Striding jubilantly into the grand conference room to sign the contract that would secure his dominion over the world, the man collapsed in shock before the face revealed from behind the dark sunglasses!
I. The Melody of Betrayal
There are flat-paved roads built upon the blood, bones, and sweat of others, yet the one walking upon them imagines that beneath his feet lie only roses. In a certain poor city, where winding alleys exuded the musty odor of fibro-cement-roofed boarding houses and hoarse night cries echoed, there once lived a man who wriggled his way up from the muddy bottom with empty hands and a mind early corrupted by greed.
During his humble beginnings, he was nothing more than a faint, flickering shadow amidst the current of livelihood. His devoted wife was the sole key that unlocked that door of poverty. She possessed no dazzling beauty, knew no sweet words of flattery, only hands calloused from staying up late and waking early, hustling through every street stall and narrow workshop to scrape together every single coin to support him through grueling exam years and face-planting failures in the business arena.
Before their firstborn child could even enter the world, he was already engrossed in scheming for higher rungs. When the first company flourished thanks to capital saved from his wife’s sweat and tears, his gaze toward her began to carry the cold edge of callousness. He felt ashamed before luxurious partners when appearing alongside a rustic woman, wearing a worn-out shirt and knowing nothing of high-society etiquette.
The appearance of a young, sharp mistress acted like a magnetic force pulling him entirely into a vortex of hedonism. She knew how to praise his vain ego, how to pour sweet whispers into his ear about a dazzling future untethered from the past.
And thus, he discarded his devoted wife like an obsolete item no longer of value. He used every trick from psychological warfare to legal pressure, forcing her to sign empty-handed divorce papers. He looked at her with the insipid smile of a superior, bestowing upon her a few meager coins like handouts to a beggar, then joyfully welcomed his mistress into the lavish downtown penthouse.
II. Anthem of Triumph Over the Abyss
This morning brought the brilliant yet freezing yellow sunlight of a late winter day. He stood before the full-length mirror in the luxury dressing room, adjusting his expensive Italian silk tie, his lips unable to hide a smug, deeply satisfying smile of triumph.
Today was the fateful day—the signing of the largest merger contract in the history of the corporate conglomerate he had painstakingly seized. After kicking his ex-wife out onto the street empty-handed and finalizing the legalization of assets into his own name, he felt like a true king in the business arena. No one could stand in his way anymore; no impoverished past could chase after this flashy back.
The young mistress walked up, wrapping her arms around his neck from behind, her sweet, coquettish voice ringing in his ear: — “Today you’ll wield the life-and-death power over the entire market. Don’t forget your promise to gift me the limited-edition supercar after the meeting, darling.”
He turned around, pinching her chin lightly and laughing heartily: — “Rest assured! Today, aside from swallowing whole the rival conglomerate, I officially step onto the pinnacle of fame. Whatever you want, you shall have!”
He stepped out of the house with long, proud, and arrogant strides. In his head at that moment echoed only the cheers of wealth, power, and the image of major rivals forced to bow down in defeat before his authority.
III. The Massive Meeting Room Doors Open
The towering skyscraper stood proudly in the city center, shining brightly under midday electric lights. He walked through the transparent automatic glass doors, heading straight into the main lobby with the demeanor of a monarch. A line of assistants, secretaries, and deputy CEOs stood bowing respectfully on both sides, their eyes filled with awe and admiration.
He raised his chin, signaling everyone to move toward the grand meeting room on the top floor—the gathering place of the region’s most powerful economic minds, where the multi-trillion-dong signing ceremony awaited his appearance.
The colossal, exquisitely carved rosewood doors slowly opened.
Inside the meeting room lay a vast space, immersed in a breathtakingly suffocating silence. A long solid-wood conference table gathered dozens of top financial figures, all sitting upright, fixing their gazes upon the central chairperson’s seat—the most powerful position still left vacant.
He smiled faintly, adjusted his vest lapels, and stepped with confidence into the room. He firmly believed that seat was waiting for him to reign, waiting for him to declare his next strategic moves to conquer the entire market.
— “Greetings, everyone,” – he spoke in a warm, self-satisfied tone, preparing to pull out a chair and sit down.
Yet at that exact moment, a sound from the side door at the far end of the meeting room caused him to halt.
IV. The Mysterious Chairperson and the Shock of Paralysis
From behind the door, a figure stepped out.
It was a slender silhouette concealing an invisible authority that made the entire room hold its breath and bow their heads. The person wore a beautifully hand-tailored ash-gray business suit, hair neatly and luxuriously bunched up, and across the bridge of the nose wore a large pair of sunglasses covering half the face.
The mysterious figure walked leisurely, calmly, and coldly straight toward the central chairperson’s seat. Not a soul dared to speak; even the most veteran executive director had to stand up, respectfully pulling out the chair for that person to sit down.
He stood frozen in the middle of the meeting room, a sudden sense of unease surging in his chest like a rolling undercurrent. He narrowed his eyes, staring straight ahead, wondering who on earth the supreme chairperson of the foreign investment fund that had just acquired 80% of this corporation’s shares could be to wield such disruptive power.
The chairperson sat down, interlacing both hands on the table, slowly sweeping a gaze around the room, and then stopping right at his position.
The atmosphere plunged into an eerie silence.
In a split second, the chairperson raised a hand, gently touching the frame of the sunglasses, and slowly removed them from the face.
Boom!
His mind exploded as if tons of explosives had just been detonated right atop his head. The entire room spun and turned upside down. His breath choked in his throat, his eyes widening to their limits, staring fixedly at the face just revealed under the sharp white lights.
Impossible… His intuition screamed in vain.
That face… that skin… even though luxuriously cared for, clad in the most expensive attire and enveloped by supreme power, those gentle features of the past were something he could never mistake.
It was none other than his virtuous wife, the woman he had heartlessly discarded, berated, forced to sign empty-handed divorce papers, and driven out of the house on a bitterly cold winter night years ago!
V. The Verdict of Karma
His legs grew weak, collapsing heavily onto the polished floor. His face turned pale without a drop of blood, his lips trembling so badly he couldn’t utter a complete sentence.
— “You… you… Impossible… How can this be…” – he stammered, pointing toward the chairperson, his mind completely shattered.
The chairperson—the ex-wife he had once despised—slowly leaned back in her chair, curling her lips into a cold smile. That smile held no impulsive resentment, carrying instead the coldness, sharpness, and authority of someone standing at the pinnacle of the world.
— “Surprised, aren’t you, dear ex-husband?” – Her warm, calm yet razor-sharp voice rang through the meeting room’s speaker system, piercing straight into his core. – “You used to think that driving a woman out onto the street empty-handed on a freezing winter night meant you could permanently discard an impoverished past, didn’t you?”
A series of terrifying memories rushed back into his mind. The night she was driven out, she didn’t cry or plead like other weak people. She picked up her tattered handbag, looking up at him one last time with an eerily still gaze. Turns out, that very endurance and humiliation had forged within her an iron will and a phenomenal strategic mind.
After that fateful night, with the help of those who had owed her favors in the past and her innate acuity, she rose from the ashes, personally building an underground financial empire, step-by-step conquering major markets and finally returning to buy out the entire conglomerate he dreamed of monopolizing.
— “The day you forced me to sign empty-handed divorce papers,” – she continued, each word dropping slowly like counting down to his destruction, – “you firmly believed you were the wisest hunter. But you didn’t know that all the contracts, the loans, and that multi-trillion-dong merger project you were joyfully stepping into… were the perfect trap designed by my own hands waiting for you to walk right into.”
He crawled across the floor, both hands gripping the table edge, tears mixed with sweat pouring profusely as he croaked a desperate plea: — “I was wrong… Please… We were husband and wife after all… Spare me a way to live…”
She stood up, walking slowly toward him, leaning down to look at him as if inspecting mere trash.
— “Husband and wife?” – She laughed coldly. – “The night you heartlessly discarded me onto the street, that title shattered long ago. Now, it’s your turn to taste the feeling of being discarded, left empty-handed, and buried under the mountain of debts caused by your own greed.”
She turned, signaling the legal and security teams to step forward.
— “Confiscate all personal assets under his name to compensate for damages to the corporation. Serve him with a prosecution warrant for commercial fraud and embezzlement.”
He screamed in despair, struggling hopelessly amidst the cold pulls of the guards. The meeting room door closed, sealing away a life full of scheming and selfishness, ending in the swamp of eternal retribution. Outside the skyscraper, the sunlight still shone, but for him, the world had completely plunged into permanent, eternal darkness.
