Constrained to Start (8 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 6
The hospital elevator was just about to close.
“Wait a moment!” a voice called out.
Before Ji Ho could even press the open button, he grabbed the door, and a woman came running in, her long hair fluttering behind her.
“Park… Ra Jin?”
Appearing out of nowhere without warning—and now even showing up at the hospital where his maternal grandfather was admitted? Inside the spacious elevator, Ji Ho looked down at the petite, round-faced woman and felt utterly exasperated.
“Did you plant a tracking device on me or something?”
He’d already been swamped with calls ever since the news broke about his joining the special investigation team. Meeting this top star—whether by coincidence or fate—was the last thing he wanted, especially after witnessing her reaction the moment she took that call from the Vice Minister.
Not only had she abruptly halted mid-step to look back, but she’d also blatantly signaled, as if she knew exactly who he was. Had Kim Yu Jun told her something? Her eyes had clearly been pretending to recognize him.
While half-listening to the Vice Minister’s drawn-out greeting, Ji Ho couldn’t take his eyes off Ra Jin, wondering if staring into her transparent pupils might somehow reveal a clue.
“Ra Jin.”
Their locked gazes broke apart at the sound of a nurse calling her name.
No longer able to just stand there awkwardly, Ji Ho headed toward the emergency exit. He flung the door open—only for it to slam shut again immediately.
“Of all places, why do they have to be making out on the emergency stairs…? Ugh.”
Dodging the affectionate doctors, Ji Ho scanned his surroundings.
“Yes, I’m listening.”
Murmuring sporadic replies to the Vice Minister’s painfully obvious remarks, he searched with his eyes for somewhere to go.
Spotting a small tree poking out beyond the glass door at the end of the corridor, Ji Ho quickly moved. The gray tie fluttered wildly like a flag in the boisterous spring wind.
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”
He robotically repeated the same reply to the Vice Minister, who kept insisting on the impartiality of the investigation.
He walked along the corridor lit by sparse floor lamps and circled a large pillar about ten times, yet the call wouldn’t end. Only after reluctantly promising to meet the Vice Minister at the Law Day event did the conversation finally conclude.
A full thirty minutes.
Ji Ho, who always preferred getting straight to the point, shook his head in disbelief. Just as he turned to leave the garden, rolling his stiff shoulders—
Click.
“Ra Jin!”
Hearing that now-familiar name, Ji Ho doubted his own ears. Not again!
There had to be a limit to how much someone could get on your nerves. Ji Ho had every intention of slipping away—but found himself frozen in place by the man’s harsh voice.
The man spoke through clenched teeth, the grinding sound echoing like a ghostly reverberation.
“What’s that guy even doing?”
Though he wasn’t fond of eavesdropping, the ominous atmosphere made Ji Ho instinctively duck behind a corner. He stood at an angle, ready to intervene if needed—and her entire situation spilled out unfiltered.
A sudden traffic accident, her mother losing her memory, threats disguised as punishment. And, inevitably, Kim Yu Jun once again.
—Call Oh Jong Hyuk right away.
Kim Yu Jun’s words from the hotel suddenly came back to him.
—There’s someone officially listed as Park Ra Jin’s older brother…
Hojin’s words then seamlessly followed. So that obnoxious guy spewing vulgarities must be her stepbrother?
Though she hadn’t spoken the man’s name, their conversation clearly revealed their familial relationship.
“All I need you to understand is that if the Managing Director gets investigated, we’ll be in trouble too.”
He’d previously dismissed the rumor that Kim Yu Jun had set up Park Ra Jin’s agency—but now it seemed Kim Yu Jun was deeply entangled with that entertainment company.
At this unexpected discovery, Ji Ho’s eyes gleamed sharply.
“You’d better hurry up and elope with the Managing Director.”
Even if they weren’t blood siblings, the man shamelessly spat out lewd remarks. Ji Ho couldn’t see her face, but the intermittent sighs conveyed utter despair.
He almost stepped out to warn the man just how serious blackmail charges could be—but held back.
Oh Jong Hyuk. Oh Jong Hyuk.
Ji Ho firmly etched Oh Jong Hyuk’s name into his mind as it echoed in his thoughts alongside Kim Yu Jun. He briefly considered digging into Park Ra Jin’s agency—
“Let’s get along, Ra Jin. Okay?”
After spewing that garbage, Oh Jong Hyuk finally left.
The moment Ji Ho peeked out from behind the pillar, the woman’s formerly rigid posture crumpled completely.
‘!’
Curled tightly in on herself, her shoulders trembled violently.
He wanted to ask if she was alright.
‘After eavesdropping, acting like I know her would be… She’ll leave soon anyway.’
Ji Ho looked up at the dark sky. Her quiet weeping cut through the silent night—and as her sobs grew louder, pretending not to notice became utterly impossible.
“Huh… huh…”
The same woman who’d boldly fled even from Kim Yu Jun now sobbed uncontrollably for a long while.
Staggering like she was drunk, she repeatedly wiped her small face with the back of her hand.
Each of her tiny actions struck Ji Ho deeply—and without hesitation, he pulled out a business card, slipped it into a handkerchief, and approached her.
It wasn’t some grand sense of professional duty to protect the vulnerable—just simple human compassion for someone hurt.
Ji Ho walked steadily toward her, who swayed unsteadily.
“If you need help, please contact me.”
Taking one more step toward her—rabbit-like, searching for an escape—he gently pressed the handkerchief into her hand.
Her tear-streaked face, smudged makeup, and eyes and lips swollen red—
‘Even in a state like this…’
She was still beautiful. Her crying was so unreal it stunned him.
Ji Ho flinched at the primitive admiration that involuntarily surfaced in his thoughts.
Putting aside his conscience—what was he even doing to someone already wounded? If he stayed any longer, his muddled mind might blurt out useless, awkward comfort. He bit his lips tightly, gave Ra Jin a slight bow, and left the garden without looking back.
He exhaled deeply and searched for Room 1508 with his eyes.
Visiting his maternal grandfather, who was scheduled for surgery tomorrow.
To keep his purpose for today clear, Ji Ho slid open the hospital room door.
“Grandfather.”
He sank onto the chair by the bed and grasped the old man’s rough hand.
“How are you feeling?”
“They kept me busy with tests all day since the surgery’s tomorrow. I even told your mother to just come by in the morning.”
The round hospital clock showed 9 p.m. It had barely been past 7 when he’d left the parking lot. Time really…
“You said you’d be out front earlier.”
“After it showed up on the news, everyone’s been blowing up my phone.”
“Just seeing your face is enough. You’re busy—go ahead and leave.”
Ji Ho smiled faintly at his grandfather’s affectionate addition: “Don’t skip meals.”
Still, it was a hospital visit—he should probably stay at least ten minutes.
A trot song he’d heard before played softly from the TV.
Ji Ho pulled his chair closer and casually turned his gaze.
His grandfather, who’d once declared he’d live as an ordinary retiree after stepping down as Chief Justice, now couldn’t take his eyes off a trot singing contest show.
“Ji Ho, make sure to text that singer next week.”
His grandfather lavished the performer—who’d just finished singing—with praise, calling her a “precious friend.” Back when he’d still been in office, he’d lived with law books as his only companions. Ji Ho happily nodded at this unexpectedly charming side of him.
They chatted amiably until a couple more songs ended.
Then the screen changed.
The blue ocean of Jeju Island—the back of a woman running in a fluttering white dress.
As the wind-tailed woman slowly turned her head, Ra Jin’s fair, delicate face shone brilliantly.
—“Drawing You” premieres May 10. Please show lots of love.
Now even drama teasers?
Was a world without Park Ra Jin simply nonexistent? Her presence—so pervasive it made his past ignorance of this top star seem absurd—transcended time and place.
“I’m going crazy.”
“What is?”
“No, nothing. It’s nothing.”
“How dull.”
“Exactly,” he mumbled evasively. That was enough thinking about Park Ra Jin for today. Ji Ho brushed himself off and stood up quickly.
[This is the timeline separator]On the way to the Gwacheon Government Complex.
Rows of ebullient pear trees bloomed like grains of rice. The scattered double cherry blossoms were no less striking—white petals nestled among fresh green leaves, blushing pink as if shy.
Amid this radiant spring, Ra Jin thought of that man.
Prosecutor Kang Ji Ho.
It had already been ten days since he’d given her the handkerchief containing his business card.
He’d said to contact him if she needed help—but was she in need now, or not?
She couldn’t decide easily.
Ever since running into Oh Jong Hyuk at the hospital, Ra Jin had stopped going to the agency. Avoiding him, she’d received schedules and contracts only at home. But contacting him… there was no reason. Right—none at all.
Besides, with the prosecutors’ investigation looming and Kim Yu Jun staying quiet for now—
“Why bother for no reason?”
Ra Jin fell into the same dilemma over a dozen times a day.
Then suddenly, she recalled that night’s mortifying words spewed by Oh Jong Hyuk—the vulgar, “necessary” methods to marry Kim Yu Jun. What must Prosecutor Kang Ji Ho have thought upon hearing all that? Had he laughed it off, calling them vulgar, petty people?
She’d already exposed her rock bottom to a stranger—that entire night was something she wished to erase. So instead, she’d thrown herself into busy filming schedules, trying desperately to scrub that man from her thoughts.
Yet the more she tried, the clearer his presence became—until today, he completely occupied her mind.
“Could the special investigation office also be in Gwacheon?”
The Gwacheon complex—somewhere she’d visited frequently for drama shoots—
Now seemed different, though it was just an ordinary, unremarkable space. Simply because that man worked there as a prosecutor. Thoughts of Prosecutor Kang Ji Ho continued until the car came to a full stop.
“He wouldn’t actually show up at today’s event… would he?”
Even while meeting the staff member already waiting in the parking lot and being guided, even upon reaching the basement-level auditorium entrance—Ra Jin could think of nothing but the possibility of running into him.
“Actress Park Ra Jin—long time no see.”
Ra Jin, dressed in a soft pink dress, gave a gentle bow at the Minister’s warm greeting.
“It’s an honor to be invited to such a meaningful event.”
Attending as the Ministry of Justice’s promotional ambassador, Ra Jin strained to clear her mind and focus on her duties.
But as soon as she glimpsed the backs of the staff through the open doorway, her attention was instantly stolen.
Could Prosecutor Kang Ji Ho be inside? Her heart pounded. As she walked straight down the center aisle of the auditorium, she recalled his eyes—cold as early winter.
Even amid the murmurs of “Park Ra Jin” rippling through the crowd, she could still feel the warmth of the large hand that had handed her the handkerchief.
She halted at the very front row.
“Actress, this way—this is the Vice Minister of Justice…”
While mechanically exchanging greetings with people whose titles she didn’t even catch, Ra Jin kept glancing toward the entrance. Relief or disappointment—she couldn’t even tell which she felt at his absence.
“Our actress, please sit here.”
“Thank you, Minister.”
Escorted to her seat, Ra Jin unfolded the program sheet to avoid the sea of staring eyes. She’d already read the unremarkable contents three times when the venue announcement rang out.
“Um, Actress…”
The assigned staff member approached, bowing slightly.
“There’s no seat left in the back.”
“Shall I switch seats with you?”
“Oh! No, that’s fine. If it’s no trouble… could I just sit one seat over?”
“Of course.”
Ra Jin hurriedly stood—but her bag slid off her knee. As she reached to pick it up, a large hand got there first.
“Are you alright?”
“!”
When yandere male lead believes she loves him — but she never did
“How dare you!”
“How dare you make me love you, only to cast me aside as nothing more than a friend?!?
“I will never accept that.”
“I will never let you return to him.”
“Even if I have to burn myself to ashes.”
“Even if I must shatter my purity, my dignity, my very soul.”
“I will never let you escape me!”
This was the first novel that introduced me to the matriarchal genre. I’ve read it three times already!
At first, the male lead despised the female lead. Later, he misunderstood that she liked him, so he condescendingly and reluctantly reciprocated her feelings.
Then, he suddenly discovered that she was kind to everyone in the same way, and there was already someone she cherished in her heart, and that person was not him.
The male lead couldn’t believe it, he became angry and crazy. He was determined to capture her body and heart by any means necessary.
Synopsis:
Want to see how a green tea bitch male lead falls in love with the female lead?
Want to see how he flirtatiously pursues the female lead?
Want to see how he gets slapped in the face repeatedly?
The male lead is a green tea bitch, a poisonous lotus, jealous, ruthless, unscrupulous, with a venomous heart, and he’s also a delusional maniac.
The female lead is righteous, positive energy-filled, kind, a holy mother.
Let’s see how two people with extreme personalities come together~
_____
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