Strings Attached

17. Powerless

“I’m fine, Appa. Just… I was watching a drama. It got too emotional,” I said with a smile that didn’t reach my eyes.

Oppa rolled his eyes. “Told you to stop watching those stupid dramas. They mess with your brain.”

“It was a good one, Oppa,” I said, playing along.

Dinner passed by in a blur. I couldn’t focus on anything. Just before heading to my room, I heard Appa speaking in his office.

“…It’s the 35th anniversary of Jung’s Enterprises. It would be perfect to announce the collaboration then.”

I stopped.

Thirty-five years.

Thirty-five years of struggle, courage, building a dream brick by brick—without help, without privilege. I remembered grandma’s stories. How Appa defied my grandfather and started this company from scratch. How he failed. How he didn’t stop.

And Oppa—he lived to continue that legacy. He gave up youth, sleep, dreams… all for this company.

I couldn’t be the one to destroy it all.

I opened my phone and searched: Jeon Jungkook. Pages after pages appeared. Articles. Business write-ups. Scandals buried under PR. Rumors of mafia connections and political ties. His reach was terrifying.

And real.

The Jeons could destroy us.

Even our company, with its hidden financial adjustments and NGO covers was able to fool the officials regarding the final turnover and profits. Every business did charity work to show social welfare participation to avoid taxes. But The Jeons influence was unmatched.

Fooling officials and Owning officials were two different things.

The Jeons owned them.

If Jungkook said he could end us, I now believed he definitely could.

It wasn’t about marrying me. It was about owning me. And the worst part? The world would watch and call it love.

I made my decision.

I had to protect my family. Even if it meant losing myself.

My father has done everything for us. For me. After Omma passed, it was the business that kept him breathing—it became his lifeline, his last connection to the woman he loved more than life itself. They built Jung’s Enterprises together, hand in hand, and now… it was all hanging by a thread because of me.

Appa never once took credit alone. He always said there would be no Jung’s Enterprises without her. He meant it.

My Omma was fierce. Unapologetically strong. She had fought her conservative parents to marry Appa, defying their wishes and walking away from the security of her middle-class upbringing. They wanted her to choose stability. She chose love. She chose passion. Like Appa, she didn’t fear struggle. They didn’t have wealth, but they had each other—and that was enough.

Together, they built their separate companies from scratch, brick by painful brick. When Omma’s family discovered she had married a man with no stable job or future, they disowned her without hesitation. She begged for forgiveness, but they turned their backs. Reputation mattered more than blood. Not even the birth of Mingyu Oppa moved their hearts.

In contrast, Appa’s parents had come around just two weeks after their marriage. Bitterness faded, and they accepted Omma as their own—loving her the way she deserved.

Their love bore fruit—not just in the form of us, but in the empire they created. By the time Oppa turned three, Omma suggested merging her company with Appa’s. She was still the CEO, still the decision-maker. She didn’t disappear into his shadow—they stood beside each other. Partners. Equals. That was the kind of woman she was.

Even when Appa hesitated to let go of her company’s original name—"Lee Corporation"—she insisted. She wanted no ties with the “Lee” surname anymore. It was her silent rebellion, her final rejection of the family that chose pride over her happiness.

I blinked through the sting in my eyes.

Omma was brave. Strong. Defiant.

And me?

I felt like a coward.

I didn’t see any other way out of this mess. The only card I had left to play was surrender. And I hated that the one thing I could offer—the one choice I could make—was to give in to Jungkook. To become the very thing Omma had never been—Powerless.  I missed her more today than ever.

That's it. I have made my decision.

Without a second thought, I picked up my phone.

Dialed the number I thought I never would.

“Hello,” I whispered into the receiver.

---

°•°•°•°•°•°

Becoming someone we swore we never would breaks us in ways we can't describe.
I just wanted to hug Yn in this chapter.
She's just a sweetheart stuck in the maze of Jungkook's obsession.
Let's see where this leads.
Vote and Comment y'all.
That's what motivates me for updating.
Thanks for reading♡

—Ash💋