Chapter 5

“Taeha-hyung, that woman…Madam Baek doesn’t know, right?”

Madam Baek didn’t know that her own son was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Colorado, and that Un-rok wasn’t actually in New York at the time, right? If she knew, she would surely suspect Un-rok and dig until she found the truth. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth—she would make him pay in kind.

“How would I know if she knows or not? No one knows. You can’t just open her head like a can and look inside. But…….”

The knife in Kwon Taeha’s hand sliced through a rare steak, blood dripping with each cut. Watching it made Kang Juha’s hair stand on end.

The scene overlapped vividly in his mind with a memory from years ago, inside a ruined warehouse in Brooklyn, America, where he’d seen someone expertly slice flesh from a living body. Even now, Kwon Taeha’s knife skills hadn’t dulled. The smell of fresh meat, as if a master butcher were preparing sashimi and pickling fish roe, was strong. Kwon Taeha continued speaking.

“He’s building up enough power that it doesn’t matter if she finds out. Un-rok, that guy. Before thirty-three, he’s aiming to become CEO of Daybreak, and after that, he’s planning to swallow up affiliates one by one.”

“Who would have guessed a piano prodigy would turn into such a monster.”

Between them, “monster” was the highest compliment. Kang Juha nodded at Kwon Taeha’s assertion. Kwon Taeha shifted the topic to Kang Juha’s recent life.

“You seem to be doing well lately. Your complexion is glowing and your expression has softened a lot. Are things going well with your first love after seven years?”

Suddenly, Kang Juha’s face filled with a smile, as if recalling that first love. He brushed it off, thinking all relationships are much the same, and redirected the conversation to Kwon Taeha.

“What about you? You’ve only been married a month, so why so quiet? You didn’t even invite us to the wedding, saying it would be a family-only affair.”

“Ah… There’s not much to say. I’ll tell you about it later.”

Kwon Taeha made a sweet but menacing expression and added,

“I’m still taming her, but it’s not as easy as I thought. She’s tougher than she looks.”

Hmm? Did he hear that right? Not getting used to her, not adapting, but taming? Who? His wife? Kang Juha was about to ask when a knock sounded at the door. At Kwon Taeha’s response, the manager wheeled in a cart with the next course.

***

Late in the afternoon, Sejeong was summoned to a hotel private room. She was led again to the room where yesterday’s arranged meeting had taken place, and while waiting for her counterpart, she couldn’t calm her trembling heart. She hadn’t done anything wrong, yet she felt guilty.

Thirty minutes earlier, she’d received repeated calls from an unknown number. At first she didn’t answer, but when the fourth ring began, she picked up, sensing something strange. A cold voice came through immediately.

—Miss Eun Sejeong, this is Yeo Un-rok.

“Yes… Hello.”

—Did you tell the elders yesterday that you can’t get married?

“Well…….”

—Did you tell them I have a lover? That I don’t intend to break up?

Sejeong was silent for a long time. That morning, Baek Seongyeong, the mistress of Seogwang Group and Un-rok’s new stepmother, had called her directly. She gently reassured Sejeong, saying that if Un-rok had said anything strange, it was probably because he hated being bound by a political marriage and had just spoken recklessly.

“I, I…….”

Yeo Un-rok firmly cut her off.

—Come out now. To the same room as yesterday. Right now.

His tone was almost commanding. The call ended abruptly, without waiting for a reply. Sejeong lay weakly on her bed, then slowly got up. She’d felt sick since dawn, had vomited several times, and had received a nutrient IV at the hospital that morning.

“Ma’am, I’ll be out for a bit… I’ll be back before dinner.”

“Oh my, with your health and that face, where are you going? Madam is out too, and Mr. Kim the driver isn’t here—how will you get there?”

“I’ll take a taxi. It’s fine. It’s important… I’ll be back soon.”

She hurriedly threw on some clothes and sat in the taxi’s back seat, putting in a lens for her left eye and applying lipstick to her pale lips. There wasn’t enough time for a full makeup.

She felt pathetic for acting so submissive. She couldn’t even confidently say she was too unwell to go out, or ask to postpone the meeting. Ever since she’d started living at her uncle’s house, she’d become accustomed to such an environment.

Her late grandmother always worried about her, feeling sorry and pained. “Our granddaughter is too kind for her own good. I can’t sleep at night, already anxious about how she’ll survive in this harsh world,” she would say whenever she had the chance.

Because of her cloudy left eye, she couldn’t say a word even when mischievous boys teased and hit her. Even when friends borrowed her things and didn’t return them, she couldn’t bring herself to ask for them back. It was the same when, in high school, the most popular top student from a prestigious boys’ school gave her a bundle of gifts and confessed to her.

‘Huh? What’s wrong with your left eye? Wait, are you one-eyed? Ugh, how unlucky. Your face is exactly my type, what a shame.’

That day, she went home and cried silently until her throat was swollen and sore. She had never liked him, and it was just a one-sided confession, but her heart ached so much. The day she finally quit piano, which she loved so much, because her vision narrowed, was the second most she ever cried.

She hated living timidly, always feeling guilty and without conviction. She hated it so much that she wanted to live as a real person, not a doll, and that was part of why she chose marriage—but she felt she was about to be swept along again.

A man who didn’t even want her was soon to become her husband. She was afraid of being further ignored and hurt by her first love, who didn’t even remember her. Even so, she ended up sitting in the hotel VIP lounge room as she’d been told.

“The Director will be here soon. Please wait a moment.”

The manager from yesterday politely informed her and left the room. As the door closed, her phone rang. Sejeong frowned slightly as she checked the caller. It was Ryu Minseo again. She had clearly asked him not to contact her last month—why was he doing this?

Even if she ignored it, the phone kept ringing. She couldn’t turn it off, since she never knew when someone from home might call. Sejeong sighed and put the phone to her ear.

“Hello.”

—Sejeong……

“Professor, if you keep doing this, I really don’t know what to do. At home, no one knows where Seri is, and everyone worries every day…….”

And it’s over now. She left with the man she’d exchanged engagement rings with. There’s nothing left between you and my sister, and there never will be.

In Sejeong’s mind, the face of her major professor, Song Mikyung, who had cared deeply for her, appeared.

Professor Ryu is Professor Song Mikyung’s husband and the head of the same university department. If only she hadn’t brought her sister Seri to the home party that day—how much she’s regretted it since. No matter how much she wanted to come, Sejeong should have refused and gone alone……

It made her uncomfortable and troubled to think she had unwittingly become the link between her sister and Professor Ryu. She had felt so miserable that she even took a leave of absence, unable to face her major professor. He knew all this.

She couldn’t bring herself to say all that was on the tip of her tongue. When Seri first began seeing him, he was separated from his wife and in serious talks with a divorce lawyer. Even so, nothing changed the fact that his relationship with Seri was inappropriate.

But with the elders’ opposition and various political and financial issues, the divorce between the two professors never happened. Seri, tired of Ryu Minseo’s indecisiveness, broke up with him. Not long after, while still lost and unable to settle her heart, she fell into another inappropriate relationship with her friend’s fiancé.

—Sejeong, but Seri never told you? You’re so tight-lipped… Hm? I’m begging you. Please.

“Professor, please forget her now. It’s over… Please don’t contact me again. She’s basically married to another man.”

Seri might as well be married to the man she ran away with. Everyone in the field knew, though they only whispered behind closed doors, cowed by Seogwang Group’s power. But only Sejeong and her aunt knew about the year-long affair with her professor’s husband. Even Professor Song Mikyung herself didn’t know that her husband’s lover was Sejeong’s sister.