Chapter 3

“Yoon Seul.”

At the same time as the chilling voice she never wanted to hear again pierced her ears, Woo Tae-kyung appeared before her.

The sight of him mercilessly slapping her across the face was nowhere to be found. Instead, he was kneeling on one knee with a gentle, warm smile.

When she lowered her gaze, she saw a sparkling diamond ring in his hand.

“Will you marry me?”

They say that when you die, the scenes of your life flash before your eyes.

So why, of all things, was she being forced to see memories so filthy that she wanted to carve them out of her mind with a knife?

“Yoon Seul?”

Perhaps flustered by her lack of response, Tae-kyung shifted his eyes around, glancing nervously at their surroundings.

What is this? This never happened before…

Just as she was puzzled by the scene that differed from her memories, the sweet scent of chocolate cake suddenly reached the tip of her nose.

The mouthwatering smell was unbelievably vivid.

Yoon Seul quietly looked down at her trembling hand.

She opened her fist, then clenched it tightly again.

The pain of her fingernails digging into her palm made her realize something.

Her heart began pounding like crazy.

She could clearly feel the hot blood flowing through her body.

Thirty-three years old.

She had definitely died miserably in front of Min Jung-hee.

And yet, when she opened her eyes, she was twenty-three.

She had returned ten years into the past—to the moment when Tae-kyung was proposing to her.

At the same time as she realized that her mind, which had always been clouded by medication, was unbelievably clear, tears welled up in Yoon Seul’s eyes.

Misinterpreting those tears however he pleased, Tae-kyung spoke in a relaxed voice.

“Ah… What is this? Is our Seul crying because she’s so moved?”

Talk about being mistaken.

Yoon Seul suppressed the emotions boiling inside her and wiped the corners of her eyes.

“Oh, Seul. You’re so tenderhearted. What am I going to do with you?”

Tae-kyung stood up from his kneeling position and reached toward her cheek.

Startled, Yoon Seul slapped his hand away.

“Seul? What’s wrong? Are you just too surprised?”

The moment she saw his fake expression of concern, nausea suddenly rose in her throat.

Yoon Seul abruptly stood up and ran to the bathroom.

“Urgh.”

She continued dry-heaving.

“Seul, are you okay?”

At the sound of Tae-kyung’s voice as he followed her into the bathroom, Yoon Seul furrowed her brows irritably.

“This is the women’s bathroom. Get out.”

When she heard the door close, Yoon Seul took a deep breath and sighed in relief.

She went to the sink, washed her hands, and sank into thought.

If I followed my heart, I would slap that disgusting face right now and tell him we’re done.

But I won’t.

Just as they had deceived her, she would thoroughly deceive them from right beside them.

The people who became my family for money and killed me.

This time, I will never become your family.

I won’t let a single penny of my money flow into your hands.

I’ll make you betray each other, tear each other apart, and want to kill one another.

In the mirror, Yoon Seul’s eyes no longer held any innocence.

Instead, they were filled with a cruel, poisonous determination.

After calming her breathing, she returned to the table.

Tae-kyung looked at her with concern.

“Seul, are you okay?”

“I didn’t sleep well last night, so I guess my stomach was upset. I’m sorry. You must have been really surprised.”

“No, don’t worry about me.”

Tae-kyung gently brushed her hair aside and whispered in a tender voice.

Every place his fingertips touched felt as unpleasant as though insects were crawling over her skin, but Yoon Seul pulled the corners of her lips into a smile.

If they could put on such an act, there’s no reason I can’t do the same.

She would smile until her face cramped.

She would keep smiling until the day she brought them all to ruin.

“You’ll accept the ring, right?”

Tae-kyung scratched his head shyly.

The appearance that had once seemed so completely innocent now looked utterly repulsive to her.

Without answering, Yoon Seul stared at the diamond ring in his hand.

“Of course…”

As she deliberately let her sentence trail off, she saw anticipation spread across Tae-kyung’s face.

“I’ll put it on you.”

Mistaking her words for acceptance, he tried to slide the ring onto the ring finger of her left hand.

At that moment, Yoon Seul deliberately bent her finger and clenched her hand into a fist.

The bright smile on Tae-kyung’s face darkened in an instant.

Yoon Seul lowered her eyes apologetically and spoke in a small voice.

“Of course I want to accept it. But I’m worried about Mom.”

“Ah…”

Tae-kyung froze like ice with his hand still extended in midair.

Then, in a low voice, he nodded and quickly began trying to persuade her.

“I think your mother would welcome it with open arms. She wants our Seul to be happy more than anyone.”

Yoon Seul barely managed to suppress the urge to spit in Tae-kyung’s face as he spewed such nonsense.

“You know how much Mom loves me and raised me with love even though I’m not her biological daughter. I want to stay by her side and be a little more filial before I leave.”

For a brief moment, Yoon Seul saw Tae-kyung’s face stiffen slightly.

But that was all.

Until he got her signature on the marriage registration, he would willingly put himself in the position of the complete subordinate.

“Yeah. Our Yoon Seul really is thoughtful. But think about me, too. I want to become family with you as soon as possible. I’m thirty this year, too… Sorry. I guess I’m just getting old.”

Even in her previous life, Tae-kyung had apologized like this while subtly pressuring Yoon Seul with the fact that he was seven years older than her.

It had worked back then.

But not anymore.

Now I know that what you need isn’t a family.

You need a marriage registration so you can get your hands on my inheritance.

“I really like you, Tae-kyung… but I guess I still like being by Mom’s side more.”

“Ah… I see. Then I’ll have to try harder if I want to take our Seul away with me.”

Yeah.

I’ll be watching to see just how hard you try.

Run around like a dog and try your best to please me.

Of course, no matter how hard you try, you’ll never become my husband.

You will never become my family again, Woo Tae-kyung.

Yoon Seul concealed her icy expression and looked at him with warm eyes.

“Still, thank you, Tae-kyung. For preparing such a wonderful proposal.”

“What are you thanking me for? I could do something like this dozens of times.”

“Shall we go now?”

Yoon Seul stood up first, unwilling to spend even another moment with him.

She refused his offer to drive her home and immediately called a taxi.

The design of her cellphone, with its small screen and physical Home button, reminded her once again that she was truly ten years in the past.

“You must be tired from preparing the proposal, so go home and get some rest. You have work tomorrow, too.”

“Our Seul is so considerate. Then call me when you get home.”

“I will.”

After the taxi started moving, Yoon Seul watched Tae-kyung through the rearview mirror as he hurriedly called someone.

Min Sara, no doubt.

Or perhaps Min Jung-hee.

Yoon Seul was extremely curious about what kind of expressions those two would be wearing after hearing that his proposal had failed.

Before opening the front door, Yoon Seul closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Whenever she thought of the demons waiting inside, fear and revulsion wrapped around her entire body.

She squeezed her eyes shut once more before opening them and pulling down the doorknob.

“I’m home.”

“Our daughter, you’re back?”

The moment she stepped inside, Jung-hee came over to greet her affectionately, just as she always had.

Jung-hee gently grabbed Yoon Seul by the wrist and led her toward the sofa.

For an instant, Yoon Seul remembered the countless times her wrists had been restrained at the hospital, and her breath caught in her throat.

Her fingertips trembled with fear, but Yoon Seul endured it until the end without pulling her hand away from Jung-hee.

“Did you have a nice date?”

At Jung-hee’s casual question, Yoon Seul nodded with an expression full of excitement.

In her previous life, Yoon Seul had told Jung-hee every little detail about her daily life, from beginning to end.

She had loved the way Jung-hee listened attentively to everything she said.

Using all that information, Jung-hee had been able to keep a perfect watch over every single thing Yoon Seul did.

“It was nice.”

“Did you go somewhere good?”

“We went to a restaurant on the Han River. It was a place that had been renovated from a ship…”

Yoon Seul deliberately rambled on about meaningless things.

How wonderful the atmosphere had been.

How delicious the food was.

She didn’t utter a single word about the proposal—the thing Jung-hee was most curious about.

You must have already heard from Tae-kyung, so you must be dying to know what I’m thinking.

But until I bring it up first, you’ll never be able to ask about the proposal.

Mom, you must be very frustrated, right?

Well, you’ll continue to be frustrated from now on.

Because I won’t be giving you the bait you want anymore.

After spending quite some time making meaningless small talk, Yoon Seul went upstairs to her room on the second floor.

Without even turning on the lights, she lay down on her bed.

She had steeled herself for this.

But when she actually faced the people who had killed her, her fingertips trembled, her heart pounded as though it would burst, and nausea rose in her stomach.

Smiling at someone whose neck she wanted to strangle immediately was utterly exhausting.

“This time, it’s your turn to suffer.”

One by one, she would make them pay dearly.

Renewing her resolve, Yoon Seul abruptly sat up, turned on the light, and took a seat at her desk.

There was something she needed to do before anything else.

“Min Sara, this time, you’re going to pay dearly for stealing someone else’s work.”