After arriving at the reserved restaurant and finishing the meal, Ji-yeon asked casually.
“I attended as a witness, but the trial was interrupted when Chairman Cha collapsed.”
“I saw the news; it seems Chairman Cha has a cerebral hemorrhage.”
“It seemed like Cha Min-woo would turn everything upside down, so it appeared that he turned against Chairman Cha. Through the lawyer, new evidence that we were not aware of was submitted. There were circumstances and supporting evidence that Chairman Cha had orchestrated all the corruption… Even the call and message contents from the mobile phone he had separately.”
“Even Chairman Cha, being the father, trying to pass all that onto Cha Min-woo was terrifying, but it’s even scarier that Cha Min-woo submitted evidence and testified to go against his father. Rather than a family, these two seem more like beasts in the jungle where they eat and get eaten.”
Without realizing it, Ji-yeon, her body shivering, turned her head to the side.
“If they were a true family, they wouldn’t do such dirty deeds, and even if asked to do them, they wouldn’t do it straightforwardly. Since everyone was falling into the swamp without anyone stopping them, perhaps these results were predetermined.”
After speaking with a touch of bitterness, Kang-hyun suddenly reached out, took Ji-yeon’s hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed the back of her hand, saying, “Let’s momentarily set aside such gloomy talks and happily think about where to have our next date.”
“Okay.”
Ji-yeon also held Kang-hyun’s hand, kissed the back of his hand again, and smiled nonchalantly.
Tick-tock
At the brisk sound of footsteps, the nurse sitting at the desk near the hospital bed raised her head.
A middle-aged woman with a graceful image, like an actress, was smiling as she looked at her.
“How may I help you?”
“I came to see Chairman Cha Seung-jo for a moment.”
“What is your relationship with the patient? Currently, other than family, it’s not a visiting hour.”
“That person is my wife.”
At the mention of ‘wife,’ the nurse’s eyes widened for a moment.
Until a little while ago, there was another woman referred to as Chairman Cha’s wife in the hospital room.
However, after glancing briefly at Ji-yeon’s face, the nurse remembered her face from the news a few days ago and nodded.
Moreover, the faces of both Chairman Cha and Kim Ji-won were prominently featured in an internet article a while ago titled ‘5 Billion, Unprecedented Compensation Request,’ which she had just talked about with her fellow nurses. This made the memory vivid.
“All right. If you write down your information here, I will guide you.”
In response to the nurse’s answer, Ji-yeon smiled gracefully.
“Chairman Cha Seung-jo’s condition is not good, so a long visit is difficult. Conversation is also challenging. Please conclude the visit within about 10 minutes. Is that okay?”
Ji-yeon nodded towards the nurse, as if understanding.
“All right. I came to check on his condition, so 10 minutes should be enough. I’ll be out soon.”
Inside the spacious and clean hospital room, reminiscent of a high-end residence hotel, silence enveloped the space.
Due to the extreme quietness, only the machine sound indicating the patient’s vital signs filled the silent atmosphere.
Chairman Cha Seung-jo on the bed was surrounded by various medical devices, lying down and using an oxygen respirator.
Ji-won, standing at the entrance of the hospital room, looked at him from a distance and approached closely.
Perhaps due to the attention paid, he looked noticeably different from the last time they met, with much weight lost.
According to the doctor, it was diagnosed as acute cerebral hemorrhage.
It couldn’t be determined whether he was asleep or awake but unable to open his eyes.
“To meet again in this state is unexpected, Chairman Cha Seung-jo.”
As Ji-won spoke, the heart rate sign on the vital sign check device connected to Chairman Cha produced a faster sound.
“To see you like this while I’m still alive… People indeed experience a lot over time.”
A faint smile spread across Ji-won’s face.
“To conclude the 40 years we spent together like this, I don’t know about you, but for me, it feels quite bitter. If only you had received punishment when you were in your prime and healthy, you would have been angrier and more distressed… ”
Ji-won, reaching out, firmly held Chairman Cha’s hand.
“I thought I wouldn’t know anything?”
“…”
Although knowing there would be no answer, Ji-won still threw the question.
“No. While you might have thought I wouldn’t know anything, I knew everything about your relationships with women… But why didn’t I say anything until now? I pondered a lot. It’s just that, as a mother, I couldn’t say anything while watching my children taking their places. It wasn’t that I wasn’t angry. I am human too. I was very angry, miserable, and sad. I spent quite a long time crying and spending nights with alcohol.”
Although Chairman Cha couldn’t see it, Ji-won smiled at him.
“Those times spent like that are 40 years. It’s the time you deceived my father, deceived me, and tried to use my children like disposable organs. I may not share blood with you, but even trying to use your own children like that… I don’t think you know how my liver collapsed when I found those documents. But I think it’s better this way. Since there was something like that, I also made up my mind.”
Chairman Cha’s hand held by Ji-won trembled slightly.
Then, after a while, the vital sign check machine began to make a faster sound.
“There are still some documents that haven’t been handed over to the prosecution. It seems bigger than what has been revealed… We’ll have to explode it to know the scale. I’ll pass it over appropriately at the right time so that you can’t recover twice.”
Ji-won, with his hand holding Chairman Cha’s, looked at it with scrutiny.
Wrinkled hands.
With these hands, he betrayed my father and betrayed me.
Slowly releasing his hand, she placed it on the bed.
“I should finish saying everything today since I came. We don’t know when we’ll be able to face each other again in good condition.”
Ji-won, bowing his head, brought his face close to Chairman Cha’s ear and whispered lazily.
“This is a secret… Do you know about it? Cha Min-woo, your youngest son. Isn’t he your blood? Surprising, right? I also found out about this fact not long ago.”
While Ji-won straightened her waist, the vital sign monitor in the room made a rapid sound, moving dramatically.
“It seems like you can hear well. That’s fortunate. I was worried about what would happen if you didn’t understand anything.”
She chuckled and turned away from Chairman Cha.
“No words of gratitude for the jokes or anything during this time. Don’t be too upset. This is my sincere feeling. We don’t need to lie until the moment we part, right? But I’ll wish you a speedy recovery, Mr. Cha Seung-jo. Punishment is not as comfortable in a hospital room; it should be received in prison.”
With these words, the door to the room closed quietly.
After a while, tears flowed from the corners of Chairman Cha’s eyes.
An Indifferent Woman is the One Men Desire the Most
One-line summary: The female lead is actually cold-hearted and extremely rational. She has stage-by-stage relationships and won’t two-time, but there will always be someone who secretly likes her.
This novel has the following triggers, so if you’re sensitive to these, please don’t read:
1. The female lead has had many relationships, but she treated each one seriously and broke up properly.
It’s just that the men unilaterally pestered her incessantly. For the female lead, when she doesn’t like someone anymore, she simply doesn’t like them.
(This applies to her relationships with Male Lead 1, 2, 3, and 4 as well, but she’s loyal in each 1-on-1 relationship!)
2. In this novel, Male Lead 2 and the female lead kiss in a car, and Male Lead 1 sees it and beats up Male Lead 2.
The female lead calls the police and sends both Male Lead 1 and 2 to the police station! Male Lead 1 begs the female lead not to break up with him.
3. Male Lead 1 has a gentle appearance but an obsessive personality.
Male Lead 2 has a delicate and soft appearance, slightly green tea-like (two-faced).
Male Lead 3 is a youthful college student and a smart person who has secretly liked the female lead for a long time.
Male Lead 4 is the female lead’s father’s special assistant, a business elite with deep, hidden thoughts.
4. At the beginning of this novel, the female lead has already broken up with Male Lead 1 (Chapter 4) and gotten back together with Male Lead 2 (ex-boyfriend).
5. Enter with caution if you have triggers!!!
