Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My dormmate has dropped out of college to get married. Before that, she shares a livestream link on the college forum. She claims her husband has cheated on her, and she wants to stream how she punishes the homewrecker. She asks everyone to share the link and hype the situation up.

I don't take her words to heart. To my surprise, she barges into my house with a group of people that afternoon. She trashes the place and screams bloody murder at me. It seems she thinks I'm the homewrecker.

It's only from her words that I understand her rich and handsome husband is my father.

Well, since she's caused such a scene, it looks like her darling is going to lose his job and leave this family without a penny to his name.

My parents had gone to the countryside for the day. I woke up late because I stayed up late the night before. So, I was the only one at home.

I picked up my phone and saw that there were over 999 unread messages. I glanced at them and noticed that most of the messages were from the school's group chat.

"Livestreaming yourself beating down on the mistress? You're so brave!"

"Ha ha ha. Homewreckers are all twisted people. Don't give her a beating that she'll enjoy."

Everyone in the group was talking about the mistress. I scrolled up to the first message and was surprised to see that it was posted by my roommate, Jinny Crowley, who had already dropped out of school.

She mentioned that her husband was cheating on her and that she had found out the address of the mistress.

She would be going over to give the mistress a beating in the afternoon, and she'd even livestream it. She wanted everyone to see the mistress's sorry mug so that her reputation would be destroyed.

At the end of her message, she also included a link to her livestream.

Jinny dropped out of school to get married. The school required students who wanted to drop out for marriage to provide a marriage license, but she told the school counselor that her husband would only register the marriage with her if she gave birth to a baby boy.

The counselor was shocked to hear that. He even messaged us, her roommates, privately and told us to ask us to talk some sense into her. The man she chose was clearly very shady.

All of us were very concerned when we learned about that. We kept trying to talk her out of the arrangement.

Unexpectedly, she thought we were being jealous of her and posted pointed remarks at us on social media to insult us.

Her posts were about how we couldn't stand to see her doing well, that we were jealous of her awesome husband, and that we were trying to set her up for failure.

The head of the dormitory was so angered by Jinny's words that she kicked her out of the dormitory's group chat.

Since then, none of us cared about what she was doing anymore.

I didn't feel any emotions when I saw her message. She made her own bed, and she had to lie in it.

After she gave the mistress a beating, she would probably still go back to that husband of hers and happily give birth to a baby boy for him.

The notifications from the group chat were getting annoying, so I set the notifications from the group chat to "Do Not Disturb".

…

I picked out a movie to watch after dinner. My phone started ringing incessantly as I was enjoying the movie. So, I picked it up and took a look at it.

I did not expect it to be yet another message from Jinny to the group chat.

"The livestream of me beating up the mistress has started! It's started! Join in, everyone. Let's get the word out."

Then, she tagged everyone in the group chat, ten whole times. She also proceeded to send the link to her livestream multiple times.

It was so irritating. I tapped on her profile in an attempt to block her. I did not expect her to be streaming on multiple platforms.

Therefore, I was brought over to her livestream when I tapped on her profile picture.

As I was about to exit the livestream, I noticed that the scenery behind her looked familiar.

She was right outside my neighborhood! I was extremely sure I recognized that sign.

Chapter 2

"That minx is so shameless. She's living in such a luxurious neighborhood! I know my husband works hard to earn his keep, so I've never asked him for much. God knows how much money that minx has taken from my husband!"

Jinny was still cursing up a storm in her live-stream. Her pretty face was flushed from the anger.

She brought a small group of people with her, and they looked quite intimidating. The security guard had wanted to stop them at the entrance but gave up once he learned they were there to catch a mistress.

He didn't want to meddle in other people's family matters, so he looked the other way and let them in.

So, the mistress she was talking about lived in my neighborhood?

What a coincidence that was.

I wanted to keep watching, but the camera was unstable and was shaking. There was also a lot of static noise. I quickly lost interest in the livestream.

I turned it off and went back to the movie I was watching before.

After a while, I heard someone knocking heavily on my door. I thought the boba tea I ordered had arrived, so I eagerly went to open the door.

I did not expect to see an angry Jinny at my door. She glared at me with a terrifying expression on her face.

I started to have a bad feeling about what was about to happen.

The people behind Jinny began to shout as they pointed the cameras at me.

"You homewrecker! This is that shameless mistress, right? Today, we'll be doing everyone a favor by beating her up."

"Look at this place. The corridor is so long. How many rooms are there?"

"That's not true! You've got the wrong person. I don't even have a boyfriend. I'm not even talking to any man at the moment. How can I be a mistress?"

Although I had no idea what was going on, I quickly refuted their claims.

"Mary Hopkins! You were one of my closest friends. Why would you try to take my man from me? You're disgusting! Get out of my husband's house now!"

The people standing behind Jinny started to get excited again after she said that.

It was such an unbelievable turn of events! The mistress was actually a close friend of the wife! It was true that women had to keep an eye on their close friends!

"I'm not a close friend of hers! We used to be classmates and roommates. We never talked much since our personalities were too different!

"Do not slander me. I'm not a mistress, and I'm not a close friend of hers. Get out of my house right now!"

They were driving me insane. I said I wasn't the mistress they were looking for. What else did they want?

More and more people were gathering near my door. They were probably my neighbors who were attracted by the commotion.

The growing crowd only made me even more upset.

"Mistresses are so shameless! You had the gall to do something like that, but why don't you have the guts to own up to it? The proof is all here. Take a look for yourself. Let's see what you have to say after that."

Jinny covered her stomach with one of her arms and held her phone toward the camera with the other.

"Everyone, take a look at this. My husband bought so many things online, and he used this address for all of them."

Didn't she say she was going to show me proof? Why did she hold her phone so far away from me? I had no choice but to move my head closer to her.

Jinny tapped on her phone, and at that instant, I saw that her phone's wallpaper was a selfie of her with my dad.

"You homewrecker! You've been dating someone's husband. How dare you call him 'honey'? What do you have to say for yourself?"

The picture Jinny showed was a screenshot of a conversation between my parents.

Chapter 3

I would never mistake those two profile pictures for anything else.

Their conversation was just casual banter between a married couple.

"Remember to get two bags of salt" or "Buy me a cake."

How could the marriage between my parents, which had lasted for so many years, be fake? It seemed like Jinny was unaware that she was the mistress of the relationship.

She even came all the way to my place to cause a scene.

I remembered that Jinny used to tell us that her "husband" had a bad temper and that he had a tendency to hit people when he was drunk.

She also said that he loved finding faults with everything and throwing insults around.

My dad was such a great actor. He seemed so normal when he was with me and Mom. In reality, he was an immoral man who was cheating on his wife, and he revealed his dark side to his mistress,

We, the roommates, discovered the scars on Jinny once. We were so worried about her, but she kept making excuses for her man.

She said that he treated her very well most of the time and that we didn't need to care about the scars.

Thinking back about all of that, I felt the two of them were meant for each other.

"Look at that tone on you. Do you think my husband is your lapdog? How dare you ask him to buy you all these things? How shameless are you? You're so good at ordering another person's husband around."

Jinny became even more enraged as she was talking. She suddenly grabbed my hair and started swaying my head back and forth.

I couldn't just take all the abuse without retaliating. So, I kicked her in the chest so hard that she fell to the ground.

"Are you out of your mind? How dare you trespass onto my private property and assault me! Besides, my dad's 52 years old. He definitely smells like an old person. How could you even bring yourself to do it with him?"

I adjusted my hair, which had been messed up by Jinny, and tied it up.

"Calm yourself down. We can sit down and talk about this."

I figured my scumbag of a dad might have lied to Jinny. Maybe things could be cleared up if we just talked it out.

I slowly approached her. I was on guard because I didn't want her to pounce on me again, but I wasn't really afraid of her. She was so petite I could send her flying with a single punch.

"Young lady, you must be mistaken. This family of three has been living here for many years. How can this palace belong to your husband?"

Jinny's expression grew darker when she heard the next-door neighbor say that.

"My husband brought this place for you, right? How dare you bring your family over here? Have you no shame?"

I was dumbfounded. She was utterly delusional. Didn't I hint at the fact that her so-called husband was my dad?

Jinny was still yelling as the people she brought with her came between her and me.

"What has this world come to? How can a mistress be so bold? She even had the audacity to attack the wife!!

"Jinny's pregnant! We won't let you off the hook if anything happens to her baby!"

Jinny stuck her nose in the air smugly when she heard the people defending her.

"Give her a good beating! You're doing god's work by beating up a mistress. She was the one who started it anyway."

The people's expressions became menacing when they heard that. They rolled up their sleeves and walked toward me.

"Hey, I have heart conditions and diabetes. Will you guys be able to afford it if something goes wrong?"

I lay down on the floor with a nonchalant expression.

"Jinny, didn't you say this woman was a close friend of yours? Does she really have all those conditions? We can't exactly risk killing her, can we?"

Chapter 4

The people with Jinny became hesitant. They turned around and looked at Jinny.

"Why do you care about all that? Just beat her up!"

Jinny didn't answer their question. Instead, she urged them to beat me up.

Back when we were in school together, we would only ever speak with each other when it was something related to school. That was why we didn't know much about each other.

I just had to make something up. I knew she wouldn't know if I was lying or not.

The girls with her were clearly paid by Jinny to back her up. None of them were prepared to take a life for some money and get sent to jail.

None of them moved a muscle since they didn't get a clear answer from Jinny. They just stood around me and hurled insults at me.

I picked up my phone and aimed the camera at them to record a video. Then, I sent it to my mom. I also sent the link to Jinny's livestream to her.

I urged her to come home quickly and to bring my dad with her.

"What is the meaning of this? Did I pay you all for nothing? That hussy is still smiling over there."

Jinny was enraged. She walked over to me slowly while clutching her stomach. She swung her fist at me, but I caught her hand easily.

Then, she started to growl angrily.

"Then, throw her out of here! This should be my place! This is my husband's property. That's right! Strip her and throw her out. A homewrecker like her deserves to be treated like that!"

She started giggling as she was saying that. It seemed like she had lost her mind. She went to sit on the couch like she owned the place.

"This is my property! Do you want to see whose name is on the deed?"

My mom was the one who bought this place. Naturally, her name was on the deed. My mom was very hardworking when she was young.

She also had an affinity for business and was able to build her own clothing company.

My dad was just a customs officer on the payroll. He could never afford to buy property in this neighborhood.

"Stop acting so smug. Gifts and property given to a mistress can be taken back through a lawsuit."

Jinny lost it when she heard me say that. She picked up an opal trinket on the coffee table and threw it toward me.

She was so weak that she couldn't throw it. It fell from her grasp and smashed into bits on the floor.

An idea came to me as I looked at the broken trinket.

"Don't do it! All of these are things I painstakingly picked out at an antique market. I also picked the opal up myself by a river. Come at me if you want, but don't touch my rocks!"

When Jinny heard what I said, she was immediately motivated. She smashed all the opals on the shelf to bits.

"What are you all standing around for? Smash it all! You already chickened out when I asked you to beat her up. Are you still too scared to break some stuff?" Jinny yelled.

The people she brought with her immediately joined her in breaking stuff.

They caused a ruckus, and after a while, broken pieces of opal were scattered on the floor.

"We've smashed everything. You're just a brazen person who leeches off men. You spent my husband's money on this rubbish."

Jinny felt good. It was like she finally got one over me.

What she didn't know was that she was always the party at fault in the relationship. She was not the rightful partner of the man like she thought she was.

Chapter 5

The opals weren't mine. Why would I feel bad that they were broken?

I ignored Jinny's screaming and chose to call the police.

"Some women trespassed into my property and destroyed my belongings. They broke over a dozen opals. Every single one of those opals comes with a certificate. They are valued in the millions."

Jinny clutched her stomach and burst into laughter after I ended the call.

"Did you think you'd be able to fool me? I've gone to college before. I'm not that easy to trick. I know my rights. The things given to a mistress can be taken back."

"Whatever you say."

I nodded lightly to indicate that I understood what she was saying.

"She is definitely putting on airs. She's still acting tough! Jinny, we shouldn't back down."

The words of the people around her made Jinny feel at ease.

"Jinny, look! I broke such a huge opal. Please trust in my abilities."

One of the women pointed at a bunch of opal shards as she tried to claim credit with a pleased expression.

"Yeah. Not bad. You can have this. Work hard, and you will be compensated for your efforts."

Jinny threw the Kelly bag she was holding to the woman. The eyes of the rest of her goons lit up when they saw that.

She waved her hand in the direction of the master bedroom and they quickly rushed over. A huge commotion ensued. There were sounds of silk being ripped and glass being broken.

"They'll rip up all of your pretty clothes. Let's see how you seduce men after this."

Jinny had a wide smile on her face.

"I don't even sleep in the master bedroom. I think I didn't make myself clear enough just now. My parents and I live here. The husband you've been talking about is my dad."

Before I could finish what I wanted to say, Jinny started cackling.

"Getting anxious? Why are you sprouting all that nonsense? Do you think you'll be forgiven so easily? The punishment is just beginning.

"I'll make a post on our school's forum to tell everything that you're a mistress. I'll follow you around no matter where you try to get a job. I'll tell your potential employers that you're a shameless homewrecker!" Jinny bellowed so hard that her chest was heaving.

"You're hopeless. Forget it. The police and your 'honey' are on their way here."

She was the one who was crazy. It was a waste of my breath trying to talk to her.

"That's right. We used to be really close friends. I met my husband when I was in school. She even told me to break up with him. Now that I think about it, she was just jealous."

Jinny looked at the camera and squeezed out some fake tears. She was a completely different person before the camera.

Then, there was some commotion at the entrance. The crowd at the door parted to make way.

"Mary, what's going on? What happened to our home?"

My parents were home. Before I could get to them, Jinny rushed over to my dad.

"Honey, Mary pushed me just now. I'm pregnant with our baby. You have to teach her a lesson."