Contract Marriage with a Male Friend - Chapter 28

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#28

Sui swallowed hard.
What do you think I would have done?
She paused, considering, then moved her damp lips.
“……I think I would have accepted it.”
Beom Jin tilted his head slowly.
“You would have accepted it.”
“Yes. Because you were so desperate.”
The corners of his mouth lifted.
But his eyes held no warmth at all.
“……Right. I was desperate.”
Sui. You.
Only you made me desperate, always.
A dangerous gleam flickered in his dark, sunken eyes.
For years, the only person he’d allowed close was her.
Yet somehow, despite all that effort, she saw him as the kind of man who would commit such shameless acts.
But everything he’d done was precisely to win her favor.
Because whenever there seemed even the slimmest chance of stepping beyond the boundary of ‘friendship,’ he felt like he’d weep.
On the night she turned twenty and got drunk for the first time.
Sui had laughed while crying.

“I’m so glad we’re friends. We’ll never be apart, not ever.”
“You could be by my side without being friends.”
“You’re right. But then we’d have to part ways eventually. I know that better than anyone. How heartbreaking it is, how miserable……I know that better than anyone.”

Then her head, eyes closed, fell softly onto his shoulder.
The image of transparent tears sliding down her pale cheek, spilling down toward the corner of her smiling mouth, remained vivid still.
Sui hadn’t managed to escape the prison her parents had built around her.
No matter how he stayed by her side, how close he tried to draw, the moment he attempted to cross the line they’d drawn, she’d flinch and pull away.
But if he forced her out of that boundary, the wound would only deepen.
She was far too gentle and delicate for that.
Still, what bothered him bothered him.
So after letting her relax at home where she wouldn’t be startled, Beom Jin dropped the bomb he’d meant to deliver gradually.
“I’m planning to introduce myself to your parents next weekend.”
As expected, Sui’s eyes widened wildly.
“An i-introduction? Next weekend……!”
“The sooner I introduce myself, the sooner we can get married.”
Beom Jin playfully rubbed her still-rigid cheek with his finger.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”
It wasn’t like ten people were going—just the two of them introducing themselves.
‘What does he think he can manage alone……!’
Sui, finally regaining her senses, seized his collar firmly.
“This is way too fast! We only just decided to get married……!”
“If we’re holding the ceremony within three months, this timeline is too slow if anything.”
Then Beom Jin looked at her with a meaningful glint.
“What, what is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I kind of like being dominated.”
Dominated? By whom? By what?
“Grabbing someone by the collar—this is the first time. It’s not so bad.”
Only then did Sui realize she was gripping his collar and tried to pull her hands away in panic.
Snap—
But Beom Jin stopped her.
“Why. It’s good.”
“No, stop. Let’s just go home. It’s already past one in the morning. Aren’t you coming in to work tomorrow?”
The flood of words Sui poured out in embarrassment only amused Beom Jin further.
“We’re like a couple who’s been married for ages. We understand what each other wants just from eye contact.”
Beom Jin pressed down on her back, drawing her closer to him.
“I’ll take you home tomorrow too.”
“You don’t have to. I’m already bothered enough that you picked me up at this late hour.”
“We’re husband and wife now. It’s natural to pick you up at any hour, and if I can’t, it’s only right that I be more than just disappointed—I should be upset with you.”
Beom Jin pressed his lips briefly to hers and whispered.
“I’ll make it quick tonight.”
He’d meant to just let her sleep given how late it was.
But that wouldn’t do.
She looked far too unbothered at the thought of being linked to another man—his bride-to-be.
“So bear with me, darling.”

***

Crash!
A gilt-rimmed teacup, supposedly made by a European craftsman in the 1800s, plummeted to the floor.
Despite it being her most precious possession, Jo Seo Ryeong’s gaze remained fixed on her father-in-law.
“What did you just say, sir?”
“Beom Jin says he’s getting married.”
“You’re talking about the child I gave birth to, aren’t you?”
“I imagine so. Unless there are two people named Beom Jin in this family.”
As Dok Go Hyung Jun nodded on behalf of his frozen daughter-in-law, the servants standing by began rapidly sweeping the carpet.
“Shall I bring you some water?”
“Of course, Chairman.”
Jo Seo Ryeong, who hadn’t regained her composure until the teacup shards were cleaned up and the servants had withdrawn, downed the water placed before her in one gulp.
It was behavior entirely at odds with her usual refined and dignified presence as director of the Kangho Culture Foundation, yet Dok Go Hyung Jun fully understood his daughter-in-law’s state of mind.
Jo Seo Ryeong wasn’t shocked that Beom Jin was getting married, unlike him.
She’d known this day would come eventually—after all, he’d run away from home obsessed with a woman and even changed his Family Registry.
But three months?
Wasn’t that far too accelerated a timeline?
“Could it be……could it be that she’s……?”
“No.”
“Then why on earth!”
“He simply wants to become husband and wife as soon as possible. That’s all.”
Her daughter-in-law’s expression was identical to his own when he’d heard this from the company.
Really…….
Why did this single-minded, racing-forward personality have to be so much like his own?
“If I refuse to consent—”
“He says he’ll have his name removed from the family registry. That he’ll live as an outsider with no connection to the Kangho Group ever again.”
“……How strange. He hasn’t changed a bit.”
“What on earth does he see in that girl?”
Dok Go Hyung Jun exhaled a long sigh.
“Wouldn’t it be better if she were a teacher or something? Why of all things does she have to direct Funeral Direction?”
If Sui’s profession became known.
The Dark Image that the Kangho Group had painstakingly erased might resurface.
It already was nerve-wracking that comments like “the yakuza aura is really different” appeared whenever photos were taken of Dok Go Hyung Jun and the executives.
“Listen, daughter-in-law.”
“Yes, sir.”
“It seems I’ll need to teach her various things before the wedding.”
Dok Go Hyung Jun, who had been tapping the armrest of the sofa with his index finger, opened his eyes wider.
“No matter how much that fool Beom Jin rants that he’d die without her, basics are basics.”
“Should I call her to the Foundation?”
“No. Her affiliation won’t be the Foundation—it’ll be somewhere else.”
“Where are you thinking?”
Dok Go Hyung Jun’s eyes gleamed.
“My direct organization.”

***

Upon hearing of Beom Jin’s engagement, Dok Go Jin Su burst into a hearty laugh.
“So he’s really going through with marrying that girl—is that it?”
He certainly liked the direction this was taking.
Though the kid had no manners whatsoever.
“Impressive, that bastard.”
Dok Go Seung Jin shuddered as if disgusted.
“Running away from home as a minor and all this time……ugh, it makes my skin crawl.”
“I’ll say. We were counting on it when he threw away his chance to stay at Mug Am Won. Finally, it looks like our nephew might grant his uncle’s wish.”
Mug Am Won was the ancestral estate of Dok Go Hyung Jun’s Kangho Group family, a sprawling mansion where only the permitted were allowed to reside.
Children were permitted to live there only until marriage, but the chairman had made an exception for his deceased second son’s family.
This meant that no matter how hard his firstborn—himself—worked, eventually his nephew Beom Jin would become the successor.
“A funeral director. Ha! The more I think about it, the more absurd it seems.”
“Could our family possibly accept such lowborn blood? We’ll be dragged down and defamed.”
“We’ll have to make do. To gain something great, you have to sacrifice something small.”
After all, a successor’s position and reputation were incomparable.
“I hear the granddaughter of the Haejeon Group chairman returned to the country recently. Word is she met Beom Jin right after arriving.”
“Is that really true?”
“Now’s our chance.”
Dok Go Jin Su’s eyes gleamed as he gripped his son’s shoulder.
“Marry the Haejeon chairman’s granddaughter. Open up the gap all at once so he can’t harbor any foolish notions.”
Dok Go Seung Jin nodded at his father’s words.
Well, the Haejeon chairman’s granddaughter wouldn’t be a bad match. She’s reasonably attractive too.
‘I wonder what kind of woman that bastard Beom Jin is so crazy about.’
What sort of woman could capture the heart of that cold, mannerless Beom Jin and hold it for years without letting go?
‘Hmm. Should I go take a look? As long as that bastard doesn’t find out.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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