Chapter 1 – Friendship Is Cowardice

“Blind date?”

“Yeah.”

Eunjae answered simply as she set down her beer glass. Her gaze was fixed on the dried pollack served as a snack. Freshly grilled and torn into bite-sized pieces, it was always her favorite beer companion. And Wooseok had never objected to it. His eyes lingered on Eunjae a bit longer than usual.

“My sister asked if I was interested.”

She added a needless excuse. Still, there was no response. She’d expected as much. Eunjae picked up her beer again and looked at Wooseok. Their eyes met, staring each other down like opponents. Seeing his unreadable expression, her breath caught.

‘What are you going to do, looking at me like that?’

She couldn’t even lash out. Instead, she lowered her head meekly.

From the first year of middle school to now, at thirty-three—exactly twenty years. There was nothing she’d hidden from him under the name of friendship, except for one thing. They were best friends, sometimes even closer than family. People always doubted that men and women could truly be just friends, but they had crossed twenty years together, unwavering.

All the while, perhaps unaware that a tremendous betrayal lay hidden beneath it.

Eunjae couldn’t even remember when she’d started seeing him as a man. At some point, just standing next to Wooseok made her heart pound and her fingertips tremble. Whenever he was with another woman, jealousy she couldn’t control would flare up.

She once thought it was just a passing feeling. After all, Wooseok was the only man around her. He was the only guy she saw, so she must be drawn to him—don’t get confused, she told herself, trying to rein in her heart.

How much time had passed like that, muddling through? Eunjae finally realized she couldn’t bear these growing feelings any longer.

She realized it during Wooseok’s birthday a month ago. They’d planned a short trip to Jeju Island, even inviting their college friends. But in the end, only the two of them boarded the plane. Life comes first for working adults, and freedom isn’t as easy as it was in college. She couldn’t blame their friends for dropping out due to sudden work or family events.

Eunjae suggested canceling the trip, but Wooseok wanted to go, even if it was just the two of them. He pointed out that canceling the reservations wouldn’t get them much money back anyway. And it was his birthday. Since he wanted to go, Eunjae couldn’t argue further.

The trip wasn’t much different from usual. They did what they always did together—ate, drove around, had a quick beer back at the lodging, then went to their separate rooms to sleep. That was exactly as Eunjae had expected, until something unexpected happened.

And the person who caused it was none other than Eunjae herself. Maybe she drank more than usual? No, even when she was totally drunk, she’d never done this before. If she had to blame something, it was the broken air conditioner in the living room, leaving only one cool big room.

Eunjae lay on the bed, Wooseok on a mat on the floor. That was still fine. But unable to sleep from the alcohol, she got up to drink water, and when she returned, she sat beside Wooseok before climbing back onto the bed.

It was a chance to see his sleeping face. It was a simple feeling, but she couldn’t overcome the urge rising in her throat and reached out to touch his face. Luckily, Wooseok didn’t wake, but Eunjae sobered up instantly.

‘You’re crazy. Finally. You’ve really messed up now.’

That night, Eunjae left for Seoul with just her phone and wallet, not even her suitcase. From dawn, her phone started blowing up. Of course, it was Wooseok calling repeatedly.

She didn’t answer. When things finally quieted down, she texted that she’d had to rush back to Seoul for family reasons, asking him to pack her things for her, and brushed off what happened as if nothing was wrong.

And now.

Eunjae sat across from Wooseok, trying her own way to handle things. Drawing a line and trying to move on might seem ridiculous now, but she couldn’t stand not doing anything. Her true feelings, which she’d dodged and ignored for so long, were now screaming to be let out.

“Is Director Yoon giving you a hard time lately?”

“What?”

“You’re at a good age, but you get treated like you’re weird for not dating, right?”

‘Why bring up that guy here?’

Eunjae raised her glass, as if it wasn’t worth answering.

“It’s not that I can’t date, I just haven’t.”

“So why suddenly start now?”

“Because now I want to.”

Hearing her answer, Wooseok fell silent again. Thinking she didn’t care what his reaction was anymore, Eunjae reached for her drink, but Wooseok suddenly grabbed her glass and gulped down the beer himself. Eunjae’s eyes widened.

“Hey!”

“I’ll call a driver to take you home.”

He’d taken the glass, saying he’d just do a ‘cheers’ instead. It was their usual after-work routine, and when Eunjae said she had something to talk about, Wooseok had dropped the name of their regular pub in the chat. That was his way of saying ‘let’s meet’. They understood each other instantly, skipping over countless words.

Twenty years of friendship made that natural. Middle school, high school, college, and now even working at the same company. Friends and colleagues used to joke about how inseparable they were, but even that stopped eventually.

Maybe it was because it was so suffocating. Maybe that’s why she wanted to sort things out now. Eunjae herself wasn’t sure what she wanted; maybe she was just acting out because she didn’t know.

“You said you’re going to the Sejong site tomorrow, right?”

“A few beers won’t hurt.”

Wooseok answered calmly, but Eunjae knew his style better than anyone and was puzzled.

Currently the Deputy Director and Team Leader at the architecture firm [Seum], Wooseok was known as the straightest guy in the company. He never touched alcohol on weekdays, and even more so if he had a business trip or site visit coming up.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t handle hangovers, but he didn’t want to work with any alcohol left in his system. That’s why [Seum] always scheduled company dinners on Fridays before the weekend. The firm’s CEO, Kiwon—Eunjae and Wooseok’s college senior—appreciated Wooseok’s strict personality. He trusted Wooseok so much that he believed [Seum]’s rapid growth was thanks to him.

Eunjae agreed on that point. When Kiwon, now her ex-brother-in-law, first said he was starting an architecture firm, the whole family opposed it. Thirty-three, the same age as Eunjae now, and he had nothing to start a business with. Only Eunjae’s sister, Jiyeon, supported him when he said he’d take out a loan to open the office.

Back then, no one imagined the two would end up divorced. Seven years have passed since the firm opened. Now [Seum] has over twenty employees and is a solid, profitable company. Wooseok’s hard work, pulling all-nighters to win competitions, played a big part.

“What does he do?”

Wooseok suddenly asked again. Lost in thought, Eunjae looked up. What was it again? She tried to recall the man’s background her sister Jiyeon had recited, but her mind was blank. And now, a blind date. Eunjae let out a low laugh.

“…A, civil servant.”

She just threw out whatever came to mind. It’s not like Wooseok would check if he really was a civil servant. Besides, Eunjae doubted she’d succeed at the blind date anyway. Meeting someone with her heart like this wouldn’t be fair to the other person.

Still, she needed to take some decisive action to sort out this relationship. For Eunjae, that was the blind date.

“Your father will be pleased.”

Wooseok gave a bitter smile and poured himself more beer. Then another shot. He drank so quickly that Eunjae watched him with concern. She wondered if her blind date was what drove him to drink. It was always like this. His actions and words never matched.

“I should find someone good and be a dutiful daughter too.”

Eunjae said, fiddling with a piece of dried pollack.

“…Ah, filial duty.”

Wooseok echoed her words briefly. His lips curled up, but his eyes were cold. Eunjae knew what that look meant. She knew her actions didn’t exactly match her talk of ‘filial duty’.

But people change.

‘Just like the temperature between you and me now.’

“Is it because of guilt?”

Wooseok asked something cryptic.

“What?”

“Is your father not well?”

Eunjae finally understood what he meant.

“That’s not it.”

“Then why?”

Wooseok immediately pressed further. His sharp gaze kept darting at her. The mood was spiraling out of control. This wasn’t what Eunjae wanted, so she avoided his eyes and forced a laugh, making up any excuse.

“He got like that when I mentioned moving out.”

“Moving out?”

He never let anything slide. Wooseok dug in with a suspicious look.

“I’ve wanted to for a while. I just sleep at home, and it’s too far from work. With my sister living with us, if I move out, they’ll have more space.”

“What does that have to do with the blind date?”

It felt like an interrogation, but Eunjae owed Wooseok a detailed explanation.