Chapter 38
Chairman Han silently looked at Kang Moon, who was glaring at him with flashing eyes.
“Even if that’s true, nothing changes. I am the eldest son of this family! Han Kang Yoon is the second son. That’s how we’ve lived our whole lives, and that’s how it will remain. I would rather die than see that bastard act as the eldest son. Remember that.”
“Kang Moon!”
Jin Hyun-sook rushed out of the room, her face soaked with tears, and began pounding on Kang Moon’s chest.
“Kang Moon… come to your senses. Please! Please….”
“…You must be happy, Mother. The troublesome son you never liked isn’t your real son after all. And that talented, perfect Kang Yoon is your biological son? You must feel like dancing with joy right now. I should be the one who dies! I should disappear somewhere so you can live happily with Kang Yoon! It must be such a shame that I’m still here.”
“Han Kang Moon!”
“But remember this, Mother. I will never share anything with Han Kang Yoon. Now that it’s come to this, I’ll take everything he has. If he doesn’t want it taken, let him try and stop me. Ah, maybe I should start with what he cherishes most. For example… Yoon Bora.”
“Han Kang Moon!”
Slap.
It was the first time.
The first time Jin Hyun-sook had ever struck Kang Moon.
He froze for a moment, then slowly raised his head after being hit.
“What kind of way is that to speak? How did you become like this? Just because Kang Yoon is my biological son doesn’t mean you’re not my son. For thirty-six years, I lived only for you. You were my life. My everything!”
“Yes… and that’s why you’re so angry now, right? Because those thirty-six years feel unfair. I know. I know everything. How much you compared me to Kang Yoon since we were children. You never said it out loud, but I knew you wished I were Kang Yoon instead. I knew you were disappointed.”
Kang Moon rubbed his swollen cheek several times and headed toward the entrance.
“Anyway, don’t touch me. Not before I completely lose control.”
After he left, the sound of his car faded into the distance. Chairman Han and Jin Hyun-sook stood there blankly.
Kang Moon’s final words felt like a dark seed spreading ominously through the house.
Kang Yoon’s surgery lasted a full sixteen hours.
Bora clasped her hands together and cried and prayed the entire time.
Team Leader Choi anxiously questioned every doctor in the hospital and busily made phone calls.
When the operating room doors finally opened and the doctors came out, Team Leader Choi rushed over to speak with them.
Bora quietly watched, then asked him as he approached her.
“How did it go? What did the doctor say?”
“Fortunately… he survived.”
“Haa…”
At those words, the tension left Bora’s body and she collapsed onto the floor.
“He has multiple fractures and internal organ damage, but the surgery itself was successful. However, even though he fell onto sand, there could still be brain damage… We’ll have to wait and see after he wakes up.”
“…Make sure he recovers. If he doesn’t return to normal somehow… I’ll take revenge on you and your family more cruelly than Han Kang Moon ever could.”
“I understand. Madam, I will… stake my life… to ensure the CEO recovers. Once again, I’m truly sorry….”
Whether he truly regretted his crime or was just afraid of prison, she didn’t know. But for now, the only person she could rely on was Team Leader Choi.
“They’re moving him to a VIP room. First, you need to register as family to be allowed to stay as his guardian.”
After registering and learning the basic rules, Bora finally entered Kang Yoon’s hospital room.
“Kang Yoon….”
On the bed lay a large figure wrapped in bandages from face to body, almost unrecognizable.
Various IV lines filled with medication were stuck into his arm. Just looking at him was painful.
“Sniff… Kang Yoon… I’m here… It’s Bora… your wife… I’m here….”
Watching the heart monitor drawing mountain-like waves, Bora burst into tears again.
“Kang Yoon… it must hurt… it must hurt so much… Even for you… this must hurt too much… What do I do…?”
After crying for a long time while staring at him like a mummy, Bora called Korea.
“Mother, it’s Bora.”
[Yes! Bora, what happened? How is he? How is Kang Yoon?]
Jin Hyun-sook’s desperate voice came through the phone.
“Kang Yoon… fell. Thankfully he didn’t hit the ground directly but landed on sand, so he survived… But… he looks like he’s in so much pain… Mother… what if he can’t wake up…?”
Hearing her voice made Bora cry even harder.
[Bora… stay by his side, okay? I’ll do everything I can from here. Call me anytime if you need anything. And update me on his condition every day. Understood?]
“Sniff… yes… I understand….”
After crying for a while longer, Bora ended the call and wiped her tears before sitting beside Kang Yoon’s bed.
“Kang Yoon… you know, I have so much to tell you.”
Could he hear her?
She looked at his large, motionless body, breathing faintly, and carefully took his hand.
“Kang Yoon, you said our marriage was a perfect contract.”
The time they had spent together—so thrilling and happy for something called a contract—flashed before her eyes.
“You always said ‘contract, contract’… but in truth, you were far too kind to me. Even if it started as a contract, being your wife made me so happy.”
As if he could hear her, Bora whispered every word sincerely.
“And the thing you really wanted to know? I found it out. I did well, didn’t I? I told you to trust me. I said I’d be worth the money. You really made the right bet on me.”
She gently stroked his tightly bandaged face, her heart aching.
“Ah, seriously… this handsome face… wrapped up like this… only your nostrils are showing. But even your nostrils are handsome. Whose husband is this good-looking, even down to his nostrils?”
A faint smile appeared on her lips as she playfully tapped his nose.
“The mysterious secret is… you’re actually the true legitimate heir of Kangsan Group. Amazing, right? I always thought your genes were way too superior compared to Han Kang Moon. Your noble aura matches Mother perfectly.”
She nodded, thinking of the ever-elegant Jin Hyun-sook.
“And Han Kang Moon… he’s the shaman’s son. That shaman held a grudge because your father abandoned her and cast a curse. Grandfather believed your father died in a car accident because of that curse….”
Bora let out a long sigh.
If only Chairman Han had been stronger back then.
If he hadn’t been swayed by superstition, would Kang Yoon’s life have been different?
“So according to Ahn Ji-hye’s dying wish, you and Han Kang Moon were switched. Mother didn’t even know and raised Han Kang Moon as her own son. It’s like some ridiculous soap opera. No—if someone wrote this as a drama, they’d get criticized.”
Bora shook her head and looked at Kang Yoon, still unmoving.
“Anyway, we’ll talk about that after you wake up. What I really want to ask is this.”
Outside the large window, neon lights glittered across Dubai’s dazzling night.
“Han Kang Yoon. As your contract wife, let me ask you.”
Her tearful voice trembled.
“Can love also be written into a contract?”
