When a woman falls for a man, she starts doing things she never did before.
This is Kim Ah-young’s story.
On this day, after serving Lee Hyun-woo’s parents and showing her face, she had first served her own parents in the morning.
She woke up early in the morning and diligently prepared a meal with the family chef, which seemed to greatly satisfy her parents.
- “Looks like it’s time for you to get married.”
This was her mother’s comment.
- “Hehe, thanks to our eldest daughter, I now know what Parents’ Day is.”
Her father cleverly avoided mentioning marriage directly.
No gift, no matter how expensive, would have brought such satisfaction.
Even when she returned home at night, her mother greeted Kim Ah-young at the door.
“Why are you so late?”
“Huh? Why? Did something happen?”
“No, I just missed you.”
“Oh…”
It had been a long time since a warm conversation like this between mother and daughter.
She had helped set the table early in the morning not just to be good to Lee Hyun-woo’s parents but also to create a good atmosphere.
Thus, she realized.
The more time she spent with Lee Hyun-woo, the more she was influenced not only by his ideals and philosophy but also by his lifestyle.
Consequently, she was affecting her own household.
“What, unnie, you made me set the dinner table alone by showing off to our parents?”
Her second sister, Kim Ah-jin, grumbled.
“Did I do it alone? I helped too.”
This time, it was the youngest, Kim Na-yoon’s voice.
It seemed the two of them had prepared dinner, spurred on by the morning’s events.
“Still, Dad didn’t come, right?”
“That’s the most disappointing part. We’ll have to do it for Dad’s birthday.”
“Geez, because of unnie, we had to work so hard again.”
“Well, it wasn’t that bad. We always stress about what gifts to get. This time, we bought clothes and a wallet, and although they said thank you, it was clear it didn’t measure up to unnie’s meal.”
“Hey, that’s a bit harsh. Do you know how much effort I put into recruiting the designer for those clothes and wallet?”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
The younger sisters bickered.
Seeing this, a gentle smile appeared on Kim Ah-young’s lips.
But it was only for a moment.
“Na-yoon?”
“Yeah?”
“Your company has clothes, right? Do they have a separate dyeing factory they work with?”
“Well… of course, they do?”
Earlier this year, Kim Ah-jin was appointed as a director at 【First Wool】.
So, while still attending school, she occasionally returned to Korea to work at 【First Wool】.
She needed to familiarize herself with the company atmosphere and learn the job.
Her overseas study would end before this summer anyway.
Kim Ah-jin did not have big ambitions like her older brother Kim Tae-hyun or her eldest sister Kim Ah-young, but she wanted to excel in fashion design.
In that sense, she had brought in a famous designer and had him custom-make clothes and a wallet for their parents.
However, she clearly didn’t know much about the dyeing factory.
“Why do you suddenly ask about the dyeing factory?”
“I was wondering if I could get involved in their outsourcing.”
Kim Ah-jin tilted her head.
“Well, I don’t mind, but do you know any place?”
“Yeah, an acquaintance’s father runs a dyeing factory.”
“Really? Then you take care of it. But you have to help me with something hotel-related in the future.”
“Sure, I will.”
“Geez, you guys look like you’re really doing business. I want to start working soon too.”
Kim Ah-young laughed at her youngest sister’s last comment.
Then she suddenly turned serious and thought.
‘We are truly fortunate to work when we want to work.’
Some people started from zero.
Compared to them, the children of the 【Guseong】 family were enjoying privileges.
She had never thought this way before, but it was hard not to be influenced by Lee Hyun-woo.
As time passed, she admired Lee Hyun-woo, who had built himself up and was changing the world.
She couldn’t even imagine losing him to someone else.
Lately, she had been picturing a future.
A married life with Lee Hyun-woo.
It seemed like it would be filled with happiness.
She wanted to hurry up and taste that happiness, but the problem was that things weren’t progressing well.
She realized the reason perfectly not long ago.
The difference in family backgrounds.
The gap was so great that it was hard to move forward with the relationship, let alone marriage.
Although Kim Ah-young was okay with it, Lee Hyun-woo was not someone to be taken lightly.
He seemed gentle on the outside but was filled with strong convictions inside.
Therefore, Kim Ah-young had a bold idea.
To overcome the difference in family backgrounds.
‘Hyun-woo’s father’s business needs to do much better.’
She wanted to help expand the dyeing factory right away.
Would that be enough?
She asked herself, but even the expansion of the dyeing factory would help narrow the gap.
If she dreamed bigger, securing orders from large domestic companies would make the scale enormous.
Of course, Lee Hyun-woo wouldn’t like it if he knew, so proceeding cautiously was key.
So the next day, Kim Ah-young met a friend and made a secret request.
The friend Kim Ah-young met was Choi Seon-hwa.
【Aejeong Group】 also had a subsidiary called 【Aejeong Apparel】.
Knowing this, she arranged a meeting with Choi Seon-hwa and approached her as honestly as possible.
“Seon-hwa, can I ask you for a favor?”
“You have a favor to ask me?”
“Yeah. It happens.”
“What is it?”
Curious about a favor from a friend who lacked nothing, Choi Seon-hwa’s eyes lit up with curiosity.
“I know a dyeing factory. Can you give them more work?”
A very unexpected request.
“A dyeing factory?”
“Yeah, your company handles clothing.”
“That’s true, but isn’t your company bigger?”
“It is. That’s why I already told my company to give them work.”
“Wow, so you’re intentionally trying to grow a dyeing factory. What is this place? It’s not a subsidiary of your company, is it?”
“Well… it’s Hyun-woo’s father’s company.”
“……!”
Choi Seon-hwa’s eyes widened in surprise.
‘So they’re openly dating now?’
No, it seemed more than that.
Helping her future father-in-law’s company?
It meant she wanted to make a good impression on the other family in advance.
However, Choi Seon-hwa also wanted to help with this matter.
“If it’s Hyun-woo’s father’s company, I should pay attention too.”
“Huh?”
“Our company’s cosmetics business is doing very well. It’s all thanks to Hyun-woo’s advice. And the ultra-cheap cosmetics we recently collaborated on with 【Jungle】 are setting records online.”
It was true.
By cutting unnecessary costs in distribution and marketing and adding a small profit to the cost price for mass sales, they had started setting records in online sales.
“I wanted to help with anything, but Hyun-woo doesn’t lack anything. The concerts in Taiwan and Hong Kong are the only things left, but those are a couple of months away. Helping Hyun-woo’s father’s company would be a way to repay the favor.”
“Great. Then let’s say it’s your initiative, not mine.”
In other words, she wouldn’t take credit for it with Lee Hyun-woo or his father.
It was strange.
She thought Kim Ah-young was trying to make a good impression on her future father-in-law.
“What are you up to? Do you have another motive for helping Hyun-woo’s father?”
Choi Seon-hwa unintentionally revealed her inner thoughts with the question.
“Another motive? I just want Hyun-woo’s father’s dyeing factory to grow.”
With this one sentence, Choi Seon-hwa’s mind cleared.
‘Oh, I get what she’s thinking.’
She wasn’t stupid.
It seemed that the difference in family backgrounds was either becoming or could become an obstacle to their relationship or marriage, and she was trying to prevent it in advance.
“It would be better if your side could hurry it up. Then we would be the second to approach, so it wouldn’t be obvious.”
“Sure, I’ll do that. I’ve been doing well in my family lately, so I have a lot of influence.”
Each chaebol family had its own culture, but 【Guseong】 and 【Aejeong】 seemed to value capability.
However, 【Guseong】 had a limitation for females, making it harder to rise, while 【Aejeong】 allowed women to aim for the group head based on their capabilities.
In fact, the current head of 【Aejeong Group】 was Choi Seon-hwa’s mother.
Anyway, since Choi Seon-hwa’s influence was growing in her family, the entire group was paying attention to her. As soon as she gave the order, 【Aejeong Apparel】 immediately contacted Lee Hyun-woo’s father’s dyeing factory to start business with them.
“Who knew a day like this would come.”
“Why? What happened?”
Over dinner with his two sons, Lee Hyun-woo’s father spoke with an expression as if he had won the lottery.
“Do you know 【Aejeong Apparel】?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“They contacted us today to start doing business together.”
“Wow, that’s great.”
“Isn’t that a big company?”
“Yeah, in the clothing industry, they’re one of the top five. Usually, when they want to start doing business, they have a lot of demands. Typically, we approach them and show dye samples. But this time, they skipped all that. They just said they’d give us as much work as we can handle.”
Hearing this, Lee Hyun-woo and Lee Jung-woo looked at each other.
They started a silent conversation with their eyes.
‘Hyung, something’s up, right?’
‘Yeah, 【Aejeong】 skipping steps to place orders?’
‘It’s Choi Seon-hwa. It’s definitely her.’
‘I think so too. She seems to be helping Dad’s company for our convenience.’
They knew the recent collaboration cosmetics were selling extremely well.
It seemed like a gesture of goodwill, but they hadn’t expected her to approach this way.
Even during this eye conversation, their father continued to speak.
“But quality-wise, we’re not behind anyone. Recently, 【Deokseong Wool】 also acknowledged us.”
“Oh? You’re working with 【Deokseong Wool】 too?”
“Of course! The reason we’ve been so busy lately is because we’ve been working with bigger companies like 【Deokseong Wool】. We’ve always dealt with smaller companies, but working with a big one made us very busy.”
They didn’t know this.
In fact, Lee Hyun-woo wondered if he had ever really paid attention to his father.
‘I need to reflect on this. My goal is to be filial, but I haven’t been paying attention to what my parents are doing lately.’
He had even told his father to quit working several times.
He thought his father was struggling, but now he saw that his father’s face couldn’t be happier.
People find joy in life through work, and it was natural.
So Lee Hyun-woo asked without realizing it.
“What’s your dream, Dad?”
“Me? Oh… didn’t I tell you? When I was young, I wanted to have the best clothing company in the world, but now it’s smaller. I want our company to be the best dyeing company in Korea!”
Dreams lie dormant and then suddenly emerge.
If they became the largest dyeing company in the country, wouldn’t he dream of a clothing company?
‘This makes me think of my past life.’
In his past life, the person who had opened the peak era of 【Deokseong】’s clothing was none other than Lee Hyun-woo.
