The two-week long vacation had ended. Haejin had never used her annual leave since joining the company, but this time, she took it all at once.
Haejin was scheduled to be promoted to manager this year. It was an important time to take a trip, but the upper management approved it easily.
Born as the only daughter of a well-off family, she never had formal successor training.
Her father, Jung Hanseong, was a self-made entrepreneur, and he hoped his daughter Haejin would follow in his footsteps.
Initially, she joined the company with a light heart, under the guise of an internship after university graduation.
She entered the company thinking of it as helping out at her dad’s business, writing a resume and going through interviews like everyone else.
Nobody knew that Jung Haejin was the daughter of Zion Group’s Jung Hanseong.
She detested the prejudice of those who hardly knew her. She wanted to compete on her own merit, not her background.
Therefore, she considered this vacation a deserved reward for her hard work.
As she checked her phone’s bright screen while leaving the arrival hall, she realized it was full of chaos.
“What’s this?” she wondered, staring blankly at her phone. Notifications kept coming.
From messages like ‘There’s a big problem, Ms. Deputy,’ to ‘Why aren’t you answering?’
After leaving the airport in a hurry, she learned about the situation.
Zion had invested almost all its liquid assets in a new line.
The cash flow dwindled, and although they secured collateral, the venture ultimately failed, and the cash didn’t return properly.
The company went bankrupt, and her parents Hanseong and Heejeong were frantically trying to resolve the situation.
Her parents, who were supposed to pick her up at the airport, sent a text as a substitute.
Sorry, daughter. We’ll contact you once the situation is resolved.
A message with an unfamiliar address followed, and that’s how her parents went out of contact.
After that, there was no communication from her parents. When she tried the old number, she only got a message that it was out of service.
The current situation was either a disappearance or an escape.
When she reluctantly visited the unfamiliar address, she couldn’t forget how she felt that day.
It was Haejin’s first time in this neighborhood, feeling utterly alone in a strange world.
The visible entirety of the house was a first for Haejin, except for her time studying abroad. In comparison, this place was even smaller.
She stood there, stunned, afraid to step in, fearing her life would be mortgaged to this small world.
The future of Jung Haejin seemed to end within these walls.
Living frugally wasn’t easy for Haejin.
The household wasn’t fully equipped.
The unfamiliar household items were prone to mistakes. As she bought necessities, the balance in her bank account dwindled.
She tried to cut down on expenses, but changing her usual spending habits abruptly was harder than expected.
Her attempt at saving was switching from credit to debit cards.
Hoping her parents would resolve everything and contact her, the anxiety only grew as days passed.
The last time she used her debit card, the cashier told her, ‘Sorry, but your balance is insufficient.’ Haejin ran out of the store.
Desperate, Haejin reached out to her social network formed through society gatherings.
Pride aside, she had to survive first.
But the bankruptcy of her father’s company starkly showed her severed ties.
Calls weren’t answered, and if they were, they were met with excuses of being busy.
She knew all along. Her father’s business scale defined their social status.
She had fallen into the abyss, stripped of her class.
It was the moment Jung Haejin’s last insurance policy was forcibly canceled.
Falling from the top to the bottom had been easy. But she couldn’t just continue like this.
It was only a matter of time before she hit rock bottom.
At a dead end, there were no choices left.
She decided to sell off all her luxurious possessions, sparing only her conscience and body.
“How did I gather all this?”
She began to sell her collection of designer bags, one by one.
“What should I start with?”
She decided to look for a part-time job. Her fingers were busy swiping through the myriad of job listings on her phone screen.
Pass, pass, pass. It was as if her life was passing by.
The doorbell rang. It was a house where no one was supposed to visit.
She immediately became alert. Quickly getting up, she peered through the peephole in the front door.
Outside stood a middle-aged man, impeccably dressed in a suit with gleaming glasses.
He exuded an aura of sophistication from head to toe.
“Wh-who are you?”
Suspicion filled her eyes as she checked outside. She looked around to see if there were any other strangers.
Fortunately, there was no one else but the middle-aged man.
“Is Jung Haejin here?”
It was definitely her name. Instead of relief, suspicion deepened.
How did he know she lived here?
Her hesitant fingers lingered around the door handle, not yet ready to decide.
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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