THB 1

Smack!

Choi Anna, who was significantly taller than the average adult male, slapped Go Eunjae across the face.

A sharp, metallic taste spread in her mouth—she must have bitten the inside of her cheek upon impact. Blood mixed with saliva and trickled down her throat.

Her dulled hearing quickly returned.

“You rude little bitch!”

Before the sting on her cheek had even subsided, Choi Anna spat out another string of curses.

Eunjae didn’t bother wishing her hearing had taken longer to return. She could just let it go in one ear and out the other.

There’s no need to listen to any of this anyway.

For over an hour, Choi Anna hurled abuse at her without rhyme or reason. Despite her middle age, her stamina and strength rivaled that of a much younger woman.

Why was she doing this?

Letting the insults wash over her, Eunjae calmly sorted through her thoughts.

She and her grandmother had moved out of the mansion the moment Chairman Choi Chihyeol passed away.

Aside from ballet sponsorships, they had received no financial support. After her grandmother collapsed, they had relied on their savings and insurance to cover hospital bills.

Now, a year after the chairman’s passing, there was only one possible reason Choi Anna was behaving this way.

“I don’t keep in touch with Noa.”

“Fuck! Do you think I give a shit about that? Shut your damn mouth!”

If that wasn’t it, then what was?

Choi Anna huffed, glancing around.

“Seriously, today, I’m going to—”

When Choi Anna, unable to contain her temper, grabbed a golf club, Go Eunjae stiffened with tension.

At that moment, Choi Anna’s secretary, who had been silently observing, finally intervened.

“Madam, you mustn’t resort to direct violence.”

Wasn’t slapping someone considered direct violence?

How considerate of them to step in so quickly.

With her face frozen from frequent cosmetic procedures, Choi Anna had lost not only her wrinkles but also her expressions. The only thing that changed was the redness in her eyes, burning with fury.

Eunjae had always known that Choi Anna had violent tendencies, but this was the first time she had seen her react with such excessive aggression—swinging at anything within reach like a berserk storm.

“Haah… Water.”

“Here you go, madam.”

Piecing together Choi Anna’s words after she drank the water her secretary had prepared, Eunjae got the gist of the situation.

Chairman Choi Chihyeol had written two wills.

One of them had just been revealed—one and a half years later, on December 1st, right after Eunjae became an adult.

And that seemed to be the issue for Choi Anna.

There had been so much cursing that Eunjae couldn’t be sure she had understood everything correctly.

“You—do you keep in touch with Choi Jubin?”

Choi Jubin was the eldest son of Choi Anna’s half-brother, Choi Taeung.

Eunjae could barely remember what he looked like, let alone have any reason to contact him.

“You little—! Why aren’t you answering right away?”

She had only hesitated for a moment in thought, but that was enough for Choi Anna to explode again.

“I don’t.”

“Are you saying you won’t answer, or that you don’t contact him?”

“I don’t contact him.”

“Damn it! I can’t even kill you, but—ugh! Aaargh!”

Dragged by her hair, forced to kneel for over an hour, and slapped without knowing why—

But isn’t killing me a bit much?

Back when she lived in the mansion, she endured everything for the sake of her grandmother and Chairman Choi Chihyeol. But now, she had no reason to hold back.

Even if Choi Anna wouldn’t actually kill her, she was certainly capable of making her life unbearable.

Especially since she was the type to take pleasure in crushing those who didn’t submit to her.

“What about Kim Jongwook?”

That was the only son of Choi Sookhyun, Choi Anna’s half-sister and Choi Taeung’s younger sister.

Recently, Eunjae had received several calls from an unknown number, but she hadn’t been sure who it was.

“I did get calls from an unknown number, but I was working and couldn’t answer.”

“That bastard already tried calling? Block him immediately.”

“……”

“Are your ears blocked? Did you not hear me?”

Her hearing had been momentarily affected by the slap earlier, but that wasn’t the reason for her silence.

“My phone’s in my bag.”

She had been dragged here, and her bag had been confiscated. It wasn’t on her.

Choi Anna glanced at the bag she had thrown to the floor, then snapped irritably at her secretary.

“What are you waiting for? Bring it here!”

The secretary picked up the bag and handed it to Eunjae.

After blocking the number, Eunjae showed the screen to the secretary.

“You told me to block it, so I did.”

Even with her swollen face, Eunjae remained calm and composed as she continued.

“But if they can’t reach me, they might try to find me in person.”

“What?”

“I don’t know what this is about, but you don’t want me to be in contact with them, right? But they, on the other hand, do want to reach me. I can’t stop them from showing up, so I thought I’d give you a heads-up.”

More than anything, she wanted to avoid being dragged back here for another beating.

“Hah! Fuck.”

Grinding her teeth, Choi Anna gestured for her secretary to come closer.

She didn’t even try to lower her voice, as if she didn’t care whether Eunjae overheard.

“Hey.”

“Yes, madam.”

“Stay put until I contact you again.”

“……”

“Are you not going to answer?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be watching, so don’t even think about pulling any tricks. Got it?”

“What tricks could I possibly—”

“How dare you talk back! Get this thing out of my sight!”

Eunjae was promptly thrown out.

Late into the night.

Taxis were out of the question, and even reaching the nearest bus stop required a long walk through the upscale residential area.

Go Eunjae stood there alone.

As time passed, the heat in her cheek grew stronger. She pressed her hand against it—it was so swollen that she could feel the puffiness just from touching it.

On the way home, she kept thinking.

What was Chairman Choi Chihyeol thinking when he set such an absurd condition?

She had pretended to stay composed in front of Choi Anna, but in reality, she was terrified.

This time, she had a terrible feeling—like something irreversible was about to happen.

She had only gotten better at pretending to be calm because she had grown used to miserable situations.

Grandma…

She bit down on her lip, suppressing the tears that welled up the moment she thought of her grandmother.

Her split lip trembled, and tears formed in her large, gentle eyes.

Her pale, delicate face was soon streaked with tears.

I held out so well…

She wanted to see her grandmother, but visits to the ICU were only allowed once a day at a set time. Even if she went now, she wouldn’t be able to see her.

Eunjae rubbed her tear-stained eyes roughly and ran all the way home.

She ran against the cold December wind.

Nothing had been resolved, but at least she felt a little lighter.

She had to transfer twice on the subway, running and walking in turns until she was out of breath.

By the time she reached home, she was sweating more than she had cried.

“Hah… Hoo…”

Her thick winter clothes were drenched in sweat. Her lungs burned as if they were being torn apart, but once she arrived, she felt lighter. After a shower and lying down, she didn’t feel as scared as before.

“Everything passes. Life is too long to give up just because of a momentary hardship.”

Her grandmother always said that whenever things got tough.

“So no matter how hard it is, you have to eat well and sleep well.”

So she made sure to eat a proper dinner and went to bed before 11 p.m.

Eunjae had always been the kind of person who could sleep anywhere as long as she closed her eyes. With steady, even breaths, she quickly fell into a deep sleep.

The next day.

A lawyer came to see her.

The moment he stepped into the café and saw Eunjae’s swollen cheek and scabbed lip, he shook his head knowingly.

“I should have come sooner.”

There was a quiet regret in his voice.

She had already received similar looks all morning at work, so it didn’t bother her anymore.

What truly unsettled her was what the lawyer had come to tell her about the will.

What did I just hear?

It felt so unreal.

She tried to absorb every word, but it was hard to grasp the meaning of it all.

“What if I refuse?”

“The assets intended for your inheritance would be donated to society. Officially, that’s what would happen. But whether certain people will allow that to happen… I can’t say for sure.”

Chairman Choi Chihyeol had left an inheritance to Go Eunjae.

The condition was simple.

Within a year from the date the will was made public, she had to marry someone. If she did, all the real estate in the Pyeongtaek industrial district would be inherited jointly in both her name and her spouse’s.

There were three conditions under which the inheritance would be forfeited and donated instead:

1. If Eunjae died.

2. If she refused the inheritance.

3. If she failed to marry within a year of the will’s disclosure.

The lawyer hesitated before speaking again.

“The worst-case scenario would be if they forced a marriage upon you and then staged an unfortunate accident to harm you…”

“……”

“I’m not saying this to scare you. I’m saying it because it’s a very real possibility, given the people involved.”

“Yes.”

“Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Did she?

She wanted to understand, yet at the same time, she didn’t want to.

“If avoiding marriage isn’t an option, then finding someone trustworthy would be the best course of action.”

The elderly lawyer murmured as if speaking to himself, interpreting Eunjae’s silence in his own way.