Mom Fixes Everything

Geum Sa-ra doted on her daughter with a terrible, consuming devotion — because she believed the girl was living out her dream in her place.

"Manager! Can't you even keep your actress in shape? What on earth is going on?!"

"I'm sorry."

At the bite in Geum Sa-ra's voice, Baek Ga-yoon's manager Lee Jeong-han had nothing he could offer by way of an answer. How could he? He had asked her the entire drive over from the dermatology clinic, and Baek Ga-yoon had kept her lips sealed the whole way.

"Did you at least stop by the aesthetic clinic?"

"Yes."

"And what did Director Kim say?"

Director Kim was the aesthetician who personally oversaw the intensive care of High-Top's celebrities — Baek Ga-yoon above all of them.

Though what she truly needed, of course, was a hospital, not a beauty clinic.

"They say it's going to scar."

With a face as famous as hers, one trip to an ordinary hospital would have drowned Baek Ga-yoon in gossip and pointed whispers.

"Oh, my precious baby! Who did this to you?"

Geum Sa-ra cupped her daughter's face with the delicate care of a woman handling priceless porcelain.

"Mommy...!"

Twenty-seven years old, and still she burrowed into her mother's arms like a preschooler.

"It hurt, didn't it, my baby."

Baek Ga-yoon let herself sink into the embrace with a sigh of relief, content to be babied.

"Who was it? Who did this? Mommy will scold them for you! Honestly, what kind of brazen bitch lays a hand on Geum Sa-ra's daughter, huh?"

The marks had been left by fingernails. Geum Sa-ra was certain of it — this was a woman's doing.

"Mom, I..."

That she had paid the girl back for everything. That she was dead now. The words had come bubbling up, giddy and bright — but Baek Ga-yoon couldn't force them past her lips. Her mouth clamped shut.

It hardly made for a proud story. Truth be told, she had gone for the girl's throat first; the raking of her face had been Jung Ga-yoon's answer.

This was the mother who had cleaned up after every incident, every scandal she had ever caused. And yet now that she actually had a death to confess, the words simply would not come.

What if her mother said this was beyond fixing?

What was she supposed to do then?

The moment Baek Ga-yoon's face went white as paper and her lips pressed shut, Geum Sa-ra cast a glance at Lee Jeong-han.

"I'll go and give Director Kang another call."

Lee Jeong-han, who had been studiously minding his own business, held up his phone and slipped out of the CEO's office. Making himself scarce.

Click.

The vast office now belonged to the two of them alone.

"My Ga-yoon. What's the matter?"

Gripping her daughter's shoulders in both hands, Geum Sa-ra pressed on.

"I've told you, haven't I? In this industry, things happen that go beyond all common sense. And every time one does, you don't try to fix it alone. You have me. Yes?"

Geum Sa-ra had debuted at eighteen and, with that very first work, swept up every award, every headline, every scrap of popularity the industry had to offer.

But such fame carried its price: meetings she never wanted — not only with fellow celebrities, but with tycoons and politicians — and then, an unexpected child.

Unmarried mothers had it hard even now. Back then, they were torn apart.

Pointed at and scorned by the entire nation, Geum Sa-ra had vanished from the industry — only to return as CEO of High-Top Entertainment the very moment Baek Ga-yoon debuted as a child actress.

The penalty fees alone had run into the hundreds of millions. How on earth had she managed to claw her way back? Every sort of rumor circulated, but the truth belonged to no one but her.

"Mom fixes anything. Okay?"

The luxury boutique scandal, the assault on a stylist, even the mess she'd gotten tangled in with that junkie chaebol heir — hadn't Mom buried them all?

"I..."

At last, Baek Ga-yoon's mouth opened. Her legs seemed to give out beneath her; she dropped to her knees and clung to her mother.

Geum Sa-ra, thrown off balance, reached down to catch her daughter as she slid—

The whisper came with Baek Ga-yoon's hands locked hard around Geum Sa-ra's waist.

"...What?"

Grey crept across Geum Sa-ra's face, degree by degree. She had imagined many things. Never this.

"What — what are you saying...?"

"What do I do? Mom, what am I supposed to do?"

Geum Sa-ra stumbled backward, and Baek Ga-yoon lunged after her, twisting her fingers into her mother's clothes, her face crumpling.

"Mom. You can fix this, can't you? I can't do this alone. You have to help me. I'm... I'm not alone, am I? I have you!"

It was Geum Sa-ra's old refrain.

I was alone. But you are not. In this treacherous industry, I can protect you.

The words clamped around Geum Sa-ra's ankles like shackles.

Her retreat stopped short. She looked down at her daughter's face, hanging off her middle, flailing in the grip of despair — and the sight was too much like that long-ago time, when she had clutched her swelling belly and fought the whole world alone.

"Yes. My baby. I have to protect you."

I have to protect her. Murmuring it as though under a spell, Geum Sa-ra cradled Baek Ga-yoon's head against her.

On the set of Terms of Inheritance, every one of Ga-yoon's scenes for the day had been filmed. With her shots alongside the male lead Ahn Ji-ho wrapped as well, it was time to call it a night. She made her way over to the director.

"Great work today, Director."

"Oh! Yes — Jung Ga-yoon, you've worked so hard today! You were wonderful!"

The director beamed and patted her shoulder. From Director Kang, such warmth was a rare thing indeed.

Beside him, Ahn Ji-ho glanced up from his preparations for the next scene, brows raised in surprise. He plainly wanted to know what had gotten into the man.

"Yes. I'll see you tomorrow."

"That's right. Get some proper rest, and I'll see you tomorrow!"

With one of Ahn Ji-ho's solo shots still on the schedule, the set remained a hive of activity.

"Thank you all for your hard work. See you tomorrow."

Ga-yoon offered a parting word to each member of the staff as she made her way off set.

The moment she reached the parking lot and slid into the car, the tension seemed to drain out of her all at once.

"Whew! You worked hard today, Ga-yoon."

Minji, behind the wheel, pulled two bottles of ice-cold water from the cooler on the passenger seat and passed them back.

"Thank you. You've worked hard too, unni. And you too, So-hee."

Ga-yoon handed one of the bottles to So-hee, her coordinator.

The car pulled away at an unhurried pace. After a sip of water, Ga-yoon fished the little hand mirror out of her bag.

Under the pretense of a casual glance at her reflection, she checked the skin at her collarbone.

...! The time had gone up.

Barely smothering the whoop of triumph that leapt up her throat, she covered it with a cough and, for no reason at all, took another sip of water.

Good heavens. It works? It actually works?

The excitement refused to settle. Setting the bottle down, Ga-yoon rolled the window down a crack and let the rushing air cool her pounding heart.

Yes, she had acted joyfully, lost herself completely in the performance. But if even that hadn't bought her a single second more, what on earth was she supposed to do? The question had been gnawing at her for days.

Survival was non-negotiable — and yet she couldn't exactly snap at the people close to her, or run wild at perfect strangers!

She had come within a breath of drowning in the miserable question of whether living truly demanded that much of her. Now, at last, some of the weight had lifted.

With the cool air streaming through the window, she let out a hidden sigh of relief. And just for now — even if only inside this car — she would rest a little.

Ga-yoon rolled the window shut, tilted the seat back, and closed her eyes for a while.

Rocked by the swaying of the car, her short nap was blissfully sweet.

Geum Sa-ra pressed a cup of hot cocoa into Baek Ga-yoon's trembling hands.

"Where did you kill them?"

Grasping the situation down to its finest detail was what mattered now. Baek Ga-yoon took a mouthful of cocoa and answered.

"On the set rooftop."

A sigh slipped out of Geum Sa-ra unbidden. Somewhere out there, a corpse was lying in plain sight on a rooftop.

For better or for worse, it seemed the body had yet to be found — no word had come in from anyone.

"Was there CCTV? Any witnesses?"

Every piece of the puzzle had to fit perfectly. Only an airtight alibi could lift her clear of the suspect line.

"There was no CCTV, Mom. And nobody around."

Except that a staff member had seen her face, clawed all to pieces.

Geum Sa-ra pressed her creased brows together and turned the problem over in her head. The staff member had seen the face — and Baek Ga-yoon had left the filming set that day.

If the body were discovered, people would start asking how Baek Ga-yoon's face had come to be scratched raw in the first place.

"Who is it you killed?"

At the question, Baek Ga-yoon's fingers tightened hard around the mug; her gaze dropped to the floor.

"Jung Ga-yoon."

"Oh, dear..."

An actress from the very same drama. Geum Sa-ra could practically hear the production collapsing.

Worse, Jung Ga-yoon had been steadily building a name for herself — the looks, the acting chops, all of it riding on the marketing line the second Baek Ga-yoon.

"You have no idea how shameless that girl was, Mom!"

Baek Ga-yoon spun slanders out of thin air. The dead keep their mouths shut, after all.

"She actually claimed she's the real one. That she was Baek Ga-yoon to begin with! That girl drove me up the wall the entire shoot, I'm telling you!"

A lie goes down easier when you fold a little truth into it.

And so Baek Ga-yoon laid out excuse after excuse for why she'd had no choice but to kill Jung Ga-yoon. And then—

"Mom. What do we do about the body? Shouldn't you have a manager go and clear it away?"