Chapter 29 — Kim Yu-ra
Almost there. Kim Yu-ra murmured to herself.
"Yu-ra. I gotta say, even I think my mom is relentless. You said you broke up with that Joo Sung-hyun guy in the spring of 2020, right? But now I'm calling him to ask about your personal life… I mean, even if it's because my mom's on my back, this is kinda… awkward, isn't it?"
Jung Jae-ho smiled sheepishly, making excuses about his mother. Kim Yu-ra responded with a smile of her own.
What a convincing act.
My mom is so strict she wants me to check everything, she seems bothered that you dated a non-believer for two years… On the surface, it just made him sound like a mama's boy.
It was true that Kim Yu-ra's future mother-in-law was conservative.
But she wasn't the kind of crazy woman who'd badger her son into contacting his fiancée's ex-boyfriend to find out how far their physical relationship had gone.
In the end, this was Jung Jae-ho's own decision. His mother was just an excuse.
"Yu-ra. Shall we share a prayer? I'll go first. Please pray that our relationship stays pure before God until the end, that we can stand before Him without any shame. You feel the same way, don't you?"
"Of course. I'll pray."
But what could she do? Her fiancé was the kind of man who said things like this.
Premarital chastity.
At first, she thought it was just talk.
But it wasn't.
Kim Yu-ra first met Jung Jae-ho in the summer two years ago.
At the Hope Church Youth Division Nationwide Summer Retreat held at Danyang Daeseong Resort.
An event where the youth groups from the main church in Gangnam and its branch churches across the country gathered together.
A retreat filled with prayers, praise rallies in the auditorium, and special lectures from pastors who fancied themselves great preachers.
Wearing matching uniforms, they played foot volleyball, dodgeball, and ran relays.
But it wasn't purely for spiritual renewal.
It was also a place to seek connections in a holy yet friendly atmosphere.
That was Kim Yu-ra's goal too.
Scanning the young male churchgoers with narrowed eyes, her gaze landed on Jung Jae-ho.
Naturally, it was because of his specs.
A real-time chat with a sister who had similar goals to Kim Yu-ra, the two of them feeding each other information.
Jung Jae-ho was a top-tier marriage prospect.
Gastroenterology. The king of internal medicine.
In an aging Korea, it was a field with overwhelming demand… if he played his cards right and opened his own practice, a net profit of 600 million won a year was well within reach.
On top of that, both of Jung Jae-ho's parents were doctors with impressive careers.
Jung Jae-ho was also about 175cm tall, had fair skin, and a gentle, friendly face. Genuinely likable.
The hair situation was a little…
A little disappointing, to be honest. His forehead was quite wide, and when she saw him during the team-building mission, his crown was already starting to thin.
Jae-ho himself didn't seem to care about hiding it. He just smiled and clapped.
'I can't let this one go.'
As soon as Kim Yu-ra set her target, she sprang into action.
She used a little scheming to get assigned to the same small group as Jung Jae-ho (she'd volunteered for the registration team specifically for this purpose), played on the same team as him during foot volleyball, and sat next to him during the evening praise rally, steadily building intimacy…
When it came time for the elective seminar, Jae-ho suggested they sit together. Her looks made that possible.
That was also when Kim Yu-ra learned about Jung Jae-ho's views on chastity.
"That's how the world is these days, isn't it? Sex first, love later? But I don't think love is that cheap. I firmly believe this is God's will — to flee from sexual immorality… I believe we must keep our purity until marriage! I don't want to share some fake love that only seeks pleasure."
Jae-ho had spoken these words with complete sincerity during the elective seminar.
The atmosphere around them had turned solemn. Everyone there was a churchgoer, after all.
Kim Yu-ra had chimed in enthusiastically in agreement… but inwardly, she dismissed it as trivial.
After all, the seminar topic was Christian Dating and Love. She figured he was just putting on a suitable show for the younger members of the youth group.
Thanks to the good groundwork she'd laid at the retreat, their relationship started smoothly.
Kim Yu-ra expected a normal progression.
She had an image to maintain, so getting physical would take a while… but she figured it would naturally happen after about four months. Then she planned to use that to angle for marriage.
"Sister Yu-ra. Please step back. And let us pray."
"What?"
"The lust of the flesh still remains within me. But let me complete this wait to the end, so that on our wedding day, I may become one with my chaste wife in pure joy. Let my waiting not be in vain."
This bastard Jung Jae-ho was serious.
Genuinely premarital chastity.
Six months into the relationship, and they hadn't even kissed. They started using casual speech and holding hands in public after a whole year.
He even teared up watching a newlywed couple from their church give a testimony — "We got married while maintaining our purity."
He was a genuine unicorn, so unbelievable that he seemed impossible to exist in real life.
The problem was that Jae-ho demanded the same standards from his partner.
That was why Kim Yu-ra's virgin cosplay, which she thought would last three months, had dragged on for two years… it was exhausting and draining.
Fortunately, that hardship was also about to end soon.
'Just a little more.'
Her final obstacle was Joo Sung-hyun.
Her most recent ex-boyfriend, and the one she'd dated the longest.
Jung Jae-ho knew about him too.
Four months ago, some thoughtless bitch of a peer had dared to mention Joo Sung-hyun's name in front of Jae-ho (Come to think of it, do you still keep in touch with Senior Sung-hyun?). That fucking bitch. It was obviously intentional. From then on, Jae-ho had started bringing up Joo Sung-hyun's name more often.
What kind of person was he?
He wasn't a believer? That's a bit surprising.
If you dated for two years… well, I'm sure you have a lot of memories.
You said he's a public official? He does seem like a diligent person, at least.
He'd said things like that, and eventually, using his mother as an excuse, Jae-ho had started testing the waters about meeting Joo Sung-hyun.
Fortunately, she'd managed to block it this time.
By making it so that contacting him over the wedding invitation would be a breach of etiquette — a situation where Jae-ho would be the one in the wrong if he reached out.
"See you later, Yu-ra."
Only after parting ways with Jung Jae-ho did Kim Yu-ra let her expression relax and head home.
Home wasn't comfortable either. Her parents swarmed her.
"Did it work?"
"Yeah. He changed his mind."
"That family is really something else. This time, they went through the Kwonsa line again to poke around about whether you'd ever been with a man. They're doctors themselves, so why are they so damn thorough with the vetting?"
"It's fine. It's all over now."
"Over? Joo Sung-hyun… he's not throwing a fit, is he?"
"No. He's keeping quiet."
Her marriage was already a project that involved her entire family.
Because they'd already spent so much money.
"Yu-ra. Your father and I have been bending over backwards trying to get the wedding gifts and home appliance packages sorted."
"Mom… I'm tired."
"Listen to your mother. If this falls through now, our household finances will be in even worse shape."
"Dad…"
"We've already spent 100 million won. If it falls through now, we can salvage the wedding gift money since it hasn't been paid out yet. But everything else is a total loss."
If they couldn't make this wedding happen — just four weeks away — they'd lose 100 million won. Compared to her fiancé's family, hers was very ordinary, and this was a huge blow.
"You're pathetic too. Joo Sung-hyun… why did you even date someone studying for the civil service exam?"
"Stop it."
"You shouldn't have dated a guy like that in the first place! And for two whole years? Why?"
In a fit of rage, she almost answered, "Because Senior Sung-hyun's dick is huge and his recovery time is fast. That guy would have passed the grade 7 exam if he'd only taken it instead of the grade 9."
But she held back.
Her parents' anxiety was normal, given the circumstances.
But there was one thing Kim Yu-ra's parents didn't know.
"Dad, Mom. You said it's 100 million won now?"
"Actually, it's 104 million."
"I've staked my whole life on this."
The person who wanted this marriage more than anyone wasn't her parents. It was Kim Yu-ra herself.
After brushing off her mother's nagging, Kim Yu-ra holed up in her room.
She looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror…
The mirror that had a note stuck to its edge: "I deserve a better life."
A modest floral dress with a mid-range brand crossbody bag.
Completely tailored to her fiancé's taste.
Because he wanted a woman who was elegant, chaste, and above all, pure.
This alone was difficult enough, and on top of it, she also had to be attractive.
If he'd only wanted a virgin, there would have been plenty of opportunities long before him. But he'd filtered and filtered, evolving into a slightly twisted virgin in his mid-thirties — that was her future husband.
Fortunately, Kim Yu-ra met those standards.
162cm tall, a slim waist with a definite upper body volume.
Ever since the marriage talks had become serious, Jae-ho would often make comments like, "We have to restrain ourselves now, but once we're married, how great a blessing it will be to freely enjoy each other under God's grace…" while sneaking glances at her full breasts.
Jung Jae-ho believed she was a virgin.
The reason he kept bringing up Joo Sung-hyun was because he wanted to believe so badly. He just wanted to hear Joo Sung-hyun say with his own mouth, "We had a clean relationship."
'I can't let them meet.'
She hadn't ended things on good terms with Joo Sung-hyun. There was no way he would help her.
But after all the effort she'd put in, she couldn't give up now.
After graduating from university, she'd been completely abstinent for years…
No joke — Kim Yu-ra had cut off sex entirely for several years. If her ex-boyfriends ever found out, they'd be horrified.
On top of that, to disguise herself as a devoted sister, she'd attended church 150 times a year. Just showing up for Sunday service wasn't enough. Plus, openly showing that she was there to hunt for a marriage partner would get her filtered out.
"Senior Sung-hyun. Please, just stay quiet."
A wedding at a luxury hotel. A newlywed apartment in Dogok-dong that Jae-ho's parents had bought him with 3.4 billion won in cash.
And the comfortable life she'd enjoy in that house.
She'd invested so much to get here. Now she really wanted to reap the rewards.
Kim Yu-ra prayed desperately to herself, then washed up, put on a face mask, stared at the photos she'd taken during the fitting today for a long time, and finally fell asleep.
And she had a slightly strange dream.
"I never had any prejudice against sluts. That's why I ended up with you. Thanks to that, I just found out."
"A slut? I'm telling you, I didn't do anything! Do you have proof?"
"I have circumstantial evidence. It'd be nice if I could see the number."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean… Do you know you're creepy sometimes? If this is how it's going to be, let's just break up!"
It was a slightly strange, ominous dream. Something that happened years ago — why now?
'I'm unsettled… that's right. I'm just unsettled.'
Kim Yu-ra wiped away her cold sweat and dismissed it as just a bad dream.
Today was the day to finalize the wedding photos and order the album.
The wedding was getting closer and closer.