Chapter 94: A Convincing Miscarriage Plan

“Woo-seok! Are you hurt? Are you injured anywhere?”

The entire family had been thrown into chaos. After hearing what had happened, they had rushed to the hospital. Perhaps it was because he had encountered the omega serial killer, but Lee Ah-seong’s face had gone deathly pale.

He wasn’t the only one. Cha Il-joo, Tae Seol, Cha Jun-seok, and even Cha Jae-yi, who usually frowned whenever he saw Go Ha-jin, were all strangely silent.

And yet, somehow, the one who had been kidnapped was Ha-jin, but they were checking on their son first.

“I’m fine, Father. I was taken to the ER earlier, but I’m okay.”

Ha-jin answered a question no one had asked him. It was also his silent protest: Am I invisible? He had expected this much, but even on a day like today, the blatant favoritism was hard to swallow.

“You…”

Lee Ah-seong’s voice rose sharply, but Cha Il-joo’s pointed cough cut him off. He didn’t say the words aloud, but his expression clearly did.

What kind of life have you been living to get kidnapped by someone like that?

“…You should have been more careful. Is your body all right?”

As expected. Lee Ah-seong was remarkably consistent.

“As if being careful would have changed anything. If I’d known I was going to be kidnapped, I would’ve left before it happened. I was just shocked. I never imagined something like that could happen in a place like that…”

Unexpectedly, Woo-seok spoke up.

Once he directly pointed out how ridiculous that was, Lee Ah-seong didn’t continue criticizing Ha-jin. He only let out a heavy sigh.

“At least both of you are safe. Woo-seok, I want to speak with you privately later.”

Cha Il-joo had already heard the basic outline from the police, but something still bothered him. What had happened was unfortunate, but it wasn’t Ha-jin’s fault. It had been unavoidable.

What troubled him was Woo-seok’s response.

He had searched for Ha-jin alone without informing anyone.

They had never been particularly close, but Cha Il-joo had watched his son for over twenty years. Woo-seok hated responsibility and avoided troublesome things whenever possible.

There had even been times when he was involved in scandals with three or four omegas in a single night.

A man like that had gone to such lengths?

No.

More accurately, the person who had changed Cha Woo-seok was what troubled him.

Go Ha-jin.

Cha Il-joo quietly looked at the young omega sitting on the hospital bed.

“…Is something wrong, Chairman?”

“No. Just take care of yourself, understand?”

“Ah… yes.”

The way Cha Il-joo looked at him made Ha-jin uncomfortable.

That gaze had always been unsettling, but today it felt almost obsessive, as if he were trying to examine every organ inside Ha-jin’s body.

“By the way… how did you know we were here?”

“Well… Dr. Kim contacted us and told us to come quickly…”

Now that he thought about it, something was strange.

Why had Kim Oh-hyun called Cha Il-joo and Lee Ah-seong?

Both Ha-jin and Woo-seok looked perfectly fine.

What had been so urgent?

Only after seeing that they were safe did that question begin to bother him.

“Chairman. Chairman Lee.”

Kim Oh-hyun entered the hospital room.

His timing was so perfect that it looked as though he had been listening outside.

…Which, in fact, he had.

“Dr. Kim, is there some problem?”

Kim’s expression was unusually stiff.

Seeing that, Lee Ah-seong’s heart began pounding violently.

Worse, Kim kept hesitating, visibly choosing his words instead of getting to the point.

His instincts screamed that this was bad.

“Well…”

Kim made eye contact with each of them one by one, deliberately taking his time.

Even Ha-jin and Woo-seok, who already knew what he was going to say, felt their throats go dry from the tension.

Doctors had an uncanny talent for making people anxious.

“I’d like to speak with you outside. Please.”

After glancing toward Ha-jin and Woo-seok one last time, Kim finally gave up on speaking there and led Cha Il-joo and Lee Ah-seong out into the hallway.

The two men silently followed him.

“What is it, Dr. Kim?”

“…He miscarried. It appears the severe shock from the kidnapping caused it. He had some physical injuries, and since it was early pregnancy…”

Lee Ah-seong and Cha Il-joo had experienced countless hardships in their lives.

Even so, Kim Oh-hyun’s voice barely reached them.

One word drowned everything else out.

Miscarriage.

It was that shocking.

Even after Kim finished speaking, neither of them said anything.

“Fortunately, Mr. Go- Director Go, is otherwise in stable condition.”

“Forget that. Are you absolutely certain it was a miscarriage?”

Lee Ah-seong waved his hand impatiently.

Ha-jin’s health was irrelevant to him right now.

“…Yes.”

“How could this…”

The loss felt as though someone had snatched his grandchild away before his eyes.

He didn’t even know what emotion to express.

There was nothing left to hear.

The two men returned to the hospital room.

“What’s wrong, Father?”

Ha-jin looked at Lee Ah-seong with concern.

He had no idea what had happened.

“You…”

“Chairman Lee, I’ll explain everything to you later. Right now, he needs rest.”

Kim’s intervention stopped Lee Ah-seong from exploding.

Ha-jin looked at him with innocent concern, completely unaware of what had supposedly been taken from him.

That ignorance was infuriating.

And strangely pitiful.

“Forget it. Just recover properly.”

Lee Ah-seong turned to leave.

“F-Father!”

He collapsed before reaching the door.

He had been pretending to stay composed, but the shock had been too much.

“…Hey. Are you okay?”

Ha-jin stared blankly at the person entering the room.

For a moment, he forgot he was even acting.

“How did you…”

“Idiot. Of course I came.”

It was Cha Jae-yi.

What was she doing here?

She wasn’t wearing her usual arrogant expression.

Instead, he looked oddly awkward, as if she had something to say.

Embarrassed by her own visit, she sat down on the sofa far away and stared out the window without looking at Ha-jin.

“I asked if you’re okay.”

Apparently Lee Ah-seong had yelled at her after all.

Still, Ha-jin couldn’t believe that question was genuinely directed at him.

They weren’t close enough for this kind of concern.

“…I’m fine.”

“This is nothing. You’re healthy, you’ve got Woo-seok, and you can have another baby later.”

Ha-jin couldn’t understand.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find another meaning behind those words.

They sounded…

Like comfort.

Jae-yi still hadn’t turned to look at him.

“And it wasn’t your fault. Whatever Dad says, don’t take it to heart. He’s just… that kind of person.”

Before Ha-jin could respond, Jae-yi stood up.

It was as though she had rehearsed everything she wanted to say.

“Thank you, Noona.”

Ha-jin spoke to her retreating back.

He had never actually been pregnant.

The miscarriage was a lie.

And yet…

Jae-yi’s comfort really did comfort him.

It was the first time someone had ever said those words to him.

“Shut up. Who the hell are you calling Noona, you scammer?”

There was the familiar Cha Jae-yi.

He left with his usual rough tone.

Ha-jin stared blankly at the door after he was gone, feeling as though he had just encountered a ghost.

Then the door opened again.

“What are you spacing out about?”

“Oh… you’re back. Your sister was just here.”

Ha-jin told Woo-seok everything that had happened.

He genuinely couldn’t make sense of it, so he wanted the opinion of the person who had known Jae-yi the longest.

Woo-seok sat down on the edge of the bed and quietly listened until Ha-jin finished.

“Ah… that’s probably because my sister went through something similar.”

“…Your sister?”

“Not exactly the same thing. A phantom pregnancy.”

Ha-jin felt his mind go blank.

The explanation that followed was just as shocking.

“So… she wasn’t actually pregnant, but she believed she was?”

“The guy she was with desperately wanted a child. He shouldn’t have married a recessive omega in the first place. Whether it was the pressure or because she genuinely loved him, I don’t know. She still believes she got pregnant, got divorced because of it, and then miscarried.”

“…I see.”

Only after hearing the story behind Cha Jae-yi did Ha-jin understand the expression he had seen earlier.

“So don’t think about it too much. I feel bad for what she went through, but then I remember the way she treats people. You’ve seen how she acts toward you and my sister-in-law.”

That was true.

Jae-yi openly despised Tae Seol and Tae Seol’s child.

Remembering that contempt made it impossible to decide whether he should pity him or hate him.

Cha Jae-yi had a strange talent for making people feel both.

“By the way… how are your father and Chairman Cha?”

Ha-jin pushed thoughts of Jae-yi aside.

This was what really mattered.

Woo-seok had just come back from meeting his fathers.

Lee Ah-seong had regained consciousness, yet everything had remained strangely quiet.

“That…”

Woo-seok hesitated.

“…What happened? Did they tell us to get divorced?”

Ha-jin’s face was filled with anxiety.

Seeing that expression gave Woo-seok a strange feeling.

He remembered what Ha-jin had said that rainy night in the car.

“I kept thinking about you.”

At the time, those words had only made his chest ache.

Now, merely remembering them made him feel unexpectedly happy.

The man who had said that was now worried that they might be forced to divorce.

“Would you get divorced if they told you to?”

Woo-seok asked seriously.

But the answer Ha-jin gave was not the one he had expected.

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