Once More, Wife (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 6
The fickle passage of time had swiftly leapt over five years since Seol Won’s accident.
Chae Ha, now thirty-four, felt his days slipping by—slowly yet swiftly at once.
Having shed the naivety of his twenties, he had grown into an even more flawless man; despite enduring such a major ordeal, his appearance had only grown more striking with each passing day, closely resembling his mother, Heo Young Joo.
His eyes had deepened and darkened with striking clarity, and his jawline had become sharper and more intense than before.
His physique had always been good, but thanks to exercise now ingrained as habit, lean muscle subtly defined his frame even beneath tailored suits—leaving not a single flaw visible. Despite having been married once, his admirers only multiplied.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say marriage proposals came in every other day.
Yet inwardly, he was like a glacier—calmly, utterly frozen.
He’d always been this way, but now, his world held nothing but work.
The Chaewoon Group, which he would one day inherit, and the ruthless business world where it was either devour or be devoured—that was all there was.
People, by nature, simply did not exist in Kwon Chae Ha’s world.
Even Secretary Jung, who stayed close to him, was only allowed near because of his unique history of having served Chae Ha’s older brother in the past. Chae Ha had never once opened his heart—or granted it—to anyone in this world.
He didn’t even realize how cold he was; on the contrary, he found others’ excessive warmth deeply unpleasant.
Even his parents were nothing more to him than the people who had brought him into this world—nothing beyond that.
Though fortunate enough to have been born into wealth, he’d never once considered it happiness.
Having grown up watching his older brother suffer at their parents’ hands, he’d only grown more acquainted with the shadow of unhappiness.
Women, in particular, were even worse.
Having witnessed his mother Heo Young Joo’s vanity endlessly since childhood—and compounded by what happened with his brother—they were beings he wished to avoid for the rest of his life if he could.
Had his heart ever once raced at the sight of a woman?
Even amidst social gatherings brimming with exquisitely adorned women, his heartbeat remained unnervingly calm.
Kwon Chae Ha. That was simply who he was.
He only ever trusted what was tangible; emotions like love or hope—those airy, intangible notions—were things he’d never believed in.
He found it far easier to quote a monetary figure than to say “thank you” or “I’m sorry.”
Yet even in such a life, there had been exactly one exception.
“…….”
At the name nearly slipping past his lips, Chae Ha habitually bit down hard on his lip.
Min Seol Won. His vanished wife.
For the past five years, he had never once spoken her name aloud.
He knew all too well what people murmured behind his back about it.
“Anyone would think he’d never even been married.”
“Even someone whose pet hamster died would grieve more than Kwon Chae Ha. Is he even human?”
“They say he didn’t even hold a funeral. Just kept showing up to work every day like nothing happened.”
“His wife died, yet he didn’t even blink—just buried himself in work. And they call it an unprecedented lightning-fast promotion? He went from Senior Manager to Vice President in just five years.”
“Like father, like son. Look at Chairman Kwon—he remarried his current wife right after his first one died, didn’t he?”
Since the descriptor “cold-blooded” invariably followed Kwon Chae Ha’s name, rumors like these barely tickled his ears.
What truly irritated him were rumors of a different sort.
“This is a secret, okay… but I heard he’s recently been in talks again with Baek Young Group’s youngest daughter.”
“No, that’s not it. Some say he’s always had Baek Sa Ra as his lover. They claim it’s her influence that got him promoted to VP.”
“Goodness, that poor dead wife—what awful luck!”
These latter rumors had obvious intent—and an equally obvious source.
Just as he tasted a faint metallic tang of blood from biting his lip, his newly hired secretary knocked and entered.
“Vice President. Madam Heo has arrived.”
“Send her away.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll do that right away.”
“Oh, and.”
His low, gravelly voice stopped the secretary mid-exit.
Worried he’d made a mistake, the junior secretary slowly turned back to look at him.
Kwon Chae Ha—the crown prince of Chaewoon. Never question or contradict anything he orders.
He’d followed that precept diligently since joining the company, yet he must have done something wrong after all.
“From now on, drop the ‘Madam Heo’ part. Is there another Madam in the Chaewoon Group?”
“Oh—ah… yes, understood. I’m sorry.”
Slightly flustered, the secretary fiddled with an innocent file folder before practically fleeing the VP’s office.
Watching his retreating figure, Chae Ha sighed—he wouldn’t last long either.
Secretary Jung was getting older and finding it harder to support him at the front lines, so they’d recently begun hiring new secretaries.
Yet it was common for them to last barely a month, and their accumulated gossip only worsened the already ugly rumors surrounding Chae Ha.
“They say he’s completely erased even the memory of his wife.”
The constant turnover of secretaries was a headache for him as their superior.
It was true that Chae Ha was strict about work—but the real reason they quit was something else entirely.
“Hey! Kwon Chae Ha! Your mom’s here again—why are you just telling her to leave like that?”
“……Why have you come again?”
“Why? Because I need to make a weekend dinner reservation with Sara’s family, but you’ve been completely ignoring me, so I had to come all the way here!”
Dressed as lavishly as ever, his mother Heo Young Joo casually perched herself on the leather sofa in his office.
Her outfits grew increasingly flamboyant as the years passed.
No matter how famous she once was as an actress, that era was long gone—yet she seemed stuck forever in its fading glory.
Fresh from a shopping spree, she quickly filled the entire sofa with her branded shopping bags.
“That’s the guest seating area, Mother.”
“Oh dear, just look at you! If I’m not a VIP, then who is?”
“I’m busy. It’s inconvenient when you keep showing up like this during work hours. I’ve told you this many times already.”
“Fine! You’ve made your point. Do you think I don’t know how many times I’ve said the exact same thing to you?”
Another round of the same tired conversation—Chae Ha pressed a finger to his throbbing temple.
His recent mild headaches were undoubtedly his mother’s doing.
Cold as ice, his reply slipped out automatically, like a pre-recorded message.
“I made myself perfectly clear: I won’t be attending that dinner.”
“Look at you! Just how long do you plan to keep being this stubborn?”
“Mother, please stop being so persistent and find yourself another hobby. At your age, constantly raising your voice might give you hypertension.”
“Kwon Chae Ha!”
Finally overcome with anger, Heo Young Joo shot up from her seat and glared at her indifferent son.
“It’s been five years already! You can’t possibly still be hung up on that Min Seol Won—or Min Dung Mountain, or whatever her name is!”
“Mother.”
A faint cracking sound seemed to echo from the marble desk where Chae Ha’s elbow rested.
“I warned you clearly—never speak that name in front of me again.”
“Why? Is she some sacred figure now? While we’re on the topic, get a grip! How many times must I tell you—she’s dead!—gyeok!”
Crash! His nameplate clattered to the floor.
Though it wasn’t thrown directly at her, the unmistakable threat made Madam Heo flinch.
“Fine! Let’s see how long you can keep this up! This Sunday, I’m making that reservation—and we’ll be discussing your engagement to Sara right there!”
“I won’t be attending.”
“You know very well that among the candidate plots for Chaewoon’s new resort, the most valuable piece of land belongs to Baek Young Group. Chairman Baek himself said he’ll hand it over to you outright if you marry his daughter. Where else in this world do deals like that just fall into your lap?”
“Mother.”
The voice scraping from deep within Chae Ha’s throat was eerily chilling—enough to rival a grim reaper’s call.
But this time, Madam Heo seemed determined not to back down, raising her voice even further.
“It’s sound advice! Where else will you find a girl like Sara? She waited patiently all this time—even after the man she’d loved for years married another woman! Listen carefully, Kwon Chae Ha—you’re marrying Baek Sa Ra this year, no matter what!”
Beep.
Instead of an answer, a mechanical sound pierced the air—followed immediately by Chae Ha’s order.
“Escort this unwelcome guest out. Immediately!”
At the word “unwelcome guest,” Heo Young Joo’s eyes flickered with wounded humiliation.
She quickly balled her hands into fists and stormed out of the VP’s office on her own.
“Hah….”
She was his mother—his very own mother.
Yet no warmth lingered in the space she’d just occupied.
In stark contrast, Chae Ha felt a renewed yearning for the warmth of someone long gone from his life.
An unbearable thirst—an unbearable withdrawal symptom—suddenly gripped him.
“Damn it!”
Chae Ha halted his hand, which had been reaching into the drawer for painkillers, and instead pressed it firmly against his chest.
Through his shirt collar, his fingers found the object hanging at the center of his neck and pressed it hard—as if branding it into his skin, engraving it into his heart.
Soon, a familiar pain flared up, announcing its presence through a dull ache in his chest.
Pain. Suffering. At least it had a tangible form—that was a small mercy.
Just then—
He sensed the door to his office sliding open without so much as a knock.
Already on edge, Chae Ha shot a dagger-like glare toward the opening door.
“What is it? I clearly said not to enter without permission…”
“So you still haven’t managed to break that awful habit.”
“…!”
Startled, Chae Ha lowered his hand as Secretary Jung stepped in, wearing his usual warm smile.
Slowly approaching Chae Ha, Secretary Jung reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled handkerchief, offering it gently.
“It’s far beneath you, sir. What if your shirt gets stained with blood?”
“…”
“You shouldn’t cope with pain like this, Vice President.”
At Secretary Jung’s gentle yet reproachful tone, Chae Ha pulled out the object that had just wounded him and held it up.
A soft, delicate metallic chime brushed against his ears.
It was a wedding ring—its bent bezel faintly marred by old scars.
The very rings his wife, Min Seol Won, had left behind—as if anticipating the accident—as if leaving behind their shared promise.
He’d deliberately bent the bezel to suppress the urge to call out her name, punishing himself for never once having worn it.
Seeing the raw, bloodied wound on Chae Ha’s chest, Secretary Jung’s brow furrowed sternly.
“Goodness—now I feel personally wronged by all those rumors about you. People have no idea the crown prince of Chaewoon has been in mourning for five whole years.”
“…It’s not mourning.”
As Chae Ha averted his gaze, Secretary Jung slowly placed his wrinkled hand over Chae Ha’s.
Surprised by the unexpected gesture, Chae Ha looked up—
And met Secretary Jung’s gentle, knowing smile as the older man spoke with difficulty.
“If it’s truly not mourning, then that’s all the better, Vice President. Perhaps it’s time you finally let go of Young Madam.”
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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