CHAPTER 2
Before Seola could even close the front door after returning home, Eunae’s fierce palm came flying toward her cheek.
Her head snapped to the side, and her ears rang.
“Mother……”
Whether Seola could even remain standing or not, Eunae dragged her by force toward the kitchen with almost superhuman strength.
After roughly releasing Seola’s arm, Eunae gulped down a glass of cold water as though her insides were burning.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
The gentle mask Eunae usually wore had been completely discarded, and her face was twisted with rage.
“Knowing perfectly well what your father’s company is going through right now, you threw away that precious opportunity?”
“What did I tell you?”
“I told you all you had to do was go there, smile, and rely on that pretty face of yours!”
“And what did you do?”
“You left the banquet hall before Kang Ijun even arrived?”
“Yoo Seola, have you lost your mind?”
Eunae’s voice reverberated all the way from the kitchen into the living room.
The cup in her hand knocked against the dining table with a clatter, sending droplets of water flying.
“Mother, it was just that the occasion felt a little too overwhelming for me to attend……”
The moment Seola cautiously tried to defend herself—
“Shut your mouth!”
Eunae’s fierce voice cut her off, and her eyes were cold and sharp.
Her heavily painted lipstick twisted into a harsh curve around her mouth, while anger seeped into every wrinkle around her eyes.
“What right do you have to make your own choices?”
“I told you, didn’t I?”
“Our company is going into court receivership next month.”
“If we lose that opportunity, the investment will be cut off, and this house will be auctioned off.”
“When that happens, there truly won’t be anything left.”
Jinseong slowly folded the newspaper while sitting at the dining table.
The friction of the crumpled paper sounded unusually loud.
“Sit down.”
Seola sat across from Jinseong.
Eunae, as though she had completely forgotten her usual elegance, stomped her feet before sitting beside Jinseong.
Jinseong pointed with his index finger at the rice and soup placed in front of Seola.
“Do you ever stop to think about where even a single spoonful of food on this table comes from?”
His voice was low and heavy.
It carried a different kind of chill from Eunae’s anger.
That made it even more frightening.
“Father……”
Seola barely managed to get the word out, but his gaze had already broken her spirit.
“That opportunity was difficult to secure.”
Eunae’s sharp voice overlapped with Jinseong’s low words.
“We sold every piece of jewelry in this house to get you that opportunity.”
“And you threw it away just like that?”
“Does that pathetic pride of yours feed you?”
“You don’t even deserve to eat.”
The thoughtless words pierced Seola’s heart like blades.
In the cold silence, only the ticking of the clock cut through the air.
The sound felt painfully like footsteps walking across the rubble of a ruined home.
“I’m sorry.”
“I just didn’t like doing things that way.”
“You didn’t like it?”
“Are you in any position to decide what you like or dislike right now?!”
Eunae’s voice cracked sharply.
“We took you in and raised you, and you can’t even be of any help to us at a time like this?”
“If your father’s company collapses, it’s all over.”
Seola closed her mouth, unable to find anything to say.
“If it weren’t for us, you might have starved to death somewhere.”
“And now you’re going against us after everything we’ve done for you?!”
Eunae’s words were as sharp as knives.
You shouldn’t have taken me in in the first place.
Seola swallowed the words she wanted to say and finally headed toward her room without saying anything.
Eunae’s mocking laughter followed behind her.
“Look at her, acting all high and mighty with that pride of hers.”
“Hah!”
Seola leaned her back against the door and slowly sank to the floor.
The back of her hand, which had been scalded by the hot coffee, still stung, while her cheek felt as though it were still burning.
What can I even do?
Her vision blurred, and the sounds of the world gradually faded into the distance.
She quietly looked down at the back of her hand.
The mark left by the coffee burn from earlier that day remained red.
Every wound she had suffered that day seemed to overlap in that single mark.
Just like her name written in the guarantor section, it was a trace that would not easily disappear.
Seola knew better than anyone that leaving this house would mean the end.
Part of the company’s debt had been tied to her name.
The moment she left, she would cease to be a family member and become a debtor instead.
At the same time, at the Myunghun family mansion.
Silver tableware glittered across the quiet dining table.
Chairman Kang leisurely raised his wineglass as he looked at his son.
He was the elderly gentleman Seola had met earlier that afternoon.
“Was there any young lady you liked today?”
Ijun set down his fork without even touching his meal.
“Didn’t I tell you that I dislike doing things this way?”
“What do you mean, ‘this way’?”
Ijun lifted his head and looked at him.
His gaze was firm and unwavering.
“Who chooses a woman to marry like that these days?”
Chairman Kang raised one eyebrow and gave a slight nod as if urging him to continue.
“The company’s image is one issue, but putting people on display and judging them as if they were exhibits……”
Ijun looked directly at Chairman Kang as he continued.
“It doesn’t fit the times.”
“There’s already plenty of criticism in the media, calling it ‘their own private league.’”
Chairman Kang placed his glass down with a sharp thud.
“Marriage isn’t about personal feelings.”
“It is a union for the future of the family.”
“Having been born into the Myunghun family, you should at least understand that much.”
“It’s not that I don’t understand.”
“I simply don’t want a method like the one used today.”
“If you have no intention of choosing a candidate, then I’ll recommend someone.”
“I think Baek Chaeyeon of Baekil Group would make a suitable match for you.”
Baek Chaeyeon was the only daughter of Baekil Group, whom Chairman Kang had been considering for a long time.
With her family and background, she was an impeccable card in every respect.
She was also considered the strongest candidate among all the applicants.
Ijun expressed his opinion without the slightest hesitation.
“A marriage decided solely by weighing benefits will ultimately make both me and the woman who becomes my wife unhappy.”
Chairman Kang’s gaze grew fierce.
“Forget your idealism.”
“If you are going to inherit Myunghun, you must put your feelings aside.”
“The moment you allow yourself to be driven by emotion, it becomes a weakness.”
“As long as you fulfill your duty, that is enough.”
Ijun rose from his seat and left the dining room.
Chairman Kang slowly set down his glass.
The red wine rippled inside it like tiny waves.
How much time had passed since the sun rose, cutting through the blue light of dawn?
A commotion reached Seola’s ears.
After making a decision during the night, Seola finished getting ready to go out and walked toward Eunae, who was eating at the dining table.
“Mother, I’m sorry about yesterday.”
“I’ll meet the representative of Myunghun Group myself.”
Eunae’s eyebrows shot up.
“What did you say?”
“I’ll meet him in person and ask him to consider me as a candidate for his wife.”
“If he says he doesn’t want me……”
“Then there’s nothing I can do about it myself, so I’ll look for another way.”
Eunae stared straight at Seola for a moment as though she had been rendered speechless, then let out a disbelieving laugh.
“How exactly are you planning to meet the representative?”
Seola held her head high.
Now that she had chosen her path, determination came before fear.
“I have to try, somehow.”
A cynical laugh escaped Eunae’s lips.
“This is unbelievable.”
“Do you really think something like that will work?”
“After running away from the banquet hall?”
“Do you think a family that powerful wouldn’t keep a record of everyone who was there?”
“At least there has to be sunlight for a shadow to exist.”
“I’ll give it a try.”
Seola turned and headed toward the front door.
Eunae clicked her tongue.
“That family isn’t the kind of world you think it is.”
Seola grabbed the doorknob and took a deep breath.
Without turning around, she opened the front door.
“I’ll be back.”
After the door closed, Eunae’s low sigh mingled with the air.
“She really inherited all that stubbornness from her biological parents.”
At the lobby of Myunghun Group’s headquarters, Seola’s footsteps crossed the vast marble floor.
She paused to catch her breath before approaching the reception desk.
“Hello.”
“I’d like to see the representative.”
The employee blinked in surprise.
“I’m sorry, but if you don’t have an appointment, it’s difficult to arrange a meeting.”
Seola immediately bowed her head.
“Please let me see him, even if it’s only for a moment.”
“Just for a moment, really.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s impossible according to our procedures.”
The employee’s tone was firm.
Seola asked again, but the answer remained the same.
No matter how many times she repeated her request, the result did not change.
Seola’s throat gradually felt parched.
I can’t go back like this.
Wasn’t this the decision she had reached after thinking about it all night?
Despite the love and resentment intertwined in the years she had spent with her adoptive parents, she still wanted them to be able to maintain the life they had now.
That was why, even when she had offered to take out a loan under her own name, she had not backed down despite knowing how deeply that choice would drag her down.
She simply could not bring herself to imagine them being thrown out onto the streets.
She could see the irritated receptionist and the stern-faced security employee who had approached at some point, but she could not give up.
She had to meet Kang Ijun somehow and get a chance to make up for the mistake she had made yesterday.
Just as Seola clenched both fists and was about to speak once more—
“Oh my, who do we have here?”
At the familiar voice, Seola raised her head.
The elderly gentleman she had met the previous day approached her as if welcoming her.
The employees who flinched and tried to greet him quickly fell silent when the elderly gentleman gave them a meaningful look.
Having no idea that the elderly gentleman was Chairman Kang, Seola took a step toward him.
“Grandfather, what brings you here?”
“I’m just an old man with too much free time, so wandering around here and there is practically my job.”
“I wondered if it might be you, and sure enough, it is.”
“What brings you here, young lady?”
Seola hesitated for a moment before answering with a smileless expression.
“I came because there’s someone I’d like to meet……”
“But I don’t have an appointment.”
Chairman Kang blinked once.
“Who are you trying to meet?”
“Actually……”
“I wanted to meet the representative of Myunghun Group, whom I failed to properly greet yesterday.”
“Hmm.”
“Yesterday, you said you didn’t want a marriage like that, but have you changed your mind in just one day?”
Seola lowered her head.
“It’s not that I’ve changed my mind.”
“I just thought I should at least meet him in person once, for my parents’ sake.”
“So you came here all by yourself.”
There was a probing undertone in his voice.
Seola could not tell whether it contained disappointment or interest.
Trying to hide her troubled feelings, she forced a smile.
“But no matter how much I explain, they say I can’t see him because I don’t have an appointment.”
Chairman Kang thought for a moment before raising his hand and glancing briefly at his watch.
“I have some connections with the representative of Myunghun.”
“How about I arrange for you to meet him?”
Seola’s eyes widened.
