Contract Marriage with a Male Friend - Chapter 58

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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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#58

“Bong Seong Tae’s been doing volunteer work back at his hometown, right? Looks like he needs some help.”
Bong Seong Tae, reformed through An Soo Yi’s influence, had been engaged in volunteer work in his hometown.

“If my mentor hadn’t been there back then, I’d be dead.”

Bong Seong Tae, who had drifted through gambling dens to pay for his father’s hospital bills, treated An Soo Yi as his savior for having collected his father’s body and arranged his funeral—a father who had devoted his entire life to him.
“Is it possible that I…?”
Pyo Yeon Su, sensing what An Soo Yi was about to say, shook his head.
“Of course I didn’t tell him. That An Soo Yi became a daughter-in-law of the Kangho Group—nobody knows that.”
“Ah… thank you so much.”
“Are you disappointed? I’m not even a team leader, and you thought I’d do that?”
“D-Dear? That last part sounded a bit odd?”
An Soo Yi smiled, watching Pyo Yeon Su and Oh Sang Chul bicker.
“I didn’t go into the details, just told An Dae-ri to pass the message along. But from what I heard, the situation’s pretty dire. It’s beyond what we can handle on our end.”
Apparently, the care facility where Bong Seong Tae volunteered had been devastated by a fire—the building was nearly a total loss.
As a result, they needed facilities and funds to accommodate those with nowhere else to go, but a small company like Seon Ham Sangjo couldn’t manage it alone.
“Is there any way we could help?”
The fact that Pyo Yeon Su—who rarely asked for help—was speaking like this meant the situation was grave.
An Soo Yi, who had been thinking for a moment, nodded slowly.
“I think I can do something about it.”
“Really, truly?”
Suddenly, words Dok Go Hyung Jun had spoken to her a few days ago flickered through her mind. He’d mentioned the need for corporate social responsibility activities from the New Business Division that would benefit the group’s image.
“I’ll reach out to Bong Seong Tae directly.”
“Would you be all right with that? If it’s awkward for you to call him yourself, I can do it. He might find it uncomfortable.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll be meeting with Bong Seong Tae anyway.”
She planned to hide her connection to the Kangho Group as much as possible, and if the moment came when she couldn’t avoid it, she’d explain then.
“If An Dae-ri says so…”
“And if you need our help with anything, tell us anytime, all right?”
“Yes, I will. You two are the only people I can truly trust and rely on.”
At those words, Oh Sang Chul fished his mobile phone out of his jacket pocket.
“Say that again. I need to record it and pass it down as a family heirloom. I’ll replay it when applying for a loan later—”
“Honey? We haven’t seen each other in so long, and you’re going to embarrass us like this?”
“Aha, I was just joking.”
As An Soo Yi watched the two of them teasing each other playfully, she found herself musing.
Wasn’t this what a stable period of life looked like?
Her marriage, which had begun as a contract, her career at the company, and the bonds from her past that had woven together so preciously all the way until now—this moment made her incredibly happy.
‘I wish days like this would continue forever.’

***

She had told An Soo Yi she was going to Anseong, but Beom Jin was actually somewhere else entirely.
“This is where he was last spotted.”
“Yes, Executive Director. I’m sorry.”
“Look into whether there’s any connection to other organizations.”
Otherwise, there was no way he could’ve slipped through by the skin of his teeth every time, just before Beom Jin arrived.
Only Dok Go Hyung Jun could evade the tracking of the one known as the “Hunting Dog” at this point.
‘Could Grandfather be involved?’
It wasn’t impossible.
He might have dug up An Soo Yi’s weakness early on to use her as leverage to control him.
But his instinct was telling him something different.
Not Grandfather—someone else.
Most of all, the method of handling was different.
While Grandfather applied direct pressure, this one was lurking like a rat, probing cautiously.
This wasn’t Dok Go Hyung Jun’s style.
“Clean out the greenhouse, and hand all the gamblers over to the local precinct. Make sure they never show their faces again.”
“Yes, Executive Director.”
“Separate out the ones who got tangled up in violent incidents.”
At Beom Jin’s command, men in dark suits who had been waiting moved toward the vinyl greenhouse with practiced silence.
Some remained at the entrance, starting to blast frog croaks at full volume through a speaker.
Crash!
The vinyl greenhouse door was wrenched open roughly.
“Wh-What is this!”
People who had been intensely gambling in the darkened space panicked and thrashed about at the sudden appearance of the men.
“Ahhh! Help us, please!”
“Dammit! Are you cops? An Dong Jin, that bastard—he said this place was safe!”
“I-I’m sorry! I was just watching! I-I don’t have any money!”
The interior of the vinyl greenhouse descended into chaos in an instant.
Betting stakes scattered everywhere, and the rough breathing of gamblers trying to flee mingled with the men restraining and subduing them.
Meanwhile, Beom Jin waited outside with Ma Do Hwan, his executive secretary, and a few bodyguards.
With his hands in his trouser pockets, Beom Jin stared into the darkness of the rice paddy field, as screams and dull collision sounds poured out behind him.
But the frog croaks from the speaker swallowed all the screams.
The neighboring residents probably just thought the frogs were being particularly vocal.
The nearest house was far enough away that no one would suspect anything.
“…….”
Normally, he would’ve lit a cigarette while waiting.

“My wife dislikes cigarette smoke.”

At that single remark, all the members of Strategic Planning Department 1, who handled the “cleanup,” had gone nonsmoking.
Beom Jin gazed at the moon reflected in the rice paddy water.
‘I miss An Soo Yi.’
The glowing moon was just like her. The clear water felt like her, and the gently swaying grass blades felt like her too.
Soon the night sky, the stars scattered like punctuation marks, the wind that blew, the entire world was filled with nothing but her.
‘I hope she got home safely.’
Today An Soo Yi had said she’d return after meeting with the couple who ran Seon Ham Sangjo.
He felt assured with them.
Though Oh Sang Chul did have a history of introducing her to some random man.
Beom Jin’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Just thinking about that time made his insides turn.
If he hadn’t been at the hotel that day.
If An Soo Yi had successfully completed that blind date with that bastard.
If she’d remained “eternal friends” with him, or even married that son of a bitch….
“Dammit.”
At the sudden curse, all the men standing by immediately bowed their heads low.
“Why is the cleanup taking so long? My doe-eyed wife is waiting at home.”
“We’ll finish right away, Executive Director!”
The moment his words ended, every man except Ma Do Hwan shot into the vinyl greenhouse like a bullet.
“Do Hwan.”
“Yes, Executive Director.”
“Would you like to be the executive director instead of me?”
“……Yes?”
“That’s right. How about this—you be the executive director, and I’ll be your executive secretary.”
Ma Do Hwan’s face went pale as he bowed deeply.
“If I’ve made any mistake whatsoever, I’ll correct it immediately—”
“You’re not married.”
Beom Jin let out a long, heavy sigh.
“For a while, I’m going to be away from An Soo Yi for longer stretches, and just thinking about it makes me go crazy.”
The subsidiary consolidation work that Dok Go Hyung Jun had entrusted to him in secret, added to silently strangling the opposition faction that was moving covertly and hunting them down, meant he had precious little time to spend with her.
He’d have to continue like this until he found that person.
“If you have ambitions, don’t get married if you can help it.”
“…….”
“Because while you’re apart from your wife, you’ll go insane.”
Where An Soo Yi was, who she was meeting, what she was eating and drinking, what she was talking about.
Who she was smiling at, or who she might be displeased with.
When that cute nose bridge of hers would furrow, how many times her eyes would crinkle when she laughed.
He wanted to know it all, wanted to possess every moment of it—he was driven to the edge of madness by the wanting.
“You need to find him as quickly as possible. I don’t want to see my eyes go dark.”

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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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