Chapter 01
“Bitch! Filthy whore! You ruined my life! You deserve to die a thousand times over!”
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault. Honey, please, just spare me this once! I’m sorry! Aaaaah!”
Thwack.
The middle-aged man’s golf club, slick with blood, struck the woman’s head.
Ssshhh.
Hot water poured from the showerhead, splattering across the tiled floor. Half-soaked beneath the stream, Dasom leaned against the wall, gasping for air.
“Huff… huff… ugh…”
Her chest burned as if her heart was on fire. She clutched at it, forcing her breathing to steady. Cold sweat washed away with the water, and when her mind finally cleared, Kang Dasom slowly turned the water pressure down.
Droplets ran down from her wet hair. As she wiped her face, her reflection appeared in the fogged bathroom glass.
“What… what’s going on?”
Startled, she looked down at herself. Smooth skin without a single wrinkle, full breasts, a slender waist, and even toned muscles.
It was nothing like the body she remembered.
Panicked, she rushed to the mirror on the far wall.
There, staring back at her, stood a woman—drenched, naked, and young. As if possessed, Kang Dasom raised her hand toward the glass.
Her fingertip brushed against a droplet of water. It slid down, sharpening the reflection.
That’s… me?
Not the miserable, sickly woman she had become at the end of her life. No—the mirror showed Kang Dasom in her radiant twenties, at the height of her beauty.
On the marble sink sat a phone. She had always carried her phone into the bathroom.
Unlocking it, she opened the calendar. The schedule was filled to the brim. Checking the date, Kang Dasom gave a bitter laugh.
But… I died, didn’t I?
The last thing she remembered was her husband, Yoon Seong-hoon, swinging a golf club down at her head.
Maybe it was all just a dream—but then her eyes caught on the calendar entry, and her blood ran cold.
[Lumière Palace Hotel – Date with Seong-hoon oppa]
It was today’s date. Looking around, she spotted the logo on the toiletries.
Turning her head, she saw it: the dazzling Han River view just beyond the bathroom.
Her vision went dark for a moment.
The Lumière Palace Hotel.
Royal suite with a river view.
April 12th.
She had never once forgotten this day.
April 12th—their wedding anniversary, the day she had first started dating Seong-hoon, and…
The day of our first time together.
Naive Dasom had given her everything to Yoon Seong-hoon. For over a decade, she had devoted herself to him, knowing nothing else.
What a fool. What a pitiful, stupid woman.
Her husband was the second son of the Cheonmyeong Group. Not long after their marriage, Dasom was in a car accident that left her unable to bear children. Yet she had raised the illegitimate child he brought home as if it were her own.
“Yesul, honey, please… please help me. Talk to your father, save me.”
“Ha, you still think you’re my real mother? You don’t even know whose daughter I really am, do you?”
“What are you talking about? I raised you as my own—”
“My real mother is Aunt Hana. Dad’s been having an affair with her this whole time. You never even knew, did you?”
“Hana? My sister-in-law? What are you saying, Yesul!”
“Min-jun is Aunt Hana’s son too. You’re really pathetic.”
Jung Hana.
The wife of Seong-hoon’s younger brother, Yoon Jin-woo. She had been the only person in the Cheonmyeong family Dasom had trusted, like a real younger sister.
“No… Hana would never… she wouldn’t…”
“Uncle, Dad… you’re all so naive. At least you got to live comfortably, didn’t you, Auntie?”
Her world collapsed. She had been betrayed—by her husband, by the children she raised, by the one person she thought she could trust.
What else could she call herself but a fool?
Her lips trembled. If she could, she would have run out and smashed his head open right that moment.
“Dasom? What’s taking so long?”
A voice came from beyond the bathroom door. She lunged forward and locked it tight. The doorknob rattled.
“You’re not taking too long, are you?”
“I’m sorry, oppa. I’m just a slow washer. I’ll be out soon.”
Dasom forced a soft, sweet tone, tightening her stomach to steady herself. Thank god for the water masking her voice, and for the door standing between them.
Otherwise she couldn’t have held her composure.
She listened as Seong-hoon’s footsteps faded away. Only then did she step back under the shower’s downpour.
Turning the water hotter, the bathroom filled with steam. Her delicate skin flushed red, nearly scalded.
It was the only way she could endure this.
When she finally shut off the water, she dried herself and slipped on a bathrobe. Facing the fogged mirror, she wiped a small circle clear.
I’ll get my revenge.
On the man who ruined her life.
On Yoon Seong-hoon.
On Jung Hana, the sister-in-law who betrayed her.
I’ll never let them off easily.
Dasom pushed open the door. Seong-hoon, lounging on the wide bed, sprang up instantly.
His eyes narrowed like a snake at the sight of bare skin peeking from her robe. He leapt toward her and wrapped her in his arms.
The touch of his skin against hers made her want to stab him to death. Her stomach churned with disgust.
His hand slipped inside her robe. She trembled, quickly seizing his wrist.
“Dasom?”
He looked at her curiously. Her heart dropped, but she forced herself to stay calm.
“What’s the rush? We’ve got plenty of time.”
“Haha, I guess I’m a little impatient.”
As he moved closer, Dasom casually turned away, picking up the room service menu.
“Can we order drinks?”
“Drinks? Didn’t you say earlier you didn’t want any?”
“I’m just… nervous now that it’s really happening.”
“Pft.”
He chuckled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“It’s your first time, so it’s natural. Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle. Oppa knows what he’s doing.”
He pressed his face into her neck, tongue flicking out. Gentle? Her first time with him, in her past life, had been the worst night of her existence.
“Should we get some wine? Let’s see…”
“How about this one?”
Dasom pointed at a whiskey, forty-three percent proof. His brows rose in surprise, and she smiled faintly.
She had only recently quit ballet, her body still trained to perfection.
“I’ve always wanted to try it. Can I?”
“That’s strong stuff. Are you sure?”
“When else will I get this chance to drink until I’m tipsy?”
He stroked her shoulder, and though she tensed like a board, she didn’t shove him off.
“Are you trying to seduce me right now?”
“Should I order it?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
Seong-hoon plopped onto the sofa facing the Han River view.
Dasom picked up the phone and ordered whiskey and snacks. As she bent slightly, she felt his lewd gaze on her back.
“So fucking hot,” he muttered, thinking she couldn’t hear.
She ignored his filthy thoughts, continuing her call.
When room service arrived, she sat on the sofa. Seong-hoon, loosely wrapped in his robe, slid close and linked his arm through hers.
Her skin flinched every time he touched her.
“Nervous?” he whispered into her ear.
Suppressing the tremor in her lips, she gave a small nod.
Both of them exhaled heavily—but for entirely different reasons.
He pressed his lips to hers. She stayed motionless, stiff as stone. He seemed to enjoy it, though, teasing her frozen lips with his fingers.
“Relax.”
Forcing a smile, Dasom nodded.
What followed was less a kiss than his lips biting and sucking at hers.
When he finally pulled away, flushed, his mouth trailed down to her neck.
“Nnh…”
Her faint moan made him grin. Red marks bloomed across her skin as he bit again and again, down her neck and collarbone.
Grinding against her, his gaze lowered.
Dasom quickly pushed him back by the shoulders.
“Room service must be here.”
