The mirror was cracked, a diagonal fracture running across it like a streak of rain.

With an expressionless face, Eunha stared quietly at her reflection.

Her eyes were a washed-out grey and appeared hollow, as if they had been swallowed whole by darkness.

She brushed back her limp, seaweed-like hair with a weak hand and lowered her gaze, avoiding her reflection as a debtor avoids a collector.

“Lee Eunha! If you’re late because you keep dawdling like this, what are you going to do?”

Eunha jumped as if she had been hit by something thrown at her.

She turned her cold gaze towards her father, who had barged in without knocking.

She almost told him to knock, but privacy was impossible in such cramped conditions anyway.

She chose not to speak.

Her father, Lee Sun-han, burst into the room, barking orders, and immediately scowled.

Without question, it was because he had noticed her outfit.

“What… what on earth are you wearing?”

His eyebrows shot forward, the narrow space between them almost merging into one. He had never been one to hide his feelings. If he was angry, he showed it — because showing it was the only thing that eased him.

Today was no different.

“You’re going to a marriage meeting dressed like that? What kind of girl shows up looking like that?”

His disapproving tone implied that she had committed a grave offence.

A frustrated sigh escaped her before she could stop it. As always, it seemed as though her father had carved the word ‘idiot’ across her forehead.

Was it really that strange?

Eunha’s gaze fell as she finally examined the outfit that had not interested her until now.

Just as he said, it was shabby — so much so that ‘ragged’ wasn’t an exaggeration.

Did he want her to buy new clothes? For this ridiculous match?

When they spent every month worrying about how they would survive the next?

Was he really scolding her over clothes?

Typical of him.

Something tightened in her throat, as if her airways had narrowed.

And what about her hair?

The headache that had been throbbing ever since he mentioned another arranged meeting still clung to her like a shadow.

Her thick eyelashes lowered like falling petals, then rose slowly again. Her eyes revealed nothing—no emotion, no spark.

“…Why bother trying to look good for some insane man?”

The words shot out like an arrow: uninvited and unnecessary. But she couldn’t stop herself — her father’s threats still lingered in her mind, and she justified her outburst.

She let her gaze drift over the unreadable face in the mirror.

“What? What did you just say?!”

As expected, Lee Sun-han reacted as if he had stepped onto sun-scorched asphalt barefoot, springing up in outrage.

This meant, of course, that the arrow had hit a sensitive spot. He seemed unaware of how he appeared to others: his guilty expression always left a bitter taste in Eunha’s mouth.

“A man willing to meet a defective woman, what else could he be?”

She spoke in a flat tone, but the faint irritation in her voice was impossible to hide. Eunha knew she was only provoking him further, yet she couldn’t stop herself. The brakes were gone and her words kept rolling forward.

After all, her father had threatened the most precious thing in her life — someone far more valuable than herself, someone she would gladly die to protect.

“D＊mn it. The problem is that your mother fooled me so perfectly. If I’d known the truth, I’d have dragged her to the hospital even if I had to beat her half to death!”

Eunha clenched and unclenched her fists, unsure whether her bl＊＊d was circulating at all. Now, her knuckles were stiffening and tingling as though she were a chronically ill patient.

His voice was full of conviction that she should be grateful that he hadn’t killed her mother. A cold shiver crawled up her neck, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

“If my business hadn’t gone under back then, none of that would’ve happened. So do it properly this time. And don’t go spouting useless nonsense like last time.”

She opened her mouth to say that she had never spoken without reason, but the greedy look in his eyes made her swallow her words. She had only told the truth, yet every man she met reacted the same way.

Initially, they were attracted to her pretty face — until she spoke the words her father had kept under lock and key. Then came shock, then resentment, then anger.

After ruining five meetings this way, rumors must have spread. No one came forward anymore. Or rather, her father could no longer persuade any men to agree to meet her.

She had been relieved. She had allowed herself to relax until the new proposal appeared, mocking her for letting her guard down.

The man in question didn’t care about the “defect” that her father used to hurl at her whenever he felt like it. A meeting had been arranged for today.

Eunha stood with her back to him, unwilling to exchange a single word. Stubbornly ignoring the futile hope in his gaze, she hoped it would tear itself apart and fall away on its own.

“If you handle this well today, you won’t have to worry about money. You could live comfortably!”

“……”

“And? I can finally make a comeback too!”

What kind of man had offered her father something that made him swell with anticipation, as though he were a balloon about to burst?

Eunha could sense a pitch-black greed seeping from his body, and she stepped back instinctively. She felt as though the darkness might creep up her feet, ankles, and calves.

Her eyes dimmed.

A comeback? Even if he tried, it would be like pouring water into a cracked pot. No — filling the pot would be quicker than her father achieving success again.

He was the only one who didn’t see it. His own greed blinded him.

‘…Shouldn’t he at least stop talking about business out of shame?’

Lee Sun-han was stuck in the past, when his business had been thriving. He believed that if he made a comeback, he could regain that success.

Blinded by this delusion, he talked endlessly about business, becoming obsessed with a long-dead enterprise.

This obsession was akin to gambling. In fact, it was probably even worse. It wasn’t just their household finances that had fallen apart.

He had fastened shackles of debt around his family’s ankles, yet he never reflected on it. Watching him chase yet another so-called comeback made Eunha feel sick to her stomach.

“Shouldn’t you at least make an effort to put on some makeup? Who goes barefaced to something that important?”

Her lips twitched with disbelief, but Eunha gently bit down on her tongue. She didn’t want to show any hint of mockery.

Did he have any idea how much makeup cost these days? How many late-night driving shifts did she have to work just to afford a single cosmetic item?

There had been a time when she could use expensive products at will and visit the dermatologist on a whim. Now, having even one bottle of lotion was something to be grateful for.

“You could’ve bought me makeup or new clothes, then.”

She didn’t understand why her nerves were so raw today. Normally, she would have let the comment pass. Maybe it was because of that unsettling dream from last night.

“Lee Eunha! Is that any way to talk to your father? Tsk, tsk! I knew sending you to America was a mistake. Look at you—completely ruined! What on earth was your mother thinking, raising you like this—”

She shot him a sharp glare before he could drag her mother into it again. Seeing her reaction, he gave a smug I knew it expression, and she exhaled like a malfunctioning engine.

“This is the nicest outfit I have. Please stop. We’re going to be late.”

Lee Sun-han finally stopped talking when she took a step back. She wasn’t lying. Pretty clothes were pointless when she was constantly changing jobs.

She only owned three outfits for each season, and the one she was wearing today was the smartest of her summer clothes.

Her jeans and black T-shirt, worn smooth from repeated use, felt like armor. She brushed a hand over the slightly pilled fabric and lifted her chin with quiet resolve.

“I’m going.”

Although it was called a ‘marriage meeting’, she decided to treat it as nothing more than an opportunity to get a free meal. She would definitely reject the proposal.

Besides, the man would probably turn her down first anyway.

A lonely smile flickered at the corners of her mouth, then disappeared quickly as if she had given up.

“Do well. Everything depends on you! You know that, right?”

She gave him no answer.

As she walked towards the entrance, she noticed that the door to the master bedroom was slightly ajar. She caught a glimpse of her mother’s thin face; her cheekbones were more pronounced since she had lost weight. Eunha paused, but continued walking.

Bending down to put on her shoes, she heard the door creak open behind her, followed by light, tiny footsteps.

Eunha’s eyes lit up at that sound alone, burning hotter than the sun itself.

Her face softened instantly, all the stiffness melting away. She turned around, and there he was: the person who made her feel complete just by being there; the person who made breathing feel like joy; the person who was so precious that he felt sacred.

“…Mom!”

Her son, Hyesung.

She would gladly give her life for him.

He was the most precious thing in her world.