Chapter 15

“Hearing your side of the story, I know it was really just something like a passing incident. But even so, I kept thinking about you.”

“Ah……”

“That’s why I asked to see you a few times too. My engagement broke off, and the way people look at me, both inside and outside, is a bit complicated. Management can be shaken even by small things, so I think the best option is to marry without issue and quiet everything down. And when I thought about that, I thought of you.”

The eldest son of the Daejeong family. The Executive Director of Daejeong Electronics, widely acknowledged as the very best in the industry. A man like him could choose any number of women from suitable families, women who had both beauty and refinement.

Not someone like her, left sitting alone atop a mountain of debt from a ruined family.

“I’m not someone who suits you, Senior. Please look for someone better.”

“That’s not the kind of person I’m looking for. Seo Harin, too, was in truth little different from an engagement arranged by our parents long ago. From my position, this might sound ridiculous, but I dislike political marriages.”

Even though it had only been a small company, Seoyun had still seen and heard enough to know at least a little about the world of chaebol families.

For him to say he disliked political marriages was no different from a Korean saying they disliked rice.

“That still doesn’t give you any reason to marry me.”

“I told you. I keep thinking about you, and I’m concerned about you. I’ve never felt this way before. And what happened that night, I think of it as fate.”

“Ah……”

“I know it may sound like I’m forcing my feelings on you. Of course, I know you must be flustered when someone like me, whom you didn’t even think of as especially close to you, suddenly asks you to marry him.”

“…….”

“But still, I’m placing my hopes on the feelings you showed that night, when you took care of me to the very end.”

Her heart, which had seemed to stop from sheer shock, now suddenly began to race. His calm voice saying that he kept thinking about her, that he was concerned about her, seeped into her veins like a drug.

Even while she thought it was ridiculous, impossible, absurd.

The feelings she had harbored for him for so long began swelling on their own.

“Even so, I can’t, Senior. Someone better should be standing beside you….”

“It may be hasty, but I’ve told you how I feel. So let me speak in terms of public perception. Of course, there may be choices that would increase the company’s profits by weighing various advantages. But I don’t have any management plans right now that require a political marriage.”

“…….”

“K-Cell was a partner company of Daejeong Electronics for a long time, so I think our union could be received favorably by the public. K-Cell is gone, but emotions nurtured through a long partnership, a union finally fulfilled. As the world grows harsher, people like romantic stories. It would help the company’s image too.”

Seoyun was not a fool. No matter what he said, what could possibly benefit a company more clearly than a political marriage between chaebol families?

There was no way his feelings for her were deep enough for him to ignore that kind of merit and choose Seoyun instead.

And yet Seoyun was being persuaded.

No, perhaps she simply wanted to believe his words without question.

There was the honest heart she had nurtured toward him all this time, and there was also the calculating thought that she might be able to escape her wretched reality by confessing it.

“I…. I told you last time too, but I have debt. Actually, it’s a lot. Enough that I’d have to spend the rest of my life paying it off.”

“Exactly. That’s why, Seoyun, if you don’t dislike me, my proposal won’t be a bad one for you either. I can change your life. And your younger brother Jiho too. I’ll support him so his talent won’t go to waste. He could even study abroad at whatever school he wants, and after graduation, I could even set up a related company for him.”

“…….”

“I’m certain that if it’s with you, we could live well together. It may be a little hard for you to adjust to my family, but I’ll help you by your side.”

Just as he said, it was a proposal from which Seoyun had nothing to lose.

And yet she could not answer at once.

Not because she had too much conscience, but because of some instinctive doubt.

His eyes, from which she could read no emotion at all, made Seoyun hesitate.

“Yes. I know that was far too sudden. Even knowing I was being hasty, I wanted to hear your answer quickly.”

“Yes……”

“I’ve already thought deeply about it and made my decision, so all I need now is your answer. But you’ll need time to think too, so I’ll contact you again.”

Fortunately, this bewildering situation came to an end here for now. It was true that Seoyun needed quiet time alone to think.

The problem was that she had to go to her shift at the bakery right away, and she worried whether she would be able to work in her right mind.

“I’m sorry. I should be driving you, but my next schedule is tight.”

“It’s alright. I had a good meal today.”

“Good. Be careful on your way.”

As he hailed a taxi for her, Ijun drew his brows together as though apologetic. Seoyun shook her head as if to say it was out of the question.

The car door shut with a thud, and the taxi pulled away at once.

Ijun climbed into the back seat of the car that had been waiting.

“Let’s go to the office.”

“Yes, Executive Director.”

At Ijun’s sunken voice, Chief Hyeon silently started the car.

There was no denying that he had pushed too hard.

But there was no time to hesitate.

Song Jiho had to be sent overseas as soon as possible, even if by a single day, and have his hands and feet bound.

In that sense, Song Seoyun was, so to speak, a hostage.

A cheat key for neutralizing Song Jiho.

Did he really need to go so far as marriage?

He had considered whether there might be some other way to keep her by his side.

Making her his personal secretary, for instance, or taking over her debts.

But the sense of crisis brought on by Hyejun’s self-harm made Ijun anxious.

More than anything, he needed the surest method possible.

In any case, Seoyun would not be able to refuse this marriage.

He would make sure of that.

“As soon as we get to the office, try to set up an appointment with my father. By today.”

“Yes, Executive Director.”

***

“Do you know any English?”

“Why?”

For a few days, the interrogation aimed at uncovering the whereabouts of the copy had quieted down. When Jiho was called out of his room for dinner, the security team leader abruptly asked him that.

“They say you’re a genius, so I guess you’d pick up a language fast too.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Executive Director says he’s going to send you abroad to study. You should prepare yourself. If there’s a country you want to go to, I’ll at least keep it in mind.”

Jiho set down the spoon he had been holding.

He had no idea how much time had passed since he had been confined in this villa.

It had already made him uneasy that the person who had been obsessively questioning him about the whereabouts of the copy had suddenly gone quiet.

Of course, he had never intended to talk to the very end.

He had also calculated that because of the data he held in his hands, they would not be able to use forceful or reckless methods against him.

But now, all of a sudden, study abroad.

Before anything else, fear struck him first.

He had no idea what they were thinking.

Most likely, they intended to isolate him somewhere he could have no contact with anyone around him at all.

“Give me my phone. If I stay out of contact this long, my sister will worry.”

“We’ve been instructed that it’s only to be returned if the Executive Director gives the order. So that’s not possible.”

“My sister might report me missing to the police.”

“We’ve been sending her messages from time to time so that won’t happen, so don’t worry about that.”

At the security team leader’s cold reply, Jiho clenched his fist tightly beneath the table.

He knew he had brought this on himself.

But he was furious at this helpless situation, and he was worried about Seoyun, who was all alone.

Because of that bastard Go Changseok, he had lost his head and done what he did, but in the end he had gained nothing.

His insides burned with anxiety over whether, at this rate, his sister might accept Go Changseok’s offer.

“Ugh. I want this thing over with already so I can get back to the office too.”

The security team leader’s grumbling sounded as though he were mocking him.

For the first time in a world where he had always lived brimming with confidence, Jiho was feeling helplessness.