Seo-Jun's office didn't feel like an office anymore.
It felt like a sealed truth room.
Curtains half-drawn. Screens still glowing. Files spread across the desk in layers like he had been digging through someone's entire life instead of just paperwork.
Ji-Ah stood in the doorway for a second.
"…You look like you haven't slept since civilization began."
Seo-Jun didn't look up. "I found something worse than lack of sleep."
That made her step inside immediately. "What?"
He slid a folder across the desk.
No drama.
No hesitation.
Just weight.
Ji-Ah opened it.
At first, it looked normal.
Birth records. IDs. Signatures.
Then she slowed. "…this doesn't match."
Seo-Jun nodded once. "It doesn't."
She flipped the page.
Then another.
Then stopped completely. "…this says her parents are not dead."
Seo-Jun leaned back in his chair. "They're alive."
Ji-Ah looked up sharply. "That's impossible. She said—"
"I know what she said."
Silence tightened.
Seo-Jun continued, voice steady.
"They didn't die in any accident. There was no tragedy. No hospital record. No official report."
Ji-Ah frowned. "So where are they?"
Seo-Jun turned the screen toward her.
A map blinked softly.
A rural district outside the city.
Small. Quiet. Forgotten.
"…They're outside the town," he said. "Living under different names."
Ji-Ah scanned it. "And Min-Ji?"
Seo-Jun hesitated.
Then clicked another file open.
A different set of documents.
Older. Heavier.
Ji-Ah's eyes narrowed.
"These adoption records…"
"They're staged," Seo-Jun said.
Her head snapped up. "What do you mean staged?"
He exhaled. "Her 'wealthy family'?"
Pause.
"Actors."
The word landed wrong in the room.
Ji-Ah blinked once.
"…actors."
Seo-Jun nodded.
"Paid. Managed. Directed. Everything she believes about her origin was constructed."
Ji-Ah went quiet.
Then flipped another page faster.
Images.
Contracts.
Fake witness statements.
Her voice dropped.
"…this is insane."
Seo-Jun's tone didn't change.
"There's more."
He turned another document.
Ji-Ah read it.
Then read it again.
Slowly, her expression shifted.
"…she wasn't adopted into wealth."
Seo-Jun shook his head.
"She was placed into it."
Ji-Ah looked up. "By who?"
Seo-Jun didn't answer immediately.
That silence was the answer.
Ji-Ah leaned forward. "…you don't know."
"I know enough to say this was not kindness."
The air tightened.
Ji-Ah closed the folder slowly. "…So Min-Ji isn't who she says she is."
Seo-Jun corrected gently. "She is who someone needed her to be."
That sentence stayed in the room longer than anything else.
At the mansion, evening was arriving like a soft lie.
The garden lights flickered on.
The house looked calm again.
Which meant it wasn't.
Min-Ji stood in her room staring at her reflection.
Perfect posture.
Perfect expression.
But her hands were not still.
On the desk beside her, a phone lay open.
A message thread.
Unread replies.
Then a second phone.
Unregistered.
She picked it up.
Her voice was low. "It's getting worse."
A man's voice on the other end answered.
Calm. Controlled. "Did anyone find anything?"
Min-Ji's eyes narrowed. "I think Seo-Jun is digging."
A pause.
Then:
"Then you act faster."
Her jaw tightened. "And Ha-Joon?"
"Still engaged schedule is proceeding."
She smiled slightly.
Not warm.
Not kind.
"…Good."
She walked to the mirror again.
Adjusted her hair.
Her expression softened into something practiced.
But her eyes did not.
"They're starting to question things," she said.
The voice replied "Then make them question each other instead."
Min-Ji paused.
Then nodded slowly. "I can do that."
She ended the call.
And stood there for a moment longer.
Silent.
Thinking.
Then she opened her drawer.
Inside: a small envelope.
Unlabeled.
She tapped it once.
Like confirming it was still real.
Then whispered to herself:
"If they want truth…"
A thin smile.
"…I'll give them confusion instead."
Outside her room,
The hallway upstairs was quiet enough to hear fabric move.
Nisa stepped out of her room with a towel folded in her arms, damp brown hair tied back loosely, a few strands falling over her cheek.
She looked fresh from a shower, wearing a soft house dress and slippers, the kind of effortless beauty that irritated insecure people on sight.
She was walking past Min-Ji's room when voices drifted through the partly open door.
She slowed.
Not because she meant to.
Because one sentence caught her ankle.
"…If they start finding things, I'll make sure they stop trusting each other first."
Nisa froze.
Min-Ji's voice again.
Cold.
Controlled.
Nothing like the sweet performance she wore downstairs.
Nisa stepped closer without thinking.
Inside, Min-Ji stood by the vanity mirror, phone in hand.
"…No, I don't care who gets blamed. Ji-Ah, Yoo-Na, anyone. I only need time."
Nisa's breath shortened.
Then Min-Ji laughed softly. "I always win when people panic."
Nisa stumbled back from the door.
The towel slipped from her hands.
Her heart started racing too hard.
Too fast.
She turned immediately and hurried down the hallway, one hand against the wall, breathing shallowly.
She pushed into her room.
Do-Hyun stood by the mirror adjusting the sleeves of a fitted charcoal suit, admiring himself from three angles.
He turned with a grin. "Ah. Perfect timing. Tell me honestly, do I look handsome or offensively handsome?"
Nisa grabbed the doorframe.
"Yes."
He blinked.
"That answer lacked appreciation."
Then he saw her face.
The grin vanished.
"Nisa?"
She tried to walk toward him.
"I heard Min-Ji… she was talking to someone… she said Ji-Ah… panic… trust…"
Her words tangled.
The room tilted.
Do-Hyun crossed the room in two steps.
"Nisa."
She swayed.
Then collapsed forward.
He caught her before she hit the floor.
"Nisa!"
The mansion woke like it had been struck.
Doors opened.
Servants rushed.
Footsteps thundered.
Do-Hyun carried her to the bed carefully, voice shaking.
"Someone call Madam! Now!"
Madam arrived first, silk robe sharp as a warning.
"What happened?"
"She fainted!"
"Then why are you yelling over her body?"
"Because my wife fainted!"
Arisoo entered right behind her.
"Oh heavens."
Halmoni came in next, annoyed at everyone's speed being slower than hers.
Yoo-Na leaned in the doorway, pretending to be bored.
Min-Ji arrived last.
Concern painted neatly across her face.
"What happened to her?"
No one answered.
Do-Hyun knelt beside the bed.
"Nisa, open your eyes."
Arisoo touched Nisa's forehead.
"She's breathing fast."
Madam pulled out her phone.
"I'm calling the doctor."
Halmoni lifted a hand.
"Move."
Everyone obeyed instantly.
She sat beside Nisa, fingers pressing to her wrist, then lower to her pulse, then watching her face closely.
The room became still.
Halmoni's brows rose.
Then her mouth curved.
"Oh…"
Do-Hyun looked ready to pass out himself.
"What? What oh means what?"
Halmoni looked around grandly.
"This house is being blessed again."
Madam frowned.
"Use plain language."
Halmoni sniffed. "She is pregnant."
The room erupted.
Arisoo screamed first. "I KNEW IT!"
"You knew nothing," Yoo-Na said.
Madam lowered the phone slowly. "…Pregnant?"
Do-Hyun stood up too fast, sat down again, then stood again. "Pregnant? Me? Us? Her? Together?"
Halmoni waved a hand. "Yes, idiot, that is how children usually arrive."
Yoo-Na almost smiled.
Min-Ji's lips twitched once. "…How lovely."
Still no one paid attention to her.
Nisa opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was Do-Hyun hovering over her like an emotional chandelier.
"You came back!"
"I fainted," she whispered.
"You're pregnant!"
She stared at him.
Then at Halmoni.
Then at her stomach.
"…No."
"Yes," Arisoo cried. "Yes!"
Tears filled Nisa's eyes instantly.
Do-Hyun dropped to his knees beside the bed and kissed both her hands.
"I am going to be unbearable."
"You already were," she whispered, laughing through tears.
The doctor arrived and confirmed it after an examination.
"Early stage. She needs rest, hydration, less stress."
Everyone nodded.
Then all eyes slowly turned toward Min-Ji.
She smiled tightly.
"…Of course."
Right then, the bedroom door opened again.
Ji-Ah entered first, breathless.
"What happened? Why is everyone running like the house owes them money?"
Ha-Joon stepped in behind her, composed as ever, coat still on, gaze scanning the room once.
Then he saw everyone gathered around the bed.
"What happened?"
Do-Hyun turned dramatically, eyes wet. "I'm becoming a father."
Ji-Ah blinked.
"…What?"
Arisoo grabbed Ji-Ah by both shoulders and shook her happily. "Nisa is pregnant!"
Ji-Ah gasped so loudly even Yoo-Na looked impressed.
"She what?!"
Then Ji-Ah launched herself toward the bed.
"NISA!"
She nearly tripped over a stool, recovered, then reached the bedside.
"You dramatic fertile queen!"
Nisa burst out laughing.
Ji-Ah grabbed her hand.
"Are you okay? Did you eat? Did you faint stylishly? Why do you look prettier than me while unconscious?"
"Ji-Ah," Ha-Joon said quietly.
She looked back.
"What?"
"…Volume."
"Today I have no volume control."
Ha-Joon stepped closer to the bed.
He looked at Nisa once, then at Do-Hyun.
"…Congratulations."
Simple.
Calm.
But genuine.
Do-Hyun looked emotional again.
"He said congratulations. Write this down."
"I hate you," Ha-Joon replied.
"That means he's happy," Ji-Ah translated.
Ji-Ah suddenly narrowed her eyes at Nisa. "Wait. You passed Min-Ji's room before this."
The room shifted slightly.
Min-Ji's smile held.
Nisa glanced toward her.
Then back at Ji-Ah. "…I just got dizzy."
Ji-Ah studied her face.
She knew that tone.
Ha-Joon noticed too.
His expression cooled by one degree.
Madam clapped once.
"No tension today. We have a pregnant woman."
Halmoni nodded.
"Yes. Fight tomorrow."
Ji-Ah sat on the edge of the bed carefully and touched Nisa's hair.
"You're going to be a mother."
Nisa's eyes welled again.
Ji-Ah's voice softened.
"And you'll be good at it."
Do-Hyun sniffed loudly.
"I'll be better."
"No," said everyone in the room.
Even Ha-Joon.
Do-Hyun looked wounded.
"Cruel family."
Ha-Joon moved beside Ji-Ah.
She looked up at him.
"…Can you imagine Do-Hyun raising a child?"
"No."
"Same."
Do-Hyun pointed at them.
"I'm right here."
Ji-Ah smiled for the first time that evening without effort.
The room was warm.
Crowded.
Laughing.
Only Min-Ji stood apart near the door, smiling too perfectly.
And Ha-Joon noticed that too.