7:28 a.m.
As the elevator numbers ticked down one floor at a time, Haeon Ki tightened her grip on the file in her hand.
Yeoheon Jin stood beside her.
The contract in which they had written down their respective conditions until a short while ago had been sent to the Hyeonrok Group Legal Affairs Department.
The final version, with only the legal wording整理ed, would be delivered again before the ceremony.
The existing agreement would be discarded.
The proxy voting authorization for her personal equity stake would be deleted as well.
The joint venture between Hyeonrok and Haedam would be separated from the marriage.
The marriage term would be one year.
After that, if she wanted, they would get an uncontested divorce with no conditions attached.
The more she thought about it, the harder the conditions were to believe.
Even harder to believe was Yeoheon Jin himself.
Every time Haeon presented another condition, he accepted almost all of them.
Even her demand that they change the newlywed home.
“Mr. Jin.”
She called out while looking at the closed elevator doors.
“Yes.”
“It’s not too late yet.”
“What isn’t?”
“To change your mind.”
He turned his head slightly.
“About what?”
“The contract terms.”
“There’s no reason to change them.”
Just as expected, he answered immediately.
Haeon lightly pressed her lips together.
“Don’t people usually give each other what they want in a contract like this?”
“I suppose they do.”
“But you haven’t gotten anything.”
“The wedding ceremony is proceeding as scheduled.”
“Is that really so important?”
As soon as the question fell, the elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
Yeoheon did not step out first.
He waited until Haeon moved, then walked beside her into the hallway.
“It is important.”
His answer came a little late.
“Why?”
“I don’t think you’d believe me even if I explained it now.”
Haeon stopped walking.
Yeoheon turned around a few steps ahead of her.
“What does that mean?”
“Exactly what I said.”
“What is it that I won’t believe?”
“Me.”
This time, he didn’t use any form of address.
Just two brief syllables.
Haeon’s eyebrows shifted faintly.
He seemed to realize that he had spoken differently than usual and fell silent for a moment.
Then he returned to his usual distance.
“I mean that there’s no need to explain it now.”
“That makes it sound even more suspicious.”
“You’re free to be suspicious.”
Yeoheon turned away first.
“You’re free to find out for yourself.”
Haeon stood where she was and watched his back.
You’re free to find out for yourself.
It was a strange thing to say.
It sounded like something a person with nothing to hide would say, yet at the same time, like something said by a person who knew it would eventually be discovered.
The Haedam Distribution secretarial staff were already waiting in front of the private room used by both families.
When Haeon appeared, two people bowed at the same time.
But their gazes naturally shifted toward Yeoheon Jin beside her.
He was an unplanned companion.
The door opened.
Junmuk Ki was seated near the window.
Wonhu Ki sat across from him, and the food on the table had barely been touched.
Her father noticed Yeoheon before he noticed Haeon.
“President Jin came as well.”
“Please excuse me for coming so early.”
“Have a seat.”
Haeon almost laughed.
He hadn’t even greeted his daughter yet.
But he offered a seat to his future son-in-law first.
In her past life, she would have sat down beside them with an unaffected expression.
This time, she remained standing beside the door.
“I’ll say what I came to say and then go upstairs.”
Only then did Junmuk’s face turn toward his daughter.
“I called you because of the message I sent before dawn.”
“I know.”
“What did you mean by it?”
Haeon placed the black file she had brought on the table.
Wonhu reached for it first.
Haeon pressed down on the file.
“It’s not the final version yet.”
Her brother’s hand stopped.
“What is it?”
“My marriage terms.”
Junmuk’s gaze turned cold.
“What terms?”
“I won’t sign the existing agreement.”
Silence filled the room.
Wonhu let out a disbelieving laugh.
“What are you talking about on the morning of your wedding?”
Haeon didn’t look at her brother.
“I’m talking to Father.”
“Haeon.”
“Wonhu.”
Only then did she turn her gaze toward him.
“I have no intention of getting married in a good mood today. So don’t push me any further for no reason.”
Wonhu’s face hardened.
It was something that would have been difficult for her past self to imagine saying.
She had never spoken to her brother that way.
Not once in her life.
Junmuk called her name in a low voice.
“Haeon Ki.”
Whenever her father called her by her full name, the atmosphere in the house changed.
It had been that way since she was little.
Even when she had done nothing wrong, she would straighten her back and search for words to apologize first.
Her body remembered.
Her fingertips turned cold.
But this time, she did not lower her gaze.
“Yes.”
“Do you know what you’re doing right now?”
“I’m handling things for myself now.”
“What?”
“Because I didn’t know before.”
Her voice was remarkably calm.
“I didn’t know the Marriage Property Agreement contained a proxy voting authorization clause for my personal equity stake, or that if the joint venture with Hyeonrok went forward, my equity could effectively be used as a bargaining chip.”
Junmuk’s expression changed for the first time.
The smile disappeared from Wonhu’s face as well.
“Who explained it to you that way?”
“Is that sentence really so difficult to understand?”
“That isn’t a simple clause.”
“So you told me to sign without even reading it?”
Wonhu’s mouth snapped shut.
Haeon looked at her father again.
“I also learned about Haedam’s financial situation for the first time today.”
“President Jin.”
Junmuk’s gaze immediately shifted to the side.
“How much did you tell Haeon?”
Haeon’s eyes narrowed.
He wasn’t asking me.
He was asking Yeoheon Jin.
As expected, to her father, she was not a party to the negotiations.
Yeoheon answered calmly.
“I told her everything she needed to know.”
“Even about our company’s internal situation?”
“I decided I couldn’t have someone getting married today sign without knowing what risks she was taking on.”
Junmuk’s face hardened.
“Is Hyeonrok planning to interfere in Haedam’s management?”
“The opposite.”
“What does that mean?”
“We intend to separate the marriage from the companies’ business dealings.”
This time, even Junmuk was left speechless.
Yeoheon continued.
“We’ll also delete the proxy voting authorization clause regarding Ms. Haeon Ki’s personal equity stake. We’ll add a separate clause stating that Hyeonrok will not demand rights to Haedam’s management control or her personally owned equity on the grounds of the marriage.”
Wonhu rose from his seat.
“Wait. Then everything we’ve negotiated up to now changes.”
“Then we’ll negotiate again if necessary.”
“President Jin.”
“Marriage is not a merger agreement between two companies.”
His voice was firm.
Haeon looked at the man standing beside her.
What would Yeoheon Jin have been like in her past life?
She couldn’t remember.
No.
There had been no scene to compare this with in the first place.
On the morning of their wedding in her past life, the two of them had never had a conversation like this.
Haeon had signed the agreement.
Put on her dress.
And gone to the venue at the appointed time.
That was all.
“This is something both families already agreed on.”
Her father’s voice dropped lower.
“The parties involved did not consent.”
Yeoheon answered.
“So the agreement isn’t final.”
Haeon’s fingertips moved.
The parties involved.
Those words sounded strangely loud.
Someone was calling her a party to the marriage—not someone’s daughter, not someone who held equity in Haedam Distribution, but a person entering into the marriage herself.
And that someone was Yeoheon Jin, of all people.
Junmuk’s gaze returned to his daughter.
“Did you tell him to do this?”
“Tell him what?”
“Did you demand these conditions from President Jin?”
“Yes.”
She answered briefly.
“I demanded them.”
“Haeon.”
“And there’s one more thing.”
Junmuk narrowed his eyes.
“What is it?”
“I made it possible for us to divorce after one year.”
This time, there was genuine silence.
Wonhu was the first to raise his voice.
“Have you lost your mind?”
Haeon didn’t even blink.
“I suppose it’s not something to say on the morning of the wedding.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I’m not kidding.”
“Father, she’s—”
“Be quiet.”
At Junmuk’s single command, Wonhu closed his mouth.
Her father said nothing for a long while.
With a rigid expression, he looked at Haeon, then at Yeoheon Jin again.
“Did President Jin agree to this as well?”
“Yes.”
“To a one-year marriage?”
“That’s right.”
“Why?”
It was a question Haeon wanted answered as well.
She turned her gaze toward him, wanting to hear what he would say.
“Because those are the terms Ms. Haeon Ki wants.”
Again.
That answer again.
Junmuk gave a hollow laugh.
“Marriage isn’t some children’s game where you can set the contract term however you please...”
“That’s why we intend to put it in writing.”
“President Jin.”
“Chairman.”
Yeoheon’s voice remained polite to the end.
“I decided it was better than forcing someone who doesn’t want to get married today to stand at the altar.”
Haeon’s breath caught for a moment.
Yeoheon didn’t waver in the slightest.
“We’ll handle Haedam’s current financial problems separately from whether the marriage takes place. We’ll also make sure the planned bridge loan goes through.”
Junmuk’s gaze changed.
“Is that possible?”
“I’ll make it possible.”
“What do you want in return?”
Junmuk asked the same question.
Haeon looked at him again.
Yeoheon was silent for a moment.
“Nothing.”
“There’s no such thing as a free deal between corporations.”
“This isn’t a deal between corporations. It’s about my marriage.”
“Exactly.”
Junmuk leaned forward.
“I’m asking why you’re willing to accept everything Haeon wants.”
At that moment, Yeoheon’s gaze shifted to Haeon.
It was so brief that she might have missed it.
But it was unmistakable.
Before answering Junmuk,
he looked at Haeon first.
“Because I decided to do so.”
That was all he said.
A tightness formed in one side of Haeon’s chest.
He hadn’t explained anything, yet for some reason, those words didn’t sound like simple stubbornness.
It was nearly 8:00 a.m. when they left the private room.
Her father remained dissatisfied to the end.
But faced with the fact that the wedding would not be canceled immediately and that Hyeonrok would maintain its planned financial support, he could not press the matter any further.
He only left them with a promise to review the final contract.
As they went upstairs to the floor where the makeup team was waiting, Haeon didn’t say a word.
Neither did Yeoheon.
Only after the elevator doors closed, leaving the two of them alone, did Haeon speak.
“Why didn’t you tell my father?”
“Tell him what?”
“What you want.”
“I told him I want nothing.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Yeoheon was looking straight ahead.
“You don’t have to believe it.”
“You said earlier that I was free to find out for myself.”
“Yes.”
Haeon moved one step to the side, blocking his path directly in front of him.
The narrow elevator brought them closer together.
“Then I’ll find out.”
His gaze lowered to her.
“You say it’s fine no matter what I do.”
She went through them one by one.
“I get to decide the length of the marriage.”
“Yes.”
“I can get a divorce whenever I want.”
“That’s right.”
“I can change the house if I don’t like it.”
“I’ll change it.”
“You won’t interfere in company matters.”
“If you don’t want me to.”
“You’ll only get involved in family matters if I allow it.”
“Yes.”
Haeon paused.
“And the only thing you asked for was that we tell each other if something major happens.”
The elevator continued upward in silence.
“Isn’t that strange?”
“What is?”
“The contract is so one-sided.”
Yeoheon closed his mouth as if thinking for a moment.
And unexpectedly, he did not deny it.
“It could be.”
“It’s not that it could be. It is.”
“Then should I add a condition that benefits me?”
“What condition?”
When she asked immediately, his eyes changed for a moment.
Yeoheon slowly opened his mouth.
“For one year.”
Haeon waited.
“Live however you want, Ms. Haeon Ki.”
“...How is that a condition that benefits you?”
“I’m not finished yet.”
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened, but he didn’t move.
“If you still want a divorce when that year is over...”
Their gazes met precisely.
“I won’t stop you.”
It was strange.
It sounded less like a condition and more like a promise.
“But.”
It was the first time.
The first time those words had come from Yeoheon Jin.
Haeon’s fingertips stopped moving.
“Until that year is over,”
he said in a low voice,
“please watch the choices I make as well.”
“What choices?”
Yeoheon did not answer.
Instead, he walked out through the open elevator doors first.
After a few steps, he stopped and turned around.
“You asked earlier.”
“Asked what?”
“Why I accept everything you want.”
Haeon slowly stepped outside.
“Yes.”
“For once,”
his voice dropped very low,
“I thought you should be allowed to live however you wanted.”
For a moment, she couldn’t say anything.
The sentence was strangely precise.
The thing she had never been able to tell anyone in her entire life.
The thing she had felt was most unfair, even until the moment she died.
The fact that she had never once lived according to her own wishes.
Why was Yeoheon Jin saying that?
Haeon watched his back as he walked away.
The suspicion she had carried since morning grew a little clearer.
Yeoheon Jin was hiding something from her.
And that secret might not have begun today.
Perhaps it hadn’t begun today at all.