MHFM 03

Chapter : 03

Taeheon expected his grandfather to finally be able to rest easy.

Perhaps it might even have a positive effect on his slow recovery after the stomach cancer surgery.

However, what was waiting for him was his grandfather’s emergency condition.

When Taeheon entered the hospital room, the medical staff were gathered around his grandfather’s bed, and Taeheon’s parents, Vice Chairman Kang Jeong-gyun and Madam Jin Seon-mi, had also arrived.

“Sepsis?”

At the attending physician’s explanation, Taeheon felt his blood run cold.

“Yes. We’ve administered antibiotics and fluids. We’ll have to monitor his condition for the next twenty-four hours.”

“What happens if there’s no improvement during that time?”

“Then… I think you should prepare yourselves.”

At the doctor’s answer, a shadow fell over Kang Jeong-gyun’s face, while Jin Seon-mi covered her mouth.

Taeheon turned his gaze toward the bed. His grandfather was lying there wearing a ventilator.

Taeheon walked toward the bed with heavy steps. At that moment, Chairman Kang slowly opened his eyes.

“Grandfather.”

“I’m fine. I’m all right… Did the blind date go well…?”

“Yes. We decided to get married.”

At Taeheon’s answer, a smile spread across Chairman Kang’s face.

Seeing that relieved expression reminded him of the woman he had met on the blind date.

A young-looking face with her hands clasped together and her gaze lowered. She seemed less proactive and more like someone who simply went along with the situation.

But in the end, he did not ask.

It was merely annoying that another person with the same face kept intruding into his thoughts.

Taeheon let out a short breath.

Pushing aside the thoughts weighing on his mind, he looked at his grandfather again.

“Good. You did well. Now, once I see your wedding, this old man can close his eyes in peace.”

“You won’t have time to close your eyes. After the wedding, you’ll have to teach me much more about managing the company. So please don’t say things like that.”

Taeheon took his grandfather’s wrinkled hand.

The hand, reduced to little more than skin and bone, made his chest ache.

He realized that he might have to move up the wedding date for his grandfather’s sake.

Perhaps even to this week.

The day after the blind date, the hospital where Minchae had been taken after falling down the stairs contacted them.

[The blood test results seem to indicate an abnormality with the liver. Would you like us to make an appointment with the hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery department?]

Since her face had turned yellow and she was also experiencing some abdominal pain, the hospital had recommended a blood test, so she had gone in to have her blood drawn.

And there really was something wrong?

[I told you to stop drinking so much! I can’t go right now because I have an important engagement! Your arm is injured too, so take Jiso-yul with you for now.]

For that reason, Soyul went to the hospital with Minchae.

The results were shocking.

Severe acute hepatitis.

The diagnosis was that her liver had been damaged by her daily drinking, combined with the ingredients in the headache medication she frequently took.

“You’ll need about a month of inpatient treatment. In the worst case, your levels are severe enough that you could fall into a coma due to hepatic encephalopathy.”

Faced with the devastating diagnosis, Minchae was admitted to the hospital immediately. Miyeong arrived at the hospital later, heard what had happened, and slapped Minchae hard on the back, calling her pathetic.

As the mother and daughter raised their voices at each other, Miyeong suddenly received a phone call.

“It’s the secretary! Kang Taeheon’s secretary. Be quiet for a moment.”

Miyeong cleared her throat.

A moment ago, the rough voice she had been using to berate her daughter transformed into a refined and gentle tone.

“Oh, discussing the marriage? Yes, well… something has come up in our family. At least, perhaps around next month? I think it would be good to meet and discuss it then.”

Since the doctor had recommended a month of inpatient treatment, next month was the earliest they could manage.

“What? The wedding… tomorrow?”

Miyeong’s voice rose at the unexpected request.

The secretary said he would personally come to their home in an hour to explain the circumstances. Miyeong agreed for the time being and hung up.

“What is it? Are they saying they want to get married tomorrow? Why?”

“I don’t know. He said he would come and explain…”

The mother and daughter tilted their heads in confusion.

But there was a problem even bigger than that question.

How could they put Minchae, with her bruised face, casted arm, and recent hospitalization, in a wedding ceremony?

Suddenly, the mother and daughter’s gazes turned toward one place.

Toward Soyul, who had been standing beside them like an unwanted extra.

Soyul flinched.

Silence fell over the hospital room.

Could this be another chance to stop the marriage?

Soyul bit down on her dry lips.

Her clasped hands tightened, and her heart pounded as if it were about to burst.

An hour later.

Soyul was waiting at home with Miyeong.

“Just pretend to be Minchae like you did at the blind date. I believe you’ll do well.”

Before the secretary arrived, Miyeong warned Soyul sternly.

That word—believe—was a shackle around Soyul’s neck.

She had always used those words to torture Soyul with false hope.

“Mom only disciplines you because she loves you and wants what’s best for Soyul, so you wouldn’t go around telling people that Mom hit you, right? Mom trusts our beloved Soyul, okay?”

“Take a leave of absence from school for the time being and help out at the restaurant. Labor costs are too expensive these days. You’ll do it, right? Dad trusts our Soyul.”

It was always like that.

“…Yes.”

Soyul answered as she always did, but this time, for the first time, she intended not to obey.

I’ll tell the secretary everything.

That she wasn’t Jiminchae but her younger sister, and that Jiminchae, an alcoholic, was currently hospitalized with acute hepatitis.

Then, whatever the circumstances might be, he would surely want to withdraw from the marriage with Minchae.

A little while later, the secretary arrived.

Saying that the matter was confidential, the secretary explained the circumstances.

“Actually, Chairman Kang Deok-heung, the grandfather of Representative Kang Taeheon and the founder of DH Group, is in critical condition.”

Soyul’s eyes trembled as she had been waiting for the right opportunity.

Miyeong chimed in with, “Oh my goodness.”

The secretary explained that after the death of his second grandson and his wife three years ago, Chairman Kang had been left traumatized and had desperately wanted this marriage in order to prevent misfortune from befalling his eldest grandson.

“The person who wants this marriage the most is the chairman himself. However, Chairman Kang began showing symptoms of sepsis yesterday. We monitored his condition through today, but… his condition has not improved, and he may pass away soon.”

The family had stayed by Chairman Kang’s side for twenty-four hours, praying for his recovery, but his condition ultimately showed no signs of improvement.

“That is why we asked for the wedding to take place tomorrow.”

“I see… But is it really possible to arrange a wedding in just one day…?”

“Because the chairman has to remain on a ventilator, if you agree to the marriage, the ceremony will be held simply and privately in the chairman’s hospital room, with only the family present.”

After learning the circumstances, Soyul’s heart grew heavy.

Grandfather might die… How worried must Taeheon oppa be…

She had originally intended to reveal everything here and ruin the marriage.

But with Taeheon’s critically ill grandfather wishing for his marriage, would it really be right for her to ruin the marriage between Taeheon and Minchae?

Amid her confusion, the answer came before long.

She hated those people who called themselves her parents, and she hated Minchae terribly. She still wanted revenge against them.

But when she thought of Taeheon, she knew she could not use this marriage as a means of revenge.

Miyeong’s mind was racing as she hurried down the hospital corridor.

She planned to discharge Minchae and make her endure just one day tomorrow, then have her hospitalized again afterward.

With her bruises and casted arm, their circumstances were already urgent, so they could make up some excuse somehow.

Just in case, she also planned to keep Soyul away from the wedding altogether.

They couldn’t risk the other side suggesting that they switch brides.

That girl may have the exact same face as Minchae, but just because she was raised by someone else, she thinks she can get ahead of herself. There’s no way I’m going to give that position to a girl like her.

Miyeong nodded to herself as she opened the hospital room door.

“Minchae…! Huh?”

Medical staff were gathered around her daughter’s bed.

“The patient has entered hepatic coma. If her levels don’t drop within the next forty-eight hours, a liver transplant may be the only remaining option.”

The daughter who had been talking to her just moments ago was lying there with her eyes closed, wearing a ventilator.

Miyeong’s face turned pale.

She collapsed onto the floor and wailed.

Even so, the couple could not give up on the marriage that was supposed to turn Minchae’s life—and ultimately their own lives—around.

Minchae would definitely recover.

On the early morning of the wedding day, fortunately, Minchae’s liver levels had not worsened.

But just as the couple had feared, she still did not open her eyes.

In the end, the couple had no choice but to send Soyul to the wedding as well, just as they had done for the blind date.

“B-but going to the wedding too seems like things are getting way out of hand…. What if I get caught…?”

As expected, Soyul refused, so the couple brought out the weapon they had kept hidden.

“You know the urns of your adoptive parents and your older brother? Your father and I went to the columbarium and brought them out.”

“They raised you when you were young, so we thought we should move them somewhere better. We were going to relocate them, but we haven’t decided on a new columbarium yet, so we’re keeping them with us for now.”

“We should put your former family’s ashes somewhere nice, shouldn’t we? We can’t let their remains end up scattered somewhere like the side of the road.”

At the horrifying threat, Soyul’s face turned as pale as a corpse.

Her adoptive parents and older brother had no other relatives.

Soyul was the only person who could take care of their remains.

But when her family died, Soyul had been only twelve years old.

That was why the columbarium contract had been made under the names of her biological parents.

When she turned twenty, she had brought up the matter.

She had said that she wanted to take care of them now and that she would pay the maintenance fees herself.

“You don’t have any money. I’ll take care of it, so don’t worry about it.”

Only now did Soyul understand why he had said those words.

Tears streamed down Soyul’s face.

In the end, she had no choice but to reluctantly answer,

“Yes.”