Forced into Marriage
"Come out. I know you're in there."
Someone was calling. It was Cha Jiyeon's voice.
"And here I thought someone was making a racket..."
Choi Seonggi stepped out of the storeroom with a bottle of wine in hand, the very picture of a man who had been doing nothing but hunting for a vintage. A man could die and come back to life and he would still be nothing but bluster. He was not about to be caught having ducked in there, shamefaced, the moment he sensed someone coming.
"Hm?"
Coming out of the storeroom, Seonggi looked at the woman standing in the living room. A radiant figure in a crisp office ensemble — Cha Jiyeon. Except something was off. She seemed a little shorter, and the wave in her hair ran the other way.
The person before him resembled Cha Jiyeon very closely, but she was plainly not Cha Jiyeon. She was looking at Seonggi with a bright smile.
"Oh, people mix me up with Jiyeon all the time! Lovely to meet you. I'm Cha Jiseon, Jiyeon's older sister."
She held out her hand.
"Ah. Yes."
Still half-dazed, Seonggi took the hand she offered.
"I knew you'd be here. Sit. I'd love a glass of wine, but I have to drive, so wine's out. Shall we have tea instead?"
With that, Cha Jiseon dropped onto the sofa. The meaning was plain enough: make the tea and bring it to her. Pulling rank was bred into her bones.
"Wine's fine for me."
Seonggi barely listened. He worked the cork free and poured into the glass he'd already been drinking from.
"Excuse me... I said I was having tea?"
"Help yourself."
And? If she wanted a drink, she could go get it herself.
Jiseon, who had been studying him in silence, let out a short laugh.
"Fine. We'll skip the tea and get to the real conversation."
A crease settled between her brows. She looked at Seonggi and went on.
"Stand with us."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"I don't have time for a long explanation, and you'll learn it soon enough anyway. In short, once Grandfather passes, the family council will take up the matter of who rises. When that happens, you back our side."
"And why would I do that?"
"Do it, and I'll sign over a four-percent stake in Gwangmyeong Golf Club."
Gwangmyeong Golf Club — wasn't that the course where the KLPGA, the Korean women's tour, held its tournaments? Four percent. How much was that worth? And the chairman he'd met that morning had seemed perfectly hale. Were they already carving up what came after his death?
"It isn't listed, but four percent ought to be worth at least ten billion won."
"I don't know what any of this is, but all I have to do is back you? Even so, trying to move an unlisted stake for something like ten billion won sounds like a headache."
When Seonggi looked at her, Cha Jiseon's pupils wavered.
"Fine! Then I'll give you five billion won in cash, on the spot. How's that?"
Seonggi's eyes narrowed.
Well, look at this.
He still didn't know what any of it amounted to, but the meaning was clear enough. The Gwangmyeong Golf Club shares, even if they existed, were nothing he would actually be able to sell — and the promise of five billion won in cash was a lie.
"Let me think it over and get back to you."
"You won't have all that much time. Jiyeon went and pulled quite the adorable little stunt. I've always said there's no telling which way that girl will bolt. It's already done, so there's no gathering it back up... This is all turning out very amusing."
"..."
"I'll see you again soon. I came in the middle of a busy day, so I can't stay long."
Cha Jiseon rose from the sofa.
"I won't see you out. Get home safe."
Jiseon gave a short laugh at that. The gall of it — a guest under someone else's roof, carrying on as if he owned the place.
"Are you always this shameless?"
She held out a business card as she spoke.
"Depends on who's in front of me."
The moment Seonggi took the card, he set it down on the table.
"Jiyeon really did make a proper mess of things. Haah... I'll see you later."
"I'll say my goodbyes here. Take care on your way."
As if she couldn't quite believe him, Jiseon let out another short laugh, opened the front door, and left. Seonggi stayed where he sat, sipping his wine, and watched her walk toward her car.
Just as she was about to climb in, another car came up the drive, headlights flaring. Seonggi started to rise, recognized it, and sat back down.
The one who had orchestrated all of this — Cha Jiyeon herself — had arrived.
"...What are you doing here? ..."
"...A stunt like this... Have you lost your mind?"
He couldn't make the words out clearly, but they were plainly fighting.
They squared off, and then Jiseon got into the car she had come in and drove away. A moment later Jiyeon stormed into the mansion, fuming.
"Welcome. Care for a glass of wine?"
"Haah..."
Finding Seonggi drinking with perfect nonchalance, Jiyeon sighed.
"Give it here."
"Bring a glass. The wine's right here."
"Unbelievable."
She had been seething, but a short laugh escaped her, and she went and fetched a wine glass. Seonggi filled it.
"What did my sister say?"
"Hard to say. She told me not to talk."
"She meant don't tell other people. You have to tell me."
"She said if I backed her, she'd give me money."
"How much?"
"Five billion."
At the figure, one corner of Jiyeon's mouth lifted.
"You seem to be enjoying this immensely."
"If you can't avoid it, enjoy it. Isn't that what they say?"
"That is not the situation that line was made for!"
"Well. Anyway."
As if none of it mattered in the least, Seonggi touched his glass to hers and drank. Not too sweet, not too dry — a quiet, deep fragrance, with just enough tannin to lay down a savory finish. A Malbec.
"I've been summoned and dragged around and running all day until I can't think straight..."
"Didn't you say my mission was to stay quietly shut away? I've been carrying it out with great diligence."
"Unbelievable! Don't you know the two of us rise or fall together?"
Seonggi, taking cheese between sips of wine, found the sight of an angry Jiyeon rather adorable.
"So... what do you want me to do? Step outside and hold a press conference? I'll have you know I met the final boss today."
"Oh, Grandfather? What did Grandfather say?"
"He asked me to look after you. But."
"But?"
"He seemed to know it's a sham marriage."
"Of course he knows. You can't fool Grandfather anyway. He's the sort of man who sees straight through people..."
"What are you going to do about your father?"
"What choice is there? We've come this far..."
Jiyeon's eyes flashed as she went on.
"We meet it head-on."
An interesting woman. If only the fight weren't against her own family, she would have made a fine general. Was there a general anywhere this cute, this pretty?
The elf goddess who had stood in a bridal gown only yesterday had come back a general in the space of a day.
"The real final boss is Dad. You'd better steel yourself. He's absolutely furious right now."
"What is there for me to do? I keep my mouth shut and hold out."
"That's a good attitude."
"To that."
He touched his glass to hers. They were just lifting the wine to their lips when Jiyeon's phone began to ring, bright and insistent. She stared at it... and bit her lower lip.
"...It's Dad."
"Answer it."
"He's going to tell me to come. I can feel it..."
"Then we go. It's not as if we've committed some crime worth dying for... All we did was a sham marriage."
"That's because you don't know what kind of man my father is. Say one wrong word and... you die."
"Haha..."
A hollow laugh slipped out of him. The chairman of a top-five conglomerate, killing a man? She only meant he was that frightening. He was her father, so of course he seemed terrifying — but what did that have to do with Choi Seonggi? To Seonggi, the man was nothing but a rich older gentleman.
"Even so, we can't spend the rest of our lives on the run, can we?"
This wasn't the sort of thing you ran from. If a beating was coming, better to take it sooner than later.
"Mmm... All right. Yes. Dad, it's me."
Jiyeon took the call, her eyes rigid with tension.
"Yes... No... Yes... That's right. Yes... I will."
She hung up and looked at Seonggi.
"He says come right now. Otherwise... he'll have us dragged there."
"Let's go, then."
Seonggi had just drained the rest of his wine and risen when light as bright as noon flooded through the living-room windows. Headlights, blazing from several cars at once.
"You — wait outside!"
The moment Seonggi bowed his head in greeting and sat, Cha Jinpyo told Jiyeon to wait outside.
"Dad!"
"I said wait outside!"
He was plainly in a rage. Jiyeon glared right back and stood up to him, but in the end she turned, opened the door, and went out.
"Sorry you had to see an ugly scene at our first meeting."
The words had softened, spoken smoothly — but Seonggi could feel the fury the man was crushing down, ready to burst at any moment.
"Not at all. I understand perfectly well why."
"Yes... yes... It isn't only your fault, so don't be too tense."
"I'm not tense, so there's no need for concern."
"Haaaaah..."
A sigh drawn up from deep in the gut. Like father, like son? Chairman Cha Wonseok had sighed just the same way. Unless Chairman Cha Jinpyo was a fool, he surely knew every last thing Jiyeon had done.
"I'll say this in advance."
"Please."
"Do you see that door over there — not the one you came in through?"
"Yes. I see it."
There was another door behind where the chairman sat.
"Depending on how you answer, you may end up leaving through that one."
It was a threat, thinly dressed. He had been brought all the way out to Gapyeong with five cars for an escort — if escort was the word. They had taken only narrow, twisting roads, which meant they had picked routes without CCTV. No trace that he had ever come. Which meant, just as easily, that he could vanish, and not a soul would know.
"It sounds rather as if you're threatening me."
"That's right. I don't know what kind of lunatic shoved his way into the Cha family's affairs without a scrap of fear, but if you get in the way, I may have to turn you into fish food."
Hm.
This was not merely something said to frighten him.
"A lot of people saw, and a lot of photos were taken. Wouldn't that be dangerous for you?"
"Oh? More dangerous than it is for you? All I have to do is say I know nothing. I could pass it off as one of my secretaries acting out of excessive loyalty. Officially, I'm in an executives' meeting at the company as we speak."
Chairman Cha Jinpyo jerked his chin, and the man standing beside him set a briefcase down in front of Seonggi.
"How much did Jiyeon say she'd give you? No — how much did you actually receive?"
"Pardon?"
"Two billion won, cash. Tell me everything, do exactly as you're told, and I'll give it to you."
"..."
Seonggi looked at Cha Jinpyo. On television he had seemed like nothing more than a kindly man from next door. Now he looked like the King of Hell, perched in the heart of the flames — and one barely holding down a rage that wanted to erupt.
Seonggi swallowed once more. Two billion won. Two billion! These days not even the lottery could turn a life around, and yet that two billion could change Choi Seonggi's. But Chairman Cha Jinpyo had no intention of giving him the money. Take the bait or leave it, this road ended in death all the same.
"If you're simply giving it, I'll take it. But... why go to the trouble?"
"A man I can talk to. A wise decision."
"I grew up being praised for how well I listen to my elders. Haha."
"Then tomorrow, you'll announce at once that it was a sham marriage, and you'll cooperate in having the marriage voided."
"A sham marriage?"
"Thinking of denying it?"
He could see Chairman Cha Jinpyo's hand trembling. One word from the man — Take this bastard away and deal with him — and Seonggi would be fish food.
"I suppose I ought to be honest."
The face that had been twisted tight brightened at once.
"Yes... A fine start, at any rate."
"Miss Cha Jiyeon and I..."
Seonggi stared straight into the chairman's eyes and went on.
"What? Are you telling me you mean to play games with me?"
"Father!"
"Father? And who is your father? How dare you..."
Chairman Cha Jinpyo's face flushed a furious red.
"Look here. This isn't something you settle like that! You've done something truly dangerous. You should be flat on the floor begging the Chairman, and even that wouldn't be enough..."
The man standing behind him — Secretary Kwon — had spoken as if taking Seonggi to task. Chairman Cha Jinpyo raised his right hand and cut him off.
"Enough! Secretary Kwon, be quiet!"
"I—I'm sorry, Chairman."
Jinpyo did not even turn. Secretary Kwon bent a full ninety degrees toward the chairman's back.
Was this the scene he had watched in so many films — the subordinate rampaging as if he meant to kill the man himself, and the boss holding him back?
"Miss Cha Jiyeon is an adult. She can judge for herself."
"She's my child!"
"Even a child is not something a parent may do with as they please."
"You little—"
"Mind how you speak."
"What?"
The air froze. A killing intent flickered, sharp enough to lift the fine hairs on his skin, and Chairman Cha Jinpyo's eyes burned as if they meant to devour Seonggi whole.
"I was decent enough to treat you like a person, and you seem to have mistaken yourself for one."
Jinpyo ground his teeth, a harsh grating sound, and the gaze he had locked on Seonggi slid over to Secretary Kwon.
"Secretary Kwon."
"Yes, Chairman!"
"Tell the boys in the back to take this bastard and—"
"Um..."
Seonggi cut in.
Yes. However iron a man's nerve, set him at the real edge of death and he begged to be spared. That was the way of things. Cha Jinpyo looked at Seonggi, already crowing triumph on the inside.
Hm?
But Seonggi was not shaking. He was not cowed in the slightest. He met Cha Jinpyo's eyes with a bright, untroubled smile.