Se Jin couldn’t give any answer.

“Why, you can’t give me your daughter? Didn’t you say you’d give me everything I want?”

Ju Hwa mocked Se Jin as if she found it amusing.

“I’ll give you my life. Please allow me to do that.”

“……Mom!”

Yeo Reum approached Se Jin in shock and grabbed her arm.

“Stand up.”

She only shook her head, refusing to stand up.

Yeo Reum felt anger rising beyond bewilderment at this absurd situation.

“I said stand up! Stand up!”

“You stay out of this. I said stay out of it!”

“How can I stay out of it! How!”

She grabbed both arms and pulled strongly, but Se Jin refused.

And she wouldn’t budge, as if she had put down roots on the floor.

“As expected, that won’t do, will it?”

Ju Hwa, who had been watching the two bickering, asked.

“Then I’ll take it that you have nothing more to say and be on my way.”

“……Madam Chairman!”

Se Jin almost fell forward as she grabbed Ju Hwa’s leg and clung to it.

“Just tell me to die instead. Please do that!”

“Are you stupid? I told you I don’t need the life of someone like you, didn’t I?”

“If you leave like this, Jung Hyun will die! Please save him!”

“The conversation is over, why are you doing this? And what are you all standing there watching? Get this off me right now.”

At Ju Hwa’s order, her secretaries rushed over and roughly pulled Se Jin off, throwing her down.

But she desperately reached out her hand and grabbed Ju Hwa’s leg again.

“……Please save Jung Hyun! I beg you!”

The mother clinging and wailing was heartbreaking.

Yeo Reum, witnessing this scene, felt her blood boiling, about to burst.

Yeo Reum said to the secretaries who were roughly grabbing her mother’s arms.

“All of you, let go of those hands. I said let go!”

They hesitated, stopping and turning around.

Yeo Reum shook off their arms holding Se Jin, then approached Ju Hwa.

Looking into those eyes full of mockery, she said,

“I’ll give you my next 20 years. I’ll cut ties with my parents. Will that do?”

“……Yeo Reum?”

“Let’s just do that. So save my dad.”

“……What nonsense are you talking about!”

Se Jin quickly stood up and grabbed Yeo Reum’s arm.

But shaking off that hand, Yeo Reum shouted at Ju Hwa,

“I said I’ll give you my 20 years, you old hag! And cut ties with my parents! I asked if that would do!”

Se Jin quickly embraced Yeo Reum, who was glaring with wide eyes, and said,

“……No. Yeo Reum, that’s not possible.”

Se Jin shook her head urgently, trying to dissuade her.

Ju Hwa, who had been looking at Yeo Reum’s eyes full of anger, smiled slightly and said,

“Alright. Then I’ll save your father. I’m a person who keeps her promises.”

“……No! Not our Yeo Reum, absolutely not!”

Se Jin shook her head while hugging Yeo Reum.

Sitting back down in the main seat of the sofa and crossing her legs, Ju Hwa said,

“Since your next 20 years are at stake, I should give you time to think, right? I’ll give you exactly 10 minutes. Talk it over well with your mother.”

Ju Hwa said with a generous smile.

Yeo Reum took her helpless mother’s hand and went out of the hospital room.

*

The VIP ward, which was always quiet, had an unusually tense atmosphere unlike usual.

“Isn’t that person Secretary An from PR?”

At Choi’s words, San Ha looked ahead.

The middle-aged man just turning the corner of the corridor was a familiar face.

There seemed to be someone beside him at a glance.

The lapels of the jackets of the men in suits gathered in front of a nearby room all had PR badges.

The two approached the nurse’s station, passing by the room filled with tension.

The faces of the nurses looking at San Ha became awkward.

“Please.”

“If you keep doing this, it puts us in a difficult position……”

“I know. But please, I really need this favor.”

San Ha bowed politely.

The head nurse said,

“Go in. And you can take your time coming out. The lady will be coming this evening.”

“Thank you. Secretary Choi, you can go home now.”

San Ha repeatedly thanked them and entered a familiar room.

Secretary Choi approached a nurse who looked to be in her mid-20s and quietly asked,

“But what happened? There were PR people gathered over there?”

She looked around cautiously and answered softly,

“The son of PR Group Chairman Kang Ju Hwa was in a traffic accident.”

“Chairman Kang’s son?”

“Yes.”

“Is it serious?”

She nodded, then quickly started her work.

Secretary Choi looked at the crowded corridor for a moment, then turned his head towards the room San Ha had entered.

A deep sigh escaped him.

San Ha approached the bed.

The man lying dependent on complex machinery looked to be in his 20s, but despite his tall height, he had no flesh on his body, and his face was so pale you could see the blood vessels.

San Ha took off the jacket he was wearing and placed it on a nearby sofa.

“Hey, Jin Hae Il. Your elder brother is here and you’re just lying there? You’ve really lost your discipline.”

San Ha approached the bed and lightly ruffled Hae Il’s hair.

Then he pulled up a nearby chair, took out a hamburger from the paper bag he brought, and held it up to his nose.

“How about it? Smells good, right?”

As if teasing, he held the burger to his nose and chattered,

“This is supposedly the most popular burger in Busan. They say it has a triple meat patty smothered in cheese. It must be really delicious, right?”

Hae Il lying on the bed gave no response.

San Ha, who had been holding the hamburger in front of his nose for a moment, sat down in the chair.

“This business trip was still fun though. Of course, while I was away on the trip, I Seok got promoted to executive director of Strategic Planning, but. You don’t need to get so upset about that. It was expected anyway. But still, friends are good, huh? Getting angry on my behalf?”

San Ha took his thin hand.

“Don’t be angry. I’m really fine.”

San Ha gently stroked his hand, then soon picked up the hamburger and took a big bite.

“I met a really strange magpie this time. It was a plump, fair magpie, quite unusual anyway.”

San Ha chuckled and showed him his left hand.

“You see this bandage on my hand? This magpie put it on for me. Pretty cute, isn’t it?”

Suddenly San Ha leaned towards his face and put his ear close.

“What’s that? You want one too because it’s so cute?”

San Ha put down the hamburger and rummaged through his pocket.

“Ta-da!”

It was the same bandage with a character drawing on it.

“The magpie gave me an extra one. Want me to put it on you?”

There was still no answer.

“You do? Alright. This elder brother will put it on nicely for you.”

San Ha opened the package and put the bandage in the middle of his forehead.

Then he laughed loudly as if it was so amusing.

“Hey, you look really cute like that. Jin Hae Il can be cute sometimes too.”

San Ha, who had been chuckling, sat back down and ate the hamburger.

“That magpie really enjoyed this burger. He ate it so deliciously I honestly regretted giving it to him. So I bought another one, of course.”

San Ha laughed and chattered alone as he ate the hamburger.

*

“No. Let’s pretend I didn’t hear what you just said.”

It was a luxurious and spacious area said to be a VIP lounge.

So her mother’s voice adamantly opposing was even clearer.

Yeo Reum asked Se Jin sitting next to her on the sofa,

“Then are we just going to let Dad die like this?”

“I’ll, I’ll persuade Grandmother. So give up that thought.”

“That person, whether Grandmother or Chairman, didn’t even look at Dad’s face properly. She didn’t even treat you like a person, Mom. How can you persuade someone like that? You know it’s not possible, right?”

“……No matter what, I can’t send you to Grandmother. Not while giving her the right to control your life recklessly.”

“Mom.”

“Do you know why she’s demanding that? She intends to slowly kill you.”

“I could tell. It’s really absurd. While others say they adore their granddaughters, our grandmother is different? She looks at me like an enemy.”

“That’s right. Your grandmother is like that. She’s not trying to take you in as her granddaughter at all. She wants to kill you. Legally.”

Se Jin sighed deeply and continued,

“No matter how hard I tried, she never acknowledged me even once. She always treated me like filth sticking to your father’s side. For the 6 years we lived with your grandmother, I only wanted to die, but you were born too and I tried to endure somehow. But it just wasn’t possible. So to survive, I asked your father for a divorce.”

“But Dad’s choice wasn’t Grandmother, it was you, Mom?”

“……That’s right. Even though she told him to come back, your father instead took my hand and yours and left that house. And he firmly cut ties with your grandmother. That time has been 20 years now.”

Se Jin took both of Yeo Reum’s hands.

“I’m really grateful for your resolve. But Yeo Reum, your grandmother is now filled with resentment beyond hostility towards me. She’ll take it out on you instead of me. It’s obvious.”

“Even so, we have no other choice. We have no other way.”

“I’ll somehow persuade Grandmother.”

“She’s someone who endured for 20 years with her pride. She’ll never bend her stubbornness. Mom, the only way we can save Dad now is to accept her demand.”

“……No. I… can’t do it. How can I when I know she clearly intends to slowly kill you?”

Yeo Reum said to Se Jin who was shaking her head firmly,

“Mom, I can endure it.”

“Your grandmother is not someone you can endure against with that mindset.”

“Then I’ll endure even more. No, I’ll endure no matter what.”

“……Yeo Reum.”

“We have to grab the way to save Dad if there is one. Don’t worry. I’m Jung Yeo Reum, your and Dad’s daughter. I’m not easily pushed around. You know that, right Mom?”

“But……”

Embracing Se Jin who was shedding tears, Yeo Reum said,

“Don’t cry. I’m actually grateful that there’s a way to save Dad.”

*

“Kang Ju Hwa will pay for all surgery and hospital expenses until Jung Jung Hyun is able to carry out daily activities. This includes the living expenses of Kim Se Jin who will be by Jung Jung Hyun’s side to care for him.”

The person who said he was the director of PR Group’s legal team read out the contract.

“In return, Jung Yeo Reum will belong to Kang Ju Hwa for the next 20 years from the day of the contract. Jung Yeo Reum has no right to refuse any order from Kang Ju Hwa. And for 20 years, she cannot have any private contact with Kim Se Jin or Jung Jung Hyun. If this is violated, she must compensate ten times the treatment costs for Jung Jung Hyun.”

Se Jin covered her face with both hands.

It seemed she couldn’t control the tears flowing.

Yeo Reum said to Ju Hwa sitting arrogantly on the opposite sofa,

“I have two clauses I want to add.”

Ju Hwa crossed her legs the other way haughtily and asked,

“Add? What if I don’t like that?”

“If you don’t listen to me, this contract could become invalid later.”

“What?”

“What will you do if I just fly away after Dad’s treatment is all done? Would that be okay with you?”

The legal director looked at Ju Hwa and Yeo Reum’s faces alternately with a stern expression.

She said,

“What clauses do you want?”

“First, Kang Ju Hwa has the obligation to notify Jung Yeo Reum of Jung Jung Hyun’s treatment status once a month.”

“Once a month is not possible. Once a year.”

“Fine. Once a year. But I need to see both my parents on video. I need to confirm my parents are alive, right? You could lie to me, Chairman.”

“The video will be only 10 seconds long.”

“Alright.”

“What’s your second clause?”

“Jung Yeo Reum will comply with Kang Ju Hwa’s orders, but can refuse if they are immoral or against her conscience.”

Yeo Reum said with a slight smile,

“I can’t become a criminal, right? Besides, this is all for your sake, Chairman.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“A contract written under coercion can be invalidated. But if this clause is included, it’s not coercion, so there’s no loss for you, Chairman.”

The legal director nodded at Ju Hwa’s glance.

“Fine. Add it.”

At her instruction, the legal team staff in one corner of the room quickly typed on keyboards and brought a newly printed contract.

Ju Hwa stamped her seal first.

Yeo Reum, who had been taking short breaths, also checked and firmly pressed her seal.

Se Jin finally burst into tears.