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Chapter 1
“Me… I have to?” At her parents’ sudden command, Seo-young was thoroughly bewildered. Her hair had grown long enough that she couldn’t even remember when it was last cut, and not a single trace of color could be found on her pale face.
“The man Joo-young went on a blind date with is Baek Do-jin, the successor to the Taesan Group.” Hyeong-jin raised his voice as if pressing Seo-young harder. “You remember the lawsuit regarding Taesan Group’s technology leak, right? Your sister, Joo-young, served as the legal advisor for that case and brought a complete victory to Taesan Group.”
Seo-young bit her lower lip slightly. What did that have to do with her?
“Taking that as an opportunity, the Chairman of Taesan Group personally handpicked Joo-young to be Baek Do-jin’s partner.” He rested his hand on the table and stared intently at Seo-young. “This isn’t just a simple opportunity. The fate of our family is riding on this.”
Those words were pressure, demanding that she prove her worth at last. Seo-young took a shallow breath, forced to swallow the words at the tip of her tongue. As always, her own will didn’t even have the right to be laid on this table.
On the day of the blind date last week, Joo-young was involved in an accident on her way back after meeting Do-jin. Having sustained a severe head injury, her consciousness had yet to return. Among all that chaos, the family came to only one conclusion. Namely, that ‘Han Seo-young’ right here would pretend to be her older sister, ‘Han Joo-young.’
Hyeong-jin grabbed the arm of the trembling Seo-young. Startled, Seo-young’s eyes widened in shock. “You’re the only one.” Hyeong-jin’s voice was firm, without a trace of hesitation.
Do-jin and Joo-young’s marriage was right around the corner. Using this marriage as a pretext, Hyeong-jin had already secured a promise of full-scale business investment from Chairman Baek. There was no way he could back down now. The growth of his business, and even producing the successor to Taesan Group following Do-jin—everything was riding on this single marriage.
“But…” Seo-young couldn’t finish her sentence. There were so many things she wanted to spit out, but all that came out of her mouth was a hesitant tremble filled with fear.
Taking advantage of the moment, Soo-ae added, “You just need to meet him. I’m telling you, just pretend to be your sister for a little while and come back.”
Seo-young swallowed hard. That single sentence chilled her to the bone.‘Just pretend to be my sister.’ Why did those words sound so terrifying?
Hyeong-jin pushed Seo-young further. “You just need to become Joo-young. That’s all.”
Seo-young’s lips trembled. People who had never once said they needed her since the day she was born—two people who felt more like cohabitants she shared a house with out of necessity than parents—were now looking at her desperately. Yet, there was no love in those gazes. They were merely filled with greedy intent to use her as a means, a temporary body double.
‘Mom, Dad. Even in the moment you’re trying to use me, do you really not have an ounce of affection to spare for me?’
A twisted spark fell into Seo-young’s heart, which had long accepted a life of being neglected, unlike her sister. Seo-young looked at her parents with sunken eyes. “What if… what if my sister wakes up?”
“Then you just give the spot back to Joo-young.” Hyeong-jin answered without a second thought. That single statement meant that Seo-young held no rights whatsoever in this marriage.
Right, someone like me was never family from the start. The constant enforcement to live invisibly. A life where her existence was hidden and even her name wasn’t called. Seo-young’s chest ached. When she didn’t answer right away, Soo-ae pushed her coldly.
“Our Joo-young is going to wake up soon anyway, so you just have to pretend to be her until then.” We should have thrown her away like the shaman said. If we had, our Joo-young wouldn’t have suffered such a terrible accident.
Soo-ae barely managed to swallow the resentment that rose to the top of her throat. However, those were words she had already poured out onto Seo-young the moment she woke up after fainting from shock on the day of Joo-young’s accident. Even though Soo-ae didn’t remember it.
Having lived a suppressed life, Seo-young couldn’t talk back to her parents’ cruel remarks. Right, it was only natural for Mom to say something like that. Wasn’t her life one that wasn’t even qualified to be the main character in the first place?
Seo-young closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them. “…But what if she doesn’t wake up before the wedding?”
Soo-ae fell silent, unable to find the words to respond. Seo-young didn’t miss this opening and asked, “You don’t mean for me to go as far as getting married, right?”
Hyeong-jin uncrossed his arms. In his eyes was only a cold question that seemed to ask, ‘What’s the problem?’ “It would be best if your sister wakes up before the wedding, but if she doesn’t, you have to play that role perfectly until she wakes up.”
You’re telling me to bear the yoke of becoming a fake bride for the sake of the family? Seo-young felt dizzy. Nausea welled up inside her, and her head spun.When have I ever received decent treatment in this house?On the day I tried to become independent, who were the people who practically imprisoned me, saying they couldn’t stand by and watch me ruin the family by acting out?
Tinnitus rang in her ears. “The hospital said she could wake up at any time. Let’s wait and see. Who knows? She might wake up miraculously on the eve of the wedding.”
How shocked Seo-young was didn’t matter to the couple. At first, there were times when they felt guilt over neglecting and mistreating Seo-young. But as time went on, it became second nature. Now, they were only annoyed that Seo-young—who had lived like an extra addition, a burden to Joo-young—was not obeying their wishes.
Rising to her feet alongside Hyeong-jin, Soo-ae stated as if delivering an ultimatum, “Stay in Joo-young’s room for the time being.”
Only after hearing the master bedroom door close did Seo-young move her feet. Up until now, she had lived in a small room attached inside the kitchen. A semi-basement-like space without a single window. Sunlight never reached it, and it was always filled with damp air. Next to the drying rack, among the clutter stacked up by the family as they passed through, Seo-young had lived her entire life holding her breath.
Seo-young was a translator. In the beginning, it was difficult to even get work, but as word of mouth gradually spread, she took on important documents for foreign companies. Now, she had established herself as a skilled translator whom professional agencies contacted first. Most of all, what she loved about this job was that it allowed her to work from home. If she stayed shut in her room all day, she didn’t have to face her family. A life of staring only at text, disconnected from the world. To Seo-young, that was familiar and comfortable.
The moment she opened the door to Joo-young’s room, Seo-young was so stunned she couldn’t close her mouth. “Wow…”
The entire room looked like a movie set. White moldings curved across the ceiling, and hanging from the center was a chandelier sparkling with glass facets. Every time it caught the light, small rainbows scattered across the walls.
“So my sister lived in a room like this.” Seo-young carefully took a step inside. The soft texture beneath her soles felt awkward, yet she liked it. “Wow… Even the carpet is so soft.”
The wallpaper was a high-end baby pink tone with intricate embroidery patterns. The bed was situated grandly in the center of the room. White canopies draped over the four corners, and a golden crown-shaped headboard. Everything felt like a fantasy.
“It really is a princess’s room.”
On the vanity, cosmetics from luxury brands were neatly arranged. Perfume bottles, lip balm, foundation, brushes—everything was sparkling clean without a speck of dust. On the desk, a notebook with Joo-young’s name embossed on it, a pen, and a scheduler were laid out orderly. On a small memo pad, her schedule was written in neat handwriting.
‘10:00 AM Meeting, Afternoon Makeup Rehearsal Reservation.’
Seo-young stood dazed for a long while amid those unfamiliar words. “So this is how she lived… My sister.”
On the nightstand beside the bed sat a mother-of-pearl picture frame. Inside it was a photo of Joo-young smiling, full of life. “I don’t even have a single picture like this.”
In this luxurious space that felt entirely alien, Seo-young’s inner world began to slowly churn. A space that held the entirety of her sister Joo-young’s life. The fact that she now had to live that life in her place was gradually, yet clearly, settling down as her new reality.
Morning broke. Opening her eyes, Seo-young’s heart pounded with a mix of fear, anticipation, and a faint flicker of guilt.
Unlike herself, who lived in worn-out, saggy t-shirts and scrubby sweatpants, Joo-young always dressed radiantly. Her dressing room caught Seo-young’s eye.
Seo-young opened the door to the dressing room. Clothes organized by season were neatly arranged according to color and material. “How much is all of this worth…?”
Sliding the hangers aside one by one to inspect them, she pulled out a light ivory blouse and skirt. A high-end blouse with silver thread embroidery at the cuffs, and a skirt without a single wrinkle. Seo-young held the blouse against her chest with delicate hands.
In the mirror, the moment those clothes overlapped with a face that still felt like her own, something shifted. By the time she changed into the outfit and stood before the vanity, her hands were trembling.
“It’s pretty.”
Beyond the mirror was a face both familiar and strange. It was Seo-young, but it was undoubtedly Joo-young as well. Applying eyeshadow to her eyelids and lipstick to her lips, she gradually erased her original self.
Seo-young practiced mimicking the expressions of Joo-young she had secretly observed in the past. She raised her eyebrows, tilted her head slightly at an angle, and fixed her eyes straight ahead. Slowly, in a low voice, she spoke.
“I am Han Joo-young.”
