It didn’t take much effort to confirm that her body had been shattered into pieces.

The apartment building where she lived in Seoul Forest, to which she had rushed from Seongsu-dong, where she happened to be at the time, had been thrown into chaos by the accident that had occurred just moments earlier.

Police officers and firefighters had closed off the road and stretched a long yellow police line across the area to keep people away.

Even though it was her own home, she couldn’t dare approach it.

The accident scene, viewed from a distance, was horrific.

The road was covered in blood and scattered remains.

They were the remains of Lee Eunjo, the heir to CX Soft, who had lived in a penthouse on the forty-sixth floor and had been the envy of the entire world.

The gruesome sight was so horrifying that some people even threw up.

“Oh, my God.”

She tried not to tremble, but her legs buckled on their own.

Goosebumps rose across her skin.

Just a few minutes ago, she had been alive and well. Now, her shattered body looked no different from a heap of meat.

It felt as though no blood was reaching her head, and the world gradually turned white before her eyes.

Everything seemed dizzying and dazzling. But she couldn’t afford to collapse.

Because she could see Kang Jinwoo among the police officers.

“Eunjo!”

Kang Jinwoo kept calling her name, tears streaming from his large eyes as he wailed.

“Eunjo, why would you…?”

He called Eunjo’s name so sorrowfully, as though no one in the world could possibly be more heartbroken than he was. He was even barefoot.

“Why would you do something like this…? How am I supposed to live without you?”

Jinwoo’s shoulders shook as his near-hysterical sobs echoed into the predawn sky.

Voices expressing sympathy for him rose from all around.

“Oh, my goodness… It looks like his wife committed suicide.”

“How terrible for her husband…”

He’s putting on this performance to get exactly this kind of reaction.

What a despicable man.

“How did she ever end up with someone like him…?”

Clenching her teeth, Eunjo forced her unsteady legs to carry her away and turned her back on the scene.

Juheon arrived at Yonhui University Medical Center and entered the funeral hall with a heavy heart.

Lee Eunjo had committed suicide?

It still didn’t feel real.

Suddenly, a memory from eleven years ago surfaced in his mind.

Juheon had been invited to dinner by his mentor, Lee Won-gyu, and arrived at his home earlier than the appointed time.

He had been told that Lee Won-gyu hadn’t arrived yet and asked to wait for a little while. After being shown into the study, he had stepped inside.

That was where he had first met Eunjo.

A towering bookshelf stretched all the way to the ceiling, packed with books.

Standing in front of it, Eunjo was on tiptoe, trying to pull out a book that was beyond her reach.

Watching her struggle with her lower lip pressed tightly between her teeth, Juheon instinctively reached out his arm.

At that moment, Eunjo’s gaze met his for an instant.

It felt as though time had slowed down.

What had she said when he handed her the book?

“Thank you.”

“Are you one of my father’s guests?”

“My name is Lee Eunjo.”

After speaking in quick succession, she held out her hand and offered to shake his.

She was a woman whose voice sounded like the gentle melody of a classical piece.

The scent of that place, the density of the air, even the angle at which sunlight poured through a window a little farther away—all of it remained etched in his memory, with not a single detail forgotten.

Above all, he could still vividly remember Lee Eunjo’s face as she smiled sweetly, the corners of her eyes crinkling ever so slightly.

“I’m Park Juheon.”

Even the way his mouth had gone completely dry as he took the hand she offered remained clear in his mind.

It feels like it happened only yesterday.

Juheon smiled bitterly, straightened his clothes, and entered the funeral hall.

Inside, Lee Eunjo’s husband, Kang Jinwoo, was crying so hard that his eyes were swollen.

Were they really that close? I didn’t think so.

Turning his gaze away from Kang Jinwoo, Juheon stood before Eunjo’s memorial portrait.

In the photograph, Eunjo was smiling elegantly, just as she always had in life.

Lee Eunjo.

A woman who had been strong yet gentle, cold yet passionate.

And that was what had made her so incredibly lovable…

It was difficult to believe that a woman like her had chosen such a horrific death as suicide.

She wasn’t the kind of woman who would take her own life.

Juheon placed a chrysanthemum before her portrait and bowed his head briefly in silent prayer.

And she certainly wasn’t the kind of woman who suited chrysanthemums.

After paying his respects to Eunjo, Juheon approached Kang Jinwoo. Just then, one of CX Soft’s directors, who had been waiting outside, hurried inside.

He introduced Juheon to Kang Jinwoo.

“Vice Chairman, this is CEO Park Juheon of MK Investment.”

“CEO Park… Juheon?”

A glimmer appeared in Kang Jinwoo’s eyes, which had grown dull from crying.

Knowing what that gleam meant, Juheon’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.

Kang Jinwoo eagerly seized Juheon’s hand.

“H-How did you hear about this and come all the way here, CEO Park…?”

“I knew the deceased while she was alive.”

Juheon regarded Eunjo’s husband, who looked somewhat servile, with a cold gaze and briefly explained his relationship with her.

“I studied painting with Ms. Lee for a short time.”

At that, Kang Jinwoo’s lips parted slightly.

“Painting… I see.”

He nodded slowly, as though he had never heard of it before. A strange glint appeared in his eyes, then disappeared.

“Then again, my wife did make a name for herself as a painter.”

“She was a good person.”

Juheon summed up the Eunjo he had known in life with a simple statement: she had been a good person.

Then he bowed his head once more.

“May the deceased rest in peace.”

After offering his final condolences, Juheon slowly left the funeral hall.

He felt absolutely disgusted.

The world called Kang Jinwoo the Cinderella of CX Soft. It was a mocking reference to how he had risen in social standing through marriage.

Having gained a wife and father-in-law far beyond what he could have ever hoped for, he should have been grateful and lived within his means.

But Kang Jinwoo had done nothing of the sort.

Instead, he had used the status he had acquired through marriage as a stepping stone to indulge himself in life with reckless abandon.

His vulgar behavior had become so notorious that even Juheon had heard about it, despite moving in different social circles.

And now, this vulgar man was not only Lee Eunjo’s husband but also the chief mourner at her funeral.

If Eunjo really had committed suicide, could it have been because she could no longer endure that man’s vulgarity?

“You son of a bitch.”

Swallowing the curse, Juheon left the funeral hall.

“Wait here a moment. I’ll tell the driver to bring the car around.”

Gyu-o, who had accompanied him, called the driver.

As Juheon listened to Gyu-o instruct the driver to bring the car to the VIP building, he gazed into the distance.

That was when he spotted a familiar face.

Juheon’s brows instinctively drew together.

“Na Eun…jo?”

At Juheon’s words, Gyu-o ended the call and turned his head.

“Na Eunjo? You mean Nabi, the model from Hera Entertainment?”

Gyu-o looked in the direction Juheon was staring and frowned.

He looked as though he had seen something he really shouldn’t have.

“Oh, right. Nabi.”

But why did she look like that?

Gyu-o’s voice rang sharply through the VIP building’s pergola.