When The Phone Rings

"What does Hong Heeju have to do with this?"

Baek Saeon stared at the sentence on the paper, his face twisting the longer he read. A surge of irrational anger welled up inside him.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"…!"

He shot to his feet and snuffed out his cigarette directly on the incriminating sentence.

Maybe it was the nicotine dulling his brain, but impulse overtook him. He could feel his body heating up, his thoughts boiling into chaos.

Even he couldn’t fully understand the storm raging inside his head.

"I’ll help you escape."

"…!"

His voice lowered as he yanked the curtains shut.

"I’ll get you out safely, no need for a marriage of convenience."

"…!"

"I’ll make sure Chairman Hong never finds out."

Hong Inah froze, not even blinking as she watched him, her body rigid with tension.

"In return, keep your mouth shut. No exposés, no rumors. Silence everything."

"…"

After a long moment of hesitation, she nodded.

"See, you should’ve started with a negotiation, not a threat."

He clicked his tongue irritably.

"Fortunately, I’m not like that old man. I’m someone you can reason with."

"…"

"Now, let’s finalize the deal."

He held up a blank sheet of paper.

"We need to account for the possibility of you breaking your promise—"

For the first time, a warning light went off in his head:

You cannot let go of the name ‘Baek Saeon.’ Not this position.

"Seal the deal by handing over your younger sister."

"…!"

Without the name ‘Baek Saeon,’ he would be nothing to Hong Heeju—not her neighbor, not her tutor, not even her brother-in-law.

The fear of her discovering his secret, his deepest and most repugnant truth, sent a chill down his spine.

That fear alone gripped him tightly.

So instead of discarding the name, he decided to take everything, roots and all.

In that moment, an unfamiliar, insatiable desire took hold.

"Give her to me."

His goal had unexpectedly shifted, but his voice carried more conviction than ever before.

"If you refuse, you’ll marry someone whose origins you can’t even verify tomorrow."

***

Three years had passed since Baek Saeon brought Hong Heeju into his life.

When a threatening call came one day, he didn’t even consider suspecting Hong Inah. After all, a woman who had sold out her own sister and fled wouldn’t have the courage to try reclaiming anything.

Before leaving, Hong Inah had sent a final message to Kim Yeonhee.

The content was predictable without even reading it—she had likely incited her stepmother to use Chairman Hong as leverage.

And her mother-in-law wasn’t the type to turn down such an opportunity. If her biological daughter, rather than her stepdaughter, were to marry, Kim Yeonhee’s gains would be far greater.

Poor Hong Heeju.

Everyone was using you as a pawn.

"Sister, how have you been?"

"Oh, right. Are you still using my phone?"

"You’re going to keep being my voice."

"You have to be my messenger."

Moments of decision always seemed to appear around unexpected corners.

How is she alive?

…How is that alive?

Baek Saon’s name, his life, had already become mine.

If it were taken back now, then—

Heeju.

My wife, Hong Heeju—

Even someone as emotionally dull as him felt the fine hairs on the back of his neck rise.

When he realized the caller behind the threat was his nephew, the real Baek Saeon, his carefully built life began to crumble.@@novelbin@@

A life built on lies.

Confronted with the essence of his hollow existence, he saw its fragility laid bare.

"…"

When the true owner appears, the impostor must inevitably be cast out.

Lowering his head, Baek Saeon took a deep breath, trying to steady himself.

And, as always, he didn’t look back.

He descended straight to the underground level of the Blue House, swiping his card key and striding through the secure corridors. When the door opened, a room surrounded by monitors appeared.

The glow from the hundreds of computers made the space resemble the pale green light of dawn.

"Hey, Team Leader. Where’s Park Dojae? Why’d you come alone?"

A slouched team member at a desk asked, looking up at him.

His face hardened.

"From now on, we proceed without Park Dojae."

"What?"

"Gather everyone."

Finally, he stood before the Blue House’s strategic task force.

"On the day of the late Baek Jangho’s special documentary screening…—"

He began crafting a plan solely to protect Heeju, ensuring her freedom.

In this world, both versions of Baek Saeon had to vanish completely. There could be no other Baek Saeon to trap her.

If he couldn’t fully claim the name, then he would erase it entirely.

I suppose I really am my father’s son, he thought with a bitter smile.

Still…

For someone like her, it might be worth using one last pawn.

Isn’t that right, Heeju?

***

The press conference room buzzed with relentless camera flashes.

The sound that jolted his drifting mind back to reality was the voice piercing his eardrum.

"When your reputation hits rock bottom, that name will be mine again."

"…"

"Everyone will accept me in that position once you’re disgraced. So take the hits—fall, and fall humiliatingly."

The chilling laughter echoed in his ear.

"I’ve spent so long living as a fool. Cleaning fishing lines, baiting hooks, scrubbing water stains every day. Even when customers kicked me, I just smiled."

"…"

"Do you know who pulled me out of the river the day I died?"

"…!"

He suddenly remembered the broad-shouldered, taciturn man from his past.

"They said I vomited water from every hole in my body. That my brain went without oxygen for so long I became an idiot who couldn’t remember anything."

The voice chuckled self-deprecatingly.

"One day, I saw Baek Jangho on TV. After that, I started having splitting headaches whenever the TV was on. I ended up smashing every screen in sight, but I don’t regret it."

"…"

"If I hadn’t avoided it, maybe I would’ve remembered faster. By the time everything came back to me, the entire country already knew Baek Saeon as you, that bastard…!"

The flashing cameras around him intensified as journalists shouted their questions in frustration at his silence. Yet Baek Saeon felt none of the external stimuli.

The only thing penetrating his focus was the unstable voice in his earpiece.

"While I lived as an idiot, you were worshipped by the entire nation. It should’ve been you baiting hooks…! You stole everything from me!"

"…"

"You studied under my name, became an anchor, entered the Blue House, and even got married, for fuck’s sake!"

His impassive face faltered ever so slightly at the mention of marriage.

"I should’ve been the one to kill that bastard Baek Jangho myself…! I can’t stand it!"

Baek Saeon turned off his microphone momentarily and murmured.

"When did you make contact with my mother?"

"…!"

He was referring to the crisis negotiation consulting firm run by his mother, which assisted victims’ families both strategically and financially.

One of its beneficiaries was none other than Park Dojae.

He’d let it slide, knowing a baited hook always needed a worm.

The voice in the earpiece suddenly choked on a bitter laugh.

"You clueless bastard, you don’t even know what’s important…"

His eye twitched at the sudden shift in tone.

"That phone—it’s going to explode."

"…!"

"The phone I gave to Hong Heeju, it’s rigged to blow."

The voice mimicked a clicking sound, like a timer.

"If you want to stop it, you know what to do."

"…"

"Confess all your crimes here. Step down. Admit you’re not Baek Jangho’s grandson. Say you’re just the son of a lowly fisherman. Tell everyone what a worthless fraud you are!"

The furious scream echoed.

"Get off my name, you bastard!"

Baek Saeon’s jaw tightened, trembling ever so slightly.

With a cold expression, he turned the microphone back on and fixed his gaze on the broadcasting cameras.

"First, I’d like to apologize for the disorganization during the Q&A session."

In his other ear, the red light in the secondary earpiece blinked.

"Target located…! The audio technician from the National Theater rehearsal is currently—"

Without a flicker of emotion, Baek Saeon continued speaking.

Addressing the reporters—or rather, the field operatives he’d pre-coordinated to blend into the crowd—he spoke steadily.

"The allegations of an affair are entirely baseless. I deeply regret the media’s intrusion into my private life."

As the operatives discreetly exited the room, Baek Saeon remained alone in the now-empty space.

Turning his attention to the camera, he spoke as if confessing to someone unseen.

"The individual in question is not my mistress. I have never betrayed the obligations or trust of my marriage. The mere suggestion is deeply offensive."

Perhaps he had been waiting for this moment all along.

A peculiar sense of euphoria washed over him.

"The woman mentioned in the recordings is Sagong Yuk."

Exposing his lies and discarding his name.

And then—

"But this press conference is not about addressing infidelity allegations."

Revealing his true self to her.

"I am here today to expose the crimes and corruption of the late Representative Baek Jangho and his family."

He had wanted to be "Baek Saeon" for her, but it was precisely because he wasn’t Baek Saeon that he couldn’t approach her.

Knowing of his biological father’s crimes and the orchestrated accidents, he could not speak of love.

He could never fully have Hong Heeju.

His remaining shred of conscience only ever reacted to her.

He had planned to hide himself, detesting his own existence, for the rest of his life.

But—

How will you look at me once you know the truth?

The mere thought of it made his throat tighten bitterly.

"I am not the son of Baek Uiyong. I am not the grandson of Baek Jangho."

Not seeing her look at him with contempt might be the only salvation left for him.

"I am the illegitimate child of the late Representative Baek Jangho, born when he was seventy."

His final briefing.