The Plan
Next spring, after the regular general shareholders' meeting concluded, they would launch a large-scale offensive. Three months before the regular general shareholders' meeting, CK would detonate Jang Dae-soo's corruption scandal internally, shattering the existing management's trust. Then, in April, right after the meeting ended, Woo Je-hyeok would strike while Jang Dae-soo was lax, consolidating friendly forces to seize control of the board.
It was as if the dismantling show had come to a close and the meal had been finished, only for Wooshin to have dumped ashes over it all.
If they simply waited, there would inevitably be defectors. It would be a blessing if no one betrayed CK, joined their side, and dismantled their plans.
“Yes. What does Representative Sun Woo-hee think? Do you have any tricks up your sleeve? Any preparations in place?”
Inside a private villa on the outskirts of Seoul, multiple pairs of eyes fixed on Woo-hee.
Woo-hee set down the teacup she had been holding all along. After a brief glance at Myeong Won-chul seated in the highest seat, she answered, as if momentarily lost in thought.
“...There is no trick as long as CK rides on Wooshin's back.”
Someone let out a loud sigh at her words.
“Facing Wooshin with our size and assets is entirely insufficient. No, impossible.”
That was why her father, Jang Dae-soo, had staked everything on Harin's marriage alliance.
Four years ago, to protect management rights from a Singapore private equity firm that had attempted a hostile M&A, CK had lost a great deal.
Even though the company, built up since Woo-hee's maternal grandfather's time and sustained by the world's only refining technology, was not one that would crumble easily, it still required time to solidify its foundations.
During that time, CK would have needed a powerful ally to protect it. The mere fact of marrying into the nation's largest corporation, Wooshin, would draw investors flooding in and make any challenge to CK impossible.
Therefore, there was no trick as long as CK rode on Wooshin's back. At that moment, this project would end. That was it.
“If we can prevent the engagement from proceeding...”
“After thinking about it, there really is no other way, Woo-hee.”
“How? Chairman Jang will go to any lengths to make that marriage alliance succeed.”
“You already know the time is short. If we keep dragging our feet on the scheduled plan, more uncontrollable variables will keep piling up. So we need the simplest, fastest, and most certain move.”
“Create an unbridgeable reason why the engagement cannot continue.”
“Tempt Woo Je-hyeok.”
“Within the next three months, if we can expose this engagement scandal...”
“After all, he's a man infamous for his messy private life. It won't be that difficult.”
“...Do you truly have a surefire method?”
“Just one night.”
“Yes. There is.”
“Don’t overthink it. Think of it as doing the same thing you did in America, but right here. Once this matter is settled, you won't need to meet multiple men and spread rumors of being a playboy to confuse Chairman Jang anymore. Just this one thing. If you solve only Woo Je-hyeok's problem for me, then from then on I'll handle the rest myself.”
“Forgive my incompetence for not having investigated the Wooshin marriage alliance in advance and prepared properly.”
“First, when the next meeting comes, speak exactly as I'll tell you to. Reassure the directors. You must maintain the image of being competent as you've shown until now.”
“I'll handle my own incompetence. Leave the rest to me, and please fulfill your respective roles as you have until now.”
“And you, no matter what means you use, just create one scandal with Woo Je-hyeok and come back to me.”
“CK will never enter a marriage alliance with Wooshin.”
***
She asked Myeong Eun-ju about Woo Je-hyeok's tastes.
Having already heard from her father, Myeong Won-chul, Eun-ju showed no particular surprise. She found the method amusing and also a bit tedious.
Several photographs scattered across the table. They were women Woo Je-hyeok had met before, including a photo of Myeong Eun-ju herself.
Woo-hee looked at Eun-ju with a puzzled expression. Eun-ju, who had been smoking a cigarette, smiled faintly.
“This is fake.”
Then, playfully tossing her own photo aside, she removed it. After all, Woo Je-hyeok would not remember all the women he had met, she had said. When a relationship wearies him, he would slice off both memory and woman like that.
“...Truly trash.”
At her quiet assessment, Eun-ju burst into laughter. After laughing for a long while, she corrected herself.
“Genuinely handsome trash.”
No matter how the shell looked, it was still trash. Woo-hee thought calmly. She even felt it was fortunate to be with such trash. It reduced the guilt of deceiving a man. After all, what difference did it make to leave one more blemish on a trash man?
“Are you all right?”
Eun-ju suddenly asked.
“You’re the one who’s about to become the sex partner of your sister’s ex-fiancé, you know?”
Suddenly, the phone call from Harin a few days ago came to mind.
“Unnie has to come to my engagement ceremony, right? It’s Unnie's role as my maid of honor, isn't it? No matter what anyone says, I'm Unnie's little sister.”
“I'll talk to Dad about it. Unnie doesn't drink much anymore, she's quit her meds, doesn't meet men, hasn't caused any accidents. You know that. Dad can't stand us. If I speak to him well, he'll agree.”
Recalling Harin's innocent words, Woo-hee gave a hazy smile.
“It's already a life branded as trash.”
“Even so, being branded as trash and actually becoming trash are different.”
“What's the difference? After all, everyone will just... think they all did trashy things.”
After all, she was supposed to be the patricide who cut down her own father's neck with her own hand. Sun Woo-hee had already been marked in the eyes of the world as Jang Dae-soo's troublesome thorn for all the accidents she had caused in America.
If she had feared those eyes, she would not have begun the plan at all. Woo-hee disliked even more the thought of ruining the long preparation done only for Woo Je-hyeok.
She thought it was fortunate for Harin as well. Harin was still young and had been swayed by Woo Je-hyeok's shell without making proper judgments.
It would hurt now, but it would be better to break the engagement now than to marry such trash and suffer for a lifetime.
While rationalizing it, a smile suddenly broke through.
“Ah, what should I do, Unnie? I think I really like that man.”
Don’t be hypocritical, Sun Woo-hee.
“I keep wanting to see him, keep thinking of him, and even in dreams that man appears. Just walking, eating, or even talking to Mom, that man keeps appearing in my head.... Ah, what should I do.”
You just want him to fail, no matter what.
“So, do you have good sex?”
Eun-ju asked while batting her eyelashes. Woo-hee, who had been holding the doorknob in the restaurant manager's office, looked at her steadily. The shadows around Eun-ju's eyes sparkled unusually.
“Woo Je-hyeok won't come over easily anyway. You said you have good sex, didn't you?”
“...I don't know.”
“Have you ever seduced a man before?”
“......”
“No?”
When Woo-hee didn't answer until the end, Eun-ju laughed openly, treating her like a child.
“I knew it. You're a real princess. The haughty, icy princess of the company. So how exactly do you plan to sleep with Woo Je-hyeok?”
“Sex is just sex.”
“Just do it. Eun-ju burst out laughing with a mischievous grin. I wonder what was so funny about Woo-hee's answer.
“Of course I know you're smart and pretty, but you're not good at mingling with people, you know.”
“Talent isn't necessary.”
“Right, we're all pretty, so men would just throw themselves at you and beg for it. What need for talent?”
It wasn't arrogance. What was special about men? What was special about sex? Just that level of heart. She didn't seem different from the boring men who hit on Woo-hee.
“Woo-hee, you have to succeed. If you succeed, Dad will succeed, our family will succeed, and me too. Everything will go well, right?”
Eun-ju playfully wiggled her nose. Woo-hee turned her head coldly. The support cheering “go, go, go” from behind as she left the manager's office followed her annoyingly.
***
This time, she dressed flamboyantly. From head to toe, she had dressed according to Woo Je-hyeok's tastes.
The beige halter-neck one-piece dress recommended by Myeong Eun-ju was extremely thin and short. It revealed the curves of her body while barely covering her hips. It was a pretty trash that couldn't even block the slightest chill of autumn.
Thinking that a man's taste was so low, she put on the outfit. With this appearance, she found the whiskey bar Woo Je-hyeok often visited. She sat in the seat closest to the entrance, ordered a drink, and waited for a man every night.
No matter how many failed attempts she made, it didn't matter. If she waited every day, eventually he would come.
First, just see Woo Je-hyeok. Just face him. Then, it would all work out on its own.
“Shall we sleep together?”
Just as before, the man would act like a prostitute, and it would be enough to simply follow the man's rhythm. Just one night, rolling around in bed with him.
She held on like that and failed three times.
Every time the bar door opened, Woo-hee lifted her head. She checked the entrant, disappointed, refilled her drink, and waited again.