“Eomma!” Minyoung turned to look at her child, wildly waving at her.

“Youngshin-ah!” Minyoung waved back at her son while moving towards him. “Look at you! What are you doing here so early?” She lifted him, and let him rest on the curve of her hip, kissing him on his cheeks.

“I missed you! And halabeoji was outside so I got bored.” He smiled. “I wanted to help you.”

Minyoung smiled at her child lovingly.

“You don’t need to. Why don’t you safely go back and look after appa?” He nodded. “That’s my boy.”

He giggled. “But come home early. I want eomma to read me a story.”

“Why not halabeoji?”

“Because eomma is better.” He grinned. He leaned in for a final hug before running away.

“He is a sweet child.” Minyoung turned to face the owner.

“I just hope that he will forever be safe.” Her gaze was sad. Her friend had sense her sadness.

“Let’s go back to work.”

Minyoung worked as maid in of the elite’s people houses. She had to be at the house before the first crack of sunlight and until her master went to sleep. Her work was stressful and often infuriating. The taunts, the harshness, the superiority displayed, the ual s…it was stressful and infuriating.

She was a wife and a mother of a 5 year old child. But that piece of information did not affect her masters. She was always the victim of the ual assaults, she was always the victim of the violent acts, she was always the victim of painful, degrading words.

But what could she do? Who could she go to? The law favoured the elite, the positions of justice was filled by their people. And this was not the case of this household, it was every household she had been to, every job she had taken in order to sustain her family…every single time.

What could she do?

All she could do was retreat back home and cry in her husband’s arms. That was all she was capable. For now.

“Minyoung! COME HERE THIS INSTANT!” She understood the tone of her master’s voice. It was a voice of urgency, a voice of desperation for release, a voice for ual frustration.

“Minyoung! WHAT THE WERE YOU THINKING SERVING AT THAT TIME? I TOLD YOU TO COME IN FIVE MINUTES! YOU CAME IN AT 6! ARE YOU ING RETARDED?” She felt a sharp sting on her cheeks. “Well…what can you expect from the idiots?” That was a voice of display of superiority.

“YOU LAZY ING ! I specifically told you to wax the floors, oil all the hinges of the doors, polish the silverware, iron the curtains, and prepare food for the party tonight. Lazy maid.” She stared at her calloused hands. “I don’t even know why I hired you.” That was a voice of degradation and…

…and...

Minyoung went back to her home, at the falling shack as they would call it. Youngshin was fast asleep, holding onto his favourite bedtime story book. He particularly liked listening to ‘Jack and the Beanstalk.’

“Don’t you think sometimes Eomma