Talking about Jian and his mother made him feel comfortable, as if the day would come when he would meet his mother. It was the heartwarming resolution Jian, who had chosen reconciliation with her family unlike me, possessed.

A little later, when Danwoo’s arm wrapped around her waist loosened, Jian muttered to herself.

“Danwoo, are you okay?”

For me, Danwoo was the person who allowed me to express painful emotions.

But does he realize that he himself is not like that?

When Danwoo talked about his own story, his voice always seemed to lower.
How much time must pass, and how much resentment must be subdued, for such indifferent voices to emerge?

As Jian learned about Danwoo’s past, his indifference and composure often left her feeling bitter.

One snowy night in Jeju, Danwoo, gazing at the falling snow in the night sky, suddenly said, “It hurts.”

She felt those three words, gently dispersed over the white snow, as comforting words.

The strange similarity in their feelings and the time they spent looking at each other—could it be that at that moment, Danwoo and I had already become inseparable?

Jian sometimes wished for Danwoo, who lived blaming himself, calling himself a bad guy and attributing her mother’s confinement in the isolation ward and J’s death to his actions, to find temporary peace.

In the unusually rain-filled spring, Sujeong frowned as news of rain continued.

When Sujeong’s car entered the underground parking lot of her house and turned off the engine, the busy wipers stopped.

She was on her way home from Director Ji Hyesu’s office.

Having gone to Sujeong’s office to handle Hyesu’s work, Sujeong heard the news that Woo Seon-ho had convened an extraordinary general meeting and dismissed Hyesu from her director position.

“What exactly are you thinking, Woo Seon-ho!”

Impatiently flicking her nails, Sujeong opened her phone to find reliable information.

A while later, she had conversations with the faceless prosecutor and several journalists from various news outlets. However, she could only hear about the investigation schedule related to Hasong Bio that she already knew.

As Sujeong, who had left the car, walked towards the elevator, a man wearing a black hat approached her. When the man got closer to Sujeong, he grabbed her hair violently.

The man was Sujeong’s older brother, Lee Jeong-ho.

“You’ve been hiding well. You can’t live well, eating and living comfortably, while your brother is unfairly thrown into prison.”

“Brother!”

Sujeong grabbed Jeong-ho’s arm with her hand and shouted briefly.

Jeong-ho was by no means a welcome presence for Sujeong. Since the day when their parents passed away, leaving only Sujeong and Jeong-ho, Sujeong’s life had become hell.

Violence and exploitation. The only relationship that could be described with these two words was her brother, Jeong-ho.

Although she became a movie star by chance, she was lured into various places under the pretext of finding sponsors. And behind it all was Jeong-ho, using me to receive money.

What Sujeong learned through those times, through bone-chilling experiences, was the undeniable fact that there was no need to seek approval for the family, and she learned how to use her outstanding appearance.

The logic of the upper class, “If you have no sins, make them,” proved to be the best lesson in sending Jeong-ho to prison.

“That’s not it, Brother.”

“Brother? Sure, I’m your brother. You XXX!”

While Sujeong was terrified, a large hand swung towards her.
Sujeong, in the midst of her vision blurring, glanced at the car and the elevator to escape. Eventually, she pulled out her luxury wallet from her designer bag and shouted loudly.

“Money! You need money, right?”

Afraid to lift her head again to face him, she extended her wallet toward Jeong-ho, and his eerie laughter echoed before his hand could reach it. She quickly threw the wallet away before Jeong-ho’s hand could touch it.

“There you go!”

“The card PIN is 9327.”

As Sujeong whispered the password and shouted, Jeong-ho, chillingly, laughed and then walked toward the wallet, making a squishing sound with each step.

Without missing that moment, Sujeong quickly ran towards her car.

‘It’s not the first time. It’s nothing special. I just need to escape.’

The violence that Jeong-ho had unleashed on me still lingered in Sujeong’s memory.

The constant pity and sorrow for still running away from Jeong-ho made her feel frustrated and sorrowful.

Sujeong barely got into the car, stepped on the accelerator like crazy, and left the parking lot. Only then did tears start to pour.

The overwhelming loneliness of having no one on her side flowed down like spring rain beating against the window.

“Feeling excited because of the spring rain? Don’t make me laugh.”

The rain, whether then or now, made Sujeong feel miserable and pathetic. Just like the time she had no decent umbrella and skipped school.

Only after entering the hotel room far from her house did Sujeong finally relax.

But if it weren’t for Jeong-ho, she wouldn’t have known. The fact that there was no one on her side in the world. Throughout her life, the one who protected me was none other than Sujeong herself.

Neither Useonho nor Udannwoo would be on her side. If they looked down on me, Sujeong could make both of them look ridiculous.

Fortunately, Sujeong knew Useonho’s weaknesses and what Udannwoo needed.

Above all, she didn’t want to receive punishment for crimes she didn’t commit or for crimes she had committed.

A few hours later.

An article exposing the truth about Hasong Bio appeared on the main page of the portal.

[Corruption at Hasong Bio Was True.] [Corruption at Hasong Bio Committed by CEO Useonho and His Alleged Mistress, Director Ji Hyesu.]

Sujeong acted faster than Useonho, revealing the presence of Jihyesu and Udannwoo to the media.

The corruption at Hasong Bio was Useonho’s wrongdoing under the name of Jihyesu.

If Useonho wanted to transfer Ji Hyesu’s sins to me and merge with the Eagles for that purpose, all Sujeong had to do was to strike Useonho first.

[Jihyesu Director of Hasong Bio] [Director Ji Hyesu. Known as CEO Useonho’s Alleged Mistress.] [Udannwoo, the CEO of Play Round, born out of the secret of the Haesong family.]

Sujeong planned the next steps in her mind while watching the uploaded articles one after another.