Reason for Marriage

Chapter 28

Lies VS Lies

Ji-hee jumped in front of Sang-yeon’s car on his way home from work. It was a dangerous move that could almost cause an accident if he stepped on the brake a little late.

Nevertheless, Ji-hee got on the passenger seat of Sang-yeon’s car without a blink. Sang-yeon looked at her bewildered.

“What are you doing? The signal changed, step on it!”

Ji-hee ordered him, and Sang-yeon was forced to step on the accelerator.

The two had always been like this. Sang-yeon was behind the wheel, but Ji-hee was the one deciding where the car would go.

“You could have just died.”

“If I get hit and killed by your car, that’ll be pretty good, too.”

“Don’t joke around, I’m not in the mood.”

“I’m not joking though?”

“…”

“Let’s go to your house so we can talk.”

“If you have something to say, say it here.”

“You were too careless this time.”

“You chose someone we had never heard of as my collaborator without consulting me and I’m being careless?”

“I can’t help it either…”

“Every time, every time, every time! Why are you so helpless every time?!”

“Yeah, I was wrong about the collaboration. I admit it!”

Ji-hee decided to hide James Jung’s identity from Sang-yeon.

“But… you want to get rid of the VIP invitations. What nonsense is that?”

“If you want to see a performance, it’s natural to come and pay for it.”

“Okay, then I’ll buy the tickets with my own money and gift them.”

“President Seo!”

“What, Park Sang-yeon!”

“Get off here.”

“Don’t you regret it?”

“Huh.”

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

“…”

“It’s not something to do at a time when you’ve turned everything upside down.”

“It’s been a while since you’ve been disqualified to talk about these issues.”

“Don’t be mistaken, I’m talking as your manager right now. And I can’t get off here. We still have a long contract period left, so you do what I tell you to do. The Medici Korea Association awards ceremony is next week. Don’t think about missing out and attend.”

Medici Korea Association. It was a cultural and artistic sponsorship organization named after Cosimo de Medici, a banker and political ruler of the Republic of Florence during the Italian Renaissance and a sponsor of culture and arts.

It was a non-profit corporation established to contribute to the balanced development of Korea’s economy, culture and arts, and was one of the best cultural and artistic sponsors in Korea.

But it was also a group that shared the most elegant way of legally evading taxes under the pretext of cultural contribution projects such as alliances between large companies and art organizations with art support matching funds.

In his inauguration speech last year, the newly appointed chairman of the association encouraged the association members by saying that culture and arts should be exempted from the Kim Young-ran Act, and in fact that made the Ministry of Finance announce the revision of the tax law follow-up enforcement ordinance.

If it was for their own benefit, it was just a matter of pushing for legislative amendments.

“I’ll think about it.”

Sang-yeon was even more hesitant because Hyunkyung Group Chairman Min, Seoul Mayor Yoo Kyung-deok, and the President of Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra Kwon Seok-dong, who wanted to sign a secret, dirty agreement together, were also members of Medici Korea Association.

“Galileo flattered the moons orbiting Jupiter, calling them ‘Medici stars’. But who would denigrate Galileo’s achievements? No one. Think not of you, but of the staff under you. Even if the orchestra is handed over to Hyunkyung Group, you can only protect its members if you are the chief conductor. There’s no other chance than this award ceremony.”

Sang-yeon only listened to Ji-hee without saying a word. At first glance, Ji-hee seemed to have persuaded Sang-yeon, but in fact, Ji-hee was most afraid when Sang-yeon was quiet like a gentle sheep.

“Don’t think, don’t think. I’ll take care of it, so you just…”

“Okay, I’ll do what you want. But I can’t take you home.”

“Then drop me off there.”

Sang-yeon’s car stopped in front of a taxi stand. Ji-hee got off and Sang-yeon’s car left.

‘If we’re done, it will be because I leave you first. You can never abandon me first, Park Sang-yeon.’

Ji-hee muttered like this in her heart, but for some reason, she could not erase the feeling that she was abandoned first. The feeling was so intense that she felt the urge to jump into the running car again, but Ji-hee soon raised her hand and shouted in a cheerful voice.

“Taxi!”

A new car stopped in front of her.

* * *

Sang-yeon was in a hurry to leave Ji-hee on the road. He did not know how many red lights he ran because he thought he had to go home as soon as possible to keep Minju in his sight.

When he finally arrived, the house was dark and quiet with all lights and sounds off. He could not hear the sound of knives on the cutting board coming from the busy kitchen for dinner, nor the clatter of the bowl and the sound of water in the sink. There was no savory smell from boiling stew and freshly cooked rice.

Above all, there was no Minju running out to greet him with a smile.

Indeed, Sang-yeon’s heart suddenly sank in a desolation that he had not felt in a long time.

“Minju-ssi! Minju-ssi!”

Sang-yeon ran around the vast house and called Minju’s name. Anxious, he opened the doors of all the rooms and checked, but could not find her.

The car was still in the garage. Where did she go? Did she run away?

Sang-yeon called Minju. Then he stood still and waited for the phone to ring.

Second floor! He heard a phone ringing from the bedroom on the second floor. Sang-yeon ran to the second floor, climbing the stairs two at a time. Minju’s cell phone was ringing in the bathroom located deep inside the room with the lights off.

Sang-yeon suddenly opened the bathroom door. Minju was submerged in a bathtub filled with water. There were no air bubbles and no movement on the surface showing that she was breathing.

“Hye-ryeong-ah!”

Sang-yeon, whose face turned white, hugged Minju and rescued her out of the water. At that moment, Minju opened her eyes wide.

“Are you surprised?”

She laughed as she let out her breath that she had been holding back.

“Don’t do this kind of joke from now on.”

“Why? It’s not fun? You must have been really surprised to find out I was dead.”

Sang-yeon wiped the water from his coat without saying a word.

“By the way, who is Hye-ryeong?”

Minju lost her smile and asked coldly. She had finally remembered that Sang-yeon had called her Hye-ryeong on the day she met Yurim in the hallway of the music school.

“What do you mean Hye-ryeong?”

“You just called me Hye-ryeong-ah!”

“You must have heard wrong…”

“Okay, maybe I heard it wrong.”

Like a cat that hid its claws, Minju lowered her body and walked out of the water to wear a shower gown.

Sang-yeon was very nervous about Minju’s changed attitude. While thinking about whether it would be better to make an excuse or not, Minju left the bathroom first.

‘Damn. I happened to make such a mistake at that time.’

Sang-yeon, who made a momentary slip of the tongue as he remembered when Hye-ryeong tried to commit suicide in the bathtub, sighed as he looked at the closed door of the bathroom.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Minju muttered quietly, tying the waistband of her shower gown.

‘Sang-yeon, I don’t know how long you’re going to think of me as a fool, but today I’m ignoring you even though I know. I don’t think it’s time yet.’

A high and hard wall was built between the two.

Curry rice was served on the table for dinner. It was a simple meal with spicy and strong-tasting curry and fresh kimchi.

“How was your day today?”

It was the first words of Sang-yeon that broke the silence of the quiet meal.

Minju did not know whether it was the husband’s warm interest in his wife, who had been home alone all day, or the husband’s desire to monitor and control his wife.

“Well… I played the piano a little bit. But something happened, so I couldn’t finish.”

“What happened?”

‘I found Jerry’s body in the garden that you had secretly killed and buried.’

“I don’t really remember. I suddenly got up to boil water to make coffee or probably went to the bathroom. I thought playing the piano again would be too much. Maybe because I’m getting older, I can’t concentrate well. I think my fingers are a bit stiff too.”

‘Lies, you are lying right now. It’s all over your face.’

“Oh, right. Didn’t the police call you? To tell you if they had found my check, my bag or my ID.”

“They called once. Didn’t I tell you?”

‘What? They called? The police didn’t know you existed at all. You’re just lying, Sang-yeon.’

“No, you didn’t.”

“You must have forgotten because you were busy.”

“What did they say?”

“They said they haven’t found anything. Apparently, they don’t have the will to investigate… Just forget about it, it’s not worth it.”

“I’ll do that. Because I got you instead of my lost bag.”

‘You got me instead of a bag? Minju, did you find out something? Hmm?’

Sang-yeon swallowed what he could not say and put his spoon down.

“Thank you for the curry.”

Minju was also thinking of asking more about the whereabouts of the letter that had not been delivered to President Kang, but decided to end it here today.

“Thank you for always eating well.”

The words exchanged at the end were sincere, but there were so many lies exchanged before that the meaning was overshadowed.

“I’m a little tired today. I’m falling asleep.”

“You’ve washed up, so go in and rest right away. I’ll clean up.”

“Will you do that? Then please do me this favor.”

Sang-yeon looked apologetic and went up to the second floor.

Minju also quickly finished washing the dishes and followed him to the bedroom on the second floor. She could hear Sang-yeon’s snoring from the hallway.

Minju snorted as if to laugh at Sang-yeon, who was lying down in a deep sleep. Then, suddenly, she slapped Sang-yeon’s cheek so hard that it made a slap sound with her palm. She repeatedly raised Sang-yeon’s arm several times as well.

Sang-yeon’s arm fell helplessly like the body of a dead person.

Minju, who confirmed that he was sound asleep, texted someone on her phone.

I’ll send you the address. Let’s meet there.

Three hours ago, Dr. Kim had called Minju, who had arrived home a little earlier than Sang-yeon by a short margin.

“I got the note from the nurse. There are side effects of the medicine you take?”

“No, it’s not because of the medicine, but I have a question about him. It’s hard to talk on the phone right now. He’ll be home soon.”

“Then, shall we meet later at night?”

“I’ll text you depending on the situation.”

Minju planned to secretly go out to meet Dr. Kim.

‘Yes, sleeping pills! I had sleeping pills! A blue round pill that the nurse told me about the other day. Let’s feed it to Sang-yeon.’

She opened all the remaining medicine bags to collect blue round pills. Then she ground them finely and put them in the curry for Sang-yeon. She did so because she thought that curry’s strong spices were the best to cover the bitter taste of the medicine.

Without knowing that, Sang-yeon fell asleep after eating the curry made by Minju.

Minju hurried to prepare for going out.