Chapter 2.2

Chapter 2.2

Before they were even married, it was even less her place to interfere. There had been nothing for her to do well or poorly in the first place.

If Seo Eun-seong looked down on her family, that was naturally Jang Myeong-hwan’s fault.

The engagement had been arranged through the friendship between her mother, Min Se-hwa, and Seo Eun-seong’s biological mother, Ahn Jae-gyeong. At the time, the interests of Jang Myeong-hwan, an emerging politician, and Chairman Seo Man-ho, who was preparing to take his company public, had aligned.

Jang Myeong-hwan needed financial backing, while Chairman Seo Man-ho needed political information and influence. It was a mutually beneficial relationship.

To strengthen the bond between the two families, they agreed to marry Jang Si-eun, the eldest daughter, to Seo Eun-seong, the eldest son. It likely also carried the promise that even if one family’s fortunes declined, they would remain family and continue supporting one another to the end.

More than ten years had passed since then.

Chairman Seo Man-ho had succeeded in transforming Jingwang Group into a global corporation, but Jang Myeong-hwan’s political career had not gone nearly as smoothly.

Even when Si-eun and Eun-seong held their formal engagement ceremony, Jang Myeong-hwan’s future had still seemed secure. He had, in fact, successfully won re-election.

But just as the full moon inevitably waned, the ruling administration changed, and so did the times and the people. His image as a brilliant, refreshing new force in politics gradually faded. Most of her grandfather’s old friends, who had once helped advance Jang Myeong-hwan’s career, had retired and become powerless old men confined to the back room.

Not long ago, he had suffered a humiliating defeat in the general election. As though that were not enough, he was now under investigation for corruption.

It meant his decline had already begun. If he went to prison, his political career would effectively be over.

Jang Myeong-hwan seemed aware of that reality. He had been quietly racking his brain for another powerful patron; someone other than Jingwang Group who could save him from ruin.

So his violence was nothing more than an outlet for his anger.

Even though Si-eun knew she had done nothing wrong, she lowered her head.

How could anyone calm an enraged beast? It was better to let it snap and bite to its heart’s content. Eventually, it would exhaust itself.

Jang Myeong-hwan’s chest heaved as he continued to breathe harshly. Then he loosened the necktie that was still constricting his throat.

“Maybe this is for the best. You were too good to be given to an upstart family like Jingwang.”

*Jingwang, of all things?*

After taking so much of Jingwang’s money, he still had the nerve to disparage them as mere nouveaux riches. A dark gleam entered Jang Myeong-hwan’s eyes.

There was nothing particularly distinguished about their own family apart from the fact that Si-eun’s grandfather had once served as a government minister. Jang Myeong-hwan had managed to win re-election thanks to his father’s influence, but even then, he was far from being an established local powerbroker.

They had somehow managed to remain among the upper class, but their position had never been secure. They certainly were not important enough to look down on others.

Anyone could see that the marriage had favoured Seo Eun-seong’s side, yet even that had apparently not been enough for him.

Si-eun could not comprehend the ferocity of that monster’s greed. She understood that his daughters were the only things he had left to sell, and that he wanted to fetch the highest possible price for them.

Unfortunately, Si-eun had no talent for making herself valuable.

Without her family behind her, she was merely a young woman branded with a broken engagement.

Even though there was no longer an ashtray, Jang Myeong-hwan casually took out another cigarette and lit it. He inhaled deeply and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.

Jang Ju-eun, whose lungs were weak, coughed softly and shot him a furtive glare, but no one could stop him.

After chain-smoking in silence for some time, Jang Myeong-hwan finally spoke.

“The lead prosecutor on my case is young, but he comes from an exceptionally powerful family.”

The lead prosecutor investigating Jang Myeong-hwan for violating election law was probably…

Min Se-hwa seemed to think of the same person, because she interrupted in confusion.

“Prosecutor Gye? Isn’t he married?”

“Not that bastard. He has a younger brother in the police.”

“A younger brother? You don’t mean Gye Mu-gyeol, do you?”

Min Se-hwa asked with a grimace.

It was a name Si-eun knew as well.

“That’s right. His entire family is in the legal profession. His father is the head of Hyeonmyeong Law Firm, his eldest brother is a judge, his second brother is a prosecutor, and he’s a senior police officer. His uncles all hold influential positions, and on his mother’s side, there’s a police chief and who knows what else. They’re truly powerful people with nothing to fear anywhere in South Korea. Not some upstart family like Jingwang. That is what you call a genuinely prestigious family.”

Yet despite Jang Myeong-hwan’s boastful admiration, Si-eun’s expression only grew stiffer.

That was not what Si-eun had heard about him. Gye Mu-gyeol was famous less for his distinguished family than for a particular incident.

“Isn’t he… the police officer who beat his former wife to death?”