Chapter 10 - THE MAN WHO ARRANGED MY MARRIAGE
For most of my life, I believed I met Cha Jihoon by accident.
A charity exhibition in Seoul.
A crowded gallery.
A spilled glass of champagne.
He had helped me gather the papers that fell from my bag.
Then offered to buy me coffee.
At the time, it felt charming.
Unplanned.
Normal.
Exactly the kind of meeting I wanted.
Now I knew better.
I learned the truth from Han Daewon's former executive secretary.
Her name was Park Yerin.
She had worked for my cousin for seven years.
Then resigned suddenly, three weeks after I returned to Haedam.
Director Jang located her through a professional contact.
Yerin initially refused to speak.
Then she learned that Nari's forged documents were under investigation.
She agreed to a meeting.
We met in a small conference room near Haedam Tower.
Yerin looked nervous.
She placed her handbag on her lap and kept both hands folded over it.
“Ms. Han.”
“Please relax.”
She gave a sad smile.
“That was never easy when working for your cousin.”
I almost smiled.
“I can imagine.”
Yerin took a breath.
“I knew about your marriage before your husband did.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Director Han arranged the exhibition invitation.”
The gallery.
The spilled champagne.
Jihoon.
Everything.
Yerin explained.
Daewon knew I occasionally attended small art exhibitions under my grandmother's surname.
He also knew I had rejected several potential marriages suggested by family acquaintances.
I wanted a life outside the Han network.
Daewon apparently saw an opportunity.
He introduced Nari to Jihoon shortly before the exhibition and encouraged her to persuade her brother to attend.
“Nari told him there would be potential investors,” Yerin said.
That sounded exactly like Jihoon.
He had always approached social events as business opportunities.
“Did Jihoon know who I was?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
Yerin nodded.
“He was deliberately kept uninformed.”
I sat back.
My husband's shock had been genuine.
He had entered our marriage believing I was an ordinary woman.
Daewon and Nari understood something he didn't.
The identity of the woman he was about to marry.
“Why?”
Yerin looked uncomfortable.
“Director Han believed you would be easier to influence through a husband outside the family.”
I felt cold.
“How?”
“He hoped a controlling spouse could persuade you to execute documents you would refuse if your grandfather requested them directly.”
I stared.
“That's ridiculous.”
“Yes.”
“Marriage doesn't automatically give a husband control over inherited shares.”
“I know.”
“Then why would Daewon think it would work?”
Yerin looked at me.
“Because he wasn't relying on marriage law.”
My pulse changed.
“What was he relying on?”
“Pressure.”
She explained.
Daewon wanted me to feel financially dependent.
Isolated from Grandfather.
Ashamed of my family identity.
Then, when the time came, he planned to present documents concerning the trust as a way to settle some supposed legal emergency.
He needed my signature.
Not Jihoon's.
Jihoon was the tool.
Nari was the person who kept that tool pointed at me.
I remembered the first year of marriage.
How Jihoon encouraged me to stop freelance work.
How Nari mocked the friends I still visited.
How invitations to social gatherings slowly stopped arriving.
I remembered my husband complaining whenever I called Mrs. Oh.
He said I spent too much time living in the past.
I told myself he wanted a closer marriage.
Now I realized how isolation had become normal.
“Did Daewon tell Nari to do all of that?”
Yerin hesitated.
“I don't know every instruction.”
“Then what do you know?”
“He paid her.”
“How much?”
“Several payments totaling more than six hundred thousand dollars.”
I nodded.
We already had those records.
Then Yerin reached into her handbag.
“There was one more payment.”
She handed Director Jang a printed transfer summary.
The amount was larger.
Two million dollars.
Scheduled but not completed.
Recipient:
A company controlled by Nari.
Payment condition:
Execution of designated beneficiary authorization.
I stared.
“That's the document she wanted me to sign.”
Yerin nodded.
“Yes.”
My hands began shaking.
I remembered the evening Nari appeared with a stack of papers and claimed they concerned Jihoon's insurance.
I refused.
She cried.
Jihoon shouted.
Then Nari suddenly smiled and said we could deal with it later.
She had almost earned two million dollars by persuading me to sign.
I swallowed.
“Did Jihoon know about the payment?”
“No.”
“Then why did he become violent?”
Yerin looked away.
“Nari had spent years reinforcing his worst beliefs about you.”
I stared.
“He still made his own choices.”
Yerin looked at me.
“Yes.”
That mattered.
More than anything.
I would not allow Daewon to become an excuse for Jihoon's violence.
He had not been hypnotized.
He had not been helpless.
He chose to believe his sister without evidence.
He chose to hurt me.
And he chose to stop only when she told him to.
Whatever Daewon planned, my husband's actions belonged to him.
Yerin reached for a tissue.
“Ms. Han, there's something I need to confess.”
I waited.
“I knew Nari was trying to ruin your marriage.”
My chest tightened.
“And you said nothing?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Director Han threatened to blacklist me.”
I looked at her.
She began crying.
“I have two children. My husband lost his job. I was afraid.”
I understood the fear.
That didn't erase the harm.
“You should have spoken sooner.”
“Yes.”
“Why now?”
“Because I saw your photograph in the news.”
She swallowed.
“And I realized silence had helped put you in the hospital.”
I said nothing.
Sometimes an apology deserves to be heard.
Not immediately forgiven.
But heard.
Director Jang asked whether she would provide a formal statement.
Yerin agreed.
After she left, I sat alone for several minutes.
My marriage.
My supposed love story.
My wedding photographs.
The honeymoon in Jeju.
The first apartment.
The promises.
All of it had begun with a setup.
But something still confused me.
Daewon had invested years of planning in controlling my inheritance.
Why?
He already held senior positions.
He was wealthy.
He had influence.
Then I remembered my father's final notebook.
The suspicious liabilities.
Seorin Capital.
The blue archive.
Perhaps Daewon did not want my inheritance for the money.
Perhaps he wanted my voting authority because I could discover what he had spent years hiding.
My phone vibrated.
A message from Grandfather.
The blue archive is ready. Come when you feel strong enough.
I stared at the screen.
May you like
Then answered:
I'm coming now.
