Funeral hall.
Grandfather’s wake was as vast as his lifetime fame, bustling with countless mourners.
“How did a wedding turn into a funeral?”
“I know… We never thought the Chairman would pass so abruptly. I heard President Yoon and his wife are in critical condition too.”
The endless stream of visitors kept glancing at me, whispering among themselves.
Even without hearing their words, I could guess what they were saying just from their eyes.
It must’ve been about the scorching headlines and media frenzy.
After all, I’d lost every last blood relative in an instant and become the sole heir, on my wedding day, no less.
“What if the couple passes too? With no son, he left behind just one daughter.”
“Who’ll be the successor then? Will the daughter take over?”
“Don’t be ridiculous… What could an anchor possibly know about running things?”
It wasn’t the first time. Having endured people’s cold, calculating attitudes more than enough in my past life, I was fine.
Yet every now and then, watching Seo Ji Han greet guests at my side made my throat tighten.
‘He isn’t even my official husband yet.’
He stood beside me as if already my husband, welcoming people, his presence utterly infuriating.
Just as I was overwhelmed greeting mourners, a familiar group approached from afar.
“To think Chairman Yoon passed like this… It was just yesterday’s wedding… Representative Seo is genuinely kind, helping out like this.”
Vice Chairman Kim Young Min of W Group arrived, his face grim, gripping Seo Ji Han’s hands instead of mine.
Seo Ji Han glanced briefly at my reaction before nodding to Kim Young Min and guiding him toward the wake.
“No, Vice Chairman. Please allow me to escort you to your seat.”
“Very well… The young lady wouldn’t know much anyway. Representative Seo, you must assist her greatly. It’s reassuring having you here.”
Kim Young Min, he was a man whose insides were as black as a serpent’s heart.
Even as he passed me following Seo Ji Han, I could feel Kim Young Min’s gaze cling to me.
He’d also played a major role in W Group’s merger into Ho Jin.
Clearly, the two had been laying groundwork together long before this.
Swallowing my rising fury, I turned to Seo Ji Han as he returned to my side.
“So you’re close with Vice Chairman Kim Young Min?”
“Close? We’ve only met a few times for business.”
His calm lie made disillusionment boil deep within my chest.
How could I have been so blind to such obvious, shallow tricks?
“Let’s talk for a moment.”
I left the crowded wake and headed outside the hospital.
Seo Ji Han simply followed silently behind me.
The wake had been set up just days after we’d fled the wedding hall, and he’d shown up from the first day, sitting with me as if nothing were amiss.
The situation was unfolding with terrifying precision, exactly like in my past life.
At this rate, Seo Ji Han would seize W Group under the pretense of being my husband, exploiting the sudden deaths of my parents.
When I stopped on a secluded hospital walkway, Seo Ji Han halted too.
“You should leave now.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not just a mourner, how can I leave?”
“We haven’t even held the proper ceremony. We’re not married yet.”
Our engagement from a year ago was all we’d had.
At my words, he scowled fiercely, then smoothed his furrowed brow, a telltale habit he only showed when displeased.
His eyes, initially flustered and wavering, soon settled into calm composure.
“Sigh… I understand you’re not in your right mind enough to think rationally.”
“…”
“The Chairman and Vice Chairman are also here, keeping vigil. How can I possibly leave?”
The gentle way he spoke to me felt so naturally husband-like I nearly believed it myself.
“We can hold the ceremony again on a better day. You need me right now, what does formality matter?”
He looked down at me with certainty in his eyes, clearly believing I’d accept his childish stubbornness.
Seo Ji Han still seemed convinced our marriage was valid.
“I’ll handle all the messy succession and inheritance issues. You just rest.”
He pretended to care while greedily securing his own interests with those infuriating words.
In my past life, I’d been fooled by his sweet lies, but now, I saw clearly.
Beneath the feigned concern in his eyes as he reached for my hand, raw greed was unmistakable.
The moment I pulled my hand away, an unfamiliar ringtone echoed through the silence.
“…Just a moment.”
Seo Ji Han pulled out his ringing phone from his jacket pocket.
Catching a glimpse of the unsaved number, he bit his lower lip.
Our eyes nearly met before he quickly turned his head away.
A stark shift from his earlier composure.
‘Why’s he so flustered?’
It was as if he couldn’t possibly take this call in front of me.
Staring into his darkening eyes, memories from my past life slowly overlapped.
‘Wait… if I recall correctly…’
Five years ago, around this time, Seo Ji Han had left after receiving a call and never returned until after the funeral.
When he finally arrived, he was still in the same suit he’d worn that day.
My suspicion hardened into certainty.
“You seem busy, just take the call.”
At my offhand remark, countless emotions flickered in Seo Ji Han’s eyes.
Still hesitating as the phone rang persistently, he finally answered right before it cut off.
“Hello? Yeah. Now? I can’t right now.”
As he spoke, he glanced at me furtively before turning away.
“I already said I can’t.”
His unusually low, hushed tone felt strange.
I had a vague idea of who on the other end was putting him in such a bind.
Only one person could fluster Seo Ji Han like this.
‘Chae Seo Rin.’
Seo Ji Han’s eyes trembled faintly as he listened to the voice on the line.
The fact that someone as self-centered as Seo Ji Han was so flustered proved how special she was to him.
“Sigh… Fine. I’m coming now.”
“What call was that?”
“Seems there’s an issue at the company. Like you said, I should probably go check it out.”
‘It’s not the company, it’s Chae Seo Rin on the phone!’ The words rose to my throat but stayed unspoken.
Each newly revealed truth from my past life left my mouth dry and bitter.
All I could do was let out a hollow laugh at how I’d once believed such obvious lies.
I’d believed him.
Thought there truly was an urgent company matter. Mistook his exaggerated behavior for genuine worry over my being alone.
‘…Never realizing he was anxious about being caught cheating.’
Wearing an awkward smile, he gently wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
“You don’t need to come back.”
Just stay by Chae Seo Rin’s side for the rest of your life.
Seo Ji Han looked at me, more resolute than before, then removed his hand from my shoulder.
“I’ll finish the meeting and come right back.”
My hand, lifting sweat-dampened hair stuck to my forehead, dropped limply into the air.
“Ha.”
Only the loud rush of water filled the restroom.
I exhaled a heavy breath through my lips and braced myself against the sink with both arms.
His retreating back kept replaying in my mind, growing clearer each time.
“Fucking bastard.”
They say knowledge brings clarity. Since regressing, I’d realized just how foolish I’d been in my past life.
It had been an utterly exhausting day, standing guard alone at the wake, greeting countless mourners until I was drained.
Leaning against the wall, I felt I’d fall asleep instantly, my body heavy as a waterlogged sponge.
When I returned to the wake, the clock read 1 a.m.
The crowd that had flooded in like a tide had vanished, leaving behind a heavy, oppressive silence.
Sitting alone, I closed my heavy eyelids as loneliness seeped into my chest.
I was alone again.
It was unbearable, even after coming back, I couldn’t save my family.
“I’m sorry, Grandfather…”
My shoulders shook until my vision blurred, and I finally drifted into exhausted sleep.
In my slumber, I faintly felt something warm cover my shoulders.
Then, the gentle shake of someone’s hand roused me awake.
“Madam, if you’re tired, please go rest.”
It was the housekeeper who’d come from home to bring me fresh clothes.
As I slowly sat up, the suit jacket draped over my shoulders slid down.
A familiar, light citrus scent drifted up.
The same calming fragrance I’d smelled before.
“Did you put this jacket on me?”
“No, not me. It’s a man’s suit jacket. Must’ve been the President who covered you.”
“It couldn’t have been him…”
It wasn’t Seo Ji Han. He wouldn’t return until after the funeral rites ended.
Vaguely, I recalled something similar happening in my past life too.
Back then, I’d never found out who the jacket belonged to…
A rustling sound caught my ear.
I reached into the jacket’s inner pocket and pulled out something that had caught inside.
“A passport?”
Alongside the passport, which I’d never seen in my past life, a business card dropped to the floor with a soft thud.
A black sedan pulled up in front of the man stepping out of the hospital.
The secretary, glancing at Kang Jae Ha in the passenger seat, asked him,
Since he’d clearly been neatly dressed when entering the funeral hall earlier.
“President, how come you left without your suit jacket?”
“It just happened.”
Even to the secretary’s question, his reply ended abruptly with “it just happened.”
Kang Jae Ha fell silent, staring out the window as if lost in thought.
“Ah, yes. We’ll head out now.”
The car started and sped down the empty road. The city, heading toward the hotel in the pre-dawn hours, was unnervingly quiet.
Secretary Han glanced at Kang Jae Ha, still gazing out the window, and cautiously asked,
“But President, since you came without the Chairman knowing… was attending the funeral really necessary?”
“…”
“Aren’t your relations… uncomfortable?”
Uncomfortable relations, Kang Jae Ha supposed that was true.
After all, she was no longer his fiancée, she was now the woman destined to marry his half-brother.
Kang Jae Ha seemed lost in thought at the secretary’s question before finally speaking.
“It’s been a while.”
He swallowed the words, ‘And I wanted to see her too…’ it was the first time he’d seen her since rejecting the marriage.
He recalled draping his jacket over her as she slept curled up…
A recklessly impulsive act, completely unlike himself.
‘If not for that report, I wouldn’t have even stopped by the funeral hall.’
Remembering the report he’d received the moment he landed, Kang Jae Ha pressed his lips tightly shut.
Secretary Han, watching Kang Jae Ha from the corner of his eye, gently shifted the topic.
“Also, just now I heard President Yoon and his wife are in very critical condition.”
“…How bad?”
Kang Jae Ha, who’d been gazing indifferently out the window, finally turned his head.
Seeing Kang Jae Ha finally show interest, Secretary Han continued,
“The doctors said there’s no hope of them waking up. Moreover, shareholders are moving restlessly… apparently, there’s a strong faction pushing to merge the two companies, though no one knows what terms they’re offering.”
A merger…
Not only was she stuck with an absent husband, but now she couldn’t even protect her own share.
It was a battle far too heavy for a sheltered twenty-nine-year-old woman.
‘Come to think of it, there was a passport in that jacket…’
The forgotten passport suddenly flashed in his mind.
Kang Jae Ha’s brows furrowed sharply as he quickly reached toward his secretary.
“Secretary Han, just a moment.”
“Yes…?”
“Stop the car. We need to turn back.”