Chapter 1
Don’t be indifferent.
They say there’s light at the end of the tunnel. What a ridiculous notion.
The life of the second daughter, K-Jangnyeo, is one of enduring endless hardships. Just like my own life.
I was born as the second daughter of an ordinary household in South Korea.
There are various types of second daughters, but I was the one equipped with the option of being a girl boss. It was the highest level of hardcore difficulty.
Mother’s death, father’s job loss and alcohol addiction.
At the tender age of twenty, a trifecta of misfortunes struck our household.
Father succumbed to alcoholism, losing himself. My siblings trembled in anxiety every night.
I had to pull myself together. There was no time to blame or resent anyone. I had to do whatever it took to make ends meet.
I took a break from university and started working at a factory. The monthly wage was barely enough to feed our family of four.
I couldn’t afford a 2coffee,so I settled for instant coffee. Iagonized for days over buying a 20 pair of pants. Every penny counted when it came to buying school uniforms, bags, and shoes for my siblings.
That life wasn’t unfair… yeah right. Every time I saw money-hungry hypocrites, it filled me with rage.
I’m human too. I wanted to enjoy good food and wear pretty clothes with the money I earned.
I held on desperately, hoping that one day my siblings and father would act like human beings.
But after years, my father never got his act together. He turned into a green-faced lunatic, spewing nonsense.
He overturned the dinner table, broke things, and raised his hand to my siblings. That’s when the calm second daughter in me snapped.
“Father, behave yourself. It’ll hurt more if you resist.”
I swiftly delivered a roundhouse kick to his side, reminding him that I hold a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo. It’s easy to due someone who can’t even distinguish friend from foe when drunk.
That day, my father was admitted to the white house on the hill. Peace returned to our home.
However, as if not accepting my peace, fate bestowed a new calamity upon me.
“Sister, mind your own business in my life. You’re not our parent, so stop acting like one.”
“Sis, I asked for Golden Goose sneakers, not these cheap ones!”
My siblings, in the throes of teenage rebellion, began to revolt for the first time.
For the first time in my life, I cursed fate. All the effort to raise children diligently was in vain. The price I paid for nurturing them without enough to eat or wear was a summoning trifecta of chaos.
Summoned to school, summoned to the police station, summoned to court.
When summoned to school, my heart ached terribly. I couldn’t look the affected students in the eye, feeling deeply sorry.
“When summoned to the police station, my mind was clouded. I wanted to give up everything and run far away. But I gritted my teeth, fearing my siblings would stray even further.
On the day of the court summons, seeing my siblings shed fake tears in front of the judge, my mind cleared.
“They’re not humans, they’re evil.”
I made up my mind. I would rehabilitate these demons before they caused greater harm to society.
I quit the factory and re-enrolled in Taekwondo school. To execute the rehabilitation project, I needed strength.
Coddling with tears and love only resulted in greater betrayal.
Only the logic of strength could save these lunatics who deemed themselves evil.
To isolate the troublemakers from society, I remodeled the house.
I took off the doorknob of my siblings’ room and reattached it backwards, blocked the windows, and attached soundproofing material to the walls. This way, no matter how much noise they made, they wouldn’t disturb the neighbours.
After all the preparations were done, I eagerly awaited my siblings to come home.
My siblings would sneak into the house once a week to steal money. That was the perfect timing to execute the rehabilitation project.
A few days later, my younger sister came first, followed by my younger brother the next day.
As soon as my younger sister entered the house, she quietly locked herself in her room. It seemed like she could sense the difference in our martial arts skills from my well-trained thighs.
Indeed, the logic of strength was light, truth, and life.
However, my younger brother didn’t surrender easily. So, he bravely retaliated with a righteous sidekick.
The satisfaction of crushing the mouth of my brother, who often talked about the law of the jungle, with the sole of my foot when he got bored was indescribable.
After an intense battle, I emerged victorious. A younger brother who could defeat a Taekwondo black belt sister armed with the rod of love would be rare in this world.
“Now, you too quietly lock yourself in your room.”
By confining defeated beasts from the fight in our midst, the world was peaceful. It was the most relaxing day since our mother passed away.
And roughly ten days later, my siblings knelt down, shedding tears and begging for forgiveness.
It seemed like they realized that they could end up like our father if they made a wrong move.
I knew it was crocodile tears, but I forgave them for now. I also returned the confiscated phones.
Of course, the phones had a location tracking app installed for the safety of the children.
I handed them the Ten Commandments for becoming a new person. It contained common sense rules like not hitting others, not stealing, and sleeping at home.
“Extend your hand. Let’s stamp the contract.”
When my siblings violated the Ten Commandments, they willingly wrote a pledge agreeing to be locked in their rooms again. Their expressions when stamping the contract were intriguing, but I didn’t pay much attention.
From the start, I didn’t expect devils to keep their promises.
As expected, my siblings staged an escape drama as if they were showing off. I calmly checked their location with GPS and executed the capture operation.
“You are in the palm of my hand no matter how far you run.”
After that, everything proceeded swiftly. My siblings were caught again, confined, begged for mercy, I forgave and released them, and then they were caught again.
After repeating this about seven times per person, my siblings finally surrendered. They had completely lost their rebellious spirit.
Thus, their adolescence came to an end, and the two black dragons turned human scoundrels upside down.
I spent my savings and retirement funds from my twenties on the rehabilitation project.
If I said I didn’t regret anything, it would be a lie, but there was no remorse. It was the money spent most valuably in my life.
While my siblings were confined to a cram school and I was looking for a job, I heard that our father had recovered.
After several years, I met my father and had a normal conversation. I focused on my father’s eyes, which was a significant improvement in itself.
I summarized the incidents of my siblings’ misconduct, trial, and rehabilitation story to my father. His fingers trembled with the aftermath of alcoholism.
“Daughter, I’ll just live here for the rest of my life.”
Upon being discharged, you called out that you wanted to leave. You seemed perfectly fine now, so come out and support us.
Despite his lack of confidence, I dragged my father out, who kept making feeble excuses, and we climbed the mountain every day.
A healthy mind resides in a healthy body. Since the day my father managed to hold a plank for one minute, he never uttered any feeble excuses again.
Some time later, my father and I both found jobs. I started working as a clerk in a small company, and my father began working as an apartment security guard.
My younger brother juggled studying and part-time jobs. During one of his shifts, he got into an argument with a customer and ended up at the police station, but fortunately, he came back with a hefty settlement.
My younger sister got caught up in a reckless relationship with a guy she met at a study café, nearly getting a drastic haircut and being confined, but luckily, she came to her senses before it was too late.
Since our mother passed away that year, my birthday became the best one yet.
With my family handing me a cake and gifts, they finally said the words I had been longing to hear for ten years.
“Oh, sis. I talked to my brother, and if we both pass the civil service exam, would you consider going to university?”
“Sister, we’ll cover your tuition. You can quit your job starting now.”
“Eldest daughter, Dad can take on extra work for living expenses! Don’t worry!”
Truly, it was a day where I felt rewarded for turning beasts into humans. I quit my job that day and devoted myself to studying with the allowance I received.
Who would have thought that life living off others’ money could be this comfortable, only realising it at twenty-nine.
I indulged in web novels and webtoons with the phone my younger brother paid for. Even though the phone bill exceeded 100,000 won, receiving criticism felt good.
Life isn’t so bad. I feel like better things are yet to come.
On that day when I first thought such a thing, I met my end.
Damn dump truck, omitted below.
Though I was already dead, I felt unjustly killed.
I thought I was dead, but I woke up again.
As I opened my eyes, the ceiling was excessively Rococo. It was unimaginable that this place could be anywhere in South Korea.
My ears felt stuffy, and my body was stiff. I couldn’t move a single finger.
For a while, I gazed at a fresco on the ceiling depicting a baby angel hunting a demon.
Soon, the fresco on the ceiling distorted, and alien memories flowed into my mind. They were memories of a person named ‘Ariel Ballienor.’
Amidst the forced injection of memories, a piercing ringing sound invaded my ears.
Starting from my fingertips and toes, I began to convulse. My waist floated, and my whole body trembled. Soon, as if removing earplugs, clear sounds rushed in.
A foreign language. A strange voice.
Everything was unfamiliar yet oddly familiar. It was most strange to find myself understanding a language I had never heard before.
“Magician, is it… Is it my daughter who has come back to life?”
“I-I think we need to stop these convulsions first.”
“Ariel, can you hear me…?”
Beep-
The memory of ‘Ariel Ballienor’ that had occupied my mind was sucked into the pitch-black villainess . It was a strange sensation as the memory was completely absorbed into my body.
How much more time had passed?
After a while, as I opened my eyes, I realised that this place was like the novel I had recently read, “Rescuing a Cat Leads to Obsession.”
I had transmigrated as the eldest daughter of the Ballienor family, a dark noble family.
According to the original story, I was supposed to have died yesterday, the eldest daughter of Ballienor.
“…Damn. Eldest daughter again.”
Following the K-drama eldest daughter, it was the beginning of the life of a romance novel eldest daughter.
