“...”
“I mean, do I get workers’ comp and all that? Say I get hurt doing the housework in the middle of our married life. Do I cover the medical bills, or do you put out for them, Mr. Baek?”
At the phrase “put out,” the skin around Baek Ihyeok’s eyes creased faintly, but he didn’t nitpick my wording. If anything, he cracked the corner of his mouth up for the first time.
“Employment marriage. I like that.”
Baek Ihyeok made a light gesture to the side. At that, the muscular bodyguard standing behind him drew a fresh cigarette and a lighter from inside his jacket, lit it, and carefully slotted the cigarette between Baek Ihyeok’s index and middle fingers.
I very nearly let out a disbelieving laugh.
I’d been thinking it for a while, but do they really have to wait on him like that? And there’s the way he goes around with a retinue like a gangster, when he’s only an executive director. Anyone watching would think he wasn’t a conglomerate executive but the precious son of a chaebol fami...
The moment that thought landed, I realized something and my mouth fell open. But Baek Ihyeok was faster than my chance to ask about my new guess.
“Check the contract again. Third page, or fourth.”
The considerably arrogant attitude, tipping his shoe and gesturing with his eyes, wasn’t to my taste, but in the presence of exalted Lord Money none of that mattered. No, money aside, the truth was that Baek Ihyeok’s face had more to do with it.
However grating his way of speaking was, one look at that vastly superior face and I fell into the illusion that even his attitude befitted a beautifully sculpted statue of David. The distinctive, languid arrogance settled into eyes slit sharp as a wolf’s felt mysterious and magnetic at once, and his strong features were dimensional enough to stand out clearly even in pitch darkness.
And then there was his body. He was easily 190 centimeters tall, and his shoulders, broad as the Pacific, looked solid enough that if I leaned on them I could sleep soundly for a week without a single dream.
In a word, Baek Ihyeok was perfectly my type.
Being that handsome, of course his manners would be... yeah. He can afford not to have any.
As long as I had eyes in my head, ignoring that face completely wasn’t going to be easy. And it wouldn’t be going forward, either.
“For as long as the marriage lasts, I’ll pay for your medical bills or whatever else. Down to the cost of what you wear and eat. All of it.”
Baek Ihyeok drew deep on his cigarette and exhaled. He tilted his head slightly.
“Isn’t that obvious? Is this stupidity, or naivety?”
I’ve been told I look naive, but I’ve never in my life been told I am naive. Still, thanks to him I managed to climb out of my deep reverie.
Just as Baek Ihyeok said, when I looked at the third page, everything he’d be paying for over the duration of the marriage was laid out neatly from the bottom of that page onto the next.
I went through the contract, asking about those line items and anything else I wondered about. Honestly, up to that point every single term was more than fine by me.
There was even a wildly tempting clause at the tail end of the contract promising additional compensation if the marriage concluded successfully.
[Article 11 (Success Condition and Payment of Compensation)
The “success condition” referred to in this contract means the case in which Party A is designated the next successor to management by resolution of the board of directors and appointed vice chairman, or is appointed representative director of the company.
Should the success condition under Paragraph 1 be met, Party A shall pay Party B a success fee of ten billion won (10,000,000,000).
The above amount shall be paid into an account designated by Party B within ninety days of the date on which the success condition is met.]
A full ten billion won. My heart pounded.
A reason not to do it? Absolutely none. If anything, I was the one who ought to be clinging to Baek Ihyeok’s trouser leg, begging him to please let me sign.
Being an omega, and with a medical report saying my pheromones were unstable on top of that, I’d been having a hard enough time finding work as it was, so this offer was a golden opportunity that would never come around again.
I took a small, deep breath and glanced at the secretary.
“By the way, is Mr. Baek, um, BN Group’s...?”
“The Director is the chairman’s second son.”
Of course. No wonder he made executive director at such a young age.
Only then did I feel like I understood why Baek Ihyeok absolutely had to marry a dominant omega. I nodded and turned to the next page of the contract. It was the last one now.
If he was the chairman’s second son, he was second or third generation chaebol, and the inheritance fight in a chaebol family had to be the biggest reason. It was obvious.
Guessing from Baek Ihyeok, who looked conservative at a glance, maybe the family itself favored the most superior genes, dominant alphas and dominant omegas. Which was probably why he was throwing money around to marry me for show and satisfy some condition of succession.
So is Baek Ihyeok a dominant alpha?
Thinking that, I lowered my eyes to the contract’s final page.
“Oh.”
A dazed sound slipped out of me without meaning to. My grip on the contract tightened and the paper crumpled.
[Should the marriage between Party A and Party B collapse due to Party B’s breach of contractual obligations, Party B shall return double the total amount paid by Party A.]
A penalty clause. Below it, the mandatory compliance clauses were listed one after another.
[A violation of this article shall be deemed a material breach of contract, and Party A may terminate the contract immediately.
Party B shall not commit adultery, for any reason whatsoever. Should Party A become aware of adultery on Party B’s part, Party A holds the right to terminate the contract immediately.
Should any point of connection arise between Party B and a person affiliated with BN Group, Party B shall report it to Party A immediately.
Party B shall not lie to Party A.
Party B is forbidden to go out without Party A’s permission.
Party B shall never make contact with Party A’s body without Party A’s permission.
Party B shall not seek unnecessary knowledge about Party A.
Party B shall not develop feelings for Party A.
Should Party A wish to end the marriage, Party B shall consent immediately.
Should a third party become aware of this contract through Party B, Party A may terminate this contract immediately.
※ The mandatory compliance clauses may be added to or amended at any time at Party A’s discretion.]
...This is just an unfair contract.
I wasn’t fond of the penalty clause for if the marriage ran into trouble because of me, but above all, the “mandatory compliance clauses” were a completely tilted playing field.
I’d never had any intention of cheating in the first place, so fine, number one can stay, but three through six are literally too controlling, aren’t they? And what even is number seven? Is he certain I’m going to fall for him, or what?
I stared at the contract until my eyes nearly fell out, then lifted my head. Baek Ihyeok had a cigarette in his mouth and a bored look on his face. One eyebrow on the forehead bared by his neatly swept back hair twitched, as if to ask whether there was a problem. I quietly lowered my gaze again.
...Right. Honestly, he really is handsome, though.
When I turned the last page of the contract, there was nothing. Meaning this really was the entirety of the contract Baek Ihyeok had prepared.
I worked my mouth for a moment, then set the contract down on the coffee table with an audible tap.
“Just because I’ve read the contract doesn’t mean I have to sign it, right?”
Party B or not, surely I could try to negotiate. That was the thinking behind floating it, but the mood turned pretty strange.
Baek Ihyeok said nothing and made no expression at my words, but the hulking bodyguard standing quietly behind him slid his eyes over to me. Forearms three times thicker than mine and that massive frame carved themselves into my brain all over again.
One hit from that guy and I’d die on the spot.
...Okay.
I swapped out my plan to flatly call it an unfair contract for something a little gentler.
“There are hardly any clauses that protect me. And a lot of the clauses are vague. It leaves me worried in all sorts of ways.”
“Planning to commit adultery, are you?”
“That’s not it.”
“Then what are you worried about? I’m paying you a lot of money, buying your parents a house, covering everything you wear and eat for the length of the marriage. I’m even giving you five hundred million won a year. What more is lacking?”
Baek Ihyeok’s face said he sincerely had no idea what I could be dissatisfied with. His overweening manner looked so natural on him that I, the one pointing out problems, ended up feeling like the most unreasonable customer alive.
Even so, I couldn’t just accept an unfair contract as it stood.
“Honestly, there’s a limit. Fine, let’s say the other clauses are what they are. But this one, number four. What is this about being forbidden to go out? Does that mean I can’t even go see my parents?”
“Read the condition properly. It says you can go out if I give permission.”
“No, so every single time something comes up, I’m supposed to get your permission, Mr. Baek?”
“Is that difficult?”
“Do you honestly think that makes any sen...”
“I’ll give you an incentive, then.”
“An incen...”
The stiffness went out of my raised head and my clenched fists loosened. Baek Ihyeok spoke in a bothered tone.
“Keep to them without complaining and I’ll give you one percent of your annual payment every month.”
“That sounds wonderful.”
I put on the most virtuous looking smile in the world.
Five million won a month in incentives alone. Well then, obviously I’ll keep to them. I found myself wanting to stamp the marriage registration form as soon as possible.
But before that.
“If you’re confirmed as successor earlier than the three year term, Mr. Baek, then the contract ends that much earlier too, right?”
It was an important point. If at all possible I wanted to pay off the debt quickly and put an end to this bizarre employment marriage.
“Presumably.”
The terse answer put me somewhat at ease. All right, that part’s settled.
Next I pointed at the mandatory compliance clauses. They’d been nagging at me since the moment I first read them.
“This part is a little strange, though. I’m not allowed to lay a hand on your body, Ihyeok, and I’m not allowed to have feelings either. So shouldn’t the exact same clauses be attached on your side too?”
“What are you talking about?”
But Baek Ihyeok wore the expression of a man who’d just heard the most outlandish thing he’d encountered in his entire life.
“You actually think I’d do something that pointless with an omega like you?”
“Sorry?”
“Wasting time is what I hate most.”
“...”
No, did I ask something weird? He was only five years older than me, and yet he felt far more hidebound than my own dad, which left my face soured on its own.
“It only requires you to keep to it. Because there’s no chance, not if I died and came back, of me behaving the way you omegas do.”
He was flatly convinced that I’d be the only one causing problems. It stung my pride, but I repeated ten billion won to myself and kept my mouth shut. I couldn’t risk letting a curse slip.
Right, three years... Just hold out for three years.
Between the signing payment, the five hundred million a year, and the incentives on top, I’d save up money fast, and if the marriage ended successfully I’d get another ten billion won on top of that.
“If you’ve got anything else to say, talk to Secretary Choi from here. You’re going to stamp it anyway, so hurry up and stamp it.”
When I shifted my gaze to the secretary, he gave a small nod.
I turned it over and over, but in the end there was no better opportunity for me than this. Before long I pressed my thumb firmly into the ink pad the secretary had set out and stamped my print onto the contract.
“When do we file the marriage registration?”
For now I’ll flatten myself out, work like Baek Ihyeok’s dog, and then divorce him the second it’s over.
I asked as calmly as I could manage, but my impatience wasn’t easy to hide. Watching me, Baek Ihyeok chewed idly at the end of his cigarette and then tossed out,
“First, we live together.”
