DISGRACE ✴ kim rian

08 ── ᵈⁱⁿⁿᵉʳ

ʰⁱᵉʳᵃʳᶜʰʸ
ʰⁱᵉʳᵃʳᶜʰʸ
ʰⁱᵉʳᵃʳᶜʰʸ

The dining room was suffocatingly quiet, the kind of silence that seemed to press against Yun Mi-hee’s skin. Her father, seated at the head of the long, polished table, dismissed everyone else in the room with a single wave of his hand. Servants and family alike filed out quickly, leaving Mi-hee alone with him.

She remained poised, her hands folded neatly in her lap as though the tension rolling off him didn’t affect her. Her father’s presence was a looming storm, and yet, she felt no real fear—only a dull, simmering boredom.

When the last person exited and the heavy oak door shut behind them, the silence thickened. Then, with a sharp bang, her father slammed his hand on the table, making the silverware rattle.

Mi-hee didn’t flinch. Instead, she lowered her gaze slightly, her expression carefully crafted into one of timid submission. She knew this game too well. Her father’s rage was predictable, a broken record of intimidation that no longer stirred anything in her. Still, she played her part.

“You disappoint me, Mi-hee,” he said, his voice clipped but controlled, for now. “Is this what the heir to Yun Enterprises looks like? Is this how you behave?”

She said nothing, letting him rile himself up. Predictably, he grabbed two glossy photographs from his pocket and threw them onto the table, the edges skidding across the polished surface until they came to a halt in front of her.

The first image was of Kim Rian on the race track, his hand gripping her wrist, her back pressed against the cold wall. The angle made it look more scandalous than it had been, though the moment itself was tense enough to leave room for misinterpretation.

The second photo showed Kang Ha slipping into her car, his expression smug and utterly unbothered.

Her father’s lip curled in disgust as he leaned forward. “Is this how a Yun Enterprises daughter should look? Like some run-through girl?” His voice rose sharply before dropping to a menacing low. “If you have an interest in Kim Rian, tell me. That’s acceptable—I can arrange something with his mother. But this beggar,” he spat the word like poison, jabbing his finger at the photo of Kang Ha, “if you’re spotted with him again, I’ll make sure to behead you myself.”

The words hung in the air, heavy and venomous, but Mi-hee remained unshaken. Inside, she rolled her eyes at his theatrics. Outwardly, she maintained her composure, her gaze lowering slightly as if chastened.

“I will take care of this,” she said, her voice soft and measured. “And I will make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The response was rehearsed—a mantra she had practiced over and over for moments like these. It was the only thing that could appease him enough to prevent his fury from escalating.

Her father stared at her, his dark eyes searching for cracks in her facade, but Mi-hee gave him nothing. Finally, with a grunt of approval, he leaned back in his chair, the tension in his frame loosening slightly.

“See that you do,” he muttered, his voice still sharp but quieter now.

Mi-hee nodded obediently, but her mind was elsewhere. Every word she spoke to him was a placeholder, a mere string of syllables meant to placate him. The truth was, this man had no idea that she had plans—plans that would soon leave him and his empire behind.

For now, though, she let him believe he had won.

ʰⁱᵉʳᵃʳᶜʰʸ
ʰⁱᵉʳᵃʳᶜʰʸ
ʰⁱᵉʳᵃʳᶜʰʸ