1

As soon as I opened my eyes, I felt an intense hangover. I twisted my body on the soft bed while rubbing my head. After drinking so much alcohol for the first time in ages, my stomach was churning violently. I buried my face in the sheets and groaned for a while. With each breath, the smell of strong alcohol mixed with the scent of mint toothpaste filled the air.

Ugh… I don’t know how long I’d been lying there. I barely managed to roll my eyes to check the time. Twelve o’clock—realizing I had less than an hour before my part-time job, I started to panic. I wriggled, trying to get up from the bed. Just as I was about to reach out my hand, my body tilted like a roly-poly toy.

“…Huh?”

What’s wrong with me? This time, I tried to extend my hand to steady myself on the ground. The moment I stretched my arm forward, a throbbing pain spread throughout my body. What the…

“What is this…?”

I frowned as I wriggled my wrists, which were tied in front of me. Why am I tied up? A strange sense of terror made my heart sink.

In that moment, I snapped wide awake. Forgetting the pain in my arms, I jerked upright in bed. I barely managed to lean against the headboard and sit up. Only then did I properly take in my surroundings.

This… isn’t my home. As I realized this fact, an eerie chill ran down my spine. I quietly rolled my eyes around while still tied up. Was I kidnapped? Or was I sold somewhere?

My imagination ran wild, making my teeth chatter with fear. I frantically examined the room with a pale face. The kidnapper’s home looked clean and wealthy, without any clutter. It almost made me wonder if I had broken in here myself.

No, this wasn’t the time for that.

I quickly tried to recall last night’s memories. What did I do yesterday? I attended a department gathering after a long time, ate plenty of meat, and drank my fill. When I thought I’d had enough, I got up from my seat, and then I remember meeting someone in an alley.

‘Want to smoke?’

‘……’

‘A cigarette.’

I also remembered sharing a cigarette with that person. But after that, everything was blank. I held my throbbing head and tried to dig through my memories. Who was it? Who did I meet?

A pleasant scent, a low voice… all I could remember were such fragments. Who was it? Who on earth…

“Yeo Eun-ah, are you awake?”

At that exact moment, the person from my memory opened the tightly closed door and entered the room.

“…Senior?”

“Yes, it’s me. Your senior.”

I looked up at him with round eyes, surprised by his unexpected identity. The owner of that voice was none other than Yeo Hae-jeong. A senior from the same department and a famous figure at school, Yeo Hae-jeong.

Someone who had no special connection with me. So why was I in his house…

“Um… why am I here?”

“Don’t you remember?”

No, f*ck. Not at all. And why am I not wearing any underwear and tied up?

“…You really drank a lot.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Thinking it was fortunate that he was at least someone I knew, I opened my mouth again.

“Senior, why am I here anyway? And why are my arms… Did I make some mistake yesterday…?”

“No, it wasn’t a mistake.”

“……”

“I brought you here.”

“…What?”

“I brought you here deliberately, intentionally. Yeo Eun-ah.”

What is he saying? It felt like someone had hit my head with a heavy hammer.

“Of course. You agreed to it too. Don’t you remember?”

I just blinked with a blank expression.

“Were you drunk?”

Is this person really crazy? I looked up at Yeo Hae-jeong, who was making jokes that weren’t even funny, as if he were insane. In response, Yeo Hae-jeong chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.

“No? I’m not drunk. I’m perfectly sober.”

With his pretty smile, he looked completely sane.

“…Yes, you look that way.”

That’s what made it more problematic. I looked at Yeo Hae-jeong smiling brightly and began to retrace my memories again. This really seemed bad.

⁕⁕⁕

The department gathering was more boisterous and noisy than usual. I diligently transferred the meat cooking in front of me to my mouth, then moistened my throat with cool beer.

“Eat slowly, Yeo Eun-ah. You’ll get indigestion.”

“……”

“Should I cut the meat into smaller pieces for you? Bite-sized?”

The male senior sitting next to me tried to act overly friendly, pressing his knee against mine.

“No, I’m fine.”

I quickly widened the distance and turned my head in the opposite direction. This is why I didn’t want to come… But since gatherings without membership fees were rare, I had no choice but to attend. I ate the meat like a beggar while looking around again.

“Ah, seriously, why is Yeo Hae-jeong even here?”

“Who knows. He never attends these things.”

Then, among the bustling crowd, I noticed someone who particularly caught my eye. Of course, this wasn’t just my observation. Yeo Hae-jeong was capturing the attention of everyone in the barbecue restaurant.

The senior sitting next to me also couldn’t take his eyes off Yeo Hae-jeong. The problem was that his gaze was filled with jealousy and envy. He muttered curses about Yeo Hae-jeong while pouring soju into a clear glass.

“Please, can’t someone like him at least stop pretending to be down-to-earth?”

“F*ck, look at the girls’ faces splitting open. Ugh, I can’t stand the sight.”

Well, Yeo Hae-jeong was kind of annoying. I secretly agreed with their words while chewing on cheap frozen pork belly.

To be clear, when I say he’s annoying, I’m not talking about Yeo Hae-jeong’s behavior or attitude. Yeo Hae-jeong was impeccably proper and neat. So if I were to criticize him, it would be no different from those ugly seniors next to me who were jealous of him.

Yet Yeo Hae-jeong was annoying. Why? Because he had too much of everything and was flawlessly perfect.

The illegitimate child of a conglomerate, the hidden child of a celebrity, the youngest son of a congressman—there were countless rumors surrounding him, but no one knew which was true. The only certainty was that Yeo Hae-jeong enjoyed tremendous wealth.

Car, watch, bag. He never carried anything carelessly. Everything he owned was wealthy and luxurious. His watch looked heavy just by looking at it, and the car he drove was sleek without a speck of dust. It was also a well-known anecdote that a certain professor who pretended to be rich was thoroughly embarrassed after parking next to Yeo Hae-jeong’s car.

I stared at Yeo Hae-jeong, then glanced down at my shabby outfit. A sweatshirt and jeans I’d been wearing for who knows how many years, plus socks with holes in them. When did they get holes? I immediately curled my toes. It was embarrassingly pathetic. He was definitely someone unrelated to me.

“Hey, Hae-jeong. I never thought you’d come to a place like this. Really.”

However, around Yeo Hae-jeong, people who wanted to be associated with him swarmed. Men trying to strike up conversations to befriend him, women desperate for his attention—Yeo Hae-jeong stood at the center of it all, smiling lightly. His smile elicited sighs from all around. He was like a celebrity.

Of course, I wasn’t against becoming friends with him either. Rich, handsome, from a good family—who would refuse a friendship with him? If I were close to him, the benefits would pour in by the truckload.

But if there was one difference between me and them, it was that I was somewhat perceptive. Why would Yeo Hae-jeong include a beggar like me in his boundary? I discreetly hid my holey socks under my thighs.

“The atmosphere really livens up when you’re here, Hae-jeong.”

“Hey, why did you suddenly decide to come? You never attend these gatherings.”

My ears perked up involuntarily.