The lights of Seoul glittered below as the plane descended, a sprawling battlefield neither of them was truly ready to face again. Mira's fingers tightened around the armrest until Jae's hand covered hers, warm and steady.
"Still time to turn back," he murmured, though the ghost of a smirk said he already knew her answer.
Mira exhaled. "And let Eun-ji win? Never."
The city swallowed them whole the moment they stepped out of the airport.
Jae disappeared into the chaos first.
His new office was a far cry from Park Group's gleaming towers—a modest space in Gangnam with peeling wallpaper and a coffee machine that groaned like a dying animal. But it was his. Every sleepless night spent hunched over contracts, every investor meeting that ended with thinly veiled skepticism, every hissed warning from former colleagues about Eun-ji's influence—it all led here. To this.
Kim Seung, the sharp-tongued CFO who'd followed him from Park Group, tossed another stack of files onto his desk. "Han Group just pulled their backing from the Jang account. Coincidence?"
Jae didn't look up from his laptop. "Send them the revised proposal. The one with the Singapore numbers."
"You think that'll work?"
"It has to." The glow of the screen reflected in his tired eyes. "We're not playing her game anymore."
Mira's battlefield was quieter but no less treacherous.
LUXE International's headquarters loomed over her as she stepped into the elevator, her reflection in the polished steel doors betraying none of the nerves twisting her stomach. The receptionist's polite smile didn't waver as she directed Mira not to HR, but to the executive suite.
CEO Kang Dae-won awaited her behind a desk cluttered with fabric swatches and half-empty coffee cups. He didn't offer pleasantries.
"Hae-soo tells me you're stubborn," he said by way of greeting.
Mira met his gaze. "She's not wrong."
Kang slid a folder across the desk. "Good. You'll need to be."
Inside were the details of Han Group's threatened withdrawal—and Eun-ji's name scrawled across the memo line as the deciding vote. Mira's stomach dropped.
Kang leaned back. "Still want the job?"
The file trembled slightly in her hands before she snapped it shut. "When do I start?"
The city became a chessboard, each move met with a countermove.
Jae's first major investor signed on after days of brutal negotiations, only for rumors to surface questioning his company's stability—rumors traced back to Han Group's PR team. Mira countered by fast-tracking LUXE's controversial new campaign, featuring designers Eun-ji had personally blacklisted.
"Bold," Jae remarked when he saw the billboards go up, his arm slung around her shoulders as they stood in the rain.
Mira leaned into him. "You're not the only one building something new."
The storm broke one evening outside LUXE's offices.
Eun-ji materialized from the downpour, her perfect composure fractured at the edges. "You really think this ends well for you?" she hissed, raindrops catching in her lashes like false tears.
Mira didn't flinch. "I think you're running out of moves."
A car pulled up then, headlights cutting through the rain. Jae didn't bother with an umbrella as he strode toward them, his gaze locked on Eun-ji. The years between them—the childhood alliances, the broken engagements, the quiet betrayals—hung heavy in the air.
For a heartbeat, Eun-ji looked like the girl she might have been, before the bitterness took root. Then she was gone, swallowed by the storm.
Jae's hand found Mira's, their fingers intertwining. "Ready to go home?"
She squeezed back. "Yeah."
The city watched them leave, its neon lights reflecting in the puddles at their feet.
---
LUXE International – 9:17 AM
Mira's heels clicked against marble as she strode into the Monday morning strategy meeting, her tablet clutched tight. The room fell silent—design directors, PR leads, even Kang Dae-won himself pausing mid-sip of coffee.
"Han Group's ultimatum just escalated." She slapped printed emails onto the conference table. "They're demanding we pull the Jeon Collection or lose their cosmetics account."
Creative Director Han Seo-joon snorted. "That's 30% of our Q4 revenue."
"Was," Kang corrected, eyes locked on Mira. "You have a counter?"
Mira swiped her tablet awake. "Jeon's avant-garde line gets its own subsidiary brand. We pitch it as an edgy sister label—Han Group keeps their 'prestige' image clean while still benefiting from the hype."
A beat. Then Kang smirked. "Brutal. I like it." He stood, addressing the room. "Mira handles Han Group directly. Everyone else—move the Jeon production timeline up two weeks. We drop it before they can blink."
As staff scrambled out, Kang caught Mira's elbow. "Eun-ji won't take this lying down."
Mira tucked a loose hair behind her ear. "I'm counting on it."
Jae's Office – 3:42 PM
The fifth investor rejection of the day flashed on Jae's screen when Kim Seung burst in, tie askew.
"Park Group just bought out our warehouse lease." She tossed the termination notice on his desk. "Your father's signature."
Jae's pen snapped.
Across town, shipping containers sat locked—their entire prototype inventory trapped inside. The client demo was in 72 hours.
Seung's phone buzzed. "Logistics says they'll release the goods if we—"
"Pay a 300% penalty. Yeah." Jae scrubbed a hand down his face. "Call the Vancouver team. Have them airfreight the backup units."
"That'll cost—"
"Everything we have left." Jae's smile was all teeth. "Perfect."
Three Weeks Later
The envelope arrived at dawn, thick parchment embossed with the Park Group seal. Jae stood silhouetted in their apartment's floor-to-ceiling windows, the city's neon glow etching his rigid posture in blue.
Mira knew before he spoke.
"They're offering me the VP seat." His voice was sandpaper rough. "Full autonomy over the new tech division. Directorship in two years."
The unspoken if hung between them.
Mira crossed to him, tracing the heavy paper. Beneath the generous terms, hidden in clause 12.3: All personal ventures must dissolve upon acceptance.
Jae barked a laugh. "He's trying to bankrupt me slowly. Make me crawl back."
Outside, Seoul's skyline pulsed—a heartbeat of steel and ambition. Somewhere in it, Eun-ji was scheming, Kang Dae-won was calculating, and Chairman Park was waiting for his son to break.
Mira pressed her forehead to Jae's back. "What do you want?"
His hands covered hers, ink-smudged fingers lacing tight. "To watch them choke on our success."
The letter fluttered into the trash.