CHAPTER 8
A black sedan sped through the night streets.
The lights outside the window flashed by rapidly, while a quiet silence settled inside the car.
Ijun sat leaning back in the rear seat.
His gaze lingered on the seat beside him for some time.
Yoo Seola, who had been sitting there until a little while ago, kept lingering in his mind.
She had barely spoken the entire time he drove her home.
Ijun slightly furrowed his brows and withdrew his gaze.
Then he leaned deeply against the backrest and murmured under his breath.
“Wife candidate.”
The moment he said those words, Ijun realized something without even meaning to.
Calling Yoo Seola his “wife candidate” had not been something he had calculated beforehand.
He had never intended to marry.
He regarded Myeongheon Group’s traditions and its wife-candidate system as nothing more than troublesome remnants of an outdated era.
He had even told Chairman Kang clearly that he would not choose a spouse this way.
Yet strangely, whenever he stood before Yoo Seola, the principles he had always held onto kept wavering.
The way she endured everything to the very end despite being ignored by her adoptive parents.
The look in her eyes as she struggled not to rely on anyone.
Watching her like that, he simply could not walk away.
No, perhaps some part of his heart had been moved from the very beginning.
It had not simply been something he said to get her out of the situation.
Nor had it been an excuse he attached merely to create a suitable justification.
It was simply the first words his heart had chosen.
Ijun silently rubbed the line of his jaw.
The sight he had witnessed at her front door kept coming back to him.
It had been a fleeting scene, yet it was strangely vivid, and even when he closed his eyes, he could not easily erase it.
The sight of Eunae raising her hand with a face consumed by madness.
And Seola standing there without being able to avoid or stop that hand.
The fact that her face looked as though she were accustomed to accepting everything strangely bothered him.
The moment he saw that expression, he had felt displeased, and yet, for some reason, it still weighed on his mind.
Ijun stared out the window with an expressionless face.
“She must not lay so much as a finger on her.”
He repeated quietly the words he had said to Eunae moments ago.
Once again, they were words he had spoken without even realizing it.
Why had he said that?
He thought about it for a moment, but the answer was simple.
Yoo Seola was now a wife candidate of Myeongheon Group.
And she was also someone he had personally brought home.
There was no reason for him to stand by and watch someone treat such a person recklessly.
That was all.
There were no emotions involved, nor was there any special meaning behind it.
He had simply drawn a line as he always did.
At least, that was what Ijun thought.
But that was not the end of it.
After saying those words, the discomfort that had been lodged somewhere in his heart seemed to have eased slightly.
It had been nothing significant, yet it had continued to bother him, and only after he finally said something did that discomfort seem to fade a little.
He himself did not know why.
Ijun slowly closed his eyes.
He remembered the moment Seola had grabbed his arm.
The words she had barely managed to utter in a trembling voice.
“I’m…… fine.”
It was something he could not accept.
Anyone could see that she was not fine.
And yet, she had said she was fine.
As though she were someone who had been accustomed to saying those words for a very long time.
As though she were someone who had learned to say she was fine even when she was not, and to endure even when things were difficult.
At that moment, Ijun instinctively understood.
She was lying to protect herself.
As though she had lived that way for a long time.
He could see it plainly.
Only then did Ijun suddenly realize that he deeply disliked that lie.
He still did not know why.
Seokhun, the executive secretary sitting in the driver’s seat, glanced at Ijun through the rearview mirror before speaking.
“Representative, how should we proceed with your next schedule?”
Ijun opened his closed eyes and answered briefly.
“Prepare the training schedule first.”
“You mean the wife-candidate training?”
“Yes.”
Silence briefly filled the car.
Seokhun watched Ijun’s expression through the rearview mirror before cautiously speaking again.
“Perhaps…… why did you suddenly choose Yoo Seola—”
“I chose her because I needed her.”
Ijun calmly cut him off.
“Do I need another reason?”
His voice clearly meant that Seokhun should ask no further questions.
Seokhun immediately fell silent.
But Ijun himself knew that the answer he had just given was not the whole truth.
It was not wrong to say that he had chosen her because he needed her.
But there were parts that could not be explained by that alone.
Why Yoo Seola, of all people?
He still had not found the answer to that question himself.
The lights outside the car window flashed past one after another.
Ijun casually stared out the window.
Even so, Yoo Seola’s face kept lingering in his mind.
She had a small and delicate appearance.
But her eyes were different.
She looked like someone who was frightened yet would not easily break.
For some reason, that image continued to come back to him.
He had thought it was merely a passing interest, but that could not explain how often she kept occupying his thoughts.
Ijun let out a long breath.
“Ha…….”
He was not unaware that he was thinking about Yoo Seola far too often.
But he did not bother searching for a reason.
He simply thought it was a passing interest that would soon fade.
Kang Ijun had always placed reason before emotion.
It was the same when choosing people and when making important decisions.
He believed this choice was no different.
—
The next morning, Seola turned her phone on and off several times.
Each time the screen lit up, a message that had arrived yesterday caught her eye.
It was only a short message, but even that alone made her chest tighten uncomfortably.
[This is the Myeongheon Group Secretariat.
An orientation for your training has been arranged for today at 11 a.m.
Location: Myeongheon Hotel, Suite 2703
※Please make sure to arrive on time.]
From early dawn, Eunae had taken out every cosmetic pouch she had and spread the cosmetics all over the place as though she were dumping them out.
Then she had seated Seola firmly in front of the mirror and begun working busily, wearing a satisfied expression Seola had never seen on her before.
“Your face is pretty enough, after all.”
“You look absolutely beautiful when you put on makeup.”
As someone who had once run a cosmetics store, Eunae’s hands were skilled.
She carefully examined Seola’s face before picking up a brush without hesitation.
After her delicate fingertips moved back and forth several times, even Seola’s overall impression changed.
The face reflected in the mirror looked bright and lively, almost like that of a completely different person from moments ago.
“There, I’m done.”
“Now put this on.”
Eunae handed Seola a neatly designed two-piece outfit that she had apparently prepared beforehand.
“When else are you ever going to get the chance to wear clothes like this?”
Seola could not bring herself to accept the clothes immediately.
Her eyes first settled on the soft fabric.
When she lightly touched it with her fingertips, she felt a luxurious texture unlike anything she normally wore.
“This is too expensive…….”
“Expensive?”
“Clothes are meant to be worn.”
Eunae casually waved her hand as though it were nothing.
Seola looked down at the clothes and lightly bit her lip.
They seemed like something that had absolutely nothing to do with her.
They were the kind of clothes she had never worn even once in her entire life.
But with Eunae looking at her with such an excited expression, she could not bring herself to say that she disliked them.
“You’re going to a position where you could become the wife of the representative of Myeongheon Group.”
“Can’t I at least do this much for you?”
Excitement filled Eunae’s voice.
“And when you think about what’s going to be coming in from now on, why would clothes like these be a waste?”
“What if it’s a hundred outfits?”
“What if it’s a thousand?”
She urged Seola forward as though pushing her toward the room.
“Hurry up and change.”
Eunae’s gentle voice was still unfamiliar.
She had always been someone whose sharp words and hands came first.
Perhaps that was why her changed attitude felt strange and uncomfortable rather than welcome.
After changing her clothes, Seola stopped for a moment at the doorway.
Although she had changed because she was forced to, she still could not get used to them.
The pure-white blouse and softly shimmering skirt felt awkward, as though she had borrowed someone else’s clothes.
Seola unnecessarily smoothed the hem of her skirt once.
“You really do look different when you have the face to carry it off.”
Eunae looked Seola over with a satisfied expression.
Her eyes were excited, as though she had discovered something she liked.
“Don’t plan on remaining merely a wife candidate.”
“Since you’ve made it this far, you have to claw your way up to becoming Myeongheon Group’s daughter-in-law somehow.”
Eunae lowered her voice.
“If sweet-talking him doesn’t work, then use your body to win Representative Kang over.”
Seola’s eyes widened.
“What?”
Eunae smiled casually.
She spoke as calmly as though she were explaining something completely obvious.
“You know what I mean.”
Seola could not answer.
A chill seeped deep into her chest.
The look in Eunae’s eyes clearly told her that what she had just heard was neither a joke nor an exaggeration.
The more Seola dressed in glamorous clothes and carefully polished her appearance, the emptier her heart strangely felt.
Her exterior was gradually becoming more presentable, yet she felt as though she herself were slowly drifting farther away from it.
