I. The Chairman's Fury
The Taewon Tower ballroom was quickly sanitized. The acid attack was contained, the operatives detained, and the crowd dismissed with furious precision. The cover story was a "financially motivated terror attack."
In the concealed command center, Kim Taehyung was a portrait of cold, controlled rage. He had failed to capture Seok-jin, but he had confirmed the depth of the betrayal.
"The operatives—who are they?" Taehyung demanded, looking at the security feed of the captured men.
Joon, the security consultant, shook his head, his face grim. "Untraceable, Chairman. Paid mercenaries, likely sourced from offshore. They have no direct ties to Seok-jin. He's cleaned his paper trail completely."
Taehyung clenched his jaw. "He attacked the painting to stop her memory from returning. He exposed her to drive her mad. He didn't want the Vow to be acknowledged. He is not fighting for the company; he is fighting for the total erasure of our past."
His immediate command was simple and brutal: "Shut down the Crimson Vow Foundation. The painting is to be moved back to the private residence. And Ha-eun is to be kept completely offline. No more public appearances. The threat is too direct."
Taehyung left the Tower, the taste of defeat bitter in his mouth. He had won the throne, but he was losing the war.
II. The Silent Patient
Back at the residence, the crisis had completely broken Min-soo's fragile composure. She was now locked in her room, curled up, staring blankly ahead. The accusation—"She is the ghost of our stepmother's betrayal!"—had lodged itself deep in her amnesia-plagued mind.
When Taehyung entered, he found her silent and unresponsive.
"Ha-eun," he said, using her name deliberately, kneeling beside her. "You need to fight this. He's lying. He's twisting the truth to hurt you."
She looked at him, her eyes wide with terror. "But what if he isn't? What if I am the monster? I don't remember the betrayal, Taehyung, but I feel the guilt."
Taehyung reached out, his hand hovering near her face. He desperately wanted to comfort her, to tell her the whole truth of the real broken vow, but the fear that the memory would crush her again stopped him. He pulled his hand back, maintaining his cruel distance.
"You will stay here," he said, his voice hard. "You will paint. You will stay silent. That is your only duty now."
He left, the silence of the luxurious wing a heavy weight of guilt on his shoulders. He was locking her away for her own safety, but the isolation was destroying her mind.
III. Seok-jin's Calculated Strike
Two hours later, as the Taewon Tower stock markets prepared to open, the true purpose of Seok-jin's chaotic appearance became devastatingly clear.
Taehyung received an urgent call from Joon. "Chairman, it's a disaster. A major exposé just hit every news outlet. It's not about the attack; it's about the Red Scarf's artist."
The exposé, elegantly written and perfectly timed, didn't mention Ha-eun by name, but it detailed the 'mystery artist' as a woman with a 'traumatic past and uncertain identity', currently residing in the Chairman's private residence. It then focused on the acid attack, not as a terror act, but as proof that the Chairman was 'harbouring a disturbed individual' whose art was a 'dangerous, personal confession'.
The final blow was a leaked, candid photograph of Taehyung comforting Min-soo in the dark ballroom—a raw, emotional moment that shattered the Chairman's image of aloof, corporate perfection.
The article concluded with a chilling line, subtly referencing the family's betrayal: "The Chairmanship may have been cleansed, but the sins of the family are merely being rewritten. The public deserves to know the true identity of the woman the Chairman is so desperately trying to protect."
Seok-jin hadn't attacked the company; he had attacked the Chairman's credibility and the woman's sanity. He had forced the truth to leak, turning Taehyung's protective silence into a political weakness.
Taehyung looked at the picture on his tablet: the public image of the Chairman protecting a 'disturbed woman' in the dark. He had a choice: admit the truth and risk the company's collapse, or maintain the lie and sacrifice Ha-eun's sanity and safety.
The war had just become intensely personal, and Seok-jin was winning the psychological battle.