Chapter 1
At dawn, in a room where the first light of day was just beginning to seep in, Eunwoo opened her eyes. Sensing an unfamiliar presence, she turned her head. Someone was lying asleep beside her. Still drowsy, she rubbed her eyes and looked toward the man.
The moment she saw his bare shoulders—his skin exposed beneath the blanket—her sleep vanished as if she had been doused in cold water.
“Is something wrong?”
The man, awakened by her movement, asked calmly.
“N-no… this can’t be.”
But Eunwoo could not remain as composed as he was.
He was the one who had hidden the fact that she had a husband. Even when she, having lost her memory, had asked him over and over again, he had brushed it off, insisting that no such husband existed.
“I had a husband! And my husband was your employee!”
“So what?”
As she cried out in despair, the man responded with his usual shameless composure. His tone made it seem as though he had known the truth all along and had deliberately concealed it.
Eunwoo stared at him in disbelief, her lips trembling before she managed to speak.
“W-why would you do that to me…?”
Instead of answering, the man seized both her wrists, pinning them down as he climbed over her.
“What exactly did I do?”
“You deceived me!”
“Then should I go ask Seo Ji-woon for permission? Ask him whether it’s alright for me to keep moving my hips while his wife is lying beneath me?”
His dark eyes fixed on her. The moment she met his gaze, memories she had long forgotten surged over her like a tidal wave.
Thinking back, he had looked at her that way from the very beginning. Eyes that devoured her inch by inch—eyes that seemed ready to crush her beneath him at any moment.
Even knowing what those eyes meant, she had gone through with it anyway. She had told him she loved him, and in the end, bewitched by that gaze, she had thrown herself into the arms of the corporate heir like a moth to a flame.
“Please… ngh…”
Her tearful voice mingled with the damp sounds that broke through the stillness of the night.
“Kim Eunwoo, answer me. Who is better—Seo Ji-woon, or me?”
“This is insane… we’re both insane…”
Only that night did Eunwoo truly realize the nature of the sin she had committed.
Using her memory loss as an excuse, she had slept with her husband’s superior.
Half a year earlier, in mid-November, when autumn colors deepened across the streets of London—
Employees from the London branch of Seomgwang Electronics stood in anxious formation at the arrivals hall of Heathrow Airport, located about 20 kilometers from the city center.
Their eyes were fixed on the arrival board. The moment a message appeared indicating that a flight from Seoul had landed, their chatter noticeably subsided.
“It would have been better if he had arrived on the presidential aircraft.”
At Director Moon’s muttered remark, Eunwoo was not the only one who agreed.
Several employees, checking their attire, nodded lightly and tightened their grip on the name board bearing the name Kang Hee-jae.
About a month and a half earlier, a directive had come down from headquarters to the London office.
It informed them that Kang Hee-jae, the head of the Strategic Planning Office, would be included in the presidential delegation visiting the United Kingdom as a state guest following the coronation of the new monarch of the Commonwealth—and that they were to handle his protocol arrangements.
“Protocol,” or “protocol duties,” refers to the formal procedures and customs required for official events. In Korea, however, the term is more commonly used to mean attending to VIPs.
Thus, in practical terms, the directive meant they were to support Kang Hee-jae flawlessly during his stay in London—and, given the notoriously exacting nature of Korean corporate executives, to cater perfectly to his every need.
While visits from executives were already considered major events, Kang Hee-jae’s arrival as part of a presidential delegation carried even greater significance.
It was, in effect, the official announcement—both internally and externally—that he was the heir to Seomgwang Group.
This would be the first event to place the previously unseen successor in the public eye, and the London branch had been entrusted with this critical responsibility.
“Ms. Kim Eunwoo, do you know anything about ‘HJ’?”
“No, Director. I’m sorry.”
“HJ”—a nickname for Kang Hee-jae, head of the Strategic Planning Office—was a term used within the company, born from the custom of not casually speaking the names of the founding family.
At Eunwoo’s response, Branch Director Moon Gyo-hyeon licked his dry lips before speaking again.
“Don’t just give a quick answer like that. You must have at least run into him while you were working in Strategic Planning, right?”
From the day they received notice of Kang Hee-jae’s visit until now, Director Moon had repeatedly pressed her to recall anything about him.
It wasn’t surprising. Before being transferred to the London branch, Eunwoo had worked in the Strategic Planning Office—the very core department of Seomgwang Group.
The office, formed by combining the Planning and Coordination divisions, served as the command center overseeing more than eighty subsidiaries and affiliates. It was where Eunwoo herself had worked until two years ago.
“At the time, I was in the Strategic Planning Office under the former head, ‘JY.’ You know that when HJ took over, he completely overhauled the entire system.”
And I was one of the ones pushed out.
Though she didn’t say it aloud, Director Moon clearly understood the implication.
“If he was seated in first class, he shouldn’t be coming out this late. Do you think something’s wrong?”
“What do you mean, something’s wrong? Don’t say such ominous things.”
Clutching his chest as though even the suggestion unsettled him, Director Moon kept his gaze fixed on the arrivals gate.
Since the end of the pandemic, waves of travelers had been flooding into Heathrow Airport, with hundreds of thousands arriving daily.
Flights from Korea alone brought in over two hundred passengers at a time, making it difficult to pick out a single VIP from the crowd.
The London office staff stood their ground amidst the relentless stream of people, grateful simply not to be pushed aside.
If Kang Hee-jae had arrived on the presidential aircraft, as Director Moon had said, he would have been welcomed by British officials and entered through a separate VIP channel. Their role would have begun with a formal greeting upon receiving him.
Instead, they were left waiting anxiously in the crowded airport.
Eunwoo, selected as his dedicated protocol officer due to her background in the Strategic Planning Office, scanned the arrivals hall intently.
Then it happened.
Her gaze landed on a man who had just exited.
His physique resembled that of Kang Hee-jae as seen in photographs.
The London office had even been tasked with preparing his wardrobe, and Eunwoo, having spent the past month working from headquarters’ specifications, knew his measurements precisely.
189 centimeters tall. 85 kilograms. Shoe size 280 millimeters. A large build, uncommon for an East Asian man.
Even as people obstructed her view, Eunwoo kept her eyes fixed on him.
The man stood in the middle of the arrivals hall, dressed in a shirt without a jacket and formal trousers.
Though his build matched the man she had seen in photos countless times, Eunwoo dismissed the possibility.
There’s no way HJ would arrive alone carrying his own luggage.
It seemed unlikely for a businessman visiting as a state guest to travel without attendants.
But then, someone in a business suit approached him from behind, speaking deferentially.
Could it be…?
At the same moment, the man’s gaze shifted toward the London office staff holding the name board.
Amid the crowd, he looked directly at Eunwoo.
His sharp eyes, locking onto her in an instant, were like those of a predator spotting its prey.
Caught in that grasping gaze, Eunwoo parted her lips and managed to speak.
“Director Kang Hee-jae has arrived.”
“Welcome to London, Director. I am Moon Gyo-hyeon, head of the London branch.”
As Director Moon bowed deeply, the rest of the staff followed suit.
“Welcome, Director.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Kang Hee-jae.”
“This is our London office staff. Director Choi Byung-seo and Director Jang Han-ui previously worked at Seomgwang Electronics.”
Director Moon stepped forward and began introducing the team in order of rank. After greeting all eight staff members, Kang Hee-jae shook hands with each of them.
Eunwoo, the most junior among them in terms of tenure, was introduced last.
“This is Ms. Kim Eunwoo, who will be in charge of your protocol during this state visit. She is from the Strategic Planning Office and has extensive experience in protocol duties.”
“Hello, Director. I’m Kim Eunwoo, and I will be assisting you during your stay in London.”
Perhaps because she was introduced as his assigned attendant, his gaze lingered on her a little longer. Or perhaps it was curiosity—after all, she had served under his predecessor, effectively his rival.
The Strategic Planning Office Eunwoo had belonged to was not his, but that of his cousin Kang Ji-yong—the former head known as “JY,” who had recently been reassigned as a subsidiary president.
Originally, Kang Ji-yong, the founder’s eldest grandson, had been considered the most likely successor. However, after becoming embroiled in a tax evasion investigation, he had fallen out of favor, and Kang Hee-jae had taken his place—a rumor widely circulated within Seomgwang.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Kim Eunwoo.”
After shaking his hand, Eunwoo politely gestured toward his luggage.
“Please allow me to take your bags. We will escort you to the vehicle waiting outside.”
It was improper, in protocol terms, to keep a VIP standing in a crowded airport any longer than necessary. Just as she was about to guide him along the prearranged route—
“However.”
At his single word, all eyes turned toward him.
“It seems Ms. Kim Eunwoo and I have met before. I’m not sure it’s appropriate to greet each other as strangers.”
Here it comes.
After a brief pause, Eunwoo bowed her head deeply.
“…My apologies, Director. That was my oversight.”
With the procession already moving ahead, there was no time to explain her “amnesia.” As Kang Hee-jae passed by her, he spoke:
“Very well. We can catch up later.”
