Chapter 6: Reinstatement

Chae Seo-rin is being promoted to anchor?

Not only was he cheating, but now he is trying to advertise her across the airwaves. Reality didn’t matter—he’d exploit his power and ignore procedures just because she was his mistress.

Is this even legal?

Anger burned as I stepped into an exclusive hanok-style restaurant, private and sealed off from the world.

“Are you Ms. Yoon Yeo-Jin?”

“Yes.”

“Please follow me. He’s waiting.”

I followed a server down a silent wooden corridor. At the far end, I was left before a sliding door that revealed a bamboo garden and, seated at a low table, Seo Jae-Ha. He paused, a teacup in hand, and greeted me with a calm smile.

“Welcome. Thought this quiet place would suit us.”

I replied, “Yes. I like the privacy.”

He nodded toward the menu but didn’t order. Instead, I asked directly, “Are you going back to America?”

He closed the menu. His eyes held a playful light—teasing, but with something else beneath.

“You almost look like you’d chase me to the U.S.”

“…That might be the case.”

“I’m not even Seo Ji-Han, your husband. Why would you do that?”

He chuckled, then the expression shifted. His voice turned serious.

“Let’s stop the jokes. Why did you call me?”

His words felt like a challenge; I gulped, then spoke.

“Seo Ji-Han isn’t my husband. I ran out during the wedding.”

He paused, then replied quietly.

“You haven’t officially tied the knot. And you were engaged for a long time…”

When he spoke of “our connection,” I scoffed. How could I have any connection to someone who nearly killed me?

With Ji-Han, our marriage had been nothing more than paperwork. Five years living under the same roof, no intimacy—pure formality.

We were like oil and water.

Every time I asked for a child, he said I wasn’t ready. He never embraced me, not emotionally, not figuratively.

“Seo-Rin’s carrying my child.”

“You know how precious heirs are to the Hojin family. You can’t raise a child without its father.”

Those words cut deeper than I expected. He’d left me for her and used her as an excuse for divorce.

My hand trembled around the cup. I set it down, unable to speak.

“I can never forgive that.”

Jae-Ha frowned, struggling to comprehend it all.

“He betrayed me. That person had an affair with my junior—it was… utterly ruthless.”

“Hmm…”

“You know, I’m the sole heir to W Group now.”

His face darkened with each word.

“He now believes he can take over my maternal family’s company.”

Jae-Ha stared at me with his sharp and calculating eyes. W Group’s attempted merger was top secret. He’d have to know why I was behaving like this.

“Why are you telling me all this? I don’t see how I’d benefit.”

“…”

“Seo Ji-Han is my fiancé… in name.”

“In name.” That phrase carried weight. Jae-Ha’s eyes narrowed, searching my expression.

I remembered the call he made the night before my divorce. We hadn’t been close. So why contact me?

He must have had a reason to meet me that night.

I needed him. Surely, he needed me too. It was a gamble—but I’d play.

“Let’s get married, Seo Jae-Ha.”

Shock flashed in his eyes. I gave a bitter smile.

“If it were the Seo Jae-Ha I know… You’d refuse marriage too, wouldn’t you?”

I pictured him once rejecting our engagement. I didn’t know if he hated me or just hated the idea of commitment.

“I need you.”

Kim Young-Min’s move meant an emergency shareholders’ meeting was coming. This man was the perfect person to both oppose Ji-Han and lead the W Group.

“And I need it right away.”

His expression flickered.

“I need a professional manager to take charge of W Group. And I want you to be the CEO.”

Jae-Ha blinked slowly. He drank deeply, then set the glass down.

“So… help me.”

He stilled, emotion erased from his face. We locked eyes for a silent moment.

He was the type who would find this proposal too sweet to resist. But he didn’t react. My palms grew damp.

Then he laughed—bitter, incredulous laughter.

“You think I’d accept that?”

His smile faded. His jaw tightened, sharp as a knife.

“I’m the eldest son of the Hojin family.”

The words cut through the air. Lulled by his arrogance—but still intrigued.

“Yes. You will take the position.”

“On what grounds?”

“Aren’t you already also CEO of KBC’s parent company?”

His pupils widened, startled. “……How did you know that?”

He’d been exiled to the U.S., stripped of his Hojin succession, but he’d grown powerful again by listing and spinning off subsidiaries.

“KBC is the largest shareholder of Hojin Group. Chairman Seo Mujin would not have stripped his eldest son of his position as successor without anything.”

However, the truth was that he would later become independent from Hojin and reorganize the holding company he was concurrently in charge of into H Media Holdings.

He returned triumphantly. It was a secret that no one except Chairman Seo and a few close associates knew.

Jae-Ha was so shocked that he couldn’t hide his embarrassment.

“I can give you wings bigger than Hojin. You need capital for corporate restructuring.”

I wasn’t just a former announcer—I was someone who could provide that capital.

He burst into laughter as if he finally understood the situation.

“And above all… don’t you want to destroy Hojin?”

I knew his twisted hatred for Hojin didn’t come from nothing. He sold off his shares early—ready to swallow Hojin when it struggled.

“I can help move your plan along faster.”

“…”

“So? Will you take my hand?”

I smiled slowly at his dumbstruck face.

****

When he finally entered a suite at the hotel, the automatic sensor lit up the room brightly. After dinner with Yeo-Jin, Jae-Ha loosened his tie and placed his jacket on the window-side couch.

He looked out at the river road below and laughed quietly. Then her voice echoed in his mind:

“Let’s get married, Seo Jae-Ha.”

That word nearly choked him. He shook himself back to calm.

Even though it was an empty word, he never imagined that such words would come out of her smooth lips.

“Ha.”

How hard he tried to maintain his composure. Furthermore, when she mentioned Hojin, his calm heart began to beat fiercely.

Yeo-Jin was the granddaughter of the W Group, who had been raised with great care and love.

He had thought she was like a well-grown flower. It seemed that he had been wrong.

Jae-Ha lay down deeply on the straight sofa in front of the glass.

“Yoon Yeo-Jin…….”

He drew a deep breath, then reached into an envelope on the table. Inside were photos—images of his half-brother entangled with his lover: in cars, holding hands, over and over—a shred of private life laid bare.

“You already knew he cheated…?”

He could barely believe it. He thought he knew Yeo-Jin—but how could he? His feelings tumbled into chaos.

He lifted the photos and stared, storm clouds in his eyes.

Then his phone buzzed.

—“Sir, did you finalize negotiations with the young madam?”

He almost laughed aloud. This wasn’t what he’d expected.

“She already knew about the affair.”

—“…What? No way. She knew?”

“Not even secretaries knew. Even I was stunned. She’s… frightening.”

He paused, collecting himself.

“Find out if news of me being CEO of KBC’s parent company has leaked.”

***

She hadn’t slept the whole night, but when he slept for barely an hour, the light filtered through the blinds—morning had come.

She woke to sunlight on his face. The night had been restless; hallucinations danced between Ji-Han with Seo-Rin and this man, Jae-Ha.

Ji-Hyun said I should also get treatment for the insomnia. The words of Ji-Hyun, a family medicine doctor at Daejin Hospital, came to my mind.

I reached for the phone on the bedside table. The screen lit up, and my gaze halted on a familiar photo—one of Ji-Han and Seo-Rin, taken sometime after the funeral. It wasn’t a one-time thing. They had been meeting consistently ever since.

“You really don’t know what I know, do you?”

There wasn’t much time left.

Once the shareholders’ meeting was over, their cozy little double life would descend straight into hell.

I opened the window. A brisk wind swept across my cheeks. Even up until the moment we parted ways last night, Jae-Ha had yet to give me a definitive answer.

“When’s the shareholders’ meeting?”

“Next Monday.”

He’d listened quietly, only asking that single question. A man whose thoughts were unreadable to the end.

Did I push too fast?

Had I been too hasty bringing up Hojin Group?

I shook my head to clear away the creeping doubt.

No. I’m sure of this.

I’d seen it. That flicker in his eyes when I brought up Hojin. It had been subtle, but it was there.

Just as I sank into thought, the phone buzzed with a short vibration.

“…A message?”

It was the reply I’d been waiting for.

[I’ve got time. How about now?]

The fish I’d been baiting had finally bitten.