The Dangerous Older Brother
“…What?”
Beom-su’s gaze wavered at his daughter’s bombshell declaration.
Beside her, Yuju could feel Seo-won snickering. The nerve of him. Not only was he lying to a prosecutor’s face, he was relaxed enough to laugh about it.
Fortunately, Beom-su didn’t take issue with that. He simply stared at his daughter with a dumbfounded expression, as if he had never imagined the conversation would take this turn.
That was when Seo-won rose from his seat. He firmly took hold of Yuju’s still-trembling hand.
“As I told you, we are in a loving relationship.”
Yuju’s eyes flew so wide they looked ready to pop out of her head at Seo-won’s casual lie.
She couldn’t understand why he was playing along with this childish farce. More than that, she still didn’t understand why he had actually gone and filed a marriage registration after that drunken spectacle.
It couldn’t have been out of pity, just because he didn’t want her sold off to a stranger the way his friend had been. Even if she was his longtime friend’s little sister, there was no reason to stake his entire life on helping her.
As her mind cleared a little, nothing about any of this made rational sense. And yet, through it all, Seo-won calmly steered the situation.
“I’ll be promoted to executive director soon.”
“Executive director?”
Beom-su’s entire demeanor shifted at the words. Seo-won, who knew exactly what had caught his attention, pressed the advantage.
“The line of succession has been finalized.”
Even through her fear, Yuju had been sensing something for a while now—that Seo-won seemed to have her father’s personality pinned down with perfect accuracy.
A man hyper-conscious of how others saw him. A man easily swayed by power.
Seo-won kept that fact firmly in hand and shook it. To a man like Beom-su, who chased power, the title of “son-in-law to the next chairman of the Osong Group” would be irresistible.
“Marriage proposals have been pouring in, so we decided to register the marriage first. Yuju and I have been seeing each other for quite some time.”
Seo-won lied without so much as a blink. He was so brazen that even Yuju, who knew every word was false, almost believed him.
“I’m sorry for registering the marriage without your permission. The situation made it unavoidable—it couldn’t become public knowledge.”
Even so, going through with something like this without a word of discussion was outrageous. And yet, somehow, Beom-su offered no rebuttal.
Even without words, it was plain in Seo-won’s eyes that the man had already come over to their side. He delivered the finishing blow.
“Though it’s late, please give us your blessing. I’ll treat Yuju well.”
Seo-won bowed his head politely and tightened his grip on Yuju’s hand.
It felt like he was soothing her, telling her she could stop trembling—or warning her not to open her mouth and ruin everything.
What he was thinking didn’t matter right now. Yuju watched her father’s face as if she had never been afraid at all.
His mouth stayed tightly shut, but the wavering in his eyes already said he had accepted their marriage. At that, Yuju’s face crumpled.
…It really seemed like this life was ruined.
Sniffle.
The sound of sniffling filled the car without pause.
Right beside a stunned Yuju, Seo-won had reeled Beom-su in as if it were nothing. He had done it so thoroughly one could almost swear he had a tail to wag.
In the end, he had completely won the man over, and the matter was settled for now. Leaving the rest for another day, they had left the house and brought Yuju to the car first. There was clearly a great deal to discuss.
But instead of talking, Yuju burst into tears. She had been wound tight the entire time in front of her father.
Everything had happened far too suddenly. Even living through it herself, she couldn’t grasp what was happening to her.
And she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t accept the situation.
Seo-won’s phone had been ringing like mad for a while. When he refused to pick up, the messages started coming instead.
Every single one was from Tae-ju. He must have heard about their marriage through Beom-su.
Even the idea of the two of them dating would have been shocking enough—they had no connection except through her. Marriage was something else entirely.
Unlike Beom-su, who was blinded by power, Tae-ju seemed to have caught a suspicious scent. Seo-won decided to dodge his calls until he and Yuju got their stories straight.
Which means we need to talk…
Yuju showed no sign of stopping her tears. Completely overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events, she didn’t even seem to have the will to sort anything out.
Seo-won looked at her with a troubled expression. When their eyes met, she managed to force out a single question.
“Why… why do you want to marry me?”
She still looked ridiculous, tears dangling from both eyes. But even through the crying, she seemed to have thought things through; her tone had turned serious.
Seo-won stopped treating her like a child and answered with equal gravity.
“Because if I don’t make the first move, I’ll be the one sold off.”
It was a loaded statement. Yuju furrowed her brow and recalled what she had heard earlier.
The succession was locked in. Marriage proposals were pouring in.
“I’m in the same position you are.”
So he had accepted her absurd proposal for the same reason she had—because he didn’t want to marry a complete stranger either.
She roughly understood the situation. But even so, Yuju couldn’t fully accept Seo-won’s choice.
Even as a college student, she was surrounded by plenty of people of the opposite sex. Seo-won would have far more options than she did.
No matter how urgent things were, there was no reason to pull something like this with his friend’s little sister—someone he had known since childhood, someone he would never see as a woman.
As her agitation settled a little, Yuju was able to think coldly again.
“Still… still, can you really marry me? Except for Tae-ju oppa, we’re nothing to each other.”
“Better someone with a clear identity than a woman who could turn out to be Grandfather’s pawn.”
Naive and clumsy enough that she wouldn’t even be capable of deceiving me.
Seo-won kept that last part to himself and looked straight at her.
“So let’s do it. Marry me.”
Legally, the marriage registration was already complete. Asking for her opinion after the fact left Yuju thoroughly confused.
Seo-won’s attitude made it clear he had already made up his mind. That was why he had submitted the paperwork without hesitation.
Reading the resolve in that short action, Yuju forced her mind to cool. She coldly considered how she was supposed to navigate this situation.
More than anything, Father is the problem…
This was already an incident her father knew about. There was such a thing as a lawsuit to nullify a marriage, but preparing one on her own was impossible.
Even if he learned the whole truth, her father would never let go of a catch like Seo-won. The odds of her winning against him were even slimmer.
Above all…
She remembered the words her father had carelessly let slip earlier.
I know you’ve been looking for a marriage partner for me.
Just as she had suspected, every man he had forced her to meet had been a groom candidate of his choosing.
If none of this had happened, she would have been swept along the way she always had been and forced into marriage with some stranger according to her father’s will.
Yuju, who had been floundering in the unexpected situation, calmly arrived at the answer.
Their goals were the same.
To avoid, for now, an unwanted marriage to someone whose face they didn’t even know.
But even so… does it make any sense for us to get married?
Even after understanding it rationally, Yuju couldn’t bring herself to accept the reality. She simply couldn’t read Seo-won’s thoughts.
She glanced up. Their eyes met. Misreading her hesitation, Seo-won casually dropped a bomb.
“I’ll use contraception until you graduate.”
“What?”
“I figured the issue of kids was probably one of the things worrying you right now.”
At Seo-won’s calm bombshell, an earthquake hit Yuju’s pupils.
It went beyond him racing ahead on his own. It was a statement utterly unlike the upright, proper friend of her older brother that she had always known.
Toward Yuju, who was doubting her own ears, Seo-won smiled a wicked little smile.
“Because I’m not as safe as you think.”
Somehow the words had a pointed edge to them.
Yuju, who had been staring at him in bewilderment, realized it a beat too late. He was referring to the drunken remark that had wounded his pride—the one where she had said nothing would happen even if they slept in the same bed. Seo-won had been holding on to that.
An ominous premonition settled over her: a great many hardships were waiting in her future.
It was the moment she realized that the older brother she had believed was the safest person in the world was, in fact, a dangerous one.