Chapter 4
The meal began, and the usual pleasantries were exchanged.
“You’ve raised Joo-ah so wonderfully. She’s such a lovely, well-mannered young lady.”
“You’re too kind. I heard Jin-ha achieved excellent results in the overseas division this quarter. Top sales figures, was it?”
“All thanks to Sejin Trading’s support.”
Praise for each other’s children. Empty compliments about business achievements.
Beneath the elegant, refined masks they wore while lifting one another up, their true intentions were anything but.
Make absolutely sure nothing goes wrong with this marriage. The benefits both families stand to gain are enormous.
“It’s quite moving to see us all gathered like this. Makes the wedding feel real. They had a special bond even as children—perhaps it was always their destiny to marry.”
A special bond since childhood.
Joo-ah’s biological father, Han Myung-woo, immediately picked up on the self-congratulation laced in Jung-hee’s words.
“We’re truly grateful to Jin-ha for saving our Joo-ah. If it hadn’t been for him, our daughter would have been in terrible danger.”
Chairman Ryu shot Jung-hee a warning glance as Myung-woo shook his head, as if the very thought was horrifying.
“Dear, let’s only speak of good things on a good day.”
“Yes, Father.”
Joo-ah knew exactly why Jung-hee had brought that up.
Jung-hee wanted to say it aloud: Don’t ever forget that my son Jin-ha risked his life to save you when you were on the brink of death. This marriage would solidify Jin-ha’s position as Taesong’s successor—he wasn’t the only one benefiting. Jin-ha saved your life.
Joo-ah knew that too.
On that day, if Ryu Jin-ha hadn’t been there when a thug had his hands around her throat, she wouldn’t be sitting here now.
And because of that, someone might condemn what she was about to do. How could you do this to the man who saved your life?
But just because he had extended her life didn’t mean she wanted to spend what remained of it being toyed with by him.
She would rather die.
Joo-ah quietly set down her fork and knife and looked at Chairman Ryu.
“Chairman, I have something to say.”
“Go on, then.”
Without hesitation, Joo-ah took out her phone.
Inside it was evidence of an ugly truth.
“Before that, there’s something I’d like you to hear first.”
Joo-ah placed the phone in the center of the table.
—Haa…… Ah…… Hnng!
—Huu. Ugh.
As the video played, a woman’s breathless moans and a man’s ragged panting filled the air.
“Joo-ah, did you press the wrong thing?”
Jung-hee asked with a flustered expression.
A few days ago, when this video had first arrived by courier, Joo-ah had thought the same thing. That it had been delivered to the wrong address.
—Da-yeon.
—Ah, oppa. Haa.
So when she had tried to turn it off, that name reached her ears. In a voice she knew all too well.
The faces of both sets of parents turned deathly pale.
She couldn’t imagine how shocked they were now, but it couldn’t compare to what she had felt that day.
“Wh-what is all this?”
At Jung-hee’s words, steeped in horror, Joo-ah answered calmly.
“It’s dashcam footage from Ryu Jin-ha’s car.”
“No! This is all fabricated! It’s a setup!”
Ryu Jin-ha cried out desperately.
The video, showing only a dark wall ahead, didn’t reveal the two figures. Only their voices could be heard.
That was why Joo-ah had initially wondered if it might be fake. A trap set by someone.
She had needed to confirm.
Under the pretext that her car had broken down, she contacted Ryu Jin-ha and asked if she could borrow one of his. He had readily agreed—he was in the middle of work and couldn’t come himself, but she could take her pick from the cars in the parking garage.
His answer, given without a moment’s hesitation, tilted her suspicion toward the video being real. And even when she climbed into the second of three parked cars and checked the dashcam, her assumption hadn’t changed.
Still, to leave no doubt, she got into the last car, matched the date and time on the dashcam, and pressed play.
The dark wall appeared on screen. And the moans, the names she had already heard, reached her ears again.
She could picture the two of them tangled together inside that car.
She was about to get out, nauseated, when—
“—What are you going to do after we get married?”
Between the sounds of flesh colliding, their voices drifted out.
Han Da-yeon and Ryu Jin-ha’s faces turned ashen, as if they already knew what would come next.
“—Why? Worried I won’t see you anymore after I’m married?”
“—Nooo. I meant, are you really going to keep living with Han Joo-ah?”
“—Do I look like I got shot in the head? Live my whole life with someone like that. Once I transfer the shares Han Joo-ah has over to me, first.”
The sounds of flesh grew faster, and Jin-ha continued between ragged breaths.
“—I’ll throw her away. Once she’s useless.”
It was the first time she had faced Ryu Jin-ha’s true nature. Before she could even process the shock, Da-yeon’s voice followed.
“—Poor Han Joo-ah.”
A giggling laugh pierced her ears.
“—She’ll get dumped by her husband too. Just like her mom.”
Just like her mom.
As if driven by instinct, her feet moved before her mind could catch up. She ran straight to her father and used his and Da-yeon’s toothbrushes to request a paternity test. A few days later, the results came back: a biological parent-child relationship confirmed. Her father was Da-yeon’s biological father.
Han Da-yeon, whom she had believed all this time to be a stranger with not a drop of shared blood, was her half-sister.
Her father had remarried two years after her mother’s death. When he had walked through the door holding stepmother Oh Yu-ran’s hand, Da-yeon had been six years old.
Everyone had known except her. Her father, her stepmother, Da-yeon. And Ryu Jin-ha too.
She’ll get dumped by her husband too. Just like her mom.
The words wouldn’t leave her head. They circled and circled.
And then—
“—If only Han Joo-ah weren’t here, Sejin Trading would be mine. Wouldn’t it be nice if Han Joo-ah died quickly, just like her mom?”
Sejin Trading was the company her maternal grandfather had devoted his entire life to building.
After her grandfather’s passing, her father had taken the chairman’s seat, but the true owner of Sejin Trading was Joo-ah, who had inherited her grandfather’s shares.
“—Hey, that’s a terrible thing to say. If Han Joo-ah dies before the wedding, what happens to my shares? If she’s going to die, she should at least die after we’re married.”
She hadn’t known Ryu Jin-ha’s true face was this ugly. No—she hadn’t known she was this worthless to him.
To him, she was nothing more than shares.
“—What? Her shares matter more than her? She really is pitiful.”
Da-yeon’s giggling laughter grew thicker.
She could never forgive them.
Her father who had deceived her. Oh Yu-ran. Han Da-yeon. Ryu Jin-ha.
She thought about how she could deliver a fatal blow to them all. How to prevent Ryu Jin-ha from taking Taesong, and how to protect Sejin Trading.
At the same time, a question arose.
Who on earth sent this to me?
The person who would benefit most if she learned the truth and this marriage fell apart.
Ryu Tae-ha.
That was the first face that came to mind. On the surface, it made sense. But looking deeper, it was different. Ryu Tae-ha had shown no interest in the succession battle.
In contrast, Ryu Jin-ha was extremely wary of Ryu Tae-ha. And Han Da-yeon coveted him.
Those two facts were enough.
I’ll make sure they never get what they want.
The moment her resolve hardened, she put it into action.
Even as she went to Ryu Tae-ha with the contract in hand, a final doubt lingered. That he might be the one who sent the video.
That dawn, at Ryu Tae-ha’s house, the look of revulsion in his eyes when she proposed marriage, and the way he grimaced now as he listened to the sounds coming from the video—she began to think he wasn’t the one who sent it.
But that didn’t mean she could be certain it wasn’t him. You never truly know what’s inside a person.
She might be being deceived again. Even so, it didn’t matter.
As long as she could take away what they wanted.
The giggling laughter from the video snapped Joo-ah out of her thoughts.
“—Stop laughing. You’re making this hard for me, oppa.”
“—What? Don’t tell me you’re already done?”
“—What do you take me for? You still don’t know your oppa? It’s not like we’ve only done this once or twice.”
The vulgar conversation continued to play from the phone.
“That’s enough.”
Chairman Ryu waved his hand. Joo-ah stopped the video, and Han Myung-woo was the first to speak.
“Joo-ah, this is all a misunderstanding. Da-yeon is still young. What does a child know? She was speaking without thinking, out of immaturity. I’ll explain everything.”
To a daughter who had been thoroughly betrayed by her family and fiancé, he offered not a word of comfort or apology—only self-preservation. Joo-ah asked him coldly.
“And how do you plan to explain that Han Da-yeon shares your blood?”
“That’s……”
He trailed off, apparently having no prepared excuse for that. Joo-ah turned away from him. Looking at Chairman Ryu, she spoke with unwavering resolve.
“Chairman. I cannot marry Ryu Jin-ha.”
This was a crucial marriage for both families.
If it fell through, it wouldn’t just be a blow to Ryu Jin-ha—it would strike Sejin Trading as well. More precisely, it would strike Han Myung-woo, who held the chairman’s seat at Sejin Trading.
The parents of both families and Ryu Jin-ha all fixed their eyes on Chairman Ryu’s lips.
The final decision rested with him alone.
