6:52 a.m.
Haeon Ki was sitting in front of the vanity.
There were still eight minutes until the makeup team was due to arrive.
She hadn't told anyone about the schedule change yet.
The message she'd sent her father had shown as read a little after 1:00 a.m., but there had been no reply.
That was more ominous than anything.
Junmuk Ki wasn't the type to raise his voice when he was angry.
He would stay silent for a while, then start moving the people around him until he got the result he wanted.
By now, his secretary's office and the legal team were probably looking for a way to stop her from breaking off the engagement.
In her past life, she hadn't been able to defy her father.
This time was different.
The documents she'd organized through the night were spread across the table.
The Marriage Property Agreement.
Beside it was the Declaration of Intent Not to Marry she'd written herself.
And her phone.
The moment it turned 7:00 a.m., she planned to hear what Yeoheon Jin had to say and then go straight downstairs to her father.
Whatever he brought her, her decision would be the same.
She wouldn't get married.
Knock, knock.
She checked the clock.
6:57 a.m.
The man who was maddeningly punctual had arrived three minutes early.
When she opened the door, Yeoheon Jin was standing there.
There wasn't a trace of the disheveled appearance she'd seen before dawn.
A deep charcoal suit and a white shirt.
A neatly knotted tie.
Even his glasses were perfect.
He was holding a slim black file.
"You're early."
"I thought it would be better than making you wait."
She opened the door wider.
"I gave you the hour you asked for."
Yeoheon stepped into the room.
His gaze lingered briefly on the papers lying on the table.
It was the Declaration of Intent Not to Marry she'd written.
Her name and the date were already on it.
"You certainly work fast."
"I told you I wasn't going to change my mind."
"I know."
His answer was strangely calm again.
He walked over to the sofa and set down the file.
"So I have no intention of persuading you to get married."
She remained standing instead of sitting across from him.
"Then what is this?"
"An option."
"What kind of option?"
Yeoheon opened the file.
The logo of the Hyeonrok Group Legal Affairs Department was stamped on the first page.
Beneath it was the title.
[Marriage and Intercompany Cooperation Restructuring Proposal]
She swallowed a hollow laugh.
"I said we shouldn't get married, and you brought me a marriage restructuring proposal?"
"Read it to the end."
"I don't think I need to."
"Ms. Ki."
Her gaze stopped at the low call of her name.
"I said I wouldn't force you to get married."
Yeoheon turned the first page toward her.
"But I also have no intention of letting you make a decision without knowing the problems that will arise if the wedding is called off."
It was the same logic he'd used the night before.
In the end, she picked up the file.
Numbers packed the page from the very first line.
Haedam Distribution's short-term borrowings.
Maturity dates.
A planned bridge loan from Hyeonrok Capital.
A joint logistics center investment agreement.
Project financing tied to the department store renovation project.
The more she read, the colder she felt inside.
"You're saying all of this is connected to tomorrow?"
"Not directly."
"But if the wedding falls through, all of it will be shaken up."
"The market is highly likely to see it that way."
She looked over the figures again.
Her eyes stopped on the largest amount.
"Was Haedam really in such a rush?"
"You didn't know?"
"Did you think anyone was going to tell me about this?"
Her tone had sharpened.
Yeoheon didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
At Haedam Distribution, her responsibilities were branding and new business.
Finance and funding were her father and brother's domain.
Even the board's major reports were filtered down to only the sections she needed.
It had been the same in her past life.
Whenever the company began to falter, an absurdly heavy burden would somehow be shifted onto her business division, but she'd believed even that was a management decision.
"What happens to the bridge loan if the wedding is called off?"
"Hyeonrok Capital can execute it as scheduled through a sole decision."
Her hand stopped as she turned the page.
"It can?"
"Yes."
"Then there isn't a problem."
"The problem is the Hyeonrok board."
Yeoheon sat down across from her.
"The moment the marriage falls through, they'll argue that the foundation of the joint venture has collapsed. If Vice Chairman Myeonggyu Jin's side demands a new review, it will take time to block it."
Myeonggyu Jin.
It wasn't an unfamiliar name.
Yeoheon Jin's uncle.
Vice Chairman of Hyeonrok Group.
She had encountered him several times in her past life as well.
He always wore a smile, and whenever he saw her, he made an unusual point of emphasizing that she was Hyeonrok's daughter-in-law.
That was all she remembered about him.
"So you're saying Haedam could be put at risk if I don't get married."
"In the short term, yes."
"That's the same thing."
She closed the file.
"You're telling me to get married for the sake of the company."
"No."
"What's the difference?"
Yeoheon was silent for a moment.
Then he pulled out another page from the file.
It was a separate document she hadn't seen before.
"That's why I'm suggesting we change the terms."
Her gaze dropped to the paper.
[Revised Agreement]
The first item was strange from the start.
The marriage and the joint venture agreement between Hyeonrok Group and Haedam Distribution would be legally separated.
Second.
Hyeonrok Group would not demand any proxy voting authorization for the equity stake personally held by Haeon Ki.
Third.
If Haeon Ki established a separate corporation or pursued an independent business after marriage, Hyeonrok Group would not demand management control or priority investment rights.
She read the third item twice.
"Why is my business in here?"
Yeoheon's expression didn't change.
"Because you seem to be thinking about becoming independent."
"Have I ever said that?"
The air changed in an instant.
He paused for the briefest moment.
"Didn't you imply yesterday that you wouldn't be returning to Haedam?"
"I never said that."
Her voice dropped.
She remembered exactly what she'd said the night before.
If the company was in trouble, the company needed to deal with it.
If necessary, she would do whatever she could from the position she held.
That was all.
She hadn't said she would leave Haedam.
She hadn't said she would start her own business.
That plan existed only in her head for now.
It was a plan she'd ultimately abandoned in her past life.
Yeoheon's finger stopped on the paper.
"I judged that it was a possibility you might consider."
"On what basis?"
"Because the Haeon Ki I'm looking at now seems like the kind of person who would."
The Haeon Ki I'm looking at now.
That one phrase caught in her ear.
She stared at him.
Yeoheon offered no further explanation.
"Let's keep going."
It was an obvious change of subject.
Suspicious, she nonetheless turned her attention back to the document.
Fourth.
During the marriage, the couple would not build any joint marital property. Each person would be responsible for their own separate property and business debts.
Fifth.
Neither family could use the marriage as grounds to demand that the other spouse participate in management or delegate equity stakes or voting rights.
Sixth.
The marriage term and its termination would be determined by a separate agreement between the two of them.
Her hand stopped at the final sentence.
"The marriage term?"
"That's the most important part."
Yeoheon looked at her.
"I'm not asking you to stay married for the rest of your life."
A strange premonition came over her.
"Then what are you asking?"
"We could remain married only until Haedam's funding problems are resolved and the companies' agreement is completely separated."
"How long would that take?"
"One year at most."
Her breath caught.
One year.
Yeoheon continued calmly.
"We hold the wedding as scheduled today. In return, we discard the existing marriage agreement in its entirety and draw up a new one under the terms you're looking at now."
She said nothing.
"I will take responsibility for arranging the funds Haedam Distribution needs internally at Hyeonrok, so they can be released regardless of whether we're married."
"And after that?"
"After one year."
Yeoheon's gaze fixed on her.
"If you want a divorce, get one."
She nearly laughed.
It was too absurd.
"Are you asking me to enter a contract marriage?"
"As a result, I suppose it could be seen that way."
"Not as a result. That's exactly what it is."
"Then you may understand it that way."
Was he insane?
Everything about him was strange, from coming to see her the night before.
From accepting the broken engagement.
From spending the night organizing details of the company she'd never known about.
And now he was suggesting a one-year marriage.
She loosely folded her arms.
"What do you get out of this, Mr. Jin?"
For the first time, his answer came late.
"It would keep the contract between Hyeonrok and Haedam from collapsing all at once."
"That's about the companies."
"Isn't a company matter reason enough?"
"No."
This time, she had no intention of letting it pass.
"Hyeonrok isn't going to go bankrupt the moment I walk away from this marriage. From your perspective, wouldn't it be much cleaner to find another match?"
Some of the warmth faded from his face.
"Another match."
"Isn't that how marriages between chaebol families work?"
"I have no intention of marrying anyone else."
The answer came too quickly.
The room fell silent.
So did she.
So did Yeoheon.
Neither of them said anything.
He looked away first.
"At least not for the time being."
It was a belated attempt to recover.
She forced down the strange feeling that stirred inside her.
"Then how are we supposed to live for a year?"
"Tell me the conditions you want."
"Me?"
"Separate bedrooms, individual schedules, privacy, property, work. Everything."
"You can agree to all of that?"
"If it's reasonable."
The moment she heard that answer, her married life in her past life came back to her.
They had slept in separate rooms then, too.
Their individual schedules had been separate.
They hadn't interfered in each other's private lives.
From the outside, it hadn't been all that different from what he was proposing now.
And yet something was wrong.
In her past life, none of it had been her choice.
This time, he was telling her to set the terms from the beginning.
That was the only difference.
But it made this feel like an entirely different marriage.
No.
Get a grip.
In the end, she would still be marrying Yeoheon Jin.
She already knew how it would end.
"What if I say no?"
"Then we cancel the wedding."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Yeoheon picked up her Declaration of Intent Not to Marry from the table.
Then he placed it beside the Revised Agreement he'd brought.
Two sheets of paper.
Her choice not to marry.
His proposal to change the terms and get married.
"I won't force you either way."
Even after hearing that, she couldn't easily reach for either paper.
"Why are you going this far?"
The same question came out again in the end.
This time, she couldn't let him get away with an answer about the companies.
"It's not as if your life will be ruined just because I call off the wedding."
"That's true."
"Then why?"
Yeoheon's gaze brushed across her face.
It lingered strangely long.
"If getting married would make you unhappy."
Her heart sank.
"Then you shouldn't do it."
His voice was calm.
"But if the problem is the terms rather than the marriage itself, then we can change the terms."
She forgot how to breathe.
"How..."
The words caught in her throat.
How could he say something like that?
The words she'd needed most in her past life.
Words the man before her had never once said in seven years.
Yeoheon wore an expression that suggested he didn't know why she'd gone rigid.
No.
It was an expression he was trying to wear.
She managed to ask, "Do you think this marriage will make me unhappy?"
The eyes behind his glasses slowly darkened.
"I think it could."
In that moment, she felt a strange certainty.
Yeoheon Jin knew something.
She didn't know how much.
Whether he knew about her death.
Whether he knew about their seven years of married life.
Or whether there was some other reason unrelated to her past life.
For now, she couldn't be certain of anything.
That made it even more dangerous.
Breaking off the engagement and leaving immediately might be the safest choice.
And yet, at the same time—
Haedam Distribution's financial situation, which she hadn't known about.
The proxy voting authorization clause in the existing agreement.
The company that had eventually tightened its grip around her throat in her past life.
Would it be enough to turn her back on everything and run away this time?
If there really were people who would be crushed if she refused to marry—
Was the life she wanted one where she left after dumping that choice on her father and brother?
She looked at the Declaration of Intent Not to Marry.
She didn't tear it up right away.
Nor did she touch the Revised Agreement.
"You said one year."
"Yes."
"What if the company problems are resolved before then?"
"We can end it sooner."
"What if I ask for a divorce first?"
"I'll agree."
"And division of marital property?"
"Let's settle it on the basis that neither of us will make a claim."
"And you won't force me to fulfill my marital duties."
Yeoheon's expression stiffened for the briefest moment.
"Of course not."
"If either family asks me to do something for the company, you won't get involved, either."
He considered that for a moment.
"That needs to be revised."
"Why?"
"Not that I won't get involved. If you want me to, I'll stop them."
She was speechless.
"If you don't want it, I won't do anything."
Yeoheon took a blank sheet of paper from the file.
"Let's add that as a condition, too."
He picked up a pen and wrote it down himself.
[Intervention in matters concerning the spouse's family and management shall be subject to the principal's prior consent.]
She watched the sentence take shape.
This man was far too different from the Yeoheon Jin she knew.
That was the biggest problem.
The fact that he had changed in a good way was more frightening than anything.
"I'm not going to decide right away."
He set down the pen.
"Take your time."
"I'll talk to my father first, too."
"That's for you to decide as well, Ms. Ki."
"And..."
She pushed the Revised Agreement toward him with her fingertips.
"I won't sign it as is."
Yeoheon looked at her.
"I'll draw up the terms again myself."
For the briefest moment, the tension at the corner of his mouth seemed to ease.
It was too faint to call a smile.
"Let's do that."
"Even if that puts you at a disadvantage?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Don't regret it later."
This time, he didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at her for a long time.
There was something strangely painful in his eyes.
As though he were someone who had already regretted it once.
7:00 a.m.
Only a few minutes remained before the bridal makeup team arrived.
She pushed the existing marriage agreement to one side.
Then she placed a blank sheet of paper on top of the Revised Agreement Yeoheon had brought.
Her decision not to marry was clear.
And yet another option, one that hadn't existed a few hours ago, had appeared.
Not avoiding marriage.
Choosing the terms of the marriage herself.
She picked up the pen.
"Okay."
Yeoheon's eyes dropped to her fingertips.
"Where will you start?"
She wrote the first line.
Then she turned the paper around to show him.
[Marriage term: one year.]
She lightly tapped the sentence with the tip of her pen.
"Here."
She raised her eyes.
"This marriage won't be something you or Hyeonrok Group can control however you want."
After a brief pause, she added clearly,
"I'll make sure I can end it when I want to."
He looked at her quietly.
Then he said,
"Good."
Far too easily.
As though he'd been waiting for that answer from the beginning.
"Then let's change the terms."