Chapter : 07

I have a feeling I just saw something I wasn’t supposed to see.

Jaein’s eyebrows twitched slightly as she picked up the documents.

“Oh! PD Seo. I came up with some new promotional copy for Couple No. 3. What do you think?”

“Promotional copy?”

But Couple No. 3 hadn’t even been decided yet.

Surely not.

For some strange reason, Jaein’s heart began pounding.

“Good work. Honestly, when Vice Chairman Woo Tae-ha suddenly showed up, I thought you’d called your husband to smooth things over.”

Minseop approached her, chattering away without the slightest idea what was going through Jaein’s mind.

“But how did you even come up with that idea? Honestly, it’s way better than the Affectionate Couple! I thought my mouth was going to split from smiling when I got the director’s call. I swear, he was grinning from ear to ear the whole time.”

Jaein couldn’t hear a word of Minseop’s endless chatter ringing in her ears.

She lowered her gaze and hurriedly read through the document.

<Couple No. 3 — Jaein Couple: Chaebol Husband and PD Wife>

A heartwarming married-couple reality show, <깨알 부부>!

Celebrity couples, ordinary couples. We show couples just as they are!

This season, even our youngest PD is appearing with her husband! Please show us lots of love!

“It’s good, right? It doesn’t even compare to the large-family couple. I’m already excited just thinking about the ratings.”

Minseop beamed brightly as he lightly patted Jaein’s arm.

“Director, Director, are you in there?”

Jaein put down the documents with trembling hands and hurried toward the director’s office.

She knocked briefly before opening the door, and Director Lee was inside.

He had been hanging his jacket on a clothes rack, but stopped when he saw Jaein and gave her a bright smile.

“PD Seo! I was actually looking for you. Our PD Seo is so responsible.”

Just moments ago in the conference room, he had been acting as though he wanted to tear her apart. Now he approached her with the kindest smile in the world.

“How did you even think of appearing on the show yourself? How on earth did you persuade the Vice Chairman, huh? Wow! I’m telling you, Seo Jaein is the pride of our variety department.”

“……”

“Starting today, leave work right on time. Don’t work. For the time being, our PD Seo should focus on filming. I’ll hire a contract employee.”

When Jaein had begged him until her mouth was dry to hire a new employee, he had pretended not to hear her. Yet one appearance on the show had magically created a new junior employee.

Had Director Lee always known how to speak this kindly?

Minseop, Director Lee—both of them seemed like completely different people, strangers she had never met before.

“So, PD Seo. When should we sign the contract, huh?”

Director Lee led the frozen Jaein over to the sofa and had her sit down.

“We’ll have to work around the Vice Chairman’s schedule. Let’s see.”

He picked up the calendar beside him and began counting the dates.

“Director, actually, I feel a little bad bringing this up, but my husband is quite busy, you know.”

“Of course! I know. It’s something to be grateful for that he’s willing to film despite being so busy. PD Seo, you’re my good fortune. Ah, what a lucky charm!”

“So, I—”

“I know. If things go well this time, do you think I’ll be the only one benefiting? Our PD Seo will get promoted too, right? I’ll make sure your performance review reflects it. Let’s do our best, okay?”

Jaein wasn’t even given a chance to get a word in.

“Oh, right! We should have a team dinner tonight.”

Director Lee suddenly sprang to his feet and called for Sung-ho, the main PD.

Less than a minute later, he appeared with a knock at the door.

“You called!”

As he said that, he glanced at Jaein’s face.

Apparently, he was worried because of what he had done.

“Hey, Sung-ho. Let’s have a team dinner for the 깨알 team tonight. We should eat some Korean beef and let PD Seo get some proper nourishment.”

“Oh, sure. Korean beef! I’ll make a reservation right away. As expected, PD Seo really knows how to get things done, doesn’t she?”

Sung-ho followed Director Lee out, laughing heartily along with him.

Watching them, Jaein pressed a hand against her forehead.

Just then, her phone vibrated, and a message appeared on the screen.

It’s all taken care of, right?

‘It is taken care of, but…’

Jaein’s worry over what she should do about this only deepened.

At that moment, another phone call came in.

“Hyung, what brings you all the way here?”

Junghyun set down his coffee cup and looked at Tae-ha, who was sitting across from him.

He had finally taken a day off.

The person who had appeared at Junghyun’s door, interrupting his plans to sleep in, was Tae-ha.

“I have amnesia.”

“I heard.”

Tae-ha’s gaze remained fixed on Junghyun as he sat down on the stool opposite him.

Junghyun looked at Tae-ha and took small sips from the steaming cup.

“You’ll remember soon. You said you remember everything else, right? Except for Hyung-soo.”

As he mentioned Jaein, Junghyun stole a glance at Tae-ha.

At that look, Tae-ha tightened his grip around the cup.

“It’s Hyung-soo-nim. Can’t you get the title right?”

“Ah, Hyung-soo-nim. Right.”

Junghyun awkwardly corrected himself with a smile.

He had called her his sister-in-law for five years. What was the point of changing it now?

“But anyway, what’s going on? What brings you to my place at this hour?”

Has all that proper etiquette he lost in the car accident finally returned? He’s unusually sensitive today.

Junghyun was just reaching toward the biscuit in front of him when—

“You owe me a debt.”

At the unexpected opening, Junghyun’s fingertips froze.

As he raised his head from the biscuit, his eyes met Tae-ha’s directly.

“Pay it back.”

Junghyun immediately understood what debt he was talking about.

“How do you want me to pay it back?”

“The overseas branches. You’ll take charge of them from now on. If necessary, you’ll go to the United States from now on as well.”

Junghyun’s eyes widened.

Those were responsibilities Tae-ha had been handling as part of preparing for succession.

“Why? If Grandfather finds out, Hyung—”

“I don’t care. Woo Junghyun, you take care of them.”

Faced with Tae-ha’s utterly resolute words, Junghyun had no choice but to agree.

From the beginning, he had promised that he would accept one request from Tae-ha without conditions.

Because of that debt.

Junghyun picked up his cup to steady his breathing. He had just brought it toward his lips when—

“Was the funeral very empty?”

Junghyun immediately raised his head at the question.

From Tae-ha’s contemplative gaze, Junghyun realized that he was referring to the funeral of Hyung-soo, Jaein’s father.

“I guess it was a little. I did arrive because you told me to, but it was pretty quiet. I wouldn’t have even known about it if it weren’t for you.”

“……”

“Hyung-soo—no. Hyung-soo-nim must have had a hard time. Taking care of all the elders in our family.”

He might have said those words so casually, but the Jaein he had witnessed had been treated as though she were invisible.

“I’ll call Hyung-soo. She needs to eat too.”

“Leave her. She’s going to eat with Ms. Kim in the kitchen.”

“Huh? Auntie, why? There are plenty of seats here.”

“She isn’t a Woo, is she?”

Mom isn’t a Woo either, but she eats just fine.

But Junghyun couldn’t add those words. He simply had to swallow them.

The family he had grown up observing for more than twenty years was an old-fashioned, stuffy household.

Whenever he happened to encounter his sister-in-law when she came to the house, the troubled look on her face seemed to grow deeper with every passing day, and it bothered him. But he remained indifferent, thinking that his brother would handle it himself.

And when he heard the news of their divorce, he had nodded, thinking it was understandable.

The commonly known married-life-in-the-in-laws’ house situation. He had realized that the elders had deliberately tormented her, determined to drive her out.

Of course, considering what kind of family they were, he had expected her to endure a little longer.

“Mom seemed happy about it. I think she’s planning to get you remarried.”

“……”

“If possible, just meet the woman Mom sets you up with. You know. That woman your engagement with was broken off with. She hasn’t gotten married yet, has she?”

Junghyun was fiddling with his phone, about to continue speaking, when—

“I’m not getting divorced.”

He raised his head at the voice that seeped into his ears.

“Huh? What?”

He thought he had heard something about divorce.

“I said I’m not getting divorced.”

And with Tae-ha’s next words, Junghyun’s eyes gradually widened.

“Oh. Why?”

“Because I love her. Seo Jaein.”

He blinked both eyes.

“Well… of course you would. Haha? Hyung, you had a love marriage, after all. If you two were a campus couple since university, that says everything.”

Junghyun’s awkward laugh broke the long silence.

A love marriage. Everyone knew that Jaein and Tae-ha had been so deeply in love that they couldn’t live without each other, and that they had married despite their family’s opposition.

But did anyone know that, in reality, they had never even dated?

The corners of Tae-ha’s mouth twisted crookedly.

“I heard you agreed to an uncontested divorce. But now you’re changing your mind? Mrs. Park is going to hate that.”

The Mrs. Park Junghyun was referring to was their mother, Park Junhee, the mistress of the Daeha Group household.

“Can you handle it?”

My sister-in-law ran away because she couldn’t stand our Madam.

At Junghyun’s questioning gaze, Tae-ha’s lips slowly curved upward.

“That’s why I’m going to make a mess.”

At his low, quiet words, Junghyun’s eyes widened.

“From now on, I’m going to push aside anything and everything that stands in Seo Jaein’s way.”

Tae-ha had always been utterly indifferent to the affairs of the world.

His brother, who had grown up without ever rebelling even once, had gone against his family and married.

He had been cold toward the woman he loved that much. Junghyun didn’t know whether it was because Tae-ha had been busy or whether there had been some problem between the couple.

But his brother had changed.

As though he had become a completely different person.

And not just a little.