Misunderstanding
Kim A-ra squeezed her eyes shut.
So this was how it ended after all.
In the end, was her life always going to be spent bowing at someone’s feet?
Now that she was in this position, a memory she would gladly have forgotten came surging back with sickening clarity from her childhood.
That worthless bitch.
What did I say? Blood will tell.
In the Kim family mansion, she had always been an outsider.
Her father never saw her as his daughter. She was only a useful piece on the board, something he could discard whenever it suited him.
While the children of his legitimate wife were born with silver spoons in their mouths and lived their lives in comfort, Kim A-ra had to keep proving, over and over again, that she deserved to breathe, to eat, to exist in this family— in other words, that she was a woman with value.
She slept less. She studied until she might as well have been coughing up blood.
She met the contempt of the family with a sneer, and crushed her rivals without mercy.
Only after she reached the very top of JD Group could she finally breathe.
No one can look down on me now. My fate is mine to hold.
—That was what she had believed.
But it had been an illusion. Reality was cruel.
No matter how hard a merchant like her struggled, before the power of the noble families, she was nothing but a wallet.
I’ll stand beside His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince.
So she had gone after the Crown Prince.
Not for some laughably sentimental reason like love, but because she needed the umbrella of the imperial family and the safest seat beneath it. She needed the status and power of a Crown Princess.
That stupid, pathetic Crown Prince had been bewitched by a single woman and ruined the entire board.
But what was so special about that woman?
The Crown Prince had thrown his future away for her, a woman who had nothing but a flimsy pride and a few tears to her name.
The position she had wanted so badly. The power she had hungered for so desperately.
Watching that woman grasp and toy with it all so easily, without even considering the aftermath, Kim A-ra could only clench her teeth.
So this is where it ended up.
People called her a villainess. More than a few did.
A black widow who would stop at nothing to steal what belonged to others.
Fine, let’s admit it. I became cruel because I had to survive.
She had struggled so hard not to end up like this, not to suffer such a miserable fate as stripping in front of anyone and everyone to keep from being trampled.
...I’ve stepped into a vicious snare.
There was no opening, no escape. One word from the Emperor, and she would be dragged to the execution grounds and vanish like morning dew. Her father would discard her without the slightest hesitation.
Her only lifeline was...
Become my dog.
As expected, it was only the Emperor.
Kim A-ra thought she understood what he meant.
At least, being in this place had exposed her to enough ugly truths that she’d been forced to understand them, whether she liked it or not.
Dog.
A dog who warmed a ruler’s bed at night, was thoroughly used, and then tossed away once it had served its purpose.
Now she would follow in the footsteps of countless powerless people before her.
Still, she undressed. She had to submit first, throw herself first, if that was what it took to survive.
“......”
She opened her eyes.
Prepared to meet a man’s gaze as it greedily raked over her naked body.
But—
“......What the hell is this crazy woman doing?”
What came back was Lee Jin’s voice, sounding more baffled than anything else.
Kim A-ra’s head jerked up.
Lee Jin wasn’t looking at her bare body.
He was simply waving a hand as if he’d seen something vulgar, unable to hide his disgust like a man who’d bitten into shit.
For the first time, there was a flicker of confusion on the Emperor’s face, the face that had pressed her relentlessly without ever losing its composure.
Under any other circumstances, she might even have felt a strange little thrill of victory—
“Y-yes...?”
A foolish sound slipped out between Kim A-ra’s lips.
Lee Jin pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh.
“Who told you to take your clothes off?”
Even now, unlike when he’d been pressing her before, his tone had returned to formal politeness.
“B-but... you said to become your dog. I thought that was what Your Majesty wanted...”
“This is driving me insane.”
Lee Jin rapped the desk irritably.
“Do I look crazy enough to fool around with Kim Yang-han’s daughter? What, do I have nine lives or something?”
“......”
“Put your clothes back on. I’m really losing it here.”
Her mind went blank.
What?
She blinked. Once. Twice.
Then the situation began to reconstruct itself in her head.
Become my dog.
He meant to break her down and use her as his own hands and feet.
He wanted a dirty attack dog to fund slush money, manipulate public opinion, and dig up the internal secrets of the Kim family.
And she had mistaken that for an offer to spend the night with him, and ripped off her clothes without even being asked!
In front of a man she had never seen before. In front of the supreme ruler of the entire nation.
Whoosh—
She could feel blood rushing to her face in a single violent surge.
Not even shame, exactly. It was a kind of mortification she had never experienced in her entire life— overwhelming, annihilating embarrassment.
“Ah—!”
Kim A-ra instinctively crossed her arms over her chest.
Gone was the cool, haughty face of a chaebol queen.
Her ears and the back of her neck burning crimson, she bent to snatch up the dress that had fallen to the floor with trembling fingers.
“I-I, um, I...”
The words tangled in her throat.
She tried to explain herself, but no excuse came to mind.
Lee Jin, still wearing that dumbfounded expression, asked,
“You don’t seriously think I’m doing this because I’m after your body, do you?”
“N-no! Absolutely not, I would never—!”
Kim A-ra shouted in a panic.
“I-I misunderstood Your Majesty’s intention. I apologize.”
Her voice shrank to a whisper. She wanted nothing more than to find a mouse hole and crawl inside it.
She was, after all, the chairwoman of JD Group. Kim A-ra, who had weathered storms in politics and business alike, had just done something this idiotic.
“Then hurry up and put it on. Before someone comes in.”
Lee Jin said irritably, turning his head away.
“Y-yes, yes! Right away...”
Kim A-ra hurriedly slipped the dress back over her body.
With trembling hands she pulled the fabric up and worked her arms through the sleeves.
But then she hit a problem.
This dress was designed with a deep zipper down the back, dropping all the way below the waist.
A secretary had zipped her up before, but now there was no one in the room— no one but her and Lee Jin.
Up, please. Please go up.
Kim A-ra twisted her arm behind her back and grabbed the zipper pull.
But she was too tense, and there was no strength in her fingers.
Her sweat-slick fingertips slipped over the tiny metal tab.
Screeech. Creak.
In the quiet office, the only sound was the pitiful rasp of fabric catching on metal.
The zipper, halfway up, snagged on the thin lining and refused to budge.
“Haa...”
Cold sweat trickled down her spine.
She pulled harder, but all she succeeded in doing was straining the fabric; the zipper itself had no intention of moving.
She couldn’t manage it alone.
At last, when too much time had passed, Lee Jin, who had been looking away, tossed out a remark.
“What are you doing if you’re not getting dressed? Protesting?”
“N-no, it’s not that...”
Kim A-ra’s eyes grew red.
Tears of humiliation prickled at the corners of her eyes.
Emotionally speaking, this was a hundred times worse than the moment she’d nearly been executed for treason just minutes ago.
She bit her lip hard. She couldn’t bring herself to say another word, but she also couldn’t stand there half-naked in the Emperor’s office forever.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
Kim A-ra turned toward the Emperor.
Still clutching the zipper behind her back, she lowered her head.
“Um...”
The sound came out no louder than a mosquito’s whine.
“What?”
Lee Jin frowned and looked over.
Kim A-ra couldn’t bring herself to raise her head.
The voice that had never once trembled, not even when signing contracts worth hundreds of billions, was shaking like a leaf now.
With her eyes squeezed shut, she whispered in a tiny, miserable voice,
“Y-Your Majesty...”
“Speak up.”
“Could you... could you zip me up in the back...”
Once again, a heavy silence settled over the office.
* * *
This is insane.
Lee Jin looked at Kim A-ra and thought,
Has this woman decided to drag me into the mud?
As a newly enthroned emperor, Lee Jin had very few things to rely on. One of them was legitimacy.
And if some ridiculous scandal got tangled up in that, he was done for— absolutely ruined. It would be the kind of scandal that left no bones to gather afterward.
What an intricate calculation. Looking at that face flushed red like a carrot made him hesitate, but... Lee Jin fundamentally did not trust Kim A-ra. At most, he was half-skeptical.
And yet the balance of power still belonged to him. In practical terms, nothing had changed.
Keeping his composure, Lee Jin pressed the bell.
“Secretary Seo Yu-jin. Come in immediately.”
“Y-Your Majesty! Wait—!”
Kim A-ra shrieked in alarm, but it was already too late. The heavy office door opened, and Seo Yu-jin entered with a cold expression.
Then Seo Yu-jin stopped dead in her tracks.
The chairwoman of JD Group stood in the center of the office, her face scarlet, clutching the front of her dress.
And far behind her, the Emperor sat at his desk with his arms crossed.
For the first time, Seo Yu-jin’s poker face cracked.
Lee Jin cleared his throat once and gave the instruction as if nothing at all were strange.
“Secretary Seo. It seems Chairwoman Kim is having some trouble getting dressed. Please go help her with the zipper.”
“......Pardon?”
“Didn’t you hear me? I said zip her up.”
But a moment later, as if she had grasped the situation, Seo Yu-jin let out a tiny sigh and walked over with crisp, deliberate clicks of her heels.
Screeech—
Seo Yu-jin’s hands showed no mercy. She pulled the zipper all the way up in one swift motion, then stepped back and bowed politely to Lee Jin.
“Thank you, Secretary Seo. You may go now.”
At Lee Jin’s dry response, Seo Yu-jin quietly withdrew and closed the door behind her.
After finally straightening her clothes, Kim A-ra turned back to look at Lee Jin.
Even now, the Emperor’s expression remained unreadable.
Every power broker she had ever known had been a pig ruled by desire.
Money, power— whatever it was, they were the sort to lunge greedily at the bait the moment it was thrown before them.
But the young Emperor before her was different. Perhaps that was why, even though she had clearly been caught by the leash, she didn’t feel especially bad about it.
If she was going to climb onto a tiger’s back, then... this would likely be far better for her survival.
“Let’s stop with the nonsense and get to the point.”
Lee Jin swirled his teacup and spoke.
“As I announced on air, I’m going to start cutting out this country’s rotten flesh right away. The target is the Gyeonghwa Noble Families, who fed off the old imperial house while wallowing in corruption.”
“My father won’t go down so easily. The Kim family has deep roots, with agents scattered across politics, business, the judiciary, and the press.”
“I know. That’s why I’m going to choose the first target very carefully.”
“Where is it?”
Lee Jin leaned forward and met Kim A-ra’s eyes.
“JD Group.”
Kim A-ra wasn’t particularly surprised. Her mind, now that she’d recovered her senses, was working faster than ever.
She looked straight at Lee Jin and said,
“You’re laying a smoke screen for today’s meeting.”
“Enough to tell Kim Yang-han there’s no room for negotiation. He’ll be too busy reacting to notice the blade at his feet.”
“Then we need a pretext. A very solid one that can serve as justification.”
“Exactly. Is there someone in your company who needs to be cut out?”
The instant the words left Lee Jin’s mouth, a murderous glint flashed in Kim A-ra’s eyes as if she had been waiting for them.
“Why wouldn’t there be? There are countless lackeys my father planted to keep tabs on me and seize control of the company. There are plenty of people who need to be cut out, and plenty of dirt they’ve piled up.”
“Good. I’ll send in the Joint Investigation Headquarters and sweep the whole lot away.”
Lee Jin rose to his feet.
“You’ll have to endure some rough treatment yourself for a while.”
“I suppose the rough treatment would amount to a detention center.”
Kim A-ra smiled smoothly, looking down at the slender wrists that would soon be cuffed.
“Don’t worry. I’m used to being locked up.”
* * *
The next morning, in the heart of downtown Seoul.
At the headquarters tower of JD Group— a skyscraper soaring so high it seemed to pierce the sky itself— the area exploded into chaos in an instant.
“Screeech!”
“What the hell? Who are you people?!”
Dozens of vans and military vehicles flooded the front of the building in a blink. Security personnel rushed out and hastily tried to block the way, but...
No matter how elite JD Group’s security might have been, they could not match the sheer momentum of heavily armed troops.
At the head of those troops, a fierce-looking man strode in without hesitation.
Colonel’s insignia gleamed on the shoulder of his uniform.
“I am Gwak Ji-hun, commander of the Imperial Temporary Escort Unit.”
He held out a document to the security chief barring his way.
“Under the Emperor’s imperial decree and in accordance with the Joint Investigation Headquarters’ request for cooperation, the Imperial Escort Unit will now conduct a lawful search and seizure. I ask for your cooperation.”