My husband's fiancée came to see me on our wedding anniversary.
"Nice to meet you."
The woman who rang the doorbell was holding a bouquet of white roses in one hand.
"Are you Seoha Yoon?"
"Yes. Who are you?"
The woman studied me for a moment. Her gaze moved so slowly from head to toe that it felt downright rude.
She gave me a faint smile.
"You look more ordinary than I expected."
"I asked who you are."
"I'm Yerin Baek."
The moment I heard her name, my fingertips went cold.
Yerin Baek.
The only daughter of the chairman of Baekwoon Group—and the woman who had recently invested 30 billion won in my husband's company.
My husband had introduced her as an investor.
He said they had met a few times for business and had no personal relationship whatsoever.
But it wasn't common for an investor to show up at the CEO's home on his wedding anniversary dinner.
Especially not while carrying a pregnancy ultrasound photo.
Yerin Baek held out an envelope that had been tucked between the flowers.
"I thought it would be proper to give this to you in person."
Inside the envelope was a wedding invitation.
Groom: Taeyoon Kang.
Bride: Yerin Baek.
The wedding was exactly one month away.
I read the groom's name again. No matter how many times I looked at it, it was the name of the man who had married me five years ago.
"I think you've come to the wrong place."
It took several seconds before I could get my voice out.
"Taeyoon Kang is my husband."
"I know."
Yerin Baek wasn't surprised in the slightest.
Instead, she looked at me as if she pitied me.
"That's why I came."
She placed the ultrasound photo on top of the wedding invitation.
The gestational age written in one corner was twelve weeks.
When I had my miscarriage three months ago, my husband had been away on a business trip overseas.
He said the trip was for investment negotiations with Baekwoon Group.
"Taeyoon oppa told me. He said things between you two haven't been good for a long time."
Yerin Baek spoke casually.
"He also said you'd already given up on the baby."
"I didn't give up."
My voice rose before I could stop it.
"The baby... died."
"Isn't the result the same between the two of you?"
For a moment, I wanted to slap her across the face.
But I didn't raise my hand.
Instead, I grabbed the doorknob.
"Get out."
"I didn't want to meet you this way either."
"Get out."
"Taeyoon oppa said he'd take care of everything today. So don't put up too much of a fight."
I slammed the front door shut.
The sound of her heels faded beyond the door.
A meal for two had been set on the dining table. The steak had already gone cold, and the wine sat untouched, its cork still in place.
Beside the candle was the gift I'd planned to give my husband.
It was the same model as the fountain pen he'd lost when he first started his business. I'd spent six months searching for the discontinued model, which was nearly impossible to find.
A laugh suddenly escaped me.
I had been planning to give a fountain pen to a man who would be marrying another woman in a month.
Never imagining that he might demand I use that pen to sign the divorce papers.
A little after ten that night, the front door opened.
Taeyoon Kang walked in, loosening his tie as usual.
"Why are you sitting here with the lights off?"
I sat at the end of the dining table and stared at my husband.
Taeyoon noticed the coat hanging on the wall. It was the white coat Yerin Baek had deliberately left behind.
His expression hardened instantly.
"Yerin came by?"
"Yeah."
I placed the wedding invitation on the table.
"To tell me about your wedding."
"Seoha."
"What are you going to explain first?"
I set the ultrasound photo beside the invitation.
"That you're having her child? That you're getting married in a month? Or that today is our fifth wedding anniversary?"
Taeyoon let out a long sigh.
It wasn't the reaction of someone who had been caught doing something wrong.
It was the expression of someone confronted with an annoying problem.
It was so cruel I felt like crying.
"I was going to tell you today."
"If I set dinner and waited for you, were you planning to bring up the divorce at the table?"
"Stop being emotional and listen."
"Did you just tell me not to be emotional?"
"Raising your voice won't change anything."
Taeyoon took a document envelope from his bag.
It was the divorce settlement agreement.
The prepared document was filled with details about the division of assets.
Taeyoon said he would give me the apartment and 300 million won in cash.
That was what he thought five years of marriage were worth.
"I know you've worked hard all this time," he said.
"I'll transfer the house into your name. Three hundred million won should be enough for you to get by for a while."
"For a while?"
"You need to start over too, don't you?"
"Start what over?"
I flipped through the agreement.
"You mean I should start over by giving you the company I built and congratulating you on marrying another woman?"
"I'm the one who started the company."
"I was the one who brought in our first investor. I built the financial structure, and I wrote every word of the business plan you presented."
"I'm still the CEO."
"You were able to become CEO because of me."
My husband's company, Taerim Investments, had reached 2 trillion won in assets under management in just five years.
The media called Taeyoon Kang a genius investor.
But I was the one who had created the company's investment model and risk-management system.
Taeyoon was good at standing in front of people, while I was good with numbers. I thought we were the perfect married couple and business partners.
At least, I was the only one who thought so.
"That's why I'm offering you 300 million won."
Taeyoon's voice was cold.
"Because I acknowledge your contribution."
"You received 2.8 billion won in performance bonuses just last year."
"I earned that money with my own abilities."
"With the algorithm I developed."
"Can you prove it?"
He laughed.
I couldn't say anything.
I couldn't prove it.
Because I had trusted my husband.
All the materials we'd created in the early days of founding the company had been submitted under his name. I thought it was ridiculous to argue over ownership between a married couple.
Looking back, I was the ridiculous one.
"Once the Baekwoon Group investment is finalized, the company's value will triple."
Taeyoon spoke matter-of-factly.
"One of their conditions was that I marry Yerin."
"And you accepted?"
"Anyone in business would accept those terms."
"Was the child in that woman's womb a business condition too?"
Taeyoon's mouth snapped shut.
I let out a low laugh.
"At least that part wasn't in the contract, I suppose."
"Yerin and I love each other."
Taeyoon hesitated before speaking.
"It's different from what I had with you."
A blade drove straight through the center of my chest.
But instead of pain, my mind became startlingly clear.
"Since when?"
"Does that matter?"
"Were you seeing her even when my child died?"
"Seoha."
"You were away on a business trip, so I had to handle the funeral arrangements alone. It was our child."
"It's already over."
Those words killed the last of my lingering attachment.
I tore the agreement in half.
Slowly, starting precisely from the middle.
Taeyoon's face hardened.
"I'm not signing it."
"You'll regret that."
"Five years of regret is enough."
"Do you think you have a choice?"
My husband turned his phone screen toward me.
An internal company audit report bearing my name was displayed on it.
The charges were embezzling investment funds and leaking inside information.
There was a record showing 7 billion won had been withdrawn into an account I'd never seen before. The approving electronic signature was mine.
"What is this?"
"You know better than anyone."
"I didn't do this."
"But every record says you did."
My hands began to shake.
Not only the electronic signature, but the login records and approval times had been falsified too. It was evidence no one could have fabricated without preparing for a long time.
"You planned to pin this on me from the beginning?"
"If you agree to the divorce, I'll have the audit report destroyed."
"And if I don't?"
"I'll submit it to the police tomorrow morning."
Taeyoon placed a new document beside the torn agreement.
He had brought another copy of the exact same divorce settlement agreement.
"Sign it by midnight."
"Are you even human?"
"I'm offering you good terms because I am human."
He checked his watch.
"You have two hours left."
"Even if I go to prison, I won't do what you want."
"If you keep being stubborn, your mother will be in danger too."
I stopped as I rose from my chair.
"Why are you bringing up my mother?"
"The nursing hospital deposit was covered by the company's welfare foundation, wasn't it?"
"You said you'd take care of it."
"If you refuse the divorce, the support will be cut off starting next month. It won't be easy to move her to another hospital right away."
He had already burned every place I could run to.
The company. My money. My family.
After isolating me completely, he held out a single document.
The man who had asked for nothing when we got married was trying to take everything from me in the divorce.
"Get out. Now."
My voice didn't tremble.
"Get out of this house."
"It's my house too."
"You said you'd hand it over for 300 million won. Pretend you already handed it over and leave."
Taeyoon stared at me for a moment, then gave a derisive chuckle.
"Yerin was right. You have no grasp of reality."
He picked up Yerin Baek's coat.
"Contact me before midnight. After that, even I won't be able to help you."
The front door closed.
The house fell silent.
I couldn't move for a long time.
In the wedding photo hanging on the wall, we were smiling happily. We had been poor, but back then we believed that having only each other was enough.
I took the photo down and set it on the floor.
The sound of the glass breaking was quieter than I'd expected.
My phone rang.
It was the nursing hospital's number. They had called several times since the afternoon.
"Yes, this is Seoha Yoon, her guardian."
—I'm calling about the support for your mother's hospital expenses.
My uneasy premonition had been right.
—The welfare foundation has requested that the support be discontinued. You'll need to pay an additional deposit by next week.
"How much?"
—Including the unpaid treatment costs, 84 million won.
I bit my lip.
I had only 20 million won in my bank account. Most of the money I'd earned while working for the company had gone toward my mother's medical expenses and Taeyoon's initial business capital.
"Please give me one week."
I hung up and sank to the floor.
I wanted to call Taeyoon and demand an explanation.
I wanted to scream at him for going after my mother too.
But even if I did, the only answer I'd get was the one he wanted.
Sign it.
Agree to the divorce.
Leave everything you built behind and disappear.
Then the doorbell rang again.
I thought Yerin Baek had come back.
Stepping on shards from the broken frame, I went to the front door.
"What do you want now—"
There was no one outside.
Instead, a single black box had been left in front of the door.
My name was written on top.
Recipient: Seoha Yoon.
There was no sender.
When I opened the box, I found an old leather ledger and a USB drive. The ledger's cover bore Taerim Investments' old logo.
It was the logo we'd used only during the company's first year.
I opened the ledger.
The first few pages contained ordinary records of deposits and withdrawals.
But the farther back I went, the larger the numbers became.
1 billion won.
2.3 billion won.
4.7 billion won.
The money had come from Baekwoon Group's overseas subsidiaries and gone into Taerim Investments' shell companies. Some had flowed into accounts under Taeyoon Kang's name, while some had been passed to politicians and officials at financial regulatory agencies.
The amount recorded on the final page was 10 billion won.
It also documented where the 7 billion won I'd been framed for embezzling had actually gone.
I wasn't the one who had taken the money.
It was Taeyoon Kang and Yerin Baek.
A folded note slipped out from between the pages.
There was only one handwritten sentence.
'If you want to live, do not sign the divorce settlement agreement.'
Written beneath it were a hotel name and a room number.
11:30 p.m.
Thirty minutes remained until midnight.
It could have been a trap.
It was also possible Taeyoon had prepared this to accuse me of stealing the ledger.
But the moment I checked the back of the note, I changed my mind.
Written there was the date of my miscarriage.
And one more short sentence.
'Your child did not die in an accident.'
I couldn't breathe.
At the time of the miscarriage, the doctor had said overwork and stress were the likely causes. I had told them I'd suffered severe abdominal pain after taking the supplements Taeyoon had prepared for me, but the tests hadn't found anything.
The person who had brought me those supplements was Yerin Baek.
She said they were a gift she'd received to commemorate investing in my husband's company.
I put the ledger and USB drive in my bag.
I threw on my coat and left the house.
It took twenty minutes to reach the hotel by taxi.
When I arrived in front of the room, it was 11:27 p.m.
I knocked, and a man's voice came from inside.
"It's open."
I pushed the door open carefully.
A man was sitting inside the room.
He wore a black shirt and a dark gray suit. Despite his immaculate appearance, there were two glasses on the table.
One was empty, and the other was filled with wine.
I recognized his face immediately.
Dogyeom Cha.
The CEO of Dogyeom Partners, the largest private equity firm in the country.
Taeyoon's most feared competitor—and the man who had tried to acquire Taerim Investments three times.
"Are you the one who sent the ledger?"
"Yes."
Dogyeom Cha looked at my bag before looking at my face.
"You brought it."
"What did you mean about my child?"
"Please sit."
"Answer me first."
"Misoprostol was detected in the supplements Seoha Yoon took."
It was a drug name I'd never heard before.
But I understood the explanation that followed.
It was a drug used to induce abortions.
Someone had put it in the supplements I was taking.
"Do you have proof?"
Dogyeom Cha placed the test results on the table.
They listed my name, the date of my miscarriage, and the substance that had been detected.
"How did you get this?"
"I had the blood sample kept at the hospital retested."
"Why?"
"Because I was investigating Taeyoon Kang."
"Then do you know who did it?"
"Not to a level that would hold up in court yet."
"I asked who."
Dogyeom looked at me for a moment.
"Yerin Baek bought the supplements, and Taeyoon Kang gave them to you."
The strength drained from my legs.
I grabbed the back of a chair.
My husband hadn't answered the phone while I lay in a hospital bed after losing our child.
He said he was busy on his business trip.
That day, he had been with Yerin Baek.
They had gotten rid of my child and made a new one.
"Do you want to kill them?"
Dogyeom Cha asked.
I slowly raised my head.
"Killing them would be too easy."
My own voice sounded unfamiliar.
"If they die, it ends."
"Then what do you want?"
"I want to take everything Taeyoon Kang has."
His company.
His money.
His reputation.
Even the arrogance that made him believe he could keep Yerin Baek and the child she would give birth to safe.
"I'll make him get discarded more miserably than I was."
A faint smile appeared at the corners of Dogyeom's mouth.
As if he'd been waiting for those words, he held out a document.
I narrowed my eyes when I read the title.
Marriage contract.
"What's this?"
"I'm proposing a deal."
"Are you saying I should marry you?"
"More precisely, become my fiancée. Publicly."
Dogyeom crossed his legs leisurely.
"Baekwoon Group is trying to take control of Taerim Investments through Taeyoon Kang's marriage to Yerin Baek. But if Taeyoon Kang's ex-wife becomes engaged to me, the situation changes."
"I'm not his ex-wife yet."
"That's what you think."
Dogyeom took out another document.
It was a divorce registration form.
Husband: Taeyoon Kang.
Wife: Seoha Yoon.
Beneath the document was a signature in my name that I had never written.
The filing date was two months ago.
"Taeyoon Kang is already divorced," Dogyeom said.
"Without Seoha Yoon's knowledge."
I picked up the document.
My fingertips trembled.
"This is forged."
"I know."
"Then if we cancel the filing—"
"It'll take a month. By then, Taeyoon Kang will be married to Yerin Baek. The merger of the two companies will be finished too."
"Why are you helping me?"
"I told you. This is a deal, not help."
He pushed the marriage contract toward me.
"I want Taerim Investments. And you want Taeyoon Kang's ruin."
"How can I help you?"
"Because you're the one who actually created Taerim's investment model."
Dogyeom knew I couldn't deny it.
"You know how to bring the company down, and I have the money to save what's left after it falls."
He took out a fountain pen and placed it on the contract.
"While you bankrupt your husband, I'll protect you."
"And in exchange, I become your fiancée?"
"For a hundred days."
"What happens after that?"
"The engagement ends, and your husband's company becomes yours."
Then my phone rang.
It was Taeyoon Kang.
Three minutes remained until midnight.
When I answered, I heard my husband's cold voice.
—Have you made your decision?
I looked at Dogyeom Cha.
Without a word, he opened the marriage contract for me to see.
—If you don't sign, your life is over.
"I understand."
I picked up the fountain pen Dogyeom had handed me.
—Then I'll come home now.
"No."
I wrote my name beneath the marriage contract.
Seoha Yoon.
"I'm not signing your papers."
—Seoha Yoon.
"And I'm getting married."
Silence fell on the other end of the phone.
—What?
I looked at my husband's nemesis.
Dogyeom Cha took the fountain pen from my hand and wrote his own name.
"See you at your wedding in a month."
I hung up.
At that moment, midnight arrived.
The day my marriage ended.
The second engagement—the one that would bankrupt my husband—had begun.