Chapter 80: I’m Pregnant

“Of course I would…”

It wasn’t even a difficult question. From Go Ha-jin’s perspective, if Chae Woo-seok was willing to be that considerate, the offer was almost too generous.

In fact, if he had proposed those terms before the marriage, Go Ha-jin would have wondered whether Chae Woo-seok had somehow lost his mind.

“No… I don’t think my opinion matters here. Isn’t that up to you, Mr. Chae Woo-seok? You’re the one who started this marriage in the first place.”

Yet something about it bothered him. The conditions were objectively favorable, but they still felt lacking, as though someone had stripped everything away and told him to walk out with nothing but the clothes on his back.

“I suppose.”

“Why? Have things changed so much from your original plan that you don’t need me anymore?”

Before the marriage, Go Ha-jin had made himself a promise: he had to prove his usefulness to Chae Woo-seok. Back then, Woo-seok had seemed like the kind of man who could erase another person without blinking, physically or socially.

Getting rid of someone like Go Ha-jin would have been effortless.

Now, however, the fear that Chae Woo-seok might actually harm him had faded. Even so, the thought that he might no longer be needed left an unpleasant taste in his mouth.

“That’s not why I asked. Though I’ll admit I never imagined we’d be exposed this quickly.”

“Then why?”

“We have to prepare for the worst. There might come a point where there’s simply no way for us to escape together.”

Ah. Right.

There was that option.

If Go Ha-jin’s secret came to light, Chae Woo-seok could publicly cast him aside. If they rushed through a divorce before everything was fully uncovered, perhaps neither of them would suffer catastrophic damage.

“…I see. Funny. Why didn’t I ever think of that?”

How could he have overlooked something so simple?

Among the countless scenarios he had imagined, divorce had never once appeared. He had only searched for ways to preserve the marriage and survive together. Naturally, he had failed to find an answer.

“As I said, it’s only a hypothetical. I’m not saying we have to do it.”

“Right. A hypothetical.”

Both of them spoke as though it were merely speculation.

But both knew that the worst-case scenario was likely—and that this might be the most practical solution.

His chest felt noisy.

Emotions he couldn’t name crowded together until they threatened to spill out of his throat. He filled his empty glass with whiskey and swallowed it in one gulp, forcing them back down.

“But…”

“What is it? What about you, Mr. Chae Woo-seok?”

“About what?”

Chae Woo-seok looked genuinely puzzled.

“Why did you work so hard? If we divorce, you don’t really lose much, do you? It doesn’t seem like you care that much about becoming the successor. In the absolute worst case, you could pin everything on me and walk away.”

The very question Woo-seok had asked earlier was now turned back on him.

“If I take all the blame and leave… would you really be okay with ending things like that?”

His voice betrayed him.

Somewhere between the beginning and the end of the sentence, emotion had seeped in. Or perhaps it was simply because his heart was pounding so violently. By the final words, his voice had become so quiet that even he could barely hear it.

In truth, Chae Woo-seok had already answered.

He was the one who had suggested divorce as an escape route if things turned disastrous.

Even so, Go Ha-jin wanted to hear it.

Would you really be okay?

“Like you said, does what I think even matter? If I hate the idea but there’s no other choice, then what exactly am I choosing?”

Strangely, he almost sounded angry.

The frustration in his voice carried the weight of resignation.

“It matters.”

“…What?”

At that answer, the turmoil in Go Ha-jin’s chest settled.

His next words came not in the shaky voice from moments before, but with quiet certainty.

“If I had the choice… I wouldn’t want a divorce. Not yet. And don’t ask me why. Because I don’t know either.”

Chae Woo-seok stared at him blankly.

Judging by his expression, he seemed unable to make sense of what he had just heard.

Go Ha-jin understood why.

His own feelings sounded utterly irrational.

“So… Tell me.”

Divorce.

A relationship that could have ended as lightly as it began.

Neither of them had entered this marriage with genuine affection. They should have been able to leave it just as easily.

Even if the marriage produced nothing, there was technically nothing to lose.

They could simply become strangers again, returning to lives where they had never known each other.

That should have been all it meant.

“…Now that I think about it… I don’t want that either.”

The words escaped before Chae Woo-seok could stop them.

He didn’t want it.

He wanted more time.

Somehow, somewhere, he wanted this strange relationship, which had drifted so far from its original purpose, to continue a little longer.

Impossible though it might be.

Perhaps that was simply what emotions were.

When he had imagined divorce before, he had convinced himself it would be fine. In truth, he had never even paused to ask whether he would actually be okay.

But now that the feeling had been spoken aloud, it became real.

He hated the idea.

More than anything, he wanted to preserve this marriage.

Even knowing there was no obvious way to do so.

‘How absurd.’

****

“Chae Jae-yi!”

Just as expected, Chae Jae-yi returned the following morning.

Four large bodyguards surrounded her in a tight formation as they escorted her into the mansion. The family had already gathered in the main house after hearing updates from the airport.

The moment she entered the living room, Chae Il-joo exploded.

“Father! Long time no see!”

Completely oblivious to his mood, Chae Jae-yi waved cheerfully as though she had simply returned from vacation.

Even her clothes looked out of place, a brightly patterned dress more suited to a tropical holiday than the atmosphere awaiting her.

“…Jae-yi, would you shut your mouth? Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“Oh, come on! Your eldest daughter has been through hell. Do you know how many hours I spent on airplanes? I even had to fly economy because I was broke. It felt like sitting in a chicken coop. I honestly don’t know how ordinary people survive that.”

Apparently she had decided not to care anymore.

Ignoring every word from her father, she flopped onto the sofa without invitation and calmly poured herself some tea.

“I told you to stay quiet and do volunteer work, not run away to America!”

“…Honestly, Father.”

Her demeanor shifted in an instant.

The exaggerated gestures disappeared, replaced by an expression cold enough to freeze the room.

“You shouldn’t speak like that to your eldest daughter after she went through so much for the family.”

“What?”

“You don’t seriously think I went to America for fun, do you?”

As her gaze drifted across everyone seated in the room, it finally settled on Go Ha-jin.

For a fleeting moment, hope flickered in him.

Maybe she hadn’t figured anything out.

After all, Chae Jae-yi wasn’t the type to quietly keep a secret she had discovered.

The thought eased his anxiety, if only slightly.

“Hah! Stop talking nonsense. Do you know what kind of situation we’re in? If people find out you fled to America after leaving Korea-”

“What, that they’ll accuse me of being the Omega serial killer? I saw the news. What a mess. If I’d been running the place from the beginning, none of this would’ve happened. Honestly, it almost feels like someone is deliberately trying to destroy this family.”

Her eyes found Go Ha-jin again.

This time they lingered.

The small hope he had felt vanished.

In that instant, he understood.

She knew.

“Do you really want to be thrown out of this family before you come to your senses?”

“Father, I’m not the one who should be thrown out.”

Without taking her eyes off Go Ha-jin, she smiled sweetly.

“It’s him. Go Ha-jin. He’s the one you should kick out. Real estate heir? Rich family successor? It was all fake. That bastard’s a fraud.”

‘As expected.’

“Jae-yi! What proof do you have? I know you’ve never liked my husband, but this is too much-”

“You stay out of this, you idiot! You got fooled by some omega. Let’s see if you can still defend him after this.”

She tossed a thick document envelope onto the table.

“The more I thought about it, the less it made sense. A dominant omega isn’t exactly common, even in a country as huge as America. So how could someone like him leave almost no trace? He’s not exactly forgettable either. So I went straight to the house where his so-called father lives.”

Go Ha-jin had anticipated that possibility.

Chae Woo-seok had already bribed several servants with enormous sums to prepare for it.

“I showed them his picture, and every single one of them said he was the son of that household.”

By now everyone in the room was listening in silence.

Even Chae Il-joo had stopped interrupting.

Encouraged, Chae Jae-yi became even more theatrical.

“But I still wasn’t convinced. So I started asking around the neighborhood. And guess who I found? The nanny who raised the real Kevin Go. She practically brought him up herself. Of course she’d recognize his face.”

She turned toward Go Ha-jin with a triumphant smile.

“Isn’t that right, you con artist?”

That was the end.

From the envelope, she produced photographs.

One showed the man believed to be the real Kevin Go.

Another showed him standing beside the man Go Ha-jin had falsely claimed was his father.

There was no way out.

Even if he somehow survived this confrontation, Chae Il-joo would personally verify the evidence.

“…Ha.”

Oddly enough, when the nightmare he had feared for so long finally arrived, he felt calmer than expected.

Perhaps it was because he no longer had to carry such a crushing secret.

Deliberately, he avoided looking at Chae Woo-seok.

At the very least, he didn’t want Woo-seok to suffer because of him.

“Well. Looks like she got me.”

“You!”

The amused tone in Go Ha-jin’s voice amounted to an admission.

Lee Ah-seong let out a cry of shock.

Everyone else in the room froze as well, struggling to process what they had just heard.

“See? Father, throw this bastard out right now-”

“You can certainly throw me out.”

“But can you?”

“What? You think we can’t get rid of someone like you?”

Why was Go Ha-jin so calm?

Because he possessed a weapon none of them could counter.

Divorce?

They couldn’t do it.

Not if it meant giving someone else exactly what they wanted.

Hadn’t Chae Woo-seok himself admitted he didn’t want a divorce?

Go Ha-jin intended to grant that wish.

“I’m pregnant.”

He delivered the announcement with the brightest smile anyone in the room had ever seen.

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