The rain fell hard over Seoul, drumming against glass towers and neon lit streets.Inside the twenty ninth floor of J&K Holdings, silence reigned. Only the rhythmic click of Kang Joon hyuk's pen broke the stillness.
He sat behind a glass desk that reflected the skyline precise, immaculate, like the man himself. Every movement was deliberate. Every glance sharp enough to cut through lies.
And across from him, Han Seo jin sat frozen.
Her hands trembled around the envelope she held.Her father's debt summary stared back at her in brutal red ink ₩530 million.
She looked up at him. "You're saying you'll clear all of this… if I agree to your deal?"
Joon-hyuk's dark eyes didn't waver. "Yes, Six months. You play your role, I keep my promise."
"Role?" Her voice cracked slightly. "As what, exactly?"
He leaned forward, the faintest ghost of a smirk touching his lips. "My fiancée."
The word hit her like a physical blow.Outside, lightning flashed against the windows, illuminating his face too perfect, too controlled, too dangerous.
"I don't understand," she whispered. "You could hire anyone. Why me?"
Joon-hyuk rose, walked toward her, and stopped close enough that she could feel the cold precision radiating from him. "Because I don't trust anyone," he said quietly. "And because your name came across my desk at the right time."
He handed her a contract twelve pages, stamped with J&K Holdings' insignia. Legal, Binding, Unforgiving.At the bottom was a blank line waiting for her signature.
Han Seo-jin had spent months running from humiliation selling sketches online, skipping meals to pay her sister's hospital bills, pretending she was fine. Now, here was salvation, Cold, Expensive. And wearing a suit worth more than her apartment.
She stared at the paper. "Why would a CEO fake an engagement?"
Joon-hyuk turned away, staring out the rain slick city. "Let's just say, the board likes their leaders… stable. Family oriented. A fiancée ensures stability."
"That's it?" she asked. "You need a prop?"
His jaw tightened. "A shield," he corrected. "From people who would destroy me."
She bit her lip. "And what if I say no?"
He looked over his shoulder, eyes unreadable. "Then your father's debts remain unpaid. Your sister's treatment stops. And you can explain to the bank why your family home will be auctioned next week."
Her throat constricted. "You did your research."
"I always do."
The silence that followed was suffocating. The hum of the city felt distant, swallowed by the weight of what he was offering and what it would cost her.
Seo-jin's hand hovered over the contract. Her pulse thundered."Six months," she whispered."Six months," he confirmed.
She signed.
The instant her pen touched the paper, something shifted in Joon-hyuk's eyes. Relief? No something colder. A flicker of satisfaction, like a chess master watching his opponent make the inevitable move.
He extended his hand. "Welcome to the deal, Miss Han."
When she took it, his grip was firm, steady too steady. Her heart stuttered with unease.
"Your new life begins tomorrow," he said, retrieving the papers. "You'll move into my penthouse. There will be rules."
"Rules?" she repeated.
"You'll find them in the final envelope."
He placed a sealed black envelope on the desk her name scrawled in elegant silver ink.And as she reached for it, a voice broke the tension.
"Are you sure about this, Joon-hyuk?"A man appeared at the doorway Park Do-yoon, tall, composed, but with eyes that flickered between pity and warning.
"This isn't business anymore," he said quietly. "You're playing with fire."
Joon-hyuk didn't look back. "Sometimes, Do-yoon… fire is the only way to purify what's been corrupted."
Seo-jin clutched the envelope, her pulse pounding.
She didn't know it yet, but the deal she had just signed was never about money.It was about revenge.And she had just become the center of a game that began long before she even walked into that room.
Outside, thunder cracked.Inside, Kang Joon-hyuk's expression darkened as though he could already see how the story would end.