Tears streamed down Nari_hana's face as she gently laid her mother, Reina Hana, on the hospital bed. Her voice trembled with fear and desperation as she looked toward the doctors. "Please… save my mother," she begged.
The doctor studied her for a moment, then spoke with clinical calm. "Miss Nari_hana, you must pay the fee first. Only after we receive payment can we begin the operation."
Nari_hana's hands shook as she opened her phone to check her bank balance. Her heart sank when she saw it: only 7,000 won. Her tears accelerated. "Doctor… please start the operation. I'll arrange the money," she insisted, voice breaking.
At that instant the clinic door eased open and a cold, imposing presence filled the room. Seojin_Lang entered with the slow, effortless grace of someone used to attention. He removed his glasses in a practiced motion; his blue eyes were so icy they felt like a slice of ocean wind. A faint, confident smirk played at his lips, but everything about him radiated authority.
"Miss Nari_hana, isn't it?" Seojin said in a low, measured voice.
Nari_hana nodded, barely able to answer. "Yes."
Seojin took a steady breath, fixed his gaze on her, then spoke after a brief silence that seemed to weigh on everyone in the room. "Your mother's accident… was because of me. If your mother hadn't saved me, I wouldn't be alive today. I owe her my life, and that is why I came."
He motioned to his assistant. At once a contract was placed on the table as if produced by command. Seojin spoke smoothly, each word deliberate and dominant: "This is the contract. Sign it — be my contract wife for six months — and I will pay the full cost of your mother's surgery."
Rage flared inside Nari_hana. Without thinking she slapped Seojin across the face. The room froze; everyone stared in shocked silence.
Assistant Ji covered his mouth with his hand and whispered, stunned, "This… what did you do?"
Nari_hana's eyes burned with pain and anger. She stood trembling and spat the words at him. "Seojin—my mother is in this condition because of you, and you come here with a contract? If one of yours had been in my mother's place, maybe then you'd know what real pain feels like!"
Six hours earlier.
Seojin stepped out of his car with that effortless, controlled grace he always wore like armor. His phone buzzed — an unknown number flashed. Before he could answer, a voice hissed through the line like a blade: "I'll make you bleed, Seo… I'll kill you."
There was no time to react. A truck barreled down the street at terrifying speed, its horn screaming.
Across the road, Reina Hana was doing some last-minute shopping. Her bag slipped from her hand and tumbled to the curb. She bent to pick it up. When she looked up, the world slowed — a monstrous truck was hurtling straight toward Seojin.
Without thinking, Reina shoved with everything she had. Her body slammed into his, and they both tumbled to the pavement. The truck shot past and vanished into the distance. Reina lay motionless, hit by the force of the rescue.
Seojin scrambled to his feet and rushed to her side, panic replacing his usual cold composure. The truck was already gone. He fumbled for his phone and called for an ambulance with hands that wouldn't stop shaking.
At that exact moment, Nari_hana's phone rang. The assistant picked it up and spoke in a voice that made her blood freeze: "Miss Nari_hana… your mother—she's been in an accident."
Nari_hana had been at the Narme building that morning, attending an interview for an assistant position at Seojin Lang's company. The news hit like a physical blow. She abandoned everything and ran.
— Present —
Seojin gripped Nari_hana's hand so tightly her skin stung. Beneath the surface of his composed blue eyes there was a dangerous edge as he said, low and steady, "Your mother saved my life. That's why I'm saying this: I won't tell anyone what happened today… otherwise, I would've killed you."
Fury burst through Nari_hana like heat. She tore her hand free, voice shaking but fierce. "My mother is in this condition because of you, Mister Seojin. I don't need your money. Get out of here and take your contract with you—don't sell my life for money."
Seojin's expression hardened. In a swift motion he slapped the contract down in front of her and snapped, "Sign this contract and come to me on your own feet, crying at my door!"
His words were a hammer. He left the clinic without another word.
Desperate, Nari_hana fumbled for her phone and dialed Yura, breathless. "I need money—one million won."
There was a long, small silence. Then Yura's voice trembled: "Nari… I'm so sorry. I don't have one million. I only have my salary—80,000 won. I'll send it to you."
The relief that washed over Nari_hana was immediate and bitter-sweet; hot tears sprung to her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered. "I'll pay you back soon."
Next she called her sister, Eunchae. "Hello? Eunchae… my mom—she's critical. I need a million won."
The line clicked. Eunchae's voice, flat and cutting, said, "Sorry, I don't have any money," and hung up.
Nari_hana's chest constricted. All she had now was eighty thousand won — a single night's hope against a million-won operation. The doctor returned, voice tight with urgency: "Miss Nari_hana, please hurry. If we delay, her condition will worsen."
"How much time do I have?" she asked.
The doctor's reply was a razor: "Only six hours."
She called everyone she could — friends, her father, her stepmother, stepsister. Each call ended the same: excuses, lies, "I have no money." When the clock moved toward evening the surgeon returned with worse news. "Miss Nari_hana, we have one hour left. If the hour passes, there is nothing we can do."
Her gaze fell to the contract Seojin had placed on the table. His words echoed in her ears — that cold, casual offer: come to me crying, sign this, be mine for six months, and I will pay.
Nari_hana looked at the wall clock. It read 8:30. Thirty minutes. Thirty minutes to a miracle or to a life ending.
At the Narme building, inside Seojin Lang's office, Assistant Ji leaned toward his boss and asked nervously, "Mr. Seo_lang, do you think Miss Nari_hana will come?"
Seojin's smile was small and unreadable. He only signaled with the tip of his finger: "Wait."
Rain began to fall. Nari_hana ran through the slick city, umbrella barely keeping the downpour at bay. Cars honked, people pushed past, but she didn't slow. The paper contract was clutched in her shaking hand; the rain pelted it but could not wash away the decision stamped into her bones.
Her hazel eyes — the same hazel her father used to say were like her mother's — blurred with rain and tears. She thought of everything she had poured into this day: her dream of working here, the years of study, the small, stubborn hope that had carried her to the Narme building that morning. Now, everything had shifted. She was not here for opportunity; she was here for survival.
The clock read 8:30. Thirty minutes remained. She ran faster. The building's glass doors shimmered under the rain as she pushed through, soaked and trembling, determined that if there was a way out of this darkness, she would force it open with her own hands.
The rain beat down harder as Nari_hana finally reached the towering glass building. Her umbrella slipped from her trembling hands, crashing to the pavement. Soaked to the bone, she lifted her hazel eyes toward the company logo shining above her.
Narme — Seojin Lang Cosmetics.
Tears welled in her eyes. She remembered her father's gentle words, "Your hazel eyes remind me of my mother. Never let tears touch them, my daughter." Yet tonight, those very eyes blurred with rain and grief.
Her voice cracked as she whispered to the sky, "Yesterday, my dreams brought me here — chasing the childish hope of working in this company. But today… today I return not for dreams, but for desperation."
The clock on her phone showed 8:45 p.m. Time was slipping away. Clutching the contract, she hurried inside.
The interior dazzled her— imported Italian marble floors, priceless art pieces lined along the walls, every detail shouting perfection. But Nari had no time to admire luxury. She rushed straight to the front desk.
"M-my name is…" She faltered, panic cutting her breath. "I can't remember if I was supposed to give it. But I'm here for the owner. Mr. Seojin Lang—he… he called me."
Manager Shin, a sharp-faced woman in her forties, looked her up and down with open disdain. "You? Mr. Seo Lang called you?" Her lips curled. "Girls like you show up every day, dreaming of meeting him. Don't waste my time. Get out before I call security."
Nari clasped her hands together, desperation leaking through her trembling voice. "Please… just tell him that Nari_hana is here. Please, one chance."
But Manager Shin was already signaling the guards. "Throw her out."
Just then, Assistant Ji appeared, rushing toward the office. His eyes widened when he saw her. "Mr. Seojin… Miss Nari_hana has arrived. But Manager Shin won't allow her in."
Inside his office, Seojin leaned back in his chair, lips curling into a cold, knowing smirk. "I told you… she would come."
He stood and strode out, his presence dominating the entire lobby.
At the same time, Nari's pleas still echoed in the air. "Please, Manager… I just need to see him—"
"Enough!"
The voice was thunder. Seojin's icy blue eyes locked onto her as he grabbed her wrist in a firm grip. His anger was palpable, his tone razor-sharp. "Do you have any idea where you're standing? This is the most restricted floor of my company. And you dare barge in, begging like this?"
Nari's hazel eyes widened as his fingers tightened around her wrist, the storm inside his gaze crashing into her fragile world.