Chapter 3 - Chapter 1: Prologue - The End of the Love Affair
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My girlfriend and I have been together since our college days. But once we both entered the workforce, the distance between our jobs turned us into a long-distance couple. We only saw each other on weekends, and even then, we were always short on time.
By now, we're both so drained that we've become the kind of couple that barely exchanges a text once or twice a month. Yet, she still reaches out every now and then, as if she's still holding onto some interest in me.
In my heart, I'd already considered us broken up through mutual ghosting, but I guess she felt differently.
She's my age, and she never once wavered. She never wore the 'gomushin' of betrayal. She stayed loyal from our days as a fresh campus couple, through my military enlistment and discharge, and even through the grind of job hunting. We even lived together back then, convinced we were the perfect match.
The college friends I still talk to always ask why we haven't tied the knot yet. We've been together that long.
Eight years. We started dating at twenty-one; now we're twenty-eight.
It's a lifetime. Long enough for a man and a woman to have seen every single side of each other.
There was a time I actually considered marriage, but after overthinking it for so long, the spark just... fizzled out.
Living in that state of limbo, I finished my service, and it's already been two years since I started my career.
That's when I started using "being busy" as an excuse.
The first year, I was adjusting to the company. The second year, I convinced myself no one else could handle my workload. We became a weekend-only couple, and once we got used to the silence, there was no way to bridge the distance growing between us.
As my heart drifted away from my first love, I went looking for a new one.
And I found it at work.
I'd found myself an "office wife."
The term "office wife" is just a fancy way of saying I had a mistress at the workplace.
They say distance makes the heart grow cold. I found myself drawn to my direct supervisor, Section Chief Kim Mi-na. She'd shown me the ropes when I first joined and was always so kind to me—far more than the girlfriend I only saw on weekends.
Section Chief Kim Mi-na was in her third year at the company. She was incredibly capable and knew exactly how to look after her subordinates.
Compared to my immature girlfriend who only ever followed her own whims, it felt inevitable that I'd fall for Mi-na. She was warm, considerate, and felt like a dependable older sister.
My first impression of her was striking: lustrous, long black hair, a beauty mark below her right eye, and slightly upturned eyes that gave her a decadent, sultry air. She looked like the type who lived in clubs. But in reality, she was the complete opposite. She was actually naive when it came to romance, had zero interest in men, and was simply a kind person to everyone.
I'd been a "motae-solo"—someone who'd never dated—until I entered college.
I'd only been dating my current girlfriend passively because she confessed to me first. I realized then that this was the first time I had ever truly liked someone of my own volition.
The feelings I had for my girlfriend until now weren't love. I'm sure of it.
Two months after joining the company, during a business trip alone with Section Chief Kim Mi-na, I made the first real confession of my life.
Section Chief Kim Mi-na—no, Mi-na—accepted. We'd been dating for a year and ten months.
In secret from my original girlfriend, of course.
Even I have to admit it: I'm a total piece of trash.
Why am I thinking about all this now?
Because the whole messy affair has finally blown up in my face, and I'm trying to make sense of the wreckage.
It's evening. Most of the staff have already gone home.
The office is a disaster zone. Shouting echoes off the walls, equipment is smashed, and documents are scattered everywhere.
Two women—one with long hair in office wear, the other with short hair—are a tangled mess on the floor. They're ripping at each other's hair, screaming curses, and trading slaps.
"You filthy slut! Just die, you fucking bitch!"
"Why don't you die first!"
Judging by their disheveled states, they've been at it for a while.
"I've been with Sihyun for eight years! Who the hell do you think you are, laying your hands on my man!"
"Sihyun and I are dating now! You were just some long-distance ex who stopped calling. Stop being so pathetic!"
I feel bad for Mi-na. I'd told her my ex and I had naturally drifted apart during the long distance. In truth, we hadn't stopped talking entirely; we just only texted once a month.
I don't even know if I should call her a girlfriend or just a female friend at that point.
The two of them are getting more violent, more furious, but I can't step in to explain the details.
Why?
Because when my girlfriend pushed me in a fit of rage earlier, I cracked my head against the desk and collapsed.
Is it the shock of being caught, or the impact of the blow? I have absolutely no strength left in my body.
My body is getting colder by the second. My head is throbbing—I definitely have a concussion.
As my consciousness sinks, I feel the last of my strength draining away, from my head down to my toes.
And then, my thoughts just... stop.
.
.
.
The fight didn't last much longer.
Hye-young suddenly stopped. She looked past Mi-na, her face turning pale as if she'd seen a ghost.
Seeing Hye-young's shocked expression, Mi-na felt a cold dread sink in. She turned to see what Hye-young was staring at.
The screams and accusations over the man they shared vanished from the office.
Mi-na followed Hye-young's gaze and let out a blood-curdling scream.
What they saw was me, Sihyun, lying motionless as a red pool spread across the floor.
The blood leaking from my head was staining the carpet in a wide, dark circle.
It was the exact spot where my head had hit with that sickening thud earlier.
Seeing the smear on the corner of the desk, it wasn't hard to realize that the bleeding had started the moment I struck it.
"Sihyun-ssi?! Aaaaaaaah!"
A scream, though I couldn't tell from whom, echoed through the empty office.
But I couldn't hear it.
I'd already lost consciousness, my thoughts sinking into a dark, bottomless abyss.
From the very moment Hye-young pushed me, I was already dying.
.
.
.
.
Was it the chaos or the blow to my head? I'm so dizzy I can barely think.
The only good thing is that the freezing cold I felt earlier is gone.
The hazy, dizzy feeling is like that moment just before waking up.
If I wake up in the ER, I'll have to face both of them. My ex and my current girlfriend.
I don't want to wake up. I have no idea what to do. I just want to drift back to sleep.
I couldn't even think of a single excuse to make.
I'm truly a hopeless piece of trash...
Even by my own standards, I'd gone too far.
I'd been playing both sides, balancing between two women.
I recalled how I acted as if the person I wanted to date and the person I wanted to marry were two different people.
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It wasn't that I wanted to date both of them at the same time.
But it's true—I was "fishing." Keeping my options open to see which one I liked better.
That thought was only fleeting.
I regained some consciousness, but my eyelids were so heavy I couldn't lift them.
My mind was flickering, exhausted.
It felt like I was repeatedly falling asleep and waking up.
However, a strange sense of incongruity hit me. Something was wrong.
Whenever I manage to crack my eyes open, everything looks... huge.
Like I've shrunk...