Chapter 5
Chairman Ryu let out a long, weary sigh before he spoke.
“I apologize. It’s my fault for failing to raise my grandson properly. I’m sorry, Joo-ah.”
Ryu Jin-ha stared at the Chairman’s lips with desperate, hungry eyes, still clinging to hope.
The words calling off the wedding hadn’t been spoken yet.
But Tae-ha already knew what would come out of the Chairman’s mouth.
Even setting aside the fact that Chairman Ryu owed Joo-ah his life and held her in special regard, he could never force this marriage to proceed.
Chairman Ryu was a man who valued the family’s honor and prestige more than his own life.
The moment he learned what his grandson and future sister-in-law had been doing behind closed doors, this marriage was already dead in the water.
“Let’s pretend the marriage to Jin-ha never existed.”
Just as expected.
Chairman Ryu hadn’t deviated from Tae-ha’s prediction by a single inch.
“I’ll take care of the rest.”
Chairman Ryu comforted Joo-ah, telling her not to worry.
That side seemed more or less settled.
“Now it’s my turn.”
In the frigid silence where no one dared speak, Tae-ha opened his mouth.
“I’m getting married.”
Every eye in the room snapped toward him.
Chairman Ryu’s commanding voice cut through the stillness.
“We’ll discuss that another time.”
Oh, no we won’t.
This is the main event.
“Let’s do it now. If we’re going to have a meeting of the families anyway, we’d all have to gather here again.”
Tae-ha’s next words stopped the Chairman mid-rise.
“Wouldn’t it be awkward for everyone to meet face-to-face again?”
Not that I care.
Chairman Ryu frowned at the meaningful smile on Tae-ha’s face, sensing something ominous, though his gaze remained unshaken.
“What do you mean by that?”
Tae-ha looked the Chairman straight in the eye and spoke, praying that those eyes would waver, would crumble.
“I’ve decided to get married. To Han Joo-ah.”
The bomb Tae-ha dropped—
“Th-that’s absurd…… hic!”
Han Da-yeon burst into tears, unable to believe her ears, and the elders from both families erupted in murmurs. Everyone except one person—Chairman Ryu.
The Chairman’s eyes widened, but he showed no sign of agitation.
As if the old man would be shaken by something like this.
He’s the kind of man who killed his own child.
What more would it take? Tae-ha wondered.
“Hey! Ryu Tae-ha!”
Ryu Jin-ha roared and lunged at Tae-ha, grabbing him by the collar as if to throw a punch.
“Let go.”
Tae-ha looked down at Jin-ha with an expression of utter annoyance.
“You planned all of this, didn’t you!”
He remembered how Joo-ah had gone to Tae-ha’s house that dawn.
Are these two playing me for a fool?
Uncontrollable rage surged through him.
“I said let go.”
Despite Tae-ha’s repeated warning, Jin-ha—his face flushed crimson, trembling with excitement—could no longer see anything in front of him.
“You planned all of this! To ruin my wedding!”
Provoking Ryu Jin-ha was child’s play for Tae-ha. All he had to do was stoke his inferiority complex.
If Jin-ha made a scene here, it wouldn’t be a bad thing. In fact, it would be perfect. He could turn this into an even bigger disaster.
“Why? Are you going to blame your filthy affair with your sister-in-law on me too?”
Jin-ha sputtered, speechless.
“The one who ruined your wedding is you. Not me.”
The look of contempt in Tae-ha’s eyes as he gazed down at him sent Jin-ha over the edge.
“You bastard!”
The moment Jin-ha threw a punch at Tae-ha—
Crack!
Jin-ha’s arm twisted, and he collapsed face-first onto the dining table.
Tae-ha gripped him by the back of the neck, shoving his face straight into a steak.
“Agh. My arm, my arm!”
Jin-ha pleaded desperately, his face humiliatingly smeared with sauce, saying his shoulder felt like it was dislocating.
When Tae-ha released him, Jin-ha’s body slid off the table and crumpled to the floor. Dishes clattered down beside him.
“I told you to let go.”
Tae-ha flicked his shirt where Jin-ha had wrinkled it.
“Jin-ha!”
Jung-hee, who hadn’t had a chance to stop what happened in an instant, rushed to her son.
Her eyes darted between the two men.
Her son, groaning on the floor, his face and clothes a mess, covered in food. And Ryu Tae-ha, standing there completely unscathed.
How dare he lay a hand on my son!
Jung-hee swung her hand with all her might at Tae-ha’s face, but he lightly turned aside, dodging it.
That only enraged her further.
Her clenched fists trembled. She had already lost all reason.
“Why are you so violent? It’s obvious you grew up without parents.”
So the mask finally slips.
One corner of Tae-ha’s mouth curved upward. He’d cast a net for Jin-ha, but caught something far bigger.
“Dear!”
Jung-hee, so agitated that she didn’t even realize what she was saying, finally snapped back to her senses at the sound of her husband’s scolding voice from behind her.
The death of Tae-ha’s parents was Chairman Ryu’s sore spot.
A taboo that no one was allowed to touch.
“I’m sorry, Father. I spoke out of turn.”
Jung-hee immediately prostrated herself flat before Chairman Ryu. She admitted it a hundred times over. She had been rash.
“Why are you apologizing to him?”
Instead of the Chairman’s thunderous rebuke she expected, what fell upon the silent room was Tae-ha’s mocking voice.
“I’m the one who was insulted.”
The true face of the woman who had played the role of a benevolent aunt was revealed. Her face flushed an unmistakable red as she apologized.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I’m glad I don’t have parents. If I did, they would’ve gone to hell alongside my sister-in-law.”
Jung-hee’s cheek twitched violently at the taunt laced with ridicule.
“And you don’t need to apologize, Aunt. It’s not your fault that I don’t have parents.”
At Tae-ha’s words, the room froze as if time itself had stopped.
It was a remark aimed precisely at Chairman Ryu.
Tae-ha looked the Chairman straight in the eye. Chairman Ryu returned his gaze with a fierce, piercing stare.
I hope you see it clearly with your own two eyes. How worthless the family honor you guarded, the prestige you valued above your own life, truly is.
And I hope you watch closely from now on. Watch how I shatter it into pieces.
“Everyone, leave for today.”
Even as he met Tae-ha’s eyes, filled with years of resentment, not a trace of agitation could be found on Chairman Ryu’s face.
The complete absence of guilt on that face—it was Tae-ha who felt fury surge within him.
“Tae-ha, follow me.”
Tae-ha, who had been about to follow the Chairman toward the study, turned on his heel. If he and the Chairman left, there would be only one person left for them to swarm and tear apart.
Tae-ha took Joo-ah’s hand.
“Let’s go.”
Joo-ah rose, taking his hand, her face puzzled.
Seeing the look on her face, he bent down, and she whispered in his ear.
“Didn’t he say just you?”
“You’re telling me to face the firing squad alone?”
“He didn’t look like he was going to kill you.”
“So much for loyalty. I’ll have to add that to the contract. ‘Live together, die together.'”
“You can’t amend the contract.”
The voice that had been worrying about him shifted to firm resolve in an instant. Tae-ha let out a hollow laugh. That was so like Han Joo-ah.
“You’re so strict.”
“It’s a contract.”
To those who couldn’t hear their conversation, the sight of them leaving hand in hand simply looked affectionate.
Sparks flew from Ryu Jin-ha’s eyes as he glared at their joined hands. That was a hand he had never even dared to hold, repulsed as Joo-ah had been by him—yet Ryu Tae-ha held it so effortlessly.
—
Tae-ha stopped at the stairs leading to the second floor.
“The study is that way.”
Joo-ah knew the layout of this house well, having played here often as a child. She pointed in the direction of Chairman Ryu’s study.
“Go up to my room. I’ll come up when I’m done talking.”
It didn’t take long for the question in her eyes to turn to understanding. She must have easily pictured herself left behind, at the mercy of the others.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I told you. Live together, die together.”
“Then shall we go die together?”
Joo-ah gestured toward the study with her eyes.
“Don’t worry, I won’t die. The old man can’t beat me.”
After sending Joo-ah upstairs, Tae-ha headed to the study.
“You cannot marry Joo-ah.”
Before Tae-ha could even sit down on the sofa, Chairman Ryu cut straight to the chase.
The old man seems to be in quite a hurry. Tae-ha seated himself with leisure.
“I didn’t come here to ask for your permission.”
It was a notification, not a request. Tae-ha had no need for the Chairman’s approval in this marriage.
And yet, there was only one reason he was facing him now. To crack that brazen, iron-masked face of a man who had killed his own child and still had the gall to stand there.
Just once, he wanted to carve an emotion into that shameless face. Something like despair, perhaps.
“Why Joo-ah? Did you suddenly realize you wanted her shares?”
Would something like this work?
“Joo-ah is my first love. From childhood until now, not a single moment have I forgotten her. A love as precious as my own life.”
Chairman Ryu didn’t so much as blink, though he knew better than anyone what Tae-ha was really saying.
“You know that well. I take after my father. Where else would this blood go?”
Tae-ha’s lips twisted as he looked at that still-shameless face.
“Without Joo-ah, I die.”
For a fleeting instant, something flickered in the depths of Chairman Ryu’s eyes.
What memory did you just recall?
Did my father say those same words to you? And even so, did you still make that decision?
If so, I can never forgive you. Not even in death.
