Chapter 57
Chapter 57
“How do you think I built this company…? You know better than anyone that Pyeonjae Trading is like my own child. And yet you had the gall to try and sell out classified information… You worthless piece of trash.”
“I was wrong… Please, take my life, but spare my daughter’s, Chairman.”
Even as my father cried and kept begging for mercy, pleading for my life, I remained trapped in my own world. What good was it to plead for our lives, to beg for forgiveness? To me, Chairman Pyeon had already made up his mind about how things would end for the both of us.
“I’ve got undeniable proof of your betrayal right here.”
Unexpectedly, the answer to my questions came at the perfect moment. Chairman Pyeon reached into his jacket and pulled something out. What I feared had come true.
“If it weren’t for Chief Shin, I would’ve died without even knowing I’d been played by a fool like you.”
In the Chairman’s hand was the USB drive Dad had given to Shin Chi-woo. And when Dad saw the USB in the Chairman’s possession, he looked like he was ready to kill, glaring at Shin Chi-woo and shouting.
“You fucking bastard, Shin Chi-woo… I had a feeling you were behind this setup…”
“I serve only the Chairman.”
“Chairman! That sly fox planned this whole thing! He’s framing me! Start by investigating that bastard!”
“Chi-woo’s not like you. He handles things cleanly. He knows how to tie up loose ends.”
Now the ending was clear. There could be no more definitive answer. At some point, Shin Chi-woo had used Seo Kyoyong, then betrayed him.
“Fuck, Shin Chi-woo… You bastard… I knew you’d stab me in the back, but this shamelessly?”
“Pot calling the kettle black, Kyoyong. Did you really think Chief Shin would stay loyal to you?”
“……”
“You—who abandoned your own daughter—expecting loyalty from Chief Shin? That’s rich.”
At Chairman Pyeon’s cold jab, I turned toward Dad with a shocked expression. The Chairman continued, as if mocking me.
“You tried to ditch your daughter and run off on your own from the beginning, and now you want to talk about loyalty?”
“…That’s not true. I never did that, Chairman.”
Whether it was fortunate or not, Chairman Pyeon forced me to revisit a truth that had long been buried. In doing so, he clarified something that had troubled me for a while—maybe I should be grateful.
– Wan-yi! Wan-yi! Listen to me. Grab my passport and yours and come to Incheon Airport right now!
That phone call from Dad had been bait for his own survival. He was going to use me as a hostage… No, what’s the point of breaking it down now?
I loved my father, but I’d tried to secure my own safety first. Like father, like daughter—we were the same. He loved me too, but in the face of immediate danger, he prioritized himself.
“What’s a little disappointing is… if Wan-yi were actually pregnant, that would’ve made it perfect. Would’ve made our dear Director Seo weep blood…? He may have abandoned a daughter he loved more than his own life, but the thought of her sleeping with the man who betrayed him—that’s a fun twist, don’t you think?”
At those words, my eyes widened. I was shocked, humiliated, and most of all, confused—how did he know?
No… no way. With the earlier mention of semen and now this… How would Chairman Pyeon know we had sex? If the motel had been a trap with hidden CCTV, then Shin Chi-woo wouldn’t have slept with me—he’d have been recorded too.
No matter how much of a bastard Shin Chi-woo was, he wouldn’t tell anyone we slept together. He wouldn’t humiliate me like that. He couldn’t have. He wouldn’t…
“…yi.”
“……”
“Wan-yi?”
“……”
“Seo Wan-yi, can you hear me?”
Did even the time we spent together mean nothing to him—was it just another move in his game? Or… was it real?
“Ah… yes. I can hear you. I heard you.”
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
Even when Chairman Pyeon called my name, I didn’t hear it—my mind had already drifted somewhere else. I didn’t understand what he was saying, so I just shook my head like I didn’t know.
“Our sweet, innocent Wan-yi’s completely dazed.”
“…Ah, yes?”
“Look at you. No matter what I ask, all you can say is ‘Yes?’”
“…I’m sorry.”
Chairman Pyeon skipped over my dad and directed his arrows at me instead. It was a big problem for me, but I tried my best to sort through the chaos in my mind.
A sly old snake, a hundred years old, was standing in front of me. Hearing the fake pregnancy story must have tipped him off that there was something going on between Shin Chi-woo and me. Maybe he was using that to rattle both me and my father—and even Shin Chi-woo.
The easiest way to provoke my dad was through me. Accusing me of sleeping with a man and other provocations—he was clearly trying to provoke us into saying something rash. He was waiting to see if, in the heat of the moment, new information would slip out from either of our mouths.
“What is it, huh? Did someone betray you too? You’ve got that look.”
“No, nothing like that. There’s nothing.”
“That blank expression… it’s just like mine when Seo Kyoyong stabbed me in the back.”
I was completely overwhelmed by Chairman Pyeon pushing me like this. But I did everything I could not to fall into the trap.
So I planned to flat-out deny everything, acting like nothing ever happened between me and Shin Chi-woo. I just hoped he wouldn’t suddenly step in and ruin it all. Unfortunately, my father seemed to have taken the bait.
“Wan-yi… Look at me. Are you really hiding something from me?”
“No! That’s not it! I’m not hiding anything.”
My dad wasn’t clueless. He must have sensed that there had been physical contact between me and Shin Chi-woo—and that made him lose it. Of course he would. He was my dad.
“Say something! Don’t avoid my eyes! Wan-yi…”
“Dad…”
I had something to hide, so there was a limit to how well I could lie. My dad, furious, began interrogating me about my relationship with him, and memories of what happened at that motel came flooding back.
Even with my dad in the next room, I’d slept with a man. Worse, I was still trying to believe in the man who betrayed him. I felt ashamed.
So, please, at the very least—I hoped Shin Chi-woo hadn’t slept with me just because Chairman Pyeon ordered him to. If even that was a lie, I didn’t think I could bear any of it.
“Wan-yi… don’t cry.”
“……”
“Look at me, okay? It’s alright… I’m sorry… for everything…”
“…Dad.”
“Wan-yi, please don’t cry… This is all my fault…”
I was losing my mind with self-loathing, wondering if I really had to lie to my dad like this. While crying with my head bowed, I stopped moving and looked straight at Shin Chi-woo. My eyes, red with tears, stared at him filled with emotion—and then I turned away.
“Cowards… How are any of you even human…”
“Wan-yi. The coward here is your dad, not us. He threw his daughter to us just to save himself.”
“You can do that to me, fine—but to my daughter too… Isn’t that too much?!”
“Oh, so your daughter’s so precious that not even a speck of dust should touch her?”
Maybe that hit too close to home. Dad couldn’t contain his emotion and stood up in a rage. He looked like he might charge forward at any moment, but then stopped when he saw something drop at his feet.
As my dad lunged forward, Chairman Pyeon raised his right hand. At that signal, Shin Chi-woo, who had been standing quietly in the back, pulled a long leather sheath from his coat, gripped the handle, drew the blade, and tossed it toward us.
It was a knife. With a sharp metallic clatter, a blade about the length of an adult man’s hand landed in front of us.
“Kyoyong, here you go.”
“……”
“If you’re going to kill me, use that knife.”
“…You think I won’t?”
“That’s why I’m giving it to you. So you’ll do it quickly.”
“……”
“Before Wan-yi gets hurt even more… Before your daughter suffers any more—let’s end this here.”
The blade gleamed with a sharpness that looked like it could draw blood with the lightest touch. I stared at Shin Chi-woo, stunned, and saw him calmly tuck the empty leather sheath back into his coat.
“Kill me, Director Seo.”
“……”
“I don’t have much time left anyway. Whether I die by your hand or just run out of days—it’s all the same.”
“Sir…”
“You fuckng bastard. You caused all this and now you don’t even have the guts to go through with it!”
At the Chairman’s furious outburst, my dad, who had been sobbing, slowly dropped to his knees again. Shin Chi-woo remained silently still, and I kept my eyes fixed on him with burning intensity.
“No matter what shocking thing happens—just trust Shin Chi-woo, like your dad said earlier.”
Honestly, I didn’t know who Shin Chi-woo was anymore. Even after what my dad said at the motel, I’d tried to believe in him, making up every excuse I could and dressing it up in pretty words.
But how could I trust him when my dad might die? Isn’t it strange that even now, with things in shambles, I still wanted to trust him? Even though he was taking part in my father’s death?
What if I was so caught up in that signal only we knew that I’d missed something important? What if everything that had happened so far was a lie—if so, I’d be far too hurt. Maybe I ignored the truth because I was afraid of that pain.
“You can remember it right away, can’t you?”
But even that seven-digit phone number couldn’t have been a lie—not with how genuine his eyes looked. The moment I saw those numbers written on my palm, I memorized them instantly, like a photograph. It had been branded into me in a moment of intense emotion, right before goodbye. There’s no way I could ever forget it now.
