One Year Marriage

Chapter 4

After a day filled with noise, Kang-jae finally returned home and slipped into the stillness of the annex. He pressed his tired eyelids with one hand; with the other, he loosened and tossed aside the tie that had choked him all day.

His drinking session with Investigator Shin had wrapped up close to midnight.

The conversation, which had begun with Investigator Shin’s concern about what was troubling Kang-jae, had quickly shifted to Shin lamenting his own woes. He’d complained about still being unmarried, his aging parents, and the impossibility of buying a house in Seoul on a government employee’s salary as prices continued to climb. He’d even shared the sad confession that he was losing hair on his crown. The topics of conversation had seemed endless.

“A man’s confidence comes from his crown, you know! Why is your hair still so thick?! It’s unfair!”

Investigator Shin’s slurred, almost drunken voice seemed to echo in Kang-jae’s ears.

Kang-jae shook his head as he moved toward the kitchen.

Having spent the evening listening to a one-sided rant, he hadn’t even gotten drunk himself, so he decided he needed to quench his thirst alone. After all, today was one of those days when he wanted to get drunk.

Kang-jae went to his refrigerator to take out a can of beer. As he opened the cold can in his hand, it let out a satisfying hiss of carbonation. Just as he was about to take a sip...

Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang unexpectedly. With an irritated expression, Kang-jae placed the beer on the kitchen counter. Even during the short walk to the front door, the doorbell rang incessantly.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

The rude visitor incessantly pressing the bell at this late hour could only be one person.

As expected, the moment he opened the door, he saw Sun-jae’s mother, Mi-ran. She barged in and, without warning, slapped him across the face. The loud sound echoed as Kang-jae’s head turned to the side. In an instant, a red handprint bloomed on his cheek.

“Mi-ran!”

“You’re not interested in the company yet? YET?”

Slapping him and firing accusations—she seemed to have heard about the day’s events from Sun-jae.

Her enraged demeanor was nothing new. Whenever Sun-jae’s position was threatened, this was her usual response. This wasn’t the first time Mi-ran had slapped him.

“You ungrateful brat! Who let you stay in this house after your mother abandoned you? It was me who kept you when your father wanted you gone! How dare you try to take someone else’s rightful place?! Sun-jae is the one doing all the hard work, and you, of all people, dare to challenge him?!”

It was absurd and laughable how furious she’d become over his simple statement of disinterest. I must really scare her.

Instead of getting angry, Kang-jae let out a derisive laugh. Mi-ran raised her hand again, but Kang-jae caught her wrist midair.

“Let go!” Her face twisted in pain as she struggled to free her tightly held wrist.

Kang-jae gripped her wrist as if he might break it and said, “Listen here. I will let it go today. Get out.”

“And if you don’t let it go?! What are you going to do?!”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll strangle you.”

As he took a step closer, still holding her wrist, Mi-ran instinctively stepped back. When he reached out with his free hand, her shoulders flinched in fear. Kang-jae then opened the door wide behind her and stepped back to create distance.

Mi-ran’s face turned bright red. “Y-you... How dare you?!”

“Unless you’re feeling nostalgic for guest-house life, don’t come back.”

Kang-jae released her wrist and pushed her out the door. Mi-ran stumbled back from the force as Kang-jae shut the door behind her. Ignoring the sharp yelling coming from outside, Kang-jae headed back to the kitchen.

“I want to go too. I want to follow Mom out of this house!”

He had been slapped back then too. On that day, he’d cried and clung to his mother, insisting he would follow her out of the house. His mother had slapped him, then looked at him with a face as though her world was collapsing.

However, she’d quickly steeled herself and said firmly, “Kang-jae, you stay in this house. No matter what happens, endure. That is my wish.”

For nearly twenty years, he had endured life in the annex, all because of that wish. He’d often thought he should have left with her back then. Then maybe she wouldn’t have faced death alone.

Rubbing his cheek belatedly, he picked up the can of beer he had opened earlier. He drank straight from the can, but after only a few gulps, he threw it into the sink.

The beer had already gone flat, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

＊ ＊ ＊

The next morning, Chairman Cha’s family gathered in the main house’s dining room for breakfast. The chairman insisted on everyone sitting together for breakfast every morning, claiming it was what made them a family.

“My dear chairman, you look so radiant today. No one would believe you’re over thirty!” Mi-ran cooed at Chairman Cha, who sat at the head of the table.

“That’s right. Father, your skin is absolutely glowing. If people didn’t know you, they would think you were Min-seo’s uncle, not grandfather!”

Sun-jae’s wife, Sae-ri, chimed in, unleashing her compliments in tandem with Mi-ran. It was clear that neither Mi-ran nor the rest of the family knew about the chairman’s illness.

Kang-jae, the only one at the table aware of the diagnosis, silently continued to eat, suppressing his amusement. To say that a man with a terminal diagnosis looked radiant...

Sometimes, real life was more comedic than a sitcom.

“My chairman—here, try this. The seasoning on this bulgogi is perfect.”

As the chairman scooped a spoonful of rice, Mi-ran placed a piece of beef bulgogi on top. Instead of eating, he shifted his gaze to somewhere across the table.

“Sun-jae. How do you even bring yourself to eat?” asked Chairman Cha.

Under the chairman’s disapproving glare, Sun-jae swallowed the food in his mouth without even chewing.

“How dare you eat when you’re not even worth the meal!”

The chairman’s sudden outburst made Sae-ri’s shoulders tremble. She whispered, “Mother.”

Mi-ran glanced cautiously at Chairman Cha before speaking. “Dear, why are you doing this at the breakfast table with your daughter-in-law present? If you want to scold him, you could do it later when—”

“He’s done nothing to deserve any more of my time. I’m so embarrassed that I can’t even show my face these days! You’ve raised an absolute idiot of a child! He has the audacity to eat food when he can’t even manage to secure a project that was basically a done deal!”

Chairman Cha, who had been pounding his chest as if to release his pent-up anger, began coughing violently. Kang-jae looked up at him.

“Oh dear. See?” Min-ran gazed at him in concern. “You get saliva stuck in your throat when you yell while you eat. Here, drink some water.”

Chairman Cha took a sip of water to soothe his throat and then let out a sigh. At the same time, he cast a brief glance toward Kang-jae and blinked, signaling for him to keep quiet.

“Ahem. Sun-jae, if it weren’t for your wife’s family, you’d already be out. Got it?”

“What’s gotten into you today?” Min-ran asked.

“And you too. He has his own child—stop protecting him. Unless you’re trying to raise a complete idiot.”

“What? When did I ever protect Sun-jae...?”

Ignoring Mi-ran’s protest, Chairman Cha pointed his finger at Kang-jae. “You, Kang-jae, stop dragging your feet and join the company. You grew up in my house and with my money, so you owe me that much.”

Chairman Cha spoke openly, showing no intention of hiding his thoughts from the gathered family. As soon as the words left his mouth, Mi-ran’s gaze shifted directly to Kang-jae. Sun-jae’s gaze also fixed on Kang-jae.

“I’ll think about it,” Kang-jae responded calmly, fully aware of their stares. The expressions of those hoping for Kang-jae’s firm refusal darkened instantly. But in Chairman Cha’s presence, they forced strained smiles.

It was quite a sight to behold.