It was a Sunday afternoon.

After finishing his work in the study, he was drawn to the sound of a piano. The music was so clear and enchanting that it tugged at his heartstrings. This wasn’t the kind of music she usually played. Instead, it was something light and refreshing, like the gentle waves of a spring sea, unlike her usual grey, melancholic pieces.

He followed the melody upstairs and quietly opened the door to the piano room. There she was — Ye-jin — her slender fingers gliding gracefully across the Bösendorfer’s keys. Beside her, in a pushchair, sat Hope, listening intently, seemingly captivated by the music.

A few moments later, the performance came to an end. ‘Too soon,’ he thought, feeling slightly disappointed. Leaning casually against the doorway, he began to applaud softly.

Startled by the sound, Ye-jin turned around. Her light brown eyes widened slightly when she saw him.

“When did you get here?”
“Just now.”

His reply was simple, his tone composed, as he walked slowly toward her.

“I didn’t know you played such cheerful pieces.”
“I don’t want Hope to hear anything gloomy.”

She said, her hand reaching out to gently stroke her son’s chubby cheeks.

“Agah-hyah!”

Hope let out a happy babble, his round face breaking into a bright smile as if to say he liked the song.

“What’s the title?”
“‘Magic Waltz’ by Ennio Morricone. It’s a famous piece from The Legend of 1900, the film soundtrack. It’s my favorite movie, I saw it by chance on TV when I was in middle school. That’s when I first thought I wanted to learn the piano.”

Her smile lingered, but there was a shadow beneath it, a trace of something wistful. He asked what she liked about the film.

“The main character’s an orphan. Maybe that’s why it resonated with me. Sometimes, I felt like I was one too…”
“……”
“I knew exactly who my birth parents were, but… I never really thought of them as my real parents.”

She smiled again, but it was a smile steeped in desolation, a quiet, aching kind of loneliness.

Of course giving birth alone doesn’t make one a parent. It was only natural that she sometimes felt like an orphan.

“Mommy plays the piano so well, doesn’t she?”

He crouched down in front of the stroller and spoke softly to Hope. He already knew that if the baby responded with a sweet little babble, Ye-jin would brighten up with a smile.

“Wuung—uum—mng!”
Hope clapped her tiny hands together, delighted. Ye-jin’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Our Hope can clap now?”
It was the first time the baby had done so. Ye-jin beamed, her laughter light and full of wonder.

“Hope, don’t you want to hear that song again?”
“Uuung—mng—mm!”
At her father’s question, the baby clapped once more, babbling cheerfully.

Pleased, he reached out and ruffled the child’s soft hair before looking back at Ye-jin.
“Won’t you play it again? Your ‘Magic Waltz.’”

At his gentle request, Ye-jin placed her fingers on the keys once more. The clear tones of the piano and the water-like rhythm filled the room with brightness and life.

⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡

A few days later, after work, he came home to find Ye-jin quietly watching their sleeping son. Without a word, he took her by the hand and led her straight to the piano room.

He seated her before the Bösendorfer, pulled a sheet of music from his briefcase, and held it out.
“Play this for me.”

Ye-jin looked over the score carefully.
“And I Love You So?”

It was a song first sung by Perry Como and later covered by Don McLean.

She blinked, genuinely surprised, she never imagined Seo Jung-hoo would know such a tender, sentimental piece.

He gave her a look full of quiet amusement.
“You just told me you love me.”

Color drained from her face. She looked utterly flustered.
“What? I only read the title out loud!”

“For the record, I do not love you! Men like you brooding and half out of their minds are not my type!”

She always overreacted when her true feelings were on the verge of being exposed. Like a startled cat with its fur bristling.

As always, he simply laughed softly, unbothered, as if he had never expected anything in return.

She had no idea that he knew how deeply she loved him, how long he had carried her as his first love in his heart.

“Well, since you went through the trouble of printing the sheet music, I suppose I can at least play it for you.”

With a confident air, she set her hands upon the keys. As her fingers began to move, the tender melody bloomed anew in the Bösendorfer’s warm tone, a shy confession in music, whispering, I love you this much.

⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡

One cool autumn afternoon, Ye-jin finished a meeting with her management agency and stopped by a café to pick up some snacks before visiting his office.

Before stepping into his private room, she handed out the snacks to the secretarial staff, though she quickly noticed Hye-mi wasn’t there.

All the better, she thought.

“Busy?”

She asked, peeking her head through the half-open door.

He looked up from behind a desk stacked high with papers, then rose and strode over. With a swift motion, he opened the door wide—an unspoken come in.

Ye-jin smiled faintly and stepped inside, settling comfortably on the reception sofa. He brewed a cup of coffee himself and brought it to her.

As she inhaled the rich aroma, she tilted her head curiously.
“Is Hye-mi on vacation?”

“No. She’s hurt.”
“What?”
“She was hit by a car on her way home the other day.”

Ye-jin’s eyes widened in alarm.
“How… how did that happen? Was she badly injured?”

He shrugged slightly, his tone vague.
“Hard to say. I don’t know the details.”

His answer was deliberately unclear.

She had no intention of telling Ye-jin the full truth, that Joo Hye-mi still hadn’t regained consciousness since the accident, that her condition was critical, and that even if she ever woke up, she would likely never walk again due to paralysis in her lower body.

Her wife was far too gentle and soft-hearted for her own good. If Ye-jin knew the truth, she would only feel pity for Hye-mi. And he couldn’t allow that. He couldn’t let his wife harbor sympathy for another woman.

“Seo Jung-hoo, you really are too indifferent. Your employee was hurt, and you haven’t even checked on her? You should visit the hospital when you have the time.”

Though she disliked Joo Hye-mi, Ye-jin still believed her husband had a duty—as her superior—to show basic decency.

“Just drink your coffee.”

He said, motioning toward the cup in her hand with a tilt of his chin.

Ye-jin obediently took a sip.

“Oh, this is delicious.”

The rich flavor brought an involuntary smile to her lips, a small sound of delight escaping her.

“It’s good?”
“Yes. The coffee you brewed yourself—it’s really good.”

She replied with genuine warmth before taking another sip.

A faint grin curved one corner of his mouth, his tone light and teasing.

“I put something in it.”

Her light brown eyes widened instantly.

“W-what do you mean, something?”
“An aphrodisiac.”

The dry humor made her glare sharply, eyes flashing like a cat about to bare its claws.

⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡⟡

Chief Jeong drove straight to Pyeongchang and knocked on Chairwoman Min’s study door.

When permission to enter was granted, he stepped inside hurriedly, his voice trembling as he delivered the urgent report.

“I just received a call from the cemetery caretaker. The late assemblyman’s grave was dug up and the remains were found brutally destroyed.”

“What?”

Chairwoman Min’s face twisted in shock.

Looking mortified, Chief Jeong carefully handed over several photographs. The coffin in the dug-up grave had been wrenched open. The skeleton inside was shattered into fragments, scattered messily across the burial site. The shroud had been torn to tatters.

A literal posthumous execution.

With a shudder of disgust, Chairwoman Min swept the photos aside.

“I’ve made sure word doesn’t leak to the press. But we still have no idea who could’ve done something like this…”

Chairwoman Min let out a hollow laugh, disbelief tinged with grim understanding. She could already guess the culprit.

There was only one person capable of such savagery.

No—calling him a person was too generous. He was a beast.

‘Even when I hated that man with every fiber of my being, I never once thought of desecrating his grave…’

How monstrous could one man be?

And what on earth had she been thinking, entrusting her beloved daughter to such a cruel, ruthless creature?