6. First Reveal

Her blood pressure was normally low, and she had suffered from dizziness and headaches. But the reflection in the mirror showed a complexion so shockingly pale and emaciated that she looked like she might collapse at the slightest tap.

“Did she even eat anything?”

If anything, she looked more like a frail youngest daughter born sickly rather than her foul-tempered older daughter of a sister. No wonder people had been terrified when she ran around like a mad dog with a face like this.

After inspecting her lifeless, bloodless complexion up and down for a long while, she made up her mind.

“Fine. Whatever the case, I need to eat well and sleep well first to recover my health. My personality couldn’t support me because my stamina was lacking. Hey, you pale and ghostly thing. I’m going to bring your color back first.”

First, she tied her waist-length hair up into a ponytail and washed her face. She roughly dried off, patted some lotion from the vanity onto her skin, and sure enough, hunger struck.

She crept toward the door, pressed her ear against it, and checked the atmosphere outside. After a moment of hesitation, she silently turned the doorknob and opened it just a finger’s width. Peering diligently through the gap with rolling eyes, the interior of the house was, as expected, dead silent.

“……Did he leave?”

It was early to leave for work, but no matter how long she waited, not the tiniest sound was heard. When her stomach growled rumble once more, her body moved before she could endure it any longer.

“Oh dear. What is this?”

However, when she hurried to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, there was nothing inside except rows of bottled water—completely empty, without even a single common side-dish container.

Unable to hide her disappointment, she dragged her feet back to her room, but just in case, she opened the pantry.

“Oh……!”

Right there, like an oasis in the desert, sat a single bag of sliced bread. Cheering on mute, she quickly tore open the plastic.

Finding a toaster tucked in the corner, she set the bread to toast, and suddenly realized she hadn’t eaten a single thing since being discharged from the hospital.

Seeing as she hadn’t felt particularly hungry, she figured she usually wasn’t all that interested in eating, but…… just smelling the bread toasting to a golden brown made her this happy?

“Hehe, looks delicious.”

It was right then, as a hum naturally slipped past her lips.

Suddenly, the door across the hall swung wide open, and a man appeared wearing a classic suit tailored as if precision-cut without a single flaw.

The man’s gaze and hers—awkwardly frozen in her pajamas—collided.

“……Would you like some bread?”

Ding—the toaster finished its cycle, its notification chime ringing out cheerfully through the quiet living room.

“No, thank you.”

The breath she had been holding burst out at the coldly withdrawn gaze.

The man who was talking about having a real marriage yesterday sure is acting mighty chilly this early in the morning.

Watching his indifferent back heading straight for the entryway, she scurried after him anyway, figuring she should at least see him off.

“Have a safe trip.”

“Baek Yi-jun.”

As if intending to say something to her farewell, he turned around sharply, but then his eyes fixed on a specific spot and he fell silent. She tilted her head at his puzzling behavior.

“Why?”

“Your ankle.”

“…….”

“What happened?”

Glancing down at his words, what came into view was a raw, red scratch clearly exposed beneath the hem of her trousers that barely covered her ankle. Flustered, she hurriedly pulled down her pajamas and stammered.

“This happened when I went to my parents’ home yesterday, or rather, that’s not it…….”

Why did her parents’ home even come up right now?!

Like father, like daughter, it seemed I had no talent for lying either, just like my twin.

“……I rolled down the stairs.”

It didn’t look like an injury from rolling down anything at all, but she couldn’t exactly tell the truth either. With the relationship between husband and wife already awkward enough, tossing in family discord from her side of the family would do her zero favors.

“Is that so.”

Looking at her awkwardly glossing it over with a blank expression, he soon spoke dryly and stepped out the door.

“You should go see a hospital. It looks deeply cut.”

Watching his receding back, she thought: That man might actually know quite a lot about me.

And perhaps, he might be pretending not to know quite a lot.

[Han Je-ha. Age 30. Youngest grandson of Jin Sa-un, founder of Moyeon Group. After graduating from Stanford MBA, assigned to headquarters, rising through ultra-fast promotions to emerge as Moyeon’s successor. Currently Team Leader of Strategy Team 2, Business Support TF, Moyeon Electronics.]

Searching the three characters ‘Han Je-ha’ on a portal site poured out an enormous amount of information.

He was a much greater and more famous person than she had thought. Just looking at his resume, he was a third-generation chaebol who had walked the ultra-elite course even among silver-spoon kids, but.

[Grandson raised directly by Chairman Jin after the youngest daughter and her husband—whom the Chairman cherished particularly among his five children—passed away in an unexpected accident. Rumors are rampant that Chairman Jin actively intervened in Executive Director Han’s marriage, which became a hot topic in society.]

Her mother had called her marriage an important contract. Beyond a mere agreement on paper, it was an unbreakable, long-lasting tie—a ‘marriage contract’ binding family to family, so to speak.

[Insiders report that Executive Director Han’s marriage partner is Ms. Baek, the eldest daughter of Chairman Baek Seok-woo of Baekya Group. Moyeon, which had been relatively weak in the 4th industrial revolution sector, allied with Baekya—rising as a game changer in that field—to empower a grandson who lacked the supporting foundation of parents.]

No matter the detailed circumstances, it was certain to be a beneficial marriage for both sides. Still, if forced to choose based on her mother’s attitude and the scale of the enterprises, if this marriage were to break down, the side that would likely regret it most was, with high probability, her own family.

She had guessed to some extent, but confirming with her own eyes that it was an open political marriage publicized even on the internet left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Setting aside the fact that the parties’ wishes were completely ignored, what kind of feeling must it be to live in a world where everyone knows that?

“Is this me?”

The wedding had been held privately, but three or four paparazzi-style photos had been uploaded.

A woman wearing a mermaid-line wedding dress, and behind her, a man in a black tuxedo walking a little apart into the wedding hall.

He wore his usual expressionless face, and her own face captured in profile looked quite gloomy for a bride-to-be about to be married.

“I really did get married, huh.”

It wasn’t the Joseon Dynasty; there was no way she would have obediently accepted an arranged marriage for the sake of the family. Even so, the reason she willingly walked into the wedding hall on her own two feet was probably, as the saying goes, because of the ‘Planning Office Managing Director position.’

Regardless of how that process went, it was an undeniable fact that he and she were already in their 3rd year of marriage this year.

Although there had been the turbulence of living apart in between, they had strictly lived as a window-dressing (show window) couple under mutually agreed-upon conditions. Though now, those conditions had practically ceased to exist.

“Do they even have things like this?”

Perhaps due to his background as a third-generation chaebol receiving immense attention, all sorts of things popped up.

Height 187cm, hobbies: chess, swimming, flying. When she wondered what flying meant, it turned out he held a CPL (Commercial Pilot License).

“He lives so diligently.”

Next to his name, related search keywords popped up alongside like ‘Han Je-ha’s wife’, ‘Han Je-ha’s spouse’, ‘Ms. Baek’, ‘Moyeon Electronics stock price’, and ‘Baekya recruitment’.

After a brief hesitation, the tip of her finger landed on ‘Han Je-ha’s wife’. The moment she touched it, articles from two months ago spilled out in a row.

[Moyeon Electronics Executive Director Han Je-ha’s wife suffers vehicle half-destruction accident in Dosan-daero, Gangnam] [Baekya Chairman Baek Seok-woo’s eldest daughter in critical condition from traffic accident… currently unconscious] [“She suddenly accelerated” testimony regarding the accident of Moyeon family’s mistress, Ms. Baek] [Executive Director Han Je-ha’s wife Ms. Baek’s accident revealed to be due to vehicle defect] [“Waiting for my daughter to wake up”… Chairman Baek Seok-woo dispels marital discord rumors]

Perhaps because her husband and father were famous business figures, articles related to the traffic accident easily exceeded ten pages. Amidst them all, her name was uniformly ‘Ms. Baek’.

As she continued scrolling down, wedding articles from a much earlier date popped up this time. Because the available information was extremely limited, the contents were identical, instead replaced by rows of analytical articles discussing the strategic partnership between the two corporations that served as the background for the marriage.

Right after the wedding announcement, the stock prices of both companies rebounded, Executive Director Han Je-ha’s succession of Moyeon Group became visible, Baekya’s business ranking skyrocketed…….

As she indifferently skimmed through the numerous headlines, her hand suddenly stopped because of a single interview article that caught her eye.

[[Exclusive] Moyeon Electronics Executive Director Han Je-ha First Reveals Love Story with Wife]