Director Baek nodded. Meanwhile, the elevator opened, and Seorin and Director Baek got on, but Mr. Lee and Director Baek struggled to decide whether to get on with them.
“We’ll take the next one, sir.”
Finally, when they decided to take the next elevator, Director Park also stepped back as if making an appointment.
“I’ll take the next one as well.”
Seorin nodded. It might be better to climb the stairs than to be trapped in a confined space with them.
Pressing the floor for both Mr. Baek’s office and her own, Seorin and Director Baek looked at each other.
They both entered the elevator as the doors closed. A moment of silence passed because there was nothing to say.
But Director Baek broke the silence first.
“I heard the story.”
Seorin raised her black eyes to look at Director Baek.
“What story?”
“He’s done to you, Jo Minhyung.”
Chairman Baek still spoke with his gaze fixed ahead, but his facial muscles twitched as he uttered Jo Minhyung’s name.
“Oh, that. How did you find out?”
“Does it matter how I found out?”
“No.”
Her response was as expressionless as a doll, devoid of any emotion. It was hard to believe that someone who had undergone such a significant event could be so indifferent.
But Chairman Baek knows. Even if she doesn’t show her emotions, it doesn’t mean there are no wounds.
Seorin is truly detestable to him.
Due to her, his brother’s once happy family was ruined, and as a result, Chairman Baek lived like a recluse for a while.
The little girl who returned alone from that terrible accident was incredibly resented.
But this was a different story from his own hatred.
He couldn’t forgive Jo Minhyung for what he had done to Seorin.
“I… I did meet Jo Minhyung. As you know, doesn’t that guy own around 4% of the shares?”
“Yes. I know. I didn’t tell you not to meet him. I even cheered for you to meet him well.”
She responded calmly without a hint of retreat. However, her black eyes were quietly filled with anger.
Meanwhile, the elevator reached the floor where Seorin’s office was. As the doors opened, and she stepped out, Chairman Baek’s voice echoed behind her.
“I won’t meet him either. I don’t need the shares that trash has… no need at all.”
“!”
“So, don’t be fooled.”
At the unexpected words, Seorin turned to look back. Through the closing elevator doors, she could see Chairman Baek’s face, unreadable, disappearing.
And at that moment, the last words he uttered pierced her heart.
“No matter what others say, you… are a part of Seongwon.”
The next evening, Taehoon, after much contemplation, parked his car in front of the relative’s house where Han Jiseon was staying.
Although he didn’t want to act recklessly like this, coming all the way to the front of the house of someone who refused to meet him, he had no other hope than Han Jiseon.
It was not definite evidence, but every puzzle seemed to prove that his mother and Chairman Baek had a hidden relationship.
He had been searching for evidence that could raise objections, but nothing concrete had surfaced about such an old event.
Therefore, a powerful blow that could overturn all these truths at once was needed.
And the truth that everyone was shouting in unison was that Han Jiseon and her mother were very close. Also, to prevent false rumors, Han Jiseon had made everyone in the household undergo a strict inspection of their words.
Inspection of words.
Why did Han Jiseon conduct such a thorough inspection of the words of the household members?
Was it because she knew something?
Taehoon familiarized himself with the photo of Han Jiseon sent by Sodam. He needed to recognize her appearance to be able to identify her.
Han Jiseon was a woman in her 60s with a faded short cut and an ordinary appearance.
Traces of time, marked by resilient wrinkles, adorned a very ordinary woman with a small stature.
Just as I was now diverting my gaze from the phone, a woman holding a black plastic bag was occasionally walking towards me from the other side.
Taehoon looked back at the phone, compared the photo with the woman, and confirmed that she was Han Jiseon. Due to her dyed hair, making her look much younger, he almost failed to recognize her.
He got out of the car before she pressed the doorbell and approached cautiously before she entered the house.
As she arrived at the front of the house and pressed the doorbell, he cautiously approached and spoke.
“Han Jiseon.”
“Who… are you?”
Turning around, she widened her eyes in surprise at Taehoon’s robust build.
“I am Kang Taehoon.”
He introduced himself, maintaining a reasonable distance, deliberately keeping a distance, considering that his better physique might feel threatening to her in such a situation.
“Um… I really have no idea who you are… Do you know me?”
“Oh, yes. I am the son of Jung Oksun, who passed away 20 years ago. My secretary may have contacted you several times. I wanted to meet you.”
“Ah…”
“I’m sorry. I came in such a hurry. I really wanted to talk to Ms. Han Jiseon, so I came here, despite the inconvenience.”
Han Jiseon’s eyes flashed with shock and confusion.
“But I was too hasty. I apologize. You clearly expressed that you don’t want to meet.”
“Yes. But I heard that you were very close to our mother. I met the people who worked in that house at the time, but I couldn’t hear the exact story. If you have time, could we talk for a moment?”
“No. I’m sorry. I don’t want to talk.”
Despite Han Jiseon’s firm expression of refusal as she turned away, Taehoon couldn’t let her go like this because she was his last hope.
And his desperation was manifested through action. He clasped her wrist as she turned away.
“Please! Please… I beg you. It’ll only take a moment. Just a moment…”
He had never made such a desperate plea to anyone before. Not even when he begged his father not to hit him in his childhood. And he had never been in a position of weakness more than now, always superior to others.
But today, he felt incredibly small in the face of the colossal truth. If kneeling was necessary, he would kneel. If that could overturn the cruel reality. If only that could happen.
However, the heavens were not on his side.
“You’re doing this for her sake! Knowing the truth hurts!”
“…”
However, the heavens were not on his side.
“It’s for your own good! Knowing the truth will hurt!”
“…….”
“So, please, don’t ask anymore. Please….”
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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