“Yes. So when are you getting married then?”

Chairman Jung’s abrupt question was followed by a moment of silence. The implication behind those words was immense.

It was not just a simple question, but a marriage approval.

The approval from Chairman Jung, the highest authority in the Jang Won family, also meant that no matter how much others opposed or jumped up and down, they could never turn the tide of this marriage. That’s why Young Hee, who had been the most vocal in her opposition, began to foam at the mouth.

“Mom… Mom, does that mean… you’re allowing them to get married…? It can’t be, right?”

No way.

Young Sook, who was beside her, repeatedly denied it in disbelief. However, instead of answering their questions, Chairman Jung fired another question at Woo Jin and Tae Eun, delivering a confirming shot.

“Yes. When is the formal meeting?”

“Mom-ahhh!”

Even when Young Sook called out to Chairman Jung as if she might faint, there was no response. So Young Hee calmly retorted. She knew too well that she couldn’t reverse the situation with agitation.

“Mom, marriage is a lifelong event. It’s not something to be decided so easily. It’s about bringing in your one and only granddaughter-in-law, so how can you decide after meeting her just once? And in this situation?”

“That’s right, Mom. This is not something to be decided like this…”

“Are you going to live with them? Are you the ones getting married?”

When Chairman Jung questioned back in a stern voice, Young Hee and Young Sook were momentarily at a loss for words.

“That’s not it, but…”

“Exactly. Woo Jin is the one getting married and the woman he will live with. Why are you nagging about this and that? When Woo Jin says he’s getting married, why are you meddling from the side?”

“Mom, we have every right to do so. After his brother and sister passed away, who else does Woo Jin have besides us? And Young Ja unni has even more right to do so! Unni, say something! Don’t just sit there quietly!”

When Young Hee tapped Young Ja out of frustration, a subtle crack appeared on the forehead of Young Ja, who had been pretending to be calm all along. She put down her teacup with a clinking sound and glanced back and forth between Woo Jin and Tae Eun. It was a cold and indifferent gaze, but it was even more uncomfortable because her intentions were unreadable.

Finally, for the first time since the two had entered, Young Ja’s lips parted.

“He’s not the kind of guy I would tell to get married, nor the kind I would tell not to get married. Anyway, this isn’t a place to ask for permission, is it? So no matter how much you raise your blood pressure and oppose it, Woo Jin will get married. Isn’t that right, Woo Jin?”

A monotonous voice with no discernible tone inflection.

With that single voice, Tae Eun could immediately tell how strong Young Ja’s self-control was. Indeed, they said she was the daughter who resembled Chairman Jung the most among the three daughters, and those words seemed to be true.

“Oh, unni… But still, how can you say that…?”

“I’m telling you not to waste your energy arguing about something already decided before it gets uglier.”

At those elegant yet biting words, Young Hee and Young Sook shut their surprised mouths. Only then did Woo Jin smile and make eye contact with Young Ja.

As expected of Jang Won’s heroine, it was just like Seo Young Ja.

“You’re right, aunt. I will definitely go through with this marriage. I wouldn’t have faced Grandmother and my aunts without that level of conviction.”

Young Ja’s eyes curved roundly as she looked at Woo Jin. But she wasn’t smiling. It was just the muscles on her face moving like that, impossible to tell what she was thinking.

“Well, since we’re on the subject, I have one more thing to say. We will get married within two months. And after getting married, we will move out.”

“What? Woo Jin! What are you saying?”

“I want to start at the Hannam-dong villa.”

“Oh my, oh my. What is he saying now? Does that mean you’re going to leave your grandmother alone in this large Jang Won house?”

“Yes! Even if you live here, the distance between the main house and the annex is far anyway, so it’s no different from living separately. Why do you have to move out like that? To make your grandmother lonely?”

“Why would Grandmother be lonely? Big aunt lives in the annex, and you two aunts frequently come and go like this.”

Although the expressions on the faces of the three women were not pleasant upon hearing those words, Chairman Jung was nodding alone. She more than understood why Woo Jin had made such a decision.

At their first meeting, they couldn’t wait to devour Tae Eun, and if they started their newlywed life in the annex, the three witches of the Jang Won family would constantly summon Tae Eun and drain her blood. Woo Jin was undoubtedly anticipating such a situation.

In short, it was a complete blockade of the in-laws, and Chairman Jung had no doubt that it was a very wise choice.

“Woo Jin! How can you say such heartbreaking things? Are we the same as you? You are the eldest grandson of the Jang Won family, and we are married off!”

“For being married off, you come and go quite freely.”

“Hey!”

Young Sook, who had calmed down for a moment thanks to Young Ja, turned a poisonous gaze towards Tae Eun as if her blood pressure had risen again.

“Did she perhaps say she didn’t want to live with our mother?”

In fact, the talk of moving out was something Tae Eun heard for the first time at this meeting, and it was a part she hadn’t even thought of, so she was quite flustered and confused. What should she say in response? For now, she thought it was urgent to calm her excited aunts.

So while soothing Woo Jin, she met Young Sook’s sharp eyes and opened her mouth clearly in a quiet voice.

“No, Aunt. Regarding that part, I will talk to Woo Jin separately…”

“Move out and live on your own.”

But then a voice that suddenly intervened poured cold water on the heated atmosphere in the living room once again.

It was Chairman Jung’s voice.

“You made a good decision. Move out and live on your own. I think that will be more comfortable for me too.”

“Mom! No, what are you saying? Telling them to move out!”

Young Hee asked sharply, but Chairman Jung ignored the question and emphasized again to Woo Jin.

“The thought that you have to take care of an old woman hurts my pride. I’m not a lonely elderly living alone, and there are so many servants here, and Young Ja is by my side. I don’t want to become a bitter old woman living with my grandson’s wife. Who lives with their grandmother-in-law in this day and age?”

“Mom, but this is not right! Mom, you’re turning ninety soon!”

Young Sook tried to make Chairman Jung aware of reality by mentioning her age, but it had no effect at all. And Chairman Jung’s next words, encompassing everyone, neatly wrapped up the situation.

“I… am Jung Man Ok of Jang Won. I’m not dead yet.”

At that voice, which was so solemn and powerful that it was impossible to imagine belonging to an elderly woman approaching ninety, everyone shut their mouths.

The living legend of Korea.

Instead of her good-for-nothing husband, she started as a peddler to feed her many children and built the current Jang Won, becoming a legend in the business world. Therefore, the afterglow of the three syllables of Jung Man Ok’s name went beyond grandeur to sheer inspiration. If outsiders felt that way, how much more so for her children who had witnessed it all along?

Just hearing the name brought tears to their eyes.

“Oh, Mom… Who doesn’t know that? I just said that because I thought you might be lonely. Wouldn’t it be nice to see your granddaughter-in-law being cute by your side?”

“Are they getting married to amuse me? Don’t make me a foul-tempered old woman.”

“Really, Mom… When did I ever say that?”

In the end, Young Hee, who had been having a fit, backed down. Young Sook beside her also shut her mouth. If Chairman Jung said so, then that was that. No matter how much they disliked this marriage, they couldn’t argue against it.

A faint smile spread across the lips of Woo Jin, who had gotten everything he wanted with a single word from Chairman Jung while sitting there. And Young Ja did not miss seeing it.

“Then Grandmother, we will get up and leave now.”

“What, no. You’re not eating with us?”

“Actually, this meeting was put together so suddenly that Tae Eun must have been quite startled. So I want to let her eat comfortably.”

Groans of displeasure erupted from here and there at Woo Jin’s words openly taking Tae Eun’s side, but Chairman Jung waved her hand with a smile.

“Yes. You should eat comfortably. We’re all doing this to eat and live anyway.”

Without giving Tae Eun a chance to say anything, Woo Jin grabbed her wrist and stood up. So she hurriedly bid farewell to Chairman Jung and her aunts and was pulled out of there by his hand.

After Tae Eun left, Young Hee groaned.

“Did you see the way Woo Jin talks? Oh my! How pitiful for our Young Ja unni. Putting us aside, unni raised Woo Jin so well, holding his hand, and now she has to dedicate him to such a family.”

Remembering the family background that didn’t even fill a single page, Young Hee clicked her tongue and spoke. No matter how pretty, if she coveted the Jang Won family with this level of background, it was almost a crime in her eyes. And at those words, Young Ja closed her eyes, suppressing her rising anger.

Dedication.

It was the perfect word.

It wasn’t as if she had given her everything to Woo Jin in order to accept such a worthless family as the granddaughter-in-law of the Jang Won family.

To Young Ja, who naturally went through divorce after being unable to have children, Woo Jin was a gift from heaven. Moreover, it was true that she had a particularly good relationship with her brother’s child. So even though Woo Jin did not come from her womb, he was no different from her own child with her own blood.

So, how much devotion did she pour into raising him? Young Ja gave her all to Woo Jin, more than his biological parents. Therefore, it was fair to say that she had a certain stake in his life. However, a single remark Woo Jin had shot at her a few years ago always made her hesitate.

– Never interfere in my life again! It’s not your life, Aunt, it’s my life! You have no right to do that.

He said she had no right.

After how I raised him.

After how terribly much I cherished him.

That ungrateful brat!

“Ah, it’s so upsetting. I think Woo Jin has completely fallen for that strange atmosphere! No, Mom! What if you give permission right there? You have to oppose it!”

At Young Hee’s resentment, Chairman Jung waved her hands as if tired and left the living room. The place where only the three women were left was a crucible of silence and anger.

“He’s really completely entranced. How on earth do you enchant a man to that extent? She looks humble, but she’s worse than a nine-tailed fox!”

“I know, right? This is the first time I’ve seen Woo Jin act like this!”

Listening to the voices of her furious younger sisters, Young Ja recalled Tae Eun’s touch gently soothing Woo Jin, who had been fiercely angry just moments ago. Young Ja, who most resembled Chairman Jung, was seeing the same thing as Chairman Jung. However, even seeing the same thing, what they felt was different.

Chairman Jung saw in Tae Eun’s actions the qualifications to become a Jang Won person, but Young Ja saw it as the reason she couldn’t become a part of this family.

The audacity to try to control the next head of Jang Won.

For now, it was just a matter of subduing Woo Jin’s anger, but it was clear as day what she would grab and shake in the future. Most of those who held the greatest power in the world were men, but in the end, it was the women who held those men.

“Oh, unni! Say something! Are you really going to just watch like this? Are you going to hand Woo Jin over completely to that fox?”

“Then what can we do? Do you still not know Woo Jin? Once he decides to do something, he does it no matter what.”

Young Ja spoke gently in response to her sisters’ pestering, but her mind was quite chilling, unlike her words.

They thought that once married, it would be the end, so they were this desperate to stop the marriage. But Young Ja’s thoughts were different.

A married couple doesn’t necessarily have to live happily ever after together. She had also divorced, and her two younger sisters were waiting for divorce as a natural course of events.

Marriage is not the end, but the beginning.

If they couldn’t prevent the marriage, they could take a detour. Sometimes, such limited methods shined even brighter. Even Woo Jin, who had impulsively rushed into marriage, would quiet down a bit by then and clearly realize that burning passion wasn’t everything in marriage.

And for Woo Jin, who would become the next head of Jang Won, a mere divorce history wouldn’t be a flaw.

There would be plenty of women willing to engage in a bloody war to take the spot by Woo Jin’s side.

The deep taste of the tea lingering on the tip of her tongue today was just to her liking.