Love is Madness (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 2
“It’s been a long time, Executive Managing Director Baek… Seo Rin.”
Seo Rin looked up at Tae Joon, who was holding out his hand to her, with incredulous dark eyes.
Just why on earth is this man here?
No, is the man standing in front of me really the same man from eight years ago?
His face was clearly the same as before, yet there was an indescribable, unique aura that had changed somehow, making her doubt whether this was truly Kang Tae Joon. But the moment he slightly twisted the corner of his lips into that signature charming smile, she became certain.
It’s Kang Tae Joon… it really is.
Only then did Seo Rin firmly grasp the hand he had extended.
“It’s been a while. I never imagined I’d run into you… Tae Joon, at a place like this…”
Saying his name out loud for the first time in eight years wasn’t easy. Even now, just hearing that name still made her heart tremble for no reason.
“No one, not even you, could have possibly imagined this.”
His low yet pleasant voice rang in her ears, stimulating them.
Tae Joon was right.
Who could have ever imagined it? That at this gathering, held to protect her management rights, she would encounter her ex-lover—the very man she had coldly kicked away.
Damn it!
It felt like fate, which she had sworn to carve out with her own hands, had slapped her hard from behind.
The blow was so strong that her stomach was churning from the shock.
And now she had to somehow bring this very man over to her side—what a twisted fate.
“Let’s sit for now. We have things to discuss, don’t we?”
“Right. Things to discuss.”
At the sound of her voice, Tae Joon’s deep-set eyes sank even further. Unlike eight years ago, his now more mature gaze sent a faint shiver through her heart. It tickled, as if butterflies had landed there.
Just why am I like this?
It must be the synergistic effect of his outstanding looks. Tae Joon was just that impressive.
If the Tae Joon of his twenties had been a charming contrast of youthful boyishness and a sexy body, the Tae Joon of his thirties was outright unfair just by existing.
His finely lined face hadn’t changed from back then, but with time, a deep sensuality had settled over it.
And that wasn’t all. His already broad shoulders had become even more like the Pacific Ocean, and his voice had grown even richer. Just hearing it was enough to make saliva pool behind one’s eardrums.
Like that, Tae Joon had returned before her as a perfect adult specimen, clouding her vision.
Everything around him except him truly felt blurred and hazy.
“Aren’t you curious how I got to this seat?”
At that voice that enchanted her eardrums, Seo Rin tightly clenched the hands resting on her lap.
I need to pull myself together. I can’t ruin the present by being shaken by the past.
“I don’t have the luxury of wasting time on old stories when my neck is on the line.”
“So you don’t have time to get sentimental…”
“That’s pretty much it.”
“Still, I thought we were at least at the level where we could exchange a simple ‘How have you been?’ But you’re really… still the same.”
Saying that, Tae Joon moved his long fingers that had been hovering near his water glass and moistened his dry throat. To Seo Rin’s dark eyes, even that motion looked like slow-motion.
Watching his slowly moving lips, a fragment of long-buried past memories suddenly rushed over her.
The unfamiliar sensation his lips had once given her.
And the touch of his hands that had pleasantly tickled her skin.
Kissing a man, having her body come undone by a man—everything had been her first. Like a child stepping into an unknown world for the first time, Seo Rin had fallen helplessly into the world he showed her.
First night, first man.
Those memories were sweeping through her mind like a powerful wave.
“Fine. Since we’re here for business, let’s talk business. Straight to the point—what do you want from me?”
Only after hearing his question was Seo Rin finally able to pull herself from the rough waves of memory. They hadn’t even properly spoken yet, but she already felt completely drained.
“Did you come here not knowing? Didn’t President Baek’s side reach out to you too?”
“They did.”
“Then you showing up here means you’ll side with me? Or…”
To get revenge?
Seo Rin barely swallowed the last words. Although this meeting was unexpected for her, she sensed that his presence here was no coincidence. And if this seat had been deliberately arranged by him, his intentions were unlikely to be kind.
But that was only a theory. A theory that naturally arose when she considered what she had done to him.
Yet strangely, she didn’t feel anxious.
His appearance was certainly shocking, but ironically, after the huge shock that made every blood vessel in her body contract and expand, a sense of relief followed.
Because the old him, at least, wouldn’t stab her in the back.
Yes. Kang Tae Joon was that kind of person.
The man who confessed morning and night to a woman who had never once said “I love you.”
The man who always gave first rather than received.
A man… familiar with love.
Maybe that’s why. Despite what she had done to him, Seo Rin couldn’t suppress the hope that kept rising within her.
“No, I just… I hope you’ll take my hand.”
She didn’t beat around the bush. Clouding the issue with vague words wasn’t her style.
And fortunately, Tae Joon didn’t bring up old feelings or dig up ancient memories. Thank goodness.
“Please side with me at the shareholders’ meeting.”
“Yes.”
She nodded and quietly looked at his unreadable face.
What answer would come?
It was a breath-holding moment.
Just then, the door opened and a restaurant waitress came in carrying a large sashimi platter. Their conversation paused for a moment. It gave Seo Rin a brief respite from the razor-sharp tension.
But while setting down the overly large and heavy platter, the waitress accidentally knocked over the water glass next to Seo Rin.
Fortunately, Seo Rin reflexively dodged, so she didn’t get too wet, but it was enough to turn the waitress pale with fear.
“Oh my! I’m so sorry! I’m truly sorry!”
The startled employee offered her a napkin, but Seo Rin refused it and stood up.
“It’s not much.”
“Um… what should I do?”
“It’s fine, you can go. I’ll take care of it.”
After calmly shaking off the water, she excused herself to Tae Joon for a moment and entered the restroom inside the private room. The moment she looked at her face in the mirror under the red lighting, Seo Rin froze.
She looked terrible. The wet clothes were one thing, but her unusually unsettled eyes felt foreign even to herself.
“Did my makeup smudge?”
She pointlessly rubbed around her eyes, but she knew. It wasn’t the makeup that had smudged—her emotions had.
The man who for the past eight years had existed only as a memory.
How many times had she even thought of him while living her life?
Yet Tae Joon, now turned from memory into reality, possessed a presence too distinct to ignore.
I thought I had no lingering feelings.
I thought I had cut him out cleanly like a knife.
“…Guess not.”
It wasn’t just being swept by waves of memory. She was being helplessly shaken by Tae Joon. But she couldn’t let old emotions foolishly ruin everything.
Seo Rin turned on the faucet and tightly gripped her hands over the sink.
She could no longer question why of all people he had appeared here.
Because if she couldn’t obtain the sword and shield named Kang Tae Joon in this management war, she would have to retreat without even fighting.
Three days ago.
The first place Tae Joon visited after stepping foot on Korean soil in a long time was Chairman Baek’s funeral hall. The funeral was private, so he couldn’t attend, but he came to pay respects from inside a black sedan parked a little distance away.
However, the gentle eyes that had lost their usual charisma were constantly directed elsewhere.
– To me… love is a curse.
The woman who had shredded his once-soft heart to pieces with a single sentence: Baek Seo Rin.
From the moment he first saw her until the moment they parted, he had been completely bewitched.
He had loved her.
He had given without reserve.
And he had been mercilessly dumped.
Less than a year after they broke up, she got engaged. Of course, that engagement soon fell apart, but the speed of it had left more than enough scars on him.
It made the year and a half they had spent together feel like absolutely nothing—that hurt even more.
After that, several loves brushed past him. But for some reason, none of them burned as hot as they had eight years ago.
His love always ended at a lukewarm temperature.
Probably because the heart she had torn apart no longer functioned properly.
It’s all that damn woman’s fault.
The woman who had negated all the time he had generously given everything with just one sentence.
The woman who had cursed that love was everything to him by calling it a curse.
Yet his eyes still wouldn’t leave her. Despite the eight long years he had suffered so intensely, she still wielded enormous power over his heart.
He thought he would hate her, but that wasn’t it either. Because the image of her clenching her fists, unable to even cry, painfully pierced Tae Joon’s eyes.
What a foolish woman.
What’s so shameful about crying that she holds it in like that?
“Shall we go?”
So Dam asked, but Tae Joon shook his head.
“Just a little longer.”
After watching for a long while more, only after Seo Rin left the place did he quietly whisper.
“Now… let’s head back to the hotel.”
Remembering the events of a few days ago, Tae Joon’s eyes sank deeply.
The image of Seo Rin he had seen at the funeral hall was still vivid before his eyes.
He thought he would hate her so much he couldn’t even look at her. Yet not only could he not tear his gaze away from her throughout the funeral, he even created this unnecessary meeting, leaving his secretary So Dam stunned.
And for good reason—although Tae Joon had elevated The MG to a top-tier investment firm with his cold analytical skills and animal-like investment instinct, he was famous for almost never showing his face at official events.
The Sungwon shareholders’ meeting was also originally supposed to be attended by a proxy, not him. Moreover, he had come to Korea for a different, very important purpose—one that would dictate his entire life.
That was why facing her was poison to him. He was no longer idle enough to spend whatever remaining feelings he had on the woman who had stabbed his heart eight years ago.
Yet here he was, sitting in this seat.
How truly foolish.
What on earth… did I want to confirm from you?
“You crazy bastard.”
A bitter, self-deprecating curse slipped out as if punishing himself.
Eight years. He had thought many things would have changed in that not-short time. That just as he had changed, she would have too. And his prediction was perfectly accurate.
The woman who eight years ago had merely been cold had evolved further into
“They say she’s an iron lady…”
She had become even harder. To the point no one could ever break through.
Moreover, her fully blossomed maturity had brought her beauty to its peak. He honestly didn’t know where to rest his eyes.
“Sorry. Where were we?”
Returning from the restroom, she pulled him out of his deep thoughts back into reality.
Regaining his composure, Tae Joon softly raised his eyes and met hers.
“Please side with me at the shareholders’ meeting…”
“Right. I hope you’ll do that. After Father passed away, my uncle is trying to seize full management control. But I’m not planning to back down like this.”
“Yeah, sitting still and taking it isn’t your style.”
“Yes. I’ll fight. Of course, I’m not just asking you to side with me for nothing. I… have that much ability. I absolutely won’t make a deal that causes you loss. We’ll grow Sungwon Hotel into a global brand. To do that…”
Seo Rin began explaining in a calm tone.
But almost none of her voice reached Tae Joon’s ears. It was like watching a scene from a silent film.
Every time she slightly shook her head while speaking, her long straight hair swayed, shaking his heart along with it.
Just looking at her, who was so covetously beautiful,
“If we can just get past this hurdle…”
What on earth should I do with her?
“So… is there a guarantee that President Baek won’t create the next hurdle once we overcome this one?”
At his sharp question that hit the core, Seo Rin’s attractive eyebrows rose slightly.
But even that reaction Tae Joon couldn’t easily brush off. His heart ached at every small, trivial response from her. The heart he thought had turned to rags and broken was starting to catch fire again.
“The next hurdle will probably come. My uncle is the type who would never allow me to stay in this position.”
“…”
“But if the major shareholders have any sense, they’ll gradually come to my side.”
“And if they don’t?”
At his counterquestion, her dark eyes wavered slightly.
Tae Joon’s question touching the fundamental issue had upset her.
Yet Tae Joon couldn’t overlook that part. The fire at his feet might be put out for now, but if the root isn’t removed, the ember isn’t completely extinguished.
And Tae Joon didn’t want to use the Sungwon shares he had quietly acquired for this reason.
It was something he sincerely wished would never happen—yet it was happening.
“I’m here as an investor. Constantly erupting management fights aren’t exactly welcome from an investor’s perspective.”
At his words, her pretty lips pressed together stubbornly.
Tae Joon knew exactly what that meant.
Seo Rin never spoke empty words. This time, instead of empty words, her precise personality had chosen silence.
That meant her position was that precarious.
I hoped you’d be doing well.
Wasn’t the reason I suffered the full eight years, even carrying your share of pain, because of that?
Yet here she stood before him, more precarious than ever.
Of course, I know she’ll get through it well.
The Seo Rin I know is stronger in crisis than anyone. The nickname “iron lady” suits her perfectly.
Nevertheless, Tae Joon felt an unnecessary urge to meddle.
Seeing her looking so precarious made him want to protect her.
“So, if there were a way to solidify your management rights forever…”
So that no one could ever touch them.
“How about it—want to hear it?”
Thoroughly.
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
Most Commented This Week
The Villain Has Gone Mad For Me (Completed Main Story)
I’m The Lowest-Ranking Daughter Of A Martial Arts Villain (2 Chapters Left to Complete)
I Became the Assassin Family’s Foster Daughter (Completed Main Story)
Men of the Harem (137 Chapters Left to Complete)
The Duke Only Needs My Child (Completed Main Story)
At the End of Ruin, There You Are (56 Chapters Left to Complete)
She’s a Villainess but her Husband is Handsome (Completed Main Story)
People Aren’t Meant to Be Fixed! (4 Chapters Left to Complete)
My Discarded Fiancé Returned (Completed Main Story)
Summer Must Die (16 Chapters Left to Complete)
I Received The First Time Of My Extraordinary Superior (9 Chapters Left to Complete)
Regret With All Your Might (Completed Main Story)