Contract Marriage with a Male Friend - Chapter 30

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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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#30

Watching Beom Jin stiffen, Su I mustered her brightest smile.
“Honey?”
As she gazed up at him with that pretty smile, Beom Jin’s eyes, which had been vacant, gradually softened at the corners.
‘Wait—was that the wrong choice?’
It seemed Jeok’s eyes had shifted to mean something entirely different now.
“Not a girlfriend.”
Beom Jin’s gaze, which had been taking in Su I with evident affection, drifted slowly toward Heo Dong Hoon and Han Jeong O.
“A wife.”
The moment the words left Beom Jin’s lips, Su I flushed and bristled.
“That’s not even decided yet!”
As the woman shot him a sharp look, Beom Jin chuckled and quickly corrected himself.
“My fiancée.”
To think that Jeok Beom Jin would ever be so willingly submissive to someone in this lifetime.
And to see him smile so radiantly, no less.
The warmth in his eyes as he looked at the woman was so genuine that the two men found themselves frozen in response.
But the woman seemed perfectly accustomed to this side of Beom Jin.
‘I’d heard her background was nothing special. So then… he really does like her? That Jeok Beom Jin? The heir apparent to the Gangho Group?’
To avoid offending Beom Jin, Han Jeong O ventured carefully.
“Are you… getting married?”
Beom Jin kept his gaze fixed on Su I as he nodded.
The two men exchanged a glance and offered their congratulations.
“C-congratulations!”
“It’s an honor to meet you like this. I’m Heo Dong Hoon, and this is Han Jeong O. We’ve known Beom Jin since childhood through our families’ connections.”
“Ah, yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”
Su I politely exchanged greetings with the two men, deliberately ignoring Beom Jin’s persistent gaze.
“My, you’re truly beautiful!”
At Heo Dong Hoon’s words, a crack suddenly split the warm atmosphere.
When their eyes met, Heo Dong Hoon involuntarily flinched and drew a sharp breath.
……
Though he maintained a relatively gentlemanly composure, perhaps because his fiancée was present,
the look in his eyes—as if he might tear Heo Dong Hoon’s throat out at any moment—was suffocating.
Crossing even slightly beyond the line he’d drawn would be dangerous.
“Beom Jin’s always been known for his looks too, and you’re quite stunning as well. You two really do make a perfect pair.”
At his friend’s words, Heo Dong Hoon quickly chimed in.
“Y-yes, that’s what I meant exactly.”
Only then did Beom Jin’s intensity ease slightly.
Han Jeong O released a silent sigh of relief and ventured carefully.
“May I ask when the ceremony is planned?”
It would be winter at the earliest, surely. But this was the Gangho Group—there was no way they’d prepare their successor’s wedding carelessly.
“Within three months.”
At Beom Jin’s words, both men’s eyes widened in shock.
Three months?
They’re holding the wedding in three months?
“Already that soon?”
That meant preparations must have started several months ago.
Given that no word had leaked, they truly were the Gangho Group.
‘Their information control is impeccable.’
Perhaps that’s what gangster origins get you.
Han Jeong O caught himself before voicing the thought he’d never dare speak aloud.
He had to accomplish his objective despite being pinned by Jeok Beom Jin’s laser-like gaze.
“Congratulations, Beom Jin. My heartfelt congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
“I was hoping to invite you both to a party next week. Would that be possible?”
A party?
As Su I’s eyes widened, Heo Dong Hoon quickly joined in.
“That’s right. It’s quite a substantial gathering, so you’re welcome to simply stop by and see what’s going on. You can meet some people.”
Heo Dong Hoon spoke as if he were being particularly considerate.
“My younger sister will be there as well. Given that everyone’s business dealings are interconnected, you’ll inevitably encounter these people as the daughter-in-law of the Gangho Group, and I thought my sister could be of help in—”
……
“—various ways. I really think—”
“Dong Hyeon.”
He had merely spoken the name.
“I need to ask because I think I might be misunderstanding.”
Yet that alone rendered him helpless.
With pressure tightening around his throat, Heo Dong Hoon couldn’t even register that Beom Jin had called him by the wrong name.
“What you’re saying is—”
Beom Jin tilted his head slightly, maintaining eye contact with Heo Dong Hoon.
“That the Gangho Group is so incompetent it can’t find a single person to support my wife,”
“No, no—it’s a misunderstanding, Beom Jin!”
“That my wife is stupid enough to need help from a sister of yours she barely knows,”
His voice dropped to something glacial.
“Which makes me, her husband, look like the worst bastard of all.”
“That’s not what I meant at all—!”
“Lower your voice.”
Fortunately, there weren’t many people in the wine shop tucked in the corner.
But it wasn’t entirely empty either.
“I don’t care about your group. But if you humiliate my wife, I don’t know what I might do.”
Beom Jin’s gaze drifted slowly beyond the wine shop, scanning the Department Store’s interior.
“You and anyone close to you—this Department Store could end up ruined as a consequence.”
Both men knew that Beom Jin’s threat was no idle boast.
During university.
Shin Seong Jun, the second son of Hwamun Pharmaceuticals and Beom Jin’s classmate, had shadowed Su I instead of Beom Jin.

“You curious? Just what kind of woman is she that Jeok Beom Jin’s so hung up on her? That bastard.”
“Hey, isn’t that a little too risky though?”
“Women like that always have obvious motives. Sure, she can’t match Jeok Beom Jin, but if you hand her a few hundred million won, she’ll shut up and live it out, right? Ha ha.”

But not long afterward, allegations of abuse and crude language, along with revelations of drug use and Shin Seong Jun’s frequent visits to the pharmaceutical factory while in possession of drugs, came to light. Both Shin Seong Jun and Hwamun Pharmaceuticals collapsed utterly.
Fearing the fallout might touch them, the two men turned their backs on their close friend and fled far away.
As if they’d never known him from the start.
But…
Now Beom Jin was speaking.
Saying he’d deal with both of them.
“So—”
“Thank you so much for the invitation!”
Before Beom Jin could continue, Su I rushed in to interrupt.
“A party sounds lovely! It really would be alright just to stop by briefly?”
The atmosphere was clearly unusual.
Even when she hadn’t known his background, he seemed terrifying.
Now Beom Jin looked so immense that even she couldn’t speak to him carelessly.
“It’s kind of you to offer help. You seem to care about Beom Jin very much.”
At Su I’s desperate damage control, both Heo Dong Hoon and Han Jeong O nodded vigorously.
“Y-yes, of course! Thank you so m-much for understanding that I just wanted to be helpful.”
“Dong Hoon really cherishes his sister. For someone who hates wasting anything to even say something like that means he genuinely wanted to treat you well.”
“R-really? Honey.”
The moment those magic words left Su I’s lips,
Beom Jin’s intensity evaporated as if by sleight of hand.
Su I released a silent breath of relief.
‘Thank goodness. I thought something terrible was about to happen.’
But the two men couldn’t say the same.
“I’ll have my Secretary’s Office send you the details. Sorry for the trouble, Beom Jin. My apologies.”
“Congratulations again on the wedding. And again, my sincere congratulations. If anything’s uncomfortable, just tell any of the staff nearby.”
The two men hurried away.
Staff members who spotted the Department Store owner’s son bowed respectfully, but the pair seemed too rattled to notice.
As Su I watched their retreating forms, she slowly turned to find him watching her in profile.
“Your friends seem quite… gentlemanly. Ha ha.”
At her words, Beom Jin’s eyes narrowed slightly.
It was a look of displeasure.
“You like that kind of thing?”
“That kind of thing…?”
“Stammering around like idiots, getting scared, running away?”
Wasn’t that quite a leap in logic?
Beom Jin seemed to be taking his role as prospective groom very seriously.
“An Su I.”
When Beom Jin suddenly called her by her full name, Su I looked at him with a tense expression.
“What?”
“Do you want to go to the party?”
Beom Jin’s large hand cupped her pale cheek.
His thumb pressed gently against her lower lip.
“Even though they’d all be dying to tear you to pieces?”
“Well…”
That could very well be true.
Given Beom Jin’s position and background, at least.
But Su I felt no concern whatsoever.
“You’ll be there, won’t you?”
Ah.
The moment the words left her mouth, Su I regretted them.
Beom Jin’s eyes went dark.
This time, genuinely.
“Let’s go home, darling.”
“Wait, the gift still—!”
“Right now.”
He whispered.
“Do you want me to do it here?”

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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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