Soo-bin stood in Min-jae's office, her fingers clutching the leather strap of her purse. The sleek, modern space—drenched in muted shades of grey and silver—was an unsettling contrast to the rawness of the conversation she was about to have. Min-jae stood by his desk, a faint smile on his lips as he surveyed the city through the large floor-to-ceiling windows.
"So, you found out, didn't you?" he asked, his voice casual, almost amused.
Soo-bin said nothing at first. Her eyes roamed the room, struggling to focus on the man she had once known so well. The same Min-jae she had laughed with as a child, the same Min-jae who had been carefree and brash, was now a figure of chilling control and calculated ambition. Everything about him screamed power, not just in the boardroom, but in the world of relationships—his relationship with Seo-jin most of all.
"How long have you been planning this?" she finally managed to ask, her voice tight with a mix of disbelief and terror.
Min-jae chuckled softly. "Years. From the moment she left me, I knew I had to change everything about myself. Not for anyone else—only for me. Only for her. I loved her too much to lose her again." His gaze sharpened as he turned toward her. "You don't understand, Soo-bin. I hated myself. I hated who I was. I had to break every part of me to rebuild it into something... more. Stronger. Worthy."
Soo-bin's heart raced. She could feel the intensity in his voice, the pain that still lingered beneath his cold exterior. She thought she understood, but now, as she listened to him, she realized how far he had gone. How far he had pushed himself to reach this point of control, and how utterly terrifying his love had become.
"You manipulated her into this," Soo-bin said, her voice barely a whisper. "You turned her into your possession. How could you—how could you do this to her?"
Min-jae stepped closer, his presence overwhelming, a slow smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "She signed the contract. It's unbreakable. Legally and psychologically. There's nothing you can do about it. There's nothing she can do about it. She's mine, Soo-bin, and I'm not letting her go." He paused for a moment, studying her reaction. "But you're right. It wasn't about control. Not really. It was about making sure she would never leave me again. This is the only way I could endure. The only way I could make sure I wouldn't destroy myself when she walked away."
Soo-bin was silent for a long time, her mind reeling. She had always known her brother was determined, but this? This was madness. He had twisted the very concept of love into something suffocating, something that left no room for escape. And yet, as she watched him, a horrifying realization settled in her chest. He wasn't just controlling Seo-jin for the sake of power or manipulation. This was love. Love so consuming, so desperate, that he was willing to turn himself into something almost unrecognizable to keep her by his side.
"Why... why would you do this?" she asked, her voice trembling now. "You've broken her. You've trapped her."
Min-jae's eyes softened for a brief moment, a flicker of vulnerability passing through them. "Because I love her. I love her so much that I couldn't let her go. Not again. I would've died if I had to go through losing her once more." His expression hardened again, his gaze colder than ever. "And she won't leave me. Not now. Not after everything I've done. She'll never leave me."
Soo-bin stood frozen, her mind working to piece everything together. Min-jae's transformation wasn't just about becoming powerful—it was about becoming someone who could make Seo-jin love him again. Someone who could make her need him. He had planned every detail meticulously. He had waited. And now, he was holding all the cards.
"You... you changed yourself for her," Soo-bin whispered, horrified. "You're saying you did all of this because you wanted her to love you back? Because you couldn't bear to lose her?"
Min-jae's gaze softened slightly, but the bitterness still lingered in his tone. "Yes. And it worked. I did everything to become someone she couldn't resist, someone she couldn't leave. You have no idea how painful it was, Soo-bin. To be left by the one person who meant everything to me. But now... now she's mine. And nothing, not even her, can take that away from me."
Soo-bin swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her chest. What had started as a distant, calculating plan had evolved into a suffocating, all-consuming love. Min-jae had truly gone to the darkest depths of his soul, transforming himself into the man he believed Seo-jin needed—and yet, in the process, he had become someone who could never be free of her. And neither could she.
Her mind raced with a mix of fear and awe. This was love—no matter how twisted it had become. And it terrified her to realize that Min-jae was so consumed by it, so convinced that it was the only way, that he would rather destroy everything around him than lose her again.
As the silence stretched on between them, Soo-bin couldn't help but think that she was witnessing something more terrifying than she had ever imagined: a love so powerful, so possessive, that it left no room for anything else—no room for freedom, for choice, for escape.
And Seo-jin, she realized, was already in too deep. She was already bound to him in ways Soo-bin could never understand.
"I never thought you'd become this," she finally whispered. "But I get it now. You love her. You'd rather die than lose her."
Min-jae looked at her for a long moment, his eyes dark with something that was both longing and a cold certainty. "Exactly," he replied softly. "And I'll never let her go. Not for anything. Not for anyone."
Soo-bin felt a shiver run down her spine. The man standing before her wasn't the brother she once knew. He wasn't the carefree, reckless Min-jae she'd grown up with. This Min-jae was something else—something far more dangerous, and far more capable of breaking her than she ever imagined.
And now, Seo-jin was caught in the web he had so carefully spun. A web from which there was no escape.