Episode 9
The next morning.
Chairman Hong came down for breakfast and waited for Haena to join him.
His only son, Hong Ido, didn’t even finish dinner the night before and just left—so now, Haena was his only source of comfort.
But even after 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, Haena still didn’t come down.
Just when things started to feel strange, Chairman Hong stopped Uiryeong, who was hurrying by.
“Wait. Where’s Haena? Isn’t it time for her to eat and go to kindergarten?”
That’s right.
Today was Haena’s big day—her return to kindergarten.
But normally, Haena hated going to kindergarten.
She would argue with her nanny Uiryeong every morning.
‘You brat. Stop giving your nanny a hard time and go to school.’
‘I don’t wanna! I hate kindergarten! I’m not going!’
Every time, Chairman Hong would get angry and pretty much force her to go.
Haena always threw a fit, but Chairman Hong was not the type to give in to a child’s whining.
‘I guess I was a little too strict before.’
Even Chairman Hong knew he hadn’t been the nicest grandpa.
And after hearing Ido’s words last night, he had a realization.
He suddenly felt that if he kept going like this, both his son and granddaughter might leave him for good.
So, he made a decision: he would try to be kinder.
When Haena came down, he planned to cheer her on, encourage her—and even give her a card.
If she behaved—no causing trouble, no making kids or teachers cry—he’d reward her.
With a no-limit black card. She could buy whatever she wanted.
Surely that would get her to act a little cuter. Chairman Hong smiled proudly.
There’s nothing money can’t fix.
“Heh heh.”
Just imagining Haena smiling brightly made him feel good.
So he sat there grinning, waiting for her.
But even after waiting and waiting, she didn’t show up.
Something felt off.
“Oh! Miss Haena ate early and already left. She said she wanted to go to kindergarten as soon as possible!”
“What?!”
Crash.
Chairman Hong’s expectations were completely shattered.
“O-oh my… Are you mad, sir? I thought you’d be proud of her…”
“Hmph.”
Seeing how flustered Uiryeong was, Chairman Hong cleared his throat, embarrassed.
Of course—it made no sense to get mad when your granddaughter woke up on her own, ate her breakfast, and went
to school without a fuss.
Afraid his disappointment would show, he shook his head.
“No, no… Ahem! The problem is she left without even saying goodbye to her elder!”
“Oh…”
Uiryeong gave an awkward laugh.
But her face clearly said, ‘Ugh, such a grumpy old man…’
“Sorry, sir. When she left, you were still sleeping… We didn’t want to wake you up…”
“Next time, wake me.”
“What? Just so she can say goodbye…?”
“Hmph! Discipline is important in this house! How can someone leave without greeting their elders?! That’s
unacceptable in the Hong family!”
Chairman Hong once again failed to be honest with his feelings.
✦
“Gasp. It’s Haena.”
“The scary gangster wife is here! Run!”
“Waaahh! Haena’s back… Why is she here so early today…”
Haena…
What kind of kindergarten life have you lived?
Can’t you just act normal…?
Why are all the kids running away or crying as soon as they see you?
Haena felt oddly hopeless as the kids avoided her.
Is Hong Haena’s social life already doomed?
She sighed, neatly hung up her bag and coat, and sat properly in her seat.
Starting now, I’m not gangster-wife Haena anymore. I’m honor-student Haena.
She mumbled to herself.
“!”
“H-Haena…?”
Her teacher, who had been nervously watching her, looked even more tense.
And not just the teacher—the other kids also grew more nervous at Haena’s strange behavior and stepped farther
away.
Seriously, Haena… what did you do that even the teacher is scared of you?
“Yes, teacher.”
“Gasp!”
“Teacher! Haena used polite language!”
“She didn’t cry or yell when she spoke! She didn’t even curse!”
“Teacher, something’s wrong with Haena… She’s sick or something…”
“Haena needs to go to the hospital! She’s not okay!”
This is getting kinda sad…
“H-Haena… you’ve grown so much while you were resting at home!
I’m really proud of you!
Let’s all clap for our sweet Haena who’s using kind and polite words~”
…Yep. Teacher definitely heard from the therapist that Haena’s copying drama lines lately and just wants attention—
so they should just play along.
Haena had secretly eavesdropped on the therapist talking with Chairman Hong a few days ago.
She had suspected something fishy when Chairman Hong suddenly suggested therapy.
So she acted childish and said, “I want to talk like the pretty ladies in dramas!”
Everyone seemed to buy it.
Clap clap clap clap!
Teacher…
You’re really dedicated to your job, huh…
Haena was stunned by the applause raining down on her.
Getting praised just for saying “yes” felt kind of depressing…
✦
She spent the whole day singing English songs, folding paper, and reading English storybooks.
‘Ugh. I hate English kindergarten.’
Even after becoming a rich villainess in a novel, she still had to study English.
The pain of being Korean strikes again.
‘Dear author, couldn’t you have made Korean the universal language in this world?’
Even if she was good at English now, she still hated learning it.
“Okay, Sun Class kids~ Now we’re going to have gym class with Grass Class!”
Gym class?
Haena tried to interpret it with her 7-year-old understanding.
“Let’s all line up, put your hands on the shoulders of the friend in front of you~ and march, march, side by side~!”
Haena quietly stood in line and placed her hand on the shoulder of the kid in front.
“Gasp… H-Haena… sniff, sniff…”
“If you cry, I’ll scold you.”
“Sniff!”
“I mean it.”
Of course, the kid thought Haena was about to hit him and almost cried,
but when she smiled sweetly, he shut his mouth.
‘I should suggest homeschooling…’
Even if I get paid for this, spending a whole day with 7-year-olds is exhausting…
Haena walked with a headache, waddling along.
And when they got to the schoolyard—
“Huh?”
She saw a familiar face.
“Baek Doyoon?”
Why is he here?
“Hmph.”
Baek Doyoon clearly knew Haena was there but just snorted and turned his head.
Haena snorted back and looked away.
Cute baby pouting like that isn’t scary at all.
“Gasp! We’re doing a jegichagi match with Grass Class today!”
Jegichagi?
Hearing the kids whispering, Haena noticed a bunch of jegis (traditional Korean hacky sacks) on the ground.
Wow. They still play this?
Do kids today even know how?
“Jegi? What’s that?”
“I’ve never seen one!”
“Do you know how to kick it? Is it like soccer?”
Hmm. Probably not worth expecting much.
Haena nodded quietly.
Of course she knew how to play.
She used to play with her dad and bet ice pops on it.
Rich kids probably never played this.
They were too busy flying overseas.
But the true Korean spirit lives in jegichagi…
“So we’re competing with Grass Class using that?”
“What? Seriously?! We’re playing that?”
Ooh, now this was getting interesting.
“But Doyoon is in Grass Class. He’s good at everything.”
“Yeah! He’s great at soccer.”
“He’s good at swimming too, and, um, basketball, and…”
The girls in Sun Class started gushing about how amazing Baek Doyoon was at sports.
You’d think he was an Olympic hopeful, not a kindergartener.
Apparently, Doyoon had always been popular—classic male lead behavior.
Haena just saw it as cute puppy love between toddlers.
Then—
“Hey! Hong Haena!”
Baek Doyoon ran toward her, his fluffy poodle-like hair bouncing.
“Do you know how to kick a jegi? I bet you don’t, huh? I bet you don’t know how to play!”
…Why is this kid even popular?
Haena just stared at him, neither denying nor agreeing.
“Heh! I knew it! You don’t know how, right? I’ll teach—”
“Oh, Baek Doyoon.”
“?!”
“You’re so full of yourself, huh?”
“!”
Haena’s sudden comment made all the kids gasp and cover their mouths with their tiny hands.
She called Baek Doyoon—the coolest and most popular kid at Heritage English Kindergarten—a show-off?!
As expected, Baek Doyoon froze, completely shocked.
“Let’s compete. See who can kick the jegi more.”
“What?!”
“Loser has to grant the winner one wish.”
“N-no way! Why would I?!”
Doyoon strongly refused, but Haena just shrugged like it was no big deal—
“Scared?”
She dropped the forbidden word.
“!!!!!”
