Raka came home early that night, looking exhausted as soon as he stepped into the apartment.
But the moment he caught sight of Nara sitting stiffly on the living room sofa, her laptop still open on the table with an article about Kang Ji-han clearly displayed on the screen, he knew the night would not be a peaceful one.
“You already know,” Raka said softly, more a statement than a question.
“Ji-han lost his father in that accident,” Nara replied, her voice flat but heavy with restrained emotion. “His father died at your family’s factory. And now he’s actively advocating for workplace safety, maybe because his own father’s death never truly received justice.”
Raka slowly sat down in the chair across from her and let out a long breath. “Yes. That’s true.”
“And how long have you known all this?”
“I started looking into it about five years ago,” Raka answered honestly, his eyes no longer evasive as they had been before. “When I became more involved in the company’s operations, I found old records about the accident. At first, I thought it was just an ordinary accident, the way my father had always described it. But the deeper I dug, the more irregularities I found.”
“What kind of irregularities?”
Raka reached for Nara’s hand, though this time she didn’t pull it completely away. “The safety procedures weren’t ignored because of negligence, Nara. They were ignored because of deliberate cost-cutting. My father knew the risks, but chose not to make the necessary improvements because they would have cost too much at the time. When the accident happened, he made sure every witness signed a statement that obscured what had really happened—including your mother.”
Nara’s chest tightened as she listened to his explanation. “Why would my mother agree to sign something like that?”
“Because she needed that job, Nara. You were still little then, and your father was sick and needed money for medical treatment. The company promised to secure your mother’s employment—even offered her a promotion—as long as she kept quiet about what had really happened.” Raka tightened his grip on Nara’s hand. “I know this is hard to hear. But your mother isn’t a bad person, Nara. She was just someone trapped in an unfair situation.”
Tears began to gather in the corners of Nara’s eyes, a mixture of anger and sadness she could hardly separate.
“Then why did you never tell me about this? We’ve been together for years, and you kept all of it to yourself?”
“I was afraid,” Raka replied, his voice sounding truly fragile for the first time. “I was afraid that if you found out my family was involved in something this dark, you’d see me differently. I was afraid of losing you over a sin I didn’t commit, but that was still my burden to make right.”
Nara fell silent for a long time, trying to process everything he had explained.
Part of her wanted to be even angrier, but another part understood how complicated Raka’s position had been all this time—trapped between his family’s legacy and his desire to do the right thing.
“What have you done since you found out about all this?” Nara asked at last.
“I secretly funded several workplace safety programs Ji-han established, without letting him know who was really behind the donations,” Raka explained. “I’ve also tried to improve safety standards at all of our manufacturing facilities, even though it meant clashing with several family members who still think those measures are unnecessary.”
“But you’ve never spoken to him directly.”
Raka shook his head. “I didn’t know where to start. How could I face him and admit that I’m the son of the man responsible for his father’s death without making everything worse?”
Nara stared at her husband for a long moment, then looked back at the laptop screen, which still displayed Ji-han’s face in that old photograph.
A decision began to take shape in her mind—a decision she knew might shock Raka if she voiced it now.
“I want to meet him,” Nara said quietly but firmly.
Raka stared at her in surprise. “Nara—”
“I can’t keep living with the image of someone claiming to be my future self, ten years from now, standing beside a man I’ve never even met,” Nara continued, her voice growing more resolute with every word. “I need to learn the truth for myself. Not from old documents, not from someone else’s story. I need to meet Kang Ji-han face-to-face.”
Raka let out a long breath, visibly wrestling with his desire to protect Nara and the realization that his wife had made a decision he couldn’t stop.
“All right,” he said at last, though the doubt in his eyes was still plain to see. “I’ll help you find a way to contact him.”