Chapter 3: The Black-Haired Foreigner

“This guy, seriously.”

Lawyer Choi muttered, tapping his fingernail irritably against the photo of ‘Ryan Seo’ in the magazine.

“His face alone makes me sick. Is he really Korean? You sure he isn’t mixed with something?”

Even though the meeting had ended, the idle chatter dragged on. It had all started when the CEO personally commended Hyeonseo during the meeting for her handling of the Beauty Cube case.

Goldstone’s acquisition of Beauty Cube had caused a bigger ripple than expected. Whether intentional or not, it was essentially a declaration of war—a signal that they were officially making their move on the Korean market.

Founded by Carl Anderson, famously known as the ‘Vulture of Wall Street,’ Goldstone was a quintessential activist private equity firm. They were ruffians who raked in money without discrimination or limits.

Anyone in the know was aware of how these so-called ‘corporate hunters’ would chop a company into pieces and sell off even the scraps for profit. Their notoriety was built on a track record of taking once-solid enterprises and dismantling them for parts.

And at the center of that ruthless, vulgar work, there was always him. A monster birthed by crude capitalism. That was Ryan Seo’s reputation among the public.

“His Korean name is right here. Seo Jeonghyeok.”

A junior associate who had studied abroad spoke up while putting down some organized documents.

“He immigrated to the States as a child, lost his parents in an accident, and was luckily adopted—a self-made man. He was already quite a famous figure on Wall Street back when I was in New York. A legend of an Asian man rising from the bottom to the top. In a place where they don’t even give you a foot in the door unless you’re a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant), he’s incredible. I mean, he’s the Asia Director for Goldstone. Carl Anderson is a notorious racist, yet he adores him. Enough to openly pick him as his successor.”

Starting as a broker at the investment bank ‘Aaron Chase,’ he was promoted to a department head level in just two years. After catching Carl Anderson’s eye, he rose to his current position. That was the extent of the objectively known information on Seo Jeonghyeok.

“Does this make him a ‘Proud Korean’ then?”

“Hardly. At the end of the day, he’s just a money-mad, black-haired foreigner. Do you think guys like him care about nationality or their motherland? Don’t you agree, Lawyer Cha?”

At Lawyer Choi’s sudden question, everyone’s eyes turned toward her.

“I heard he came to see you personally. How was he? Can he even speak Korean properly?”

It seemed the rumors had spread within a single day. The most likely suspect for the leak was the CEO.

“Yes. He speaks well,” Hyeonseo replied, maintaining an expressionless face as she gathered her papers.

The eyes of those watching sparkled at the confirmation that the rumor was true.

“Why did he come? Why did such a grand figure grace us with his presence?”

“He’s very interested in the market here. He came to say thank you for opening the door to Korea and brought a performance bonus.”

“Oh, really?! But why didn’t the CEO mention that?”

At the mention of a ‘bonus,’ their expressions shifted instantly. The dry conversation suddenly became noisy and animated.

In the end, it seemed the world really did revolve around money. Just like someone had said.

“Who knows. I’m sure he plans to call everyone in individually.”

She responded indifferently and stood up. It was because of the headache that had now become chronic.

Returning to her office, she took some medicine out of her drawer. Just as she was about to swallow two pills, her phone vibrated in her pocket.

She stared blankly at the three words saved unceremoniously as ‘Jo Inho.’ This was the man she was supposed to marry, whether she wanted to or not. At this point, weighing whether he was truly the right man was an emotional luxury.

Hyeonseo brushed her hair back and pressed the call button.

“Yes, Inho.”

• Where are you?

“Still at the office. Why?”

• I’m on my way there. Let’s talk for a moment.

It was unexpected. As far as she knew, he wasn’t the type to show up unannounced without an appointment.

“Now? I think I’ll be working late. If this is about the wedding gifts…”

• It won’t take long. Let’s just talk. There’s something I need to say.

For some reason, his voice felt cold.

• I’m almost there. Come down in ten minutes.

They were already scheduled to meet tomorrow. It was strange that he insisted on seeing her face-to-face today for something that couldn’t wait.

The creeping intuition she felt wasn’t a pleasant one.

She had first met Jo Inho while taking on the stock manipulation case of Chairman Jo Gimun of Eunsung Pharmaceuticals. It was Jo Inho who had first expressed interest. He had been aggressive from the start, making blatant advances and talking about how much he liked beautiful, smart women.

Though flustered, she had no reason to avoid him, so she accepted his interest as it was. There was even a snobbish hope that perhaps this man could save her from her suffocating pile of debt.

The relationship progressed naturally, and the wedding plans moved forward at full speed.

People whispered about this marriage, calling it a ‘Cinderella’ rise in status. Even though Jo Inho had long since lost the battle for succession, he was still of Chairman Jo’s bloodline. He was indeed a man that a woman like Cha Hyeonseo, who had nothing to her name, shouldn’t have even dared to dream of.

The fact that the Jo family’s hypocrisy was actually born out of indifference toward him as an illegitimate child—or rather, a move to exclude him from succession—didn’t particularly matter to her.

The real problem was something else.

Her heart.

A meager sense of pride and emotions that had been worn down to the bone felt like much larger obstacles.

Did she love Jo Inho enough to marry him? No, more fundamentally, had she ever been physically attracted to him? Was it right to proceed with this loveless marriage? As if she were being sold off?

She felt her distress deepening over emotions that even she considered a luxury.

Ten minutes later. She grabbed her coat and left the office. She approached his car, which was parked in a corner in front of the lobby.

“What’s going on so suddenly? What did you want to say?”

She asked the reason as soon as she sat in the passenger seat. An ominous silence settled in. She checked her watch, nudging him to speak.

“What is it? I need to get back in quickly.”

Jo Inho, his eyes looking unstable, spoke without even meeting her gaze.

“Let’s break up, Hyeonseo.”

“…What?”

Hyeonseo asked back, doubting her own ears.

“Let’s stop here and end things between us.”

A momentary silence followed.

In that split second, a list of all the loose ends she would have to tie up due to this broken engagement began to flash through her mind. She realized that perhaps her subconscious had anticipated the end of this relationship long ago. It felt like a self-defense instinct.

“Why? What’s the reason?” she asked in a calm, steady voice.

Conversely, it was Jo Inho who was flustered and agitated. He looked anxious, as if he were being pursued. His face, flushed and exaggerating his words, was distorted to the point where it was painful to look at.

“I… I made a mistake in judgment. I thought I was someone without greed, but I wasn’t. I can’t just sit back and watch my brother take the whole company for himself.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I want to claim my share too. I need a woman who can… lend me some strength.”

So that was it. He was struggling to say that he couldn’t marry her because she would be a burden rather than a source of power.

“I realized it after they stripped me of my remaining shares. I realized I couldn’t marry you.”

A hollow laugh escaped her; it was almost funny. Who was the one who had proposed first to an orphan who couldn’t offer any familial benefits?

Separate from her snobbish hope for a status upgrade, she had never begged for his affection. She had never pleaded for marriage. Even if she accepted money for cleaning up after noblemen, she wasn’t cut out for faking her heart or disguising her sincerity.

He had gifted her those mismatched glass slippers of his own accord, and now he was asking for them back. It was staggering.

“Is there someone else?”

“What? Hey.”

Jo Inho crumpled his brow as if the suggestion was absurd.

“It makes sense. You haven’t cared about the company or succession for over thirty years, and suddenly you’re greedy? You were the one who wanted to get married first, and now I’m a burden? Don’t you think that’s a pretty pathetic excuse?”

“What do you know? How much do you know about whether I cared about my place or not…! Ha!”

He snapped in irritation, sounding wronged. Whether these miserable excuses were true or not, she didn’t know, but one thing was certain.

This man’s heart had already drifted away. And she wouldn’t be able to hold onto a heart that had already left.

Her mind turned cold.

“Fine. It’s all my fault. I’m sorry. Phew…”

He covered his face with a weary voice.

She remained silent, pretending to be composed, but in truth, her heart was sinking. Even though she had never loved him—no, had never even seen him as a man to begin with—she felt resentful.

Being abandoned. Being left alone. It seemed that no matter how many times she experienced it, she could never become indifferent to it. Seeing how flustered she was by this whim, despite it not being the first time, was proof of that.

“I must have lost my mind for a moment with you. About what’s more important to me…”

“I get it. I know what you’re saying.”

The cold voice of reason returned fully, thanks to his pathetic excuses and rambling.

“Fine. Let’s break up.”

“Hyeonseo.”

“You say you need someone else, so there’s nothing more for me to say.”

“Cha Hyeonseo. Please just know that I was sincere about you. I really did love you…”

She opened the car door and stepped out, unable to listen to any more. ‘Breaking up because I love you.’ ‘Letting you go because I love you.’ She didn’t have the patience left to listen to such familiar bullsh*t. She knew the reason he gave wasn’t the real one.

Even in a life at rock bottom, there were always people. Out of attraction, curiosity, or pity. There had been many who approached her and reached out for their own selfish reasons.

And then, as if it were a promise, they all eventually left. I’m bored, it’s uncomfortable, it’s too much, I can’t handle it… There were as many excuses for breaking up as there were reasons for approaching, but in the end, all reasons converged into one.

A changed heart.

Was there even anything that didn’t change or disappear in the first place? At first, she had blamed and hated herself for it.

But now she knew. People eventually find an excuse to leave no matter what.

As she walked quickly down the hallway, her heart kept surging. It wasn’t because she was sad about the breakup with Jo Inho, or because she missed him.

It was her fate that never changed no matter how hard she tried. A fate where nothing ever went smoothly or easily. She felt miserable over her own fckng destiny of being constantly abandoned and left alone.

Somehow, she had thought this undeserved stroke of luck was lasting quite a while this time.

Just like someone had said, it was truly fckng shitty.

Vrrr. She mechanically picked up the vibrating phone in her pocket. it was a message from an unsaved, unfamiliar number. One she had been waiting for all day.

[Tomorrow evening at 7 PM. Let’s meet at my office.]

Why was it? Suddenly, it felt like her suppressed tears might burst. She couldn’t understand how two lines of purely business-like, concise text could be the trigger, but she felt a sense of relief the moment she saw the message.

The relief that there was at least one person somewhere who could sympathize, rather than offer empty comfort, by saying ‘The world is fckng shitty, isn’t it?’ The reassurance that she wasn’t the only one feeling this fckng destiny. A sense of kinship that she wasn’t the only misfit. It was because of those trivial emotions that were too numerous to explain.

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and entered her office. She took off her coat, sat down, and checked her list of pending tasks.

Just as she always had, with composure.