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Chapter 7
It was impossible not to realize what her words implied: How could your parents even think to send someone like you—a person not even qualified to mingle in a chaebol gathering—in their place? Seo-young ought to act shameless like Joo-young, but she found herself hesitating.
Chairman Baek, feeling that his wife was wounding the prospective daughter-in-law’s pride too deeply, stepped in.
“Now, now, the soup is getting cold. Let’s hold off on the questions and eat first.”
At Chairman Baek’s word, Mrs. Jo shut her mouth, while Seo-young offered a bright, unfazed smile just as Joo-young would have. Soon, the meal began.
Do-jin remained completely silent. His cold, hardened expression stood firm like a massive wall, but strangely, Seo-young felt a bizarre sense of kinship within that silence.
So, he is too…
From Do-jin’s tightly clenched jaw line and his motionless gaze fixed on his bowl, Seo-young could tell.
Do-jin, too, was desperately “enduring” this suffocating silence and thorn-filled conversation. Their forced marriage was a blessing to no one. This place was hell—not just for Seo-young, but for Do-jin as well.
Wearing the satisfied smile of a victor, Chairman Baek crossed his arms and declared softly, as if all decisions had already been finalized.
“We shall announce the wedding soon. I will also make arrangements to meet Miss Joo-young’s parents shortly.”
Chairman Baek’s words fell like a command, and in that instant, even the air turned stiff. Mrs. Jo, setting down her utensils, paused her fingertips for a brief moment. An icy stillness washed over the dining table.
Though she quickly composed her face, she could not hide the discomfort flickering deep within her eyes.
“Well… I still feel in my heart that this might be moving too quickly. Do-jin, what are your thoughts?”
Do-jin’s gaze brushed past Seo-young. She could feel a faint, trembling breath behind his composed face. Heavy silence piled up, as if he knew exactly what he ought to answer and which response was the “correct” one.
Finally, Do-jin parted his lips.
That small movement alone sent a massive thud through Seo-young’s heart.
“I will follow Father’s wishes.”
He was a son who had always been indifferent to the word “marriage.” When Do-jin answered so decisively, Mrs. Jo’s eyes widened. Clearly, her expectation—that her son had only come this far because he couldn’t stand his father’s relentless obsession with finding an heir—had missed the mark.
“See? Do-jin says he’s fine with it too.”
Following his son, Chairman Baek spoke as if driving a nail into the decision, leaving Mrs. Jo unable to object any further.
“Well, if… if that’s the case.”
Mrs. Jo picked up her utensils once more, leaving only an irreversible decision resting quietly upon the dining table.
Without realizing it, Seo-young lowered her eyelids. Their chilly glances felt like blades piercing her heart, freezing it cold.
To Mrs. Jo, she was a suspicious, impure intruder who would leave a stain on the family’s prestige. Yet, even amidst all these complicated gazes, Seo-young confronted one clear truth.
Now, she had nowhere left to run. There was not a single step back to take.
The moment she stepped into the world that was both a terrible shackle called Han Joo-young’s life and the stage that brought her into the light, the only path left for Seo-young was the cold gateway called “marriage.”
While waiting for tea time, the suffocating oppression that hung over the dining table seemed to ease slightly, yet that heavy sense of intimidation remained sticky in the air.
“Please bring the tea to my room.”
At Do-jin’s request, Aunt Cheongju, who had been bringing out tea and fruit, quickly bowed her head.
“Yes, young master.”
“Then, we will go upstairs first.”
Chairman Baek let out a loud, deep belly laugh. Gazing back and forth between Seo-young and Do-jin with eyes that seemed to see through everything in the world, he added cheerfully, as if offering a pleasant joke:
“Right. Go on up and have your tea.”
Chairman Baek’s attitude, dripping with experience and composure as if every sequence had already been mapped out, sent a chilly shiver down Seo-young’s spine.
After bowing lightly in greeting, Seo-young was about to stand up with Do-jin when she suddenly sensed a chilling truth: Mrs. Jo was not the only person in this grand mansion she needed to be wary of.
In truth, Chairman Baek was by no means an opponent to be taken lightly either. While he valued Joo-young’s exceptional work performance and picked her as a prospective daughter-in-law, that choice held neither pure goodwill nor warm acceptance.
Seo-young came to realize with absolute clarity that just as he recognized a person’s talent, he was someone who demanded corresponding roles and results with cruel precision.
Snap, snap.
Along with the dreadful sound of biting nails, Joo-young’s anxious voice floated into her mind.
“Success—I have to succeed. Failure is not an option. If I fail, I’ll be thrown away.”
Joo-young used to pace around while biting her nails from time to time. On those days, she would secretly call Seo-young out behind their parents’ backs and hurl all sorts of junk at her. Her reason was always: ‘Things aren’t working out because an inadequate thing like you brings bad luck.’
‘Sister… were you trying to survive as the daughter-in-law of a man like this?’
Seo-young could clearly see what kind of mess Joo-young had gotten herself into.
The position of Chairman Baek’s daughter-in-law—which Joo-young had coveted and tried so desperately to claim—was no comfortable shelter. It was a solitary, fierce battlefield where one had to constantly prove oneself for the sake of the giant heart that was Taesan Group.
What Chairman Baek truly desired was not a gentle, frail family member, but an entity that could offer real power and aid to the group—exactly that.
‘I have to endure. In front of anyone, I must never sway easily and must prove my value.’
As she steeled herself, Seo-young’s eyes met Mrs. Jo’s. Seo-young squared her shoulders and smiled brightly, just like Joo-young. Mrs. Jo, however, merely took a sip of her tea as if there were nothing in front of her.
‘How dare someone like you eye the position of my daughter-in-law? Go ahead and try. Make just one mistake, and Chairman Baek will discard you before I even have to throw you out.’
No one revealed a displeased expression. No one showed a wavering heart. There was only a taut silence flowing between them.
When Do-jin sat back down beside her instead of heading upstairs first, Seo-young held a sliver of hope that he might help her. But Do-jin simply sat quietly at her side. It was as if he were saying they were merely in a business relationship, so each should handle their own affairs.
“Hmm, by the way…”
When Chairman Baek’s gaze locked onto her, another chill ran down Seo-young’s spine.
“Once married, our daughter-in-law shouldn’t think about anything else and focus solely on bearing an heir. Successor to the Taesan family is the most important matter above all else.”
His voice carried a tone that sounded entirely natural and mundane. Though her lips didn’t move, the tip of her tongue dried up completely.
It seemed that bracing oneself for bearing an heir and being subjected to intense, direct pressure were two entirely different matters. Do-jin’s words—that he needed someone to satisfy his desires—flashed through Seo-young’s mind.
Is it really alright to give birth to a child with only that kind of mindset? Even my own parents, who had me after desperately wishing for a child, believed in superstitions and thoroughly discriminated against their own kid. Could I, who never received a single drop of love, raise a child properly?
Feeling the sheer weight of conceiving and bearing a human life, Seo-young felt her breathing choke up.
Do-jin, sitting beside her, knit his brows for a moment, but soon pressed down gently on the back of Seo-young’s hand as if it were nothing. At that small gesture of consideration, Seo-young could breathe again. She tried to hold back her heart, which strangely kept leaning favorably toward this man.
“Darling, isn’t it too early for that kind of talk?”
At Mrs. Jo’s words, Chairman Baek let out a smirk and turned his head.
“What do you mean early? Isn’t it a woman’s natural duty once she marries into a family? Do-jin, you understand what I mean, don’t you?”
All eyes shifted to Do-jin. A moment of silence. In that brief silence, Seo-young realized:
This question was not a request for confirmation, but Chairman Baek’s order.
Without hesitation, Do-jin nodded.
“I will fulfill my duty.”
What came back was a strikingly neat and calm answer. Not a single trace of refusal, nor any room for question could be found. In that moment, deep within Seo-young’s chest, something sank down slowly and brutally, like a cold lump of stone.
‘Just as I thought… as expected.’
She sensed it with absolute clarity. In this grand house of Taesan, the name “marriage” was not a union of emotions. It was a cold contract where roles were strictly assigned under the name of future “expectations.”
‘Daughter-in-law of Taesan Group. And, above all else, the person who will bear the heir.’
That was her role.
