Chapter 8
“What is this…?”
Hae-yoon quickly opened her messaging app.
She had muted only that app, so she hadn’t noticed.
Messages had piled up nonstop.
Every single one was from reporters asking if the dating rumor about Si-yeon was true.
She ran a hand through her hair before turning toward In-hyuk when she heard his voice.
“Where are you?”
His calm, emotionless voice didn’t match the situation at all.
He didn’t sound like someone whose own dating rumor had just become headline news.
“Just stay at home. I’m on my way.”
The call ended quickly.
Even without asking, Hae-yoon knew he had just spoken with Si-yeon.
In-hyuk sighed quietly and looked at her.
“You need to close the door before I can drive.”
“…Huh?”
“Shouldn’t we go to Hong Si-yeon’s house?”
“…”
“You’re her manager.”
His words brought her back to her senses.
She quickly closed the car door.
The car immediately sped off.
He didn’t even enter the address into the navigation.
He drove there without hesitation.
Only then did Hae-yoon realize how often he must have visited Si-yeon’s apartment.
Meanwhile, both of their phones kept ringing nonstop.
Reporters were calling Hae-yoon.
Chairman Gi-seop was calling In-hyuk.
She couldn’t help glancing at his phone as the name “Chairman” repeatedly appeared and disappeared on the screen.
* * *
“Actress Si-yeon!”
They arrived at Si-yeon’s apartment not long afterward.
Hae-yoon rushed inside first.
“Actress?”
Si-yeon wasn’t in the living room.
Hae-yoon immediately knocked on the bedroom door and tried the handle.
Click.
It was locked from the inside.
She knocked harder.
“You’re in there, right? Please open the door!”
Si-yeon already struggled with insomnia and depression.
The silence made Hae-yoon anxious.
She shook the doorknob and knocked even harder.
“Move.”
At that moment, In-hyuk appeared holding a key.
As if this wasn’t the first time, he unlocked the door.
The bedroom was completely dark.
The blackout curtains blocked every bit of light.
Hae-yoon’s eyes found the bed.
Someone was curled up underneath the blanket with it pulled all the way over their body.
She started walking toward the bed.
In-hyuk stopped her.
“Oh…”
She blinked, then stepped back.
“I’ll contact the agency.”
As if that was exactly what he wanted, he nodded.
Hae-yoon quietly left the room.
She noticed In-hyuk sitting on the edge of the bed beside Si-yeon before gently closing the door.
“…Right. The phone.”
Still glancing toward the bedroom, Hae-yoon walked over to retrieve her bag from the sofa.
As expected…
The company was in complete chaos.
Not only was their biggest actress involved in a dating rumor…
The man was DY Group’s executive director.
“How did nobody know about this?!”
The Management Team leader sighed over and over while slamming his desk.
“What did Actress Si-yeon say? Are they really dating?”
“I… I haven’t been able to talk to her yet. She isn’t in a good condition…”
“Sigh… This is driving me crazy. First, make sure she doesn’t read the comments.”
“…The reactions are really bad, aren’t they?”
“It’s a disaster! We need to collect every malicious comment and sue them. For all we know, Executive Director Do In-hyuk could’ve been the one chasing her! Why is everyone attacking only Actress Si-yeon?”
The team leader naturally defended Si-yeon before sighing again.
“We’re going to release a statement saying we’re checking the facts. Hurry and talk to Actress Si-yeon. We need to know first whether they’re really dating.”
“Yes. Understood.”
After hanging up, Hae-yoon sighed just like he had.
She couldn’t even sit down.
Anxiously, she opened the comments under the articles.
***
Comments
A 22-year age gap? Are you kidding me? Hong Si-yeon is old enough to know better. Seducing a younger man is disgusting.
Why would a DY Group executive date an old woman like Hong Si-yeon? LOL. Did she blackmail him or something?
She must’ve seduced him with her body. She keeps herself in shape, after all.
Not a single kind comment.
Every one of them mocked only Si-yeon.
Hae-yoon breathed heavily as if the insults were aimed at herself.
Eventually, tears gathered in her eyes.
“People are so cruel…”
Even while she was angry, she carefully saved screenshots of the comments that crossed the line.
She planned to report every one of them.
Si-yeon had worked honestly for years without a single dating rumor.
Yet people attacked her as if they had been waiting for this day.
“Our actress is such a good person…”
She didn’t deserve this.
She was warm, caring, and endlessly kind to the people close to her.
When Hae-yoon first started working and made countless mistakes, Si-yeon had always comforted her.
It wasn’t only because she had paid Tae-soo’s hospital bills.
She was simply a genuinely good person.
“Let go!”
Just then, shouting came from the bedroom.
A loud crash followed.
Startled, Hae-yoon threw open the bedroom door without even knocking.
“What’s happening?!”
A broken lamp lay scattered across the floor.
Judging by Si-yeon’s furious breathing, she had thrown it herself.
Hae-yoon cautiously stepped inside.
But Si-yeon couldn’t calm herself.
“It’s… It’s all over. Now someone like me…”
Her hands trembled as tears streamed down her face.
Chairman Gi-seop already hated her.
Now articles linking her with In-hyuk had appeared.
There was no way his anger would become less.
She had endured everything because she believed one day he would finally accept her.
She believed there would come a day when she could openly tell the world she was In-hyuk’s mother.
Jung-jin was already gone.
But she had still hoped she could proudly say she had been his woman.
Now…
It was truly over.
There was no way Do Gi-seop would ever accept her after these articles came out without his approval.
“I’ll stay like this… forever…”
Hae-yoon tilted her head in confusion.
Was it really that serious?
Of course the scandal would damage Si-yeon’s image.
She would receive endless criticism.
But it wasn’t the end of her life.
“Mother.”
Hae-yoon suddenly froze.
Mother?
She frowned.
Had she heard that correctly?
“Just tell everyone.”
“…No. I can’t. Chairman won’t stay quiet. I don’t want him to hate me even more.”
The truth would put Gi-seop in the worst position.
After all…
He was the one who had forced Si-yeon to become an unmarried mother.
He was also the one who had separated her from her son all these years.
“All I ever wanted…”
“…was to be accepted by the family as Jung-jin’s woman.”
“That’s all I wanted.”
“I never wanted people to find out I was your mother like this.”
Without realizing it, Hae-yoon took a step backward.
What… are they talking about?
The conversation became harder and harder to understand.
She stood silently and listened.
So…
The unmarried Hong Si-yeon had actually been engaged to a man in her twenties.
That man had been DY Group’s second son.
He had died.
The child they had together was Do In-hyuk.
And because Chairman Gi-seop still refused to acknowledge them…
Everything had been kept secret.
The more she heard…
The more stunned she became.
Her head felt ready to explode.
If this truth became public…
The impact would be enormous.
“Now that articles like this are already out…”
“You know we can’t simply brush it off as a misunderstanding.”
Si-yeon buried her face in her hands and cried uncontrollably.
Her sobs were so heartbreaking that Hae-yoon felt her own chest tighten.
She couldn’t fully understand everything Si-yeon had suffered.
But seeing the always calm and mature woman completely collapse was painful.
“If you can’t do it…”
“I will.”
Hae-yoon’s fingers twitched.
When Tae-soo had been hospitalized with cancer…
When she had stood alone at his funeral…
She had cried exactly like this.
During that difficult time…
Si-yeon had always stayed beside her.
Emotionally.
Financially.
In every possible way.
Hae-yoon had always promised herself that someday…
She would repay that kindness.
Even though Si-yeon had told her not to worry about it.
“I’ll have the company release an official statement…”
As In-hyuk lowered his eyes to his phone—
He looked up.
Hae-yoon had quietly walked over.
She bit her lip before finally making up her mind.
“I think… there might be another way to solve this.”
She took a deep breath.
“Instead of saying you’re dating Actress Si-yeon…”
“…why don’t we make everyone think you’re dating me?”
Silence filled the room.
“Let’s pretend we’re dating.”
