“I know I said I wanted to marry him because he's exactly my type, and that's true. But that's not the whole reason.”
“Then what is?”
“I don't want anyone else taking him from me. And... I think I would've wanted to marry him even if there wasn't a single business advantage in it. Besides...” He paused. “I want to get him out of that house as soon as possible.”
Silence settled over the dining room.
Until that moment, it had been easy to think Cha Sejin was recklessly throwing himself into marriage simply because he'd fallen for a handsome face.
But when he said he wanted to get Eunwon out of that house, there wasn't a trace of his usual playfulness on his face.
“Are you sure you won't regret it?”
“I honestly don't know what'll happen after we get married. But if I don't marry him because I'm worried about that...” He shrugged. “I'm certain that is something I'd regret.”
His father held Sejin's gaze for a long moment before giving a slow nod.
“Very well. If that's truly how you feel, then we'll proceed with the marriage arrangements.”
His father picked up his silverware again and resumed eating.
Cha Sena, who had been listening with bated breath, immediately broke into a radiant smile and turned toward Sejin.
“So you're really getting married, Sejin? Congratulations! I honestly thought you'd never get married!”
“You're either congratulating me or making fun of me. Pick one.”
“Obviously I'm congratulating you!”
Sejin laughed at his younger sister, who had already forgotten she'd been pouting after he teased her earlier.
As Cha Segyu launched into another lecture, Sejin shook his head and clamped his hands over his ears.
The sight made everyone except Segyu burst into laughter.
The lecture was muffled behind his hands, but he could still see his family smiling as Segyu continued scolding him.
Looking at them, Sejin suddenly remembered Eunwon, who had been unable to make a sound as tears streamed endlessly down his face.
Even after thinking it over again...
I don't think I could ever become Eunwon's unhappiness.
Not under any circumstances.
***
The table was filled with delicious food.
His father, whose life everyone had feared for, had returned safely.
Madam Seo had become warm and affectionate again.
And yet, somehow, Eunwon couldn't relax throughout the meal.
His father and Madam Seo no longer needed to thank him or apologize, yet they continued doing both over and over.
Those repeated words of gratitude and apology left him strangely uneasy.
Still, the thought that his decision had kept their family from falling apart brought him enough relief to swallow the food despite the discomfort twisting in his stomach.
After everyone told him not to worry about anything and to get plenty—really plenty—of rest, Eunwon returned to his room.
So much had happened in a single day that all he wanted was to fall asleep without thinking.
Wanting to wash away even a little of the day's heaviness, he stood beneath the warm water for a long time.
By the time he came out, someone had already left a cup of tea for him.
Blowing gently across the steaming surface, he carried it to his desk and took a sip.
He felt exhausted enough to collapse into bed, but it hadn't been that long since dinner.
If I go straight to sleep now, I'll probably upset my stomach.
I'll stay awake for just one more hour.
Wrapping both hands around the warm cup, he savored another sip.
“...”
Now that he was alone, the person who had occupied the largest part of his day abruptly came to mind again.
Cha Sejin.
Eunwon opened his laptop and typed Cha Sejin into a web portal's search bar.
He knew almost nothing about the man he was going to marry.
Maybe searching online would tell him something.
Sejin wasn't an ordinary person, after all. As a member of a business conglomerate's controlling family, surely there would be information about him.
The search results loaded.
The first thing that appeared was a profile.
Cha Sejin
Business Executive
Affiliation: S Group (Executive Director, Head of S Group Retail Strategy Division)
Family: Father Cha Taejun, mother Min Seoyeong, older brother Cha Segyu, younger sister Cha Sena
Education: Bachelor's degree, Vandermere University
Career: Executive Director of S Group; Head of S Group Retail Strategy Division
Information managed by the individual or an authorized representative.
“So... he has an older brother and a younger sister...”
Learning that Sejin was the middle child, Eunwon scrolled a little farther.
A page titled Wiki Story appeared.
Almost unconsciously, he clicked it.
Cha Sejin (車世進)
1. Overview
A South Korean business executive.
Executive Director of S Group—the nation's highest-ranked business conglomerate—and Head of S Group Retail Strategy Division.
The second son of Chairman Cha Taejun and Chairwoman Min Seoyeong.
A dominant Alpha belonging to the extremely rare top 0.01% of the population.
Born on May 2.
Currently twenty-eight years old.
2. Biography
Born as the second son among two sons and one daughter to Chairman Cha Taejun of S Group and Chairwoman Min Seoyeong of the S Group Cultural Foundation.
After graduating from the prestigious American private school Ainsworth Academy, he earned a degree in economics from Vandermere University in the United States, an institution famous for educating the children of political and business elites from around the world.
Upon returning to Korea, he joined S Group Trading as an entry-level employee, but resigned only three days later after clashing with his supervisor(?). Following formal successor training, he rose through the company at extraordinary speed.
He currently serves as Executive Director of S Group and Head of its Retail Strategy Division.
Unlike his older brother, Executive Director Cha Segyu, who followed the textbook path of an elite successor, he is infamous throughout the business world as a notorious troublemaker with a long list of high-profile scandals.
2.1 Management
Although widely known for being somewhat unreliable, whenever he takes charge of a major project, his decisiveness and exceptional execution consistently produce remarkable results—to the point that even people who complain about him end up saying, “Our Executive Director is the best.”
One of his most famous achievements came in his very first year as Head of S Group's Retail Strategy Division, when he derailed a rival company's attempted merger and acquisition aimed at challenging S Group through a blistering public remark.
His statement—
“A garbage collector paying premium prices for trash.”
—became a sensation.
Most recently, he has been overseeing the large-scale Arche Resort project with Baum Construction.
3. Incidents and Scandals
His extraordinary appearance, combined with his status as a top-tier dominant Alpha, has made him the center of countless scandals.
Strictly speaking, they all concern his private life, but there is no denying that the constant controversies have repeatedly created owner-related risks for the company.
Most recently, a famous actress became the center of attention after publicly calling him out during a livestream.
At one point, predicting who would become Cha Sejin's next scandal partner even became a trend.
Since he is a third-generation heir of a business conglomerate family, many expect him to enter an arranged marriage, and speculation is rampant over who the next headline-making spouse will be.
Many also predict the marriage will become nothing more than a show marriage and wonder how many years it would last.
His completely unfiltered way of speaking and arrogant attitude have earned him countless enemies by making scandal management nearly impossible.
Sejin himself, however, appears not to care in the slightest.
4. Trivia
Hopelessly obsessed with good looks: Every one of the people involved in his past scandals has been exceptionally attractive, becoming a topic of public discussion. People joke that if he weren't an executive at a conglomerate, he'd be better suited to running an entertainment agency because of how impossibly high his standards for appearance are.
Despises sweets: He hates sweet foods such as chocolate and cake so intensely that he refuses to drink coffee if it contains even a single drop of syrup.
“Just smelling something sweet makes it feel like my brain is melting.”
Family relationships: Like most siblings, he and his older brother, Cha Segyu, alternate between getting along and driving each other crazy. Still, they've often been spotted making time every baseball season to attend S Group Titans games together, suggesting they're actually quite close. He is also extremely close to his younger sister, Cha Sena, giving rise to rumors that he's hopelessly doting on her. Sena herself, however, once reportedly told a college classmate:
“My brother isn't a siscon. He's just an idiot.”
After reading the entire page, Eunwon wasn't sure what he'd just read.
He'd expected something unusual.
But Cha Sejin really was... about as far from ordinary as a person could be.
He had quit his job after only three days because he'd clashed with his supervisor.
He had so many scandals that people had once made a game out of predicting who he'd be involved with next.
This wasn't an ordinary marriage.
It was an arranged marriage.
So perhaps none of that should matter to him very much...
Even so, realizing he'd have to keep seeing things like this from now on left him feeling more than a little overwhelmed.
Until now, whatever kind of life Sejin lived had nothing to do with him.
But not anymore.
The moment they married, every scandal surrounding Cha Sejin would inevitably become his problem as well.
Still...
At least Sejin seemed to have a good relationship with his family.
If even that had been terrible, he honestly didn't know what he would have done.
Feeling slightly reassured, Eunwon closed the Wiki Story page and scrolled farther down.
More articles mentioning Cha Sejin appeared.
Cha Sejin in Another Scandal.
Another Casual Relationship?
His Partners Always End Up Hurt.
Every headline condemned him.
“...”
He didn't even need to open the articles to guess what they said.
Closing his laptop, Eunwon walked over to the bed.
He needed to know what kind of man he was going to marry.
That much was unavoidable.
But now that he actually knew a little about Cha Sejin...
He felt even more overwhelmed than before.
He didn't know what kind of mindset he was supposed to have going into an arranged marriage.
He wasn't confident he could handle it.
The uncertainty steadily wore away at his courage, leaving him feeling smaller and smaller.