A hotel with a gentle melody playing, a coffee shop.

Ji Wan roughly rubbed his pale face.

In front of the man with a cool expression, the woman kept wiping away tears.

The seventh marriage candidate, who had hoped to be the last, sent several phone calls and messages filled with passionate love confessions last night.

“So, am I really out like this? Just one more time…”

“Shall I go over the contract terms again?”

As if annoyed, Ji Wan closed his eyes deeply and opened them.

At the entrance of the coffee shop, his eyes met with a man glancing this way.

It was Woo Seok, the chief secretary.

The phone number the woman thought was his actually belonged to Woo Seok, who had been bombarded with calls and messages all night.

Judging by the dark circles under his eyes, he hadn’t slept, and you could see he was burning up inside at the thought of having to search for the eighth candidate.

“Everyone makes mistakes, right? Can’t you forgive me just this once? I was drunk and my true feelings came out without realizing it.”

“There’s no guarantee you won’t make the same mistake again, and more importantly, I’m not a person generous enough to tolerate such mistakes.”

“The late-night phone call was a mistake, but the confession was sincere. I truly like you, Ji Wan.”

It was then that Ji Wan raised his head and curled his lips at the love confession from a woman he had only met three times.

Perhaps due to the quiet of a weekday afternoon, the conversation from the table behind was clearly audible without intending to overhear.

“We’ve only been dating for 3 months, Mother. I’m only introducing her because you kept insisting on marriage, so please don’t tell me to go on another blind date again, alright?”

“I said that because you never showed me such a nice young lady. Well, now that I’ve seen her, it’s fine. It was nice to meet you, I feel at ease now. Come visit our home sometime.”

“Yes, I’ll try to match schedules with Young Woo.”

Whether for children or grandchildren, regardless of time and place, the pressure to marry for men of marriageable age was a universal repertoire.

After the middle-aged woman left, the conversation of those remaining took an unexpected turn.

“Thank you for your hard work all this time. I thought all agency helpers would be the same, but I didn’t expect to meet such a good person again. You dealt with my friends, grandmother, and parents. My friends were so envious of how much they liked Do Eum last time. My grandmother was quite taken with you too. Really, it was a great help.”

“It’s nothing. I hope Young Woo finds a nice girlfriend soon.”

Even the methods of dealing with marriage pressure seemed to be all the same.

Hearing the word “helper” from across, Ji Wan coldly scrutinized the woman sitting in front of him.

Unlike himself who was at a loss, he envied the man across who had cleanly resolved the situation through an agency helper.

He heard the woman behind him getting up.

“Since this is a connection, Do Eum. Would you consider dating me seriously? As you know, I have a stable job and a decent family background. It’s just that my parents and grandmother are a bit peculiar about me…”

The man’s voice, urgently making his appeal, sounded sincere.

“Park Young Woo.”

The woman’s voice was so cool, almost cold, it was hard to believe it was the same gentle voice from before.

“I know you have good looks, education, and a stable job. Your family background is excellent as you said. However, coincidentally, I’m not in a position to present my business card to your parents.”

“…Pardon?”

“Apart from my appearance and age that you received through the Happy Helper Agency, don’t you know absolutely nothing about me, Young Woo?”

“I heard you were a college student, doing this work part-time…”

“Yes, I am desperate for money, but that doesn’t mean I’ll lie down anywhere. I carefully choose where to lie down, and make sure whether it’s dung or soybean paste. I’m also someone who knows my place exactly, so I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you just said.”

The voice that clearly distinguished between public and private matters was confident.

The calm voice devoid of personal emotions and the firmness that left no room for doubt made it clear that this was exactly the person he had been looking for.

“It seems we’ve said all there is to say, so shall we get up first.”

Ji Wan spoke as if reciting to the woman whose eyes were dripping with lingering attachment.

This much time should be enough to compose one’s emotions.

“…But, can we still keep in touch.”

Ji Wan shook his head with deeply furrowed brows.

It was a rejection meaning don’t contact him, and a kind of warning not to be clingy anymore.

The seventh marriage candidate woman stood up from her seat.

At the same time, the woman from the table behind also stood.

Neatly tied hair and a light pink, modest one-piece dress.

Height 163cm, weight around 48kg. Age probably in the late twenties.

The two men simultaneously looked at the woman walking with a moderate stride.

“Do you know her?”

Woo Seok, who had somehow approached his side, followed Ji Wan’s gaze.

“Soon enough.”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s about time we get to know her. Go and bring her here. That woman.”

*****

Bando Group, ranked 3rd in Korea’s business world.

Centered on Bando Tower in Samsung-dong, with Bando Construction and Bando Electronics at three-block intervals, and Eden Entertainment & Media in Nonhyeon, small in scale among affiliates but undeniably famous.

When people thought of ‘Bando Group’, they recalled the internationally famous Bando Electronics, but Bando Construction, which had been rapidly rising for the past 3 years, was also a social issue.

At the center of this issue stood Seo Ji Wan, the second son of Bando Group and representative of Bando Construction.

Graduating from a renowned university in the U.S. and holding a Ph.D. in Business Administration, he was on a smooth path in management at the age of 34, but apart from his outstanding appearance, little was known about him publicly.

This was because he was not born as a legitimate bloodline of Bando Group.

Everyone knew about the innate womanizing tendencies of Bando Group’s President Seo Myeong Han.

It wouldn’t be strange if President Seo’s illegitimate child appeared from somewhere, to the extent that even Jang Ho Muk, the chairwoman of Bando and President Seo’s mother, was said to have thrown up her hands in resignation.

In such a situation, the birth of the illegitimate child Ji Wan the year after the birth of Ki Hyeok, the first son of Bando Group, had to be strictly kept secret.

The child who entered Bando Group as a newborn was separated from his mother before he could even dry off and grew up in a distant foreign land.

When he returned to Korea after learning management at Bando Group’s overseas branches, he was thirty years old.

It was the moment when the young child was thoroughly reborn as a person of the Bando family.

“No need for other words, get married immediately.”

Contrary to expectations that his path in Korea would be smooth sailing, there was one stumbling block.

It was Jang Ho Muk, the mother of Bando Group’s President Seo Myeong Han and the real power of Bando Group.

Even at nearly ninety years old, she was as stubborn as a mule, and even President Seo, approaching seventy, would play dead at one word from Madam Jang except for women issues. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that no one could enter Bando without crossing Madam Jang’s threshold.

She was involved in all the group’s affairs, from distributing shares of affiliates to placing her people in the right positions, Madam Jang’s standing in Bando was considerable.

“You know well that marriage isn’t something to be done as easily as picking up a spoon on the dining table, don’t you?”

Ji Wan, the only one who didn’t bow his head to such a Madam Jang, was bound to be a thorn in her side.

Being the child of a concubine, he should have been trying his best to look good, but Ji Wan was thoroughly indifferent.

Tsk tsk.

It had come to the point where the sound of Madam Jang clicking her tongue in Anseong-dong was said to be a nickname for calling Ji Wan, and it wasn’t an exaggeration.

“So that’s why you don’t even pick up the spoon on the dining table well, I suppose.”

It was a jab at the reports to Madam Jang, who was monitoring her grandchildren’s every move, that Ji Wan often skipped meals due to his busy work schedule.

“Tsk tsk, what an insufficient fellow.”

Ki Hyeok, the eldest son who was only a year older than Ji Wan, was full of ambition.

Even though he held the most important Electronics division in Bando Group, he was desperate for more.

For instance, hotels or entertainment.

There was a message from Madam Jang that she would distribute equally according to the abilities of the two in businesses where no official representative was appointed and only professional managers were put forward.

To secure his position, Ki Hyeok went ahead with his marriage to Seo Hyeon, the daughter of Jin Han E&C, and put his wife Seo Hyeon’s name as the hotel representative.

Even after losing the hotel right under his nose without any proper competition, Ji Wan remained carefree, and Madam Jang continued to click her tongue at him.

Swallowing the words to call him a good-for-nothing, Madam Jang put forward marriage as a last resort.

For a man who hadn’t brought a woman even at the age of thirty-four, numerous rumors followed.

They said he was gay.

From saying there must be a reason he doesn’t even blink at the love calls from numerous women, to claiming that scandals with famous actresses were just smokescreens to hide this fact.

It was natural for Madam Jang to pull out the marriage card as a final ultimatum amidst these various rumors.

“Did I ask you to bring a daughter from a wealthy family, or did I ask for someone outstanding and exceptional? Being a man, having what all men are born with, how can you bring such shame to the family with those kinds of rumors?”

He was about to retort, asking if that’s why his father had married twice, but barely held back.

“The reason you act so arrogantly must be because you have strong backing.”

It was about his mother, Eun Hee.

When Ki Hyeok’s mother, the legitimate daughter-in-law of Bando Group, died, Madam Jang registered his mother Eun Hee as a person of the Bando family.

It was a full 14 years after giving birth to Ji Wan.

“Do you know what happens when you bare your claws in front of a tiger?”

The clearly revealed claws must mean his mother, Eun Hee.

“Just cut them off. Cut them short, make them completely unusable.”

It was a fierce anger that was hard to believe coming from a ninety-year-old.

“Three months. If you don’t get married within that time, not only will you step down from your position as the Construction representative, but your mother will have to come under me in Anseong-dong. You wouldn’t want to see your mother in such a distressing situation, would you?”

Ji Wan’s past 3 years of elevating the stagnant construction division to the same level as prominent domestic and international construction companies had been a series of hardships.

Using that achievement as leverage, it had been just 3 years since he requested to send his mother to a position as an art museum director in the outskirts of the city.

The threat to completely pluck out Eun Hee’s claws was not an idle one.

She was an old woman who was constantly looking for ways to bring her back to her side.

Ji Wan scanned the woman in the light pink one-piece dress pacing in front of the suite room’s panoramic window.

The woman, whom Woo Seok had managed to catch and bring, whether unfamiliar with the hotel or wary of him, looked around here and there before settling in front of the window, as far away from him as possible.

In front of the eighth and hopefully final marriage candidate, Ji Wan opened his mouth heavily.

“What should I call you?”

The woman’s face clearly showed her suspicion about why he had brought her here to the hotel room.

“Call me whatever is comfortable. If it’s not necessary for our conversation, well. You don’t have to call me anything.”

Lowering his broad shoulders and placing both arms on his knees as he sat, Ji Wan fell into thought for a moment.

He remembered the man at the coffee shop calling the woman ‘Miss Helper’.

“Alright, let’s do that. Miss Helper.”