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Chapter 08
Overstepping Fake Lover
“What on earth…”
Haeyun urgently opened her messaging app.
She hadn’t noticed since she’d set it to silent, but messages had been piling up endlessly.
They were all from reporters asking whether Siyeon’s dating rumor was true.
She ran her fingers through her hair and turned her head at the sound of Inhyuk’s voice beside her.
“Where are you?”
His flat tone didn’t match the current situation.
He didn’t seem like someone who’d just seen a dating rumor with his own name plastered all over it.
“Just stay home. I’ll be there now.”
The call ended quickly.
Even without being told, Haeyun knew he’d just been on the phone with Siyeon.
Inhyuk let out a small sigh and looked at her.
“I can’t leave until you close the door.”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t you need to go to Hong Siyeon-ssi’s place?”
“You’re her manager.”
At those words, Haeyun snapped back to her senses and quickly closed the car door.
The car departed swiftly.
Even without entering the address in the navigation, Inhyuk drove through the roads without hesitation.
Haeyun could roughly tell from that how often he frequented Siyeon’s home.
Meanwhile, both of their phones were ringing off the hook.
Haeyun’s from reporters, Inhyuk’s from Giseop.
She kept glancing at Inhyuk as she watched the name saved simply as “Chairman” appear and disappear on his screen multiple times.
“Actress Siyeon!”
It didn’t take long for the two to arrive at Siyeon’s house.
Haeyun entered first, looking for Siyeon.
“Actress?”
Siyeon wasn’t visible in the living room.
Haeyun immediately knocked on the bedroom door and grabbed the doorknob.
Clunk.
It was locked from the inside and wouldn’t open.
She hurriedly knocked on the door more forcefully.
“You’re in there, right? Please open the door, okay?”
Siyeon had always suffered from insomnia and depression, so her lack of response was worrying.
Haeyun rattled the doorknob and knocked harder.
“Step aside.”
Just then, Inhyuk came over with a key he’d found somewhere.
He opened the door as if this wasn’t his first or second time dealing with this.
The room was dark.
Blackout curtains had been drawn, completely blocking out the light.
Haeyun’s eyes found the bed.
She could see a form curled up under a blanket pulled all the way up.
As Haeyun tried to approach, Inhyuk stopped her.
“Ah, oh…”
She rolled her eyes and stepped back.
“I’ll go contact the agency.”
As if that was what he wanted, he nodded.
Haeyun closed the door carefully as she stepped out, watching Inhyuk head toward Siyeon.
“…Ah. First, the calls.”
Haeyun, who kept glancing at the bedroom, moved to find her bag on the sofa.
The company was in chaos, as expected.
Not only was it their top actress’s dating rumor, but the other party was the Executive Director of DY Group.
—No, how did no one know about this, huh!
The management team leader kept sighing deeply and slamming the desk.
—What did the actress say? Is she really dating?
“We haven’t been able to talk yet. The actress isn’t doing well…”
—Haa… I’m losing my mind. First, don’t let Actress Siyeon see the comments.
“Ah. The reaction… it’s bad, right?”
—It’s chaos, absolute chaos. We need to control this and sue. No, honestly, Executive Director Do Inhyuk could have made the first move, right? Why is everyone going crazy at our Actress Siyeon?
Team Leader Lee naturally took Siyeon’s side, then groaned again.
—I’ll release an article saying we’re confirming the facts, but talk to Actress Siyeon quickly. We need to figure out if this is real or not.
“Yes. Understood.”
After hanging up, Haeyun groaned just like Team Leader Lee.
She couldn’t even sit on the sofa and nervously checked the comments on the article.
Comments
└22-year age gap? Is that for real? Where did Hong Siyeon’s age go? It’s so gross that she’s seduced a younger guy like that.
└But why would the DY Group Executive Director date Hong Siyeon? An old ajumma lol? Didn’t she get something on him?
└She seduced him with her body. She does have a good body from managing it hard.
As expected, not a single positive comment could be found.
And they were all mocking only Siyeon.
Haeyun gasped as if she’d been the one insulted, and her eyes eventually reddened.
“People are so mean…”
Even amidst her anger, she saved the personal attacks and severe malicious comments as PDF files. She intended to sue them all.
Despite being an actress who had worked diligently all this time without a single dating rumor, people pounced on her as if they’d been waiting for it to happen.
“Our actress is such a good person…”
She didn’t deserve to hear such insults.
Siyeon was affectionate and endlessly warm to those close to her.
She had always comforted Haeyun, who made many mistakes when she first started working, saying it was okay.
It wasn’t just because she’d paid for Taesu’s hospital bills. As a person, Siyeon was a good person.
“Let go of this!”
Just then, a shout came from inside the bedroom.
Soon after, the sound of something shattering followed.
Startled, Haeyun flung the door open without even thinking to knock.
“What happened!”
There was a broken lamp on the floor.
Judging by Siyeon’s huffing, she must have thrown the lamp from beside the bed.
Even as Haeyun cautiously entered, Siyeon couldn’t calm down.
“It’s… it’s all over. Now, someone like me really…”
Siyeon’s hands trembled as tears streamed down her face.
Giseop already hated her.
Now that she was entangled with Inhyuk and the news had come out, his anger would only increase, not decrease.
She had endured, believing that the day would come when she’d be acknowledged.
She believed the day would come when she’d be revealed to the world as Inhyuk’s mother.
Jeongjin was already dead, but she thought she could still proudly declare herself as his woman.
But now it was truly over.
There was no way Do Giseop would accept her through a sudden article when he’d never acknowledged her before.
“I’ll forever… just stay like this…”
Haeyun tilted her head, unable to understand Siyeon’s intense reaction.
Was it really that serious?
Of course, she’d get a lot of hate, and her image would be damaged.
But this dating rumor wasn’t the end of her life.
“Mother.”
Just then, Haeyun flinched and turned her head.
Mother?
She frowned, unable to properly process the single word she’d just heard.
“Just reveal it.”
“…No, I can’t. No. The chairman won’t stay still. I don’t want to be hated even more here.”
The truth was entirely unfavorable to Giseop.
He was the one who had made Siyeon an unmarried mother and kept her separated from her child all this time.
“I just… I just wanted to be acknowledged by the family as Jeongjin-ssi’s woman. That’s the only thing I wanted. I didn’t want to reveal that I’m your mother like this.”
Haeyun unconsciously stepped back.
What was all this about?
Incomprehensible words continued to be exchanged.
Haeyun silently listened, ears perked.
So, Siyeon, who everyone thought was unmarried, actually had a man she’d promised to marry in her twenties, and that was DY Group’s second son.
That man was already dead, and Do Inhyuk was the child born between them?
But Giseop still hadn’t acknowledged it, so it was kept a secret…?
The more she heard, the more mind-boggling it became.
Haeyun’s head felt like it would explode from the complexity.
If this came to light, there would clearly be enormous repercussions.
“You know that now that this article is out, it’ll be hard to brush it off as just a passing incident.”
Siyeon buried her face in her hands and began to sob.
The crying was so heartbreaking that even Haeyun, listening, felt her heart wrench.
It was hard for Haeyun to fully understand Siyeon’s past and pain.
Still, seeing the always composed and mature Siyeon fall apart wasn’t easy to watch.
“If you can’t do it, Mother, I will.”
Haeyun’s fingers, which had been hanging down, twitched.
When Taesu was hospitalized with cancer, and when she had to hold his funeral alone, Haeyun had cried like that too.
During those times, Siyeon had been by her side. She’d been a great help both emotionally and financially.
Haeyun had always wanted to repay Siyeon someday.
Siyeon had waved her hand, telling her not to worry, but Haeyun had silently resolved it.
Someday, she would repay that debt.
“The group will release an official statement…”
Inhyuk’s gaze fell on the hand pressing down on his phone.
Haeyun had approached without him noticing and was chewing her lips.
She hesitated for a moment, then made her decision.
“I think I know a way to resolve this.”
Haeyun took a deep breath.
“Why not redirect Do Inhyuk-ssi’s dating rumor to me instead of Actress Siyeon?”
“Let’s just say we’re dating.”
