Forced to Marry
"Fuck. At least I know how to look good."
Choi Seonggi studied the man in the mirror. He hadn't been eating properly of late, and the leanness showed, but his frame had always been a decent one, and the abs cutting through on their own were nothing to apologize for.
"Still. Does any of this actually make sense?"
Only minutes ago, a woman so beautiful she might have stepped off a television screen had made him an offer he still couldn't quite hold. Marry her, she had said, and she would give him five hundred million won.
Make it seven hundred million, and I might actually think about it.
He had played hard to get. Once. She had taken the counteroffer without so much as a blink, and seven hundred million it was. Do as he was told, and when everything was cleaned up afterward, she would add another billion.
He had heard of marriages bought and sold—men paying for a wife. He had never heard of a man being paid to marry. And yet, turn it however he liked, it did not feel like a lie. His own ability, the lie detector, was already sending up the signal: truth.
Wash up, change into clean clothes, and be back here in an hour.
That was all she had said before pressing a million won into his hand, with a look that suggested she would not particularly care if he took the money and ran.
Seonggi knew, at least, that she was no ordinary rich woman. The necklace and the earrings were not the mid-tier luxury that turned up on home-shopping channels. They were finished pieces of a grade you would only see at Tiffany, if anywhere.
And the perfume—a weighty musk at the body, a bright citrus over it, cinnamon lingering faint in the trail—was unmistakably Imperial Majesty Vivid, the sort of scent priced like its weight in gold. The face of Jo Jintae rose in his mind, president of Big Coin Company, a man who used to wear that very fragrance.
Spray this on and you don't need a long speech. The scent proves what class is.
That was what Jo used to mutter. Only later had Seonggi learned the man's bottle was a dupe, a copy. The real thing was quieter, and deeper, and far richer.
"A woman who goes around in men's cologne..."
That meant an alpha girl.
He could have ignored the rest of it. It was that damned seven hundred million that had its hooks in his head. If he took the money—if he could clear the mortgage on his parents' house, the loan-shark debt, and what he had borrowed from his friends—then he could walk through hellfire to do it. He wanted to do right by the parents and the friends who had suffered because of him. The loan sharks went without saying. The extra billion would be better still, but that far was only a hope.
He was prepared to leap into hellfire if that was what they asked of him. And instead they were offering marriage to a woman that beautiful.
He swallowed before he knew he meant to. It was a deal with nothing to lose. No—this was the lottery. Seven hundred million won, and a wife dazzling enough to blind a man besides.
Wait. It couldn't be...
Ask a man to marry you, then tell him to wash up and come back clean. That had to mean... No. No chance.
Seonggi, who had already started scripting the story all the way through to the wedding night, shook the thought off hard.
"You kept the time, at least. Get in."
The moment Seonggi appeared, Cha Jiyeon and Yoo Segyeong rose from their seats.
"We're going to Cheongdam Wedding Studio, aren't we?"
"If we want this finished in one shot, we have to. You're coming too!"
"Me?"
"Someone has to be the witness."
At that, Segyeong let out a disbelieving little laugh.
"Fine. Let's go. I want to see for myself just how far Cha Jiyeon is willing to take this."
Seonggi had barely climbed into the car before Jiyeon pulled away from the curb. Even in bad traffic, Cheongdam-dong was forty minutes from here.
"We don't have time, so listen carefully."
"Ah. Yes."
Jiyeon did not so much as turn her head. She drove, and she talked.
"Starting today, you behave as if you're married to me. We met three summers ago—July, to be exact—at Hagia Sophia in Türkiye. What do you do?"
"I'm unemployed."
Jiyeon glanced at him, and one corner of her mouth lifted. She had wondered. He really was just some stray bastard off the street.
"We'll say you tried an IT business and it failed. Invent a company name while you're at it. Your parents live overseas, and you have no siblings."
"Both of them are in Korea, actually. And I have a younger sister..."
"We're doing it this way. That's how we head off a background check."
"A background check? Why would anyone..."
"Marry me, and someone, somewhere, is going to run one. I'll send the rest to your phone, so memorize every word of it. We take the photographs today. The moment the marriage certificate is issued tomorrow, seven hundred million goes straight into your account."
"Yes. Understood."
"Don't forget. Even if I void this marriage, even if I demand a divorce later, you do exactly as I tell you. When all of this is over, I'll give you another billion."
"That's all fine. May I ask one thing?"
"One question. Go ahead."
"Why go this far just to get married? If you wanted, the people lining up for you would stretch around the block. So why like this..."
"To receive my grandfather's inheritance, I have to be married. He's in critical condition, and on top of that my father is trying to marry me off to some creep."
"Ah. Because your grandfather is ill..."
"I love my grandfather too. He's a self-made man, and he was always fond of me. I feel guilty stirring this up while he's sick. But once he says a thing, he keeps it. I don't want to get married, so what else can I do? It has to be this way."
And she wanted even less for whoever took the title of her husband to kick up a storm inside Gwangmyeong Group.
"I understand the situation."
"You do only what I tell you, and you take the money. If the marriage runs past a year, I'll pay you an extra billion for every year after that."
He had been about to ask what happened if it stretched past a year, and she had answered on her own. Easiest to think of it as being hired on as a personal secretary who happened to be called a husband, at a salary of a billion won a year. Fine. What did that amount to.
"From now on, aside from what I tell you, whatever you see and whatever you hear, do not keep it in your head. And above all—"
The tires shrieked. The car stopped, and Jiyeon pulled off her sunglasses and fixed him with a glare.
The eyes on him were far too beautiful, and frightening at the same time. How could a woman this lovely speak so coldly?
"All right."
"Good. Then let's go. Now."
Jiyeon got out first. Seonggi followed her from the car.
What they had arrived at was a studio for wedding photography, of a sort. Masks of heaven-knew-what were pressed to his face a few times over; his eyebrows and his stubble were put in order; and at the same time a hair designer tamed the shag on his head. Jiyeon had clearly already ordered the look. The lines were cleaned, the top combed back.
Oh...
Once the stray hairs were gone and the makeup was finished, even he could hardly believe it. He had been remade into something sharp and dandy, a handsome man he did not recognize.
The staff checked the length of jacket and trousers and brought shoes in his size. He put on a dress shirt, knotted a deep navy tie, slipped into a dark ceremonial suit, and last of all fastened a watch around his wrist. In all his life he had never worn a Brioni suit, Testoni shoes, and a Patek Philippe.
Oh...
The full-length mirror gave him back a man who seemed to be dreaming. He might as well have walked out of a magazine spread.
"The bride asked us to..."
A staffer misted perfume over him with careful hands. Imperial Majesty Vivid—the same scent Jiyeon wore. It felt like a rite announcing that Choi Seonggi now belonged to her.
"Whoa... is that really the same person?"
Yoo Segyeong burst out at the sight of the transformed Seonggi.
"Well. I do happen to have permanent class, so..."
"So you were handsome. You look wonderful dressed like this. Why on earth were you going around like that?"
"Who would do that because they wanted to? Life went to hell, that's all."
The words were out before he remembered what Jiyeon had warned him. As much as possible, don't talk.
"The looks are great, but... hearing you talk completely ruins it."
What had he even said, to get something that harsh thrown in his face?
"Still, you have to give Jiyeon credit for her eye. Look at that. The styling brings him all the way back to life."
"Who?"
"Haha. You don't even know the name of the bride you're about to marry? Jiyeon didn't tell you?"
"I mean—if it's Jiyeon... don't tell me it's that Jiyeon. G-Gwangmyeong Group's second daughter?"
"This guy is hilarious. Agreeing to get married without even knowing who the other person is."
The woman Korean men loved best of all—more popular than the idols—the second daughter of Gwangmyeong Group, fifth among the chaebol: Cha Jiyeon?
In that instant Seonggi went dizzy. She had been very beautiful. There had been nothing hesitant in the way she spoke or moved. But to think she was that Cha Jiyeon...
If she was Cha Jiyeon, the paparazzi would be after her like a pack of dogs. Ah. No wonder she had been sitting in a quiet café in a shady neighborhood—a café so expensive that no one else ever set foot in it.
"Anyway, congratulations! On winning yourself a beautiful bride."
Seonggi had nothing to say. No wonder there had been a radiance to her when she took the sunglasses off in the car. It had been Cha Jiyeon.
"The bride is coming out."
At the staffer's announcement, the curtains swept open to either side.
Seonggi's breath stopped dead.
A sacred being who had no business appearing in this world, who ought to have remained in heaven—an angel of a woman—stood before his eyes.
"Wow! Jiyeon, you're so pretty! Really, so, so, so pretty!"
"You think so?"
Maybe it was the dress, but Jiyeon sounded almost shy. Was this the same woman who had spoken so coldly in the car? It felt like facing an entirely different person.
Jiyeon, for her part, was startled by the sight of him. She had never imagined he would be a man with looks this good.
"Groom, pull yourself together. You have to say something to the bride."
At Segyeong's prompting, Seonggi came back to himself.
"You... really... you're so beautiful."
The strength went out of his whole body, and a current ran through him as if he had been shocked.
"You look handsome too."
Had her voice always been this sweet?
"If we're sticking to the plan, we need to hurry. To the ceremony set."
Seonggi and Jiyeon followed where Segyeong led.
"What are you doing? Link arms."
When Segyeong said it, Jiyeon slipped her arm through Seonggi's right. Watching them, Segyeong shook her head.
"What? Do we look off?"
"No... you're too perfect! I know it's a ridiculous thing for me to say, but the two of you really suit each other. Why not just actually get married while you're at it?"
"Yoo Segyeong! Do you want to die?"
"Okay, okay!"
Astonishingly, inside the studio there was a space where a wedding altar had been reproduced in full. An officiant of a certain age was already waiting.
The two of them staged photograph after photograph as if they were truly holding a ceremony. They bowed to each other, and they had just slipped the prepared rings onto each other's fingers when the photographer gave the cue.
"All right. Groom, bride—a kiss."
Of course Seonggi and Jiyeon could only hesitate.
"You're not taking the kiss shot?"
"Ah—no. We should."
Jiyeon answered as if she had made up her mind. Even in heels, Seonggi stood a few inches taller than she did. For the first time, the two of them faced each other.
Before his eyes was a woman more beautiful than any other in the world. She must have been wearing makeup, and still—skin so clear it seemed transparent, great luminous eyes, a finely bridged nose, full lips. The perfect woman he had only ever drawn in his dreams.
As his face drew near, Jiyeon dipped her head a little and closed her eyes. Even that looked unbearably noble, and beautiful.
A soft peck. Their lips met, light and brief.
When Seonggi drew back, Jiyeon opened her eyes, looked at him, and smiled.
"By the way."
She spoke in a whisper so small it might not have carried at all.
"Yes?"
"Um... what's your name?"
At the question he nearly burst out laughing. To ask his name only after the wedding shoot was finished and they had kissed. They had gotten married without even knowing each other's names? Well, yes. Neither of them had asked, and neither had said, so of course they didn't know.
Seonggi and Jiyeon looked at each other and started to laugh, quiet and helpless.
Click. Click-click. Click-click-click.
They didn't know it, but even then the photographer was working the shutter without pause. They had no idea that the pictures he was taking would turn the whole of South Korea upside down the very next day.