episode_0067

A face flushed so red that heavy makeup would be useless.

Looking closely, her red lips trembled slightly, and her tied-up ponytail swayed from side to side in sync with that tremor.

‘…Did she get hit by a car on the way here?’

It was as incomprehensible as a boxer getting his jaw hit and his brain rattled.

Because that statement just now, if it were the Ahn Hayul I knew, she would never have uttered it even if her mouth were to tear.

The person named Ahn Hayul, whom I had figured out from just one encounter, possessed a business acumen closer to my father-in-law’s than my quiet housewife mother-in-law’s.

Even if, as a fellow woman, she might feel sensitive towards my mother, she was definitely not the kind of person to spout such absurd nonsense.

In the past, Cha Doyeon, who wouldn’t stop at anything for women, had crawled subserviently before that icy charisma.

Likewise, even I, who would throw wads of cash at any woman, quickly stamped the divorce papers and broke up with her for a reason.

Because Ahn Hayul was scary.

Because she was definitely not the type of person to deal with a scoundrel like me.

However, a variable appeared right before my eyes.

Something happened that would only occur if the Earth’s rotation direction changed.

Therefore, the conclusion I reached was this:

“You… did you eat something wrong? Were you lonely for a man and read stimulating erotic novels all night?”

“Kuh-euk!?”

It was a sincere worry, but the color on her face became twice as red.

I didn’t intend to tease her, but upon hearing such words from me, her eyes conveyed that she was dying of shame.

She puffed up to the point of bursting like a balloon. She clamped her mouth shut as if I had just provoked her one more time.

“I thought about it rationally, you idiot!”

“How can thinking rationally lead to such a conclusion…?

You saying you’ll deal with it instead of my mother-in-law, how preposterous is that?”

My wife stepping in instead.

It was a statement more horrifying than incest.

“Ha… damn it, that’s all because of you!”

Ahn Hayul, immediately blaming me.

I gulped down cold water to calm my stomach.

Tuk, tuk!

As if that wasn’t enough, she even took off her outer suit jacket.

Immediately, she quickly unbuttoned several of the upper buttons of her dress shirt, making her chest, which resembled her mother’s, flutter.

“Haah….”

“…….”

An action to calm her agitated mind.

Because of this, a clear mole was visible on the upper part of Ahn Hayul’s chest.

I glanced at that rather ample charming spot, and when our eyes met, I rolled my eyes away as if I hadn’t seen it.

“Listen carefully… I also, in my own way, devised a measure for you to give up appropriately.”

Hoo, she sighed again, then,

“Think about it. Frankly, the only area you’re interested in is women, isn’t it?”

“So?”

Since I didn’t deny it for even a second, she glared at me as if that, in itself, infuriated her, then,

“If it were the past you, you would have offered money without any complications.

No doubt, you would have pulled out every penny you had, inserted it into women’s bosoms, drank expensive alcohol, and wasted it all trying to show off.”

Ahn Hayul, rambling on and evaluating my past self.

From the position of knowing my entire past, she looked down on me completely, then belatedly added the latter part of her sentence.

“……However, it’s different now.”

Her mouth closed shut as if her eyelids were slowly closing.

She stared at my face as if a fortune teller had possessed her and was reading my physiognomy.

She meticulously examined me as if to see if anything had changed if she looked again, then lowered her eyes as if giving up.

“Now, you just sit around, and your investments are in the trillions, and I even hear news that you’re inversely acquiring Hwaryeong affiliates.

For someone like you… whose overflowing company value is skyrocketing, naturally, you wouldn’t be interested in petty cash for drinks, would you?”

I shrugged my shoulders and agreed to that.

“You know me well.”

“So, I thought of just throwing women at you haphazardly… but surprisingly, you didn’t even fall for that?”

“Ah, that….

Ha… I thought I kept getting random calls from bars, so it was you.”

Women from a bar I used to frequent, who I had filled their pockets a few times, contacted me.

I thought they were calling because they missed me after I stopped giving them money, but now I see they must have been calls received under orders.

Indeed, it’s been nearly half a year since I last drank, so I must have been removed from the client list a long time ago, and now I don’t have time for this or that because I’m busy taking care of those around me.

Women who simply fill my glass are outside my interest.

“Yes, they say you don’t even go to bars themselves recently?

You also seem to be dabbling in the entertainment industry as part of your business, but even looking deeply, there are no major scandals.”

“You really dug until dust came out.”

At that, she twitched her eyebrows unhappily,

“That’s the biggest problem.

Clearly, if it were the old you, there should be a pile of dust by now… but only tiny clumps of dust come out. Now you even know how to hide your claws?”

No matter how much she considered it, she insisted that I was different from before.

Since the puzzle pieces didn’t fit together as she intended, Ahn Hayul repeatedly expressed doubts about my identity.

Feeling uncomfortable with her gaze constantly trying to dig deeper, I flapped my hand to change the subject.

“That’s enough.

Let’s just say I’ve turned over a new leaf regarding the past. More importantly, why do you reach such a conclusion? Why you?”

“Didn’t you listen to me properly?

The problem is that you’re only interested in women. If you have a lot of money but don’t go to bars, then you won’t be interested in bar girls anymore, so then, inevitably—”

She hesitated, then with a face flushed red again like a hotplate,

“I, I have no choice but to step in….”

“…….”

Why would she come to that conclusion?

Even after hearing her explanation, I couldn’t understand.

The Ahn Hayul I knew would have made a realistic and cold proposal.

However, upon reflection, there really isn’t any room for her to dig into me right now.

Because all my interests were in women who satisfied me.

I participated in the management rights war solely for my mother and cute sisters, I groveled and courted my mother-in-law, and if there was any charming woman around whom I wanted to have, I seduced them with money.

I only put effort into women I wanted to possess.

Gold-mine land, expensive luxury goods difficult to obtain, and money are all useless to me.

Because they are things that lose their value anyway, rolling in by themselves with time.

If there was an area of interest, it was women who caught my eye. That’s why Ahn Hayul seems to have focused on this.

Still, the puzzling part is this:

The fatal flaw in Ahn Hayul’s immediate proposal.

“Hey.”

“Wh-what?!”

To my tense ex-wife,

“Even if I understand everything, what guarantee is there that I would want you?”

I asked her directly.

Why should I specifically meet Ahn Hayul instead of my mother-in-law, Soiseol?

“……What?”

But Ahn Hayul’s expression turned serious here.

I was worried I might have shamed her once more for her resolve to even put her body on the line for her mother, but instead, her formerly narrow eyes widened in astonishment.

With a slightly angry face, she retorted as if it were obvious.

“I’m pretty, aren’t I?”

Pretty.

“……What?”

“Hey, are you blind? I’m damn pretty.”

…Not a boast, but merely a statement of the obvious.

Excessive confidence that any man, of course, couldn’t possibly not be interested in her.

‘…Was she a princess complex case?’

I wondered if that was the case.

But as if this were a calm fact, my ex-wife pounded the table and argued, as if educating an unlearned child.

“Just looking at me, I almost completely resemble my mother.

If I just cut my hair, I’d be exactly like my mother. Even my maternal relatives complimented me every time, saying I was identical to my mother.”

‘…Even so, your personality is terribly like your father’s.’

“Yes, even I think my mother is still pretty. Therefore, I understand why you turned your eyes to her.

Then look right in front of you. Naturally, with your eyes that are crazy about women, wouldn’t I be a luxury item you’d want to possess even more? Especially since I never allowed it even after marriage.”

“…….”

She declared it with her hand placed firmly on her chest.

Her tone was such that if I dared to contradict her, she would likely slap my cheek again.

If I dared to deny it, I had a premonition that it wouldn’t just be a matter of shame, but she would electrocute me until I admitted she was right.

Ahn Hayul, exuding confidence as if there were grades even for luxury goods, claiming herself to be the highest grade.

Her attitude was as if I should prostrate myself and thank her for stepping in.

It was something I hadn’t anticipated at all.

It was an unexpected development, but,

‘…………Strangely, it’s arousing?’

The more it went on, the more desire I felt, which hadn’t been there before.

I was already saturated with women to the point of being busy taking care of them, and I didn’t plan to increase their number, but I was drawn to that confidence.

Especially, the term ‘ex-wife’ was more arousing than ‘wife’.

The fact that she was a divorced woman made Ahn Hayul, who had been out of my mind, suddenly much more appealing.

Now I saw she even had a pretty mole on her chest.

*Slight smirk.*

However, thinking about it, it seems I’m not the only one who finds her appealing.

“Just wondering, you know,”

“Hm?”

So I took a step towards Ahn Hayul.

Because a different side of my ex-wife, who specialized in being meticulous and nagging men, was showing. I stepped into that territory.

I subtly tried to conquer this barren land, which had ruthlessly shot down countless men, including my past self who was shot down by divorce.

“Just wondering, Hayul… have you decided to change your evaluation of me?”

“Wh-what…?”

Ahn Hayul’s attitude towards me was clearly different.

She even grabbed my wrist, and her attitude didn’t correct me even when I used the familiar term ‘Hayul-i’.

“From the start, you’re not the type to say such crazy things.”

“…….”

“Is that so, unlike the trashy Cha Doyeon of the past, does the current Cha Doyeon seem a bit different?”

As if my guess had hit the mark, Ahn Hayul mumbled.

Ahn Hayul was inherently a high-handed person.

If someone wasn’t up to her standard, she wouldn’t treat them as a person.

She was the kind of person who would whip someone without ambition, or a close associate who lacked improvement.

How picky would such a person be when choosing a man?

That’s why she looked down on Cha Doyeon as less than a cockroach.

They lived separate lives, which could barely be called a marriage, and as soon as the divorce stamp was affixed, she turned her back.

The label of being a married woman who married an unremarkable man must have been a lifelong shame.

‘Are women attracted to a man’s background and ability?’

But now it’s different.

The current Cha Doyeon, who has come out as an independent affiliate called , opening his maw wide towards Hwaryeong to swallow it whole, must have seemed different.

If it’s a man who has successfully achieved business independence, won contracts to boost his performance, and whose name appears prominently in the news, she must have had no choice but to acknowledge him.

Now, even looking back at this man again, it must have seemed good.

The situation was somewhat amusing, and my lips involuntarily twitched into a smirk.

Therefore, I, too, responded seriously to the unexpected proposal.

“If you’re going to step in instead, there’s a condition.”

“What?!”

Her eyes twitched upwards as if it were sacrilegious that I was presenting conditions instead of immediately accepting.

Lightly ignoring her raised voice,

“First, if we’re going to meet again, I’d like you to listen to my words carefully.”

This meant for her to temper her personality a bit.

Ahn Hayul was exactly like a tiger.

Even if I put a leash on a tiger, I’d be dragged along if my strength ran out, but I still needed restraints so she wouldn’t nag me relentlessly like before.

At this, Ahn Hayul snorted as if it were a ridiculous thing to say.

She usually loves to argue point by point, hating to lose even a single word, but now she just crossed her arms as if letting me win.

“If there’s a first, then there’s a second, isn’t there?”

“That’s right.”

Next, more solemnly,

“Secondly, I’ll continue to meet with my mother-in-law.”

“Hey! Did you just hear me with your asshole?!”

“What?”

“Because the condition I just proposed loses its meaning! Are you also a blockhead?!”

At that, I grinned,

“No.

I haven’t accepted your conditions as they are, have I?”

“!”

“Surely, you didn’t think I’d strip naked and bow in thanks just because my divorced ex-wife is offering to meet me again, did you?”

I smirked and taunted.

My ex-wife’s face twisted in shame.

This very condition was proposed by Ahn Hayul because she absolutely detested seeing me frolic with her mother.

If I simply ignored it, Ahn Hayul, who had kept her promise, wouldn’t be able to put a stop to it anyway.

“Since I kept my promise that you needed time to think, you don’t have any means to interfere with me, do you?”

“…….”

“So this is my counter-proposal.

I’m giving you, the daughter who dislikes seeing the forbidden love between son-in-law and mother-in-law, a chance to interfere.”

Next, I deliberately added ridicule.

Like a clown teasing a queen, I provoked her sarcastically.

“Who knows?

Maybe I’ll fall completely for the world’s most beautiful ex-wife, give her my liver and gallbladder, and break up with them?”

I provoked her.

Anyway, it wouldn’t matter if she accepted or not, but it would be more fun if she did, so I provoked Ahn Hayul to the fullest.

And Ahn Hayul, it seems, had more self-love and self-esteem than I expected.

“You know, do you think I, of all people… am the same as those bar girls you used to devour like junk food?”

“Oh? Were you actually a heavenly woman deep down?”

“You’re speaking so crudely… do you think I can’t do it if I set my mind to it?”

My lips curled upwards, even though I knew she had fallen for the provocation.

Confidence fully displayed, baring her teeth.

“Alright, then let’s find out.”

“……? Hey, where are you going?”

Leaving the untouched food behind, I stood up.

I adjusted my suit collar, tidied myself up neatly, and stated my destination.

“Where else but a hotel?”