CHAPTER 5
“It was thanks to his marriage to that woman that Myunghun Group rose from fifth place to first in the business rankings.”
Even under Ijun’s persistent gaze, Chairman Kang did not waver from his convictions.
“We became a company that could hold its own not only in South Korea but against the rest of the world as well.”
“That is what matters.”
“Everything else is meaningless.”
Kang Ijun’s eyes froze over, devoid of even a trace of warmth.
His heart seemed to turn to ice at his father’s attitude, which always gave him the same answer.
“So were you truly happy?”
Chairman Kang was momentarily at a loss for words.
As he stared down into his glass, the tips of his fingers trembled ever so slightly.
That subtle disturbance was clearly visible to Ijun.
For that brief moment, it seemed as though a crack had formed in the mask his father had worn like an impregnable fortress.
“I will not have that kind of hellish marriage.”
Chairman Kang let out a quiet sigh and slowly leaned back his stiffly rigid back.
As though he had no regrets left, Ijun rose from his seat with a cold, decisive air.
“Please finish your meal.”
“I’m done here.”
He turned away from the dining table without hesitation.
Chairman Kang soon tilted the wine in his glass, his hand moving slowly.
“Kang Ijun, remember this.”
“Happiness is nothing but an illusion that lasts for a moment.”
“But a company remains forever.”
Those words pressed down heavily upon the air around the table.
Ijun turned away without saying a word, and as his cold figure disappeared into the distance, Chairman Kang set down his glass and muttered in a low, trembling voice.
“Still, there was certainly a time when happiness was more precious than the growth of the group.”
An image of his wife, smiling despite her exhaustion after giving birth to Ijun, flashed through Chairman Kang’s mind.
—
The hotel lobby shimmered softly beneath its luxurious lighting.
Yoo Seola tightly gripped her clutch with trembling fingertips.
Eunae’s words from that morning refused to leave her mind.
“You absolutely have to succeed today.”
“Understand?”
That cold, firm voice endlessly echoed in her ears like a cursed command.
The pressure tightening around the back of her neck made it difficult to breathe.
Ding.
When the elevator doors opened, Seola followed the employee’s guidance into the restaurant.
At that moment, she spotted a man sitting by the window.
He sat with his back straight, his face filled with nothing but greasy desire, and Seola’s footsteps froze like stone.
‘Is that man really my blind date?’
Even if she gave him the benefit of the doubt and considered him young, he looked well over fifty.
A gold crown on his front tooth flashed brightly, while every thick finger was crammed with expensive rings.
He rose to his feet and let out a heavy, booming laugh.
“You’re much fresher-looking than in the picture.”
“Come over here, young lady.”
Seola barely managed to steady her breathing.
Disgust surged up from deep within her chest, but she forcibly twisted the corners of her lips into something resembling a smile.
“H-Hello…”
“Sit down, sit.”
Seola barely managed to lower herself into the chair, but her fingertips trembled beneath the table.
The man’s gaze slowly traveled from her face down to her neckline, shoulders, and chest.
His eyes were as greedy as though he were choosing a piece of meat.
“You’re pretty, very pretty.”
“And quite proper-looking, too.”
“I heard you haven’t had any experience yet.”
“Is that right?”
“Your mother was boasting that you’re still a virgin, haha.”
An unpleasant sensation ran down Seola’s spine.
The overwhelming humiliation actually brought her mind back into focus.
“I find those kinds of remarks rather uncomfortable.”
“We’re going to become family soon, so what’s the problem?”
“Hahaha!”
He let out a vulgar laugh and casually poured the wine.
He filled Seola’s glass until it overflowed like cheap soju at a street food stall.
“Once you marry me, your life will change completely.”
“When you have a child, you’ll give birth right away.”
“A son, preferably.”
“Understand?”
“You’ll hold on tight to my waist every night.”
Seola’s fingertips went white at those words.
Her lips trembled as she suppressed the scream threatening to burst out.
A nauseating disgust rose from deep within her, making her stomach churn.
‘I need to get out of here right now.’
Seola swallowed her restrained breath roughly.
It felt as though her cold blood were surging backward through her veins.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s any point in continuing this unpleasant and vulgar meeting.”
“I’ll be leaving first.”
The man’s greasy face twisted grotesquely in an instant.
A chilling murderous glint appeared in his eyes.
“What?”
“How dare a lowly bitch like you speak so insolently in front of me?!”
“Fuck, it’s obvious that a woman like you only came here because you saw an old man like me as a source of money.”
“Hey!”
“I heard you’re not even President Yoo’s biological daughter.”
Anger boiled through every one of Seola’s veins.
She did not want to face this pathetic man for even another second.
Seola sprang to her feet more coldly than ever and tried to turn away.
“Sit down!”
“I said sit down right now!”
Unable to contain his rage, the man hurled his wineglass.
The splashed red wine soaked Seola’s shoes, and he immediately seized her wrist roughly.
Pain shot through her as though her bones were about to be crushed, twisting her face in agony.
“Ugh!”
“Do you know how much money I’ve poured into your family?”
“Half the down payment has already gone into your household.”
“And the penalty is three times that amount.”
“Three times!”
“Do you understand?”
All the color drained from Seola’s face.
Her body trembled like a leaf.
He had already sold me?
Even though we did not share a single drop of blood, had they really sold me after I had lived as their family for twenty years?
“You don’t have any money, do you?”
“Neither do your father and mother.”
“So just obediently do as I say.”
“I’ve already booked a hotel room, too.”
“Hmm?”
“There’s still plenty of time left today, isn’t there?”
He revealed his filthy, greasy teeth and smiled ominously.
Hot nausea rose all the way into Seola’s throat.
The man tried to drag her away just as she was.
“Haha.”
“It should be quite fun taming an innocent little girl.”
“I’m really looking forward to it.”
“Let me go!”
“Let go of me!”
Seola struggled and tried to pull her wrist free, but the man’s grip only tightened like a chain.
A foul smell assaulted her nose, and although the people around them whispered among themselves, no one dared to step forward.
That was when it happened.
A door to a private room on one side of the wall opened, and a man carrying an icy presence approached Seola.
“Let go of that hand.”
His powerful voice sliced through the room like lightning, instantly freezing the vulgar laughter that had been reverberating throughout the vast restaurant.
“Who the hell are you?”
“What bastard dares interfere in someone else’s business?”
Seola was so startled that her head turned instinctively.
Filling her pain-blurred vision with startling clarity was a single person.
Kang Ijun, the CEO of Myunghun Group.
He walked toward them radiating overwhelming authority.
His gaze, as though capable of seeing straight through everything, had settled into a chilling stillness like that of a beast of prey.
“C-CEO Kang?!”
Only then did the man come to his senses and barely managed to squeeze out a voice filled with shock and panic.
His excessively bloated face instantly drained of color and turned deathly pale.
“I never expected to encounter the president of one of our partner companies in a place like this.”
Ijun’s voice was like a solid wall of ice, revealing not even the slightest trace of emotion.
“And in the middle of such disgusting and low-class behavior, no less.”
“N-No, CEO Kang!”
“This is a misunderstanding!”
“I-I’m currently on a blind date.”
Ijun cut him off as though there was no longer anything worth hearing.
Then he turned his head toward Seola, who stood frozen in place.
His cold gaze fell upon Seola’s injured wrist before moving to her reddened eyes as she desperately tried to pretend she was fine.
“Get up.”
“We have something to talk about, don’t we?”
Seola stared up at him blankly, as though she were dreaming.
“Yes?”
“Right now.”
Ijun grabbed her wrist without hesitation and pulled her to her feet.
Miraculously, the moment his hand touched her, the terrible feeling left behind by the gangster-like blind date disappeared.
The face of the blind date, who had been vulgar and arrogant from beginning to end, had turned bright red with rage.
“You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“It disgusts me that someone like you would even dare stand before me.”
“What an ugly sight, completely unbecoming of your age.”
Without releasing Seola’s wrist, Ijun led her away from the place without a backward glance.
After taking the elevator down and quickly passing through the hotel lobby, Seola finally realized what had happened and drew in a deep breath.
“Why on earth did you interfere?!”
Ijun’s steps abruptly stopped.
He slowly turned around, but his expression was terrifyingly resolute.
A sharp flash gleamed in his eyes.
“Didn’t you want me to save you from that vulgar man?”
“That’s how I saw it.”
Seola was speechless for a moment.
“Why did you just stand there, Ms. Yoo Seola?”
“Are you stupid?”
“Watching you simply endure being treated like that was unbelievable.”
His low voice pressed down upon the space around them.
“Where did all that nerve you had when you shamelessly came looking for me go?”
“That was my problem.”
“It was something I had to deal with—”
“That is not dealing with it.”
He firmly cut off Seola’s words.
“Throwing yourself away carelessly is nothing more than self-abuse.”
Seola swallowed hard.
She could think of nothing to say in response.
There was not a single thing wrong with his words.
“Rather than meeting a man like that, why didn’t you try clinging to me a little more?”
His gaze locked directly onto hers.
It was a persistent, chilling stare that seemed unwilling to allow even the slightest wavering.
Seola swallowed dryly under the suffocating pressure.
She did not want to expose her shame and poverty before this man, so she desperately turned her head away and pretended to remain calm.
But Ijun had already blocked every possible escape route.
“As of today, you are my wife candidate.”
Seola’s eyes widened in disbelief.
For a moment, her vision blurred.
“What are you…”
“So don’t go through any more unpleasant experiences by meeting trash like that.”
“From now on, conduct yourself properly.”
“Because your body and your time will belong to me.”
At those words, Seola’s heart began pounding violently.
Fear, confusion, and an inexplicable flutter of excitement swirled together like a storm.
What on earth was happening right now?
She could not make sense of even the slightest part of it.
Ijun stared at her for a moment as though he intended to see straight through her, then firmly drove home his next words.
“Ms. Yoo Seola.”
“From now on, you must not do anything that brings shame to my name.”
Leaving only those words behind, he walked away first without hesitation.
Seola remained rooted to the spot for a long while.
What had just happened felt so unreal that it seemed distant, like a hazy dream.
Yet, as though reminding her that this was reality, her heart pounded inside her chest as if it had gone completely out of control.
Only that one sentence he had uttered remained.
It continued to circle endlessly through her mind, shaking all of her reason.
“As of today, you are my wife candidate.”
