Contract Marriage with a Male Friend - Chapter 6

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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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#6

Instead of denying it, Dok Go Hyung Jun exhaled softly as he watched his grandson regarding him with that subtle, knowing gaze.
“Good grief, Beom. Don’t you dare answer that. If I hear one word from you, my blood pressure will spike right through the roof.”
“Of course.”
“There, there, there—!”
At Beom Jin’s infuriating reply, Dok Go Hyung Jun squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head in disbelief.
“Lord. If only he’d channel that stubborn persistence into the company, what a force he’d be.”

Beom Jin had accepted the position of Director of the Chairman’s Personal Office and Executive Director on one condition: that he be permitted to pursue a certain young woman without interference.
It was absolutely infuriating.
Other men would give anything for such posts, yet here was this grandson making his grandfather beg—genuinely beg—before deigning to accept.
And the reason? A woman, of all things.
Yet Dok Go Hyung Jun privately felt relieved.
Beom Jin resembled his late father so closely that he revealed almost nothing of himself.
He showed interest in nothing.
He desired nothing, wanted nothing.
But there was one thing he despised with absolute clarity.
The intrusion of others into his domain.
Contact made without permission.
Wasting time with meaningless words.
These things Beom Jin didn’t merely dislike—he abhorred them, to the point where his expressionless face would crack with visible contempt.
Yet since meeting one particular girl, Beom Jin had changed.

“I’ll attend school in Un Young District. Please keep my connection to the Kangho Group hidden. Then I’ll finish my studies quietly.”
“What? Is that what you call a proposal?”
“Or would you prefer I cause trouble like I did in the United States? I don’t know how far the Group’s image would fall.”
“Beom Jin!”
“I’ll stay out of trouble and keep my head down. Isn’t it better to graduate from an ordinary school than to waste time with surveillance and escape attempts?”

It was as though he were presenting a business plan—his dry delivery left Dok Go Hyung Jun momentarily speechless.

“Once I graduate, I’ll join the company and do what you ask.”
“You mean that?”
“But you must not touch An Soo-i. Not under any circumstances.”

An Soo-i.
He could never forget Beom Jin’s face when that name crossed his lips.
Those eyes—always devoid of light, flat as obsidian—suddenly flared alive.
A deep, dark, dangerous light.
The emotion pooling in that gaze was so fierce and savage that Dok Go Hyung Jun hardly dared speak.
But one thing was certain.
Beom Jin’s resolve could not be broken.
In the end, Beom Jin got his way, and so he enrolled in an unremarkably ordinary private high school while hiding his true identity.
At first, Dok Go Hyung Jun thought it wouldn’t last.
Born at the apex of the apex, surrounded by luxury his whole life, never having done a day’s labor—surely he’d find it unbearable.
But he was wrong.
Beom Jin was thriving far better than expected.
Even in a house that was the finest in the neighborhood but cramped compared to the family estate, he adapted seamlessly. He treated Dok Go Jin Seok, his adoptive father, with unfailing courtesy and respect.
He studied well, athletic ability came naturally.
Apart from his striking appearance, Beom Jin seemed like any ordinary high school student.
But what truly astonished the family was something else entirely.
Whatever a girl named An Soo-i did, Beom Jin remained silent.
Even when she approached him without permission.
Even when she struck his arm or ruffled his hair.
Even when she wasted his time with pointless questions about his ice cream preferences.
Beom Jin was docile as a trained animal.
The security officer who reported these incidents, and the Kangho Group leadership who heard them, could scarcely believe their ears.
That Beom Jin could look at someone with such gentle eyes—it seemed impossible.
And yet—
“I was about to bring you a report. What brings you here? You must be tired.”
In his grandson’s utterly indifferent gaze, Dok Go Hyung Jun found not a trace of warmth.
‘Perhaps the security officer really did doctor those photographs.’
Beom Jin’s demeanor was utterly transformed depending on whether An Soo-i was present or absent.
“Your manners are as rough as ever, boy. But your grandfather’s still got plenty of life in him. Making arrangements for you is nothing.”
“That’s fortunate. You’ll need to stay healthy to see your great-grandchild.”
At the mention of great-grandchild, Dok Go Hyung Jun’s eyes bulged.
“A g-great-grandchild? Don’t tell me you’ve—”
He’d vaguely anticipated something like this might come to pass.
After all, a man who abandoned everything and clung to a woman for over a decade—what else would one expect?
“So that’s where all this was leading! When’s the due date? And the wedding—when were you planning—”
“Still in the planning stages.”
“…What? What do you mean by that?”
“The wedding. The child. Both.”
Still to come.
Beom Jin’s eyes darkened as he spoke, his voice hollow.
He had succeeded in becoming An Soo-i’s closest companion, her only confidant.
But he had not yet crossed that final line.

“Be my friend for life. That’s my wish.”

An Soo-i in her school uniform had said it with a radiant smile.
That she wanted him to be her lifelong friend.
Nothing more, nothing less.

“You promise, right? Dok Go? Come on.”

She’d extended her pinky, eyes squeezed shut with impatience, and she was unbearably beautiful and cruelly ruthless.
When he finally linked his finger with hers, An Soo-i had beamed with happiness.
That she trusted him.
That he was the only one she could trust.
That now she could finally be a proper friend, without worry or restraint.
It was the most despairing moment of Beom Jin’s life.
And foolish An Soo-i was still suffering from the wounds her parents had inflicted.
The fact that despite all his devotion he couldn’t erase that pain was a source of bitter shame.
Then his phone buzzed.
Beom Jin checked it and rose from his chair.
“Is there anything else you wish to say?”
“What? You’re seriously going to drop that bomb and leave?”
“I’ll have Team Leader Oh called. I need to leave for the day.”
“You wretch! Running off like a dog when that girl calls!”
Why bother saying the obvious aloud?
Dok Go Hyung Jun pressed his hand to his forehead, but his grandson’s attention had already shifted elsewhere entirely.
[I’m at Aunt’s place now. Let’s grab dinner outside and head back. I’m already drinking first]

***

An Soo-i sat in a corner booth and reached for the Green Bottle, pouring its clear liquid into her glass.
Glug, glug, glug.
The sound made her giggle, her upper body swaying slightly.
“Cute sound. No choice but to drink then.”
She drained the glass in one go.
She’d lost count of how many times she’d done this.
But today, she couldn’t bear to stay sober.
She had a premonition she was about to face that moment she’d been dreading.
‘Next time it might be Father.’
She’d thought herself prepared.
But when Team Leader Oh had called her that afternoon, An Soo-i realized the truth.
She wasn’t prepared at all.
“Ah…”
An Soo-i exhaled a long, alcohol-tinged breath.
If she soon found herself facing an unidentified corpse with a real heart-shaped birthmark on its shoulder, she wasn’t certain she’d survive it.

“Time passes so quickly when you’re living. We grow weaker with each year. It’s good to meet someone kind and lean on each other for the rest of your days.”

Team Leader Oh’s words echoed in her mind, and reflexively, a certain face bloomed in her thoughts. An Soo-i took another drink.
“No… Beom Jin can’t be the one.”
We promised to be lifelong friends.
That way we’d never have to part.
A deep, genuine friendship would let us stay by each other’s side forever, better than the shallow bond between lovers.
“Yeah… that’s how it has to be.”
She was reaching to refill her empty glass when—
Click.
A hand seized her wrist, and An Soo-i lifted her head, opening her eyes to slits.
“Oh? My friend’s here.”
The large hand wrapped around her thin wrist tightened with force.
“Sorry, I started without you. Today just felt like… like I needed to, somehow.”
Beom Jin, seeing the two empty bottles on the table, sat down beside her while still gripping her wrist.
“What happened?”
“Mm… did something happen?”
An Soo-i tilted her small head and smiled widely.
“I agreed to a blind date.”

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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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