17

Namjoon looked obsessively at his watch, not daring to look towards the sea which refused to bring him any good news. He'd only been waiting an hour, but he felt as if he'd been waiting for years on the dock. He had no idea why Jin had insisted on returning to Korea by boat from Japan, the country where he and Lee Yoo-Jin had made their home several months earlier. The ferry from Fukuoka to Busan was due to arrive any minute now, but its shape was still nowhere to be seen on the horizon. Eventually, he turned his back to the sea. Lee Yoo-Jin's return to South Korea was their last trump card. Now that the country had lined up behind her, giving her its full support, she was going to have to succeed in the feat of meeting the expectations of the South Koreans and offering them what the Investors couldn't give them.

Taehyung already had everything she needed to bring down the Investors. All he needed was a pretext. One of the Investors had to make a wrong move to drag the others down with him.

Namjoon's heart was relieved when he heard the ferry arriving. When he spotted Jin, he ran to meet him. What he saw next petrified him. Lee Yoo-Jin was holding on tightly to his arm. Her protruding belly left no room for doubt. She was pregnant, perhaps even full term. But what troubled him most was the blatant fulfillment on her face. She was happy, infinitely happy.

"Let's hurry" she said to Namjoon. "Jin told me all about your plan."

She placed her hands gently on her belly.

"I know better than anyone how to drive them crazy. "

***

Jimin's eyes widened as he caught sight of his mother. As expected, he had waited for her at home. The huge mansion, which had long been considered Deputy Park's, was now Jimin's property. He had deliberately remodeled the place, removing all traces of his father. He wanted to erase him from their memories. In his eyes, Park In-Jwa deserved a damnatio memoriae, but since that was impossible, he would at least apply it to the family unit. Lately, he had been thinking a lot about his mother, understanding one by one her every choice and action. He had read hundreds of times the letter she had sent him, several months earlier, in which she explained herself and asked his forgiveness. Because she'd told him she'd known about her love relationship with Yoon-Gi all along, and had always supported them, he'd made a point of being there to welcome her together. It was a good decision, because if his boyfriend hadn't been there to hold him back, he would certainly have fallen to the ground.

"My mother's pregnant" he articulated.

He didn't react when she took him in her arms, shocked by this unexpected and unimaginable discovery.

"I've missed you, my baby" she whispered.

That's all it took for him to start crying.

"Now I'm completely happy." she said.

She moved away from him and wiped away his tears. Before anyone could react, Jimin moved towards Jin, who had stayed a few steps behind. Surprising everyone, the young man embraced him briefly.

"Welcome to the family. "

***

"We have to finish all this before the beginning of May."

Taehyung was pacing back and forth in the living room of Jimin's house, everyone hanging on his every word. Namjoon had put a protective arm around Na-Eun's shoulders, who remained perfectly still. Lee Yoo-Jin had settled in as best she could, Jin at her side. Yoon-Gi and Jimin couldn't keep still either. The tension that had built up in the room evaporated when they finally heard the front door open. When Kang Min-Ah appeared, her child asleep against her chest, kind looks greeted her.

Kang Min-Ah, because she was the mother of the child of the man who had caused the death of the Investors' mastermind, was their target for reprisal. Having just given birth, she was all the easier prey. To abandon her to her fate had been inconceivable to everyone in the room, including Lee Yoo-Jin. The differences between the two women could only fade under the circumstances.

"Good" Taehyung said.

Lee Yoo-Jin rose from the sofa with difficulty but determination. She was the one who understood Min-Ah the most. She dared to gently caress the sleeping baby's head, which had the effect of immediately relaxing the young mother.

"What's her name?" Lee Yoo-Jin asked gently.

"Jung Ra-On" Min-Ah replied with a smile.

***

Lee Yoo-Jin looked stunning in her wedding dress. She was appearing before the world for the first time in six months, and it was as the embodiment of a revolution in the traditional family model that she did so. She presented herself to Koreans as a bride and a pregnant woman, provoking a delighted response from the majority of the population.

Most of Seoul's journalists covered the event, flooding the Internet and TV channels with the beauty of Lee Yoo-Jin and Kim Seokjin's love.

Throning at the end of the table in the Investors' meeting room, Taehyung remained impassive but his heart was satisfied. The most clever were present, and the others were living up to Taehyung's expectations. The most impulsive would soon try to turn public opinion against Lee Yoo-Jin, who advocated values that clearly didn't match their morals. After all, she was a forty-three-year-old woman marrying her lover, who was eighteen years younger than her, while pregnant. But where the Investors saw an affront, the Koreans could only see the love of a family and acceptance of each other. Many times, the cameras had shown the smiling faces of Park Jimin, who had revealed his homosexuality to the world a few days earlier, and Kang Min-Ah, who was intensely experiencing her first days as the mother of the daughter of the illegitimate son of the late Deputy Park.

But Taehyung had chosen the one who would sink all the others. He and Lee Yoo-Jin had organized everything so that he would compromise himself. Because he was misogynistic and conservative. But above all, because he was the one who managed the investment fund that made all the Investors' money grow. And among the investments he'd set up was Jung Eun-Chae and Jeon Jungkook's operation. This man, his magnificent pretext, was Kim Gwan-Su.

The Investors had predicted a wave of unbridled hatred from the population. Taehyung relished their disappointment. Most satisfying of all was the panic that had appeared in their eyes when they had spotted Kim Na-Eun, the one and only "Her", among the wedding guests.

The long-awaited message made Taehyung's phone ring, the final gong in the merciless battle that had pitted him against Park In-Jwa and the Investors.

He changed channels. His pretext had been to hold a press conference in the name of family tradition. The more he spoke, the deeper he sank, taking all his allies with him. The Investors who were present understood this too. Finally, the final sentence came.

"Give a woman a pretence of power and she forgets that she only exists to be beautiful and to satisfy her husband. We mustn't forget that "a man is higher than a woman"."

"What was that man's name again?" Taehyung asked.

All eyes turned to him.

"Kim Gwan Su" came the reply.

"Kim Gwan Su..." Taehyung said again. "Isn't he the one who makes all your money grow?"

Taehyung smiled with satisfaction.

"These six months with you have been... rewarding. I regret that our collaboration should end on such bad terms."

It took him only a second to publish the article he had spent all those months writing, gathering enough evidence to achieve them all at once. All their phones rang. A notification that told them only one thing: checkmate.

The door to the meeting room was opened. The chief of his henchmen whispered in his ear that the police would soon arrive. Of all the things he'd managed to accomplish, securing the loyalty of Deputy Park's henchmen, the ones who would have ended Jungkook's life in the end, was what he welcomed most. They were bullies, but they weren't evil. If they got their hands dirty, it was only to avoid any reprisals on their families.

"One last thing" Taehyung said to the Investors. "You should worry about yourselves. Fulfilling Park In-Jwa's last wishes is now irrelevant."

Taehyung left the room as hateful exclamations rang out.

"Keep them here until the police arrive. And tell the officers I'll answer all their questions tomorrow. I have something to celebrate today. "