Lee Eun-seok arrived home forty minutes ahead of schedule, her mind already buzzing with recipes for a warm home-cooked meal to welcome their new Ukrainian exchange student.
She unbuttoned her coat, dropped her grocery bags on the marble counter, and stepped into the main living hall—only to freeze dead in her tracks.
Standing squarely on her imported Persian rug, blocking the natural light from the vaulted windows, was a monstrous, two-meter-tall dark wood giraffe statue.
"Lee Min-hyuk!" Eun-seok's voice echoed off the high ceilings.
From behind the giraffe's thick, carved flank, her husband peeked out, nervously adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses.
"Eun-seok-ah! Jagiya! Wait, hear me out! It's an authentic 19th-century tribal antique! Look at the craftsmanship—"
"It looks demonic! The neighborhood association meeting is tomorrow!" Eun-seok pressed her temples, her blood pressure instantly spiking.
She took a sharp breath, trying to regain her anchor composure.
"Did Ms. Choi text you about San? My phone was buried in my bag all afternoon."
Min-hyuk winced, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Ah... about that..."
Before she could demand an explanation, the smartphone in her purse vibrated sharply. The caller ID displayed Yoo Jae-man—Chairman of Kirin's Board of Directors and Yoo Chae-rin's father.
Eun-seok straightened her posture, instantly adopting her polished broadcast voice.
"Chairman Yoo! Good evening."
On the other end, Jae-man's rich, booming laugh vibrated through the speaker.
"Eun-seok-ah! I just had to call you about your new host son. A Ukrainian boy, right? Oleksandr?"
Eun-seok's smile faltered slightly. "Yes... Is everything alright?"
"Oh, Chae-rin came home in absolute tears over a spilled bowl of kimchi-jjigae!" Jae-man chuckled warmly, sounding thoroughly entertained. "She claimed he called her 'filthy' in front of the entire cafeteria! Don't worry, Eun-seok, I know how dramatic my daughter gets over her Prada blouses. Please don't scold the poor boy too harshly—it's his very first day in a foreign country!"
As Jae-man continued chatting in his wholesome, easygoing manner, Eun-seok's face went through three distinct stages of color: pale white, bright pink, and finally a deep, terrifying crimson.
"I... I see," Eun-seok choked out, offering a tight bow to the phone. "I will handle the matter personally, Chairman. Thank you."
She hung up the phone.
Her jaw twitched dangerously.
"Kimchi-jjigae? Deoreowo?! On his FIRST DAY?!"
Meanwhile, a few miles away, Lee Ji-hoon navigated his sleek black Mercedes S-Class through the evening Seoul traffic.
Glancing into the rearview mirror, he suppressed a wry smile.
Beside him in the passenger seat sat Ha-neul, while in the back sat the tall, thoroughly exhausted Ukrainian teenager, clutching his backpack like a life preserver.
Ji-hoon's sharp brain was dissecting the situation.
In less than eight hours on Korean soil, this scholarship student from Cherkasy had managed to detonate every single delicate social boundary in the "Golden Triangle." He had dumped hot pork stew on Yoo Chae-rin, accidentally insulted her aristocratic pride, shoulder-checked Myung-dae in the hallway, and indirectly triggered a physical altercation between Jun-seo and Myung-dae near the nurse's office.
'It's almost impressive,' Ji-hoon thought with genuine amusement. 'Most outsiders spend months trying to navigate these high-society dynamics. San blew them open before dinner.'
For Ha-neul, her perspective on her new host brother was undergoing a rapid, unexpected transformation.
When she had first met him at Incheon Airport—wrinkled shirt, messy hair, holding a plastic "Mountain" tag—she had prepared herself for an embarrassing burden. But watching him throughout the day had been a revelation. On the basketball court, he had blocked a senior's shot and dunked in an oversized, bright orange loaner tracksuit.
Then, in the music wing, he had ignored all the delicate classical conventions, slamming his acoustic guitar like a drum and roaring out a raw, percussive Ukrainian rock song that had left the entire recital hall spellbound.
'He doesn't fit into our world at all,' Ha-neul reflected silently, looking out the tinted window as a tiny, hidden smirk touched her lips. 'And maybe... that's exactly what this neighborhood needed.'
The Mercedes purred into the driveway of the Lee estate.
The second Ji-hoon unlocked the front door, the raised, furious voices from the living room hit them like a tidal wave.
"...it's hideous! And it's right in the foyer!"
Ha-neul let out a long, suffering sigh, while Ji-hoon chuckled softly under his breath.
San shuffled in behind them, completely oblivious to the fact that he was walking straight into a active artillery zone.
The moment Mrs. Lee's terrifying gaze swung away from the wooden giraffe and zeroed in on San, Mr. Lee peeked out from behind the statue's torso, casting a quiet, profoundly grateful look at the tall teenager.
San had no idea, but by becoming the primary target of Mrs. Lee's explosive host-mother wrath, he had just single-handedly saved his host father from a lethal green-onion assault.