband’s and children’s underwear their entire lives.”

Ha-jin had already been wondering why they were carrying around a pile of underwear in the first place, especially only Woo-seok’s.

Since they’d never even unpacked after the honeymoon, he naturally assumed some servant had taken care of the laundry already.

Honestly… this whole setup felt like a coordinated attack between Ah-seong and Team Leader Yang.

Who in this day and age hand-washed their husband’s or children’s underwear?

Were they royal artifacts or something?

Just throw them into the washing machine.

“I see…. That’s really incredible, Father.”

Ha-jin suddenly grabbed Ah-seong’s hand warmly.

“You must’ve worked so hard taking care of your family all these years…. You don’t need to worry about Woo-seok’s anymore.”

Ah-seong thought Ha-jin had finally understood the hint. Surely after hearing all that, he’d volunteer to hand-wash them himself.

The surprise ambush had absolutely been intentional, but it was true that Ah-seong had personally washed them all these years. Not once had he skipped a day, and he never let servants touch them.

Another “long-standing tradition” of the Chae family.

“Yes, so from now on-”

“From now on, I’ll tell Woo-seok to wash them himself. He just strips and throws them around without realizing how much work it causes… I’ll scold him properly. Or threaten to throw them all away.”

Ha-jin snatched the clothes right out of Team Leader Yang’s arms.

He was just about to walk away, certain this was another victory, when…

“You’re saying my son should get his hands wet now? Washing something as lowly as underwear?”

Ah-seong’s eyes sharpened dangerously.

“Father, surely you’re not saying I should be the one washing those ‘lowly’ clothes, right? People might misunderstand and think you discriminate between alpha sons and omega sons-in-law. Of course, I know you care about me, so I wouldn’t misunderstand.”

“Our family has always-”

“Then shouldn’t bad traditions be fixed? Someone as busy and important as you personally washing underwear all these years? People would be shocked if they heard that. It’s not cost-effective at all. Do you know how much your time is worth, Father? Laundry’s far too trivial for someone like you.”

For the first time, the determination on Ah-seong’s face seemed to waver slightly.

Even if he’d lived like this his whole life, he probably hadn’t actually enjoyed it. He’d simply been raised to think it was normal.

All they needed was someone else to pass the responsibility onto.

“If it feels awkward assigning it to just anyone, then Team Leader Yang can do it instead. He’s worked here so long he’s basically family, right? I’m sure he’ll take excellent care of everything. Right, Team Leader Yang?”

Team Leader Yang’s face stiffened instantly.

Well, he should’ve known better than to overstep in the first place.

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