The Daughter-in-Law's Conditions
So that's how it happened... Is there really no other way?
The person Shinwoo had reached out to for help after making that marriage bet with Yoo Chaerim was none other than Yoo Han-kyung, the team leader of the National Intelligence Service's Male Development Department.
"I figured that a national intelligence agency like yours might know something I don't, so I thought I'd ask... Oh! Even if there's no solution, please don't take any offense."
It was evening. Shinwoo was inside his room, speaking through a dumbbell-shaped phone that connected him directly to the NIS. He'd chosen this method for security reasons. Still, as he spoke, he couldn't help but wonder if it was really okay to burden the National Intelligence Service with something like this. After all, the matter with Yoo Chaerim was entirely personal. He felt a pang of guilt for dragging unrelated people into it.
On the other hand, this was a direct request from a man named Han Shinwoo.
In the monitoring room of the Male Development Department, where his daily life patterns were being observed, every single NIS agent present shot up from their seats at once. Rivers of tears were streaming down their faces.
"Does that mean... we... we have permission to help you, Sir Shinwoo?"
"I'd be incredibly grateful if you would!"
Yoo Han-kyung stood at the highest point in the monitoring room. Even she finally broke down in tears at Shinwoo's last words.
This was the first time. The day had finally come when the Male Development Department's true capabilities would be put to use.
Up until now, the department had been little more than a group that secretly investigated the behaviors of men who found them burdensome. In kinder terms, it was protection. In harsher terms, it was stalking. Their original purpose had been to facilitate face-to-face meetings with men, and eventually to move beyond that into actual interaction. But in this world where men were so precious, there wasn't a single man willing to meet with women who barged in claiming to be from the National Intelligence Service.
Let alone asking for help. All they could do was assist from the shadows. Never once had they received an official request for assistance from a man. Such things only existed in the manuals from the department's early days.
But Han Shinwoo! This man, you truly are...!
"Of course! Leave it to us!"
"Huh...? Is that really okay?"
"Yes! Even if we have to create a method that doesn't exist, we'll find one for you, Sir Shinwoo!"
Yoo Han-kyung's shout was filled with determination. Every agent beneath her reacted with the same fervor. What did it matter if their opponent was one of Korea's leading conglomerates? They were the NIS—they could do anything except turn a woman into a man. They were confident. No, they created confidence where none existed.
And the collapse of the Samsung Group was, from the state's perspective, a major crisis that needed to be monitored anyway. It was like killing two birds with one stone. Their fighting spirit burned brighter than ever.
"You said the bet takes place within a week, correct? We'll find a way somehow before then. And this time, we'll contact you first, Sir Shinwoo. That's all for now!"
With those words, the call with Team Leader Yoo Han-kyung ended.
Shinwoo sat there, completely stunned. He'd only reached out on the off chance she might throw him a lifeline, but he never expected her to respond with such enthusiasm. He'd have to treat her to a meal sometime. He thought about it lightly like that.
Little did he know that this incident would later lead to yet another flood of tears at the NIS. He simply smiled, feeling rather pleased with himself.
That was when it happened.
Knock knock.
"O-Oppa! It's a disaster!"
The moment he heard the knock, Mijin burst into the room like a whirlwind.
Shinwoo was currently in the middle of his upper body workout. Since he was worried about sweating, he wasn't wearing a shirt. As a result, an elementary school girl suddenly found herself staring directly at the abs of a man who would soon become an adult. The stimulus must have been far too great. For a moment she completely forgot what she'd come to say and could only open and close her mouth like a fish.
Her eyes spun in circles and her head felt like it was overheating.
"Mijin? What's wrong?"
At the sound of her older brother's voice, she snapped back to reality. Mijin shook her head vigorously, then deliberately lowered her gaze to the floor so she wouldn't lose her mind again. Thanks to that, Shinwoo ended up having a conversation with the top of his little sister's head.
In that state, Mijin desperately recalled what had just happened at the front door and spoke with all her might.
"O-Outside our house!"
"Yeah. Outside the house."
"Some people in suits came looking for us!"
"Okay. And then?"
"They suddenly started giving us something called your betrothal money—in gold!"
"G-Gold?!"
This wasn't the Joseon Dynasty. Just hearing about it sounded far from ordinary. At those words, Shinwoo quickly pulled on a shirt. Then he grabbed his dazed little sister and hurried down to the entrance.
"Son! What on earth is all this?"
When they arrived at the front door, the exact scene Mijin had described was unfolding before them.
Betrothal money. It referred to the deposit traditionally given by the bride's family to the groom's family before a wedding, as a gesture of goodwill. Usually it was a gift in the form of money placed inside an envelope.
But could something on this scale even be called betrothal money?
Women in suits stood in a line both inside and outside the apartment entrance. On their hands they carried golden toads, owls, carp, and... was that a calf? Not only the shapes but the sizes were authentic. A golden cow the size of a real calf was being carried into their living room.
At the sight, Shinwoo was rendered speechless.
Then his eyes met his mother's expression. She looked so stunned she couldn't even process reality.
"Son... these people suddenly showed up saying it's your betrothal money and started giving us all this...? It must be a delivery error, right? It has to be, right?"
She walked toward her son and then collapsed to her knees. Mother desperately clutched at the hem of Shinwoo's clothes as she asked him the question.
At that moment, someone grabbed Shinwoo's right hand. It was Mijin, who looked like she was about to burst into tears at any second.
Then Shinwoo's gaze naturally shifted toward his older sister, who had been strangely quiet this whole time.
The sight of priceless gold being brought into the house under the name of betrothal money, without a single word. Chaewon was watching it all in silence. Her eyes were fixed sharply on the women in suits, as if the mastermind behind this was hiding among them.
And just as her intuition told her, once the living room was sufficiently filled with gold, a woman entered the house without permission.
It wasn't the school uniform she'd worn that morning. Instead, Yoo Chaerim was wearing an elegant white dress with a plunging back, the kind of outfit specifically designed to captivate men. She walked gracefully toward Shinwoo's family.
"Hello, Mother."
"M-Mother...?"
A complete stranger was calling her Mother. As if they were about to become family any day now. At those words, Mother searched through her memories. Back in her early twenties when she was doing son gacha. She'd given birth to two daughters—had she somehow given birth to a third child without realizing it? She thought and thought again.
But the girl before her eyes, who seemed to possess every possible feminine charm, was not her daughter. There was even less reason for her to be called Mother. So why was this girl calling her that? And why was she appearing among these mysterious women in suits who were practically forcing this so-called betrothal money on them?
...She'd already guessed the answer, but she denied it until the very end. With a sliver of hope, Mother slowly looked up at her son, whose hem she was still clutching.
But for the first time since he'd come out of the hospital, her son was avoiding her gaze. Like a child trying to hide that he'd done something wrong.
"Oh my. You must be Mijin."
"...Do you know me?"
"Yes. I did some preliminary inves— I mean, I've seen you a few times before."
Mother seemed half out of her mind. Realizing she wouldn't be able to have a proper conversation with her, Yoo Chaerim turned her attention to the little sister standing beside Shinwoo, holding his hand.
She tried to approach Mijin. But perhaps it was only natural.
"Really? I've never seen you before."
"...No, I'm sure we've met before..."
"You must be mistaken, ma'am."
"...!?"
As expected of the younger sister in a household with a man. Since their positions were essentially the same, she was no pushover. At Mijin's final words, Yoo Chaerim's gentle poker face twitched for a moment.
But this was still child's play. Compared to the woman she would soon have to face, she still had plenty of composure to spare.
"You're quite busy this late in the evening, aren't you?"
"Hoho. I'd appreciate it if you called it meticulous rather than busy, sister-in-law."
Into Shinwoo's wide-open eyes came Chaewon. The two women faced each other—Chaerim smiling with perfect ease, Chaewon glaring back. Sparks flew between them, as if the slightest touch would set everything ablaze.
"If someone heard you, they'd think you were already married."
"Since we'll be married in a week anyway, isn't it all the same?"
"N-No, it's not the same at all."
Yoo Chaerim was smiling brightly, as if she had already secured her victory. Chaewon was fuming, but she seemed unable to come up with anything else to say.
That was when Shinwoo felt an unusual amount of strength in the right hand that Mijin was gripping.
"M-Marriage...?"
When he looked down, Mijin's normally bright blue eyes had turned as dark and murky as polluted water. She was staring up at her older brother with pure resentment. Shinwoo's body trembled.
But that wasn't the end of it.
"What does that mean... son...?"
The face of his mother, still clutching his hem from below, looked no different from Mijin's. Both of their eyes had gone completely dark. Their expressions said they resented the entire world.
The air grew strangely cold. It was the kind of killing intent Shinwoo had only felt on the battlefield in his previous life. His survival instincts kicked in, and he quickly opened his mouth.
"Ah, um, something happened at school today!"
"What happened?"
"Oppa. Tell us properly."
"Y-Yes!"
Shinwoo looked back and forth between the two of them as he explained. Though calling it an explanation was being generous. He told them about meeting Yoo Chaerim at school, how he'd beaten up a guy named Yoo Duhak in the past and the resulting crisis facing the Samsung Group, and how he'd felt responsible and made a bet with her. That was where his explanation ended.
A short silence followed.
In that heavy atmosphere, Mother stood up. The look in her eyes had grown so dark that the murky gaze Mijin had worn moments ago now seemed almost gentle by comparison. It was so terrifying that both her youngest daughter, whose eyes had rolled back halfway, and her eldest daughter, who was confronting the woman she wanted to burn alive, trembled.
Mother turned around. The Samsung Group bodyguards in suits who had followed their young lady all held their breath at her expression. Even Yoo Chaerim did the same.
But she soon remembered her position and regained her confidence. She was the next heir to the Samsung Group. She'd already done a thorough investigation into Shinwoo's family background. At best, they were just an ordinary upper-class Korean household that happened to be fairly well-off. In other words, there was no one here who could touch her right now.
...Or so Yoo Chaerim thought, without considering what position she would be in once she became their daughter-in-law. She smiled to herself.
And that was when it happened.
"Here, take this."
"Y-Yes?"
Mother suddenly walked over to the refrigerator. The next moment, the vegetable she threw at Yoo Chaerim was none other than a head of cabbage. It was a perfectly fresh napa cabbage, ideal for making kimchi.