Chapter 2
Pregnancy hadn’t happened. Only the meningioma had recurred.
Since it wasn’t yet an emergency, the surgery was scheduled with enough leeway—forty days from now. The hospital’s schedule had to be accommodated, and there were matters in Korea that still needed attention.
Because it had recurred, the outcome after surgery was uncertain. There could be complications with her vision, her memory, or her physical abilities. If the surgery went wrong, she could even die or fall into a coma.
She needed to properly organize her affairs in Korea in case anything went wrong.
And there was another matter she needed to confirm while she was in the U.S.
For that, In-Young tasked her older brother, In-Jun.
“Oppa, just check how Chae-Soo is doing. Don’t meet her—just take photos and do a little background check.”
“Why are you still hung up on Chae-Soo? If it was going to end because of you, it would have ended back then. So why are you so concerned about it now?”
Chae-Soo, whom In-Young had asked In-Jun to investigate, had been close to her since childhood and had been Seong-Hyuk’s college classmate as well.
Chae-Soo was the same age as Seong-Hyuk and two years older than In-Young.
The reason In-Young could marry Seong-Hyuk, even though Chae-Soo had been dating him, was because In-Young had chosen Seong-Hyuk herself.
It was thanks to Seong-Hyuk’s uncle, who had nearly destabilized DA Construction through incompetent management, that In-Young could marry him.
BR Group could have restored DA Construction to stability with minimal effort.
In-Young, who had no interest in marriage, claimed the man she desired, and although her family opposed it, she ultimately succeeded in marrying Seong-Hyuk.
BR Group invested in DA Construction on the condition that Seong-Hyuk would become its CEO.
Taking the place of her late father and her uncle, who had acknowledged his managerial mistakes and stepped down, Seong-Hyuk assumed the CEO position of DA Construction at a young age—and married In-Young.
It was said that Chae-Soo had left for the U.S. before In-Young and Seong-Hyuk’s wedding.
People whispered that Chae-Soo had left because she couldn’t bear to witness Seong-Hyuk marrying In-Young. Rumors circulated that she had been dating him since college and couldn’t remain in Korea seeing him marry someone else.
Yes, that was it.
In-Young concluded, absurdly, that she had fallen ill again because she had coveted what belonged to someone else. Because she had taken another woman’s man.
Apparently, that’s how people think when they’re sick. Instead of attributing illness to lack of exercise, nutritional deficiencies, or hormonal imbalance, she traced her sickness back to the sin she had committed.
As far as she could remember, the gravest sin she had ever committed was taking someone else’s man.
Even though she could never fully possess him, why had she wanted him so desperately?
Could it really justify her act that she had fallen for Seong-Hyuk at first sight, and no one else could catch her attention?
When she had faced her first meningioma surgery, the greatest fear had been the thought of never seeing Seong-Hyuk again. Could that fear alone have been the reason she had taken him?
No matter the reasoning, the lingering guilt remained. In-Young wanted to know how Chae-Soo was doing.
Unable to face her directly, she requested the background check.
Right before her departure, In-Jun sent a few photos along with an update on Chae-Soo.
“Gwak Chae-Soo seems to be living in a comfortable place, probably supported by her family. I thought her family would have collapsed along with DA Construction, since they were a subcontractor, but apparently not. But… look at this photo.”
In-Jun cautiously handed one photo to In-Young.
It showed Chae-Soo holding a little boy, perhaps two years old.
The moment In-Young saw the child’s face in the photograph, she froze. The child’s eyes, the expression—it was identical to Seong-Hyuk.
“Ah…!”
A short gasp escaped In-Young’s frozen lips.
One photo seemed to explain everything. It revealed the moment her sin began. The moment her guilt, her stress, and her illness began to grow was when she had pushed a woman with a child aside and taken her place.
“What will you do now?”
In-Jun, observing her expression, asked.
He wasn’t asking whether she intended to show this photo to Seong-Hyuk. That wasn’t necessary. Presenting this photo would be akin to issuing an ultimatum. There was no need to provoke her into doing that.
He was asking how she would inform Seong-Hyuk about the recurrence of her meningioma—whether she would have him told directly, inform him herself after recovering from the shock of seeing this photo, or go ahead with the surgery without telling him.
In-Young paused, lost in thought. She hoped her brother understood that there was no other way to handle this.
“I… I need a divorce, Oppa.”
In-Young stammered out the shocking words.
“W-what… divorce?”
Why was divorce suddenly the conclusion? Why divorce?
In-Jun didn’t know, but In-Young hadn’t thought of divorce just now. It had been a lingering concern since shortly after her marriage.
A marriage with a man who didn’t love her, a marriage taken by seizing another woman’s man.
Perhaps it would have been better not to marry at all.
Every conversation had to be initiated by her. Every action in their relationship required her first move.
Before marriage, she hadn’t realized how miserable it would be.
She had hoped that marriage would change Seong-Hyuk—that he would lean on her first, smile first, reach out first.
But when that hope was dashed, she longed for a child. Even if it wasn’t Seong-Hyuk, she wanted a child who looked just like him. That child would smile at her first. That child would cling to her, wanting to stay by her side.
Now, with the recurrence of her meningioma and the revelation of this photo, divorce was the only answer. There was no other way.
“When I return to Korea, I’ll demand a divorce from Seong-Hyuk. I don’t know what the surgery outcome will be… I want to settle things before any complications arise. Once the divorce is finalized, Oppa, you handle telling Dad. Make sure no one finds out until it’s complete.”
In-Jun was startled by her sudden words, but he nodded. Nodding was all he could do—he could neither say more nor act otherwise.
For In-Young… divorce was the only path.
She couldn’t entrust her pain to someone who didn’t care for her. No, she didn’t even want to admit she was in pain.
She didn’t want Seong-Hyuk to inherit anything from her should she die. There was no need to leave funds for him and Chae-Soo to live comfortably. The scholarship foundation was where BR Group funds circulated, so she couldn’t leave it to Seong-Hyuk. Either her older brother In-Hoon, her second brother In-Jun, or her father, Chairman Choi, would have to reclaim it.
The hospital had said that considering the size and location of this meningioma, the success rate of a second surgery was very low. With less than fifty percent chance, In-Jun couldn’t oppose her decision.
If the maximum chance was only fifty percent, the likelihood of poor outcomes was far higher. She could not entrust her current state to Seong-Hyuk.
Considering that she had come to the U.S. hospital and kept it a secret from him, their marriage could already be considered broken.
There was no need to present the photo as a final ultimatum. If she didn’t intend to end matters in a messy or humiliating way, the photo didn’t need to be shown.
