TCBD 2

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People were whispering in front of the bridal waiting room.

“Is the bride not ready yet?”

“The groom and his mother aren’t even with the groom’s side.”

Outside the wedding hall, many important people from politics had gathered.

There were famous politicians and many people who wanted to meet Jin Su-seong, who was considered a possible future presidential candidate.

Then, those people started gathering in front of the bridal waiting room.

Everyone was curious about who the daughter-in-law of Jin Su-seong, one of the most powerful politicians in the country, was.

“I heard she’s from an ordinary family.”

“I heard her father was a construction worker. Apparently, his health isn’t good either.”

“I heard Jin Su-seong’s side is paying for all of his medical and surgery costs.”

“As expected, Congressman Jin is different from other politicians.”

People continued talking out of curiosity.

Then—

A loud voice suddenly came from inside the bridal waiting room.

“You’re saying you don’t want to get married?! Are you crazy?!”

The voice was clearly Dong-chan’s.

Everyone immediately looked toward the door.

And then—

Bang!

The door opened.

The bride wearing a pure white wedding dress rushed out.

Dong-chan shouted at the bride who had just left the room.

“Woo Seol-hee! Are you crazy?”

In-ok quickly grabbed Seol-hee’s hand.

“Please, son. Calm down. And Seol-hee, don’t do this. It’s normal to feel nervous before a wedding. But that feeling will pass. Don’t regret this later. Listen to your mother. Let’s have the wedding first, then we can talk calmly. You trust me, right?”

Seol-hee took a deep breath.

She was sick of hearing the word “mother.”

Just hearing it made her feel sick.

“Who is your mother?”

“Huh…?”

The innocent twenty-four-year-old Seol-hee who had once been desperately lonely was gone.

Only the new Woo Seol-hee remained.

She had been through ten years of suffering, countless hardships, and even death and returning to the past.

Not this time.

“Did you give birth to me?”

In-ok’s face immediately became confused.

Seol-hee pulled her hand away.

In-ok almost lost her balance.

“Mom!”

Dong-chan quickly supported his mother.

“How dare you…”

Dong-chan angrily looked at Seol-hee.

Seol-hee walked straight toward him.

Her serious eyes made Dong-chan’s shoulders shake slightly.

Seol-hee searched through her memories.

The woman Jin Dong-chan met soon after our wedding… Was her name Ryu Areum?

Among all the women Dong-chan had been with, Ryu Areum was the most special.

Dong-chan was a womanizer, but he had been so obsessed with Areum that he even became tired of women for a while afterward.

Seol-hee could not talk about the scapegoat ritual yet.

That had not happened yet.

She needed a good reason to cancel the wedding.

Seol-hee narrowed her eyes.

“You were sponsoring her.”

Dong-chan’s eyes shook.

A moment ago, he looked like he wanted to kill Seol-hee.

Now his face had changed.

Seol-hee continued.

“…I heard that woman is only twenty years old. You’re eight years older than her. Didn’t you leave your conscience at your mother’s house?”

Dong-chan’s face turned pale.

His expression clearly said:

How did she know?

Of course, I didn’t know this at the wedding.

If Seol-hee had known this back then, she would never have entered the wedding hall.

She only discovered it after getting married.

“So, that’s….”

Seol-hee suddenly raised one hand as if she were going to hit him.

Dong-chan stepped backward.

Then he tripped over his own foot and fell.

His weak legs were still useless even ten years ago.

Even though he was such a terrible man, he acted shamelessly just because he was a man.

“You’re not even worth hitting.”

Seol-hee gave him a short, mocking laugh and turned away.

Behind her, In-ok shouted angrily.

“There is a limit to embarrassing your family! Stop right there!”

Seol-hee did not stop.

“I’m not stopping, ma’am.”

She walked straight into the crowd.

People began whispering.

The sound of phone cameras taking pictures continued nonstop.

“Hey, Woo Seol-hee! If we catch you—Aah!”

Dong-chan tried to push through the crowd.

Suddenly, he fell forward.

Thud!

Seol-hee looked back from the exit.

In-ok ran toward her fallen son and screamed as if she had lost everything.

“Oh my goodness! My son!”

Ignoring In-ok’s crying voice behind her, Seol-hee walked outside.

It was the end of summer.

She ran without looking back.

She ran until she was out of breath, with sunlight shining through the green leaves.

She ran as if she needed to make sure she was truly alive.

She did not notice that someone was watching her.

A little earlier—

“This is seriously entertaining.”

Dong-chan’s friends had been watching the scene in front of the bridal waiting room with great interest.

“Looks like Dong-chan got caught seeing Areum.”

“He almost managed to hide it. What an idiot.”

The men laughed.

Then a cold shadow fell over them.

“What are you talking about?”

A low voice made all of them turn around.

Do Yi-hyeok stood there.

He was at least a head taller than them.

He looked down at them with calm eyes.

They immediately became nervous.

Whenever they stood in front of Yi-hyeok, they naturally became quiet.

It had always been like this since they were young.

Even though they were the same age, Yi-hyeok had a completely different presence.

It was difficult to even casually talk to him.

As the son of a respected political family, he naturally carried a strong sense of dignity.

One of the men awkwardly spoke.

“You wouldn’t know because you were overseas. Dong-chan has been sponsoring a woman.”

The man lowered his voice and moved closer to Yi-hyeok.

“Her name is Ryu Areum. She’s a new actress who is becoming popular. She appeared in a coffee commercial for Gayoon Foods.”

“Dong-chan is completely obsessed with her.”

“He says they are a perfect match.”

“Dong-chan and his mother are both crazy about shamanism. His mother even found him a mistress after checking their fortunes. I’m jealous.”

Yi-hyeok looked at him coldly.

The man’s body became tense.

It felt as if a sharp knife were against his neck.

Everyone immediately stopped talking.

At that moment, In-ok shouted loudly from the bridal waiting room.

“There is a limit to embarrassing your family! Stop right there!”

The bride in the white wedding dress passed directly in front of them.

Click, click.

Her wedding shoes made light sounds against the marble floor as she walked through the crowd.

Yi-hyeok’s eyes stopped on the woman passing in front of him.

There was a smile on her face.

It showed both freedom and excitement.

That smile caught his attention for a long time.

Yi-hyeok narrowed his eyes slightly.

Even after she completely disappeared into the crowd, his eyes remained in that direction.

“Hey, Woo Seol-hee! If I catch you…”

That was when it happened.

Dong-chan was about to chase after Seol-hee.

Suddenly, his body leaned forward.

Thud!

He fell hard onto the floor.

It looked like he had hit his forehead badly.

“Son!”

In-ok rushed toward him.

Dong-chan held his forehead and knee as he rolled around on the floor.

Someone in the crowd quietly whispered while looking at Yi-hyeok.

“Hey, didn’t Do Yi-hyeok just trip Jin Dong-chan?”

“Yi-hyeok? What nonsense. They’re not children. Why would he do something so childish?”

“No… I’m sure I saw it.”

The suspicious eyes of the man landed on Yi-hyeok’s emotionless face.

As Yi-hyeok walked away, the man kept looking at his back and shaking his head.

“I’M BACK!”

Seol-hee shouted toward the Han River while holding her wedding shoes in both hands.

She had run all the way to Mapo Bridge without stopping.

She was completely out of breath, and her throat hurt.

But she didn’t care.

The wind made goosebumps appear on her skin.

She wiped her runny nose with the back of her hand.

When she looked at the setting sun, she felt emotional.

If she had not been wearing her wedding dress, she might not have believed that she had really returned ten years into the past.

She looked down at her bare feet.

Her feet were hot from running.

She smiled like a crazy person.

She had so many questions.

How did I come back?

Why did I come back?

But for now, she was simply happy that she was alive and had returned.

“Ha… Now I can change everything.”

She wanted to live a real life without being connected to the Jin family.

But then—

The bright orange light of the sunset disappeared from her face.

Her expression became dark.

“They won’t give up so easily.”

In-ok and Dong-chan were not easy people to deal with.

They would do anything to get what they wanted.

After living with them for ten years, Seol-hee knew one thing very well:

You should never make them your enemies.

That was also one reason she had found it difficult to get divorced.

But she could not live like that anymore.

Not after losing her child.

Maybe it was because of the cold wind from the river.

Or maybe because she missed the child she had lost.

Her eyes became wet.

She had once been so happy about the idea of having a family she could truly love.

That was why losing her baby had hurt even more.

Having no family member in the world who shared her blood had always left a huge emptiness in her heart.

Suddenly, she thought of her father.

Her only true supporter.

“Dad… I miss you.”

Her words disappeared into the wind.

Then Seol-hee’s eyes suddenly opened wide.

“Dad…!”

She had forgotten.

“Ten years ago, Dad was still alive!”

She had been so focused on escaping the wedding that she had forgotten about her father.

Seol-hee started stamping her feet excitedly.

Since she had canceled the wedding, her father should be heading home around now.

“I need to go home… I have to go home.”

There had been so many nights when she had wished she could see her father just one more time.

She had even prayed for him to appear in her dreams.

Now she desperately wanted to see him.

“A taxi… I need to take a taxi.”

Then she realized something.

She had no money.

She had left her clothes and handbag with one of In-ok’s assistants.

How long would it take to walk home?

And to make things worse, after all the excitement had worn off, her body suddenly felt very cold.

She looked down at her dress.

Why is the chest area of this dress so open?

She became even more annoyed at In-ok, who had happily dressed her up like a doll in a wedding dress that Seol-hee did not even like.

“Ugh… I’m cold.”

Ring—

Just then, a group of young students stopped their bicycles in front of her.

Maybe they were curious because a woman wearing a wedding dress was standing alone on the bridge.

Seol-hee became nervous, wondering if they were looking for trouble.

But instead, a surprisingly kind voice came from them.

“Miss, are you okay?”

“…M-Miss?”