SBC 03

Chapter 03

Kang Dasom fiddled with the credit card Yoon Seong-hoon had given her.

“Are you sure I can really use this?”

“Of course. Buy anything you want. You’re not a VIP at our department store yet, right? I’ll tell Director Min to take care of it so you can shop comfortably. You’re going to be the wife of Cheonmyeong Group, after all. You shouldn’t be scrimping and acting timid.”

“Thank you.”

When she smiled, Yoon Seong-hoon puffed up with pride. He glanced at the nearby staff and raised his voice.

“Kang Deputy is my woman. Make sure you remember her face properly. Next time she comes, treat her with respect.”

“Yes, sir.”

A man who looked two or three years older than Seong-hoon bowed deeply.

“Oh my, Young Master. Shopping? Without saying a word? What’s going on?”

A woman appeared, trailed by a group of personal shoppers. From head to toe she was draped in luxury brands, with the latest trendy hairstyle and flawless makeup—Jung Hana peeked her face in.

Still the same.

From the moment Dasom saw the look in Seong-hoon and Hana’s eyes, she was sure.

The way they looked at each other was not ordinary.

Why hadn’t she realized it back then?

It was so obvious.

They must have thought so little of her that they didn’t even bother to hide it.

For fun, there was Seong-hoon. For the “madam” title, there was easygoing Yoon Jin-woo. And for Dasom, there was her seemingly kind sister-in-law, Jung Hana.

The heir to Cheonmyeong Group was the eldest son, Yoon Ji-hwan.

Hana’s husband, Yoon Jin-woo, had chosen the path of acting and distanced himself from management. Only Seong-hoon fought against his older brother to the end.

Idiot. Useless, clueless about his place.

Whether they stepped away on their own or got pushed out, both Hana and Dasom were in similar positions—cast out of the Cheonmyeong core. That was why Hana sometimes comforted Dasom.

Thinking of how much Hana must have been secretly laughing at her made Dasom sick to her stomach all over again.

“And what about you? What brings you here?”

“Oh, I shop every weekend. Ah, hello?”

Despite her heavy makeup, flashy clothes, and sharp aura, Hana greeted her sweetly.

That sweet facade—how many people had she fooled with it?

Before her regression, Dasom had met Hana about a month after she started dating Seong-hoon. He had introduced her first, saying Hana would soon be family.

“Hello. I’m Kang Dasom, Seong-hoon oppa’s girlfriend. You seem to know him already, so I look forward to getting along.”

Dasom approached warmly.

Instead of replying, Hana glanced briefly at Seong-hoon. She must not have known yet.

Seong-hoon himself seemed flustered, not knowing how to respond to Dasom’s words.

“Oh my, really? Then you must be… sister-in-law.”

“Huh?”

“We’re not just acquaintances, you see.”

“She’s Jin-woo’s girlfriend. Jung Hana.”

“Your younger brother’s…?”

“Yeah. They’ve been dating for quite a while.”

Seong-hoon filled in, and Dasom bowed politely as if meeting Hana for the first time.

“I had no idea, I’m sorry.”

“No, no. Technically I’m the younger one. Anyway, nice to meet you.”

Hana bowed quickly in return. No wonder the elders adored her.

“Wait here a bit, okay? I need to talk with Hana about something.”

“Alright.”

Seong-hoon pulled Hana away. Dasom didn’t even care to guess what they’d be talking about—it was obvious enough.

Left alone, she sat at the center sofa in the MVIP lounge, where calm classical music played. The man called Deputy Kang brought her handmade chocolates and coffee.

There were few guests inside. A moment later, a man in a semi-formal suit entered. Dasom recognized him from afar.

Jung Hana’s boyfriend. Seong-hoon’s younger brother. Yoon Jin-woo.

So, sister-in-law… how did it feel to steal my husband and enjoy it?

She had planned to approach Jin-woo eventually, one way or another. Running into him this early was good luck.

Perfect.

This time, I’ll be the one to take something away.

It wouldn’t truly soothe the misery of her past life, but at least it would give her some comfort.

Jin-woo sighed as he looked at his unanswered phone. Dasom stood and walked over.

“Hana said she had something to discuss with your brother and stepped out.”

“……”

Jin-woo lifted his head. The youngest son of Cheonmyeong, the family’s “sore thumb,” who had run away to become an actor against his parents’ wishes.

In her previous life, Dasom remembered that Jin-woo had never risen beyond being a middling, forgettable actor.

With Hana’s father as CEO of TK Entertainment, the country’s top agency, and with his chaebol background, he managed to snag a mediocre drama role every few years and appear on family variety shows—showing off money and family prestige more than acting.

Still, he had a handsome face. Even now, dressed in non-luxury but ordinary clothes, he radiated refinement.

Pocketing his phone, Jin-woo finally spoke.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Seong-hoon oppa’s girlfriend.”

“I see.”

His response was flat. He wasn’t on good terms with his businessman brothers by nature.

But Dasom knew that wasn’t the reason for his sour mood.

Because the man she just mentioned, Seong-hoon, was trash—changing women weekly.

Every time Jin-woo came around, he must have seen yet another woman claiming to be “Seong-hoon’s girlfriend.” Only the face changed.

He didn’t even spare Dasom a glance. She, however, studied him openly, her gaze so direct that he sighed.

“Why do you keep staring at me?”

“Sorry. I’m a fan. I couldn’t help it.”

She tucked her hair back, averted her eyes, and shifted coyly—as if embarrassed by her slip. It was all deliberate. The word fan made him react.

“A fan? Do you even know what I do?”

“An actor.”

“……”

“You’re an actor, aren’t you? Yoon Jin-woo. Or am I wrong?”

Dasom lifted her head with wide eyes, as if wondering why he would even ask something so obvious. Jin-woo let out a short laugh.

As if to say, How did you know?

“I watched In Search of My Dream.”

“The one that barely scraped a 1% rating?”

“And I was in that 1%.”

Dasom retorted firmly. His eyes flickered as he looked her up and down.

He’d met plenty of women claiming to be Seong-hoon’s girlfriends, but Kang Dasom felt different.

At the very least, she was far removed from the type of women Seong-hoon usually went for.

His reckless older brother, with a woman like her?

Why? She was too good for that.

He pushed the thought aside and spoke.

“Even so, you must have only watched a little.”

He kept saying the wrong things, when gratitude would have been more fitting. Maybe it was because she was “his brother’s woman,” but the truth was Jin-woo hated that drama, In Search of My Dream.

Hana had forced the role on him, ignoring his input, his preferences, even the character development.

He’d known from the moment the cameras rolled that the project was doomed. And now here was a woman saying she enjoyed it. He didn’t know what to say.

“I watched the whole thing.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“I’ve watched it more than five times.”

“Are you mocking me?”

It had only ended a month ago, and she was claiming to have rewatched it five times? That sounded insane.

He was about to turn away when—

“Was that really what you wanted? Did you think running away would change reality? You know it too. There’s no paradise waiting in the place you flee to.”

Hearing her voice, Jin-woo turned to her.

She had just delivered a line. A verbatim quote from In Search of My Dream, spoken by the female lead, Jeon Seo-yeon.

Not a single word off. Her tone, her presence—it made Dasom seem more like the lead actress than the real one.

Her confident gaze softened, her cheeks flushed shyly. Her unpainted lips, pink and glossy, caught the light.

“See? I really did watch it.”