Chapter 5
Ha-jin had neatly half-pulled back her lightly waved hair and donned earrings that perfectly matched her dress, somehow transforming into someone entirely suited for such an important occasion. As she descended the stairs just like that, she caught sight of all the household staff bustling about.
Ha-jin exchanged greetings with several who spotted her, bowed their heads, and hurried past, then crossed the expansive hallway. Passing through a space adorned with expensive paintings and objets d'art, the vast living room finally appeared. And right in the center, a woman elegantly tilting her teacup.
Even on a plush sofa that could so easily invite slouching, her rigidly straight back and impeccably squared shoulders—without the slightest trace of indolence—spoke volumes about her character. As the woman savored the aroma through the white steam rising from her teacup, her gaze turned to Ha-jin. Ha-jin met her eyes and offered the elegant greeting she'd been taught.
"Happy birthday, Aunt."
There were just over two hours left until the party.
While Soo-hee handled some business on the floor where the banquet would be held, Ha-jin had come down to the lounge café. This was the first time she'd be presented to everyone as Yoo Soo-hee's cherished niece. She tried her best to stay detached, but there was no way she wouldn't be nervous. Her entire body, rigid with tension, throbbed as if screaming in protest.
And then, as if on cue, a sharp pain pierced her temple. Ha-jin winced, habitually rubbing her right temple slowly. Amid the sudden stuffiness in her ears, someone spoke to her.
"Um, miss?"
She looked up to see a staff member gazing at her with an expression that seemed a mix of embarrassment and concern.
"Are you alright? If you need any help..."
"...Ah."
Only then did Ha-jin remember she'd called the staff to order coffee. With a slightly apologetic look, she placed her order a bit late.
"Two Americanos, please. Hot ones."
"Right away. Is there anything else we can assist you with? If you need medical staff, we can call reception..."
"No, I'm fine."
Ha-jin pulled the small bottle of painkillers she always carried from her bag and gave it a light shake. The staff member nodded understandingly and bowed.
"Understood. I'll prepare the coffee right away."
As the staff member hurried off, Ha-jin popped two white pills into her palm from the open bottle and swallowed them down with water from the glass on the table.
"Hoo..."
The headaches had become as routine for Ha-jin as breathing. With so much to think about every day and so many secrets to hide, she lived in a constant state of high alert, which inevitably kept her body perpetually tense. The headaches that came as naturally as inhaling were all fallout from that.
It was while she had her eyes closed, exhaling slowly and waiting for the medicine to kick in.
"Does it hurt?"
She opened her eyes at the familiar voice to find a man whose appearance was just as familiar seated across from her before she knew it. The sight of him immediately triggered the illusion of another pounding in her head.
Baek Tae-ju. One of the rare few who might vaguely guess the reason behind her chronic migraines.
Just then, the staff member arrived carrying a tray with the coffee and some cookies to go with it. Spotting Baek Tae-ju, they tilted their head in confusion, as if wondering if they'd seen him somewhere before.
The manager soon approached belatedly, whispering something to the staff before taking over and serving the tray to their table.
"Director, it's been a while."
Tae-ju gave a slight nod in greeting, then fixed his gaze steadily on Ha-jin. Just sitting across from him brought an oppressive pressure that was downright uncomfortable. The manager, fidgeting anxiously in the face of Tae-ju's silence—no further explanation, no requests—finally bowed awkwardly and retreated.
Seated across from her, Baek Tae-ju was as suffocatingly impeccable as ever, almost obsessively so. His languid eyes were unchanged, and the refined elegance coexisting with his sharpness felt as innate and natural as ever. Yet he exuded an intimidating aura that no one could easily approach. It was so pronounced that at times, he seemed less like a corporate titan and more like someone from the underworld.
As always, he was dressed in a sharply tailored three-piece suit. Given the importance of the occasion, even the pocket square tucked into his suit jacket and the silver tie pin looked precisely calculated. His face was coldly expressionless, without a hint of a smile, but his sharply chiseled, strikingly handsome features ironically offset that chill.
The man pulled his coffee cup toward him, grasped it with graceful fingers, wet his lips with a sip, and set it back down silently.
The world praised him as a born businessman, a master strategist, with all sorts of grand terms, but Ha-jin's consistent assessment of him was simpler: a serpent of a man who could choke the breath out of anyone.
Everyone assumed Chairman Baek's eldest son, Baek Tae-ju, was the obvious heir among his two sons, but Ha-jin knew the secrets unfolding under the Hosung family's roof. The true successor Chairman Baek had in mind was actually the second son, Baek Joo-heon.
Compared to the first son, Baek Tae-ju, whom Chairman Baek often paraded at public events, Baek Joo-heon was shrouded entirely in mystery.
Hosung had aggressively expanded its size as a corporation, spawning endless rumors. People said the first son handled the visible operations in the light, while the second moved in the shadows. Like Chairman Baek's secret hunting dog.
It was to the point where rumors even swirled that he was an illegitimate child, precisely because he kept such a low profile. Yet somehow, it felt like Chairman Baek quietly favored Baek Joo-heon, and lately, the once-solid position of the eldest son, Baek Tae-ju, had begun to waver bit by bit.
That was why Baek Tae-ju had chosen Yoo Ha-jin—the precious niece of Nobcore's rising power player, Director Yoo Soo-hee—as the handle of the blade he would wield.
Hosung Group was a financial behemoth, rooted in global private equity and holding companies. In restructuring and strategic investments, people half-jokingly, half-reverently called the Baek family the "White Knights," while also fearing them as the most ruthless and aggressive acquirers.
Securing a strategic stake in Nobcore, the high-performance semiconductor firm poised to lead every future industry, would alone give Hosung overwhelming dominance. And Baek Tae-ju had calculated that far. Ultimately, his goal was to use Ha-jin to seize overwhelming shareholder support.
"It's an important day. You need to manage your condition especially well at a time like this."
His low, smooth voice might have sounded like concern at first glance, but Ha-jin knew it was a reprimand. His refined way of mocking without a trace of sarcasm.
"I'm not going to suddenly keel over, so don't worry."
"That would be even more troublesome."
Tae-ju replied. To avoid glaring at him, Ha-jin lowered her eyes instead. She had to mind her behavior in front of others, and the information she'd memorized and reviewed endlessly to avoid slip-ups flooded her mind, pricking at her relentlessly.
With her nerves already frayed and on edge, this man pressuring her to play her role properly made her want to scream.
"I can take care of my own body. I'm not so inept as to make a mistake like that."
Tae-ju tilted his head slightly to the side and stared at Ha-jin with inscrutable eyes as she shot back coolly. Those pitch-black eyes seemed to view her subtle defiance as insolence, or perhaps to mock her for having only a mouth and no substance. Soon, he let out a chilling smile and spoke.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
"......"
Ha-jin's eye twitched faintly. Having tossed out that curt jab, Tae-ju regarded her with his now-subsided gaze.
"Yoo Ha-jin. I'll say this once."
His long fingers meaningfully traced the white coffee cup a couple of times before he neatly clasped his hands on the table.
"The only reason I'm tolerating your climbing is because we have a deal."
At the blatantly condescending remark, Ha-jin bit down subtly on the soft flesh inside her lip.
"And if you don't?"
```