Divorce Contract C50

Chapter 50

“From the very beginning, you never sat well with me, and right to the end, too! How can you possibly be this shameless? How is it that you can’t even utter a single word of apology? Hm?”

Im Yeonhui’s finger tapped against Go Igyeol’s head. She asked who he had taken after to turn out so insolent, then declared that since he had no proper upbringing to observe and learn from, he was now debasing himself in such a vulgar way.

“Madam, please calm down, and once the Executive Director arrives, you can discuss it then….”

“No, there’s no need to wait for Dohyeon to come. Tomorrow I’ll have the divorce papers ready with Seunghui and bring them over, so you just sit there quietly and put your seal on them. It’s one thing to look down on our family, but there are limits.”

“……”

“VIP? VIP? That’s laughable. Clearly, Dohyeon must have kept you here because his heart is too soft. But Manager Yoon, listen well. Transfer him to a general ward immediately. Does it make any sense to leave him in a VIP ward when you know what he’s done? There should be limits to shamelessness. Even the Chairman now knows what you’ve done, so this marriage ending is only a matter of time. Were you slyly hiding this and planning to go on living as if nothing happened? Igyeol, in this day and age, where do you think secrets can possibly exist? Hm?”

Pouring out every word she had wanted to say, Im Yeonhui looked down on Go Igyeol and rose to her feet.

“You ought to feel ashamed, as a human being. Tsk.”

She grabbed the handbag she had flung onto the floor as though discarding it and turned to leave. Before leaving the hospital room, she threatened Yoon Jaeseon once more, warning that if the room wasn’t changed immediately, she wouldn’t leave it alone. Yoon Jaeseon, at a loss for what to do, kept his head bowed deeply.

“Go on inside.”

“I’m not joking. I’ll inform the desk, so move him.”

With a lofty, icy expression, Im Yeonhui stared fixedly at Go Igyeol, then strode out through the open door.

What remained after her whirlwind departure was Go Igyeol collapsed in miserable disarray. Yoon Jaeseon brought over the entire box of tissues placed on the table.

“Are you all right?”

“…No. I’m not all right….”

“……”

“I’m so used to being treated like this that it hardly even feels strange anymore.”

As Go Igyeol, who had been holding tissues against his nose, braced himself on the floor as though to stand up, Yoon Jaeseon helped him. He had fallen with such force that the IV needle had pulled out, and blood streamed down from his forearm, soaking the sleeve of his hospital gown. Alarmed, Yoon Jaeseon sat him down on the sofa and pressed the nurse call button.

After a brief wait, the hospital room door opened.

“Is there any discomfort… Oh! Are you all right? What on earth happened…!”

“The needle came out. Please reconnect it.”

“P-please wait a moment. I’ll prepare it right away.”

The nurse rushed out, looking flustered. Pale as wax, Go Igyeol sat stiffly, his hand slick with blood running down his palm, his nosebleed still unstaunched. Only Yoon Jaeseon fidgeted nervously, stamping his feet. He needed to inform Seo Dohyeon that Im Yeonhui had visited, but the timing felt far from right.

When Seo Dohyeon arrived at the main house and stepped into Seo Jeongjae’s study, he lowered his head without emotion as a flower vase came flying at him. It was an outburst with no intent to hit him, shattering in some random spot instead.

Remaining silent as he watched the glass fragments scatter, Seo Dohyeon waited for the words that would follow, while Seo Jeongjae raged furiously.

“You—you—you people!”

So, it wasn’t that he had been summoned for neglecting to come into the office for a few days. Seo Dohyeon waited for what was to come. Puffing furiously, Seo Jeongjae spat out Go Igyeol’s name.

“Did you think you could keep it hidden forever? How could you do such a thing, how! Do you know how long this old man has been waiting for such news, only to be deceived? You hid it so perfectly! Hm? Are you saying he really isn’t your child? Is that it? Yeonhui says he isn’t yours—so whose child is it that he carries, then…!”

The voice of Seo Jeongjae, burning with fury, shook with weakness. His wrinkled face twisted with anguish, and he muttered as though genuinely wounded.

“What on earth went wrong in your marriage for that child to end up like this.”

“How did you find out?”

“Is that what matters right now! Why did you keep it hidden all this time… Hm? Why….”

“Our marital issues are for us to handle.”

Staggered by Seo Dohyeon’s response, Seo Jeongjae shook his head. Straightening his posture as though steeling himself with great resolve, he said:

“This is no longer just your problem. End it here and now. I never meant to satisfy my own greed with your marriage… I should have listened to Yeonhui.”

“Grandfather.”

“How can that child remain in our family! What were you planning to do about the baby, hm? If such an issue existed, it should have been disclosed long ago!”

As Seo Dohyeon opened his mouth, Seo Jeongjae turned his head as though unwilling to hear another word.

“Settle it quietly. Do you think there can be such a thing as an eternal secret? Everything comes to light in the end. That is how the world works. So do not disgrace the family with pointless scandal—end it cleanly. Once that child recovers, I will have him sent away to a quiet place.”

“Where exactly do you plan on sending him…. And our issues are for us to resolve, so do not touch Igyeol.”

“How can you call it your problem! This is a family matter. Your spouse has borne an illegitimate child! Do you not realize how much that makes our family a laughingstock?”

“Even if he bore an illegitimate child, I will not divorce him.”

At Seo Dohyeon’s firm voice, Seo Jeongjae shot up, pointing a trembling finger. He mocked that such behavior was truly well done, ranting in outrage until, breathing heavily, he leaned against his desk.

“Right now, Yeonhui has gone to meet people at the hospital. She’s good at that sort of thing.”

“Mother… at the hospital?”

For the first time, Seo Dohyeon lifted his head, which he had been keeping calmly lowered as he spoke. At the mention that his mother had gone to see Go Igyeol, his body immediately turned.

Seo Jeongjae’s gaze, which had been fixed on the teacup he was lifting, followed him naturally. Though he thundered that their conversation wasn’t finished and demanded where he thought he was going, the words barely reached Seo Dohyeon’s ears.

“Seo Dohyeon! Dohyeon!”

Bang—! Shutting the study door, he left the main house.

He had considered, vaguely, that his grandfather might know, but had never expected his mother to have gone to the hospital.

“Fuck, seriously.”

Yes, it was entirely possible that his mother, suspicious of Igyeol avoiding her and refusing to answer calls, had set someone to tail him. If so, was it also she who had informed his grandfather of everything?

Seo Dohyeon had forgotten that his mother excelled at employing people for such things, digging persistently into matters. Since nothing had happened for a while, he had complacently assumed nothing ever would.

Well, Yoon Jaeseon was there, so maybe it would be fine. As he drove out of the residential area, he thought so—but then cursed again, over and over, because he doubted that Yoon Jaeseon could have actually shielded Go Igyeol from his mother.

Once outside the residential area, he hit red lights one after another. Slamming the steering wheel, venting his anger, Seo Dohyeon saw a message notification flash across the car display and instantly grabbed his phone.

「The Madam has visited.」

“Took your sweet time telling me.”

He scoffed, waiting to see if there would be further updates, but no new message came. Was it that nothing more had happened, or simply that nothing had been conveyed by message?

Restlessly waiting for the signal to change, Seo Dohyeon shot off the moment it turned green.

Arriving outside the hospital room, Seo Dohyeon steadied his breath. He brushed back his hair, disheveled from the rush, and pushed open the door, hearing movement inside.

“Manager Yoon.”

“Huh?”

Striding into the room, he found it empty, with only a nurse crouched on the floor scrubbing at something with disinfectant tissues.

“Oh… hello. The patient, Go Igyeol, has been moved to another room—a private ward. They just transferred him a little while ago, so it seems I wasn’t able to inform you.”

“What is that?”

“Oh, this? They said the patient had a nosebleed. That secretary? He wiped it roughly, but the floor was still stained, so I’m finishing up.”

“Can you tell me which room he was moved to?”

At his question, the nurse straightened from his crouched position, clearing his throat.

“The room… Just a moment, I’ll check and let you know.”

As the nurse left, pushing along the wheelchair and IV stand, Seo Dohyeon pulled out the phone vibrating in his inner pocket, only to drop the envelope he had shoved in carelessly. Fluttering down, it landed, to his regret, right at the nurse’s feet.

“You dropped this.”

“Thank you.”

Taking the envelope, he checked his phone. A message from Manager Yoon had arrived, stating the ward had been changed, with floor and room number listed side by side.

“No need to check, then.”

“Oh… Ah! You’ve confirmed it? Understood.”

“Thank you for your trouble.”

After leaving the VIP ward and entering the general ward, Seo Dohyeon waited for the elevator, staring intently at the envelope that held the results of the genetic and trait tests.

He knew in his head that he needed to look. Gender and traits had to be known in order to register a child with the adoption agency’s waiting list, and the better the traits, the faster adoptive parents would be chosen. He had no expectation of superior traits, but for registration, it was right to confirm as soon as possible.

“Whew…”

Leaning against the wall, Seo Dohyeon moved his hand. His fingers opened the envelope reluctantly, as if against his will.

The first sheet was the report of gender and trait testing. The child was male, and a dominant Alpha.

Skimming the page, Seo Dohyeon then reread it carefully.

Na Seonwoo’s trait wasn’t dominant, so how could a dominant Alpha be born between a recessive Alpha and a recessive Omega? Was it possible? Even if born, it should have been recessive, or a Beta. Was this the one-in-ten-million chance?

Puzzled by the result, Seo Dohyeon, mouth dry, moved to the paternity DNA report.

He checked the client’s information and the test subject listed on the first page, then immediately turned to the DNA test results.

“Fuck… this….”

The moment he confirmed the results, Seo Dohyeon clamped a hand over his mouth.

The elevator doors opened, but he could not step inside.

Shutting his eyes, grinding curses between his teeth, he checked the report again. But blinking a few times would not change what was written.