Trying not to think about Jae Ho itself was already a huge stress. Da Jung’s sleep quality deteriorated rapidly. After coming up to Seoul, she had nightmares every other day. Even though she poured her energy into work to the limit, her mind became clearer at night.

Today, too, after tossing and turning, she finally fell asleep, but the nightmare came without fail. Da Jung, wearing a brown checkered school uniform, ran into the house smiling, and instantly the entrance disappeared.

‘Ah. It’s a dream.’

The inevitable nightmare.

Even knowing it was a dream, the fear did not disappear. Tension rose up her spine to the top of her head. A bright red flame arose in a rectangular space without windows. She hurriedly touched the wall, but it did not budge.

Da Jung screamed for help. She pounded on the unyielding wall, shouting until her throat was raw. But her cries did not come out as sound.

The flames rose fiercely toward Da Jung as if they were a living entity. Mercilessly growing larger, they soon began to devour her from the ankles up. Da Jung curled up her whole body and cried like a beast.

The more she did so, the more painfully she burned. Black smoke rose thickly, obscuring her vision. She wanted to faint rather than endure. The Da Jung in the dream finally bit her tongue.

“…Save me!”

Da Jung woke up gasping for breath. A shock of her whole body twisting came over her. When she came to her senses, she had fallen to the floor. It seemed she had woken up after falling while struggling.

“Haa…”

A clean and tidy room with no sign of flames came into view. There were no burn marks anywhere on Da Jung’s body. Nevertheless, she curled up as if smelling smoke at the tip of her nose. At that moment, she tasted a faint metal flavor in her mouth.

‘Huh…?’

Da Jung struggled to get up, turned on the light, and looked in the mirror. My goodness, had she really tried to bite her tongue? If not her tongue, there were bite marks on her lower lip and blood had flowed. Da Jung found a tissue and roughly stopped the bleeding for now.

The clock showed two in the morning.

The quiet night sank Da Jung deeply. It felt like being submerged in water. Unable to lie down again with her numb heart, she sat at the head of the bed. She took a deep breath and exhaled again. Along with her breath, a certain memory flowed into her mind. It was the memory of her elder brother telling her she was ‘the prettiest’.

**

‘Are you Yoon Da Jung? Are you Yoon Woo Jung’s younger sister from Haeyul High School?’

When Da Jung answered ‘Yes’, the elder sisters would always buy her something delicious or compliment her for being pretty. It was a very simple task of just answering what her elder brother liked and whether he had a girlfriend. Da Jung’s answer was always the same.

‘He likes his friends, and he doesn’t have a girlfriend.’

She briefly thought he might be dating Kyung Mi, but felt she shouldn’t say that.

On days when she came home with loads of expensive handmade chocolates, Woo Jung would laugh loudly and praise her for doing well. He’d say he didn’t need them, so she should eat them all. He also told her to eat them sparingly, little by little, or mom would scold her if she found out. And he always said she was pretty. That his little sister was so pretty.

Well.

From Da Jung’s perspective, Woo Jung was the one who got all the dominant genes. Her elder brother was tall and really handsome. His eyes were big and his nose sharp, sometimes looking like a sculpture. He often heard suggestions to debut as a celebrity.

Her elder brother usually just laughed it off, but one day he seriously asked Da Jung. If he became a celebrity, wouldn’t it be very inconvenient for Da Jung? Da Jung was overjoyed at the thought that there could be more gifts.

Perhaps her elder brother wanted to become an actor, a thought she only had after his death.

It was a meaningless thought. Whether he was good at studying. Whether he was popular. Whatever dreams he had. Yoon Woo Jung had burned to death on a school trip at seventeen.

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

It was a night she simply couldn’t endure alone. She recalled the incomparably warm embrace of a man. Da Jung endured the long fear, clutching the coldly cooled blanket.

**

The next day, Lee Hun Tae cleared the dinner table early and was reading the newspaper. Mi Jung approached and handed him fruit and a health drink. It was a drink that Tongyoung’s wife brewed herself, mixing organically grown jujubes and wild arrowroot, perfect for relieving fatigue.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

It was when Mi Jung bowed her head in greeting and was about to turn away. Lee Hun Tae called her again.

“Ae Mi.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Sit down for a moment.”

As he watched Mi Jung sit down modestly, the image of the young secretary who stood by Jin Woo’s side came to mind. Thinking about it now, they were truly a well-matched pair.

How happy they would have been if they had married uneventfully and built a family. Who knows how many more siblings Jae Ho might have had. His throat tightened with regret.

At that time, he believed a strategic marriage was the best for Jin Woo.

Countless companies fell due to ‘sibling strife’. Lee Hun Tae had no intention of letting such a thing happen. So he deliberately raised his first son, Jin Woo, as the successor for all to see.

Lee Jin Woo was not only brilliant but also had passion and perseverance, as well as all-around leadership and responsibility. He was a talent among talents. Under Lee Hun Tae’s plan, everything at Taemyung was safe.

Jin Hyuk did not dare to defy his elder brother, and Jin Myung trusted and relied on his eldest brother more than anyone else, so the family was extremely peaceful.

But the accident happened suddenly. A car that slipped on a rainy road hit the guardrail and plunged under the bridge. Jin Woo, who had left on a business trip, ended his life like that. That was already 30 years ago.

“It’s your birthday next week, isn’t it? I told Director Choi to pay attention. Feel free to say if there’s anything you want in advance.”

“Father! No. I don’t need anything. It’s already enough.”

Lee Hun Tae looked at his daughter-in-law and smiled bitterly.

“With such a kind heart… I was too foolish. If I hadn’t opposed your relationship back then, would the child’s father still be alive?”

“Father. Don’t say such things. An accident is just an accident.”

Mi Jung’s voice trembled.

“I owe you a lot, Ae Mi.”

“No. Just by accepting Jae Ho… and raising him like this, I’ve received more than I deserve.”

“No. My sin is great. To have given birth to the eldest grandson and not even hold a wedding ceremony…”

On the day Jae Ho arrived, a paternity test was conducted for confirmation, but Lee Hun Tae already knew the answer before the results came out. It was a child with the same eyes as Jin Woo. From that day on, Jae Ho became Lee Hun Tae’s hope. Such a precious grandson.

Mi Jung looked at her father-in-law’s deeply wrinkled face and gathered courage to hold his hand.

It was she who ran away. Jin Woo had said he would somehow resolve things if she could just wait a little, but the moment she confirmed her pregnancy, everything became frightening. Thinking that Lee Hun Tae would tell her to get rid of the baby at the time, she abandoned him first and ran away. After that, she lived in hiding so that they could never find her.

Not only did she raise that precious bloodline in difficult and poor circumstances, but she almost killed him in a fire pit. Mi Jung decided to return to Taemyung for Jae Ho’s sake and boldly rang the doorbell to enter the house.

Of course, she expected to be turned away at the door. She thought they would either roar at her or treat her like a crazy woman. If so, she had decided to somehow gain recognition by presenting various pieces of evidence.

So she had brought all the letters and gifts she had exchanged with Jin Woo, treasuring them like precious jewels.

But Lee Hun Tae stared intently at her and Jae Ho with the same eyes, then asked if they had eaten.

‘Tongyoung’s wife. First, get these children some food.’

‘Ch-Chairman, do you believe me? Doesn’t it sound absurd that this is the son of Jin Woo who died 17 years ago?’

‘When you live to this age, there are things you can see naturally.’

Mi Jung was simply grateful, again and again.

“Father, I’m happy now. I don’t want anything more.”

“I heard Jae Ho has a woman. Have you seen her by any chance?”

“No. But when the time comes, he’ll bring her. I just want to wait.”

“I don’t want to do that.”

Lee Hun Tae smiled.

“I want to see her. I want to do everything for her that I couldn’t do for you.”

**

Listening to Director Jung’s report, Jae Ho thought. Should he have been honest?

No. No.

He shook his head.

Why create unnecessary trouble when Yoon Da Jung didn’t remember him? No matter how he thought about it a hundred or a thousand times, it was the right thing to do. He absolutely did not regret it.

And if he was going to say something, he should have done it earlier. Instead of using every means to observe Yoon Da Jung and calling her there, he should have apologized first, he should have knelt down first rather than pressing his lips, and lastly, he should have finished the conversation he couldn’t that day.

To say he was sorry. That he was a sinner.

What truth now, after acting like a complete madman.

Jae Ho smiled bitterly, mocking himself. In the end, it was fine as long as Yoon Da Jung didn’t know. He had the confidence to make her the happiest in the world, and he had money and power. Even if it was selfish, he could just live as Yoon Da Jung’s man. It was the one desire he had harbored since long ago.

Jae Ho wanted Da Jung to see him purely as Lee Jae Ho. He couldn’t be her man in a state entangled with pain and accidents. He didn’t come to just comfort her by her side. There was an example like Lee Kyung Jun who couldn’t get any closer even after playing such a role for over a decade.

Lee Kyung Jun.

A fool who occupied her side for a long time but couldn’t do anything. Lee Kyung Jun could no longer look down on him dismissively. Not just in height, but also in social status and power.

Jae Ho didn’t want to receive anything his grandfather was trying to give him, but it was different for Da Jung’s sake. If Lee Kyung Jun acted dirty, he intended to wield all his power.

He could do anything for Yoon Da Jung. Now that he had confirmed he had a good weapon to wield, ironically, he felt good and grinned.

It might be good to become an arrogant chaebol. For you.

“Lee Kyung Jun is working at Taemyung Insurance?”

“Yes.”

“Interesting.”

“He joined two years ago and has a good reputation.”

“Send him far away without Yoon Da Jung noticing.”

Lee Jae Ho, who held everything in the world in his hands, neither a victim nor a surviving child, could do anything. Director Jung held his breath for a moment at the cold gaze.

Jae Ho once again reminded himself that he was Lee Jae Ho. And he buried Kim Sung Hyun, who was full of trauma, in the deepest place. It was none of his business whether Kim Sung Hyun had nightmares or sleep paralysis. Even if Kim Sung Hyun rotted and decayed inside Lee Jae Ho and pus burst and flowed, it was no problem as long as Yoon Da Jung didn’t know.

Kim Sung Hyun, who crumbled before guilt, was now irrelevant to Jae Ho.

But…

The conclusion was that Yoon Da Jung ran away. I was prepared for everything, why aren’t you the same as me?

Longing rippled in his suppressed eyes. It was the limit now.