I Suddenly Have a Fiancée
I suddenly had a fiancée. Name: Tachibana Hana. Age: the same as me, seventeen. Birthday: June 6th. Height: she insisted on 168 centimeters. (But no matter how I looked at her, it was clearly around 162 or 163.) Weight: unknown. She hid it desperately, declaring, “I can tell you other sizes, but my weight is absolutely off-limits…!” Based on visual estimation alone, factoring in chest volume, I’d put her at a minimum of the mid-50s….
“What are you writing so diligently?”
“……!”
I snapped the notebook shut at lightning speed.
“Oh? Why are you hiding it all of a sudden…?”
“No, it’s just….”
“Don’t tell me you were thinking about my weight again~?”
“…….”
“……Why aren’t you answering me?”
Tachibana Hana—no, my fiancée’s eyes had turned razor sharp.
The phone on my bedside table rang shrilly, jolting me awake. My entire body felt stiff and aching. I’d stayed up all night without eating a thing, telling myself it was a rare day off.
I let out a groan that sounded like it came from a zombie and fumbled for the phone.
“Hoo…”
I sighed deeply and checked the screen. I was certain I’d set it to silent before bed, yet an unexpected name glowed on the display.
Father
Why was he calling at this hour? He was the type who never contacted me first unless there was a specific reason. A dry, businesslike man.
Oh. Maybe it was that.
I whipped my head toward the wall calendar.
March 25th.
“That’s right…”
My guess had been correct. Today was the 25th—the day my father and I had a standing monthly appointment.
Remembering that, I dragged myself upright with a groan. Living alone made it easy to lose track of time.
“…Hello.”
Where are you?
The voice that answered was completely flat. He rarely showed emotion, so I almost missed it, but beneath the low tone lay a faint trace of displeasure. It had to be because I’d broken our appointment. The time and date were fixed without fail: 10 a.m. on the 25th of every month.
“Sorry. I was just about to head out.”
It sounds like you just woke up. Yet you claim you were just about to leave?
“…I’ll leave in five minutes.”
Come as quickly as possible. A guest is already here.
Click. The line went dead.
True to the man who lived by the creed that time is money, his messages were ruthlessly concise. I raked a hand through my hair and let out another sigh.
“This is such a pain in the ass…”
Appointment or not, I just wanted to stay in bed. But that wasn’t an option. One of the conditions for letting me live alone had been “meet regularly once a month.” If I broke that promise arbitrarily, my father would respond in kind. He might pull every copy of my upcoming release from bookstores across the country, or fill tomorrow’s newspapers with columns criticizing the author L.J. Or maybe both. Just like last year.
“Sigh. This damn country. The rich really do rule like kings…”
I muttered the line I’d sworn to slip into my next book someday, then slowly hauled myself out of bed. Since I was only meeting my father, I washed my face roughly and gathered the school uniform I’d tossed aside when I came home Friday night. Even though I wasn’t going to school, the reason I wore the uniform was simple: I didn’t own any other decent clothes.
The phone rang again.
“Ah, this guy really…”
He couldn’t even wait five minutes. This time I made sure to set it to silent before heading straight out. I summoned a taxi through the app and climbed in right outside my building.
“Pyeongchang-dong, please.”
“Yes, Pyeongchang-dong~”
I leaned back against the rear seat and turned my phone on. The ride to my father’s main house took roughly an hour. The actual distance wasn’t far, but the roads around Pyeongchang-dong were a nightmare.
“Do you live in Pyeongchang-dong?”
“Yes? Ah, yes.”
“Oh my, really? How nice. I’m jealous…”
“……”
Jealous? There was nothing particularly enviable about it. Even within Seoul it was remote, transportation was inconvenient, there was only one high school, and it was surrounded by mountains on all sides—an isolated, stuffy neighborhood.
“If you live in Pyeongchang-dong, you must see famous people all the time, right? Spot them on the street, run into them at nice places.”
“Not all the time. Just occasionally. Really, only once in a while.”
“Still, you do see them? Student—I mean, customer—what’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen?”
“……”
The most famous person, huh. I thought for a second before answering bluntly.
“Do you know the JL Group?”
“Of course. Everyone knows them. Is there a single Korean who doesn’t?”
“About three weeks ago. I saw the vice chairman.”
“What? You mean the JL vice chairman… Vice Chairman Kang Sangki? For real?”
“Yes. For real.”
I nodded slowly. The taxi driver kept stealing glances at me in the rearview mirror, clearly skeptical. Though he stayed silent, his eyes seemed to say, This shabby-looking kid saw Vice Chairman Kang Sangki? Really?
“So, what was he like in person? As kind and benevolent as he looks on the news…?”
The driver asked with a doubtful expression, apparently deciding whether or not to believe me based on my answer. Honestly, it didn’t matter to me whether he believed it or not.
“No. He’s petty.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Extremely so.”
“…?!”
Destination reached. After an hour of nonstop driving, we arrived in the heart of Pyeongchang-dong’s exclusive residential district. I stood before a white brick mansion well over two hundred pyeong, completed less than ten years ago. Three floors above ground, two below. The grounds were filled with trees and grass, and a large German Shepherd roamed the yard freely. Just looking at it screamed wealth. This was my family home.
I called it the family home specifically because I had moved out and was now living alone. …Anyway.
The appointment time had already passed by two full hours. In other words, I had stolen two hours from a man who considered even picking up a dropped ten-thousand-won bill on the street a waste of time.
Ah, I’m going to get nagged to death…
I really hadn’t wanted to come. The aftermath of skipping it would have been unbearable, so here I was—but the anticipated lecture made me hesitate to press the doorbell.
At that exact moment—
Creak—!
The tightly shut gate burst open. A person came flying out.
Startled, I stepped back, but when I saw who it was, I relaxed.
“Oh my, oh my! You really were here…?”
It was the housekeeper who had worked for our family for ten years. I’d been living on my own for three years now and only returned once a month, yet she was almost the only person who greeted me with genuine warmth.
“Welcome, young master!”
I patted my chest in relief and gave a small bow. I’d thought it was my father rushing out.
“Ah, yes. Hello, ma’am.”
“Yes, yes. Come in, come in!”
I followed her inside. While removing my shoes, I asked,
“Ma’am, how did you know I was outside?”
“The vice chairman told me. He said the young master was standing in front of the gate, so I should bring you in.”
“…Ah.”
No wonder the timing had been so perfect. He must have spotted me lingering from upstairs.
“Um, by the way, young master…?”
The housekeeper glanced around before suddenly leaning in close, lowering her voice.
“There’s a guest with the vice chairman in the reception room right now.”
“Yes. And?”
“It’s a woman. She’s unbelievably beautiful. I was genuinely shocked…?”
She spoke with heavy emphasis, as if trying to drive the point home. She tended to react strongly even to ordinary things, but she wasn’t the type to exaggerate or lie, so my curiosity was piqued. Just how beautiful was this person to make her react like this?
“In all my life, I’ve never seen anyone that pretty. Pink hair, blue eyes—she looks like a foreigner, yet she speaks Korean perfectly and has impeccable manners. When I served her tea earlier, her elegance just radiated like an aura…!”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. She must be well-educated, just like you, young master. Or perhaps an actress or celebrity? Something like that… Ah! Oh dear, look at me!”
She clapped her hands together mid-sentence.
Why stop there? I was curious now.
“The vice chairman said to send you straight to the second-floor study as soon as you arrived. Hurry. The atmosphere doesn’t feel good…!”
“……”
The way she put it made me want to go even less. The words rose in my throat, but I swallowed them and let out a quiet groan. I was going to get scolded eventually; delaying it wouldn’t change the outcome.
“I’ll head up to the study. Could you bring two cups of tea in about ten minutes?”
“Shall I bring the milk tea the vice chairman likes?”
“Yes, please.”
“Understood. I’ll bring it in ten minutes!”
I nodded in thanks and climbed the stairs to the second floor. The study sat at the far end of the hallway. It had been deliberately placed in a quiet corner so that footsteps and voices from the rest of the house wouldn’t reach it—essentially my father’s private domain.
Before entering, I paused to check my appearance. I brushed off my uniform, made sure nothing was out of place, and finally inspected my face.
Knock, knock.
──Come in.
The answer came immediately, as if he’d been waiting. I cleared my throat and opened the door.
Creak—.
“……”
“……”
Our eyes met the instant I stepped inside. A powerful gaze pinned me in place. The vice chairman of JL Group.
…No.
“You’ve arrived.”
My father sat behind a wooden desk, holding a hardcover book.
“You’re late.”
“……”
I stared at the book in his hand. The title was Age of Abhorrence. The story was simple: every character hated, rejected, and fought one another for their own reasons until, in the end, no one remained.
…That was the content. But the important point was that this book had not been published yet. More precisely, this particular hardcover edition was distributed exclusively to VIPs before the regular version went on sale. Official distribution was still two hours away.
In other words, my father had obtained an advance copy of my new book through illegitimate means.
Realizing that, I sighed.
“I told you to buy it and read it once it was officially released…”
“That was two hours and fifteen minutes ago.”
“……”
He really knew how to leave me speechless. Well, I had been late. I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly.
“We’re both at fault here, so let’s call it even for this lateness, okay?”
“Accounts must be settled promptly. Fifteen minutes still remain.”
“Why fifteen minutes?”
“Your lateness: two hours and fifteen minutes. Time I spent reading the book first: two hours. Subtract two hours from two hours and fifteen minutes and fifteen minutes remain.”
Tap. He closed the book.
“My calculation appears correct.”
He was right. Two hours and fifteen minutes minus two hours did leave fifteen minutes…. Having nothing left to say, I sat down across from him.
“…Fine, let’s go with that. So we have fifteen minutes left. How should we spend them?”
“Have you ever heard the phrase ‘heaven-destined match’?”
My father dropped the random question without warning. I’d been trying to figure out what price I’d have to pay for those fifteen minutes and could only tilt my head in confusion. What kind of out-of-left-field remark was this?
“You’re a writer, after all. Surely you know the term.”
Heaven-destined match. A bond between man and woman that heaven itself has paired, one that humans cannot interfere with. As my father said, I wasn’t ignorant of the phrase. I wasn’t an idiot.
“Of course I know it. It means a connection granted by heaven, right? But what about it?”
“I believe heaven grants every person in the world a destined partner. Naturally, that includes my son, Kang Ijun. You must have one as well.”
“…Pardon?”
“Kang Ijun.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“……”
I froze. The words stuck in my throat.
“You don’t.”
“Well… I don’t, but it’s not that I can’t get one. I just find the whole process bothersome.”
“Indeed. I didn’t expect a son who breaks promises with his own parents to have a girlfriend.”
“…No, just swear at me outright if you’re going to.”
“Here.”
Clack. My father slid something across the desk.
I had already felt a surge of irritation at the girlfriend comment, but the sudden gesture made me pause.
“Take it.”
“…What is this?”
I accepted the object sullenly. On closer inspection, it resembled a business card. No Korean text—just Chinese characters and numbers. The numbers looked like a birthdate, and the characters… a name? Wait. These weren’t Chinese characters. Was this Japanese?
Name: Tachibana Hana
Birthdate: June 6
Age: 17
Notes: Perfect match.
Knock, knock.
──Excuse me. Vice Chairman, may I enter?
“Yes. Come in.”
Creak—. The study door opened. The housekeeper brought the two cups of milk tea I had requested.
“Young master? Here is the milk tea you asked for. It’s hot, so please be careful.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”
With one hand holding the warm cup and the other clutching the paper covered in writing, I stared at it intently. I wasn’t used to Japanese, so it took a moment, but once I focused I understood clearly. It was a person’s name. Starting with “Tachibana.”
“Tachibana… Hana… Ah, it’s a person’s name?”
“Yes. Correct.”
Hmm. So it really was a name. A strange sense of satisfaction came from guessing right. I blew on the scalding milk tea and took a sip.
“More precisely, it belongs to the person currently waiting in the first-floor reception room.”
Sip.
“She is your fiancée.”
Pfffft—!
I spat the tea across the desk. Then came a fit of coughing—cough, cough—!
My father watched me choke without expression and said calmly,
“You. Get married.”