Miyun’s parents had a good amount of wealth, so he had hoped at a time that they would help him. However, he threw away such expectations early on. Even if his in-laws were wealthy, they couldn’t easily repay the millions he owed.

Sungyoon thought about it, and he realized that Miyun’s choice was inevitable.

However, he couldn’t act cool and unbothered. He couldn’t just let her go. His business had failed, and his friend had betrayed him. The only thing left was his wife and daughter. He only had his family left.

“Please wait a little bit. Can you wait a little bit more for me?”

He asked as if he was squeezing those words out of his heart. He pleaded. No, he begged. He made a fuss like a child clinging to a toy in a store.

“This is all Jaeho’s fault. I’ll recover the technology he stole from me. I’ll do it somehow. If I can recover it, I can make Shinhae and you live in comfort and luxury.”

“It’s fine.”

Miyun was cold as she rejected his plea.

It felt as if the rug was being pulled out from under his feet. He was in an endless and empty space, and the only piece of surface he could stand on was gone. It felt as if he was flung into the abyss.

“D... don’t be like that. I will get back on my feet. Please wait for me. It won’t take too long.”

He wondered if he could get out of this nightmare if he got on his knee. If it allowed him to do so, he wouldn’t have hesitated to get on his knees. That’s how desperate he was.

However, Miyun’s cold expression didn’t change. She had given him a pretty smile not too long ago. She had whispered sweet nothings to him. She no longer showed such sides of her.

“If you are worried about the debt, we can fake our divorce.”

At Miyun’s unwavering expression, Sungyoon tried to make her take a step back. He couldn’t completely give up on Miyun.

“I really can win against him! Jaeho might think he got away with the perfect plan, but I have evidence. There are contracts and documents that I can use against him! I can win against him in court! It will be hard, but please just stick with me for a couple more years! When I collect my judgment, I can restart...!”

“No. That’s impossible.”

Sungyoon was giving her an optimistic view of the situation, but Miyun cut him off.

“Those contracts and documents no longer exist.”

“What?”

“I gave it all to Mr. Jaeho.”

“....”

For a brief moment, Sungyoon thought he had heard wrong. The company, which he had dedicated his life, had been demolished. His opponent was Lee Jaeho, a scion of a wealthy family. He had evidence that would be the main driving force in getting his revenge against Lee Jaeho. He ground his teeth as he dreamed about revenge. However, his evidence was all gone. When his business went bankrupt, he had given it all to his wife, who he had trusted the most.

“It was the documents within the master bedroom's safe, right? It no longer exists, so stop dreaming about it.”

Did Miyun know what she was saying to him? Sungyoon wordlessly kept opening and closing his mouth. This wasn’t his wife. This creature was like the devil wearing the skin of his wife. She was like a creature that had escaped the depth of hell.

“W... why…”

His tongue wasn’t moving that well. It was as if he had a couple of bottles of soju. However, his mind was clear. If his mind had been impaired from alcohol, it might have allowed him to avoid this reality.

“You have no chance of winning if you fight Mr. Jaeho without any evidence. You already have no money. You should give up...”

“Why did you do it!”

When he came to his senses, he realized that he was grasping Miyun’s shirt.

“That was the only path for me, you, and Shinhae to live together again! How could you hand that over!”

“Let me go!”

Miyun pushed Sungyoon’s hands away. His strong grip had slightly stretched out her shirt. When she saw this, Miyun directed a death glare towards Sungyoon.

“Do you know how much this is!”

Her expensive clothes were more important than her husband.

Sungyoon was baffled. Didn’t she realize what she had done? How could she be worried about her clothing? He knew she had always been overly interested in expensive accessories and clothes, but not to this extent.

“How much?! I have no way of paying off our debts thanks to you!”

“You should always talk straight no matter what the situation! It isn't our debt! It is your debt!”

“You...”

He had a lot he wanted to say. He wanted to ask for the reasons behind her actions. He wanted to know the source of her anger and resentment. He wanted to blow up, but he wasn’t able to say anything. His throat was like a bottleneck caused by traffic. It closed up. He was having a hard time breathing.

However, Miyun looked unperturbed at how Sungyoon was taking all of this. In fact, she spoke a more shocking statement in the next moment.

“Shall I tell you something better? I’m the one that passed on your trade secrets to Mr. Jaeho from the beginning.”

“What?”

“I’m the one that passed on the trade secrets to your shitty company! You never picked up on it! You answered all my questions!”

Her mouth had always whispered sweet nothings to him. Now it was spitting out venom. Her face had been full of love, but now it was filled with ridicule. It made him wonder if she really was his wife, whom he had loved. However, she was Miyun, his wife and the mother of his daughter. She was the person he had loved.

“Of course, I couldn’t pass on the really important information. I had no idea which information was important or not. However, I passed on every small detail of our conversation. I guess it was enough. Mr. Jaeho found it helpful.”

She wasn’t the wife he had known. She looked like a monster to him.

“... Why... Why did you do that?”

He had to hear it. Even if the truth was cruel and hurtful he had to hear it. He asked the question, but there was no strength in his voice.

Miyun’s answer was simple.

“Money.”

Money. It was such a short word. However, this word pretty much explained everything.

“When Mr. Jaeho started eyeing your business, I knew your business was doomed for failure. The future was obvious, so I’d rather receive something by handing over your business.”

It was as if her face was an iron mask. Still, he couldn't understand how shameless she was being.

“Bullshit! He owns a big company, but my company wouldn’t have gone down so easily to him!”

“It would have been like taking candy from a child.”

Veins popped out on Sungyoon’s neck as he raged. However, it had no effect on Miyun.

“Your husband built his company through blood, sweat, and tears. Yet you gave it away for money!”

“Of course, money was the biggest reason, but it wasn’t the only reason.”

Miyun swept her long hair to the side.

“You might not know this, because you can be quite thick. I’m going out with Mr. Jaeho.”

“What!”

He didn’t know how many surprises he could take. His heart was beating hard from the shock and anger he felt. Sungyoon’s face turned beet red. It looked like his head was about to explode.

“You might have been hot shit when you were younger, but you’ve become a complete ahjussi as you’ve aged. I can’t live my whole life with someone like you. Aren’t you asking too much of me? I’m still so pretty.”

At that moment, Miyun’s face was filled with pride. She had aged, but as a woman, she was proud of the fact that she was still beautiful.

“Mr. Jaeho has a lot of money, and he takes care of himself. That is why he is still very handsome. You can’t hold a candle to him.”

Miyun gave a thorough once over. Every time her gaze reached his protruding stomach and wrinkles, she let out a sigh. Each small action ripped Sungyoon’s heart apart.

“... so you are cheating with him? Do you think he’ll keep you by his side for the rest of his life! He is just playing with you!”

“I know.”

Miyun looked unperturbed as he agreed with Sungyoon’s words.

“I don’t plan on sticking around forever. Even if I take care of myself, I can't do anything about my age. I’ll play around for a little bit more before I remarry to a younger man.”

He was so taken aback that he could only laugh at this point. This was the true nature of his wife, the one who he had trusted and treasured.

“Do you think the world revolves around you?”

“I need money to make it happen. If I have money, the world will mostly revolve around me. When I turned over your documentary evidence, I received a decent amount of money.”

“You guys are like two dogs in bed with each other!”

He was the idiot that had been played by them.

‘I really want to kill her!’

Sungyoon was surprised at his own self-control. He wanted to punch her, yet he hadn’t. In such a situation, he thought murder was an acceptable response.

He used his supernatural self-control to push down on his anger.

“This won’t be the end!”

He felt so aggrieved that he wouldn’t let this go.

“Even if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll put both of you in jail!”

“That won’t happen. I made a promise with Mr. Jaeho. I said I’ll make this all go away without a fuss.”

“Did you receive money for this job?”

“Of course. I received quite a lot of money.”

“Ha! Do you think I’m a moron? Do you think I won’t hit back after being attacked like this?”

“Really?”

Sungyoon had shouted with hate in his voice, but she was calm. It was as if she knew she had an ace in the hole. Sungyoon became worried. He had been backstabbed so much that his mind was reeling, but he knew she was about to spring something on him. A chill came over his body.

Miyun spoke calmly, and the words were something Sungyoon would have never imagined.

“If you continue to be like this, nothing good will come to Shinhae.”

“!!!”

Sungyoon was sure he had misheard her words.

“You... you...!”

However, Sungyoon would never forget what she had said. He didn’t care about himself, but Shinhae was...

“You crazy bitch! Shinhae is your daughter!”

In the end, he cursed. Even when they fought as couples, he had never cursed toward Miyun. However, he couldn’t hold it back anymore.

“She’s our daughter! She isn’t my daughter!”

This couldn’t be happening. Even if she loved money, she was a mother. How could she threaten her own flesh and blood?

However, Miyun’s words had already transcended Sungyoon’s common sense.

“Yes, she had been our daughter if our marriage had lasted. However, I’ve chosen to divorce you. That child is merely baggage that’ll weigh down my future now.”

As a divorced woman, she would be known as a ‘single mother’. Miyun couldn’t stand that. She couldn’t erase the fact that she had a child in a previous marriage. That couldn’t be helped. However, she refused to take on the ‘baggage’.

“... you are serious about this.”

She had called her daughter ‘that child’ and ‘baggage’. She didn’t even blink an eye. Sungyoon finally had to accept the fact that this joke of a situation was reality.

“Yes, I’m serious. You should let this quietly go away. That will be the best for you, me, and Shinhae.”

“This will only be good for you!”

“So what? You won’t let this quietly go away? It seems you are no longer worried about your daughter”

“You really want to do this!”

“Do you think I can’t do it? I won’t be able to ignore or use violence on her. That’s too visible. However, there are many ways I can abuse a child. It’ll be quite easy for me to torment a five-year-old girl away from the eyes of society.”

Who would actually think this woman was a mother at this point? Even a complete stranger, who wasn’t crazy, would never make such threats against a child.

“You fucking bitch! Bring me Shinhae right now!”

He had allowed Shinhae to go to his in-laws. He regretted this decision right now. He was losing his mind for allowing Shinhae to remain in Miyun’s clutches.

“If you stay quiet, I can allow you to take her right now. I don’t need that child anymore.”

“You don’t need that child? You are the lowest of the low! Do you think I’ll stand by and do nothing!”

“Are you going to report me?”

Miyun ridiculed him. It was as if she was watching an already dying bug futilely resist against her.

“I haven’t caused any definite harm to Shinhae. On the other hand, you are in deep debt. You know that the mother has a clear advantage in custody battles within Korea. Who do you think the courts will side with?”

“You... you...!”

“If things get that far, Mr. Jaeho will supply me with lawyers. How good of a lawyer will you be able to hire?”

Sungyoon had no answers. If he fought her for custody, he would be at a clear disadvantage. Above all else, his massive debt would be a problem.

“Of course, there’s a possibility you might be able to take custody of her if you can prove my abuse. However, the child would be deeply damaged by then. Will you be able to live with that result?”

Those words were the final nail in the coffin. In the end, Sungyoon lowered his head.