Chapter 1.5

Exactly one hour and twenty minutes later, Seojun arrived at Moonkyeong’s family home.  

In his hand was an enormous fruit basket, brimming with fresh produce. When their eyes briefly met as he stepped inside, Moonkyeong quickly looked away.  

He exchanged a few polite words with Hyeran.  

“I’m Kim Seojun.”  

“Yes, come in. I think we’ve said all we need to, so you can go straight to the second floor. It’s been a while since the two of you met; you should at least greet each other.”  

Hyeran gestured toward Moonkyeong, signaling her to properly welcome the man who would soon become her husband. Moonkyeong felt disgusted by the thought of whatever deal had been struck between them.  

Hyeran’s eagerness to hand her over to Seojun was revolting. This was the same woman who had once pressured her to marry Executive Vice President Kim Seouk.  

Such a quick shift in attitude—how typical of her mother.  

As Moonkyeong bit her lip, her gaze met Seojun’s. His eyes seemed to silently ask, 

“Shall we talk upstairs?”  

“Follow me.”  

Reluctantly, she led him to the second floor.  

The room at the far end was the one she had stayed in until she left for Russia after being adopted.  

Her first-ever room had been a princess-themed space drenched in pink. After she became an adult, Hyeran redecorated it to suit her own tastes, turning it into a sophisticated space that had nothing to do with Moonkyeong’s preferences.  

As Seojun naturally headed toward the room at the end, she stopped him and asked,  

“When did you become part of Leehan Group?”  

The Seojun she remembered from her time abroad was slightly different from the man standing before her now. His broad shoulders and masculine build were the same, but back then, he had always seemed cold.  

Living a controlled life in a foreign land, much like herself, he had always seemed discontent. To her, he had exuded a decadent, wild aura.  

But now, Seojun felt entirely different. His tailored black suit complemented his tall frame perfectly, radiating the aura of someone born into a royal family.  

Without looking at her, Seojun replied curtly,  

“Who knows?”

“Why did you hide something like that?”

The corners of his tightly closed lips lifted slightly. He let out a self-deprecating laugh.

“I never hid it. Not asking about each other’s personal information was our rule, wasn’t it?”

“……”

An inexplicable tension hung between them.  

It had been nearly five years since she last saw Seojun. Even after all that time, this man remained someone she could never bridge the distance with. She had been too young when she reached for his hand, despite knowing he was a dangerous man. Back then, she had enjoyed the thrill of danger.

Moonkyeong felt her throat growing dry with anxiety. She desperately hoped Hyeran would never find out just how recklessly she had behaved with Seojun during those days.

It was laughable.  

And yet, she still wanted to remain the virtuous daughter in Hyeran’s eyes. Moonkyeong brushed back her long hair that flowed down to her waist.

“Are you serious about marrying me?”

“Why not?”

“Even though you know who I am?”

“What does it matter?”

“Do you—”

Look at this. Do you really think it makes sense for the two of us to live as a married couple? Now?

Just as Moonkyeong was about to yell at him to leave this house immediately, she heard footsteps climbing the stairs.  

Moments later, Hyeran appeared, carrying fruit and drinks. She placed them on the table in the second-floor living room and promptly went back downstairs.  

Seojun, unfazed by the confusion in Moonkyeong’s eyes, picked up a piece of apple that Hyeran had sliced and stabbed it with a fork.  

He then subtly provoked her.

“Do you still take anything offered to you without question?”

“……”

“You used to eat it so well back then.”

He stood right in front of her. Lightly grasping her chin, he brought the half-eaten apple to her lips.

“If you have to swallow it anyway, wouldn’t it be better if I fed it to you instead of my brother?”

Marriage wasn’t a choice; it was something being forced upon her.  

She felt as though this man had immediately seen through the years she had spent living as a puppet in this house.  

Moonkyeong shivered.

* * *

When Moonkyeong returned to her studio apartment, she was half out of her mind.  

She had never imagined she would meet him again like this, let alone that their reunion would end in marriage.  

She hated Kim Seouk, but she hated Kim Seojun even more. The thought of living every day with a man who knew all about her past made her feel like she was losing her mind.  

[If we get married, you’ll quit ballet. I want a wife who’s devoted to her family. Modest and dignified.]  

Before she had descended the stairs, his final words lingered in her mind like a hamster wheel spinning endlessly.  

It was a statement only Kim Seojun, who knew her twisted inner self, could make.  

It was utterly humiliating.  

He knew all too well that she could never become a woman of dignity, which made his words feel like outright mockery.  

As she straightened the rumpled sheets on her bed, Moonkyeong frowned.  

At that moment, her phone rang—it was Kim Seouk.  

Should I answer?  

After hesitating for a while, she pressed the call button.  

“Hello?”  

– It’s Kim Seouk. I wanted to check if you’re feeling any better.  

“Oh, yes. I’m much better now.”  

– Then let’s have dinner together tomorrow evening. I’ll pick you up.  

Listening to Kim Seouk casually setting up a dinner date, Moonkyeong thought to herself.  

He doesn’t know yet that Kim Seojun has proposed marriage to me.  

Maybe this is for the best. This man’s private life is such a mess that even if we divorced later, no one would be surprised.  

Even Hyeran, who valued the family’s honor above all else, wouldn’t be able to oppose the divorce.  

A lightbulb flickered in her mind. She didn’t have time to hesitate.  

Before Kim Seojun could push further, she needed to secure Kim Seouk.  

“Alright. My performance ends at 7 tomorrow, so pick me up in front of the theater.”  

– This time, no going home early. We need to spend more time together before the wedding. We’re not naive kids in our early twenties, you know. You get what I mean, right? Stay with me late into the night.  

“……Yes.”  

– It’s a promise. 

When the call ended, Moonkyeong dropped her phone onto the floor.  

A wave of discomfort surged from her feet to her chest, leaving her unsettled.

* * *

“You’re getting married?”

Former Prime Minister and current Saehan Party leader Jeon Taepyeong asked with a smile during a golf round with Seojun.

“Yes.”

“I thought you weren’t interested in beauty, but I guess you’re still a man after all. So, what does the Chairman say?”

“I haven’t told him yet.”

Jeon Taepyeong placed his golf club on the ground and looked at Seojun with a sly expression. Their gazes briefly met before returning to their respective positions.  

After making his putt, Jeon Taepyeong removed his glove.  

I should’ve known when he suddenly asked me to play golf. This guy is as cunning as ever.  

“Need my help?”  

Seojun bowed deeply.  

“Yes. I believe I’ll need your help.”  

Two hours later, Seojun was leading a meeting on a new car model.  

Although his title was still Managing Director, it was clear to everyone that he was effectively in charge of HAN Motors.  

Chairman Kim Seokyeong had placed him there as a test to see if his son could successfully lead Leehan Group in the future.  

The CEO and other executives acted as his advisors.  

Seojun turned on the microphone.  

“Last year’s consumer survey described HAN Motors as comparable to cheap Chinese goods. It looks decent on the outside, but when you dig deeper, it’s shoddy and worthless. Moreover, many consumers said that with all the added options, they might as well buy a foreign car. How long are we going to ignore this feedback?”  

His harsh words left everyone silent, their heads bowed.  

In the automobile industry, sales ultimately came down to cost efficiency: which company could produce cars with the same technology at a lower price.  

Seojun’s focus was on expanding the lineup by 2024 to maintain steady sales in the global market while simultaneously improving internal quality to meet consumer demands.  

As part of the recent restructuring, he had created a Future Strategy Department and personally recruited a key figure from BM, a foreign competitor.  

When Seojun signaled, the recruit displayed the project on a screen and began explaining confidently.  

But just as the explanation was gaining momentum, the conference room door burst open, and Shin Jueun stormed in.  

The two bodyguards trying to stop her appeared helpless.  

She marched straight to Seojun, who sat at the head of the table, and began her tirade.  

“How dare you covet your brother’s woman?”  

Seojun brushed off her grip on his collar with a calm expression.  

“Let’s take a 30-minute break. Everyone, please leave.”  

The executives, sensing the tension, quickly filed out of the room.  

Shin Jueun glared at him as if she were about to devour him.  

Earlier, Hyeran had conveyed her refusal of the marriage proposal with her son, Kim Seouk.  

When asked for a reason, she had brought up Seojun.  

Do Hyeran had made it clear that she intended to side with Kim Seojun, who was now legally the son of Nam Leehyun, rather than Shin Jueun’s son, Kim Seouk.  

Her crushed pride sent rage surging to the top of her head.  

Half out of her mind, she lashed out at Seojun.  

“What the hell are you doing? Are you insane? Have you completely lost your mind?”  

“Calm down, Director.”  

Seojun did not address her as “mother.” Legally, his mother was now Nam Leehyun.  

Shin Jueun, the Director of Yurim Foundation, looked incredulous.  

“Do you think the Chairman will stand for this? The only reason he’s kept you in that position is because of Representative Jeon Taepyeong, not because he likes you. I don’t know how you managed to win him over, but—”  

Seojun cut her off with a cold smile.  

“Win him over? It’s true that I’ve received a lot of help from the Representative. As a son of Leehan Group, I’m simply fulfilling my obligations.”

Seojun’s despicable smile made Shin Jueun’s lips tremble with rage. She felt a chill run down her spine as she stood before him, the man who had drawn his sword to seize even his brother’s position.  

Though the world did not know, he was not her biological son.  

The curse of the Leehan family had passed down through generations and had now reached her child. Her firstborn, at the age of seven, had died of leukemia, and when she learned that her second son, Seouk, had a failing kidney and a short life expectancy, she sought out a renowned shaman.  

The shaman told her she needed a scapegoat. A child to bear all the misfortune and bad luck of the Leehan family.  

The shaman warned that the child must not share the same bloodline, so she brought over a young woman from Japan who had just turned twenty.  

Without the Chairman’s knowledge, she got the woman drunk and had her conceive a child with him. By the time the Japanese woman was due to give birth, Shin Jueun herself pretended to be heavily pregnant.  

On the day the boy was born, Shin Jueun took the child away. That boy was now Seojun.  

Yet the very child she had intended to use as a scapegoat was now trying to take over the Leehan family. 

How audacious. How dare he.  

“You’ll never get your way. Let’s see how much more you dare to act up.”  

Unbothered by her words, Seojun quietly opened the conference room door, signaling that she should leave if she had said her piece.