When it comes to hypocrites, my least favourite is a Supremacist.
Supremacism is the belief that a certain group is superior to others. A supremacist feels superiority due to their race, their class or their gender; and they feel deep disgust at anyone they deem lower or subservient to them. They live off that superiority like parasites, and as parasites, they depend on those they deem lesser for their power.
Let's take Hitler as an example of a classic Supremacist. He hated the Jews and the minorities, but he didn't have them killed straight away, no instead, he herded them into camps and had them tortured and used for all kinds of labour and experiments. He took joy in belittling and weakening them so that he could maintain his power over them, and hence reign supreme.
When your self-worth is linked to your power and your power is linked to believing you're better than someone else, then you keep the other person around to maintain your self-worth, that's why supremacists are fools.
I'm not a supremacist.
Personally, if I find something or someone truly inferior to me or revolting even, I just kill them and be done with the thing. If you have to find your power in someone else then it's a very fragile power.
I've never thought of myself as particularly superior to anyone, just more capable. You could say I believe in equality; gender, race, class, when you live long enough you realise none of it matters. I learnt a long time ago that we're all equal before death, and under the flesh, all our skeletons are the same.
Yong Myeong, on the other hand, was a Supremacist.
She was from a wealthy elitist background and she only viewed people from the upper class as people. If you're not from her elite bubble you're an ant.
When she looked at me, at Kang Ho, she saw a creature with working-class blood. And the very idea of Kang Joon-Ki being with a poor working-class woman made her ill. She felt superior to me, but that superiority would be her weakness. That superiority would keep her being a torturer and not an executioner. Which meant she would be easy to manipulate.
She smiled at me with the sweetest toothy grin but behind her gaze was an obvious frost. Her dislike for me was so apparent that nearby servants, who noticed it, quietly began to mutter amongst themselves, however being the fool he was Kang Joon-ki didn't notice a thing.
In fact, he had a self-assured grin on his face as he watched Yong Myeong glare at me. It was either that he was completely blind to her expression or he was ignoring it on purpose. Either way, The Fool was smiling to himself.
"I'm glad you like your new son Myeong, which is great because I have a meeting in thirty minutes actually." He looked at his watch. "Some investors want to meet me for that new Venture Dad put me in charge of, so I hope you look after Kang Ho properly while I'm gone, you can do that right?"
He phrased it as a question but it was obvious that it wasn't a question. And for a moment Kang Joon-Ki's gaze resembled Kang Seung's; a chilling look that demanded obedience.
I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.
Yong Myeong responded in an expected way, obediently nodding and simpering at him, "Of course I'll look after little Ho while you're gone Sweetie, he's my child, after all, a mother should care for her baby."
She gently took me from Joon-Ki's arms and held me tight, her fingers squeezing onto my small arms with a vice-like grip. Her words made Joon-Ki chuckle, a self-assured smug look plastered on his face, and then he quickly left.
The irony, barely five minutes ago he had been preaching about being a better Father and doing well as a parent, yet now he had simply left me in the arms of a woman who clearly didn't want me.
Well, I had to praise him for being consistent, if he had suddenly become a decent Father I would have been shocked.
The moment he was out of earshot, Yong Myeong began muttering curses 'Fucking shit, he can't be serious, giving me this peasant and making me call it Son, damn it." Her grip on me tightened and the look on her face was so angry that I was sure she was going to raise her hand and hit me, or maybe even throw me to the ground, but she didn't do that.
She seemed to be conscious of the workers cleaning at the entrance and considering my recent scandal she probably knew that she had to be more careful. If this had been the original storyline she wouldn't have cared, but I changed things. Now my Father was looking out for me and so was my Grandfather, and she'd been explicitly told to look after me. Yong Myeong wasn't an idiot.
"Min Ho!" she yelled. Immediately a male butler who was on the older side with a few grey hairs approached us.
"Min Ho I'm sure his nursery has been prepared." Min Ho nodded, "Then clean him, feed him, play with him, make sure he's well looked after and most of all, keep him out of my sight." she hissed, "and make sure to notify me immediately if Joon-Ki is coming back or any member of the family decides to visit the child."
She began to walk up the large winding marble staircase, then she paused and turned back to me and Min Ho, "and prepare some hand sanitiser and send it to my room, I need to cleanse myself." Her nose wrinkled as she looked at me as if she smelt something foul, "and spray some perfume or airfreshner around the house, burn some sage as well near the child's room to purge some of the filth."
"Of course M'lady it will be done immediately." Min Ho bowed deeply.
Yong Myeong scowled and then huffed with frustration before disappearing up the stairs. Whilst she left I wagged my small fist at her thinking, "well, screw you too!"
"You shouldn't reach for her like that Young Master" Min Ho mumbled to me quietly, he grabbed onto my small outstretched fist with his white gloved hand, "She won't reach back for you." I looked up and I noticed that Min Ho was observing me with fondness in his warm brown eyes.
With sincerity he said, "Don't worry I will look after you. I promised Min-ki before he left that I would keep you safe in his place. You may one day turn out to be a cruel callous creature like most of the masters in the Kang family, but for now you're a young child and I'll try to protect your innocence. I promise you won't be hurt anymore."
As he said this I noticed several other servants around us, it seemed that the moment Yong Myeong left, they had gathered to take a look at me.
Some nodded in agreement with Min Ho's words, others muttered "We'll take care of you Kang Ho"
"No one will hurt you again, not under our watch."
"We'll keep you safe."
It seemed like the incident had made me a beloved figure for all the servants, and all my work to seem adorable and get people on my side had paid off. It was within my expectations that the workers would pity me and look out for me, but it seemed like Lee Min-Ki had asked the other workers for a favour before he left. He had turned out to be somewhat useful, what a good mutt.
I grinned and laughed at them cutely, and I watched as their eyes all visibly became soft. It would be easy to make all the staff within the household love and trust me. I would show them kindness, cuteness and I'll make myself lovable.
When they love me they'll trust me, with love comes obedience, and with obedience I can do so many things.