REH 01

Chapter 1

The wind at the end of March was cruelly cold.

After entering the class log into the school’s administrative system, Jaekyung leaned both arms against the windowsill and let out a shallow breath.

It had been about a month since she started working as a teacher. She had more or less gotten used to teaching, and she had become fairly close with the students as well.

There was just one problem.

The school she worked at belonged to the Uitae Foundation.

At the thought of Jin Heeyeon, her former mother-in-law, who had become the de facto head of KE Group, an overwhelming sense of suffocating anxiety washed over her.

‘Live quietly and with dignity. And never show yourself in front of my son again.’

It had been five years.

She was no longer the naive twenty-year-old who knew nothing about the world.

Besides, neither Director Jin nor her ex-husband had crossed paths with Jaekyung, as if they didn’t even exist in the world she lived in.

Jaekyung was one of the ten teachers at this school employed on a short-term contract.

For exactly one semester.

If she could endure another three or four months, summer vacation would come and her contract would end. All she had to do was keep her head down and make it until then.

Rrrrrrr.

The ringing phone shattered her anxious thoughts. It was a sudden request from the vice principal to meet.

“Vice Principal, you called for me?”

“Ms. Seo, I think we’ll need to make some adjustments to your contract for this semester.”

“Adjustments?”

The vice principal sat at his desk, looking only at the documents in front of him without even making eye contact with Jaekyung. His vague words made her heart sink.

“With the new chairman taking office, there’s talk from the foundation about reorganizing the contracts. It hasn’t been finalized yet, though.”

The way he ended the sentence was hardly reassuring.

Surely they aren’t telling me to quit right away, are they?

Jaekyung desperately tried to reassure herself that everything would be fine.

“But Ms. Seo, did you see the post on the anonymous bulletin board? It was opposing the foundation’s decision to reduce the quota for students receiving social consideration.”

“The anonymous bulletin board? What are you talking about? This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

Adjusting his crooked glasses, the vice principal continued speaking as though Jaekyung already knew everything.

“If there are any contract workers you suspect, try reporting them. The post has already been deleted, but apparently they’re even planning to demand compensation for breach of contract, so you’d better be careful. The higher-ups are treating the matter as a violation of regulations. They say it damaged the foundation’s image.”

The higher-ups?

Did that mean the chairman’s office had issued the order directly?

Jaekyung’s father, Seo Joon, also worked as a contract employee on the security team of the Uitae Foundation. Any kind of controversy would put him in an unfavorable position.

“I really don’t know anything about it. Surely the talk about terminating my contract isn’t because of that, is it?”

The vice principal’s eyes twisted displeasedly.

“If you’re curious about anything, call the administrative office and ask them. Anyway, that’s all. I have a meeting to attend, so you can go.”

The vice principal’s tone was subtly cold as he continued staring only at his papers, pointedly ignoring Jaekyung.

“I understand.”

She left the vice principal’s office, desperately trying to shake off the ominous feeling.

Perhaps because of the sudden warning, she remembered the text her father had sent at lunchtime.

[Is there anywhere I could borrow some money in a hurry? I got a registered letter saying they’ll put a provisional seizure on the house if I don’t pay the overdue bills. They said the electricity and water could be cut off, too…. I’m sorry.]

Her father’s bottomless debt.

Student loans.

Overdue credit card payments and living expenses.

Jaekyung quickly calculated the figures in her head, but she hadn’t even received any calls for translation or interpreting work this month.

Her mouth went dry at the thought of the steadily shrinking number of jobs. More than twenty certifications she had earned during college had turned out to be of little help when it came to finding employment.

She might become unemployed overnight.

If she wanted to earn enough for living expenses, she would have to look for another part-time job.

Jaekyung closed the book she had been reading and let out a deep sigh. She felt chilly and exhausted, perhaps because she was coming down with a cold.

She had already been sitting at a rooftop restaurant overlooking Namsan for an hour, waiting for her boyfriend.

Minho, who worked at a nearby hospital, often received emergency calls without warning, so their dates had been canceled or cut short several times.

‘Today is a special day, so wait for me even if I’m late.’

He was a thirty-six-year-old specialist and, claiming it was his first relationship, was so cautious that he was even hesitant to hold Jaekyung’s hand.

If Minho hadn’t asked her to wait, she would have gone home long ago.

The coffee in the cream-colored teacup had been cold for quite some time.

Even as she gazed uneasily at the brilliant neon lights of Seoul, which had already darkened into night, she couldn’t easily stop thinking about the school.

A debt that didn’t shrink no matter how tightly she paid it down.

She couldn’t pay off debt with more debt.

What should she deal with first?

Jaekyung bit her lip at the complicated reality before her.

“Jaekyung, have you been waiting long?”

Minho hurried in with hurried footsteps, his face flushed from running.

“Oh, you’re here?”

“Sorry. Another call came in just as I was leaving, so I was late.”

Minho hurriedly sat down across from her and gulped down the coffee Jaekyung had been drinking.

“Let’s… whew. Let’s get married.”

Dark circles under his eyes showed how exhausted he was as he caught his breath.

On the table decorated with peach-colored Juliet roses, Minho took out a small case and opened it.

A ring set with a sparkling stone shyly glittered before Jaekyung’s eyes.

“Get married? We haven’t even been dating that long.”

Although they had known each other for more than a year after meeting while Jaekyung was working as a translator/interpreter at a medical conference, they had only been dating for about three months.

He had always been attentive during their dates, but all they had really done was occasionally have tea together and go for walks.

“What does the amount of time we’ve been together matter? I may only have the title, but I’ve already become the head of internal medicine. To celebrate my promotion, come with me to my parents’ hometown this week and meet them.”

“Your hometown?”

“Yeah. I sent them your picture, and they absolutely loved you. They said you look like such a proper daughter-in-law.”

A daughter-in-law?

Jaekyung needed to calm Minho down. He was getting ahead of himself without even discussing it with her.

“Minho, I… I might have to quit my job at the school.”

She should have told him about her complicated circumstances sooner. But because Minho was always so busy that they could barely even have proper dates, she had used his schedule as an excuse not to reveal her situation.

In a way, she was relieved that she hadn’t had the opportunity.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me sooner? If I’d known, I could have called the school myself.”

Through Minho, who served as a medical consultant to the Uitae Foundation, she had learned about the opening for a contract teacher, but she didn’t want to involve him in the matter of her possible dismissal as well.

“……”

“No, actually, this works out perfectly. My parents are getting old, and their backs are bad, so they need surgery. We need someone to take care of them, and we also need help with the farm. So let’s just get married soon.”

Minho suddenly grabbed Jaekyung’s hand across the table.

“So you’re asking me to marry you because you need someone to take care of them right now?”

“I’m kidding. I’m kidding.”

Minho smiled brightly, seemingly finding his wide-eyed Jaekyung, who was ten years younger than him, adorable.

“You and I are both only children, so obviously we’d have to live with our parents after we get married. You don’t have a mother, so my mom can raise our kids, too. Honestly, we’d basically be living off them anyway.”

None of Minho’s words stirred Jaekyung’s heart.

She reached out and gently pushed the ring case back toward him.

“I’m uncomfortable accepting the ring. I’m not thinking about marriage yet.”

“I should’ve proposed somewhere more romantic. Are you disappointed? I heard the location is really important to women. This is my first relationship because I’ve spent all my time studying.”

Jaekyung felt awkward because she knew Minho genuinely meant well and was trying to take care of her despite his busy schedule.

All they had shared were a few light dates where they merely held hands.

Could she really continue seeing a man who was already dreaming of marriage so hastily?

“It’s not because of the location. It really isn’t….”

She still didn’t have romantic feelings for him, and she had no intention of getting married while burdened with debt.

Perhaps it would be better to end things with Minho here.

There were circumstances she still couldn’t tell him about.

Just as she finally mustered the courage to speak again—

Thud. Thud.

The heavy footsteps she had been hearing stopped.

Then a cool, low voice came from beside her.

“Ms. Seo Jaekyung, answer him later.”

The voice calling her name was low and composed.

Minho and Jaekyung looked up at the unfamiliar man standing beside their table.

A pitch-black suit.

Straight, broad shoulders.

An unrealistically handsome face devoid of expression.

Even beneath the dim lighting, his solid build and tall stature stood out. The luxurious suit suited him perfectly, and there was something strangely overwhelming about him.

The attention of everyone around them was drawn toward the strikingly handsome man, accompanied by looks of admiration.

“Who are you?”

Minho pushed up his glasses and scrutinized the man standing there like a model from a fashion magazine.

“I’m her ex-husband.”

At that moment—

Biiiiii—

A painful ringing filled Jaekyung’s ears like tinnitus.

The sounds surrounding the table gradually disappeared one by one, and Jaekyung instinctively held her breath in confusion.

Minho, clearly startled, looked at Jaekyung questioningly, as though asking whether she had understood what the stranger had just said.

“Oh. Technically, I’m her current husband. Seo Jaekyung is my wife.”