Capítulo 199: Long-Lost Relatives

<p>It had now been three days after D Corporation released a statement saying that the viral girl from their commercial was a fresh talent from Hope Entertainment Agency. <br/><br/>Since then, Hope Entertainment's phones had been ringing non-stop due to the increase in job offers for the unknown girl as well as people relentlessly demanding to know her identity. Such a pretty treasure, could it be that Hope Entertainment was hiding her away for their own enjoyment? Many people believed that the girl was a deeply-concealed trainee who had only recently been allowed to emerge from hiding. It looked as if Hope Entertainment was preparing to launch her career. <br/><br/>Among those phone calls from people who were curious about her identity, there was one strange phone call that had to be deferred to the company's president to handle personally. <br/><br/>And the company's president, Park Soo Yeon, could only scrunch her brows and ask about this to the girl in question.<br/><br/>"Someone called me earlier to inquire about you. They said they were... your grandparents?" She asked the girl unsurely. <br/><br/>Park Soo Yeon was not too clear about Yeo Ri's family situation. She found it strange that someone—a person from a prominent background, no less—had claimed to be her grandparent, and had called her instead of calling the girl directly. Were they really her long-lost relatives? Or could they be scammers? She was worried for the young girl.<br/><br/>"Grandparents?" Yeo Ri pursed her mouth in thought. She knew that her paternal grandparents were long gone, but she was unsure about her mother's side of the family. Nobody really knew anything about Han Yeoreum's past; not even Heo Woo Seung. He only knew bits and pieces—no names or places; just fragments of stories that had now been mostly forgotten after so many years of disuse. <br/><br/>In her heart, she was quite curious about this mother of hers. Yeo Ri could not remember her no matter how hard she tried. The only memory she had of her mother was when she was a child, feeling longing for a person who was long gone.<br/><br/>When she was younger, she often gazed at a framed picture of her mother, who was smiling while holding her baby girl. It invoked a sourness inside her though she did not know where it came from or why she felt it. It was a strange emotion. <br/><br/>At some point, she had even begun to secretly harbour feelings of abhorrence towards the woman whom she had thought to have irresponsibly left her children to save herself. However, as she got older, she had begun to move on and forget about it. She subconsciously found it too tiresome and meaningless to waste her time thinking about someone who was no longer there; instead, she spent her energy on trying to keep the family together as best as she could, though she had been no older than eight at the time. <br/><br/>Now, all that was left was indifference. She felt neither grateful nor hateful towards the woman who had brought her into the world. Nevertheless, a mild sense of interest still lingered. If only she knew more about her mother, would she like her as much as her brothers do? To them, Han Yeoreum had been a mother, but to her...<br/><br/>"..." Yeo Ri bit her lips.<br/><br/>Did she want to know more about her mother?<br/><br/>It was a complicated feeling. On one hand, she did not want to bother with more troublesome family matters, but on the other hand, she still felt inclined to know more about her mother. After all, this was her mother. This was the woman who loved her enough to give birth to her, despite the circumstances. <br/><br/>"Yeo Ri-ah?" Receiving silence from the girl, Mrs. Choi spoke up to prod her. "Should I tell them to go away?"<br/><br/>"...No."<br/><br/>No matter how mature she seemed, at the end of the day, she was still a young girl who craved a mother's affection. <br/><br/>"Auntie, can you connect me to them? I'd like to talk more in person."</p>