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Chapter 2 …
Six months earlier.
Hari was Hari, yet she was not Hari.
What did that mean?
It meant that she was not Ahn Hari of the Joseon era, but Jung Hari from the Republic of Korea.
At that time, Hari was in freefall.
From Korea’s top divorce lawyer…
…to the disgrace of the legal profession.
It all began with the betrayal of a colleague.
While handling a divorce lawsuit between chaebol families with the largest alimony settlement in history, the chief clerk who had worked beside her for over ten years took the case files and defected to the opposing side.
He falsely testified that Hari had collected evidence illegally.
Not only that, he spread rumors that she had violated the confidentiality agreement.
Every one of his claims was a lie.
However, what he revealed about Hari’s private life was undeniably true.
People, blinded by that tiny fragment of truth, gradually came to believe even the rest of his lies.
Hari’s reputation plummeted.
She was also forced to withdraw from the lawsuit for failing to safeguard the evidence properly.
“Because of you, companies are turning their backs on our law firm one after another. I can’t protect you any longer. Leave Kang & Kang.”
As the situation spiraled out of control, even the superior she had trusted abandoned her.
That much was fine.
If you fall, you simply climb back up.
Hari had been born and raised in a home stained with violence, so her mental resilience was stronger than anyone else’s.
What truly broke her was something else.
“Because of you, my child’s father is dead! Bring him back, you murderer!”
When the woman had begged Hari to help her get divorced, that was one thing.
Hari had secured alimony and custody for her from her cheating husband…
Yet now, the woman blamed Hari instead.
If only it had ended there.
“You bitch! You destroyed someone else’s family—you don’t deserve to live happily by yourself! Die!”
Even the man who had been divorced for abusing his stepdaughter came looking for Hari and relentlessly harassed her.
If there’s really a god, this isn’t how I should be treated.
I’ve tried to live by doing good things. Is this really how my life ends up being destroyed?
For the first time since becoming a lawyer, Hari fell asleep resenting the heavens.
Then, the next day…
She opened her eyes inside a novel called Love and Resentment, a fictional story set in a Joseon-like world.
In the life of Hari, who never believed in gods…
…transmigration had intervened.
I was shocked.
But I didn’t hate it.
Because…
Before she knew it, Hari and Maldong had arrived in front of her house.
After all…
She now owned a home in Hanyang.
It was a large and magnificent tiled-roof residence.
The kind of nobleman’s mansion that always appeared in historical dramas.
The sort of house where, if someone called,
“Come here!”
a servant would immediately run out replying,
“Yes, My Lady.”
It was so grand that simply looking at it made one feel satisfied.
If I convert this into Korean real estate prices… how much would this be worth?
Hari chuckled to herself.
Just then, a maid hurried outside and bowed deeply.
“My Lady, you’ve returned? Please come inside. Master has asked that you be brought to him immediately.”
“Father did?”
Hari’s eyes widened as she turned toward Maldong.
Maldong drew his hand across his throat in a cutting gesture.
Over the past six months, Hari had done many things that a woman of Joseon absolutely should not do.
She wandered around without wearing her sseugaechima.
She skipped lessons in embroidery and painting the Four Gracious Plants—skills expected of a noble young lady—and repeatedly ran away from them.
But the greatest offense of all…
…was offering divorce consultations and acting as an oejibu to help people around her.
No matter how fictional the setting of Love and Resentment might have been…
It was still Joseon.
There were values that had to be upheld.
Male superiority over women.
Strict class distinctions.
The authority of officials over commoners.
The Three Bonds and Five Relationships…
In short, interfering in other people’s family affairs was forbidden.
It was acceptable for married women to gather by the riverside, beating laundry with wooden paddles while complaining about their husbands.
But what Hari did—
providing genuine legal consultations and leading those disputes into actual lawsuits—
wasn’t merely breaking the rules.
It was a challenge against the entire social order.
Moreover, Hari was an unmarried noble lady who lived in the women’s quarters.
To make matters worse, Hari’s father was the Chief Censor of the Office of the Inspector-General, and had once served as the King’s tutor when he was still Crown Prince.
In other words…
He was the ultimate embodiment of Confucian scholarship.
Naturally, he had never approved of Hari’s behavior.
Under normal circumstances, he would have scolded her immediately.
Yet he had endured it for six whole months.
He probably thought I’d gone insane.
There had been a period when he couldn’t accept that Hari had become someone else.
His daughter had suddenly found everything unfamiliar and even called him “Mister” instead of “Father.”
The fact that she had eventually returned to normal was enough to make him grateful.
But now…
Six months had already passed.
The time has come for “As long as you’re alive” to turn into something else.
Prepared to receive a severe scolding from her father, Hari took a deep breath and headed toward the sarangchae.
Dark clouds settled over her face.
It was far more than simply not wanting to be reprimanded.
There was a profound gloom in her expression.
“Father, your daughter Hari has come.”
“Come in.”
After hearing the permission from inside, Hari looked back at Maldong.
Maldong clenched both fists in encouragement.
“I’ll prepare the sweets you like, My Lady.”
Watching Maldong silently mouth those words, Hari neatly removed her shoes on the stepping stone before entering the sarangchae.
As she slid the door open…
She saw a scholar as serene as an ink-wash painting.
He sat upright before an old writing desk polished smooth by years of use.
The moment Hari saw him, even her restless heart settled.
Hari’s father…
Ahn Jung-ho.
His eyes rested upon Hari.
Soon, the stern look in his eyes melted away like spring snow.
The corners of his lips stretched into a smile.
His tiger-like dignity transformed in an instant.
It almost seemed as though plum blossoms were scattering behind him.
Flower middle-aged man.
The phrase she had once casually seen in an internet article came to mind.
She had always thought “flower” and “middle-aged” made for an odd combination.
But looking at Ahn Jung-ho changed her mind.
The saying that beauty could not be concealed by age was equally true.
“Hari, come. Sit down.”
Hari, momentarily distracted by a face handsome enough to rival actors who still played romantic leads despite being middle-aged, quickly came back to her senses.
“I heard you went to the Hanseong Office today.”
The moment Hari sat down, Ahn Jung-ho spoke.
“Are you angry?”
Hari asked cautiously.
Judging from his tone alone, she couldn’t tell whether he was angry or not.
“You think I would be angry?”
“Why?”
“Because… I’m a woman.”
Ahn Jung-ho gave a bitter smile.
“Then do you regret what you did today?”
“If I told you not to do it anymore, would you stop?”
Hari remained silent.
She could easily have lied her way through the situation.
But she didn’t want to.
Because she knew just how deeply Ahn Jung-ho loved his daughter, Ahn Hari.
The memories from when she had first awakened in Ahn Hari’s body flashed through her mind.
Originally…
Ahn Hari was destined to die.
She was such a minor extra that she wasn’t even mentioned in a single line of the novel.
Yet the moment Hari possessed her body…
She instinctively understood.
Ahn Hari had originally been fated to die young.
However…
By Hari taking over her body, that destiny had changed.
Day and night, Ahn Jung-ho stayed by the bedside of the feverish girl.
Again and again, he whispered into Hari’s ears.
“My precious daughter… my beautiful daughter… please, just wake up. I’ll give you anything. Just come back to me.”
His boundless affection continued to seep into her ears.
He was a good father.
A father who cherished his daughter beyond measure.
How much did he love her?
During the chaos of the Byeongja War, he sent Hari and her older brother to a remote countryside village rather than allow Hari to be taken hostage by the Qing.
For Ahn Jung-ho—
a loyal subject who revered the King as heaven itself and loved Joseon more than his own life—
it was the first time he had ever placed personal feelings before duty.
Because of that decision, he devoted himself even more wholeheartedly to serving the country afterward.
When it came to his family…
Even his convictions could take second place.
That was the kind of man Ahn Jung-ho was.
Which was why Hari didn’t want to lie to him.
From his perspective…
Hari’s very existence was already a lie.
“So you’re determined to continue acting as an oejibu?”
“Even taking on divorce lawsuits?”
Ahn Jung-ho asked sorrowfully after seeing her remain silent.
“Can’t I?”
“If what I’m doing ends up blocking your future and Brother’s…”
…then should I stop?
The two of them loved and treasured Hari dearly.
If Ahn Jung-ho had abandoned his convictions for Hari…
Then her older brother, Ahn Chang-geun, had taken an arrow in her place during the Byeongja War.
The wound hadn’t been fatal.
But he had been unable to use his right arm for quite some time.
Even now, it still ached whenever the weather turned cloudy.
Wow… Ahn Hari really was loved.
Hari suddenly found herself envious.
Ahn Hari had lived a life completely opposite to Jung Hari’s.
“Hari.”
Seeing her merely bite her lip, Ahn Jung-ho spoke again.
“Do you truly not know what you should do?”
“I do.”
“I should give up being an oejibu.”
“I should quietly stay inside my room and study the Gyuhap Chongseo under the teacher you hired for me.”
“And then…”
The longer Hari continued speaking…
The darker Ahn Jung-ho’s expression became.
He even frowned, as though every word pained him to hear.
Finally, he interrupted her.
“Enough!”
The sudden shout made Hari’s shoulders jump.
She rose to her feet, watching as Ahn Jung-ho walked toward her.
And when he finally reached out his hand—
“Ah!”
Hari instinctively covered her head and shrank back.
