“Mom! Ji Seo Joon is coming to Seoul!”
As soon as I arrived home, I took off my shoes and told my mom.
“Uh huh, I heard that. Seo Joon told me.”
“When did you hear it?”
“A while ago?”
“Why didn’t you tell me!”
“Why are you raising your voice! Does your mom have to tell you everything? I’m not obligated!”
My mom rolled her eyes when I raised my voice. She might not have an obligation, but I believe she has a responsibility as she made us into close friends. Although I couldn’t voice this thought, that’s what I believed.
“Why is he coming to Seoul?”
“Didn’t you ask?”
I was so shocked by the fiveletter message that I forgot to reply on my way home from work.
“……I was busy with work.”
If I admitted I had forgotten to reply to Ji Seo Joon, I knew I would get an earful, so I prevaricated.
“He said he’s been transferred to the Korean branch after changing companies.”
“Because of Aunt Yoon Hee?”
“Yes……”
Ji Seo Joon’s mother, Aunt Yoon Hee, was diagnosed with earlystage stomach cancer six months ago and had surgery.
Fortunately, it was the early stages, so Aunt Yoon Hee assured us not to worry too much.
She asked me to keep it from Ji Seo Joon, who was in the United States at the time. When he found out later, he called in a fuss at 3 a.m.
I barely slept that day and made a string of mistakes at work, for which I got scolded by my boss.
Just thinking about Ji Seo Joon at that time made me shiver naturally.
“Hurry up and take a shower. Does your mom have to wait while setting the table twice?”
Before my mom could start nagging, I hurried into my room.
Pushing aside Ji Seo Joon’s worries, I quickly washed up and sat down at the dining table, taking a spoonful of my mom’s homemade soybean paste stew.
“Do you have a boyfriend these days?”
“I need to have one to meet one.”
Mom’s question was wrong from the start. How could I meet someone who didn’t exist?
Flabbergasted, I scooped up a larger amount of rice onto my spoon, stuffed my mouth full of it, and picked up my chopsticks, wondering which side dish to eat in order to be complimented on my eating.
“Can’t even get a boyfriend, what are you doing with your life?”
Her words threatened to ruin the taste of the food. But I didn’t falter. The food tasted good.
“It’s not that I can’t, I just don’t want to.”
I chewed and swallowed the mouthful of rice before replying to my mother.
“Why?”
“Busy.”
“Too busy my ass.”
Our dear Mrs. Kim was particularly irritable today.
“Did you fight with dad?”
“Don’t even bring up your father!”
As expected.
My guess had been accurate. I needed to get out of this damn corner of the house. If only the housing prices in Seoul were a little lower, if only my salary was a little higher, if only I didn’t like designer bags, I would have moved out immediately.
Normally, I would have asked, “Why did you fight again?” But I was quite tired today.
If I dawdled at the dining table, I would have to listen to my mom’s complaints until after midnight. I would normally listen, but I had taken quite an emotional hit today and didn’t want to expend any more energy, so I hurriedly finished my meal.
I returned to my room and habitually picked up my phone. A small red circle with a ‘1’ sat atop the SNS app.
I hesitated, anxious about whether or not to check it.
[Did you see it?] The message I hesitated over and finally checked. It was him, as expected. [I was too busy today. Sorry. When are you coming to Seoul?] I quickly made an excuse, apologized, and asked what I was curious about.Because of the time difference, I didn’t know when his reply would come, so I didn’t wait and immediately put my phone far away from me. Then, I promptly threw myself onto my bed.
The old mattress wobbled and embraced me.
“Heaven. This is heaven. Although, there’s not much of this heaven left.”
I bitterly stared at the yellowed wallpaper of the old house’s ceiling. If that guy were to come to Korea, then I… I…
I ripped at my blanket and, thinking of him, I punched the empty air.
If I were to briefly introduce him, he was popular from the time he was a crying baby.
While others were born looking unattractive with red skin and swollen from amniotic fluid, he was born with milkwhite skin and already perfect facial features.
His appearance made the hearts of the nurses in the hospital flutter…
Around the age of 4, he was so beautiful that he almost got kidnapped.
Thankfully it didn’t happen, but it was quite a famous incident in the neighborhood.
According to the words of the caught criminal, he confessed that he took the child without knowing it because the child was so pretty.
The episodes involving his appearance became more frequent as time went by.
When he started attending kindergarten, the girls started fighting over him.
There was a child who refused to lift her spoon if she didn’t eat at the same table as him, and there were incidents where they would fight over who got to sit next to him on field trips.
When male lead is the homewrecker
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
I’ve read the novel below twice already. Girls, I’m highly recommending it to you!
The female lead? Not a good person.
The second male lead? Not a good person.
The male lead? Willingly plays the third party, breaking up the female and second male lead’s relationship despite all the warnings from his friends—so yeah, he’s definitely not a good person either.
Basically, nobody in this novel is simple-minded or without scheming.
The female lead starts off as the male lead’s secretary, but don’t worry—later on, she takes over the company while the male lead steps back to support her. He won’t steal her spotlight, overshadow her, or dull her shine.
I love novels where men are out here snatching wigs, tearing each other down, and going to war just to win the female lead’s affection. And this is exactly that kind of novel. Most of Hai Dai Ran’s works have this dynamic. You’ll see the male characters’ emotions being pushed to the absolute extreme.
There’s even a scene where the second male lead exposes the male lead online for being a homewrecker. The brotherhood immediately gangs up on him, dragging him through the mud. I find it compelling —it completely flips reality on its head, where usually, women are the ones fighting over a man and getting torn apart by the sisterhood.
For me, female leads in the novels I read should only struggle in their careers, not in love. But if the brainless romantics in the story are all men? I have zero complaints.
I’ve pretty much read all of Hai Dai Ran’s novels and even translated all of them—her works are just my thing. I’ll slowly upload everything here. One day, when my website is official, I hope I can invite her to join as one of the star authors.
Here’s the story synopsis:
One-line summary: She is his lifelong obsession, to the point where he was willing to be a third wheel, scorned by society, just to wedge his way into her relationship with her fiancé.
Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead
Intro 1:
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
With blood trickling from his clenched fist, Rong Xiu gazed at the woman before him, his eyes clouded with anguish. Hidden in the wardrobe, he had witnessed Fan Xia – the woman he desperately loved – in an intimate embrace with her fiancé. Yet his heart still yearned for her, defying all reason.
Fan Xia, the elegant and composed assistant, carried something mysterious in her eyes whenever she looked at her fiancé, Wen Lan Sheng. Strange occurrences began to surface – secret meetings with the young Gu Jin Yi, an unexplained withdrawal of 5,000 yuan… Then suddenly, her fiancé’s sister, Wen Jing, violently attacked her.
In this matriarchal society, Rong Xiu had risen to become the chairman of a powerful healthcare conglomerate, breaking through gender prejudices. But for the first time, he willingly stepped into the shadows as the other man, disregarding his friends’ warnings to become her secret lover.
Because he had discovered the truth – Fan Xia wasn’t the pure angel everyone believed her to be. And perhaps, he was the only one capable of helping her execute her mysterious plan…
Intro 2:
Rong Xiu’s biggest regret in life was missing out on Fan Xia.
He secretly loved Fan Xia for 7 years.
Watched her go public with her boyfriend.
Watched her kiss her boyfriend at their wedding.
Until that man blissfully nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, obtaining everything he could only dream of.
The crazy jealousy stripped away his hidden secret love, layer by layer, burning like wildfire.
Fan Xia, how can I have you!
【Reading and Trigger Warning Guide】
1. Female dominant, male submissive, male pregnancy
2. Male lead schemes his way to the top, male competition
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Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
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