Chapter 297: Webtoon Special Edition – Extra 9 Corin and His Children (2)

The typical childish fight between Park Hayeon and Abigail was put down just in time by Park Sirin, who had returned to the Dunaleff Tower.

No matter how colossal the skirmish between two descendants of gods might have been, in front of a legendary archmage capable of stopping even time and space, it was nothing more than something pointless.

While both of them, restrained by Sirin, could only move their lips without making a sound, Marie and Deokgu arrived after hearing about the commotion.

“Fighting again? Abigail! Didn’t we say that while you were here you would behave yourself!”

“Woof! Grrr! Woof woof!”

— Ah, that’s enough! You destroyed the entire floor! Brats, grow up already!

“Hic…! Ma, Mama Marie…”

“Uh… Abigail started it first, Deokgu oppa.”

As if nothing had happened, both lowered their heads.

Even though they were direct daughters of Dannan, in the end they were still children who had not even turned ten.

No matter how much intelligence or talent they had, to adults they were still difficult to handle.

‘Good thing it wasn’t Hwaran mama or Miruam mama.’

‘If it had been Lunia mama, they’d be dead.’

Even among the children, there existed a ranking of scary moms.

Marie was fairly low on that list, but the real problem was Park Sirin.

“Girls, didn’t I tell you not to fight?”

“Hic…!”

The mother of the firstborn, famous for her terrible personality, cast her characteristic icy gaze, and the girls instantly shrank back.

“Abigail.”

“Hic…!”

“Didn’t we agree that during your kindergarten vacation you wouldn’t cause trouble? Estelle unni should have made that very clear to you.”

“E-eh… yes…”

The tone was gentle, but the expression was frigid.

Someone might say she was too harsh on the children, but that was simply Sirin’s nature.

“And you, Hayeon.”

“Yes, yes… Mom…”

Hayeon rubbed her hands, wiping the sweat from her palms.

It seemed that the spell freezing time and space had already been undone.

“You’re the older sister. How could you grab your younger sister by the hair? Is that how Mom taught you?”

“I’m sorry…”

After subduing both of them at once, Sirin began thinking about how to discipline them and, without realizing it, said it out loud.

“Would twenty strikes with the rod be enough? No… maybe with my strength not even that would work. What if I use magic—”

“Y-yes, Sirin! No violence!”

Marie stopped her in horror.

“Ah, Marie unni. Since you’re strong, do you want to hold the rod?”

“T-that… isn’t that a bit too much? Physical punishment isn’t everything!”

“Children grow up being hit. If they make mistakes, they have to receive punishment.”

“But you come from a world where children’s rights are more respected!”

“I was from the last generation with corporal punishment.”

Sirin had gone to high school just before corporal punishment was banned in Korea.

The same age as Corin, for her, growing up being hit was something ordinary.

“Let’s do it cleanly. Just ten strikes. They’re resilient, so let’s adjust it to, say, the level of a rank-2 knight’s injury.”

“Hic!”

“W-we did wrong!”

“Did you do something wrong?”

“Yes, yes!”

“We did wrong!”

“If you did something wrong, should you receive punishment or not?”

“D-do we…?”

“Then should you be hit or not?”

“N-no…!”

“But did you do something wrong?”

“We did, but…”

“Didn’t you say you had to receive punishment?”

“……”

It was a logical trap. They did something wrong, so they deserved punishment, but they didn’t want to be hit.

— Wow… how cruel.

— She blocked every escape with pure logic.

— Is she really going to hit them?

— If she says she will, she will. Didn’t you see the video of Lady Sirin beating criminals?

— Ah, that video… it even appeared in the criminals’ human rights ordinance…

Ignoring the murmurs of the staff, Sirin stared at them.

Hayeon and Abigail, hiccupping, were terrified. Mama Sirin was the type who, if she said she would do something, did it.

When Sirin acted as the great archmage of justice, her brutal treatment of criminals had been a topic of discussion even at Corin’s family gatherings.

The problem was that Hayeon and Abigail had hidden and watched that video.

— P-please, forgive us! There’s no need to go that far!

— What are you saying, you damned criminal? Do you know what I hate the most?

— W-what…?

— When people say there was no need to go that far. Then don’t provoke me into having to do it, idiot.

— S-stop! Stop! Aaaah!

— …..

— ……Sirin, that’s enough.

— They were sons of bitches. Turns out they kidnapped children and sold them.

— That’s true… it was cathartic, but if we show that outside, there’ll be controversy.

— I don’t think Sirin dongsaeng’s method is bad.

— Estelle unni, you’re religious!

— Anyway, conclusion don’t let it get out!

— Okay.

— Agreed.

They didn’t know that, through a crack in the door, Hayeon and Abigail were spying on them.

Since then, among Corin’s children, Mama Sirin became someone they must never anger.

“I’m going to get the rod, so don’t mo—”

“Waaah! I hate Mom!”

Hayeon ran off. Seeing her, Abigail seized the opportunity and ran as well.

“……”

“……”

Sirin, stunned for a moment, turned her gaze toward Marie.

“Unni, Abigail is yours.”

“Eh? Y-yes… but don’t scold Hayeon too much!”

“If they don’t do bad things, there’s no reason to scold them.”

“Woof… Grrr… Woof…”

— Mom, she’s really scary.

“Deokgu, you shouldn’t fight with your sisters either. You’re already big.”

— Woof? You understood me without a translator?

Leaving behind a confused Deokgu, Sirin went after Hayeon, who had fled.

***

Hayeon headed to a secluded area of the Dunaleff Tower.

An abandoned research department.

Until the next project began, that empty place had become her hideout ever since she started living in the Dunaleff Tower.

The only problem was that sometimes Abigail came to bother her.

“I hate you, Mom……”

Hayeon was resentful toward her mother for not taking her side.

A sense of injustice washed over her, as if only she had been scolded in front of that ill-mannered brat.

“So this is what you ran away for?”

“Hik?!”

In an instant, Sirin appeared behind her, having caught up, and Hayeon jumped in surprise.

“It’s a nice place. Quiet, with good facilities. Oh, and you hid your snacks well.”

Sirin pulled out the sweets Hayeon had hidden on top of a cabinet.

Not even that Abigail had managed to find them!

“They’re mine!”

“What belongs to the daughter belongs to the mom.”

“That doesn’t exist!”

“Here.”

When Hayeon, furious, lunged to snatch the sweets, Sirin used the momentum to grab her and lift her up in one smooth motion.

Then she dropped heavily onto a nearby sofa and sat Hayeon on her lap.

Sirin laughed softly as she patted her head.

It wasn’t exactly exemplary behavior, but Hayeon felt good, as if her mother was finally on her side.

“Still, since you’re the older sister, and also stronger, you can’t bully the little ones. That’s wrong. Understood?”

“Because I’m the older sister? Because I’m stronger?”

“Yes. Older sisters have to protect the younger ones.”

Because she was the older sister.

Because she was stronger.

Finding a reason to be kind to her younger sister made Hayeon feel strangely satisfied.

Didn’t that mean she was a better child than Abigail?

“I get it! Since I’m stronger than Abigail, I’ll try!”

“That’s it, very good. That’s my daughter.”

Sirin trusted that by now Marie would also be calming Abigail down.

It was already the second and soon the third childbirth, so perhaps she had been too harsh.

Even so, there weren’t many places like the Dunaleff ducal house, with perfect care and opportunities for children to interact with one another, so Corin’s children were often sent periodically to the Dunaleff Tower.

The final goal was to settle in the royal capital, but the mothers had roles spread across the world.

‘I need to hurry up with the development of the transport portal together with Lady Josephine. The distance makes it hard for me to see Hayeon often.’

Sirin wanted to grant any wish to her daughter, whom she had finally seen again after so long.

“Is there anything my daughter wants to do with Mom? I’m going to rest for a while, so I can do whatever you want with you.”

“Umm… Mama Marie bought me a puzzle and I was saving it to put together with you. And there are also new princess clothes out, and I’m tired of always playing with dolls only with Abigail.”

Hayeon had too many things she wanted to do with her mother.

So many that she couldn’t count them on her fingers, and she wished her mother would stay a little longer.

“I’d like… Mom to come more often.”

“Hayeon……”

“I like that Mom saves other people. Everyone says Mom is amazing. But even so… I want Mom to be just with me.”

Back then, it had been just the two of them.

Hayeon, having inherited Dannan’s blood, had grown quickly, and during that process she had seen her mother make many mistakes.

Sirin, a first-time mother confused by early childrearing and abnormal growth, always stayed by her side, caring only for her.

“It’s Dad’s fault. Dad hit Mom, and after that everything went wrong.”

“Hayeon, that……”

Yes, that fight might have looked to Hayeon like one-sided violence from Corin.

An intruder who invaded the small world of just two people.

In fact, since then Sirin had been busy traveling the world, leaving Hayeon behind.

But that was an atonement Sirin had to pay.

The 99,997 murders she had committed.

Even if the world had rolled back and those deeds seemed to have disappeared, the sins committed did not vanish.

‘We’ll look for them together.’

Faced with the undefined weight of those sins, Corin had said that to her.

To the mother of his child, saying that even if he could not forget, he would forgive her and carry that sin together with her.

That was why she had to respond to those words.

She did not believe in the idea of washing away sins with good deeds.

She simply strove to become a different person; that was all she had ever been as a heroine of justice.

And in that process, she neglected her daughter. That was, without a doubt, Sirin’s mistake.

“It’s because Mom has done many things wrong.”

“Then… are you going to keep living apart from me?”

“I’ll try to reduce it little by little. But… I’m not going to quit.”

“Why? Are those people more important than me?”

At her daughter’s absolute way of dividing things, Sirin gently shook her head.

“For Mom, Hayeon is the most important thing. That will never change.”

Hayeon held back from telling her to then always stay by her side.

Her mother’s gaze, unable to give her everything, looked so sad that she couldn’t say it.

Just as a child is inexperienced, a mother is too.

Both wanted to do well, but many times things didn’t turn out the way they wished.

“And Dad?”

“Why Dad?”

“Dad is always away. Abigail said our dad is a useless jobless man.”

“……Abigail also needs to fix the way she talks. Who did she learn that from?”

“From brother Deokgu.”

“No, that bastard… ahem…”

Sirin hurriedly changed the subject and thought about how to explain Corin’s work to a child, something difficult for children to understand.

“Umm… Dad is busier than Mom. You say Mom is a heroine of justice, right? Well, the original is Dad.”

“Dad?”

“Yes. When you grow up and see what Dad does, you’ll think he’s really amazing. He truly is an amazing man.”

Hayeon thought about her father and looked at her mother’s gentle smile. It felt strange.

Even when it had been just the two of them, her mother would sometimes stare far beyond the sea.

Even with a child’s mind, Hayeon could understand that it was longing for someone.

Her mother felt a deep love for her father.

“Then why did Dad hit Mom?”

“Umm… that’s hard to explain……”

Unable to tell her daughter what she had really done, Sirin just patted her head and summarized it.

“It’s just that… Mom did something that deserved to be hit.”

Something that deserved to be hit many times.

“Do you hate Mom a little less now?”

“Y-yes! I don’t hate Mom anymore!”

“But earlier you said you did.”

“That… I just said it like that……”

“Mom is also sorry for insulting you. And about saying I’d hit you… I was only going to hit you a little.”

“Then… you really were going to hit me.”

“If you do something wrong, you have to receive punishment.”

“Are you still… going to hit me?”

“I suppose so.”

“T-then hit me. Hayeon also made a mistake, so I’ll accept the punishment.”

Hayeon squeezed her eyes shut, resolute, and Sirin suppressed the laughter that was about to burst out.

“Good, that’s how you talk. That’s my daughter.”

The hand came closer. Hayeon trembled as she felt the warmth.

Flick!

“Ah!”

A finger flicked her forehead. Hayeon rubbed her reddened forehead and looked at her mother in confusion.

“Because you promised to get along with Abigail.”

“Y-yes. I’ll get along!”

She survived! Remembering the scene of her mother beating criminals, Hayeon congratulated herself for getting off lightly.

“Then, Hayeon. Do you want to put the puzzle together with Mom?”

“Huh? Y-yes! I want to!”

“And then we’ll go buy new princess clothes. And we’ll play with dolls.”

“I want to! I want everything!”

“And we’ll eat something delicious with Abigail and brother Deokgu.”

“Yes! I w-wan… eh?”

“Good! Shall we do it step by step?”

“Y-yes……”

Even though she felt like she had fallen into some kind of guided interrogation, Hayeon decided to focus on putting together the puzzle for now.